Okay, so we have our first three players; Sonic, AiAi and Chie. Now we need to pick some abilities for them!
What kind of abilities you may ask?
Well in this game characters not only have unique stats which will decide their abilities, but also a few special moves.
First let's look into the stats:
- Speed: How fast do they move up the pitch
- Strength: Affects power of shots, power of tackles, etc
- Defence: Higher defence means they're able to keep hold of the ball better even when being tackled.
- Shooting: Affects accuracy of their goal shots
- Passing: Higher passing skill means they'll pass the ball quicker and more accurately.
- Skill: Affects the ease of stealing the ball off of opponents, the ability to block shots as goalkeeper or perform moves such as heading the ball with accuracy
Players will all start with
30 stat points which need to be assigned into each of the above categories, with the maximum being 10 in a stat. This will define their strengths and weaknesses.
Alongside those stats, there is a
Superstar Meter which will allows the players to perform special unique super moves to them. The Superstar Meter will build based on players passing, shooting, stealing the ball off other players, attempting shots on target or blocking goals.
Think of them like Smash Bros.' Special moves, in that they should be unique to the character using them and filled with personality.
Superstar moves come in four flavours:
- Super-Star Move: A goal scoring power shot for use when striking.
It will vary with each character, so descriptions are needed as to what the character does to unleash and if they have any unique effects. It can be blocked by the goalkeeper with good timing(although the window for this block is very slim), but timing the block wrong will cause the Goalkeeper to be blasted into the net alongside the ball, somehow counting as an additional goal. Players need to have the ball to perform a Super-Star move.
- All-Star Move: A special ability the player can perform on the pitch.
These are crazy special moves that the player can perform. These can basically do anything and everything but are largely designed to be used in the midfield or on defence depending on what you pick for your character. Players do not need to have the ball to perform an All-Star move.
- Star-Burst Move: A quick evasive special move.
These will allow players to either get away from opponents whilst they're in possession of the ball. These can be almost anything as long as it is an evasive action and can only be used whilst in possession of the ball. Unlike the other three special abilities, this one only drains a portion of your meter rather than the whole thing.
- Goal-Star Move: A special ability for when in goal.
This is obviously limited to the goalkeeper, but...everyone can be the goalkeeper in this game, so you'll need to include a heavy defensive Goal-Star move here. Goal-Star moves can even block Super-Star Moves completely, however the catch being that you only have one goalkeeper and there could be multiple strikers with fully maxed Superstar Meters ready, so use it wisely. Strikers may want to try and bait the Goalkeeper to use their Goal-Star Move early with a fake out before using their Super-Star move.
On top of these special moves, we need to decide on their media nickname(think like how Smash has a nickname on the Punch Out stage) goal celebrations, their MVP animations, their losing animations and the design of their Football kit. If Team Captain, the rest of the players will be wearing their uniform design. Very important!
Here's an example of a player moveset submission, to help you get a better understanding:
Character #00: Psycho Fox
(try and include some sort of image of the character when submitting, it can be a simple stock image of them but helps drive the character home)
Media Nickname: Shinto-Stick Striker
Stats:
Speed: 7
Strength: 6
Defence: 3
Shooting: 5
Passing: 3
Skill: 6
Super-Star Move: Hippopota-Blast
Psycho Fox will use the power of his Hippo transformation to put enough
tremendous force behind his kick, being enveloped in a magenta aura as he performs this. When unleashed, the ball is capable of smashing through any and all players and objects between him and the goal, including solid walls (excluding Goal-Star moves).
All-Star Move: BirdFly Ball
When activated, Psycho Fox will throw his buddy BirdFly, a small black crow, that will charge at the opponent with the ball and tackle them from a distance. After knocking the opponent down, Birdfly will return with the ball back to Psycho Fox allowing him to gain posession with this ability.
Star-Burst Move: Tiger Sprint
Psycho Fox will use the power of his Tiger transformation to become a speedster, capable of outrunning even Sonic...very very briefly anyway. This move is great for getting Psycho Fox up the field fast to a better position and for evading aggressive tackles. He becomes enveloped in a yellow aura as he bursts forwards.
Goal-Star Move: Monkey See, Monkey Save
Whilst in goal, Psycho Fox will use the power of his Monkey transformation to successfully manage to block any shot with the Monkeys superior jumping skills. Expect a last minute acrobatic save even from the craziest Super-Star Move. He will be wrapped in a brown aura whilst performing this ability.
Goal Victories:
- Psycho Fox will change from Fox to Tiger, sprinting around the field lightning fast, leaping into the air as Monkey and landing with a hefty slam as Hippo.
- Psycho Fox will wave a shinto stick around as he runs forwards accompanied by members of his team. He swaps between forms as he runs.
- Psycho Fox will run, transform into Monkey and perform an acrobatic jump before landing and transforming back.
MVP:
Psycho Fox will transform his kit into a sumo outfit and slam his feet down in a sumo style as "Doscoi!" appears over head and Birdfly circles him. He will then be surrounded by his transformations in aura form; Hippo, Monkey and Tiger as they pose like their own team. This is a reference to the ending of his game and the Box Art of Psycho Fox.
Losing:
- Psycho Fox will suddenly freeze on the spot with his mouth and eyes opened wide, and fall over like a plank of wood similar to his death animation in his game.
- Psycho Fox will have transformed into the Hippo form and be attempting to run to get into position only to be out of breath.
- Psycho Fox's different forms will manifest and begin sqwabbling with one another, getting into a big cartoony dust cloud fight with the fists and feet of Fox, Monkey, Tiger and Hippo all appearing at the same time.
Kit:
Psycho Fox's kit colours are based on the Master System, a black base with dark red trim. Amusingly on the back of his shirt his name is misspelled just like the famous European typo on his game cartridge;
"Psyco Fox"
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Okay, I hope all the above makes sense with the example. Feel free to use it as a template for the next job:
Job #3: Sonic the Hedgehog's moveset
Yep, it's the blue blur Sonic, of course.
We need to get his moves, stats and animations decided upon. I'm sure most of us are familiar with him in some way, so feel free to go wild with ideas for his animations and his Super-Star, All-Star, Star-Burst and Goal-Star moves.
One thing I should mention though is characters in other characters movesets will block them from becoming players of their own, so be careful who you submit.
As for AiAi and Chie, we'll be doing a different job before each of their moveset jobs to keep variety going.
