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New Feature – Take a trip through Aether!

Since we launched on Early Access in September of last year, we have gotten a ton of feedback and requests. Often players come to us with balance suggestions, character ideas or even new gameplay features that they want added to the game. It is with great pleasure that I can announce that we will be adding one of the most requested features to Rivals of Aether – Tripping.

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Tripping is an extremely popular and well liked feature that you may have seen in other platform fighters. We know that players love losing control of their character. However, one of the complaints about tripping when it was implemented in another popular series is that it felt too random and unpredictable. Since Rivals of Aether is focused on competitive play, we wanted our implementation of tripping to be as competitive as possible. Therefore in Rivals, you will now trip EVERY time that you try to dash. You will no longer have to worry about a random number generator impacting your intense matches. This implementation will be the most competitive version of tripping ever!

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Now I know what you might be thinking, “Hey doesn’t that make characters who prefer the air much stronger?” Don’t worry! We thought about that too. In order to balance tripping around our entire cast, we are also introducing Air Tripping. Air tripping is triggered EVERY time you try to double jump. This makes it extremely balanced! We wouldn’t want to have some new ridiculous character such as a small bat with a sword terrorizing our high level play.

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High level Rivals will now be even more competitive thanks to this new feature. The game will be extremely balanced and you will no longer have to worry about Forsburn’s awesome Dash Attack. Never before has tripping met the three F’s of competitive gameplay – Fair, Fun and Frequent! We expect fans of fighting games to be tripping over themselves trying to pick up a copy of Rivals of Aether.

Character Reveal – Hidden Character 1

We are very excited to reveal the latest character to join the Rivals of Aether roster! This is the first hidden character we are unveiling. If you don’t want to be spoiled for the final release, then ignore this post!

Click to reveal Hidden Character 1

 

Absa – The Storm Architect

 

Profile:

Absa is a famed engineer and secret martialist of the Elders of the Air Alliance, who live high above the cloudline in the Archai Mountains. Before the Air Armada, winged citizens of the Alliance would fly between the high trees of the Aetherian Forest and the mountaintops of Archai. The Elders of Air dispensed wisdom and law from the Archaian mountaintops, and Air society flourished under a peaceful neutrality. However, after the Fire Kingdom burnt down the Aetherian Forrest, the winged citizens began to question the peaceful policies of the mountain-dwelling Elders. A rift formed between the Air citizens who could fly and those who could not. Soon the winged Air-dwellers built the Air Armada and declared war on the Fire Nation… leaving the Air Alliance in tatters.

Absa was only a young girl when half of the Air Alliance left with the Armada. However, young Absa, math prodigy and wunderkind inventor, perceived the vulnerability of her mountaintop civilization. She studied the world of Aether and developed a defense to protect the mountains from war. She mastered weather patterns and harnessed the power of lightning to create a permanent electrical storm at the base of the Archai Mountains. This storm barricade has hidden the mountains so well that the Air Elders consider themselves impervious to the turmoil of Aether. Yet, Absa, the inventor of the storms herself, fears that the barricades may prove insufficient. Despite the laws of the Elders, Absa secretly developed her storm techniques for offensive use. In martial arts societies hidden in the caves of the Archai mountains, Absa honed skills that she hoped to never need.

Elemental Powers:

CLOUD CONTROL – Absa can place a cloud using her Neutral or Forward Special. This cloud hangs in the air until Absa bursts it by tapping her Neutral Special and knocking enemies away.

THUNDER BOLT – Absa can charge her Neutral Special to create a powerful lightning blast that connects her to her cloud. All opponents caught between the two will be knocked away at high speeds.

CONDENSED STORM – Absa focuses the power of a lightning bolt to the tip of her hoof. If she can line up one of her aerial kicks perfectly, she unleashes great power.

Gameplay:

Wrastor’s gameplay is based around him quickly closing distances and comboing his opponents into the air. Absa is about controlling space through her clouds and preventing her opponents from staying close for too long. She wants to separate herself and use her clouds and thunderbolt to keep her enemies at bay.

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When fighting against Absa, you have to be aware of the Cloud placement. She can quickly burst a cloud to knock you away from it. She can combo her opponents between herself and her clouds. She can also electricute the air between the two. When you are getting close to death percents, you have to be careful about Absa trying to line up her Thunder Bolt.

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Absa can also set off an electric chain using her down special. Once the two sides of the chain meet, it will explode outward knocking opponents away at high speeds. She can create it either on her cloud to make part of the stage unsafe for opponents or on herself to use it offensively.

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Absa also has very powerful aerial attacks. Her forward air, back air and down air kicks all have multiple hitboxes. If you can hit opponents with the sweet spot on the tip of her hooves, then opponents will be knocked away with extreme force.

Additional Screenshots:

If you are near the East Coast, then head over to Super Smash Con this weekend to get hands-on play with this newest Rival!

New Trailer – Maypul and Forsburn

The third trailer was revealed today at E3 2015! In it we show off gameplay from both Maypul and Forsburn. Check them out right here:

The new character revealed today is Maypul, the Sylvan Watcher:

Learn more about Maypul and her leafy techniques on her character page.

We also showed gameplay of Forsburn, the Exiled Flame:

Learn more about Forsburn and his smokey deception on his character page.

Thanks for checking out the latest Rivals of Aether update. If you have any questions or feedback, let us know over at our Smashboards thread where we will be discussing the new additions to the game!

Rivals of Tether! – A Redesigned Game

Hey guys,

As I said yesterday, today we have a HUGE announcement regarding the future of Rivals of Aether. And that future has now arrived: Rivals has been completely redesigned. Introducing…

RIVALS OF TETHER, the most competitive tetherball videogame to date!

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Rivals of Tether features the same great Rivals you love, but the gameplay is totally reimagined. If you thought using your attacks to hit your opponents and combo them into oblivion was fun, then you were WRONG! Sooo WRONG! Using your attacks to smack a ball tied to a giant pole is where the real fun’s at.

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But you might be asking, how does it work? I’ll tell you! Rivals are split up into two teams. Don’t worry, you can still 2v2! 4-player tetherball for the win! Each team can only occupy one half of the stage. You can’t cross onto your opponent’s side; that’s a foul! Duh! You use your amazing elemental abilities and powerful attacks to smack the yellow rubber ball. Each time the ball is hit, it takes damage! The more damage it takes, the faster it goes! Be careful though: if you get hit by the ball when it is moving at high speeds, you will be sent flying! That will give your opponent a chance to wrap the ball around the pole, perhaps even more than once. If you wrap the ball up to 5 times, then you score a point and the ball’s damage is reset back to 0. The first team to reach 5 points is the winner!

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Hit the ball 5 times with a normal attack and store up a STRONG BALL CHARGE! Use a Strong Attack to send the ball into OVERDRIVE. Your opponent must parry a ball in overdrive if they want to send it back. Getting hit by a ball in overdrive will almost certainly spell death if it connects. By using your Strong Ball Charges well, you can really change the tide of a match and store up some well-needed wraps.

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Our 1-4 player tetherball mode will replace the core gameplay of Rivals of Aether. We simply don’t have time to support fighting anymore and we feel that tetherball has great untapped market potential. If you’re upset with the new direction, quit being a such a fool! And have a great April 1st!

RIVALS OF AETHER Announced

RIVALS OF AETHER development is live! We started working on this title in April 2014 and we’re happy to reveal our first two characters: Zetterburn – the Fire’s Roar, and Orcane – the Puddle Jumper.

Check back to this site frequently as we will be posting character announcements and development updates. If you want to get involved by discussing the game and contributing to the balance, head over to our Smashboards thread!

If you would like to post about RIVALS OF AETHER, check out our Presskit()!