It started off as a joke but now it's coming to PS3, PC and Vita complete with GGPO net-code.
Overview
Divekick is a fighting game that was developed by One True Game Studios, a group of fighting game players which include Adam 'Keits' Heart, the Editor-in-chief of Shoryuken.com. It features parody characters with infamous "Dive Kick" attacks in fighting games like Yun, Yang, Rufus, Kung Lao, Wolverine and Doctor Doom.
The goal of the game is to defeat your opponent with a divekick, whoever connects with a divekick first wins the round. You must win five rounds to win a match.
After a successful debut at fighting game tournament events, a kickstarter campaign to fund a PC release was announced (with a $30,000 goal within a 30 day deadline), only to be cancelled after the news emerged that One True Game Studios had successfully made a deal with a publisher for the game's release.
Characters
Currently 8 announced characters feature in Divekick. One of which is Dive and Kick's mentor type character (and initially a NPC), Uncle Sensei, who gives comedic hints filled with references to memes before matches.
Dive (parody of Street Fighter's Yang)
Kick (parody of Street Fighter's Yun and real Hollywood actor Will Smith)
Kung Pao (a female parody of Mortal Kombat's Kung Lao)
Mr. N (parody of real pro fighting game player turned pro League of Legends player Marn mixed with Street Fighter's Rufus)
Wolverine (an actual anthropomorphic humanoid wolverine parody of Marvel's Wolverine)
Uncle Sensei
Dr. Victoria Shoals (a female parody of Doctor Doom)
Gameplay
Divekick is played by using only two buttons: Dive and Kick. The only way to strike your opponent is to divekick into them, which will instantly K.O. if it connects. Movement is handled by using the trajectory of your jump, the descent of your divekicks, and hoping backwards (known as "kickbacks"). This in conjunction with the fact there is no way to block or duck in the game makes the positioning of your character paramount.
Matches are first to five rounds, with each round lasting 20 seconds. If there is no winner at the end of the round, the winner is judged to be the player who is closest to the middle of the screen, as indicated by a red line that appears during the final 5 seconds. Only if the players distance to the line is equal will a drawn round occur (in the form of a giant foot stomping on both players).
Kick Factor
A parody of Marvel vs. Capcom 3's X-Factor comeback mechanic. Kicking will increase the metre (which is in the shape of a shoe) and, once full, Kick Factor will activate and you will become faster for a limited time. This effect persists through rounds.
Concussion
If a player wins a round with a headshot, their opponent will be inflicted with a concussion for the first few seconds of the next round. This reduces your character's jump height drastically, reduces your Kick Factor gauge to zero, and prevents you from gaining metre until it wears off. Concussion does not persist through rounds.
Gems
A parody of Street Fighter x Tekken, gems are chosen after character selection that will boost the speed of a character's dive or kick by 10%. A third, joke DLC gem significantly boosts both dive and kick speed and is available for $8.95, a reference to Capcom's DLC strategy for Street Fighter x Tekken and the price to watch an advertisement free stream during Canada Cup in 2011 (which would become a meme unto itself when the live-stream notoriously and accidentally cut to advertisements before the end of matches for users with time delays).
Fraud Detection
A parody of the Infinite Protection in Skullgirls, winning the first 4 rounds will cause a Fraud Detection warning to be displayed on screen. If the match is finished in the next round, the loser is declared a fraud. This is could be a reference to many sweeps in fighting game tournaments, most noticeably being Mike Ross's 5-0 defeat to Finger Cramp's Jago at the Bar Fights tournament in 2011.
Rankings
Much like in Street Fighter IV, the winner is given a letter score in three categories after a match: diving, kicking, and not losing.
Development
Arcade Version
The game debuted at Heart's UFGT8 (Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament 8, a Road to EVO Championship Series season event) in May 2012, in Chicago, IL.
The game was played using a specially made controller with only two buttons, the dive button and the kick button. Selecting characters other than Dive and Kick required players to input different combinations of holding one button down (or both) while pressing another.
Due to a large positive response from players and the community, Divekick returned for location testing In June 2012 at another Road to EVO event, CEO 2012 in Orlando, FL. The test involved a classic arcade style "winner stays on" format, with players paying $1 to play each time and those with the top 16 win streaks playing a tournament against each other. All proceeds would go towards development costs of the game.
Divekick was officially announced for EVO 2012 (July 6th to 8th) as part of the (fighting game and non-fighting game) Indie titles Showcase. The $1 Top 16 streak tournament format returned and was covered in a video interview by video game website GameSpot.
A Kickstarter campaign was announced on Monday July 2nd 2012 for a potential release on PC. During this time Dr Shoals was announced and Uncle Sensei was revealed to be a playable character. However after reaching its $30,000 goal several days before the end of its 30 day deadline, the campaign was cancelled by co-creator Heart, who announced that a publisher had been secured.
The publisher would be officially unveiled in January 2013 as Dave Lang's Iron Galaxy Studios. Known for outsourcing games, including fighting games Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition and Marvel vs. Capcom Origins, Iron Galaxy will help co-develop and publish Divekick (complete with GGPO net-code support) for an eventual Q2 2013 release on PlayStation Network (PS3 and Vita) and PC.
Console Version
The previously unseen home console release version of Divekick will be on display and playable to the public at the Iron Galaxy booth during Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) East from March 22nd through to the 24th.
It will also return for CEO 2013 (June 28th-30th), with Dave Lang and other members of Iron Galaxy scheduled to attend.
http://www.giantbomb.com/divekick/3030-38394/
