Grim Tuesday
Smash Legend
SUMMARY:
Deviant is an in-development, competitive, 2D fighting game I am creating. I am using Game Maker 7.0 Pro, a program I have quite a lot of experience with and have been using since 2005. The focus of Deviant is to create a fighting game that is as balanced, open-ended and competitive as possible.
I will use this thread to post any updates and information about the game, to receive feedback and constructive criticism on said updates and to give people who are interested in the project a place to discuss it.
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CHARACTERS:
Deviant features a cast of 12 diverse and unique characters. The low number of characters compared to some other fighting games is for two reasons: a) Much easier to balance and b) the Deviant Editor (more on that later). The 12 characters are listed below, I will update this post to provide information and pictures on the specific characters at a later date.
• Arkantos
• Revenant
• Bella
• Goethia
• Shira
• Konosuke
• Zealot
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• Karakasa
Original Concept Art by spacecoyote, Sprite by Neon Ness.
Description:
Karakasa is a free-spirit. Quite literally in fact, as she is no longer living. After her (and her family's) murder at the age of 7 by Loki, Gabriel revived her in a form that best reflected her emotional state. Karakasa is the pure embodiment of gaiety, and despite her appearance has the mind-set of a young child, causing her to be irresponsible, self-centered and mischievous. During the events of Deviant, she is being subtly and subliminally controlled by Gabriel for an unknown purpose.
Statistics:
Speed - 8/10
Agility - 10/10
Power - 3/10
Stamina - 4/10
Weight - 4/10
Playstyle:
Karakasa's Normal Attacks will be fast and have good range and poking ability. The attacks will also have quite low knockback, which can be a double-edged sword as it allows for easier comboing but cannot be used to clear space. All of her Normal Attacks will have quite poor damage output to compensate for their speed and range.
Karakasa's Strong Attacks will come out quite quickly and possess disjointed hitboxes on the umbrella, but they also will suffer from the same low-damage problem that her Normal Attacks have. Their knockback will be perfect for setting up combos with the Normal Attacks, but the attacks will not be able to properly combo themselves.
Her Aerial attacks (especially her Dives) will be bread & butter attacks for her because of their pressuring ability, unpredictability and potential for starting combos, but their shorter range (in comparison to her other attacks) will make them less useful against players with good spacing or character's with good range.
Her slow falling speed, low weight and high aerial mobility will make her difficult to combo, and also let her string the aforementioned good aerials together. The obvious downsides to this are that opponents will be able to predict her falling to juggle her and/or knock her around the stage like a rag-doll.
Karakasa's Special Moves are:
• Alpha Special (a): Somersault
• Beta Special (β): Cartwheel
• Gamma Special (γ): Flip
• Epsilon Special (ε): Full Twist
• Delta Special (δ): Hand-stand
• Omega Special (Ω): Adrenaline
Her Specials would most likely be used to the best effect in combination with her Strong Attacks. Somersault will primarily be a mobility move, used for dodging and spacing. Cartwheel will be an alternative Roll with worse speed and distance but the ability to attack or grab out of it. Flips will allow for fast dodges of attacks at any height (depending on timing and range), a player will also be able to perform aerials directly out of them. Full Twist's primary use will be mind games, letting her change the direction of a run, her attacks or her other Specials quickly. Hand-stand will have limited ground options, but will be a great lead-in to any of her other Specials.
Karakasa's Specials will increase her spacing ability by a large amount while also letting her string attacks together more efficiently. Unfortunately, they use up the Specials Meter at quite a fast rate, this is where her Ω Special will come in to play, Adrenaline.
Adrenaline will give Karakasa a temporarily infinite Specials Meter while simultaneously increasing the speed of all of her Specials. Letting her dodge most attacks with them, use them to a greater extent in combos and race around the stage at high speeds for turtling/chasing/etc...
Karakasa will have an average grab range, and most of her throws will lead into a combo. She can drag opponents quite fast to get them in the ideal position or ukemi-chase.
Her defensive game will be her main weakness, her Guard and Stamina will both be low from the start, her rolls and dodges will be slow, and she will be unable to escape from being juggled a lot of the time.
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• Athel
• Freya
• Loki
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• Gabriel
Description: Gabriel is the main antagonist of the series. Formerly a heavily religious Christian priest, Gabriel experienced a mysterious "miracle" which ascended him to a godly state. His new abilities caused him to become detached from reality, and his actions and powers have set most of Deviant's plot into action. His motives appear to be the cleansing of the world's sins (Read: Kill everything) brought on by a heavily confused sense of righteousness.
Statistics:
Speed - 5/10
Agility - 4/10
Power - 7/10
Stamina - 10/10
Weight - 7/10
Playstyle: Gabriel's Normal Attacks will excel in two areas: knockback and hit-stun. They will come out quickly, but are only of an average speed during and after the attack. Most of the attacks will have a poor to average horizontal range, and those that don't will have limited vertical range. Overall, this will make his Normal attacks great for quickly setting up combos and punishing opponents during their attacks if he isn't kept in hit-stun, but poor against defensive opponents.
Most of Gabriel's Strong Attacks are large weapons or objects inspired from Christian lore, and they have similar properties to his Normal Attacks: Large knockback and hit-stun, fast to come out, and average range. Mixing up both his Strong Attacks and his Normal Attacks can put immense pressure on opponents if used correctly, but can also leave Gabriel opponent to being attacked.
Gabriel's fast falling speed and poor aerial mobility will not let him fight properly in the air, but his aerials will be comprised of mostly anti-air moves, letting him easily control the air without having to consistently be in it. Gabriel's dives punish opponents who attempt to approach him from the air, but are easily predicted, avoided and easily punished from the ground.
Gabriel's comboing ability will be entirely based on spacing, as hitting with his attacks at close range will not allow for enough space to continue attacking at high Stamina, and timing, because of how easy it will be for a good player to dodge or block his attacks.
Gabriel's Special Moves are:
• Alpha Special (a): Timestream Selection
• Beta Special (β): Fast Forward
• Gamma Special (γ): Slow-Down
• Epsilon Special (ε): Rewind
• Delta Special (δ): Stop
• Omega Special (Ω): Time Travel
His Specials will be, as you could probably guess from the names, based around controlling time. His Alpha Special lets him toggle through the various objects and characters on the screen to choose the one the other Specials will effect. His Beta Special will speed up the actions of the selected character/object, this Special's primary purpose would be to confuse the opponent. His Gamma Special does the exact opposite, slowing down the actions of the selected entity. This could again be used to confuse the opponent, or to aid in attacking and defending against the opponent by being given more time. His Epsilon Special will let him rewind the actions of the selected entity, for confusion (again) or repeating advantageous situations. His Delta Special simply stops time for the selected entity, giving him all the benefits of Gamma Special and then some.
While Gabriel's specials will be extremely powerful, they will also eat up the Specials Meter extremely quickly, the fastest in the game to be exact. This means that a Gabriel player will not be able to rely on his Specials for support like other characters, but instead use them sparingly and at the appropriate times to get the most amount of damage possible with them.
Gabriel's Omega Special, Time Travel, can be quite game-changing. When used it will store the current state of gameplay, the Stamina Meters, character positions, everything. Gabriel can then use the Omega Special again later in the match and revert time back to the stored state. This Special will be difficult to pull off, requiring a full Special Meter for both the storing and time travelling, and the Gabriel player will only have a limited amount of time to perform it in.
Gabriel will have a small grab range, and mediocre throws. Despite being a stark contrast to his playstyle, there main purpose will be to clear space against close-range attackers.
Gabriel will also have mediocre defensive gameplay. His dodges and rolls let him clear space against close-range fighters, just like his throws, and his Guard won't be overly strong.
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GAME MECHANICS:
• Basic Movement - Not so basic?
With Deviant I intend to add strategy and depth to nearly everything in the game, this includes the simple movements such as walking, jumping and crouching, while not over-complicating them. I am doing this by putting the movements in stages of sorts:
-Players have varied speeds of lateral movement, from a slow walk to a run. While players are walking they are free to use any of their normal attacks at the cost of the speed running provides, but running (if not cancelled) will allow a player to use only their Running Attacks.
-Players can control the height of their jump as well: Small hops are simply used for performing aerial attacks quickly, higher hops let the player dodge low attacks, while jumping is more useful as a form of movement.
-Players can also (as you would have guessed by now) control the height of their crouches. A slight duck will let players dodge high attacks quickly and respond, while a lower crouch will sacrifice the response time/speed from the previous example for protection against even lower attacks. Players can also enter a prone state, from which crawling and tripping opponents are available options.
-Finally, players can control their falling speed, and perform other techniques such as air-dashes, wall-jumps and second jumps.
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• How to Win – The Stamina Meter
Deviant does not use the conventional Health Bar as seen in most fighting games, or the percentage system used in the Super Smash Brothers series. In their place is a 'Stamina Meter'. The Stamina Meter is a bar on the HUD (Heads-Up Display) that acts similar to a Health Bar, when a player takes damage their Stamina Meter decreases.
The Meter does have quite a few unique traits though: For example, a player's Stamina slowly recharges anytime they are not in hit-stun. Secondly, if a powerful enough attack connects the Stamina Meter may be 'damaged'. Any portion of the Stamina Meter that has been damaged will not be recoverable.
Stamina does not just indicate how close a character is to death though, as an element borrowed from the Smash Bros. series we know and love Stamina also affects how long a player remains in hit-stun after each attack (as well as smaller things such as how fast they recover from being knocked down, etc...). This means that the importance of spacing and timing will be much greater than that of combos when characters are at high Stamina, but vice versa when they are at mid-low Stamina.
A player's Stamina Meter being decreased to zero does not always mean the end for them though. Players can only be defeated when their Stamina is reduced to or below zero by an attack or combo with sufficient strength. This ensures that a phenomenon seen in other fighting games which is referred to by TV Tropes as 'Critical Existence Failure' (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CriticalExistenceFailure). This is when a player is at low enough health that the slightest or weakest hit will kill them.
A player's Stamina Meter will NOT recharge however, if they are too far away from the opponent. This means that fast characters cannot simply turtle until there Stamina Meter is re-charged.
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• Normal and Strong Attacks
There are two main ways of attacking in Deviant: Normal Attacks and Strong Attacks. Normal Attacks are your run-of-the-mill low damage, fast, comboing attacks.
Strong Attacks are more powerful than Normal attacks, and often utilize weapons or have another secondary function other than damaging (such as freezing opponents, poisoning them, etc...). For these extra advantages Strong Attacks sacrifice the speed and combo ability of Normal Attacks.
Players are given a wide array of both types of attacks, and must learn to use them well to survive in battles. If a strong attack and a normal attach hit each other at the same time, the strong attack will win out, but if two of the same strength attack hit they will Clash and both be cancelled. If you manage to hit the opponent while they are in the middle of performing a special or attacking this will give the attack Interrupt properties, increasing it's hitstun.
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• Special Moves
Special Moves are where a character's uniqueness really comes from and their advanced strategies and techniques come into play. Special Moves are not attacks, but rather actions that can change the state of the game. Whether it be slowing down time, changing a character's weapon or even adjusting the direction of the wind. Each character has 5 normal Specials (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon) as well as a more powerful "Omega Special" (see below).
The Special Moves are all very intricate in how they are used and work and will probably create a large amount of distinction between the high-level players who can use them effectively, and the scrubs who can't. Unfortunately, Special Moves do have a down-side. A lot of them will use up a player's Special Meter (a Meter that re-charges every time a player damages the opponent; Relate to the Stamina Meter), which means that players will have to make sure not to abuse their character's specials if they aren't going to get any advantage out of it.
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• Omega Specials
Omega Specials can be compared to Final Smashes, Distortion/Astral Drives and other Finishing Moves from other Fighting Games. The difference is that Omega Specials are less like powerful insta-damage/win attacks, and more like more powerful version of the afore-mentioned Specials. Giving a player much more options, but leaving them to decide how to use them.
I have yet to decide on a system for distributing Omega Specials. If you have any suggestions please keep in mind that the method needs to require skill, be equally fair to both players and have the right level of difficulty to pull off.
I am most likely going to use the same system as with normal specials and just make it so they take away a large amount of the Special Meter, but again, I am undecided.
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• Defense – Guarding and Dodging
Offense is all well and good, but Deviant will also give players several opportunities to avoid their opponent's attacks. Players can guard, roll, dodge and counter the attacks of an opponent, obviously giving greater depth to the battle.
Several more advanced defensive methods are available to characters as well, such as Ukemis (compare Smash Bros: Tech), Air Dodges and Force Bursts: A technique borrowed from the BlazBlue games that damages your character in exchange for releasing a shock-wave that knocks anything around your character away. Force Bursts can be performed during hit-stun, making them an invaluable tool for escaping long or even infinite combos.
Be warned that retreating from the opponent can be dangerous as well. Being hit by or guarding an opponent's attack while retreating will result in greater hit/guard-stun and knock-back. The opposite applies for approaching, however (less hit/guard-stun and knockback).
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• Grabs and Throws
One of the best ways to set up for attacks are Grabs, Holds and Throws. After grabbing the opponent players can carry or drag them around or throw them in any direction. Grabs cannot be blocked by a character's Guard, making them a good tool against defensive players.
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• Advanced Techniques
Advanced Techniques are one of the ways Deviant will add more depth to fights, they show both how skillful a player is and how much knowledge they have of the game, as well as being useful tools for combat. Some Advanced Techniques are the aforementioned Ukemis and Force Bursts, Frame Cancels (ways to cancel your attacks with the correct timing to slightly lessen the focus on punishing mistakes), back-walking (a way to walk backwards while still facing the opponent), wall-jumps (speaks for itself) and many more.
One of the most important ATs will be Circle Hopping. Performed by rotating the control stick with perfect timing (See Rotations below), Circle Hopping lets your character perform a circular movement while entering the most important attacking states while doing it (Approaching, Retreating, Crouching and Hopping). It is difficult to explain how beneficial it will be to players without you guys having seen it in action, but a comparison I can make is a mix between SHFFLing and wave-dashing.
I am interested in hearing suggestions for ATs so if you have any, fire away.
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• Rotations
One of the most important advanced techniques in the game is Rotations. Rotations are any action that requires rotating the stick in a certain direction a certain distance. These are mainly advanced movement options (such as the incredibly versatile Circle Hop), but they also allow players to rotate some attacks from one direction to another. The list of techniques available with Rotations is below in the Controls section. Rotations can be performed on the keyboard as well, but it can become quite difficult with Full and Half Rotations. Although it is up to player preference, I would recommend mapping Full and Half Rotations to keys on the num-pad or Insert, Home, Page Up, etc... (The keys above the arrow keys).
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CONTROLS:
Deviant will be playable with the Keyboard, but I would recommend PC Controllers for greater precision and ease of use. Button inputs will be treated as if they are being pressed on the keyboard. Any of the below controls can be mapped to pretty much ANY button combination, letting players fully customize how they want to play. All of the below inputs are assuming the player is facing right. The different stages of movement are controlled by how far you tilt the stick, or how long you hold the button in most cases.
One thing I am not a fan of in fighting games is the over-reliance on learning long sequences of moves to perform combos and attacks, I am trying to avoid this with Deviant because I believe: Memory ≠ Skill. Every action can be performed with 1-2 buttons and a direction/rotation of the control stick. For simplicity, I have divided the controls into categories:
• MOVEMENT:
→: Slow Walk> Walk > Fast Walk > Slow Run > Run
↑ OR Space Bar: Hop > High Hop > Low Jump > Jump > High Jump
↑ while in the air: Second Jump (I am still considering whether to include this)
↓: Duck > Crouch > Low Crouch > Prone
←: Standing Turn
← while Running: Dash Turn (Slower than a Standing Turn)
→ while Prone: Slow Forward Crawl > Forward Crawl > Fast Forward Crawl
← while Prone: Prone Turn
/↓/
: while in the air: Fast Fall > Faster Fall > Fastest Fall←/→ while in the air: Horizontal Aerial Movement > Air Dash (A double tap will cause you to Air Dash, while holding will just move you from side to side)
→, ← when next to a wall: Low Wall Jump > Wall Jump > High Wall Jump
• ROTATIONS:
-QUARTER ROTATIONS
→,
, ↓ (ES): Crouch-Cancelled Approach←,
, ↓ (WS): Crouch-Cancelled Retreat↑,
, → (NE): Instant Forward Air Dash↓,
, → (SE): Instant Crawl→,
, ↑ (EN): Jump-Cancelled Approach ←,
, ↑ (WN): Jump-Cancelled Retreat↑,
, ← (NW): Instant Backward Air Dash↓,
, ← (SW): Instant Back-Walk-HALF ROTATIONS
→,
, ↓, , ← (ESW): Backward Crouch Turn←,
, ↓, , → (WSE): Forward Crouch Turn↑,
, →, , ↓ (NES): (Crouch-Cancelled) Instant Forward Air Dash↓,
, →, , ↑ (SEN): (Jump-Cancelled) Instant Crawl→,
, ↑, , ← (ENW): Backward Jump Turn←,
, ↑, , → (WNE): Forward Jump Turn↑,
, ←, , ↓ (NWS): (Crouch-Cancelled) Instant Backward Air Dash↓,
, ←, , ↑ (SWN): (Jump-Cancelled) Back-Walk-FULL ROTATIONS
→,
, ↓, , ←, , ↑, , → (ESWN): Approach > Downward Clockwise Circle Hop←,
, ↓, , →, , ↑, , ← (WSEN): Retreat > Downward Anti-Clockwise Circle Hop↑,
, →, , ↓, , ←, , ↑ (NESW): Jump > Downward Clockwise Circle Hop↓,
, →, , ↑, , ←, , ↓ (SENW): Crouch > Upward Anti-Clockwise Circle Hop→,
, ↑, , ←, , ↓, , → (ENWS): Approach > Upward Anti-Clockwise Circle Hop←,
, ↑, , →, , ↓, , ← (WNES): Retrat > Upward Clockwise Circle Hop↑,
, ←, , ↓, , →, , ↑ (NWSE): Jump > Downward Anti-Clockwise Circle Hop↓,
, ←, , ↑, , →, , ↓ (SWNE): Crouch > Upward Clockwise Circle HopNOTE: As well as these movements, attacks can be Rotated as well. To save space, I will explain the process here: Assume you want to rotate a Forward Attack Downward. During the Forward Attack, the button input would be: →,
, ↓. Not all attacks can be rotated. The direction and length of the rotation depends on the attack. Throws can also be rotated, as can some Specials.• NORMAL ATTACKS:
Z: Neutral Normal Attack
→Z: Forward Normal Attack
←Z: Backward Normal Attack
↓Z: Downward Normal Attack
↑Z: Upward Normal Attack
Z while Running: Running Normal Attack
Z while in the air: Aerial Normal Attack
/↓/ Z: Diving Normal AttackZ while Holding: Holding Attack
Z while Lying: Normal Recovery Attack
• STRONG ATTACKS:
X: Neutral Strong Attack
→X: Forward Strong Attack
←X: Backward Strong Attack
↓X: Downward Strong Attack
↑X: Upward Strong Attack
X while Running: Running Strong Attack
X while in the air: Aerial Strong Attack
/↓/ X: Diving Strong AttackX while Holding: Holding Attack
X while Lying: Strong Recovery Attack
X while Hanging: Strong Ledge Attack
• SPECIALS:
C: Special α (Alpha)
→C: Special β (Beta)
←C: Special γ (Gamma)
↓: Special δ (Delta)
↑C: Special ε (Epsilon)
• DEFENCE:
A: Light Guard > Guard > Strong Guard (Guarding doesn't absorb all of the damage and knock-back of attacks, any remaining 'chip' damage will be dealt to the player's Stamina. Blocking attacks will cause a Guard Meter to decrease, t he Guard Meter slowly restores over time just like the Stamina Meter. If a player's guard is broken, they will be left vulnerable for a brief moment. A stronger guard will cause the Guard Meter to decrease more, but the player will receive less knock-back and damage to the Stamina Meter.
A while Crouching: Crouching Light Guard > Crouching Guard > Crouching Strong Guard
→/←A: Roll
↓A: Dodge
A just before an Attack connects: Counter
*Any Attack* after a successful Counter: Counter-Attack (A Counter-Attack is performed twice as fast as the attack would normally be performed).
A while in the Air: Air Dodge
/↑///↓/ A: Directional Air DodgeA just before touching something while in a Tumbling/Reeling state: Ukemi (An Ukemi stops all of your momentum when it is performed, it is pretty much exactly the same as a Tech in Smash Bros.).
→/← during an Ukemi: Ukemi Roll
↓ during an Ukemi: Ukemi Dodge
↑ OR Space Bar during an Ukemi: Low Ukemi Hop > Ukemi Hop > Low Ukemi Jump > Ukemi Jump > High Ukemi Jump
AC: Force Burst (A Force Burst can be performed while in hit-stun. It will create a small field around your character and knock anything inside the field away. Everytime a Force Burst is performed, a quarter of your Stamina Bar will be damaged).
A just before an attack hits: Frame Cancel (A Frame Cancel will instantly cancel whatever attack you were performing. This requires frame perfect timing to perform and is intended to be more of a way of stopping accidental button presses from being too devastating than an actual technique).
• HOLDING:
S/AZ: Grab
S/AZ while Crouching: Low Grab
S/AZ while Prone: Trip
→ while Holding: Forward Holding Walk
← while Holding: Holding turn
→ while Holding and Crouching: Forward Drag (Dragging the opponent will leave them Lying if they manage to break out)
← while Holding and Crouching: Drag turn
→S/AZ while Holding: Forward Throw
←S/AZ while Holding: Backward Throw
↓S/AZ while Holding: Downward Throw
↑S/AZ while Holding: Upward Throw
I'd be interested in hearing feedback on these controls, regarding their simplicity, the buttons used, the extra control over simple movement tasks, etc...
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VERSUS MODE
The main mode for fighting. Here you can select your character out of the 13 available (Plus any created with the Deviant Editor, more on that below). You can input your name/gamer tag which will be displayed in-game and for records and the like (your name also stores your custom controller inputs). Up to 4 players can play at a time here, this includes AI controlled opponents (there will be difficulty settings here). Players can also be put onto different teams.
After selecting your character you can adjust other match settings such as the time limit, how many rounds will be played, which stage will be played on, what music will be playing in the background and the frequency that items will appear.
If you are connected to the internet (see below) you can also choose to put your match online and wait for people to join, or you can join other online-hosted games.
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ARCADE MODE
Arcade Mode simply pits you against the 12 other characters in the game and a mirror match. Settings for item frequency, time limit and rounds can be edited just as in Versus Mode.
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STORY MODE
The story is still very much in progress, but I can confirm a few things about this mode. Firstly, you WILL be able to choose your character from the beginning, rather than being tied to a specific one as the story sees fit. Second, I intend for the story to be much more interesting, deep and exciting compared to a lot of other fighting game storylines, I may even include cut-scenes.
A system I am thinking of using for the story-mode is to have the player walking through levels fighting enemies (this is still all in a fighting-game style, not platformer) and then going into proper fights when encountering bosses and other characters.
Story Mode will contain co-op with up to 3 other players, including Online.
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CHALLENGE MODE
This mode is for playing matches under constraints. Can you beat 5 opponents in a row with your Stamina Bar carrying over from each game? How long can you survive against a hoard of enemies? Can you win without using any Special Moves? Etc... Challenge Mode will contain co-op with up to 3 other players, including Online.
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ONLINE PLAY
An online system will be incorporated for two reasons. The first of which is online play, I am thinking of making it server-based so you can browse a list of available games and join one, or host your own server. The other reason for online connectivity is downloadable content. This includes new characters, patches, updated graphics/music, etc...
I will allow players to revert to previous versions of the game, so if I release a version of the game which unintentionally causes a game-breaking glitch, players will be able to avoid it until I fix it.
I will try not to change a character's playstyle when buffing or nerfing them, but in some cases it may be unavoidable.
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TRAINING MODE
Players can, of course, go to this mode to practice in a variety of situations. You can set up the game how you want (e.g. how much Stamina players have, how fast is recovers, how much damage attacks deal, etc...), set up the CPU to perform set tasks like jumping and running, or record your own movements for the CPU to mimic. There isn't really much else to say here.
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GALLERY
This is where you will find any videos, songs, pictures or achievements you have unlocked while playing. Again, there isn't much else to say about this mode.
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OPTIONS
Here you can change Sound and Display settings, customize your controls, look at rankings data, change the game version, etc...
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STAGES
Deviant's stages will be sort of be in-between Smash Bros. and other fighting games interactivity wise. Stages may have a second level, but multiple floating platforms will be rare. Stages are defined by small gimmicks such as throwable crates or low-traction ice.
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ITEMS
I have attempted to create an item system that is as balanced as possible. Items will be deployed mid-match by some sort of a marker showing what the item will be and how long until it appears. This will add a brief 'king of the hill' style of gameplay into matches. After an item has been deployed, players can grab it, but after being knocked around too much they will drop the item. This adds a brief 'capture the flag' gameplay style into matches. Finally, using items will not just be "Press A for instant advantage", they will take skill to use properly and just using them with no strategy in mind will waste it.
Item frequency can be adjusted to the player's liking, as to which items will appear, when they will appear and the chance of them appearing. Items can also be stored for later use, especially combination with other items.
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VISUALS AND SOUND
While Deviant does not boast any 3D effects, I will be making use of beautifully drawn sprites (by our own Neon Ness) and graphically pleasing particle effects. My goal for the graphics is to make the game pleasing to look at, even to someone who doesn't play video games. The sound effects will be of high-quality, and the soundtrack's genre will most likely be instrumental, alternative hard-rock and metal songs.
One of the graphical effects I might add is the blood that comes out of characters when they are attacked, and the gruesome Omega Specials a la Mortal Kombat. For the squeamish or the young-uns, these effects can be toned down or turned off though.
Access to the game files will be allowed, this means that players can put their own songs and textures into the game. Customization galore!
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THE DEVIANT EDITOR
Some of you may be wondering where the name of the game, Deviant, comes from. Here is the definition of the word from Dictionary.com: deviating or departing from the norm. Deviant does this with it's large amount of options and freedom given to the player, as seen with the customizable controls and textures, the ability to add your own songs, etc... No element of the game provides as much freedom though as the Deviant Editor.
It shall be a character creation system the likes of which you have never seen before. I have put a lot of effort into making sure that it will allow for endless creativity in creating your character. I am not over-exaggerating here by the way, I can say with 99% certainty that any character idea you are thinking of at the moment can be perfectly incorporated into Deviant.
While I don't want to reveal too much about it, I will say a few things:
• I will provide lots of templates and defaults so you don't have to create the entire character from scratch.
• You can download characters created by other players, or upload your own.
• If I find a custom character I like enough, I may add it to the official roster with the creator's permission.
• There will be two modes for character creation: Legal and Unlimited. Creating a character in Unlimited lets you create the character with no restrictions on anything, however said character will not be able to be used in any of the 1-Player modes, and only in versus with the opponent's permission. Legal will impose restrictions on the development of the character, but they can be used for any mode.
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CONCLUSION
I am working towards releasing Deviant for May 2011, however it may (and probably will) take longer than this to be properly released. Assuming I get it done in time, the first public showing of the game will be at Reloaded VII in Adelaide, South Australia. With the organizer's position I am hoping to hold a tournament for the game and if you live near the area, you will be able to be one of the first to play the game if you come.
I intend to sell Deviant for $5 - $15 AUD, I am slightly worried about people posting it online due to piracy, but I will hopefully find a work around for that and can trust people to buy the game properly.
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TL;DR
Deviant is a 2D fighting game I am creating. There are 13 unique characters. The gameplay is like a mix between BlazBlue and Super Smash Brothers with elements of Soul Calibur. There will also be a balanced item system and stages with unique gameplay traits. Deviant will include online play, an amazingly in-depth character creator and an exciting and in-depth Story Mode. Deviant's focus is to be as competitive and customizable as possible, players will be able to create textures and characters with ease and share them with other players. The graphics and sound will be top-quality for a 2D game.
