So if I am going to work on a beat 'em up game, I need to of course understand what exists out there, not just in the flash platform but other platforms too, as there may be limiting cross-platform factors that I need to address.
Street Fighter (Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix)
So I wanted to take a look at the Street Fighter franchise started by Capcom. One of the first beat 'em up games known to videogamers, this is one of the immediate stimuli I considered when I first came up with the idea of working on this type of game. Why? Because it was hugely successful when Capcom released the first game of the series in August 1987. The latest Street Fighter IV release has sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide as of March 31, 2009.
- Simplicity: Street fighter is a hugely enjoyable game because the aim was easy, beat the other player up until they lose all of their health. The game dynamics and the introduction of a variety of moves meant that there is no singular path to success, but there are many interesting and quite possibly complex strategies to achieving your goal. Each strategy relied on the input of the user, moreso than the actual moves you're supplied with. And this is the great part of it, every user has a different way of playing, it doesn't matter if for one round you could effectively carry out a series of moves to win because every round is different. What I want for my game is to be able to simulate a similar experience where it depends on skill, not the tools you're given to reach your goals.
- Variety: As I mentioned above, the aim is simple, but there's a variety in the fights. As well as that, there's a variety in the players you can control, and consequently a variety in those players skills and techniques. If I can develop characters that can be identified with, and have a variety of styles and ideas, I can reach larger sectors of my target audience, especially when more and more people will be able to play my game.
- Animation: This will come with the variety, different players will have different styles, and different animations. The animations in Street Fighter seem to work well because of their fluency and accuracy, they relate to the player they are attributed to and I want to do the same, but of course in my own way.
Another franchise I wanted to understand was the King of Fighters series, which was a very similar take on the beat 'em up genre as compared to the Street Fighter series. There's an important point I wanted to address with this game though:
- Combos: Combos are a series of attacks which are stringed together and records hits made on your opponent in a row. The introduction of combos into these games added a new element of gameplay, as people who became aware of this wanted to string the highest number of consecutive hits in a row. This element alone made some players want to play the game aggressively, and some had to adapt to accommodate players who were aggressive by playing more defensively and smarter. To me it's amazing that one small element made such an impact, and this is the kind of interaction that made me want to develop a beat 'em up game in the first place. This type of gaming is something that brings players out of the box, and makes them want to parttake and play a more active role in their gaming experience. If I can take into account such ideas and innovate something new, it would surely be a bonus to my end product.
- Combos: Combos are a series of attacks which are stringed together and records hits made on your opponent in a row. The introduction of combos into these games added a new element of gameplay, as people who became aware of this wanted to string the highest number of consecutive hits in a row. This element alone made some players want to play the game aggressively, and some had to adapt to accommodate players who were aggressive by playing more defensively and smarter. To me it's amazing that one small element made such an impact, and this is the kind of interaction that made me want to develop a beat 'em up game in the first place. This type of gaming is something that brings players out of the box, and makes them want to parttake and play a more active role in their gaming experience. If I can take into account such ideas and innovate something new, it would surely be a bonus to my end product.
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