Have you done your research about XBLA? From what I understand they take about 3/4 of revenue made on the game, and you still have to pay them lots of money to add download content and things like patches to your game.
they take 30%
Either way, the demo version is still going to be available on XBLA most likely, but we will definately go for an independant release for the real deal. Right now we’re not in any stage to talk about netplay because our programmer’s not experienced in netcode. That’s something to add in after the game is finished and balanced.
I like this project, and could see it doing pretty damn well, actually. It looks easy to market to a mainstream audience, because you can market the furries to kids so fucking easily. Seriously, hype up the fact that you can be an animal robot and that the game is super fun and kids will eat it up. Looks like you’re making it bright and full of personality, which, with good marketing, is all you need for the 1-14 year old female and male market. The animals appeal to girls and boys no matter what furry haters say, and the robotic part will appeal to the boys most definitely (that sounds a bit sexist, but it’s true).
The Megaman ZX-inspired art is pretty good looking, if just a little too on the furry side and not enough mecha for my taste. But I really think you should be appealing to a younger crowd anyway. Well, probably. I’d play a game like this, and I’m part of the largest demographic on Xbox 360 (20-35 male), but while I’m not really a furry, I’m probably not the norm; I’m just willing to support any start up fighting game developer. Seriously though, the art looks pretty damn fine.
Someone mentioned mags from PSO, those little robot shoulder buddies that you could find and collect. I think they’d fit in perfectly with your game’s style and add something few other games have. It would give the game more replayability as players play to collect these robot friends like quest items in Virtua Fighter, and add customization beyond color in a 2-D fighting game, something almost unheard of. Plus I just love the whole idea and concept of mags. <3 They don’t really have to do anything to entertain the player, just aesthetic robot buddies would be amazing.
I think Rave is the most interesting character I’ve seen so far, and I especially like the sword and the plugs coming out of his back (the plugs could really create unique moves, or unique animations for something like a grab). I like his coloring and face, and I hope you are open to input about keeping him around. He looks like he might be a slower character, which would be unfortunate, because my favorite play style for fighting game characters involves lots of mobility. His attacks could be slow, but make him jumpy and run well, please. 
Um, so have you guys thought about how you wanted him to play? Is it anything like I’d like it to be? ;_;
Also add airdashes/airblocking/ and dizzy instead of guard breaking. Guard break punishes you for guarding correctly (BlazBlue), dizzy punishes you for guarding incorrectly (SF).
Can we get a name for this game by the way?
Thanks for your time.
Thanks for that feedback. I’ll try to answer your questions now.
Rave…we’re planning on turning him into a female since the female side of the cast is a bit lacking, but his general design will be kept for the most part. Rave is a mid-speed character with average movement and average damage. However his gimmick is that when you hit the opponent, he records the percussive sounds that his weapon makes on hit or block (it’s actually a musical instrument with built-in speakers and a microphone on the handle! An all-in-one kareoke/mic stand/MP3 player/sword) and it powers up his special moves and sound based abilities. So the longer you go without using his specials, the more lethal and effective they’ll be when you do get around to using them. He was originally planned to be slow-ish, but now we’re making him female and possibly making the sword smaller, therefore he (she’d) be faster. His original fighting style was going to be a bit like Ragna/Nightmare, but with more rhythm-based hits to some of his specials that require precise timing.
Air dashes and air blocking are in, but guard crushes definately stay. Guard crushing punishes you for being on the defensive too much and also getting a guard crush rewards players for devising blockstrings and better predicting the opponent. Remember that in this game all characters have special evade moves to get them out of pressure and can bust out of blockstrings by sacrificing stamina or meter. We’re not going to have dizzy as something that occurs randomly, but some characters have moves or supers that automatically put you into a dizzy state that can be mashed out of.
The game is currently codenamed “Exetype: Soul Core” the word exetype is word play on ektype, which means replica. It’s somewhat based on story. Soul Core refers to the elemental alignments of the characters. Each android runs off a particular type of energy such as kinetic, heat, electricity, wind power, hydro, solar, nuclear and so on. Soul Cores also refer to a character’s ID number, since it’s set in a utopian world where these machines have created the ideal peace at the cost of some freedom, and everyone identifies each other through ID numbers and soul cores. People who hide their soul core ID’s via proxy are considered criminals, but only if it’s proven that they’re using illegal means to do so. Part of the story centers around how our protagonist has no ID but it seems natural, causing a lot of confusion and triggering a big chain of events that results in a melee between rebels and the emperial holy forces, with a mysterious third group involved from the shadows and pulling the strings. Pretty typical stuff, but since when have fighting games ever had really original stories? We’re working on making it more interesting.
GGPO or GTFO
lol im kidding… you guys got a blog of the game?
Not yet. But we’re hoping to get a website soon.
as soon as we get some more concept art/logo/engine stuff completed.
Just another small suggestion, as much as I like GG:AC, I have a small problem with the training mode. When I want to practice against a specific blockspring/tactic/etc., it’s quite a hassle for me to press the record button and then quickly input the action I want to practice against (which requires me to be able to do the sequence in the first place which isn’t always easy with stuff like I-no’s tk chemical love frc into air dash mix up) lest I make it harder to time when the AI will perform the action.
That said, perhaps you could include in your training mode an menu option that allows the player to create a sequence of moves by adding the moves from the opposing character’s move list into the sequence while determining how long AI will delay or prolong a part of the sequence (think create-a-trick from Tony Hawk’s: underground). For example, delaying the time the AI goes from executing one part of the sequence into another part for the purpose of frame traps or how long the AI will charge a specific move before releasing the move (hell, you could probably even allow the option to randomize this gap for reflex improving practices!). Also if I’m not already in the realm of pure fantasy, perhaps you could even include a database of common blockstrings and tactics for each character, though obivously this couldn’t be done at this stage of the game.
That’s all from me for now. My apologies if my advice is completely stupid or something like that.
All of those are really nice ideas, and I’ve even been wondering why some of that hasn’t been applied to recent fighting games too (like being able to lay down commands in the dummy’s sequence)
A database of common B&B combos (I love that idea) sounds like something that would be better saved until after there is netcode/a strong scene for the game. However it’d be nice if we could give players the option to record their combos at any time after the match, where the game might keep track of the inputs every time the combo counter starts and ends.
Our game is planned to register airtight blockstrings as combos, but in blue (the regular combo counter will be white or yellow) so this could easilly apply to blockstrings too.
I’m thankful to be of service. Perhaps your team could start off the B&B database with stuff that they found and kept in while alpha/beta testing? By the way, I apologize for my ignorance, but what’s the point of having a combo counter for blocksprings? Make it easier for casuals? Seems like it would be confusing to me and I’d prefer to save something like that for training mode and not let my opponent know that the blockstring I just used on him wasn’t safe, but that’s just me.
we’re trying to make blockstrings a big and important part of this game. We want to give the player the feeling of doing something great even when they’re hitting on the opponent’s guard. For this reason, the game shows you how many hits you get that are airtight, as well as how much HP your opponent’s guard has left as you work slowly towards a guard crush. Block hits are going to have this nice shake effect and really satisfying meaty sound effects to give you the impression that you’re really smacking the opponent’s guard hard, and guard breaks will be really flashy to further heighten that sense of satisfaction you get from it. Basically we want blockstrings to feel just as exciting as regular combos.
We assume that at high level play, everyone knows everyone else’s blockstrings (yeah this is unrealistic, but it doesn’t hurt to think this way.) and knows how much blockstun the opponent’s moves all do. So there’s really no reason to try to keep blockstring combos invisible.
Some characters rely heavilly on okizeme, wakeup and guard/chip damage. They might not have damaging normal combos but perhaps exceed in getting passive chip or guard damage where more direct attackers might not.
The blockstring combo counter just goes with the theme of us trying to create a game where both defense and offense are exciting.
That one who keeps posting gave me an idea. Why don’t you make a fighting game where all the gods in the world battle it out? It would be an instant hit because fundamentalists of all religions would be able to go online, and fuck each other’s shit up.
Zeus zoning with lighting bolts and shit = top tier I would main Dyonus, though.
But seriously…
I think your character design is too out there to appeal to a large audience. I understand wanting to stray from using humanoid characters. However, if you’re gonna go that route at least make them aggressive, dangerous, and ferocious looking beasts like in Darkstalkers. That might get you somewhere.
That is good advice and all, but it’s a pretty overdone or obvious apporoach and doesn’t fit with the original concept matter/inspiration matter at all.
Rather than a game like MONSTER where the characters as described above, we’re trying to settle for a prettier, cooler more modern look. Kinda like comparing an CD player to a tape deck. Tape deck looks hella nasty and hardcore, but the CD player is sleeker and prettier. Both play music pretty well.
Thanks for your input, but at this stage the graphical design is set in stone. I guess what I’m trying to ask now is for alternative methods to try to get people to appreciate the game respective of it’s theme and style, and by this I mean things like marketing, hyping, features and other stuff like that.
Anyway, speaking of characters, I got my hands on an unfinished concept sheet for our main protagonist’s new design.
http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/9510/ginniganfinaldesign.jpg
he’s still a ‘cute’ character it seems. But we do have some more aggressive looking fighters amongst the cast. You generally can’t expect the main character to be too imposing.
Yeah, I gave solid input and he doesn’t respond to it. Why? He’s more focused on making the game how he wants it than considering its commercial viability. He may as well make entire cast Neko Arc palette swaps at this point. He’s a troll that’s taking it to the next level by (supposedly) making a game people would hate to see. Thankfully this project will project will most likely lose steam for one reason or another thanks to the hell that’s game development.
i might have missed it. when are you aiming for this to drop. im interested much.
Yo Squirrel, I’m happy for you and I’ma let you finish, but Monster is the best furry donjon game of all time. OF ALL TIME!
/shitty meme
Seriously though, market to kids and furries. Kids will be “robot animals whee!” and furries will be “oh god yiff yiff yiff”. You can’t tell me with two of the bigger non porn dA furry artists on your roster that you were aiming for anything outside of wanking over the designs. They’re too stereotypically sketchy animu furry for any other rational outcome. That, and I’m 86% sure you’re a troll.
it seems like you have a chance at making something worthwhile but you say you want a mainstream audience yet go for something as unbelievably niche as mecha-furries.
i dont know how to make them more appealing for a mainstream audience.
Either accept the market you’re obviously targeting or give up. Don’t expect this to ever be picked up by the mainstream or even fighting game players. SRK seems like the wrong place for this style of game.
Skullgirls had it hard enough being an all girls fighting game…
You are forgetting that I am not the one making the game here. I could argue black and blue with the designer, but fact is, he is very attatched to the concept and isn’t backing down on it. This isn’t my fault.
And a game people would hate to see? We’re trying to gear this towards fighting game enthisiasts by asking personally and trying to add in all the stuff that people might want in a new-school fighter, as well as give it a unique and fun twist.
You wouldn’t know a troll if it shat on you. This is serious stuff here or else I wouldn’t have broken my usual policy as to never post threads on SRK.
I probably didn’t respond to your comment because other than making me aware of the fact that you’re a twat who can’t give straight answers without making them sound like an insult, your post was hardly solid input. It consisted of one line of ‘urhur, art style art style’ and absolutely no constructive criticism. Jimmy’s post…now THAT is solid feedback. This game will happen and we won’t stop until it’s solid, even if it means we have to patch it regularly. And hopefully it will be enjoyable by everyone.
Anyway, people who are saying to market it towards kids and mid teens are right, and that’s solid advice. I guess we could never really expect it to be outside of a niche market. I’ll change the title because it’s a bit misleading at this point.
@ KMD: Ryanide is one of those rare furries (if you can even call him one) who preaches against adult-oriented artwork in the fandom regularly. I’m 86% sure that the last thing he wants is to create a game solely for the purpose of ‘fap to designs’. He is kind of always striving to try and make anthropomorphism cool for normal people and try to shake the furry fandom’s negative image. He actually hates being associated with furries.
So you are pretty much talking out of your ass there. And no, I’m not trolling, dammit.
@Zinac but people here play Blazblue and sometimes even DS or Monster, not to mention loli fighters (which are even more cutesy than our character designs) so what makes you say this eh?
@ Jimmy1200 It’s way too soon for us to give an estimated release date. You probably won’t see it for a long time. Our programmer is busy for 4 months before he can fix up the engine seriously enough for us to start running demos. Right now this stuff is only in the concept phases.
One:
Already off to a bad start squirrel. And the wankery I mean is a metaphorical one, a “hurr durr we’re making furry characters cool murr skritch skritch” form of wankery.
That being said: what he wants, and what the public interprets are completely different, it’s the nature of art. The nature of “anthro” art specifically is one that is perverted by the fanbase, who jacks to it. And people outside of the fandom, who dog it because of the previous perception. And much like the yaoi fandom, the 10% of the anthro fandom that isn’t in it for fetishistic means is either
a) marginalized
b) lying
c) both
d) have long since gotten out of the fandom.
And every anthro artist says they’re trying to bring respect to/don’t like the fandom. Even the ones drawing 8-dicked Nazi wolves fucking 9-dicked Japanese foxes. That’s the anthro equivalent of “I didn’t inhale” or, “I swear, she said she was 18.”
Your crew’s artstyle, while well-done, is even more maligned than loli moe style on this side of the pond. You liked Gleam of Force, tell me how well the OMG CHIBI KAWAII DESU ^___________^ style worked for it with the Poverty crew and SRK in general. Now add that, but with the added whammy of a group that for a good chunk of time was Internet Enemy #1, with a game you’re asking advice for on the internet.
The two people who posted after me are dead on. This is not, and will never be, a mainstream game unless you market it to kids who don’t know any better. Even then, it’s a stretch. Play to your strengths; market this on dA, Sheezy, FA, Gaia, anywhere but here. What you should have done, was not shown us what it looked like and asked us how we would make a solid fighter. Then, you could get more useful posts like jimmy120s and less of these.
But that would kind have voided the whole point of me making this thread wouldn’t it?
I’m asking for tips on how to make a game with a cute or unorthodox graphical style still appeal to your average fighting game players.
lots of people harped on Blazblue for being too anime when it first came out, and now, even some people who aren’t into that sort of style have started playing it. Obviously Arcsys did something very right with their game, despite it being very typically anime (which seems to disagree with a fair number of western fighting game players, despite the fact that Street Fighter is technically anime.)
We are not making this game to pander to the furry fandom. If we were doing that, the characters would all be highly sexuallised. Doing that would also further kill any respect we might get from people outside said fandom and that is not good. We are trying to keep this good clean stylish anthropomorphism, keeping it free from any references of that nature at all. Of course we could market it towards the furry fandom specifically, but we want to try to push the game as being ‘general’ and focus more on the developer support, gameplay and animation quality foremost. We COULD have just made the game with typical shoenen anime bullshit characters and made it into a Blazblue ripoff. Whoohoo, wouldn’t that have been BORING. We wanted to try something unusual.
And gleam of force did poorly here also for the fact that it’s not really a fighter, even though it’s closer to a fighter than Smash. Monster was far more successful on here, and Monster is much, much more typical furry than what we’re pushing here. (and even then, Monster is kemono)
I appreciate your advice to market it to a younger crowd. We might just do that. However, we aren’t making a noob-friendly fighter. We want this game to be playable at high level and we want hardcore fighting game players to enjoy it more so than casual players. At the same time, we also just wish to show that anthro isn’t always about what people think it is. That takes a backseat to the more important factors of gameplay, balance and style.
besides, you can’t really compare the yaoi fandom here. Yaoi is inherently sexual and even at it’s lightest usually ends up having something to do with romance or relationships between dudes.
Anthro didn’t used to be a sexual thing at all. It even has roots that go way back beyond Aesop’s fables.
anyway, I’m not here to get into a flame war about furries and how they’re percieved. I just want advice on how to make this game appealing and fun, and also guage to see what kind of interest we can expect and support throughout our development.