Can you do better? How would you design MK12?

[Arqwart]

1. Custom variations or no variations. No more presets​

2. MK11 meter system with key changes​

• Defense starts at 1 bar. Offense at 0. First Hit is back and gives one offensive bar for free
• Interactables now cost offense or defense depending on their type (movement like the jumps are defense, attacks are offense)
• Meter no longer regenerates during between-round animations
• Breakaway replaced with Breaker. Breakers leave both players at same frame advantage, resetting neutral. Breakers still have slowed defensive bar recovery like Breakaway does now
• Push blocking is back, costing 2 defensive bars. Defense meter regens a little faster than normal after a pushback

3. Fatal Blows with key changes​

• Available at 20% HP
• Can only be used once a round if whiffed / blocked (Still only once a match if it hits)
• Locks you out of 1 defense and 1 offense bar for the rest of the round, hit or not

4. Krushing Blows with key changes​

• More universal KBs for consistency (D2, one throw direction, a string on counter / punish, and a string at the end of a long enough combo)
• If custom variations: every move grants access to a new KB. If no variations: each character gets 2-3 character-specific KBs
• KBs now have logical requirements that are not designed around sheer dumb luck or intentionally playing incorrectly
• Raw damage KBs deal 250 damage
• Combo launcher KBs deal 170 damage
• Bleed KBs deal 130 up front damage with 100 bleed damage
• Bleed KBs can now kill with the bleed
• ALL KBs may be used mid combo now instead of requiring being the first thing to hit

5. Throwing launched opponents is back as well as enhanced throws to restand / reset the opponent​

6. No more goofy ToT modifier stuff as a core content unlock game mode​

7. Krypt is once again a pseudo RPG, but chest content locations are now set instead of random​

8. KL ranked system with key changes​

• Now 3 months long per league
• Takes into consideration historical placement upon the start of a new league
• Content is unlocked immediately upon hitting the threshold requirement for said unlock
• Ranking up is predominantly based on total wins and W/L ratio instead of being a point grind
• Each season has a public leaderboard available for viewing after league end
• There is now a top 10% of players for each league. Said top 10% get unique rewards at league end. These players are specifically memorialized as part of the post-league leaderboard above
• There is now a top 3 players for each character each league. Said top character mains get unique rewards at league end. These players are specifically memorialized as part of the post-league leaderboard above

9. Story mode is no longer based on chapters and is instead focused on playing whoever is relevant in that moment. This is to avoid forcing unnecessary fights and could open the door to playing villains at times​

10. Characters now have 5 total costumes which are edited via the new Palette Swap system. There are now universal color palettes (such as KL color themes) which are consumables that can be applied to any costume the player chooses. There are also character-specific palettes which unlock as you gain mastery of a character​

11. Instead of ToT character towers, there is now a Character Mastery system based on wins obtained, overall games used in, arcade tower completion, fatalities done, brutalities done, mercies done, blood spilled, etc. with each character. This system unlocks base costumes, character-specific color palettes, taunts, brutalities, kombat kard backgrounds and logos, etc.​

12. Soundtrack now "slaps" and "is a bop" as the kids say nowadays​

13. Stage fatalities are back​

14. D'Vorah kills yet another fan favorite despite Liu's best efforts​

​

And that's my desired perfect MK12.

 

[MadPropz101]

No variations, all d1's at least +15 on hit, and I'd keep the krushing blows cause it's an awesome mechanic

 

[ItsYaBoi]

1. No variations. Give us complete characters.

2. Better music. MK9 was the last game with good music. What the fuck happened here? Honestly, MKX and MK11 music is so average. Even the 3D games had awesome music, I'm looking at you Deception and Deadly Alliance (even their main menu music was vastly superior). Somebody suggested in this thread about getting Mick Gordon on board and you know what, I can see that working.

3. Bring back fun things in between matches. Test your might, test your sight etc. Some people find these annoying, so allow for an option to toggle them on/off. Turning them off means no rewards for doing them obviously, but I know for some people they just like to fight and that's all. Choice is always a good thing.

4. I want the atmosphere of MK to return to be honest. That gothic, dark vibe mixed with east Asian elements. Small things such as Outworld being purple (I won't let this go).

5. Stage fatalities.

6. Multiple fatal blows to select from.

There's more but that's just what I can think of off the top of my head right now. I've always been more of a casual player so my lists don't really go in depth on competitive elements.

 

[Plop]

I'm seeing music being mentioned alot here.

I hope to god in the next one they don't use the story score for the menus. Like, I'll be sat there in the menus and be like

"Ah that's when Sonya died"

"Ah that's when young Kano shows up for the first time".

It was the same in MKX too. If I ever go back to play the story now I'll just have flashbacks of being in menus. I had big hopes for the music this time round. I still can't believe they dropped the ball again. Like, is there someone sitting there in an office being shown shit and going "Oh, no that's not what we want. Too hype. Try again". Makes no sense to me.

 

[Trustful_Whale]

I'd just turn it into Killer Instinct and call it a day.

 

[supernumian]

My turn.
Looking at the last 3 MK games and expecially MK11, these are my ideas:

- more accurate hitboxes. No whiffing or hitting from behind non sense. Basically, a perfectly polished MK.

- more complex and technical MK then what we have now. Not necessary execution heavy but more deep. Eliminate all the scrubs tactic that we have in MK11. Basically, no D2 Krushing Blow into Fatal Blow for 600 damage.

- I like the movement in MK11 with a dash cancel mechanic like MK9. It's easier but more fair then wave-dashing.

- a better characterization for the fighters based on their archetype. Like, big body damaging grappler doesn't need to be extremely fast while speedy rushdown doesn't need to have eight different fireball. They, sure, can be hybrid but still, be recognizable based on the main archetype.

- more combo opportunity for the players. Basically, every character needs to have a special launcher (with meter or not) and some sort of normal/combo strings that launch. Some characters can be more combo heavy then others but every character needs some creativity in combos.
I like some dirt involved, like reset, vortex and even trap character, without forgetting the balance, for sure. No reset into safe 50/50, for sure...

- I like the idea of having 2 different kind of meter: 2 bar for offensive and 2 for defensive.
Defensive automatically recharge and offensive need the player to attack the opponent.
How meter recharge, is based on what the player do with that meter for the defensive bars while offensive bars recharge based on how damage (on block or hit) you do to the opponent.

- wake up system is limited to some basic options like, delayed wake-up (long or short) or using 1 bar of offensive and defensive meter to enhanced a special with some armor or invincibility frame.
If you are knock-down you can roll like MK9-MKX for no bar without any invulnerabilty.

- offensive meter is used to enhanced special like always.

- defensive meter can be used to enhanced dash in or dash out. Dash out with 1 bar of defensive can be used to gain some i-frames while dash in with 1 bar gain 1 hit of armor to absorb projectile.

- no breakaway but old breaker: breaking a combo needs 2 bar of defensive and 1 bar of offensive meter and consume, at least, the defensive meter of the opponent resetting the neutral.

- assuming that we have a new MK with new mechanics, we don't have variations for a character, krushing blow or (expecially) fatal blow.
If we can have a "comeback mechanic", it require skill from the player to be used and not YOLO Fatal Blow for 38% damage.
We can have 3 different "Komeback" available that can be activate with another bar that can be filled by how damage you receive.
All the 3 are available but can be used once a match and not necessary all the 3 and for a short limit of time.
Basically, for example, Scorpion can have 3 Komeback:

1. flame aura that enhanced the damage of his combo
2. he use his sword adding some new, long range normal
3. flame breath and fireball from his mouth to add some "zoning" in a non-zoning character

Something similar to Killer Instinct "Instinct" mode and variations from MK.

I can think about something else but I stop there.
It's always fun to think about a new MK.

 

[Makuholick]

Eliminate story mode, and if not make it unmandatory.
Eliminate the customization garbage, it doesn't work for Mortal Kombat. So bring back variations.
Eliminate DLC passes.
Animalities,
Better alternate costumes
KAF circulating around Faction Wars(so it actually means something)
Go back to MK9's playstyle, and delete 50/50s, krushing blows, less ground projectiles, etc.
Return brutalities to how they were in the original.
And obviously, reaching out to people who buy your games every year and taking their ideas into account.

 

[Juggs]

- Completely remove any combo breaker mechanic

- Allow both front and back throws to be teched with one input, just decrease the tech window

- Have very few true 50/50’s. And every true 50/50 will be very negative on block. Minimum of -13 on block. So if the opponent guess right they actually are guaranteed a punish and at the very least it being their turn

- Heavy emphasis on footsies

- Give every character a CONSISTENT and good anti air

- Decrease the size of jumping attack hitboxes

- Have the Xray/fatal blow/super require meter, the same meter used for MB/Amp attacks

- All Wakeup attacks will be very negative on block, at least -12 with no pushback. However, Wakeup attacks will have some invincibility frames, and maybe they’ll have armor if you use meter

I could keep going for awhile, but those are the things at the top of my head, lol.

 

[Johnny Based Cage]

Not make people have to grind away for their entire lives just to unlock the shit they want and expect out of their gameplay experience, like brutalities. Variations can, of course, suck a bag of dicks as well.

 

[UghGetOuttaHere]

I like the idea of no varations but choose able traits. My idea is to give everyone an instinct mode like killer instinct that really amplifies their abilities in a unique way.

 

[Living Corpse]

Give guests a break.

I like guests but they lose that special something when they happen every game. I remember guests used to be rare for games, now they're so common it's like the zombie film genre.

 

[Kitana Fan]

Take out variations, and give everyone all their moves from the get go.

Have a bigger base roster. 25 was far too small for a modern fighting game. Have it at 35, at least.

Reduce the amount of guests. Ideally, no more than 3 of them.

Bring back sexualization in the female outfits. The ones in MK11 were too safe and covered up, even in comparison to MKX. Sindel's outfits have been a step in the right direction, so I'm hoping for more of that in MK12.

 

[D3athStalker]

Gameplay

1) Everyone wants variations to go away (even I did at some point) but I'd keep them, although I would add two or three for each character and not have variations that literally borrow moves from other characters like Mournful or Highborn.

2) Base gameplay wise, I would make it similar to MKX's one with long combos and running.

3) Fatal blow system is great, I would keep it but make it only usable once so it doesn't recharge when it misses.

4) I would keep krushing blow system as well but give each character a similar number of them and not make their requirements extremely specific, nor extremely simple.

5) Breakaways need to go right the fuck away. Breakers are way simpler and effective and you don't misuse them 80% of the time.

6) The offensive/defensive meter system is great and should be kept.

7) The fatality and brutality system in MK11 is perfect. I would also keep mercy especially for casual play and you wanna retry a brutality you couldn't do. I would probably bring hara-kiris back as quitalities but with the same pace that brutalities have in exchange for friendship.

Aesthetics

8) The color palette in MK11 is very appealing and should be kept. Even tho MKX is my favorite game, it fails when it comes to that department.

9) I like the customization in MK11 but it could be way better. Instead of including 3 variations of 2 base outfits with 10 different shaders which need to be unlocked separately from towers of time, krypt or whatever; I would include 3 base outfits with 2 variations and make them actually unique compared to each other and make them actually appealing and not bulky (I'm looking at you Cassie).

10) Half the characters have default characters that are either boring (ex. Johnny, Sonya), or revenant which don't represent their character at all (ex. Liu Kang, Kitana, Jade), or just looking horrible (ex. Skarlet). I would give them good default characters.

11) Gear system is neat, but instead of restricting them to only 3 types, I would go bonkers and add a lot of them (up to 10) for each character which include hairstyles, headgear, primary and secondary weapons if they have, gloves, boots for each character. I wouldn't strict the number of gears to 30 or 20 for each character, keeping them at 4-8 is ideal imo and similar to outfits, make them feel unique compared to each other.

12) MKX and MK11 have extremely forgettable music. This game has a lot of bad decisions but rejecting Mick Gordon's request for making music for this game is honestly unacceptable. I would try to hire him by all means necessary and let him go bonkers with the music.

13) I would seriously consider hiring dedicated artists that have done great fan-made concept arts for MK characters. For example, almost every fan-made Kitana design I have seen is better than what we have in MK11.

14) I would make the characters in the roster look apart (especially when it comes to characters of the same faction like Special Forces and White Lotus) and feel unique compared to each other.

 

[Makuholick]

Bring back sexualization in the female outfits. The ones in MK11 were too safe and covered up, even in comparison to MKX.

Shh...they'll come out

 

[trufenix]

just keep adding characters and moves and variations to this one.

 

[Vslayer]

Not make people have to grind away for their entire lives just to unlock the shit they want and expect out of their gameplay experience, like brutalities. Variations can, of course, suck a bag of dicks as well.

post of the year, front page this.

 

[MKF30]

I think I can yes, I don't know coding and all the technical jazz but the ideas, concepts I know what I'd do, how to implement it.

 

[NaughtySenpai]

I'd have a less is more approach.

I'd make my designers watch Bruce Lee/Jackie Chan and other iconic Eastern movies, have them look at Asian landmarks and surreal art depicting hell and weird places so they can properly depict stages on Earth, Outworld and the Netherrealm.
Tell them to not completely fill all stages with all kinds of shit so you could rest your eyes in the stages not overwhelm spectators and players for a better viewing experience.

I don't think anyone wants to fight in a fucking tank garage bunker or a desert military base. That shit is so lame and the stages that are actually decent setpieces are filled to the brim with shit, as if somebody was like "Hey man there's an empty pixel, put something in it!".
The whole approach to stage design in MK11 seems like it's insecurity. Most stages look like fucking George Lucas edited Star Wars movies.

I'd get a proper composer who can actually engage the listener into the action unfolding on screen instead of making them fall asleep. Mick Gordon would be a dream choice but whoever made the soundtrack for MK1-3 would be great, too.
I bet there's tons of talent that could do the job a million times better than the guy who actually did it.

In terms of gameplay I actually love MK11, I just hate breakaway and d2 being a weak anti air against early jump attacks.

I'd also like if there was more stuff to lab in terms of offense which is apparent to spectators. Option selects on offense don't really stand out. The only things you can really see as a spectator are defensive maneuvers like flawless blocking and micro ducking/teching throws, which isn't as hype as difficult combo routes that reward you with better setups or better damage.

Otherwise ofc I'd use a WIFI filter or make people able to decline WIFI users in general just to condition WIFI player to the idea that they make the game shit for everybody. I bet you everybody who could get a LAN cable would get one if they were forced to only play other WIFI players.