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EVOLVER - NEW 2D FIGHTER UNDER DEVELOPMENT

ChayossEmeralds

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ChayossEmeralds
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Hello all, and thank you for your time and attention! I posted this on TestYourMight, but on the advice of @SonicFox5000, I'm posting it here.

I'm the lead programmer/game designer on a 2D fighter we hope to finish by the fourth quarter of this year called Evolver. I've come for ideas and suggestions on what we can do to make our game even more fun. We're still relatively early in development, but the majority of the game mechanics have been implemented and are working with no game stopping bugs/glitches. I'm going to describe the rules and gameplay below in hopes that you guys will point out all the little things the FGC is famous for exploiting. There are also some gifs of the game with the current stock sprites below. Thanks again for reading.

Controls:
A - Square/X
B - Triangle/Y
C - Cross/A
D - Circle/B
Evade Burst(evade/dash/tech roll) - L1/LB
Power Burst/Toss Item - R1/RB
Repulse Burst(counter/parry) - L2/LT
Control Burst(reset/instant recovery) - R2/RT
Augment Burst(instant kill) L2+R2/LT+RT
Release Burst(breaker) L1+R1
Soul Burst - All shoulder buttons

The game is played on a 2D map in a similar style/map layout to SSB/other 4 player brawlers (though it's a 2 player game). Each character has three Stances, and each Stance has two Strings (a light attack string and a heavy attack string), which in turn each have their own specials or Stance Bursts. Once you select your character, you must map each key (A,B,C,D) to a string/stance burst. Each string has two to three hits e.g (AA or AAA) and a short input for special/stance burst (e.g down, forward A). So each character has six options for attacks which you may choose four of.

The strings can be linked together in a similar fashion to Skullgirls. Strings either have two attacks: 12, or three attacks, 123. Thus, if the string mapped to A is 123 and the string mapped to B is 12, any of the following sequences would work: AAA, ABA, BAA, BBA. AAB would not work; AA would animate, but that's it. At least one of the strings in each stance has a knock up, and attacks can be canceled into specials/Stance Bursts to extend combos. Example: AAA~dfA. NOTE: Pressing an attack key changes stance even if the attack animates, and Stance Bursts can only be done in the currently set stance. Thus, if you want to use the Stance Burst for B, you must press it before the input, i.e AAA~BffB. The B will not animate as there is no 4th attack, but you cannot use the ffB if you are in stance A.

In addition to these unique attacks, every character can use bursts. With the exception of the Evade Burst (EB), all bursts will consume your mana/meter source, Soul Energy. Power Burst and Repulse Burst one quarter of a full meter, Control Burst cost thirty five percent full meter, Augment Burst and Release Burst cost fifty percent each, and Soul Burst cost one hundred percent. Meter is earned for every hit after the attack "clears" (the attack clears about 2 seconds of not hitting he opponent). Multiple successive hits in a quick enough time span will combo adding to the amount of meter to be earned. However, if you are hit before the attack/combo clears, you will not earn any meter.
Evade bursts move the player about 3 characters in the given direction and can be done in the air; you are intangible during evade bursts.
Power bursts charge an uppercut that will knock enemies away based on the amount of damage they've taken very like super smash; opponents knocked out of the ring will die.
Repulse bursts reverse all attacks. If hit by a melee or weapon attack, the attacker will be stunned and take a small amount of damage. If hit by a projectile, the projectile will reverse direction toward the caster.
Control bursts cut recovery frames to 0 allowing strings to be linked without stance bursts.
Augment bursts must be performed at the end of completed pure string (e.g AAA) and cause an instant kill; they work a lot like MKX brutalities and can only be performed on enemies who have taken 75% damage or more.
Release bursts work as a breaker and deal damage in the same way that Power Bursts do. That is, you will knock the enemy away based on their damage gauge.
Soul bursts cost 100% meter and grant meterless bursts for about 3 seconds; that's right, for 3 seconds, you're basically god mode. An example of a Soul Burst combo and the corresponding input:
A - Broad Sword Light Stance
B - Storm Caller Light Stance
C - Giant Fist Heavy stance
D - Storm Caller Heavy Stance

Slash,Slash,Slash~Control Burst; Windy Kick, Windy Kick, High Rising Ice Pick~Sword Boomerang toss; Giant Fist, Giant Fist uppercut~Lightning Bolt (stun); Low Rising Ice Pick, Mid Rising Ice Pick, High Rising Ice Pick~Augment Burst. The Storm Caller (AB) holds the enemy up in the air on the third icepick, then the character creates to giant ice hands and claps them around the body. The ice shatters with blood and the character (called Thadeo) says, "A round of applause".
The input would look like this (though there may be more direction pushes for the strings e.g AAfA):

AAA~(CB), BBD~AffA, CC(knockup)~ddB, DDD~(AB)

Remember, you can't do A (StB) if you're not in A stance. Thus the AffA because just BBD~ffA wouldn't work.

You get kills anytime you knock an enemy off screen or Augment Burst them. However, this isn't nearly as easy as it might sound for several reasons. Primarily, death can be avoided through recoveries. The length of the hit stun/hit advantage is almost entirely dependent on the damage gauge. The more damage a player has taken, the longer they will be stunned on hit. As a result, it is impossible to do long, high damage combos at the beginning of a round or anytime an opponent has just respawned; a good player is going to recover and likely Evade Burst as soon as they can.
If you have the meter, you can also Release Burst when the hit stun is higher to escape high damaging and potentially fatal combos. However, this may not be a good choice compared to saving the meter for when you respawn as the enemy will have already taken damage.

In addition to all of these means of attack, there are also item pickups, mainly bombs and weapons. Bombs come in 3 varieties (smoke, ice, and lava) and can be thrown at any time. Weapons will work like any weapons stance. That is if you pick up a weapon, you can use R as an additional string and Stance Burst for a short time. However, if you have a pickup item, you cannot Power Burst until the item is used.

There are two methods of scoring to determine the winner. Standard battle is first to 5, 7, or 9 kills. Volley Battle, the mode I would hope high level players would be in to, is a match set to 3, but can continue up to 6. At the beginning of Volley Battle, neither player has what's called Priority. Points can only be scored if you have priority, and priority is taken when an enemy is killed. Thus, a player can only get points by getting 2 or more kills in a row. The first player to have 3 or more points AND a two point lead wins. If the game is 6-5, the player with 6 kills wins as 6 is the max score.

Game play begins with players at the distance of maybe 3 characters apart. Players spawn after a 3 second count down. Both players start with 0% damage on their gauge and 25% Soul Energy. Players will likely try to get a projectile or something similar off first because these moves are relatively safe and easy to clear for meter. Remember, if you get hit before your attack/combo clears, you will not get any meter. Gameplay continues until a player reaches the set score or the timer runs out.

So to recap, each player picks four of the six strings available already causing a great diversity in game play options. We currently plan on making 16 characters (there are currently 2), so with 3 stances/6 strings each, there are almost 400 different unique character setup options. Strings can be canceled into bursts, and can bursts can dramatically change the pace of the game. You can't block or duck, but you can evade and parry any attack if timed correctly. All Bursts except (EB)s cost some amount of meter, with Stance Bursts being the cheapest. Players can recover and evade to avoid damage, but will take longer to do so as the damage gauge increases. Higher damaging, longer combos can be done once the hit stun is high enough, but the hit stun will reset on respawn. Players try to kill each other using strings, items, and bursts until someone reaches the set score and wins the game or the timer runs out.

In addition to Versus modes, there is Co-op Survival Mode, Single Player Survival, and Single Player Adventure. The lore and story is very long and dense, but the short of it is: in a world where people hone amazing skills by manipulating the energy their souls create (Soul Energy) through science, mathematics, and martial arts among other things, Soul Data, the physiology and mental makeup of a person, is a valuable resource that can be (for a hefty price) bought and traded. However, in order to import new Soul Data, something old must be removed. Having too much injected Soul Data leads to psychosis and physical deterioration. Additionally, constantly using Soul Energy causes long term (and eventually short term) life loss, so most Diviners, people who use Soul Energy in this fashion, use Sceptres, items/weapons that amplify Soul Energy. With advancements in technology, Sceptres are often created using a type of artificial intelligence called Weapon Art allowing Sceptres to, to a degree, move and act on their own.
Soul Data can be purchased from Data Masters, people who hone skills simply to extract and sell the Soul Data. They do not retain the skill once it's extracted. Of course, there are also Data Thieves who equip Weapon Art with special mod chips called Rip Chips. Rip Chips can extract Soul Data from an unwilling victim
In the adventure mode, you are Thadeo. Thadeo's Sceptre is a pair of swords shaped like helicopter blades. His machine art is called Very Elaborate Label for Machine Art, or V.E.L.M.A. In addition to being a super badass with helicopter swords, Thadeo is an Evolver. Unlike everyone else, Evolvers do not have their own unique Soul Data; their Soul Energy recreates data as it is needed. As a result, they can store and inject Soul Data with little consequence to their physical bodies. Early in the game, Thadeo/you are given a Rip Chip allowing you to collect the Stances of your foes through the story line allowing you to do basically any combo using any of the moves in the game. In VS mode, Thadeo is limited to his first three Stances (though there will be 2 variations on his character, Kid Thadeo, and Thadeo with certain stances he gets by the end of the game).
The story is long and crazy, so I'm not gonna write it all or post it all here. What's important to know is that most Diviners who are playable have pretty unconventional weapons. For example, Thadeo's father, Jehaziel, uses an Umbrella as a weapon. Another character, Elena, uses a set of mechanical tentacles/arms and break skates as a melee fighting style. The main villain's melee fighting style is ballet fighting, and her weapon style is called Bloodsmithing in which she shapes her blood into various weapons to attack.

Anyhoo, that's the basic ins and outs of the game. I've been working on it conceptually for about 2 years and actually working on making it a reality with my team for about 8 months. All ideas are appreciated and I appreciate a mention on anything that seems unbalance/easily exploitable with little to no counter/consequence.

Because I feel the need to mention it:

The primary differences between my game and smash: my game is bloody and violent and dark as fuck. My game has a story line and a plot that's also bloody and violent and dark as fuck. My game isn't a compilation game. There are true juggle combas in my game. The controls for my game are more complex and offer a lot more options.

The primary differences between my game and PSASBR: the same basic stuff as far as violence and darkness and not being a compilation game. Augment kills don't have various levels based on the amount of meter/mana/etc. Everything is can be countered/there are no guaranteed kills. You can still be knocked off the map. Meter/mana can't be stolen and is harder to earn. There are only two players. All characters have bursts creating a much wider variety of similar but diversified combo opportunities. Selecting different strings hugely diversifies game play. The list goes on.

Here's some gifs:
A comba
http://gph.is/1Mg9AaR


Another comba
http://gph.is/1RRu3at


Some of the actual artwork
http://gph.is/1eoyuHg