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Mr. Strange

Mr. Strange

Noob
Hello! My name is Simon Strange. I've been a professional game designer/developer for the past 15+ years. I'm best known for designing
  • Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee
  • Godzilla: Save the Earth
  • Godzilla: Unleashed
  • Rampage: Total Destruction
  • Deadliest Warrior: The Game (and the expansion)
The past year I've been working on a new fighting game - Colossal Kaiju Combat. (Formerly just "Kaiju Combat" - but a legal dispute over the name with Wizards of the Coast led to a change.)
My intent was to get a big community behind me, and create a fighting game that would really appeal to monster fans, and still be a tournament-level fighter.
The game has been coming along well, but part of my plan has not... the largish community I've built thus far is about 98% monster fans and only 2% fighting fans. I'm a regular poster at shoryuken.com, and I've made several appeals over there, but haven't had a lot of luck.
I know that it's hard to discuss a game in progress - one you can't actually play yet. I'll be making a big push to bring lots of FGC folks in on our public Beta as soon as that happens.
But I've just become aware of TYM, and I thought maybe some of the folks here might have an interest in game design, and would like to jump into the CKC community as well, to help round out our perspectives?
Our forums run Xenforo just like TYM, so you should feel right at home:
http://kaijucombat.com/community
If you want to see what we have thus far, feel free to peruse our online design documentation:
http://kaijucombat.com/wiki
Our first pre-Alpha trailer is up. We're still a couple months from Beta, but it gives a broad idea of what the game will be like. (If you've played my Godzilla games, you have a decent sense of it already.)
 
gdf

gdf

Warrior
It certainly is an interesting concept.Not many fighting games in the EVO circuit in the past years have a 3D environment, Tekken and Soul, off the top of my head.

I do recall members from Atari Community mentioning that you were big on community feedback for G:U. (2007-2008 for me mind you, following the release of G:U)

Members from this Website (a small minority, but they are registered users) have worked with Netherrealm Studios and WB Games on Injustice, so they certainly are knowledgeable on working with fighters. You might be able to contact them unless they have some sort of binding contract with Warner Brothers.


EDIT: This kaiju artwork on the wiki looks familiar, were they made by Matt Frank?
 
yaoding09

yaoding09

Apprentice
I had Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee. I thought it was a very fun game at the time it came out. I would give it a try for sure.
 
SZSR

SZSR

Champion
Welcome to TYM Mr. Strange! I'm surprised to see you in this neck of the woods but info on a new kaiju fighting title is a sight for sore eyes for a couple of us.

While it's great to see you putting out a title, I think elaborating more on your direction with this project would help sway people to your side.

Right now CKC looks a lot like Save the Earth/Destroy all Monsters Melee, which is great in my opinion, but does this mean you are going back to your roots?

Living Corpse
 
Ironsoulsmasher

Ironsoulsmasher

...
Living Corpse would probably like/know about this, if he doesn't already. i've seen him mention and discuss these games quite a bit.

welcome to the forums btw!

edit: actually, i think living corpse made a thread about this. i remember seeing a few of the kaiju shown in the char select in your video.
 
ryublaze

ryublaze

Noob
You should make a Godzilla game that ties in with the movie coming out next year.

Btw check your inbox I want to talk about game design. ;)
 
Cossner

Cossner

King of the Jobbers 2015
Is this for a pitch? Did you already got funding? If so, why are you asking input from a community in pre-Alpha? Is this an indie game?
 
miloPKL

miloPKL

soundcloud.com/pukelization
King of Monsters looks better today for a 15 yo game. Graphically and mechanically.

Why indie devs gotta tackle ugly 3D models?

Yes, its alpha, I know.


Look at Divekick and Skullgirls. Especially in the case of Divekick you have simple art, simple mechanics, but hilarious and fun gameplay with a simple premise.
 
Mr. Strange

Mr. Strange

Noob
First things first - I'm pleased that y'all didn't begin by tossing me out on my ear! I've joined much rougher communities in the past - always nice to jump in where people actually talk! I'm going to answer lots of questions at once here:

gdf said:
EDIT: This kaiju artwork on the wiki looks familiar, were they made by Matt Frank?
Click to expand...
Matt Frank is our art director, and drew those concepts, yes. Each design was created in collaboration between myself, Matt, and one fan. (We call the fan a "progenitor")

Zoidberg747 said:
Mr. Strange looks awesome! Any chance for an XBL release?
Click to expand...
The Spigot engine runs on Xbox360 & Xbox One already - so it's very possible technically. But there are several financial / legal hurdles to jump through. Ultimately, we let our fans decide these sort of things. Once we have profits from our first commercial release, the community will vote on how to spend them - and doing console ports is absolutely one option.


subzerosmokerain said:
Welcome to TYM Mr. Strange! I'm surprised to see you in this neck of the woods but info on a new kaiju fighting title is a sight for sore eyes for a couple of us.

While it's great to see you putting out a title, I think elaborating more on your direction with this project would help sway people to your side.

Right now CKC looks a lot like Save the Earth/Destroy all Monsters Melee, which is great in my opinion, but does this mean you are going back to your roots?
Click to expand...
We've licensed the Spigot engine from Pipeworks - so CKC is literally the same team & same tech as DAMM and StE. The gameplay will be somewhat different - we've added in a new "Charging Attacks" mechanic, for example, and have a more sophisticated grappling mechanic.

One thing I'm absolutely keeping is the wildly asymmetrical characters.


RedRaptor10 said:
You should make a Godzilla game that ties in with the movie coming out next year.
Click to expand...
A different team is already doing that. We're already negotiating with Toho to use the Godzilla license in a future release.


Cossner said:
Is this for a pitch? Did you already got funding? If so, why are you asking input from a community in pre-Alpha? Is this an indie game?
Click to expand...

We are absolutely an indie company. We got funding through Kickstarter last year, to the tune of $112k. We're running another Kickstarter now to pay for improved building destruction & an OUYA port, but that's not why I specifically want more fighting-game experts in our community.

We already have a well-established system of community votes, and group decision-making systems. Many of those decisions right now are focused around monster designs, which monsters become part of the franchise, etc. We have great discussion and participation on those topics. But we have other topics about HUD design, inputs, combat mechanics - and those are pretty barren. I'd really like to get more people involved in our community who care about those systems, so that we can get better discussion and planning done.

x5STAR said:
King of Monsters looks better today for a 15 yo game. Graphically and mechanically.

Why indie devs gotta tackle ugly 3D models?

Yes, its alpha, I know.


Look at Divekick and Skullgirls. Especially in the case of Divekick you have simple art, simple mechanics, but hilarious and fun gameplay with a simple premise.
Click to expand...
It's true that 3D models are much more expensive & complex - enough so that most indies couldn't even attempt them at the scale we're trying.

But we have a very specific advantage here - we have a decade of experience creating exactly this sort of game. And we have an established toolset which we helped created, which is specifically tailored to monster combat.

Some people won't like the look of things - and that's fine. But I've never been especially interested in graphics. My feeling is that Injustice will look dated in 10 years - but people will still be playing it if the mechanics & combat interactions hold up. I'm not afraid to make a game that looks 8 years old but plays great.
 
CommonNick

CommonNick

Europe, PSN: "CommonNick"
First look - the only thing that will make a difference between a beginner and a veteran are footsies.
with those short hands, there can be only one block button. (too simple :confused: )

What I would like to see:
# more special attacks (One lightning attack for the shark isn't enough for a whole video)
# Dashes (the shark tried to back away and yet got hit by his opponent)
# I love combos, even 5 hits combos like in SSF4 are ok.
 
Mr. Strange

Mr. Strange

Noob
CommonNick said:
First look - the only thing that will make a difference between a beginner and a veteran are footsies.
with those short hands, there can be only one block button. (too simple :confused: )
Click to expand...
In fact, there is NO block button! Giant monsters don't block. Instead, defense is handled by careful positioning / dashes / rolls, and a a Rock-Paper-Scissors counter-attack system that really relies on reading & anticipating your opponent.

Have you played Facebreaker? It had a really cool 2-state counter/dodge mechanic. You had high & low attacks. If I hit high before your attack came in, I would dodge your attack before hitting you high. So the defense was a natural part of offensive techniques. Some amount of "random" defense would result, but good players would learn to do amazing counter-chains, simply by reading opponents.

For that same reason, we don't have a very strong notion of combos. There is no way you can guaranteed a string of hits - because if your opponent guesses your next attack they are almost always able to counter.

Not to say we don't have attack chains which combo assuming your opponent mis-guesses!
 
GamerBlake90

GamerBlake90

Blue Blurs for Life!
Welcome to the site! I'm sure our gamers will find enjoyment in your projects and have some worthwhile feedback to offer you. Any questions on the site itself, don't hesitate to contact me or another member of staff.
 
MortySeinfeld

MortySeinfeld

Warrior
Mr. Strange said:
Some people won't like the look of things - and that's fine. But I've never been especially interested in graphics. My feeling is that Injustice will look dated in 10 years - but people will still be playing it if the mechanics & combat interactions hold up. I'm not afraid to make a game that looks 8 years old but plays great.
Click to expand...
Are those character models (of the 4 that are available) finalized versions of those characters, or will they be improving over time to look closer to the concept art that is posted on your character section?
 
KH_Seraph

KH_Seraph

ҜømbÄŦ Ħøu&Ŧøπ
There is a dangerous lack of any Cthulhu inspired monsters!!! Show me a tentacled monstrosity, and I would be on board for this!
 
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