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  • Self- Flinging / Momentum Boost - Fun Technique or Bad Exploit?

Hello there.

I'd like to share some food for thought and hear others' opinions on this. I am also very curious as to what the game's developers think about stuff like this. Is this "magic of physics" or a combined mechanic abuse?

At the moment there are about 3 things like this: the one I'm going to bring up here, the one that allows you to throw objects 1000kms away, and the simpler one which is basically a jump punch that allows you to cover the same distances as you would with a dropkick, but with no drawback of getting up from the ground.

They are all born out of momentum generated by the player actions (running/grabbing/jumping/punching/kicking) and are not RNG, meaning you can do them anytime on demand.

My stance on the matter is simple: this is movement mechanic exploits, all 3 of them. I wouldn't want to see them in the game. Stuff like that could be exclusive to powerup gimmicks or whatever, but not available just like that.

I don't know how many people who have stumbled upon this topic actually dealt with players who use these, but I'll link a few examples here.

To perform self- flinging, you have to very quickly input a combination of SPRINT (moving anywhere) + PUNCH + JUMP + KICK. The action sequence then breaks/shifts, and your character first performs jumpkick and then punches mid-air, creating a lot of momentum as a result. The key is to boost the generated momentum with additional momentum.

Depending on the timing you get different results, but it's easy to spot it being performed because the character body starts sort of "free-floating". See below.

1. It allows you to cover large distances.
...and taking lives in the process.

2. It generates a lot of momentum/force.
So much that you're 100% knocking out somebody if you land on them.
You can do this while standing still, knocking the soul out of your enemies.


I won't go in detail about how all the cases on where and how it is used, that'll be left up to your imagination and possible future discourse. 😅

  • UnseenMind, Anon, and The-Fluffy replied to this.
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    • [deleted]

    • Best Answerset by komikoza

    For me, more questions than answers remain, but I will finish (for now) my activity in this thread with a closing rant of sorts. As always, I'm not on any side of this per se, I fight for the game design part in this case.

    And well, allow me to welcome everyone to the new era of 'combo-moves' in Party Animals:

    On The Macros Related Fix That Started It All or Why Dev Accepted Flinging

    I had to re-read the statement from GrannyMax once again regarding the initial removal of the topic starters (I'd like to highlight that this is now obsolete, and the change has been reverted). Things are turning out to be quite different from what I initially perceived it as, but only the man, the myth, the legend can confirm for sure.

    I would also like to explain what macros are, how they can be utilized in PA, and how the latest changes affect this for those unaware or curious. Before that we analyze the mentioned statement:

    I don't know why it was initially unclear to me, but the overall message can be summarized as:

    We removed macro possibilities, flinging got affected as a result, but based on our information it was rarely legitimately triggered anyway. Sorry that some legitimate users (even called 'masters' in that statement) who use those key combos are affected.

    Therefore, this seems to have been accepted by the developer since the beginning as a legitimate way to play. But because there was a way to perform this by using macros, they decided to remove it all together as a quick fix.

    However,

    After the Discord outcry, this decision is reverted ALTOGETHER, AND the stamina consumption is increased.

    Of course, to me personally this leaves more questions than answers as all the downsides of this "way to play" remain and probably won't be remedied.

    The devs are surely doing quick damage control with that, and the statements about flinging in the first place don't seem to actually be consistent / making sense.

    • For 10 months it had remained unaddressed.
    • 10 months later dev removes flinging under "macros" reason.
    • Less than a week later flinging is brought back, but with an attempt at balancing its use.

    The worst in all this is the communication leaving players like me wondering what is going on. There are no extensive dev statements on this and what GrannyMax has provided seems to be a rather confusing speech.

    He says that after 'investigation' they found out there weren't many legitimate users of these 'combo moves', which supposedly was the point that tipped the balance scales, implying that the majority used macros, AND acknowledging that they're cutting out otherwise dev-accepted 'combo-moves'.

    So, after that the chaos ensued and many (even I was surprised how many people that protected this there turned out to be). Feedback is too much, so the revert happens, but now with a stamina limiter.

    Overall, it's more or less a logical way to go about it, I just wish the communication was more transparent and less confusing.

    They reintroduced the flings due to the major outcry, officially named it 'combo-moves' and limited it with stamina consumption (which won't be enough for the players that complained about its removal). All of the downsides mentioned in this thread, and the possibility of macros remain, albeit now limited by stamina.

    UnseenMind

    No problem there. For one, as @Igor pointed out, hardly anyone uses it.

    For two, the trebuchet still has purposes. Like for traveling to the other side.

    It just adds extra elements to the game mode, which just makes it more interesting.

        The only tolerable and acceptable method for me is the jump-punch gaining dropkick distance.

        I believe the other two are game-breaking exploits.

          I guess we wait until more people start using it? Is it then going to become an issue? 🙂

          UnseenMind I left the instruction on it in the OP, it's very easy to perform. Try it, see how it works.

          AnimaI You don't need Trebuchet at all, because object fling covers the launches, and self-fling covers travelling to the other side. I am actually not sure if you can climb up to the spawn point from below, but you can reach the other coast from there for sure.

          What I think it does is it provides cheesy ways to cut corners in the gameplay, taking away from the original design, bypassing it entirely in case of Trebuchet as an example.

          It can disrupt other game modes too due to cutting large distances swiftly without drawbacks in some cases (like Football/Soccer/Buzzball/Safety Afloat etc.).

          One can also bypass climbing the ledges in "Into the Game" or "Wind Tunnel". I know you can simply jump on some of them (or just drop kick in some cases), but that needs a specific wind up and accuracy, while self- fling is a guaranteed climb.

          There are more uses for this definitely.

          Now have people who have mastered all 3 of these and you have absolute hardcore squads. I am almost tempted to create one to show you guys the extent of this unusual "skillset". 😅

              17 days later

              also, a technique I made myself, is jump hold headbutt punch and kick. If you do that you will do a flying front flip that's always sends you flying.

              Haven't had time to test this myself, but I guess it's already been done now. The body fling is confirmed to allow you to launch yourself from the tail of the submarine to the main cabin. Make of this whatever you want.

                komikoza
                Hi,

                I think unintended mechanics like this should stay in the game for a while so we can see how the game evolves. In best case scenario this makes the game more enjoyable for veterans when there's an extra layer of complexity.

                I don't see exploiting the moves as a big problem unless it becomes a plague which ruins the fun for new players.

                    Anon the game has been out for two months. what fucking "veterans" are you talking about?

                    • Anon replied to this.

                        Igor
                        It's a relative term in video games and often used to describe more skilled players.

                        • Igor replied to this.

                            Anon the so called "skilled" players should not have more advantage then they do. teach those techniques to newer players, that's something i can tolerate

                            • Anon replied to this.

                                Igor
                                Because of the nature of this game I doubt it's going to be a problem, but it is one my main concerns as I already stated.

                                Somehow I feel like you are just trying to start an argument without comprehending my original post.

                                • Igor replied to this.

                                    Anon i stated clearly to you that "veterans" should not have more advantage. but you are not wrong, i don't miss an opportunity to make fun of someone talking about "skill" in this game

                                      This is a tricky one, but outside of forums like these, these are essentially "undocumented" behaviours that seem to go against the laws of physics at times. This places a barrier to entry for some players as the controls page only gives you a minimal list of controls, and the results of these behaviours (like the fling) are not what you'd expect to happen in a physics-based game. If everyone else is doing this kind of thing, other players can't really be expected to figure out that these kinds of things are possible without resorting to forums or just by trial and error.

                                      I can see moves like the fling completely breaking some of the sports-based levels, for sure, unless everyone knows how to do it. But then, I personally feel that if everyone was doing the fling, the game would lose a lot of its charm and it'd be like watching The Matrix. The fact that the game is (or should be) grounded with real physics is one of the fun parts for me personally (and I believe it was mentioned in their press release) and I wouldn't want to lose that due to these undocumented and unrealistic behaviours.

                                      Just my thoughts on it, @komikoza.

                                        BugalugsNugget
                                        Today I had the pleasure to play against a tryhard team which was using all the possible tricks. The match was very unbalanced so it wasn't as fun as usual, but self-flinging didn't play a big role in that.

                                        After seeing this thread I have been using self-fling all the time and it makes the game more enjoyable to me. It's not an overpowered feature and it actually requires some practice to make any use of it. It's very tempting to fling myself around, but a lot of times I end up causing more harm than good.

                                        Tbh, I would be quite sad if it was removed from the game.

                                        • DzL replied to this.
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