Injustice interview, pro players testing, easier to get into than Mortal Kombat

[Rathalos]

In a recent interview with Adam Urbano, Canada.com was able to get some great information concerning the 'behind the scenes' of Injustice concerning playtesters. NetherRealm Studios brought on many players to essentially find flaws, some players were actually negative towards the game so their feedback was surely heard. In this interview you will also read about how the game will play compared to MK9 and much more.

Full interview

Some fun stuff.

Adam Urbano: In development, that was obviously a huge concern. As you simplify things you have to make sure that there is still a level of depth.
What I can say is, that for the past two months we’ve brought in 20 or 30 pro players, especially guys that don’t neccesarily like Mortal Kombat and are more about Street Fighter (guys that are negative towards our game), and they’ve sort of been living at Neverreal playing the crap out of the game and helping us balance it and find things..

Some stuff that will probably annoy some.

Edited by STORMS*

Adam Urbano: We liked the community feedback we got at the end of Mortal Kombat (sort of what the tournament level players had to say). We also heard from fans about parts of the game that were difficult and its learning curve.
So we specifically set out to bring in as much fan feedback as possible. We also tried to make it much more accessible than Mortal Kombat was. Mortal Kombat was designed from the ground up to be a tournament level game. This one, sort of has tournament potential, but the barrier to entry is much lower

 

[EGGXI]

From what I've seen of the early builds this doesn't bother me too much. The technique all appears to be there for more skilled players to utilise, and the more who can play the better. Making games for the elite player is making it for the few, not the many.

I've seen comments on here that say this has tournament potential, if it can rope in more casuals as well it's all for the better. I also like the focus on balance, the less people can complain about cheap characters the better.

 

[Deleted member 5032]

I see bridging the gap between casual and tournament play as a good thing. If they can rope in the casual players while still appealing to the tournament crowd, that alone should help bolster future tournament turnouts.

 

[Deleted member 5032]

We have something called Starlabs which are hundreds of challenges that use the game engine in different ways to do different fun things that actually teach you without really knowing it… For example, there is a game of asteroids with Super Man. It’s a totally different unique thing but it teaches you how to do a specific thing.

This sounds very interesting to me. I use a Hitbox "stickless stick", and I had the hardest time in UMvC3 getting used to aerial movement. In order to get used to using the "jump" button as an actual "up" button, I used my Hitbox as an emulator controller to play various NES and SNES sidescrolling shooters and flight games. Before long, navigating aerial space with the Hitbox became second nature. Hopefully this system they're discussing will have a similar effect.

 

[Red Reaper]

This sounds very interesting to me. I use a Hitbox "stickless stick", and I had the hardest time in UMvC3 getting used to aerial movement. In order to get used to using the "jump" button as an actual "up" button, I used my Hitbox as an emulator controller to play various NES and SNES sidescrolling shooters and flight games. Before long, navigating aerial space with the Hitbox became second nature. Hopefully this system they're discussing will have a similar effect.

That's what my plan was in order to get used to it.. lol.

 

[Juggs]

I see bridging the gap between casual and tournament play as a good thing. If they can rope in the casual players while still appealing to the tournament crowd, that alone should help bolster future tournament turnouts.

It's a great thing. The game needs to be easy to get into and understand and the lower leveled players need to at least have a "chance" at beating a good player. At much as I hate to say that, since I absolutely loathe games becoming more noob friendly... but if we want the FGC to grow, we need to enlarge the player base, and making it more accessible is exactly how to do that.

 

[Qwark28]

DGAF about how accessable it is, they better not lower the viability of this being a good tournament level worthy game just so casuals can pick it up.

 

[Circus]

Well, from what we know so far, it's super clear that this game has an assload of tournament potential. So I'm glad it's also easy to pick up at the lowest level too like COD.

What I found more crazy is that they've gotten TWENTY to THIRTY tournament players to test the game for a while now from other games. NRS is based out of California.... so this almost assures that players like Justin Wong were chosen to play test the game. That's pretty sick, 20-30 people is a pretty extreme number of people to have been keeping such a huge secret this long.

 

[FrothyOmen]

NRS is based out of California....

Chicago, not Cali...

 

[Circus]

Chicago, not Cali...

Oh...... <_<

Well either way I guess.

 

[Jimmypotato]

Well, from what we know so far, it's super clear that this game has an assload of tournament potential. So I'm glad it's also easy to pick up at the lowest level too like COD.

What I found more crazy is that they've gotten TWENTY to THIRTY tournament players to test the game for a while now from other games. NRS is based out of California.... so this almost assures that players like Justin Wong were chosen to play test the game. That's pretty sick, 20-30 people is a pretty extreme number of people to have been keeping such a huge secret this long.

lol NRS is in Chicago buddy

 

[trufenix]

Well, from what we know so far, it's super clear that this game has an assload of tournament potential. So I'm glad it's also easy to pick up at the lowest level too like COD.

What I found more crazy is that they've gotten TWENTY to THIRTY tournament players to test the game for a while now from other games. NRS is based out of California.... so this almost assures that players like Justin Wong were chosen to play test the game. That's pretty sick, 20-30 people is a pretty extreme number of people to have been keeping such a huge secret this long.

Chicago has a huge tourney scene anyway (UFGT represent), and its not like they couldn't have either shipped the build to a WB office somewhere else or flown some players in, or even just solicited an invite.

Lord knows I would burn a weekend and 80 bucks to megabus it to Chi-town for some Gino's and a special thanks credit.

Edit: And its been said before, shit stays secret because people like jobs. If you want to keep getting these gigs, you don't go all Lupinko and bite the hand that feeds.

 

[NRF CharlieMurphy]

"This one, sort of has tournament potential, but the barrier to entry is much lower"

...... how can anything be much lower than MK? This really does frighten me. Not bashing MK ... but its stupid easy to pick up and and be average at.

 

[Killzone]

Injustice will appeal button mashers? That's what the title says...
... oh damn, my girlfriend is going to button-mash the crap out of me in the first few weeks, until I figure it out.

It's kinda funny ... no matter what fighting game we play (as obvious n00bs), she likes to mash and wins! AND THEN SHE PRETENDS LIKE SHE KNOWS WHAT SHE IS DOING and deep inside I get so fucking salty.

*cancels the pre-order*

 

[Rathalos]

"This one, sort of has tournament potential, but the barrier to entry is much lower"

...... how can anything be much lower than MK? This really does frighten me. Not bashing MK ... but its stupid easy to pick up and and be average at.

The only thing I can think of, is like the absolute bottom level of skill, like people who barely know how to hold a controller.

At that weird particular level off skill, MK is actually harder then SF and Marvel, those games are very fluid, and its very easy to do LMH>super, and all the special moves have inputs that make sense.

Where as MK is super clunky at that level, nothing makes sense, specials have random as hell inputs, and nothing flows together well, so you just jump around and uppercut people.

However, from all that we know about Injustice, it still seems the same as MK.
I have no idea what this Adam fellow is talking about.

 

[PANDEMlC]

If people don't have enough time to learn basic controls like special moves, attack buttons and supers then why are they even playing video games? People exaggerate how hard fighting games can be, but MK9 was the game I got my friends who never oculd play fighting games to pick up and play. Uppercut, sweep, special moves, supers, and teaching them a basic string or good normal or two and they could go at it. I'm thinking this interview was trying to pull in the remaining people who haven't already realized NRS games aren't hard to get into. Not having a block button alone makes the game harder for newcomers. Not that most button mashers will take the time to block when they could be mashing uppercut or a 1,1,1 string or something. I don't really care about the low entry though, like I said I'm pretty sure it will still have it's depth and they're just trying to reassure all the non fighting game players out there that they'll still have fun when they blow 60 bucks on a game and end up only playing it for a week or two after they beat the story mode.

 

[Circus]

"This one, sort of has tournament potential, but the barrier to entry is much lower"

...... how can anything be much lower than MK? This really does frighten me. Not bashing MK ... but its stupid easy to pick up and and be average at.

Having a block button in MK already makes it "harder" for people who haven't picked up a fighting game in their lives. Back to block is generally much easier.

I agree that MK was probably the most easy to pick up fighting game I've honestly ever played, but I could see how to some it's just a big mess. I wouldn't be worried about the highest level though, from what they've shown so far it'd be hard for them to fuck absolutely everything up at this point when it comes to tournament potential.

 

[NRF CharlieMurphy]

Having a block button in MK already makes it "harder" for people who haven't picked up a fighting game in their lives. Back to block is generally much easier.

I agree that MK was probably the most easy to pick up fighting game I've honestly ever played, but I could see how to some it's just a big mess. I wouldn't be worried about the highest level though, from what they've shown so far it'd be hard for them to fuck absolutely everything up at this point when it comes to tournament potential.

this is totally backward

how hard is it to hold a button to block? not at all.

 

[Circus]

this is totally backward

how hard is it to hold a button to block? not at all.

Well, all my scrubby friends do in Street Fighter is hold down-back and all they do in MK is flail around like maniacs.

Maybe it is backward, idk. I guess I can't dumb myself down enough to see it from the viewpoint of someone who never plays video games (especially fighters).

 

[Juggs]

As long as there's still a solid skill gap, it can be as accessible and as noob friendly as it wants. We need the game to be easier to pick up and play. It may not seem that way as a tournament or competitive player, but it NEEDS to be that way. Of course it also needs depth and there needs to be an obvious skill gap. SF4 literally revitalized the FGC because for one it was a new SF game, but more importantly is was easy to get into. But the hardcore players have stuck around because the game has depth and can be played at high levels.

The game can be the most technically sound, best fighting game out there as far as depth and skill gap, and everything else that makes a good fighting game... but if it isn't easily accessible, no one will play it because you'll only see a handful of players at tournaments. Example: VF.

 

[Solo]

It's a great thing. The game needs to be easy to get into and understand and the lower leveled players need to at least have a "chance" at beating a good player. At much as I hate to say that, since I absolutely loathe games becoming more noob friendly... but if we want the FGC to grow, we need to enlarge the player base, and making it more accessible is exactly how to do that.

If it's too easy, wouldn't the hardcore players who seek challenges become bored?

 

[Rathalos]

Well, all my scrubby friends do in Street Fighter is hold down-back and all they do in MK is flail around like maniacs.

Maybe it is backward, idk. I guess I can't dumb myself down enough to see it from the viewpoint of someone who never plays video games (especially fighters).

No I agree with you, when playing casually with others, no one ever blocked in MK, they just completely ignored that button for what ever reason.

 

[Killphil]

Well, all my scrubby friends do in Street Fighter is hold down-back and all they do in MK is flail around like maniacs.

Maybe it is backward, idk. I guess I can't dumb myself down enough to see it from the viewpoint of someone who never plays video games (especially fighters).

It took some breaking in for me to get back into mk with the demo. My friend launches a fullscreen spear and I'd hold back and then my guy would get hit in the chest and right before the "get over here!" I was like "FUCK! I FORGOT THERE WAS BLOCK BUTTON!". I do the same thing in AE too. Sometimes I'll find myself holding hk and wondering why I'm not blocking. lol

 

[RoninLoganX]

I'm thinking that they might lower the difficulty somewhat, having the kids who are inevitably going to want to play this in mind. I mean, I know its Rated T, but when I was young my parents never cared about ratings, they didn't want to shelter me. Anyways, When I went to Dark Knight Rises in theaters, which is clearly more of a mature film intended for older audiences, the majority of the people in the seats ended up being kids like 5 to 7 years old. So, anything with Batman or Superman in it is bound to draw a younger and less experienced crowd into the mix.

 

[Juggs]

If it's too easy, wouldn't the hardcore players who seek challenges become bored?

It being easy to get into and accessible doesn't necessarily mean that at high levels the game is "easy". Example: SF4.