Wishmere - out now!

Current Fighting Games Fighting Game Discussion
1

Hey everyone. My teammate and I are working on a new fighting game called Wishmere, for the PC. Wishmere is something of a love-letter to the fighting game genre.

About
Wishmere is a mix of the wilder elements of Blazblue / Guilty Gear with some sensibilities of classic fighters. We wanted to design something that was fun to play for both casual and competitive players. We tried to take the elements of what a newcomer enjoys in a Smash / an arena fighting game and place them into a traditional fighting game.

Wishmere can be played with up to 4 players in Versus mode or can be played co-op against a horde of AI enemies (in a mode called Base of Darkness). The game can be played online with the help with a third-party application called Parsec. We’ve tried it out and it plays quite smoothly. Lag does happen from time to time, and is highly dependent on a good connection. It’s not like playing in matchmaking lobby, since you’ll have to manually add a friend and share your screen with them. But this is better than not having any way to play online. NOTE: You may need to use JoyToKey to get your fightstick / controller inputs working on this application though.

Wishmere used to be a beat-em-up / fighting game hybrid, but we found that the beat-em-up Z-axis caused too much ambiguity for collision and have rehauled the system and gameplay.

What’s it play like?
[list]
[] Simpler inputs – similar to Smash, but simpler (direction + attack button)
[] Fate system – can use a full Fate gauge to a) slow time to allow setups or extend combos or b) break out of attacks
[] Edge – gauge-based character maneuvers that accentuate their playstyle (eg: a teleport to a point on the screen or a critical hit for the next successful attack)
[] Combo system - Outside of slowing time, fundamental combo system is similar to KOFXIV (command move links, juggle-ability, super-cancels do not cost meter)
[] Airdash, throws (throw breaks). Guards are similar to Smash
[] Like Smash, Wishmere uses a Block button and Jump button. We felt the best way to communicate to newcomers who want to do either action immediately, was to assign them to it’s own button. Due to this, this also helps with opening up more available move notations.
[*] Designed to be played on joystick / gamepad, but can be played on a keyboard. 6 or 8 button game, depending on control scheme (6 button scheme is the default and may suit fighting game players more, while 8 button scheme is friendly for newcomers to the genre)
[/list]

Some videos!
Release Trailer

1v1 Versus Gameplay (4 matches)

Quick Combo Video

Character Trailers

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8FTq5Y_UNc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBZ5iLCgunU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0qaOPmmzNg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxL4zCflv1M
https://youtu.be/X4HOGdpAkPU
https://youtu.be/mn4_IM48PnA
https://youtu.be/gF0tn2bmO_Q

Co-Op Gameplay

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHGZJiAckTg
An extra mode for players to play along friends instead of against.

Character Primers (how to play)

Spoiler

http://crayder.com/wishmere/wp-content/uploads/charprimer_EAR2.png

http://crayder.com/wishmere/wp-content/uploads/charprimer_DOV2.png

http://crayder.com/wishmere/wp-content/uploads/charprimer_DUU2.png

http://crayder.com/wishmere/wp-content/uploads/charprimer_PAN2.png

http://crayder.com/wishmere/wp-content/uploads/charprimer_SAB2.png

http://crayder.com/wishmere/wp-content/uploads/charprimer_SPR2.png

http://crayder.com/wishmere/wp-content/uploads/charprimer_DOU2.png

Progress?
We’re all finished! You can pick up Wishmere on Steam or Humble for PC, Mac or Linux. It’s been a long 2 years and 2 months, but we’re all done. Wishmere was a good way to try something new and a way for us to deal with a family tragedy, so we’re glad that it’s finished. It means a lot to us.

Who are we?
We’re Crayder Studios, a small two-man team (myself and @DanialDisguised), who are also brothers (as in real life brothers!) working on this full-time. There’s just two of us, so we try to wear as many hats as possible. We’ve been life-long fighting game players, playing everything from World Heroes and Destrega to Street Fighter 5. We love the genre and back in the old days, have been part of and contributed a couple of FAQs to the KOF scene. Nothing too big, but we’d like to think every little bit helps.

The soundtrack is being done by Zack Parrish, who composed the OST for Valdis Story.

Our website
Our official wiki
Steam
Humble

Do let us know if you’ve got any questions or feedback!

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Reserved, in case.

3

looks very promising,

I do have some question.

Since this game lack mix up I;m assuming the primary way to open up opponents is to whittle down their guard for guard crush or use throw? in the example match video at 0.42 seem Earl did a tick throw. Is Throw escape impossible during gaurd? or was it due to being thrown from behind?

knockdown seem really strong, are there any form of wake up attacks or recovery roll? I suspect doing meaty attack on oki would be very strong, and in tag team matches could be lock down.

4

As there are no lows in the game, Guard Crush and throws are used to open an opponent up. We’re in the midst of playing around with the recovery speed of the Guard Gauge, as we feel it’s too fast. Additionally, every character has a ‘Guard Eater’ move, where it is slower than regular moves but takes off a ton off the Guard Gauge.

You are right about it being impossible to Throw Escape during guard! We felt if throw could be escaped during guard, it’d make guarding way too strong.

As for knockdown options, currently we don’t have any recovery rolls but you make a damn good point. I think we’ll go ahead and add in recovery rolls / quick rise.

Thanks for the feedback, it’s much appreciated!

5

well don’t weakend guard too hard unless you want guard to be punishable,

if decide implement a roll, i think it’ll be wise to let it to be throw punishable, but also allow fate break to bait throws attempts.

I like how fate gauge recovers pretty fast but i think Fate breaking could occur too much which will really limited player to doing stuff that’ll disable fate break. This could be rectify by Nerf fate break but then this could potentially be a problem of fate break being to weak and people using fate advanced more so. (Rising thunder had this issue where kinetic advance was just way better than kinetic burst)

ultimately i would like more difference with Hit fate break and Gaurd Fate break. I prefer if fate break on hit be weaker to fate break on gaurd.
Fate break on hit is like a comeback mechanic, in its current state seems a bit too rewarding in my opinion, Come back mechanics should be used but not sought after, it could really screw the risk and reward game.

Fate break on guard seem more like defensive mechanics, these type of mechanics should reward player for using them effectively to discourage linear offense or provided defender their own kind of mix up. I like to use my resource defensivly but it becomes too common for many fighter games to punish player for using defensive options. Your game doesn’t seem to operate in that matter sense it ever have its own Defensive driven character (sabson) but player should also be able to use mechanics defensively too/ It help keep game dynamic unless you want to the game to be very character specialist driven then I say disregard my suggestions.

I haven’t had the opportunity of playing the game but these my thoughts concerning the game at face value perspective.

6

4 players.

Fighting game.

Pick one.

Will look at vids later since i enjoy brawlers.

7

@ keo-bas
You are right. In this case, Guard has to be a balance between a good defensive option and at the same time, not ‘impenetrable’. We’re playing around with a slower recovery speed and ‘chunked activation’, whereby the player loses a chunk upon activation of Guard, then it will slowly eat up Guard Gauge. We do want overly defensive players that are overly reliant on Guard to get punished by getting Guard Crushed.

The recovery roll being vulnerable to throws may be a good idea, but may be a little to punishing. In games like classic KOF or Blazblue, the character is invulnerable for a brief period of time before being vulnerable again. We’ll experiment with both a) entirely vulnerable to throws and b) have a brief window of invulnerability, to see what works best. I fear that being entirely vulnerable to throws may lead to some really nasty corner pressure + lack of options. Being able to Fate Break during a recovery roll is a perfect idea!

Nice suggestions with the difference for Hit Fate Break and Guard Fate Break. I do also agree that Fate Gauge filling too fast may lead to constant breaking out of combos. A player that constantly Fate Breaks will be unable to use the Fate Advance and maximize their damage / combos / setups, so in a way it’s a matter of resource management. But the Fate Gauge filling too fast may end up allowing players to eventually use both Fate attacks (i.e. Breaking, then being on offense and having enough time lapse to now use the Fate Advance), so lots of playtesting is required there to ensure that the risk / reward balance is done right. The good thing here is that we’ll be rolling out these changes / updates during Early Access, so we can always tweak and perfect things as we develop!

@ Pertho
Thanks for your interest. We understand that it’s a bit of a departure from the usual fighting game. Wishmere is up to 4 players (in the same vein as Smash and games that can be considered arena fighting games like Power Stone 2 and more recently, LastFight), however it’s heart of the gameplay is in 1v1 versus. The decision to have up to 4 players was to help make the game accessible to newer players who are intimidated by getting whomped without ‘learning as they play’, especially with friends. This was also the decision to keep a co-op mode (Base of Darkness mode) in the game. We know that Wishmere might not be for everybody, especially since it’s not designed from a traditional fighting game’s point of view. But we did try to add some different elements here and there.

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That does sound like a good idea for initial guarding to use some of the guarding gauge to activate. The guard gauge to start recovery quite fast but it have an initial cost would be welcome change in my opinion.

true, my intention were for roll to still be invincible but have certain point its throw punished. the defender should choose whether to regular stand which is invul to grabs but weak to meaty attacks, while roll is safe from meaty attacks but throw vulnerable.

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Thanks for the suggestions, man. We’ll definitely play around with the variables and see how they all fare. Got to get that risk vs. reward right!

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Strange. It looks like a beat 'em up with backgrounds that imply that you can move laterally, but apparently you can only move on a single plane? Might want to make the stage backgrounds reflect that, don’t you think?

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Yep, we’ve got a co-op mode that features up to 4 players going up against enemy AI, so we tried something different with the backgrounds.

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Not sure what it is about the look that is not appealing to me that usually does not ever bother me in the slightest might just have to watch more footage but the gameplay looks solid guys keep it up I will try to see if any heads would be interested giving this a run

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Thanks a lot for the kind words about gameplay, BossBrown! We did try to focus a lot on the gameplay: making every character unique in their own playstyle, having a fair risk / reward game system that balances both offence and defence elements.

I understand where you’re coming from regarding the aesthetic / look. I know it’s not for everyone and we hope that players can find something in Wishmere that they like. Though if you do get to what it is that bothers you about the look of our game, I’d be open to hear it and see if there’s anything me and the team can do about it.

14

I think the facial expressions/animations just look coocky lol which is probably the best way I can put it weird/out of place. I just dropped a message now because when I play it and I get into it the aesthetic look really will not bother me I am the complete opposite of a graphics whore it literally means so little to me as long as it does not grab my attention in a way it makes the game look out of place and I cannot concentrate its fine lol. I will be taking this to my gaming channel to see if we can get some real interest in it I have 4 games atm that I really want to press so we can do like a collective tournament of them (they are all in development as well) if it works out I would like to add Wishmere to that lineup. I might do a vid on this still just to make people aware as I really like the gameplay and ideas you are dropping for this game here I will let you know what is happening

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Facial expressions and animations eh? Not a problem, I’ll look into it and see what can be done. I read you about not being too tied up with graphics, but it is good to have appealing visuals; though not judging something solely on it. It’s good to get some feedback, so no worries!

I’m very glad to hear that you’re interested in adding Wishmere to your gaming channel. The new content update for Wishmere (that will update the game to what you see in the videos in the first post) will be dropping early next week, so you might want to wait until the update is out there. Though, I’d definitely be interested to see the tournament-- it’d be the first tournament for the game. Thanks for the interest!

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Yea I think the faces need something a little more neutral to their look right now they just look like they are trying to be angry and emphasis on the trying lol. Cool man I will wait for the update safe

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i mean they are fighting… :expressionless:

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Yea obviously you wakubrony same thing with every fighting game but the faces just look unnaturally angry rather then serious facial expression are very different from different characters in different games. In sf2 is where they all look quite serious

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It has potential but looks rather sluggish.

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it looks pretty cool and with a lot of potential, but im not getting why there is so much game space. it looks like a game that would be very fun with 4+ people duking it out, but with 2 people, it idk, something seems off or missing. it almst seems like a beat em up game like turtles in time, but turned into a 1v1 fighter… :expressionless: