Azusa RP Online

Welcome back to another Update Log; This one is a very important update, not just because we are finally moving to the first full version of Azusa's beta, but we are concluding some big systems that have been on hold since beta 0.0.1; Well, Lets not waste time and start it:

0.5.1 to 0.5.5

*Small Changes to make gameplay easier:
Such as Pressing Z to kill a NPC instead of pressing E;
Its possible now to pick up items with double click;
Changed the frequency of roleplay checks (1 hour instead of 2);
Changed the catch up rate of CM;
Rework at desperatio's fog; now with a smog effect;
Some fixes toward savefiles;
Possible to learn training method by yourself (using 10 rpp);
Some reworks at the movement system to make it smoothier;
Some rebalances at the active training systems;
Using skip turn now recovers one stamina;
Fixed a bug where angels/demons couldn't gain rpp through says;
Custom NPCs attempt now costs 200 coins (instead of 1k);
You can now grab your own custom NPC;
Fixed bugs with barriers, that made them unbreakable;
Barriers were now made temporary, they usually least a certain amount of years;



*New Destruction System:
Theres now a toggle to set if you are going to destroy something or not, keep it off if you don't plan destroying stuffs for no reason;
Re-designed destructions, previously it was just theorical that a strong person could destroy an entire city; Now, its possible, as if you destroy a structural tile, the tiles built by the same person around it will also be destroyed;
(there were some rebalances in the difficulty to destroy something in the versions 0.5.3 till 1.0.0)
Think twice before abandoning your loved city in the hands of a strong villain!
Now the destructions have better effects, as destroying a house will leave destruction fires and smokes that can be seen in a large distance!


*Broken Bones and Injury System:
Started to introduce these systems, there are alot of sub-content based updates to be done toward it, but lets explain:

There was a huge problem in Azusa design in terms of battle; for example, a strong player A; gets in a fight with a slightly weaker player B; the fight get A to 10% health; B sacrifices his life to get A hurt down to 10% and dies; A simply rests and A is ready for another go like it was all a big nothing, and B death is taken as a big nothing aswell; no one in the world can ever defeat A cuz yeah. (this flaw constantly killed long wipes with extremelly strong players)

With this problem in mind, it will be easier to understand the mechanics of injury and the reasons behind it;
Fighting WITHOUT TRAINING MODE ON(aka serious battles), can break bones, under 70% health you will have a low chance breaking a bone everytime youre damaged (higher damage, higher chances)
The chances also increase if your health is lower, as fighting with 20% health for example will probably result in some injury.
You can break up to 10 bones;
each bone breaking reduce the way your status affect your melee attacks and defences by 9%
10 broken bones means you are really vulnerable and can be killed by someone originally way weaker then you.
(think twice before getting into some serious battle, take care of your body!)

Medics can make medic kits; wearing a medic kit wont let you move, and it will start healing the bones; usually take some time to heal, so good luck there,
Using the medic kits in a bed gives you 2x healing rate
Keep in mind that it takes the same amount of time, if you are healing 1 bones or 10; but you will only heal if you get into a treatment (aka, wearing the medic kits). So make sure to buy some medic kits from a civil whenever you have a chance!

if you have broken bones you get +2% explosion rate for each bone
if you explode your cosmo with KO and broken bones, you get them healed

(Why bones breaking arent specific?) 1- give you RP freedom to break ur nose or w/e you want.
2- in saint seiya, breaking a leg or arm never stopped the characters from using these limbs, aka, look at how tenma breaks the stones with his broken arms; and how albafica throws roses and walks with all his bones broken etc.
however it will affect your battle and make you vulnerable (mainly if you are the strongest player in the game)
3- The broken bones (even with this tittle) can be roleplayed as any kind of Injury, such as a deep cut, etc.

Also made some extra visual icons to give the player the feels of pain whenever you get one of these injuries; such as bandages and a bone breaking animation.



*New Standalone Client:
Finally, yeah, I had to make a topic for this one because old players knows how long I been trying to customize it; now we have a pretty nice splash screen,


*Tips System:
the tips system basically have a tips database, starting out with 118 tips; these tips works as a interactive guide/tutorial for new players, and ofc, to make the game interactively teach the players in a non boring way. More the player explore the game, more tips he will unlock. Dont expect tips like cellphone online games that that we want to not read fast as possible; The tips systems can really reveal mechanics secrets usefull even to ancient players;
Also, the tips works more like a collecting cards;
Basically when you do certain actions, explore the game such as defeat someone, start a battle, get defeated, die, explode ur cosmo, travel, level up, etc. Will unlock certain types of tips; once you unlocked that tip it wont be displayed anymore when you explore;
However the tips you unlocked will reappear in your screen at every 10 minutes or so; theres a 5% chance you unlock a new tip at that time loops;

Well, basically good luck with these tips, gotta catch em all!
Admins can also broadcast a tip, by typing its id number


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version 1.0.0
Well, let me explain the main themes here before we go on; version 1.0.0 introduces alot of the game design/layout changes, some windows have been remade, others didnt because some demand more works and even a complete rework (such as the controls at the top of the screen etc)
But you can already see the new color schemes that will be part of the Azusa's new interface; but this update aint just about visual changes, (there are alot tho) but some long waited content that changes alot the gameplay, so lets organize this update log in those 2 sessions; First one,

Visual changes:


*Basic windows recolor and interface redesigned.
As you can see just part of the interface are remade, we are already working into remaking every skills icons and the upper area will have a complete re-design in the future;
Also we are finally using the latest byonds feature and now, most screen-texts now have some extra effects and outlines;


*Roleplay System Redesigned.
These changes may seems silly for most experienced roleplayers, and just visual changes for some others; however there was a reason behind these changes;
Basically those are small details to help completelly new players to understand more the roleplay flow, as in character development and seppearing IC and OOC without the need of someone else spitting rules in their head; basically these visual changes weren't just made to avoid metagames or w/e (even while they help) they are mostly to help the new players to understand the roleplaying system in a visual way;

First change you will notice is that IC messages will appear in your screen, keep in mind each character have its own "aura"; those are made to state the diffrence between each char's voice; And whenever you use bracklets to state you are talking out of character, the screen message won't appear; (this helps alot completelly new players to understand why you are talking with them using bracklets).









As you can see in the screenshots above, the screentexts aren't the only gameplay change toward roleplay; now when creating your character you can define a "First Impressions" short description, and thats how it will be shown to strangers; And when you double click someone, you can set his contact; there you will name that person (mostly at how you think his name is) and from that moment, thats how your character will see him.
This is kinda trivial for experienced roleplayers, but helps alot completelly new players to understand the diffrence of what his character knows and what he knows (as something important to the game flow) a simple change, that can help teaching new players without the need of an annoying guide or people screaming at them;

Keep in mind you can change your first impressions anytime by editing your profile;



New Logo and New Login Screen;
Most of these materials will be used at the game's website, but, finally we have a new (and probably final) login screen, and the screen's colors themes will be used as covers to most advertisement materials etc. (wanted to keep it organized because soon we will be moving our game to steam and we will need some decent materials for the campaign)
So, the new login screen is basically a color pattern and logo for you guys to get used with;
I know some won't like it, but I personally loved;
The screen design, art, and colors were made by one of my favorite artists, and long time friend, you can see some of his works here: https://www.facebook.com/MaquinaSemTempo/


New Creation System:



Still with new players in mind, We all know we lost a new player usually in the first 5-10 minutes of the game, and thats where I want to try to catch them; one of the steps into trying to impress the newcomers was to remake completelly the creation system;
Once you finish reading the intro, you will see a floating iland; and then a blank character will fall and land there with a hero-stance;

The creation process is organized in 3 steps now, the first one is appearance, there you will be able to set your characters sex, race, skin, hairs, and two sets of clothes, (subscribers will be able to create with some extra new items!)
Status and Build, will let you distribute your talent points and how fast your character will gain said status, this way building up how your character will play;
Personality will let you set your characters name and first impressions; first impression is how you will be seen by strangers. there are some question mark buttons beside each section that will explain everything;
Now when you select your spawn point and click the question mark will display its description!
Once you finish customizing your character you should press the finish buttom and your adventure will start.



New Armor names:
Its hard to decide if this one goes inside gameplay changes or visual, but lets keep it here;
Basically its just a change that will annoy most of old players, but, its for a bigger sacrifice, its to later in the future the armors in Azusa don't sound way too silly; and more heroic (even while some still sounds silly);
I've decided to change the original armors (the old ones, aka, the usual ordinary armors and reapers and prices and elites)
names; they will keep the same logic and themes, however they will now be named in latin/scientific names instead of the english ones; (WHY?) no big reason, I am just nerding a little here; good luck finding out the new names of these armors;
Also have fun calling yourself "Lupus Guardian" instead of "Wolf Guardian", It just sounds better...


Gameplay Changes:

New Underworld!

This is the biggest theme of this update, the underworld remake was a really important change in the waitlist of Azusa's update, and -had- to be finished before changing the beta version (aka 1.0.0); So, I finished the entire underworld at once!
Well, sit down and lets talk about it:

When you die, now you will go down the Yomotsu mountain and will find yourself near the Hell's Gate;
Whenever you are walking through the underworld try to read the prompts, as they will explain each of the hells sections (named as Jails) and what they are for;
This new underworld will deliver the playerbase a whole new gameplay and roleplaying universe, now, dieing in Azusa as it always should be, means you will start a whole second gameplay;

Once you cross the Hell's gate, you will be in the first valley of the first Jail; this valley is the edge of the Acheron river; here is where the indecise souls spends their eternity trying to cross the river in a endless loop; theres a way to go through the Acheron River, and its only through the Soul Raft; To call the soul Raft you need to drop all the money by the shore, and by giving up your past life, the raft will take you to the second valley, the Judgement hall.

In the judgement hall there is the judgement book, there is written the dead's names and their main sin, once you read the book and is judged you will be taken to one of the 16 valleys inside the 8 jails of the underworld;

You won't be able to walk through jails as a normal soul; you will be there suffering untill you become a reaper or be rescued; each jail have its own suffering methods; and each suffering work as a unique training method to that area. Once you manage to master the sufferings and enter the nightmare world; you will be able to stop your sufferings by killing your good side; it will be a hard battle, but if you kill it you will come back as an evil reaper, the main villains of the game and able to walk through the underworld jails;

I will list here the sins and sufferings around the underworld:

Indecision: The ones condemned by indecisions are sent back through the acheron river, there they drown constantly suffering by not leaving their past life behind;

Lust: the ones condenmed by lust suffer in the third valley of the first jail; named Dark Storms Valley, there you will suffer stuck in terrible hurricanes;

Gluttony: They suffer in the second jail, the house of Cerberus; endless feces rains falls on their head as they are given as ration to the monster, and keep in this loop forever;

Greed: In the third prison they are condemned into pushing a giant boulder eternally;

Rage: The Dark Swamp is the fourth Jail, the swamp is fed by the Styx River, one of the four Rivers of the underworld; and here are the ones condemned by rage to suffer in eternal conflict with each others;

Heresy: They burn in their sepultures, with half of their bodies dug in they scream in the endless pain inside the fifth jail;

Violence: Condemned by violence suffer inside pools of boiling blood as hot as lava, this is the birth of the Phlegethon river, one of the four rivers of the underworld. And the first valley of the sixth jail;

Suicide: They suffer inside the Suicidal forest, second valley of the sixth jail; here their body twist and turn slowly into dead trees, and as their dead leaves falls they feel insane pain; walking through the suicidal forest is able to hear their scream;

Intellect: the scorching desert is where the ones condemned by abandoning the nature given by gods to follow their own intellect suffer in a constant heat and emptiness. It is the third valley of the sixth jail;

Hypocrisy and Dishonor: They are sent to the seventh jail and fall endlessly into one of the 10 wells;

Excomunicated and Traitors of Gods: They suffer in the deepest part of the underworld, the Eight Jail is mostly covered by the Cocytus river, this place is so cold that the entire river is frozen; they suffer in the endless snow storms and the cold is so strong that slowly drains entirelly their strenght, leaving them fallen in the ground while the snow slowly burry their bodies;


Eighth Sense
A wandering soul or a normal person will receive a huge cosmo limitation in the underworld; so even if you are alive, invading the underworld won't be such an easy task;
In underworld non reapers/demons can only use 10% of their cosmo; However with the Eighth sense the limitation won't happen!

There is no mechanical way to get the eighth sense (yet) but, bynow its only admin given;
The way to get the eighth sense is: You must master seventh, and die in a sacrifical way, then you can send an admin help to get it judged and they will set your eight sense;
Is it also possible to reach eighth sense by reaching 2x your transformation req and getting a god's bless;



Training Methods

We are slowly increasing the amount of training methods as Azusa updates, and this will certainly continue to happen; in this version the suffering cathegory was added with 10 training methods (each suffering gives a certain status and works slightly diffrent)
Beside these ones, the training cathegory got a new speed based training system, called Test Reflexes; this one is currently learnable through ranks or using the 10 rpps while watching someone;
Its considered a semi rare training system;
So yeah, 1.0.0 brings 11 new training methods to the game!

Also some changes were made in the active training methods, since now we have reasons to master other training method cathegory besides meditation, I made it easier starting out, (its 5x easier to get to lvl 2 as it was before) and increased the possible amount of mastery someone can get by 2x;
So if you ever master a training method, it will be like 200% of the previous mastery.


Dream/Nightmare world rework

Previously cosmic slumber became useless quickly, and float became the only real training method; also there was alot of problems in dreamworld usage that resulted in mindless abuses of it; so I changed the way dreamworld works;
Its harder to reach dream world if your level is too high, however the gains there becomes better;
Level 1-15 You enter with concentration level 5, and gain 2x there;
Level 16-30 You enter with concentration level 7, and gain 3x there;
Level 31-40 You enter with concentration level 8, and gain 4x there;
Level 41-50 You enter with concentration level 9, and gain 5x there;
Level 51+ You enter with concentration level 10, and gain 5x there;

Also, while you are in a dreamworld projection you can only use 60% of your cosmo;

Sculptor Perk, And Runtime Made Statues!

This system sounds silly but is quite important for Azusa, as it opens a whole new level for icon editing at runtime; So its now possible to make statues!
Basically you can make statues out of people you have in your contacts list (you can check it with F buttom), and using the sculptor perk;
Why its a perk and not a skill? Wellp, I wanted it to be more like a rank/talent thing, so its a perk.
Statues also works as signs, and you can write short descriptions at them that will be displayed as you hover your mouse at them!

The feels of having a statue of your char made 200 years ago, is priceless!


New Items, Hairs, And Armors



This update brings a huge pack of items and hairs, thanks to the players that helped donating custom icons they made! I won't list everyone here because I usually lost track of them; keep in mind custom icons are paid back with Azusa's credits to be used, not to mention you help the game alot!

But with a big item pack, we also added a new resource, You now need leather to tailor a new clothes. Leather drops rarelly from wild cows and deers; and can be traded through custom npcs;
Also now medic kits need a huge amount of leather to be crafted!

The Hair Cutting window is being remade, as soon as its done the new hairs will be included, but meanwhile its only possible to access the new hairs through character creation!

Dolorem Armor


Thanks to the crowdfunders GigaByteWide and VipersphereVapor the Dolorem (aka Sorrow) armor is finished;
Its a Reaper armor with Water element, its skill activate the sorrow rain, that while its active, every hit made by the Dolorem Reaper drains the enemy's Stamina aswell, and, if the enemy have any unused Movement Point it have a chance on being drained;
Basically its a great debuffing armor as you can slow down your enemy and waste its stamina, no matter how strong he is, without stamina he will struggle dealing with you!


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Final Notes:
You probably noticed the delay in this update log, as the test phase been runing in the brazilian server through this week;
Well, alot of things happened and, recently my HD broke and I almost lost the update, I managed to recover it, but one of the 32 code files got corrupted, had to use a backup version I had from december and remake it;
So, the changes toward the fixes on the battle systems, broken bones, tips and limited cosmo had to be remade quickly during this week...
Wellp, we are almost fine, will just need some further tests toward these things.
Sorry for the delay. In this next week will work hard to get every bug reports and fix them!

Don't forget to join Azusa's discord to keep up with the latest news;
https://discord.gg/FYsMm7g

And download the latest Azusa's client!
http://www.azusarp.com/play