OC Challenge Thread

[Deleted member]

Something for all of you to try and keep you busy while you wait for the game to come out. Seeing as many people wanna have 50 character roster, or believe that "any character can be interesting if enough creativity is put forth," here is a challenge for all of you to try and understand where some of the users are coming from when we discuss and debate.

The challenge is simple:

The idea is to come up with 50 characters for a unique fighting game. They all have to be OC, you can't use IP from established franchises, but you can draw inspiration from them. The challenge is to try and get 50 characters, all unique, with unique and interesting fighting styles and moves, no clones.



Give it a shot and tell me how far you get, it'll show you just how much thought is put into making a fighting game, just how much more interesting some characters can be than others, simply on concept alone. I think I got up to 26 myself. I had a few more ideas, but haven't been able to work on them. Also, of those 26, only like half are good imo. You don't have to draw pictures, but you can if you want to. You also don't have to write out movesets, but you can (I haven't gotten around to it yet), you just have to come up with concepts that would be appealing in a fighting game, and a combat strategy of sorts.

Some pointers, I would recommend starting with a theme first, then thinking about what sort of fighting game you're dealing with. For example, I once suggested a fighting game involving Rock Legends such as Slash, Jimmi Hendrix, Tom Morello and so on, duking it out a la Scott Pilgrim meets FLCL to become the greatest Rock Star that ever lived (you're free to take this idea and roll with it if you'd like).

Also, I'd recommend taking a look at these threads for pointers and inspiration:

http://smashboards.com/threads/make...esets-the-advertisement-period-begins.326189/
http://smashboards.com/threads/character-archetypes-in-smash-bros.331574/
http://smashboards.com/threads/general-moveset-thread.331275/




Examples:

Spoiler

This one is a concept for what would be a forced transformation character that starts out fully armored in a Power Suit, but has limited resources and thus starts dropping useless weaponry and armor, eventually ending a fight in what you see in the front pic. The Power Suit mode is an Aerial focused character inspired by the combat seen in ZoE. An aerial, Zoner with tons of long range weapons, including burst missiles, multi-missiles, and a Rail Gun. Power suit is more of a Heavy Weight, but the limited resources mean that players have to think Smart about how to use them. The Robot girl in front is what's inside the power Armor a la Samus Aran, her combat is more Akin to Cammy from SF, but a flair of KOS-MOS. As you can see, she has a Megaman-like Arm canon, but mostly focuses on quick agile rushdown moves. I'm still trying to think in how to balance the Power Armor mode with the No-Armor mode. Obviously you can't go UP during a fight in the sense that you can only LOSE the armor, not get it back until the next match, no not even round.

Spoiler

This one's a Mariachi Outlaw. Essentially a close range gunslinger. He does have some Zoning moves, but his main deal is that he can Draw his guns very fast, making him a very good 'counter' based character. He has 4 guns total, the two handguns, a close range blast shotgun at his back, and a "metralleta" (machine gun) inside his guitar, the machine gun mostly used for combos and follow ups, he can also rope his opponents with a lasso to pull them in closer to him. And of course has some elbows and kicks.

Spoiler

Inspired by Tamamo no Mae from Japanese folklore this is one of my favorite concepts. Zelda is the combat inspiration for this character and like Zelda, she has a Nayru's love-esque reflective move, and a Din's Fire Long range fireball that behaves JUST like the one in P:M. In addition she can use Will-O-Wisp in a similar fashion to Ness' PF Fire, expect she can cast multiple ones and their effects are rather different, they float along the ground a certain distance till they disappear, the will burn opponents slight, but they are easier to escape from, however, they will catch fire to their opponents for a limited time, thus racking up damage. Also, being a Kitsune, this character can transform into her foes, though I'm not sure how to implement this idea. Or how it would be more than an illusion. I should really check out the Zoroark thread to see what ideas they have over there for this concept. Over all this is a Zoner/Turtle character with low defenses, but many defensive moves to keep away, she can rack up damage rather quickly and can get powerful long range and sneaky kills on her foes.

I also, had a concept for a Battousai girl based off the Lyn moveset I posted over at MYM, but reworked a whole lot so it's more fluid and drawing reference from Big Bang Beat's Senna. I just gotta polish the drawing, it's not finished.

WIP:

Spoiler

Now as I said, you are free to draw inspiration from other franchises, but please try to be as original as possible. You can take moves here and there, but you can't just say, "It's Link" Mix things up a bit to make them different, the more unique the more 'points' you get. Also, obviously feel free to use this thread to dump your ideas, and likewise feel free to critique other people's ideas, including mine, but please try to keep things civil. Also, unlike MYM, the idea here is to work far away from Smash Bros to get an idea of the amount of thought that is put into a fighting game. However, I'm sure you can work some of your MYM ideas into here and vice versa. You just gotta remember, here you wanna work as far away from the Smash Canon as possible, and 2 you are CREATING your own characters from scratch, rather than taking existing characters and running with them.

Anyway, best of luck, and have fun getting to gears going, it's not as easy as it looks. This will easily be a 3-4 month project for many, enough to keep you busy till E3 and beyond.

 

[lobotheduck21]

I wanna do this and I have a couple of designs, but I want to make them look a little better, got any drawing advice manly

 

[FalKoopa]

I'll give it a try.

 

[3Bismyname]

i'd try but i have literally no drawing talent and i feel like most ideas would be better expressed through pics.

 

[Shorts]

I'll play. Lemme look over it tomorrow though.

 

[Deleted member]

I wanna do this and I have a couple of designs, but I want to make them look a little better, got any drawing advice manly

I do actually:

http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-draw-learn
http://www.squidoo.com/w-ic-i#module164571699
http://www.conceptart.org/showthread.php?t=266612

i'd try but i have literally no drawing talent and i feel like most ideas would be better expressed through pics.

No drawing talent needed. Just creativity. A couple paragraphs will do.

 

[Oasis_S]

This is something I've been meaning to do for a while, as I have an idea for a fighting/beat 'em up sort of game. Maybe I should finally sit down and have a good ol' THINK OUT session.

...b-But it's not like I would be doing it for YOU or anything, baka!!!

 

[Diddy Kong]

Have some ideas already.

First would be a character I like to call 'Reena the Rhino Rider'. It's basically a little girl or boy from the jungle, who rides a rhino but is not adapt in attacking him / herself. He / she carries a HUGE shield though, so there's good defence to boot. Plus a wand of ancient jungle magic, which could do some stuff as healing yourself or the rhino, or poison opponents. The rhino itself would also be used in attacking and it's charges would be extremely powerful, as expected.

Can't draw for **** though, so you'll just have to do with this for now.

 

[~automatic]

Posting for sub.

 

[Diddy Kong]

Brohan the Friendly Barbarain

Huge axeman in light armor with gaint axe. Looks cool and easy going. High offense, low defence. Swing his axe quite slowly. Attacks involve mostly heavy axe swings. And he also can throw hatchets. Can use hatches close ranged to, and attack with it in hand and his axe with the other but it makes his axe attacks signifantly slower. Has some kicks attacks to. Rather sluggish air game, yet has good anti air game due to range pressure.

Gungo the Kungfu Monkey Fighter:

Chinese monkey with a long staff as weapon. Uses kungfu attacks, feral monkey jump strikes, fast swings with his staff, and good combo ability. Moderate defences, yet quite strong and very fast. Uses fruits for weapons to. He then hits them with his weapon to increase speed of the throw fruits. Can use teleports as well. And jumps extrmely fast and high. Good aerial game as well. He can also make whirlwinds, and use whirlwinds on himself to do extrmely fast staff spinning attacks. Very pressure based. And good mix up game.

 

[Deleted member]

I like the Monkey idea, I had a Son Wukong inspired character in mind too. Great minds think alike I suppose. Also, on Axeman, how do Axd swings differ from a broadsword? Just out of curiosity. I like the idea of a Hero NOT using a sword for once.

 

[AEMehr]

Totally going to watch this thread.

If I have time I might be able to come up with some concepts and share them.

 

[Diddy Kong]

I like the Monkey idea, I had a Son Wukong inspired character in mind too. Great minds think alike I suppose. Also, on Axeman, how do Axd swings differ from a broadsword? Just out of curiosity. I like the idea of a Hero NOT using a sword for once.

Well an axe is heavier mostly. Just picture it as a real giant axe. Though he can use double axes with his hatchet out as well. There's some definate differences between a broadsword and an axe thoughh. Sure, more or less it's a giant weapon, used for heavy swings. Yet I think you can get more creative with axes.

The Monkey idea came quite naturally actually. It's not really too unique, yet I did my best to distinguis some unique character ideas, as kungfu moves and whirlwind attacks.

But how about my Rhino Rider? Think that's one of my most unique ideas yet.

 

[Big-Cat]

Gungo the Kungfu Monkey Fighter:

Chinese monkey with a long staff as weapon. Uses kungfu attacks, feral monkey jump strikes, fast swings with his staff, and good combo ability. Moderate defences, yet quite strong and very fast. Uses fruits for weapons to. He then hits them with his weapon to increase speed of the throw fruits. Can use teleports as well. And jumps extrmely fast and high. Good aerial game as well. He can also make whirlwinds, and use whirlwinds on himself to do extrmely fast staff spinning attacks. Very pressure based. And good mix up game.

Not sure if OP or not, but I figured it would be you or me that would toss out this concept, though I would've gone staffless.

I'll think of something later for this. Just have something in mind of using an offensive style up close and a defensive style outside close range. Neutral game would be about keeping out and baiting whiff punishes until hell lets loose with a vortex game. Has a counter game, but is limited.

Some other ideas:
Male character built like Donkey Kong. Rushdown character with stance system and parry.
Female character with diverse zoning game, primarily vertical zoning. A bit of a troll.

 

[Diddy Kong]

MANIAC the hacked Battle Robot.

A heavy weight robot fighter with a chainsaw equiped on his right arm. Is hacked by some nerd, but was an army robot before. Uses his chainsaw to attack with circular swings. Also has a laser function, and throws out grenades.

 

[JOE!]

You guys should just join MYM and do this, it's practically the same thing

 

[Big-Cat]

Not quite. This thread's purpose is to demonstrate just how difficult it is to create a diverse 50 character roster, not so much about making movelists for these characters.

Update on the zoning girl idea. Does not look like a human, but a nonhumanoid robot with emoticons for facial expressions (think Spongebob's Karen). She can take off her head and can navigate it with the B button and can use it to send out projectiles, keeping the opponent zoned out. With "her" head on, she's more of a mid range character with slightly below average damage output with a handful of projectiles that are retained in her headless version.

 

[Deleted member]

You guys should just join MYM and do this, it's practically the same thing

Well, hopefully it's encourage people to join MYM. Give a taste of things. Other than that it's like Kuma said, the idea is to get them to hit 50 diverse characters. Meaning each participant has to come up with 50, all of which will be critiqued by whoever pleases. It's so that people get a taste of what making a complete roster is like.

As for your Rhyno guy Diddy, I don't quite get the concept behind it? Does the character ride the Rhino? Can they dismount it? Is it like a Duo character that can become one? Elaborate a bit on it, also a wand AND a shield? I like the shield but I feel it would be better if you stuck to one Primary weapon rather than diversifying. What sort of playstyle are we looking at with it?

 

[Bowserlick]

To be fair, Nintendo already had a diverse character selection that was developed over years. The trick is to make the characters "pop" in Smash by adding their own flavor. Mechanics can help. Sakurai is not making a 50 character roster from scratch.

Interesting exercise in any case.

 

[Big-Cat]

To be fair, Nintendo already had a diverse character selection that was developed over years. The trick is to make the characters "pop" in Smash by adding their own flavor. Mechanics can help. Sakurai is not making a 50 character roster from scratch.

Interesting exercise in any case.

Even with a pre-existing cast, going for diversity is still a very challenging task. Mechanics do more than help. They give you plenty of ideas of what you can work with for playstyle design. Yes, adding their flavor is one thing that a character in Smash must do, but that's much easier said than done. Heck, the fact that we have so many characters with design issues or not different enough should tell you how tough this whole thing is.

 

[Diddy Kong]

Well, the concept of the Rhino Rider is a big tank like character. And I'd rather drop the wand than the shield. But besides tanking, the rhino would be used as a mount ofcarse, but also for most attacks. Mostly charges, which are strong, yet predictable. No aerial game to speak of. But extrmely strong ground game. Can move around while shielding, and even do some attacks.

 

[JOE!]

I'll give it a shot. At work, so this post will be incrementally updated

1) Average Joe: he is the Mario, average / base line in every aspect. His strength is lack of weakness, but at the same time hr is hindered by a lack of strengths.

2) Combos McGee: this guy is focused on gettin in and ruining your day. In fact, McGee will gain bonuses to offense the longer his strings go, but similarly loses defense.

3) Harvey McCombo: similar to his cousin, Harvey is focused on landing strings of attacks reliably. However, Harvey has the perk of creating unique effects by stringing different moves in various orders, such as dot, self heal, debuffs, etc.

4) The Brute: the brute thrives on combat, with his attacks becoming stronger the more he attacks and is attacked. A bulky fellow, his offense starts a tad below average but can skyrocket. Attacking builds much more "rage" than being attacked, and stopping/blocking actually quickly depletes it!

5) Hank the Tank: Hank is a mass of pure defense, he has the best shield abilities and lasts the longest of any cast member. Amazing in team battles, he leaves a bit to be desired on the offense unless he forces approaches.

 

[Bowserlick]

Even with a pre-existing cast, going for diversity is still a very challenging task. Mechanics do more than help. They give you plenty of ideas of what you can work with for playstyle design. Yes, adding their flavor is one thing that a character in Smash must do, but that's much easier said than done. Heck, the fact that we have so many characters with design issues or not different enough should tell you how tough this whole thing is.

The point is this task starts at the beginning of the creative process. Smash did not start at the beginning. They had years of ideas and development of characters. This challenge asks for flavor and ingenuity from the ground up.

In fact, just the way the characters move in their own series alone adds immediate variance to an environment/movement-based fighting game.

 

[Opossum]

Hmm... this seems interesting. I haven't got much artistic talent, but I'll throw some ideas around as they come to me. They probably won't be too amazing, however. xD

One idea I had was a sort of Turtle-like character. Or, I think it most closely fits the Turtle. Correct me if I'm wrong. He's basically a Victorian-style stocky man with a steampunk-inspired design. He's go a mechanical arm for some close-up killing moves, but mainly relies on a sort of steam-gun, which is basically a water boiler worn in a backpack-like fashion with a hose held in the non-mechanized hand to burn opponents and weaken them from a semi-far distance, but the blasts aren't as powerful, save for maybe a good killing move and an anti-air steam blast. Pretty low defense-wise in return.

I'm not too great at balancing, but does this seem balanced?

Also, a gentleman with a steam-basis. A..."Gey-sir." I'm a card.

 

[Big-Cat]

Interesting idea. What's his mobility like? What about his projectiles?

 

[Opossum]

Hmm...mobility was one thing I wasn't entirely sure on. I'd imagine the attacks would come out relatively quickly, but movement wise he's a bit slower. As far as projectiles...perhaps balls of boiling water?

 

[Big-Cat]

Would you say he's more like a slow moving character with normals and projectiles to close the distance with and play keep out with his normals?

 

[Opossum]

Actually, yeah. That sounds about right.

 

[Diddy Kong]

I wanna make Oasis or SmashChu into a character, may I?

 

[FalKoopa]

Oasis: Projectile user.
Attacks by throwing knives and forks that travel in a straight line. Also throws dishes which act like boomerangs.
For close range, has a frying pan.
Up special is a flutter jump.

Has average weight, fast falling speed, and a somewhat poor recovery.

Final Smash: Spicy curry.
Swallows a spicy curry and unleashes a wall of flames across the stage.

 

[Big-Cat]

Actually, yeah. That sounds about right.

Then I would strongly recommend checking Goroh Daimon from King of Fighters. His "projectile" is a seismic wave and he's a grappler, but he's, at the core, very similar to your idea.

 

[Diddy Kong]

Was thinking of a character that only fights with sound wave attacks caused by clapping, or two parts of it's body can cause soundwaves when making contact by clapping or something. Can't picture much yet, but was thinking of an insivible guy only with hands which is actually a ghost with many forms, controlling with his hands this puppet with arms and legs that cause sound waves whoch stun opponents. And do other nasty ****. Like voodoo, or summoning other ghosts. Some spooky stuff. Make it cool.

 

[Vintage Creep]

When I was little I made my roster based on characters I created, it was fun. I would have to copy & paste everything by hand though, lol...

 

[Diddy Kong]

Roster made me think of the word rooster.

So now I want a Gaint Battle Rooster, which is basically an escaped rooster with a dark past. He was once responsible for empregnating all chickens used for the eggs and meat industry in the far distant future. In order for him to be able to do this, he was physically trained tillmperfection, injected with steroids and fed to maximise growth. Now he wants revenge. He fights as a quick rushdown character, and picture it's fighting style like a mix of an ostorich and a kangaroo's fighting styles. But steroid infused! Very aggressive, but wild, thus has some risky moves. And sometimes it gets hurt by it's own attacks.

Made this up in about 5 seconds in my head, but it was fun.

 

[Big-Cat]

Since I posted these in the roster thread, guess I'll update the first two ideas. The second one might need some work, but these two are meant to be like two facets of me. Yeah, their author avatars, but so is Sol Badguy.

1. Small, furry character with high mobility and evasive with air dashes. Closeup game is very offensive with rushdown mindgames that can make it difficult to find and opening while being pressured. At close range, he has a parry that gives a slight frame advantage. Deals below average damage per combo, but has some of the highest mixup potential in the game, especially on wakeup. Midrange/neutral game is about baiting attacks and navigating around the stage to bait unsafe attacks and dodge other attacks. Otherwise, range on attacks is very limited and is not meant for the footsie game as oppossed to keeping out. Long range game is the weakest range for him. However, he does have a command dash that not only serves as mixups and a means of approach, but one option is to use a move followup that dodges projectiles. Aerial game is about navigation and aerial combos are short, but effective for getting the momentum. Ground game is where he's at his scariest. Can be summed up as a zoner of sorts.

2. Second character is an average height character with a wide, stocky frame, built like Donkey Kong. In design, the character is a complementary contrast with the other OC. This character is a rushdown/grappler hybrid. This character has a strong Monkey Kung Fu influence mixed with some lucha libre (hurr). Offensively, this character has a decent mid-range game, but his better pokes have a slightly above average cool down. He has plenty of attacks for getting in, one of which is a Demon Flip for multiple followups, some safer than others. Close ranged game can only be described as explosive and downright chaotic in appearance. This character will string attacks together and will do some monkey/troll tactics to bait people to attack, but these troll tactics are actually counters that do a hard knockdown. Up close, he also has a command grab where he climbs on the opponent and depending on the direction chosen following the grab, you'll either do a grab will toss the opponent forward by the neck with his legs or will claw at the opponent's face and plant him on the ground. Long range is a bit of a struggle as his speed is average at best. This is where the Monkey Crawl stance comes in. This is an all-fours stance that enhances mobility and has some attacks of its own, but you cannot block in this state.

 

[Deleted member]

Since I posted these in the roster thread, guess I'll update the first two ideas. The second one might need some work, but these two are meant to be like two facets of me. Yeah, their author avatars, but so is Sol Badguy.

1. Small, furry character with high mobility and evasive with air dashes. Closeup game is very offensive with rushdown mindgames that can make it difficult to find and opening while being pressured. At close range, he has a parry that gives a slight frame advantage. Deals below average damage per combo, but has some of the highest mixup potential in the game, especially on wakeup. Midrange/neutral game is about baiting attacks and navigating around the stage to bait unsafe attacks and dodge other attacks. Otherwise, range on attacks is very limited and is not meant for the footsie game as oppossed to keeping out. Long range game is the weakest range for him. However, he does have a command dash that not only serves as mixups and a means of approach, but one option is to use a move followup that dodges projectiles. Aerial game is about navigation and aerial combos are short, but effective for getting the momentum. Ground game is where he's at his scariest. Can be summed up as a zoner of sorts.

2. Second character is an average height character with a wide, stocky frame, built like Donkey Kong. In design, the character is a complementary contrast with the other OC. This character is a rushdown/grappler hybrid. This character has a strong Monkey Kung Fu influence mixed with some lucha libre (hurr). Offensively, this character has a decent mid-range game, but his better pokes have a slightly above average cool down. He has plenty of attacks for getting in, one of which is a Demon Flip for multiple followups, some safer than others. Close ranged game can only be described as explosive and downright chaotic in appearance. This character will string attacks together and will do some monkey/troll tactics to bait people to attack, but these troll tactics are actually counters that do a hard knockdown. Up close, he also has a command grab where he climbs on the opponent and depending on the direction chosen following the grab, you'll either do a grab will toss the opponent forward by the neck with his legs or will claw at the opponent's face and plant him on the ground. Long range is a bit of a struggle as his speed is average at best. This is where the Monkey Crawl stance comes in. This is an all-fours stance that enhances mobility and has some attacks of its own, but you cannot block in this state.

Both sound real good. I like 2nd one the most. However, it feels like it could use some more fleshing out.

The idea of a Rushdown/Grappler hybrid is always neat. That's why Bullet has me so hyped.

 

[Big-Cat]

I'll look at cleaning/fleshing them out tomorrow afternoon. The influences I'm looking at in regards to playstyle are

Bàozhú (Red Panda OC; Chinese for firework) - Xiaoyu, Taokaka, El Fuerte, Pikachu, possibly Azrael (BlazBlue)

TBD (Can't think of a name for this human character) - Eileen, King (Tekken), Jaycee, Asuka, Bullet, Donkey Kong

 

[PsychoIncarnate]

Since I write and draw, I have a lot of original characters.

I'm just not that great at movesets.

 

[Moon Monkey]

I have a couple O.C's that one day I hope to make a game out of. I can try to make a roster out of them.
Here's one, i'll just update this post as i do the rest.
[collapse=Ozuki]

Ozzy's real name is Ozuki. He is apart of an ancient octopus clan, that once was popularly sought out to defend the land against evil. The clan now runs an assassination business. Inspired by Killer Bee from Naruto and Zoro from One Piece, Ozzy has a metaknight-esque rapid-slash to his attacks. Throwing out Kunais for ranged options and a grappling sword that he can use to draw in or approach enemies. He can lay down ink-puddles akin to Diddy's bananas for stage control.
[/collapse]
[collapse=Kaz]

Kaz is a Skull Goblin, a sub-race of goblins that can shape-shift by placing skulls on their heads. For the sake of the fighting game Kaz will have about 3. (Crow, Snake and Ape) As Kaz switches skulls he will be changing his stance. each animal has their pros and cons. Crow - Great speed in air, rapid attacks but defense is very low, Ape - strong attacks decent air and ground game, but slow. Snake- great range on ground, mid speed but poor aerial game. [/collapse]
I think this is a neat exercise. I can use flesh out the cast while I'm at it as well.

 

[Sucumbio]

First I just wanna say that ManlySpirit, you are a fairly decent artist! Your concept art for this power suit character is splendid.

Something for all of you to try and keep you busy while you wait for the game to come out. Seeing as many people wanna have 50 character roster, or believe that "any character can be interesting if enough creativity is put forth," here is a challenge for all of you to try and understand where some of the users are coming from when we discuss and debate.

Interesting topic, but I can't help shake the feeling this whole thread is sort of a response to someone (or many people's) attitude that it should be easy for Nintendo to make a 50-character smash game. Is that accurate? I only say this b/c if that is the case, I'd actually have to agree with them. Nintendo has hundreds of characters already made, they just have to pick a bunch, turn them into fighting-game versions, and then balance it out afterwards. Not to mention they have a ton of characters from previous iterations of Smash who will be returning. Making a 50-character fighting game -from scratch- which is what you're suggesting in this thread, is completely different and DOES take tons of effort and time. But as for the new smash game, if they do actually go for 50 characters, the effort to come up with the initial list of characters isn't exactly difficult, considering just how many Nintendo franchises there are, how many characters there are in each one, etc.

/my2cents

carry on blokes