Kordite

The Obsidian Tribe is a lizard clan developing at the coast of the grand volcano. Unbeknowst to them is their massive technological disadvantage compared to nations of the world — nations which acknowledged yet disregarded the Obsidian Tribe’s relevance due to their primitivity. However, one biological factor gave power to their clan: direct control over their body temperatures due to the volcanoes climate. The almost instantaneous heating and cooling of their body temperatures paired with the stones these lizards uniquely bear over their bodies revealed their kind’s elemental niche: self-formed obsidian.

The Obsidian Tribe took cultural pride in the technique and quickly became traditional over their acclaimed land. Mastering the new-found fighting form established fierce warriors to defend the tribes’ members and history.

Of these warriors was Kordite, an explorer by nature. Though not recognized as the clan’s strongest, he made his sole priority to relentlessly train and best his fellow warriors in an upcoming grand tournament of their tribe, seeking one reigning champion to leave their land and one day return having explored the unknown world. Kordite’s victory was not easily secured, nor his to realistically achieve, but his grand desire to walk the foreign world denied any other champion that fateful night.

Nations across the world had disregarded their land’s volcano, and will soon realize the magnitudal power of the Obsidian Tribe.
With a parting celebration in his honor, Kordite is sent to one day return, and he’d made it his personal mission to best every elemental master he may encounter. Onward!

Kordite has a defensive trapper archetype with normals that excel in combos / racking percent and specials which hit hard and set up kills.

His elemental niche allows standard rocks on his skin to transform into deadly obsidian in many forms, stemming from his arms, head, and spine/tail.

Kordites gimmick centers around his N-Special: Rock Plant

When planted in the ground, any fresh obsidian move*** that makes contact with the rock will activate it.

***(any obsidian Kordite creates from his body // indicated with white border surrounding the obsidian)

Each fresh obsidian move will initiate a unique reaction for the rock. A few examples are:

N-air – a quick move for neutral interactions and combo extensions.
If it’s hitbox connects with a rock, it’ll frag into obsidian for 3 quick hits with high hit-pause for greater extension potential.

D-tilt – medium-range obsidian stab that sends the opponent upwards.
If it’s hitbox connects with a rock, it will frag, creating obsidian that knocks the opponent towards you for a custom follow up.

D-air – Highly effective spiking hitbox with great range and damage but some foreswing.
If it’s hitbox connects with a rock, it will frag, creating a field of obsidian spikes in front of the player. The spike hitbox of the aerial move combos into the spikes of the rock which knocks opponents out for stage advantage.

U-strong – has 2 unique frag effects depending on whether you hit the rock below you or on a platform above you.

D-strong – hitting a rock frags it into a primed state. This primed state does nothing on its own and can be replaced by placing another rock with N-special.
While the rock is primed, pressing N-special while in air will detonate the primed rock, creating an explosive over the rocks area.

F-strong – Normally, Kordite will replace any placed rock if N-special is used again while grounded, so the only way to have multiple rocks present in the game is with f-strong.

If the head swing hitbox hits a rock, it’ll frag and split into 2-3 different rocks launched in the direction of the attack.

– Charging the attack will increase the distance of the rocks split.
– Each split rock will be active for 1/4 of the normal lifetime of a regular rock.
– Also, N-special will be disabled while at least one split rock is left on the field.
– This move creates opportunities for frag chain reactions and more area for pressure but disables quick repositioning of your rock and potential improvision.

Kordite forms up to three blades from his arm and launches them forward.
Chargeable move with three varying options.

Duo-Slash: (1)
– Can be initiated with just a tap of f-special. Quick two-slash attack that covers lots of area but is slightly laggy.
– Greater use for horizontal recoveries than other options.

Tri-Slash: (2)
– Initiated when special button is released when three blades are created from Kordite’s arm.
– Quick three-slash that adds a finisher at the end designed to cover more ground and KO opponents .

Fake Out: (3)
– Initiated when special is held throughout the entire move.
– Rather than a melee barrage, he launches the blades from the charge into three quick obsidian projectiles.
– Puts F-Special on a cooldown

– Synergizes with Kordite’s N-Special for a flurry of prematurely formed obsidian fragments that set players on fire.

Kordite grabs his tail and channels great pressure to the obsidian formed beneath him, enough so to propel him sky-high.
Standard Recovery Option
– Able to wall-jump
– Small, weak spiking hitbox on launch. Synergizes with Kordite’s N-Special for a spiky kill option.

Kordite takes out his spear, the only possession he uses from his home, and hurls it in front of himself
Kill-Confirm Tool
– Spear hitbox sends opponents towards the player with great hitstun, allowing for a punishing follow-up
– Differing animations and throw angles for both grounded and aerial D-Special

Hey! This is my first ever submission to the rivals workshop and steam in general. Kordite was a blast to conceptually create, visualize, and then realize within the game. I saw this Rivals competition as a way to further develop my artistic capabilities and coding knowledge. If you do check Kordite out and have any feedback, I’d love to hear it! so I can further develop Kordite and my personal takeaways from this project. Feel free to leave a comment! I’ll do my best to respond and change any bugs found.

I created all of the code (besides the credited below) and art for Kordite myself, however I’d like to thank those in the Rivals of Aether Extended Workshop for helping me with a bunch of q’s.

And I’d like to credit Supersonic#9999 for their Complex Hit Detection Code. I’m not sure if i’d be here (almost) finished if it weren’t for it.

Also, on this development path I had so many questions about how to make hit detection work and how articles worked too so feel free to look into Kordite’s code if you’d like some frame of reference. There wasn’t much documentation found online to help me out so the least I can do is help others. Merry Christmas!

Last thing, if anybody can dm me or comment how to add gifs / pics to the description of this page that’d be amazing.