The premise? Like, the Skullheart and the story?
I seriously doubt they’d stop doing that. That always got players hype.
Yo, i just wanted to make some suggestions since i have this personal vision of a slightly different skullgirls game since quite a while. Now keep in mind, i never played the earlier MvC installments, so i don’t know if these ideas are according to your taste or more of a blasphemic crime to the rootes of this game in your eyes. Anyway don’t take them too seriously, if you don’t like them.
First of all please drop the forced 2 out of 3 set game mode when playing single character vs single character. Instead let the people choose for themselves in the prematch room if they want to play a set or just a quick match. Then to be honest 1on1s aren’t really that much shorter per round and especially not more random in their outcome than a team vs team match that it would require a second round to confirm one players superiority over the others. (It’s a very unconvential asymmetry in the games layout that bugs me personally…)
When you’ve taken that step you could think about letting meters transferre between rounds since players that would like to play the game with a bigger metermanaging aspect would choose the “best of 3” set option while people that like the fresh meter per round would just play the one round and then either hit rematch or not and start with a new meter anyway. All in all the game would provide additional fun ways to play it and give people individually what they want.
Then i have some problems with the ratio system. Even tho single characters are seen being used quite often, i think they get chosen out of the wrong reasons: their stunning damage output and tanky health. IMO the single characters should do quite less damage and have a lot less health than they have right now, but get other buffs like regenerating red health when they are in a runaway game (maybe even faster than tagged out characters). If you think about it they have it very difficult to actually start combos without an assist that could spice up their mixup game. Also they get caught more often without an assist that would make certain situations saver. Regarding their damage they may should have a faster meterbuild instead. After all extending combos with assists isn’t an option, so they have to relie a lot more on worthy BnBs which mostly involve some bars… meanwhile teams have quite some meter and even get the advantage to DHC with 1 bar less than the 2 supers would actually cost speratly. If the health regain aspect is still to OP for you a mechanism, which takes all the red life when a combo done on the single character is ended with an “snap back” might make sense.
Which brings me to a second point: Twin picks. Even tho they are only explainable with clone experiments storywise i would really like to see them in the game, since it would crack the combination variety and the ratio system additionally open. I might want to use or learn only one character but not to miss out on DHCs, saver health regain and most importantly: Assists. Of course the IPS would recognize the assist like another point character move in this case (so that you can’t trick it by alternating between your assist and your own linking move.)
Getting to two character teams~ It would be a nice feature for them to have 4 assists (2 per character) instead of only 2. Of course i know it sounds quite unbalanced at first but don’t forget that you still would lose every assist (also every Health regain and DHC) option with the KO of your first character. Also we are talking about very slight damage and healt nerfs in exchange at well but i think it would result in a wonderful toolset to master.
If you are asking now what would be the reason to still use teams of 3 characters i think they are still the way to go if you can fully utilize such a team (especially now that the other combinations lost some of their scary damage), but the effort to do so is sadly not invested by many people. If you still want to talk about buffs in exchange i guess calling assists simultaniously would allow some very nice setups.
That basically closes the ratio system and transitions perfectly into the aspect of general gameplay changes which of them mostly wouldn’t take anything away from the game as it is now but expend on it and allow even more playstyles. And still on topic of assists: They should be chargable. True that it would require some quite impressive controller handling but if you can’t manage it, just tab it and get your assists like you are used to but please don’t shut those off that want to do it or want to learn it but aren’t able to. After all it is an awesome advantage but it comes with the very high price of completely exposed assists that would take extra damage if they get caught. Since Mike showcased the patched and said that Painwheels pinion dash had changed all i’m hoping for is that it’s now chargable as an assist! But in case that’s the true change, why stop there? her projectiles might be an even so viable assist option and peacocks item drop would just be <3
And on the topic of charge: Could the infinite burst be chargable like e.g. a focus attack in SF4? when fully charged you get an wallbounce out of it that you can follow up with an combo? Of course that would make them easier to bait as a downside. That in combination with an upscaling meterbuild once you are in an infinite by the enemy would add a very great mind game to skullgirls.
Similar to that i would also like to see a Breaking/Burst System getting implemented into the game, which is pretty much the chargable infinite burst (also it’s animation recycled) just without being in an infinite and having to pay 3-4bars instead. It could create some hype and more enjoyable matches when you watch the game, since it’s a comeback mechanic at core but an incredibly honest one by sacrificing Supers and potential DHCs for that additional chance. Of course the bursts charged form should be baitable as well and supers not be burstable at all, which makes the right use of the system so very rewarding without having just that one simple free shot on each side like MvC3s X-Factor. (Btw, i’m not embarrassed to admit that i became a fan of breakers because of MK9 since i think that game just nailed that system so geniusly, even tho it might not have the best reputation over all)
Also some minor ideas which are partially kinda silly (“yeah, can’t get more silly then what’s written above…” you probably say now~):
- An [offline only] endless stage (basically a background that wraps, no corners, midscreen combos only)
- An [offline only] all-corner stage (a similar endless stage, but if you get hit once your character behaves like he’s up in the corner till the combo is finished, so corner combos only.)
- Stage pools (if a stage hurts your eyes [Which they shouldn’t!] you can disable it in the pool and on the next match with random stage select only the stages that overlap in both players pools get randomly chosen. If none overlap a stage in one of the players pools gets randomly choosen). set pool also applies for random stage in tournament play to avoid certain stages.
- Options in the stage select for its animation level, how crowded it is with npcs, the daytime maybe and with selectable background music
- An automated personal tier/matchup list, that keeps track of the match outcomes (maybe only when the player wants to) to create statistics of how much damage character x inflicted on y in diffrent skill levels. That way some beginner characters could get crystalized out easily
- Online lobby mode in which the opponent is free to already select his team while waiting and me viewing it from outside the match room. So i can look out for certain team combinations/characters i would like to play against.
- Option to blacklist people so you don’t find them again when searching for quick matches (either because they are annoying or laggy). Blacklist could automaticaly clean itself after a week since everyone deserves a second chance.
- 5 Seconds countdown when a match was found while searching in practice mode or playing in arcade/versus. Coming with an option to decline last second, because you are in the very middle of just figuring something out.
And to bring this post to closure, I made a mockup for an updated version of the HUD. I guess it falls under the category fanart and i also doubt much is going to change on the UI from now on, but feel free to check it out anyway: http://imgur.com/a/x2sW6 (full 720p resolutions available in the drop down menu via the gears) :3 I tried to implement quite some stuff the people asked for here. The upper one is an offline match with slightly upscaled superbars moved to the bottom. The 3rd health bar on player1s side is locked and to the very sides you can now exactly see which assist is callable and which one isn’t. The color palette is applied to the character portrait and they also got a bit bigger. The meter around the timer now shows you in realtime how much one party is ahead of the other according to lifelead. The 2nd Screen is an online match showing a best of 5 between Shortnick and Genericnick. Also displaying their player avatar, ranking, online winstreak, country and ping. The Superbars got customly moved to the top here again. Also the health bars on player1s side are scaled by an individual option according to the teams member count. Filia has called ms Fortunes omnomnom as an assist (I was too lazy to cut Fortune and her head into the picture, sry) which is already past its startup and therefore shows the name of the attack in the upper left corner besides the assist icon…
I REALLY like that hud, very smart and concise.
-dime
Meh, health bar needs to be above the gamertags. I’ve done a lot of U.I. in my classes and from experience (especially after working with blind people), the most important things should generally go in the corners or edges. That way regardless of screen size or muscle memory, users can do the same thing to see it or get to it. The way the hud is now screen sizes would change how people glance up and perceive the health. Someone used to the screen would be fine but someone not used to it would spend a little more time (under a second or ever half a second) looking at health. But in a pretty fast game like this, that fraction of a second matters. Aside from that I personally like the design, though I think a film or gear-like motif would be better overall. I just dont like the timer, though. There’s enough on the screen and actually adding a timer to the time is unnecessary fluff. It seems distracting and takes more space than it should.
Yes. That HUD is also way too full.
things I agree with.
Chargeable assists (if they are actually chargeable moves) though this would mean stick players would need to have eight buttons (most do of course), because holding down two of your attacks as you charge your assist would not be worth it. Selectable Background music would be nice. And the “stage pool” idea for online is an interesting idea.
Sorry to say I disagree with everything else. Especially the ratio system “fixes”. Those sound like they would be a complete and utter balancing mess, and at that point you might as well make a new game.
I just disagree overall.
2 out of 3 forced on single characters is obvious because otherwise every game would take literally one combo, one reset, end match in less than a minute.
Meter doesn’t transfer between rounds because you can do one combo, one reset, one combo to end the match and use no meter, then start at an advantage. If the meter carried over you wouldn’t need a complicated combo to just end it. One touch kills should not happen in solo vs.
Solos are not the most common team. That would be duos. And duos can TOD a single character by the way of combo, assist, combo, super, DHC, combo, assist, combo, super, DHC. If you’ve ever played a Valentine/Double with double poison combos, you’d know what it looks like.
Two-person teams only need two assists. I don’t want Parasoul assist to perfectly counter every matchup because she has both Pillar and Motorcycle. I don’t want Valentine to have one assist charge a needle and the other to toss it. Choose one, period.
Making two-person teams only have four assists will effectively put the coffin on the already-underused teams of three. The whole point is having more assist options to cover your matchups. Four assists for characters with more damage and more health than trios means there is ABOLUTELY no reason to play trios. Not to mention that solos get zero assists, duos would get four different, customized assists. Meaning that solos would have an almost impossible shot at opening up a duo, while being presured with 4 different assists. Including low attacks, throws and invincible moves.
Infinite bursts are unnecessary. Infinites are not possible here, and the long combos of the current build will not survive the patch.
Bursts in general aren’t really needed. Forcing a neutral game with a button press, even once per round, is still not ideal. Gaining the neutral game by pushblocking, doing reversals or spending meter ARE ideal. I don’t like the idea of a “get out of jail free” card making up for a lack of fundamentals.
Sorry if I sound too harsh.
This is pretty much a gigantic wall of bad ideas, but I’m going to single these parts out.
First, you can combo off of bursts already. It requires sharp execution and meter usage. Making it easier is out of the question.
Second, LMAO
I take it you’ve never played Tatsunoko? Because that had meter-for-burst and it was *awful, *especially considering you could combo off of bursts. Meter burst is the worst thing ever. Oh man, you wanted meter burst AND for it to be easier to combo off of bursts? The entire game would be dominated by bursts.
Third, your new UI is generic as hell. The old one follows a very specific theme, and you kind of blew it. Also, the current meter is in a really good position and your elements floating out of their containers looks really sloppy. Good image quality, bad design.
Finally, neither Guilty Gear nor Super Turbo carried over meter between rounds. So there’s your precedent.
Well, thank you :3 I’m also very sorry that i have nowhere the artistic skills of Skullgirls UI-Designer(s) and therefore couldn’t rely on true to the style handdrawn decorative elements and instead had to work with some stock images from quick google searches (neither getting payed nor working in a professional enviroment including release pressure also does its part~ hehe). But i guess the true guilt here on my side is that i didn’t make it fully clear that this is just a MOCKUP and therefore by far not meant to be implemented into the game 1 to 1. I gave the context some thought by incooperating stuff like the wings which are in things like the logo or the character select screen, but these images rather exist to visualize the ideas and showcasing the options for functional elements. Especially regarding the ideas that got collected in this thread eg scaled lifebars and bigger palette specific portaits. It’s also nice that Broken Loose likes the well positioned supermeters as much as i do, but that doesn’t change the fact that i read at least 5 posts about people wanting them either moveable or on the bottom of the screen and that is just hard to realized with an curved and well anchored design. So sure it’s a bit convoluted and clustered, but there is a lot to keep track of after all. What doesn’t mean tho that some things couldn’t get ruled out again. Normally you would do user studies about that in the next step~[details=Spoiler]
It actually has nothing directly to do with the time but is a advanced concept of the Leader tag that was shown over the healtbars. Instead you can now see HOW MUCH of a healthlead a team has, (which can be tricky with the ratio system) and also probably more importantly how fast you lose your lifelead if the opponent has like 2 assists regaining health while being tagged out. (For close calls when the pin is in the middle of the green zone and it’s not so clear who gets the round on a time out there are also still the golden laurel leafs around the point characters icon on the leaders side to give you a quicker overview :3[/details]
It’s also kinda funny how this talk became mostly about the HUD. But regarding the other things that got said: Seems like i’m mostly getting some kind of “This guys wants these buffs/gimmicks added to an already perfectly balanced ratio system” attitude here, but you guys are kinda missing that (like i mentioned) everything comes with an price. If you get the same health overall, harder hits and one more assist with an DUO than with an TRIO it’s clear which team you would go with… But if you nerf the duos over all health and damage (so that they are closer to an unratioed DUO) and instead give them one more assist option it’s still balanced and you end up with a more execution heavy fighting style (to be as effective) instead. Again, there’s nothing wrong with the Ratio system as it is right now in point of doing its duty, but imo it’s neither original nor interessting… btw, same with:
Nope, if you charge your assist the normals that you use to call said assists are blocked. That is the trade off… Using buttons twice by utalizing shortcuts would be totally off the point and borderline to cheating. It should put thought into your play how you call and assign your assist, since they have alternative calling combinations and either you adept your combos to the then limited options during the charge or you just tap and get an uncharged/standardized assist version of said move to have full access to your normals again~ If it’s “worth it” or not is then up to the decision of the player and what they make out of it.
TBH, i didn’t know that you can combo off of bursts, but i also never said i want to have it easier to do so. Or rather what you call easy is relative. Making bursts charge in various ways (making the charged version have longer startup etc) to get a wallbounce off of it should equaly mean it’s easier to bait and therefore getting punished… Also saying “making it easier is out of question” is kinda unreasonable, since doesn’t the opponent deserve to be punished for attempting an infinite on you in a game, that has a system implemented to exactly prevent such cheapness.
And yes, i never played Tatsunoko, but i see you need 2 bars to burst out? make it 3-4 then how i have suggested it in the first place. You have instantly a whole diffrent emphasis on bursts than tatsunoko has… nearly as unjustificated is the “>get out of jail free< card with a single button press” point when a burst takes over half your maxbar and those have to be there while being comboed to be able to burst in the first place~ (+being baitable as well)
If you play “best of one round” in either SF, MvC, MK, BB, GG and then hit rematch the meters aren’t getting carried over as well… That is another problem here, you see the suggestions losely from one another when they have such strong synergies. What I basically said was you can get rid off forced “best of 3 rounds” sets in Solo vs Solo because the matches could be the same length as a team/solo vs team with an stricter IPS and possibly in combination with damage nerfs, red health regain on runaway and a burst mechanic. THEN you can think about meters carrying over in OPTIONAL “2 out of 3 rounds”/“3 out of 5 rounds”/etc match modes.
I’m kinda suprised none of you even backed me up with characters being twinpickable. That was one of the mildest of my suggestions. But I guess it’s as Dude says, that at that point you might as well make a new game. So I’m not gonna try to justify my ideas here any further. I can understand that it’s hard to accept major changes to a game that is already so well established. So I’m pretty sure that if we were in the kind of situation that skullgirls was a 3vs3-teamfighter and somebody would suggest a ratio system being added, he would pretty much get the same kind of negative response about it. It’s not the case that i ever counted with any feature getting implemented in the first place, but that shouldn’t stop either me or you from bringing ideas outside of the box to the table, so if you think they are “that bad”, that’s also fine with me. I just hope that the PC version is in some way modable tho so i can glue things together myself and test out if this stuff would really turn out hellish unplayable in a preview build.
Personally i liked evus hud. I dint read that whole wall of text because unlike mine, he lacks paragraphs and i dont care so much about suggestions.
That having been said, i dont want an on hit burst system for breakng non infinite combos, to hell with that.
What i do like though is the ability to call out charged assists…, when mike made this game he said that “all moves” would be useable as assists… Imagine my chagrin when i couldnt use any of painwheels charged moves (there are like 12 charged moves for pw) i understand why they arent included… Pws charged moves would all be incredibly powerful assists HOWEVER, there is a downside to those assists: they charge, they arent free. Its not like pw comes out and INSTANTLY THROWS OUT A BAZILLION DAGGERS… But as i said i understand i also know that mike and co probably extensively tested the charged moves as assists and found them to be overpowered so they just didnt let it happen.
Even though i understand it still puts a bad taste in my mouth, heres a character that has lackluster assists… While simultaneously sitting on some of the best hypothetical assists in the game. I just feel like the daggers could have been slowed down, or the charge time increased for assist balance reasons… Wouldnt affect point play since those moves pretty much never see point play except randomly once or twice in the same match… Once every 50 matches when pw actually uses her lvl 3…
Anywho, its not particularly worth complaining about, it just kinda sucks as a pw player that so many other characters have access to ALL there ground moves while pw doesnt.
-dime
I have a purely marketing based suggestion. Make the patch a totally new edition of Skullgirls. Kind of like how everyone knew the bb cs2 patch was cs2. Would take nothing more than a new splash screen. Would make people hype for recieving a whole new edition foe free rather than salty over a delayed patch. PSYCOLOGY
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It wouldnt fool anyone.
People would still complain about the roster size.
Eh, IMHO its worth a shot. It worked to an extent with BB
I actually would like to see “slightly patched edition” on the title screen…
Or slightly different edition 
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As a Halloween event, how about alternate costumes inspired by this.
Maybe some day.
Oh, how awesome/time and money consuming costume alts. would be…
Maybe even as color palettes. I’d love a Cerebella in Zeruel’s colors.