Hey all! So I’ve been working on a project for a while and have been pretty quiet about it, but I thought I’d finally show the progress I’ve made on it. Here it is:
Trailer
Match footage
Concept
A bunch of kids in the suburbs think being in a gang is cool so they beat each other up to gain control of territories. They use home made weaponry and imagination for the rest.
About Neighborhood
Neighborhood is a fighting game somewhat similar to Power Stone, but it’s a bit more focused and less chaotic. Think of the combat as a faster paced Souls game with more options. I built my own fighting engine in Unity and decided to do this with it first. It has a very familiar fighting game feel, but also is fairly simple to play since it is also intended to work as a brawler in adventure mode. There is a lot more focus on spacing, team work, and meter management than anything else.
Here is a ~10 minute in depth guide:
Or you can skip it and read the main points below.
Mechanics
Spoiler
As mentioned above, the mechanics are fairly simple, but there is depth if you want there to be. Here’s the button layout:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7806548/parkEngineSS/layout.png
Offense:
The most simple way to attack is to hit either light or heavy attack. A simple chain can be executed by pressing a combination of light and strong attacks. For example, most chains look something like this:
L > L > L > L > H
L > H
L > L > H
As you can see, most chains start with light attacks and end with a heavy. The heavy ender does something different depending on the length of the chain as well. Some combos are meant for raw damage, some can extend combos or allow juggling, and some are intended to set of mix ups or resets. Each attack performed depletes a set amount of stamina, so you have to use it wisely. Stamina regenerates fairly quickly though.
Pressing guard and light attack will perform a grab move. This move is unblockable, but the grab can be broken.
Counter attacks help set up more damaging combos as well. If you land a hit during another player’s startup animation, the hit will register as a counter hit. You are awarded a few extra frames of advantage typically, but certain moves will grant a great deal of frame advantage. Landing an attack on an opponent with their back turned also grants you a counter hit.
Each character also has access to 4 special skills. 2 are set specials which typically do damage or help define where the character fits. 1 is called a “style” skill and usually involves some form of technical mobility. The last skill is a weapon skill which can be anything ranging from an attack to an area heal and it changes depending on the weapon the player chooses at the beginning of the match. Special skills are unique from normal attacks since they are all on cool down timers meaning they can only be performed at a specific rate. Special skills can be chained into as well (typically):
L > L > H > S1 / S2
Super attacks are tied to a player’s super meter. These build slowly over time and increase quicker if the player is consistently doing damage or healing. Once the bar is full, you can perform a super attack. Check the trailer for a few examples of what they look like, but expect a variety of moves that can do a ton of damage on one target, hit multiple enemies, or revive fallen team mates.
For the time being, each character has 6 weapons to pick from. Not only does each weapon change a character’s weapon skill, but it also alters their stats as well. One weapon can increase move speed, but lower offense. Another can increase HP, but also increase special cool down times. I’ve tried to make each character have a weapon to suit many different kinds of play styles. For example, a character can have a weapon that turns them into a glass cannon and have another that encourages a more reserved and careful play style.
Defense
Spoiler
You have a few defensive options in Neighborhood. To block, just hold guard. This will stop you from taking full damage from most attacks. You can be grabbed while blocking, but if you expect it, you can break a grab by tapping guard at the right time. Additionally, you can be hit during a guard if you are hit in the back. Blocking an attack will also result in you taking a small amount of chip damage. Your weapon choice can alleviate or exacerbate chip damage based on its guard property as well.
You can also parry an attack by tapping and quickly releasing guard. Performing a parry costs a great deal of stamina to do, so it shouldn’t be spammed mindlessly. A successful parry eliminates chip damage entirely, reduced your total guard stun by 8 frames, and restores any stamina used to perform the parry. You can also attempt to parry in between blocked hits during a block string.
By tapping dodge, you can perform a mostly invincible dodge. It is instantly invincible on frame 1 and loses invincibility once the player has touched the ground. Dodges are invincible to all attacks except throws.
By holding dodge you can sprint. Sprinting slowly drains stamina and your turn speed is reduced from instant to considerably less instant, but it can be helpful to quickly close gaps. It’s not the best maneuver to retreat, but it is an option.
Combos
Spoiler
Combos are intended to be pretty wide open in this game. Yes, your attacks are simple chains, but using them creatively gives you more options. Most of the extended combos can be performed with links and juggles. Knocking an opponent down and using OTG juggles is the preferred method.
There are a few ways to prevent infinite combos, but some may exist at this stage. Stamina is the most obvious layer of deterrent. Stamina wont start to regenerate until about 20 frames after you completed your last attack. The next layer is damage scaling. Damage scaling is pretty light, but it does have some effect. The next layer is gravity scaling. During a juggle, your target will fall faster and faster until it is impossible to keep them in the air without them touching the ground. The Final layer is a hard OTG limit. Each time a player is knocked to the floor an OTG counter rises by one. Upon touching the floor you have 30 frames to pick them back up. Once the OTG counter hits 4 however, you are completely invincible on frame 1 meaning OTGs are no longer possible. You are also limited to one ground bounce and one wall bounce per combo. Certain skills can bypass or reset all these limits, however. All supers reset damage and gravity scaling and ignore bounce and OTG limits as well. Roy’s style skill (basically a FADC) resets damage and gravity scaling as well. These skills are rare, but they exist.
So currently I have 8 characters mostly done. There’s only one stage, but I want to do 4 or 5 more. I plan to do 16 characters at least and greatly expand the adventure mode into a full-fledged game as well. Right now, adventure mode is only a third of a full stage. Stages will consist of 3 parts with a large multi-phase boss fight at the end.
I’m working on getting a public demo ready and I want to put a more full featured version on early access for something like $5. Anyways that’s it. Let me know what you think or if you have any other questions.