Lord of the Smash - SSB meets Lord of the Rings?

looks pretty cool i'll test it out in a little while

Haha this is really cool! I love Super Smash, and LOTR, so yay!

For P1, I would change the 'Shift' for shoot. It turns on 'Sticky Keys' on my pc if I press it enough time, and the warning becomes annoying. Just an idea.

Otherwise... NICE! It's really good so far. Someone is gonna have to port this to the Wii, and make it playable through Homebrew.

Hooblah2u2 said:

Haha this is really cool! I love Super Smash, and LOTR, so yay!

For P1, I would change the 'Shift' for shoot. It turns on 'Sticky Keys' on my pc if I press it enough time, and the warning becomes annoying. Just an idea.

Otherwise... NICE! It's really good so far. Someone is gonna have to port this to the Wii, and make it playable through Homebrew.

Click to expand...

I get that alot, and i hate Sticky Keys soo much (you can turn it off but its a pain), but the reason for Control and Shift is that so I can keep the same keys for when player 2 is on the other side of the keyboard playing WASD and you can bring your hands to the right Control and Shift.

I could always change it to other keys when the second player is a person. Any ideas on what I would do for that then?

And thanks for the compliments!!! Haha if someone could port an .exe that would be something else =P

Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. I'm not a big LOTR fan myself but it's a fun program.

Well, I can't download it at the moment (9MB?! With Game Maker? What did you do?) so I'll give you my input later. Why did you post this here before posting it in the GMC? lol

Good luck with this, I'd like to see ONE good SSB game done right in Game Maker, hopefully this will be it.

dabridge said:

Well, I can't download it at the moment (9MB?! With Game Maker? What did you do?) so I'll give you my input later. Why did you post this here before posting it in the GMC? lol

Good luck with this, I'd like to see ONE good SSB game done right in Game Maker, hopefully this will be it.

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Haha very good question. Well mostly all the sprites (including the Single Player enemies) are in the game maker file.

Also, i have some songs that i'm in the process of removing as I won't be using them from my previous attempt at this game. And I posted it at the GMC not long after haha. I find them not to really ever be that useful for developing games as their comments are usually either negative or just pointing out minor things that don't move the game development forward.

And the game is going to be pretty big when its done. I would say 14-15 MBs, which is alot i know, but there is a lot to this game =P.

Just tried it, it's lookin pretty good so far. Keep it up. Could use some music though, you know. You should be able to add that in the beta

Ochobobo said:

Just tried it, it's lookin pretty good so far. Keep it up. Could use some music though, you know. You should be able to add that in the beta

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You'll be happy to know that Music and Sound Effects will be in the next upload since they are done now. I'm going to get a little more done before i upload.

Also here are some things that I could add that im not sure about yet.

1.) Down to drop through platforms -
I like right now how you can stop to down attack, also what if you wanted to use eowyn or gondor ranger's special on a platform.

2.) Variable distance on some attacks (ie some will knock you further based off damage, as some will do .5 the knockback based of the damage and others would do 1.5)-
Im not sure about this because I like right now how everything can kill you and you have to be really careful to stay away from edges.

3.) Slowing down some characters jumps
- Will make it difficult for those characters to get to platforms

4.) Shortening the Arrow cooldown time on some characters
- Could make Legolas/Gondor Ranger/Loth Elf overpowered if they can spam range faster.

Let me know if you guys think any of these ideas definitely should be in the game.

i'm asking this cause i'm in no position to try it at the moment... do you have a double jump? if so... how the h*** did you get a double jump?

MaxThunder said:

i'm asking this cause i'm in no position to try it at the moment... do you have a double jump? if so... how the h*** did you get a double jump?

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Haha, yea i have double jump, and air attacks that you can do only once while in the air.

Its about making variables such as

var jump;

In the Step Event
//If you are on the ground
If (position_meeting(x,y+1,ground_obj){
jumps = 0;
vspeed = 0;
move_contact(270);
gravity = 0;
}

then in the press Up key do

If (jumps < 2){
vspeed -=8;
jump ++; // add 1 to jump.
}



Anyways, the next Beta file is in development and should be out in a few days.
It has
Sound Effects - Done
Music - Done
CPU Levls - Done
A couple more stages
A few new animations
A Front Menu Screen

What i do need help in is Balancing though, so let me know if any characters seem way weaker than the top dogs of Gimli, High Elf and Aragorn.

MaxThunder said:

i'm asking this cause i'm in no position to try it at the moment... do you have a double jump? if so... how the h*** did you get a double jump?

Click to expand...

Learning how to do double jumps in Game Maker is as easy as learning to jump in SSB, lol.

I agree, I wasn't even sure if I was going to post the idea of it because it is one of the first things to figure out in Game Maker.

Anyway, Beta v2 is due out soon and alot of it is done including:
-Music
-Sound Effects (for attacks and getting hit) (landing and jumping to come later)
-CPU Difficulty
-Stock Change on the Selection Screen
-Aragorn can no longer move around when charging his Standing Attack
-Legolas Shooting works for P4.
-Gandalf gets a new sound when his Magic Ball hits.

Things that are on the update list soon
-Gondor Ranger's Terrible Up Attack
-Lothlorien Elf's equally terrible standing attack
-Specials for Hobbit and Gondor Warrior =)

Expect Beta v2 sometime late next week. (or next weekend).

Beta version 2 is out!

Beta v2 Features
* New Hobbit Special Ability
* New Up Attack Special for Gandalf
* New Stage (Pelennor Fields) (4 stages total now)
* Fixed some bugs
* CPU Difficulty Levels
* Sound Effects for Attacks and getting hurt.
* Music for Menus and stages.
* Shorter Cooldowns for Range Attacks for Ranger, Lothlorien Elf, Legolas.

Check the first link to download it now!

This is a fun game. I don't really have more to say.

Almas said:

This is a fun game. I don't really have more to say.

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Haha no more to say =(
Is that good or bad?

Also check out the character bios if you are having trouble finding out the specials-
http://www.danfornace.com/lots-chars.html

For the secret characters, high elf still needs one, but he is pretty overpowered as is, so i might just leave him special-less. All the other secret characters have something so try to find them!

=)

ehhh, interesting. It's trying something new at least.

Hmmm... well I'm trying to get the Multiplayer as developed as I can before making the single player and locking the secret characters, so I would really appreciate it if anyone could help with balance, especially 1v1 balance since i haven't really tested that yet.

I worry that Gondor Ranger may be unbeatable with his new arrow cooldown. So if anyone could grab a friend/brother/sister/dad/stranger off the street and then make me a tier list of the 12 characters that would be really awesome =).

If I were to worry about anyone being unbeatable, it would be Rohirrim. The zero lag shield and dash attack which seems to outrange most others means that it's very hard to hit him.

That's cool that you think Rohirrim is overpowered as the few friends i play with don't think he is very good. I understand where you are coming from as he does have pretty nice range in front of him (i did that to make up for his lack of a projectile.)

As i test the Multiplayer and get some more input from players about who is overpowered and who isnt, i could easily add 1-2 frames start-up and ending lag to the shield which would be a quick animation of it coming out and going back in, similar to how the hobbit's special makes you invulnerable but not for the starting or ending frames.

I was worried Rohirrim would be one of the ones i would have to buff o.O but its good that you like his range.

Well, the point is that he never has to approach the enemy. And as soon as they approach, he can just hit them with the dash attack.

That's very true, but i think that right now Gondor Ranger is even worse than that because his special is even more anti-approach as he can press down and shoot and make himself invulnerable to range until hit by melee again. Not only that but he can spam arrows faster, only having to wait 15 frames before being able to shoot another instead of 25 frames (which i did to make him a range character).

However, he has pretty crappy range and his up air attack ( the most used attack in the game) has a very awkward hit-box making him pretty bad if you can get close to him.

Legolas and Loth Elf are also ranged characters as loth elf waits 15 frames and Legolas waits 18 frames.
But Loth Elf has really terrible melee attacks so his range makes up for it. Try aiming his spears =).

Just uploaded 2 videos of one on ones. Showing two of the best characters rocking people haha.

High Elf vs Ent Child
Legolas vs Gandalf

Check out the vids! I'm going to upload 1 or 2 free for alls as well soon, so you guys can check those out too.

I know alot of people don't like to download .exe's so now they can watch the game in action.

I've been pretty busy finishing up some projects for my summer term at school, but I am still working on getting Beta v3 out by the end of August.

Beta v3 hopes to be a pretty big addition featuring:

--Stages--
The Shire
The Tower of Orthanc (Done)
Amon Hen

Also the beginning of Single Player will be added (with the option for a friend to join for Co-Op arcade mode.) In the Single Player mode you will be facing evil enemies from the Lord of the Rings Series.

--Single Player Matches---
Farmer Maggot (Sprites Done) - The Shire
Ringwraiths (Sprites Done for now, need to be redone later) - Weathertop
Moria Orc Team - Moria Stairs
Lurtz (Sprites Done) - Amon Hen
Uruk Hai (Sprites Done) - Helm's Deep
Saruman (Sprites Done) - Tower of Orthanc
Haradrim (Sprites Done) and Easterling (Not Done) - Pelennor Fields

More Single Player matches will be added in later Betas including matches against the Cave Troll, Gollum, The Witch King, and even Sauron (as the final match).

Also Beta v3 will be fixing some animations
Loth Elf Standing attack (Done)
Eowyn Rush Attack
Gondor Ranger Up Attack

I still need ideas for specials for Gondor Warrior and Gimli so if you have any let me know. High Elf will stay special less because he rocks so hard.

Here is a little teaser for Beta v3 (just one of the stages)
Tower of Orthanc Stage

Beta v3 out Today!

Some other Forums made me aware that there were glitches with Beta-v3 on release. Most of these glitches have been resolved now, but please let me know if you find any.

Thanks,
Dan Fornace

Hey guys, not sure if any of you have played the new demo, but I'm trying to get around a design dilemna that I could use some help on.

Right now, Lord of the Smash is a simplified version of Smash 64.
I don't have shielding and only have 2 buttons.

The first is an attack button, which gives the player 4 attacks (with the exception of Gondor Warrior who has a neutral air).

The Attacks are:
Standing Attack (A while no keys are pressed)
Charge Attack (A while running)
Up Air Attack (A while holding up in the air) (This acts like a third jump giving the character a boost)
Down Air Attack (A while holding down in the air) (This can go down like Link's Dair or may not like a spike)

Each character also has a range attack - B
Some characters can press down and B to activate their special attacks.


But one of the major complaints about the game that I get is that the characters all play too similarly. I am trying to work a way around this without ruining the game's simplicity. The only problem is that I am having trouble coming up with a good way to add character variety without making some characters just not fun to play. I really want to make the game fun and playable before I get working on the single player arcade (which is really just icing on the cake).


Here are my ideas now, I was wondering if you could help me decide which is best?


1.) Add a Neutral Air for each character that would help with Air Comboing and really help characters like Gandalf and Ent Child that have little options in the air. Neutral Air would also change the control scheme a bit making release up be jump. Therefore, a good play could string together a combo of.
Standing Attack -> Jump -> Neutral Air -> Up Air(with boost)-> Jump-> Down Air (which could spike the player off the level with certain characters).
Right now air combos do not last that long haha.


2.) Add an UP, DOWN, and NEUTRAL "Special" for each character in the range attack slot. Right now that seems a little difficult as some characters would be hard to think of specials that are completely different and don't make a character over-powered. A different problem is deciding if Up attack or Up special should be the third jump. Some of the up attacks would be useless without that little boost that they give. Another problem is that some attacks are already pretty "special" like Gandalf's Up Attack and moving his Up attack to an up special would take away some of his uniqueness. However the good side is that many characters do already have 2 range slot moves(Eowyn, Ranger, Legolas, Hobbit)


3.) Add more lag to the start and end of character attacks to make them play differently. This is an idea that I have been playing around with alot. The only problem is that the game runs at 30 frames a second and the game has a frantic pace especially in the air. Any character with low start-up lag on aerials would instantly rise above the others and be more fun to play.


4.) Leaving it how it is and just add changing knockback. Right now, my game is a very simplified version of Smash, where the only thing that affects knockback is damage. This makes every move just as deadly as the others. The reason for this is that there are so few of moves that if you had one with lower knockback then its use may decrease. However, I easily could add variable knockback on atttacks if it is thought the make the game better.


Now you don't necessarily have to play the game to help me out with the dilemna, you can just watch this video here and see how the game plays - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq0gJWiJQmI


Let me know if you have any ideas for specials/gameplay/balance. I do credit idea people and will have a nice credit screen next demo.


-Thanks
Dan

So its been a while since an Update. After some help from other forums. I decided to go with option number 2.

Basically, every character is going to have 3 specials along with their 4 attacks (some have more like Gimli) So that's going to take alot of Development time haha. I am also putting the game on pause while I work on a game for Yoyogames 5th Competition so Lord of the Smash development will be continuing in March.

Right now I am fixing up the menu so you actually select your character. I've also added a random box and have added a blank slot for my final character who will most likely be an outsider not from Middle Earth haha, but he'll fit in the world, don't worry about that =P


Lord of the Smash Menu - 14 Select

I've added variable knockback to moves and it totally changes alot of things, since some characters like Aragorn and Gandalf have super knockback moves. I can tell the knockback is going to need a lot of testing and tweaking so comboing can be possible and fun.


Also, I made an Ent Child Up Special Idea, but it didn't turn out as well as I hoped it would. Its pretty good and spammable, but it is a bit difficult to get to hit. I might end up having to change it. I've also made Gandalf's down+shoot into a thunder attack that has a ton of knockback if you get hit by him, but low knockback if you hit the lightning that comes down. I am trying to get a new special for each character before putting out a demo.


Lord of the Smash -New Specials

But characters that I am running out of ideas on are:

Gondor Ranger (luckily already has a down special)
Hobbit (Also has a down special)
Lothlorien Elf (Has none)
Gimli
High Elf
Aragorn


If you have any good ideas for Stages/Characters/Special Attacks then let me know. Also check out Beta v3 in the first post if you haven't seen it yet.

-Dan

I'm willing to download and try this

what the hell is this anyways?

smashmaniac2008 said:

what the hell is this anyways?

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Haha basically its a simplified version of smash brothers. You take the general ideas:

Knockback
Damage System (%) instead of health
Off Screen to lose a life
2 Buttons for Attacks and attacks based off what direction you are holding
4 Player Free-for-alls as well as 1v1


And thats it. I stripped away Smash Attacks, Moving Views (so the border is literally the border of the screen), Shielding, Dodging, Items, Grabbing and Ledges. The game is similar to what would have been developed if Smash Brothers was thought up for Snes and then evolved into the N64 version.

Then you replace the characters with the good guys from Lord of the Rings, while in arcade mode you face off against the bad guys (still in development)

The game is mostly comprised of combos but eventually, I want to get all characters with new special attacks so the focus will be on multiplayer mayhem.

Right now in the development (Beta v3)
You can:
Play against up to 3 other friends preferably with USB controllers (for players 3-4)
Fight against 1-3 computer AIs in VS Mode
Use 12 Different Characters each with their own semi-unique range attack and some kind of special distinction (ie Down+shoot for some characters)
Play one level of Arcade mode either single player or Co-op.

The Controls can be found on my website

Give it a whirl, its a free to play PC game that can be found at

http://www.danfornace.com/lots.html

The only thing I don't really like about this game is the lack of evil playable characters (even Saruman and Sauron?) and the high amount of generic characters (high elf? Gondor warrior?).

Other than that, this game looks promising.