I want to take some time out to discuss something that's bugging me. Are people really having trouble understanding what the 'vanilla' version of a game is like? From the discussions I see and the things people say, it seems like no one's played the Month 1 version of a game before. There is constant QQ'ing.. But here's what you should expect from the vanilla edition of a new fighting game:
1) Early in the game's life, people will find the 2 or 3 most obviously strong characters and abuse them. It doesn't mean that people will stop playing these characters, but as time goes on, people level up, find tech, and learn matchups, more characters will start to move up the ranks and win.
When the game is first released, people try every character -- but whoever seems the most readily abused after a few weeks will begin to show up at a lot of tournaments. It's a normal process, and it's OK.
2) The game balance will be off. It's OK -- that's what happens in Vanilla games. Everything will not be perfect; some characters will be found to have exploitable tools that will put them above most of the cast; others will seemingly have no redeeming value.
However, to know just HOW unbalanced the game is, in favor of what characters, takes time and patience. You need to give things time to evolve; otherwise if you rebalance things according to everyone's Month 1 impression of how good some characters are, by month 2-3 everything evolves and the game is now completely unbalanced again. You now get smacked in the face by characters you weren't even worried about, and characters that were thought to be too strong and toned down cease to be threats at all.
This means that even when you absolutely know things will need to be adjusted, you must wait until the air clears and players reach more of their characters' full potential. Otherwise you will make costly mistakes that are ridiculed.
The game WILL be patched. It will be rebalanced. Damage will be adjusted; frames will be adjusted. But it isn't something you rush into unless you want a mess.
3) There will be bugs and other issues. It happens. No matter how well you test a game, things will creep out there on day 1 that you either didn't find, or were not able to take the time to fix due to prioritizing other things. It's ok, and many of these things will be corrected as time goes on. It's a natural part of a game's lifecycle.
So pause -- take a deep breath. Count to 174463464364153.. And realize that a brand new game will never show all of its true colors in the first month; things will evolve, changes will be made. Give it time and keep discussing things in a rational way.. And a few months from now we'll all be laughing at some of the things that were said back in May.
Vanilla is what it is.
1) Early in the game's life, people will find the 2 or 3 most obviously strong characters and abuse them. It doesn't mean that people will stop playing these characters, but as time goes on, people level up, find tech, and learn matchups, more characters will start to move up the ranks and win.
When the game is first released, people try every character -- but whoever seems the most readily abused after a few weeks will begin to show up at a lot of tournaments. It's a normal process, and it's OK.
2) The game balance will be off. It's OK -- that's what happens in Vanilla games. Everything will not be perfect; some characters will be found to have exploitable tools that will put them above most of the cast; others will seemingly have no redeeming value.
However, to know just HOW unbalanced the game is, in favor of what characters, takes time and patience. You need to give things time to evolve; otherwise if you rebalance things according to everyone's Month 1 impression of how good some characters are, by month 2-3 everything evolves and the game is now completely unbalanced again. You now get smacked in the face by characters you weren't even worried about, and characters that were thought to be too strong and toned down cease to be threats at all.
This means that even when you absolutely know things will need to be adjusted, you must wait until the air clears and players reach more of their characters' full potential. Otherwise you will make costly mistakes that are ridiculed.
The game WILL be patched. It will be rebalanced. Damage will be adjusted; frames will be adjusted. But it isn't something you rush into unless you want a mess.
3) There will be bugs and other issues. It happens. No matter how well you test a game, things will creep out there on day 1 that you either didn't find, or were not able to take the time to fix due to prioritizing other things. It's ok, and many of these things will be corrected as time goes on. It's a natural part of a game's lifecycle.
So pause -- take a deep breath. Count to 174463464364153.. And realize that a brand new game will never show all of its true colors in the first month; things will evolve, changes will be made. Give it time and keep discussing things in a rational way.. And a few months from now we'll all be laughing at some of the things that were said back in May.
Vanilla is what it is.
