Surprised there isn't a thread for this already, though maybe I'm the only one excited for it since it seems like it's semi-built for scrubs lol...
http://www.skullgirls.com/about
A 2D fighter with the engine being created by Mike "Mike Z" Zaimont, a tournament BlazBlue/MvC2 player, with the main focuses of the game being balance, and making it accessible as possible while still having depth for high-level play. Art design is from Alex Ahad, music is by Michiru Yamane(Castlevania:SotN).
I personally can't stand the art style and I don't like the character design, but every time I see Mike Z talk about his ideas for the engine I get the tingles.
Stuff from wikipedia on it:
Interview with the creators with some really interesting shit from Zaimont: http://www.xblafans.com/skullgirls-q...had-23730.htmlInfinite Detection
One of the most important design decisions in Skullgirls is a unique infinite detection system.[3] This decision was made in order to make sure to maintain balance with each character. If the game detects that a player is performing a loop, the game will change the color of the hit sparks, and the opposing player can end the loop with a single button press. However, as long as the player is not performing a loop in their combo, they can continue to combo as long as they are able.
Ratio System Tag Battles
Before the beginning of the match, players are able to choose a "ratio" of characters. Players are able to choose from playing as one, two, or three characters. Single characters do more damage and have more HP, but lose the strategic advantages of character assists and the ability to regenerate health while offscreen. Teams with two or more characters have less HP and do less damage, but are able to take advantage of assists and different playstyles.
Custom Assists
Skullgirls will feature an element that will be a first for fighting games. Players will be allowed to choose any one of a playable character's attacks to use as an an assist by simple input of the attack's motion in a game menu.[4] Each character also has their own preset assists to choose from. Players can choose any attack type with exception of super moves. These include: throws, normal attacks, dashes, and any special move.
Easier Inputs for more complex motions
In order to shift the game’s focus from executing difficult moves to fighting strategically, the game features simplified inputs.
For example, if a character has any moves that require to move the joystick in a 360° motion, the game will be able to recognize the motion, even if the input was not placed as fast as is required as in other similar fighting games. This makes executing these moves easier for the majority of unexperienced players, and allows them to potentially try out new characters that were beyond their skill level in other titles.
This simplicity also prevents the character from jumping while performing the 360° motion, which is a common occurrence for many players.[5]
Super Meter
Skullgirls allows players to build meter in the usual manner of hitting the opponent, as well as whiffing attacks. However, unlike other games in which any missed normal move results in gained meter, the player must be moving towards the opponent. If the player is moving backwards and attacking, meter will not be gained. Additionally, this only works if the player has less than one bar; in order to gain more than one bar players must connect with the opponent.
High/Low Unblockables
High/low unblockables are a common, extremely useful tactic in other tag style fighting games. In Skullgirls, however, after a character blocks a high or low hit, they are protected for a period of time from being hit by a low attack or an overhead, respectively. The protection window is small enough as to not have an effect on regular gameplay, but allows players who correctly guess the correct attack to defend themselves from what would otherwise be an unblockable attack.[5]
Netcode
Skullgirls uses GGPO (Good Game, Peace Out) netcode.[6] It is one of the first dedicated console titles to be using the code.
Excerpts that interested me:
Gameplay video from the other day:Q: If someone says “Street Fighter” gamers all over the place can immediately think of Ryu and “hadoken” or “shoryuken”, but the opinion that the constant callouts are irritating in fighting games; what is Skullgirls doing about how characters express themselves while fighting?
Mike Zaimont: I’m really sensitive to repeated sounds like in most fighting games, so we’re working hard to keep them from being annoying. In some cases a simple sound can be iconic, witness Tron’s laugh or Chun’s Back+Fierce, but most of the time when the exclamation is a real word or a sentence, less is more (“Ya like / ya like / ya like that?”). In games where characters are constantly uttering phrases and interrupting themselves, it all merges into a kind of background blur. The attack vocals in Skullgirls mostly are not played anywhere near 100% of the time and we have many different reads and even different phrases for the same attack, so the soundscape is quite varied. Also in most cases we don’t allow characters to interrupt themselves with similar things, for example since Filia has a few phrases for blocking, she won’t interrupt one with another even if she blocks additional hits.
Q: The training mode for Skullgirls is writing a big check promising to deliver actual fighting game tutorials rather than just lists of combos out of context. Until now, fighting games are really only taught to new players by a friend who already understands them, so how is Reverge Labs planning to be that friend?
MZ: For the tutorials themselves, we plan to have them as interactive as we can. Things like explaining when to block high or low, when to pushblock, why trying to constantly attack on wakeup is bad (AI that meaty sweeps you, haha), etc. We’ll see how much we can pull off, but I believe spending time on this stuff is important so that there is a mode for new people to practice and actually improve their game, as opposed to just doing combos.
We’ve also got some plans beyond the actual tutorials to make the rest of the game instructive. We’d like the game to analyze your matches against the AI and give you feedback. For example, if it notices that you didn’t ground tech very often, after the match it would offer you the chance to play the ground tech tutorial if you haven’t done so yet. Feedback is a huge part of teaching anything, and aside from the simple “You Lose” it’s completely missing from just about every fighting game.
Finally, we’re designing our AI to be a little more pattern-driven than what you’re used to seeing in other fighting games. Generally, fighting-game AI is not helpful for practice when you are already good at the time. Most of them try to emulate human players, but they do a bad job of it, and as a result fighting against the AI is not useful if you are already a high-level player. But because they’re trying to be people, they don’t intentionally set up situations that are instructive to players of any level and they are fairly random, so the AI is also not helpful to people trying to improve. To counter this, since high-level players will often have other high-level opponents available, we are instead aiming to have our AI be more instructive to new players. For example, perhaps when you’re playing as Cerebella, who is a grappler, the AI will block more often to teach you to get in and throw them, then later on start jumping after blocking a move so you learn to anticipate that reaction and counter it.
Q: Of course, the pros will use training mode too, so what’s there for them?
MZ: We’ll have the standard lifebar, super, and recovery settings, as well as other useful features such as the ability to restart in either corner, dummy recording, reversal/guard/tech options, input display, etc. We’re also have hitbox display.
Skullgirls can save and load state, like an emulator does, so we’re going to have save/restore state during training mode as well. You can just save your state after doing any setup, and restore to try again. I think Street Fighter 3: Third Strike Online is also doing this, because it really is useful. We also want to have a few features I have always wanted, such as the ability to load a saved match replay and choose a time during it to give you back control of your character. That way you can figure out if that setup really was inescapeable, or if you just messed something up. That may not make it in for the initial launch, though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-5ZH...ature=youtu.be
Really, really blah on the art still but if Mike Z actually has the programming skills to come through with everything he says he wants to put into his games I'll buy whatever he's selling.
Game currently has an ambiguous release date supposedly sometime before the end of the year.