New Direction for SSB4 Development

[Salocin Katze]

The Official SSB4 Discussion Thread was giving me trouble and not loading so I decided to post my idea as an indipendent thread. This post should be in that thread but it won't load so...

I was watching some Street Fighter and Blazblue videos from EVO 2k9 since EVO 2k10 was announced on SRK. It got me to thinking about the possible directions SSB4 could go in. Since Sakurai has said himself that he will not be heading the development team for SSB4 then obviously a new direction is inevitable. What if the next person to take control of the franchise decided to take control of combos instead of throwing moves in a pot and seeing what comes out.

The idea is that instead of developing the games moves on an individual basis, develop it with the intention of "combos" and strings. This idea is made clear if you are familiar with Street Fighter 4 and it's combo challenge mode. Using this as a visual aid to my idea it should be easy to follow along.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiVteDPAxRA

Instead of the strings and combos of all Smash games thus far being developed by the players over months and years of play. Trying to analyse moves that have seemingly unthoughout lauch trajectories. Why not have the developers think of strings and attempt to control these outcomes.

Example:

Ryu (SF4) "Hard Trial Combo" - Focus Attack, Solar Plexus Strike, [Crouch] Hard Punch, Shoryuken, Shinku Hadoken

Mario (SSB4) "?? Trial Combo" - Jab x2, [Crouch Cancel], Grab, Pummel x2, Down Throw [Opponent DI Up], [Short Hop], Up Air, Up Air, Forward Smash

Obvoisly DI would have to be a factor, being a staple of Smash gameplay.
With as the amount of movement Smash has it would be difficult but I think it's an interesting concept. In everygame there are "jury rigged" combos that are possible but the number of them is in direct corrilation with the amount of time put into developing and controlling these inputs and outputs.

If I have not described this well enough then please tell me. It is an odd crossover concept. In writting this I do not think Smash should go in the same direction as all other fighters completely but I think feeding off of simple ideas and concepts is nothing to fear.

Please discuss.

 

[UltiMario]

I'll just qucikly go over this.
One of the entire points of Smashbros is the fact that it is a completely unique fighter, where percentages re used rather than health, combos and chains are not designed, rather, they are found by the players with experience. Even with little or no influence from Sakurai, there is absolutely, a solid 0% chance that the game will be radically changed. A fixed combo system will never happen, other than small things like Jab Attack combos, which even have a tendancy to not be combos either.

If something like this was done, sales would probably plummet because people would rather play other fighting games if Smash was just going to be a normal fighting game wih holes in the stages.

 

[AmigoOne]

^^
Thats basically it, I'll gloss over it a little bit more.

With the way the gameplay is designed, its impossible to have fixed combos because of all the different situations thats possible. Combos that work on one percentage will not work at another, combos that work here will not work on another stage, combos that work on one person will not work on another. Combos that work may not work because of how someone DIs. Too many uncontrollable factors for it to be of any use.

In SF, these guys design the move and know which moves are cancelable into another, and all sorts of other ****s and giggles, so they can do that. They also arent affected by any other factor like smash is besides a bit of spacing.

 

[Holty]

Wanting combos, huh? Play SSB64 or B+...

 

[Big-Cat]

From my experience SF isn't that rigid with its combo system. There are several combos that you can do with most characters, but Capcom only provides you with a couple of them; a good amount of them like Viper's have practical uses and are bread and butter combos. Other combos, however, are simply execution trainers so don't try to use them in most matches.

IIRC, you posted this in the main thread, right? Nothing has been said Sakurai won't handle the next game. Personally, I hope someone comes along and works with him.

I'll just qucikly go over this.
One of the entire points of Smashbros is the fact that it is a completely unique fighter, where percentages re used rather than health, combos and chains are not designed, rather, they are found by the players with experience. Even with little or no influence from Sakurai, there is absolutely, a solid 0% chance that the game will be radically changed. A fixed combo system will never happen, other than small things like Jab Attack combos, which even have a tendancy to not be combos either.

If something like this was done, sales would probably plummet because people would rather play other fighting games if Smash was just going to be a normal fighting game wih holes in the stages.

First off, Smash is not that unique. After the health system, increased mobility, and more of an aerial emphasis in combat, it kind of stops there, and it makes sense since Smash is still a fighter at its core. I don't think anyone will question that.

Radically changed? Maybe, maybe not. It depends on what your definition of radical is. Brawl didn't really add all that much. Would you consider concepts such as an expanded tether system, a personal Smashball type move, throw counters, super jumps, more hit stun and a get-off-of-me move to be radical changes? For all we know, any of these could happen and more. I mean, who saw random tripping coming?

For your sales argument, it's pretty flawed. Some people I've talked to have forgotten about the massive star power this game has. Had this been Ryu-Oh, do you think people would care all that much? The only way Smash would play completely like other fighters is if you were take out those separating concepts out of Smash including the stages.

In SF, these guys design the move and know which moves are cancelable into another, and all sorts of other ****s and giggles, so they can do that. They also arent affected by any other factor like smash is besides a bit of spacing.

What would you say to the aforementioned bread and butter combos? One way for this to happen would be to make most of the moves for most of the characters cancelable into their respective specials. If done right, this can lead into larger combos which are subject to the players.

 

[Sleek Media]

OP:

NO.
...just no.

 

[ETWIST51294]

Wanting combos, huh? Play SSB64 or Melee...

fixed it .

 

[Vyse]

@Salocin Katze,

I moved your post into the SSB4 discussion thread for you. Please keep any and all discussion in there

(http://www.smashboards.com/showpost.php?p=9095661&postcount=29277)

I also quoted it to the current page of that thread.

Thanks.