[Char] Brad (remake of Bleeq)

[rewlf2]

Introduction
Brad is a character that I revamped from one of Gad's creations, Bleeq.

The name "Bleeq" is the same as one of member of the Little Fighter Polish Center, but I didn't understand the meaning of Bleeq so I googled Bleeq and came up with Brad, which is derived from Bradlees which had BLEEQ as its ticket symbol.

The original Bleeq is a generic character with strafe, energy blast and dashes. I decided to make use of some cutting-edge technique and an undiscovered stamina system to create a very special character who breaks the conventions of how LF2 characters play.

Description
Brad is played based on dance. He is a melee fighter with no crowd control, little counter-control and good engagement/disengagement abilities.

Being a very flexible character, he has 10 moves divided into 2 classes: Normal and Fever, each with 5 moves with similar properties. His normal moves cost no mana and his fever moves cost 250MP (50%) except Eclipse. Fever moves other than Eclipse are unique in extending dance of pain of damaged enemies, allowing chaining moves.

Brad is a very aggressive character that requires intensive player control and extensive knowledge of his moveset. His fever moves although powerful, can only be chained from his normal moves and are very punishing if used carelessly. He can alternatively use normal moves which finishes his combo with a launch or down finish, or even feinting enemies with delay.

Since update in 20 July 2018, Brad now has the ability to wield and throw light weapons. He does not swing weapons but can carry and throw them, and can also drink. Brad still automatically kicks heavy weapons should he try to kick them though.

Move list (Click to View)

When holding light weapon, will use unarmed attack instead of weapon swing, Brad can still throw weapons
Brad will automatically kick heavy weapons
Cannot grab enemies

Normal moves and Eclipse cost no MP
Fever moves cost 250MP (50%)

Normal moves except Moonstep stun enemies
Fever moves except Eclipse cause and extend stun
Eclipse - Fever extends stun

Frontflip - Normal
>>A
50 damage

Backflip - Normal
D^A
50 damage

Slide - Normal
D>J
50 damage
Can control z-axis direction by ^/v key

Eclipse - Normal
DvA
30 damage

Moonwalk - Normal
DJA
Does not damage
Can control z-axis direction by ^/v key
Summons 4 holograms that nullify attack


Frontflip - Fever
Backflip - Normal +A or D^A
Moonwalk +A or D^A
50 damage

Backflip - Fever
D^A after move other than Backflip
50 damage

Slide - Fever
D>J after move other than Slide - Fever
50 damage
Can control z-axis direction by ^/v key

Eclipse - Fever
Frontflip +A or DvA
Slide +A or DvA
30 damage

Moonwalk - Fever
DJA after move other than Moonwalk
Can control z-axis direction by ^/v key
30 damage
Summons 6 holograms that nullify attack

Screenshot

Weapon compatibility

Punch x2 + Super punch + Eclipse

Slide

Dash attack + Backflip + Jump attack x2

Frontflip + Eclipse-Fever + Slide-Fever + Eclipse-Fever + Backflip-Fever + Slide

Punch x2 + Moonwalk + Frontflip-Fever + Eclipse-Fever + Slide-Fever + Eclipse-Fever + Backflip + Jump attack x2


Video demonstration

Watch in youtube

Download

Update: 22 July 2018
Mediafire

Updates

Update list (Click to View)

22 July 2018:
Reduced damage of jump attack from 50 to 40

Fixed bug:
When damaged in the middle of fever move, Brad holds a hidden weapon and cannot pick weapon despite he is seen to be unarmed.


20 July 2018:

Enabled light weapon picking, however weapon swing is replaced by unarmed attack, can still throw weapon
Kicking heavy weapon is unchanged
Using Fever move other than Eclipse-Fever drops weapon
Pressing DvA in Eclipse-Fever will now properly use Eclipse-Normal instead of Eclipse-Fever.
It also removes an overpowered combo with repeated usage of Eclipse-Fever

Bug: When damaged in the middle of fever move, Brad holds a hidden weapon and cannot pick weapon despite he is seen to be unarmed.
Being knocked, caught, fluted or throwing hidden weapon clears this bug.

Bug: Using Slide-Fever in certain condition has misplaced shade.

15 Jan 2018:

Reduced the attacking time of Eclipse by 1f (1/30s),
therefore pressing D>J opposed to facing direction when MP is less than 50% will no longer causing dangling sweep to cause additional 30HP damage and drastically reduce length of dangling sweep

Shadows when casting Eclipse - Fever are now less visible

12 Jan 2018 (3rd):
Backflip will now only launch enemy backwards very slightly
Player should follow with >JA instead of JA after finishing with Backflip - Normal
This also disables repeated use of Backflip - Normal, but does not disallow wall bug

Changed the rolling animation (imo it is still an intermediate animation, i would like to make him tip his hat when sidestepping)

12 Jan 2018 (2nd):
Damage of Jump attack increased from 30 to 50
Damage of Jump attack decreased from 60 to 40
Moonwalk will now properly cast shadow at wall

Improved animation of Frontflip and Backflip
Decreased cast time of Backflip by 1f (1/30s)
Slide - Normal will now properly emits hitting sound
Increased cast time of Moonwalk - Normal by 2f (2/30s)
Fixed a bug that pressing A right after Moonwalk - Fever will lead to missing frame
Increased cast time of stop running to 3f (3/30s)

12 Jan 2018:
Eclipse - Normal will no longer deal damage when hitting enemies behind
Updated readme to include installation guide and credits
BlazingGale for cool ideas like changing the roll animation, they'll be in upcoming updates

Credits
Gad for creating Bleeq and his nice sprites, also for further advice
STM is great help in DC advice and balancing

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Basic of Dance (How to chain combos with Brad)

Wall of text (Click to View)

Brad is an unique character in two ways: He requires setup for each initiation of combo, and he has a much larger variation of moves that build up combos, but combos are generally composed with Inititation + Setup + Loop + Finish.

Initiation
Any action that let Brad stun his enemy

Setup
One or more moves consisting of a Fever move that allows Brad to extend DOP of enemy and allow a loop or finish to follow

Loop
One or more moves consisting of a Fever move that can be used between Initiation/Setup and Finish, and can be repeated. Because a character can only have 500MP in maximum and Brad consumes it in merely 2 Fever moves, Brad can perform no more than 2 loops without using cheat, and if Setup is not present in a combo.

Finish
One Normal move or Stun finish to finish a combo with a down, launching forward or upward. This is not required in fighting multiple enemies but deals increased damage in versus mode.

A Combo must consist of one Initiation and one Finish, but can consist of zero to one Setup and any number of Loop.

Initiation
Normal punch
Stuns in 2 hits.

Jump attack

Dash attack

Frontflip - Normal (Run attack)
Can follow with Eclipse - Fever with key A, but might miss if Brad is too far.
Can follow with Backflip with key D^A, you will return to your starting position.

Backflip - Normal
Can follow with Frontflip - Fever with key A.

Eclipse - Normal
Enemy will be farther away from Brad than any initiation other than Frontflip.

Slide - Normal
Notice Slide - Normal can chain into its Fever variant, but all other moves cannot chain into its Fever variants directly

Forced initiation with Fever moves
By spending 250MP, Fever moves can also be used to stun enemies, but beware Fever moves do not break defense better  than normal moves, Moonwalk - Fever deals damage and moves faster but moves backwards.

Setup

Moonwalk - Normal + Frontflip - Fever
DJA +A
A lifesaver of Brad, this is essential to begin a combo after initiating with a non-move action (normal, jump and dash attack) because Brad cannot setup a non-move action stun with a normal move, the enemy will be launched or downed instead.
Can follow with Eclipse - Fever for extra damage.

Moonwalk - Fever
DJA after non-Moonwalk move
This move lets Brad to move back for a long distance quickly and is very useful to recover from Frontflip - Normal (+ Eclipse Fever) initiation.

Backflip - Fever
>>A +D^A
This move can be used as a recover from Frontflip - Normal as faster and more stable alternative than Moonwalk - Fever, but requires Brad to stay close when he impacts enemy, and cannot be used after >>AA chain with Eclipse - Fever.

Loop

Slide - Fever (+ Eclipse - Fever)
D>J (+A)
A lifeline of Brad, this dishes out 80 damage in a combo, and can be performed twice in a row if position is correct. In the other hand it is slow.

Backflip - Fever
D^A
Needs precise positioning (slightly in front of enemy) to perform. Its raw damage is equal to Slide - Fever but cannot follow with Eclipse - Fever.

Moonwalk - Fever (+ Frontflip - Fever + Eclipse - Fever)
DJA (+A +A)
It's a defensive loop that costs up to 500MP, but grants Brad a temporary defensive state. The following Frontflip and Eclipse requires delay in input to land properly. Alternatively, Brad can finish the combo right after Moonwalk - Fever.

Finish
Finishing Blow
A
Used when pressing A near a stunned target, it's not strictly a down move, enemy can flip but Brad can immediately follow with an unavoidable Eclipse - Normal for extra 30 damage.

Backflip - Normal
D^A
Usable when enemy is at or behind Brad. This deals high damage and launches enemy into air, can follow with avoidable jump attack or wait for antiflip.

Eclipse - Normal
DvA
Usable when enemy is near Brad. This deals moderate damage and pushes enemy away. However if enemy is behind no damage is dealt.

Slide - Normal
D>J
Usable when enemy is at moderate distance from Brad. It is a down finish with high damage but slow.

Frontflip - Normal
>>A
Usable when enemy is far from Brad. It is a quick down finish with high damage. Although highly advantageous Brad usually does not have enough distance to finish with Frontflip - Normal.

Combo examples

Punch x3 (+ Eclipse - Normal)
0MP 100+30dmg
AAA +DvA

It's a basic punch combo, using DvA for antiflip.



Frontflip + Backflip F + Slide
250MP 150dmg
>>A +D^A +W +D>J

This combo solves the dive problem of Frontflip by returning to his starting position quickly, and without the Slide finish it deals stable 100 damage to several enemies in an area.



Dash attack + Moonwalk + Frontflip F + Eclipse F + Slide
250MP 170dmg
>>JA +DJA +A +A +D>J

This combo makes use of Moonwalk - Normal setup which is vital to perform any combo starting with non-move actions. Depending on position, Frontflip - Fever may miss or enemy may end up behind Brad.

It is possible to follow with Slide - Fever to chain a 2Fever combo instead of normal but this requires very precise position.


Frontflip + Eclipse F + Moonwalk F + Backflip/Slide
250MP 130+50/30dmg
>>AA +DJA +W +D^A/D>J

Moonwalk - Fever's rapid backward moving is used as an aggressive recover after a wild strike using >>AA. Brad ends up standing near to enemy but may be either before or behind him.


Punch x2 + Moonwalk + Frontflip F + Eclipse F + Slide F + Eclipse F + Slide
500MP 270dmg
AA +DJA +A +A +D>J +A +D>J

A standard 2Fever combo starting from normal punch stun. While it is straightforward, it requires Brad to stand near enemy when latter is in DOP (no need to worry grabbing enemy though), and even that enemy may end up before or behind him in the middle of combo depending in initial position.

500MP 290dmg
Slide + Eclipse F + Slide F + Eclipse F + Slide F + Eclipse F + Slide

Code:

D>J +A +D<J +A +D>J +A +D<J

Probably one of the most damaging combos of Brad, it repeatedly uses Slide for its high damage output. The catch is Slide is harder to cause DOP to a moving target.

[Sevendogs]

The combo code you presented there,is it a forced combination you wanted to be? Or it turned out that way?.

[rewlf2]

The combo code you presented there,is it a forced combination you wanted to be? Or it turned out that way?.

I designed the system to balance out the total damage and tested those combos myself. I'm not in total control of the combos though.

[the mad maskman]

altho i honestly didn't like nino's or the mage's revamp, i have to say, this one is really awesome.
facourite combo till now: AA, DJA+A+A, D^A/D>J depending on your positioning at the start if the combo, D^A after walking to him again, and follow up with jump attack. maybe this isn't the best one(and the jump attack is flippable obviously), but it looks cool and chunks more than half a health bar :P.

[Sevendogs]

He's pretty heavy and stiff to play with.

What I am referring is his basic moves and special's.tho by looking at his sprites he seems pretty swift and easy to handle.

For example look at that slide kicks,smooth,but he move at very short distance and slow initiating time,regardless you only want him to stun his enemy.

What I suggest is to make him free moving while ending the move made,he doesn't need to end it with a delay.also we would love to see a better face pic.

[rewlf2]

Updated in 20 July 2018:

Enabled light weapon picking, however weapon swing is replaced by unarmed attack, can still throw weapon
Kicking heavy weapon is unchanged
Using Fever move other than Eclipse-Fever drops weapon
Pressing DvA in Eclipse-Fever will now properly use Eclipse-Normal instead of Eclipse-Fever.
It also removes an overpowered combo with repeated usage of Eclipse-Fever

Bug: When damaged in the middle of fever move, Brad holds a hidden weapon and cannot pick weapon despite he is seen to be unarmed.
Being knocked, caught, fluted or throwing hidden weapon clears this bug.

Bug: Using Slide-Fever in certain condition has misplaced shade.

[rewlf2]

Updated in 22 July 2018:

Reduced damage of jump attack from 50 to 40

Fixed bug:
When damaged in the middle of fever move, Brad holds a hidden weapon and cannot pick weapon despite he is seen to be unarmed.