april 2015

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SHOVEL KNIGHTyacht club games

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episode oneOnikira: Demon Killer

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WRITERS & CONTRIBUTORS

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COVER DESIGN

Game: Shovel KnightDeveloper: Yacht Club Games

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EFG magazine April 2015

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DRAGON FIN SOUPI N D E V E L O P M E N T

I N - D E P T H - C H A R A C T E R D E S I G NTHE BANNER SAGA

Shovel Knight in depth - character design

Street Fighter IVthen & now

Saltin development

Brock Crocodilein development

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38 38OUTWARD BLOODBORNEKickstar ter highlight Featured by Creative Uncut

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CHARACTER DESIGN

Shovel KnightWe’re talking to Yacht Club Games about character design and development in Shovel Knight, a 2D side-scrolling platformer.

in depth

G U I D E L I N E S

The guidelines mainly revolved around the characters being unique and fitting

into gameplay, but we definitely had freedom to create whatever we wanted!

We initially decided on stage themes, and the kind of characters that could fit in

each theme. Each stage’s theme provided a pretty strong guideline for what the

character could look like or be. For example, the ice stage, Stranded Ship, meant

we were looking for a character that could stand the bitter cold. This fed into his

personality, making him big, solid, brooding, strong, and generally led to types of

characters that typically are found in cold climates. Then making sure their names,

silhouettes, abilities, designs, etc. all felt interesting and diverse was key to their

creation.

Generally we worked on them together, talking through various design ideas and

sketches. Usually we’d find a name, sketch, or something that would stick with

everyone. After that point, we’d have a pretty good idea of what we wanted to

create, so it was a matter of execution.

U N I Q U E D E S I G N

Absolutely every part of the design has to feel unique inside of the group,

besides feeling unique in general. Making sure color schemes, shapes, outlines,

silhouettes, personalities, clothing, sizes, names, and more all felt different

among each character was something we considered very heavily on the outset of

each character’s design. Also, thinking through what kind of combat or gameplay

options a design could lead to was really important. If one character held a sword

and another held a bat, those might visually seem different, but could feel similar

gameplay-wise.

I’m David D’Angelo. My main role was programming.

CHARACTER DESIGN

Shovel Knight

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in depth

C H A N G E S D U R I N G D E V E L O P M E N T

The large changes occurred during a character’s creation process. Initial sketches

of characters could be vastly different, but once we narrowed down the general

idea we wanted no big changes were created. That said, lots of smaller changes

could happen once a design went to be pixeled. Our standard process was creating

a sketch that was then modeled in pixel form. Once the pixel form was finalized,

the fully rendered version of the character would be created based on the pixel

model. So likely clothing, attributes, shape, color, form, etc. might be changed or

simplified to account for the pixel transition or needs of gameplay.

S C R A P P E D I D E A S

On this project, not much was scrapped! The biggest change probably was Shield

Knight who originally started off as a princess. But she didn’t get very far in her

princess form before we decided her design should be changed to something

equal to Shovel Knight’s character. We felt you would be more emotionally invested

in the journey if Shield Knight was a trusted companion, equal to Shovel Knight’s

abilities and skills, rather than an “object” you were saving.

C H A L L E N G E

Getting the designs to work in pixel form was always a challenge. An elaborate

outfit or design might seem cool at the outset, but be tricky to represent in 8-bit

form. Striking the right balance between something too detailed and too simple

was very challenging.

in depth

“Striking the right balance between something too detailed

and too simple was very challenging.”

in depth

in-developmentBrock Crocodile

Developer: Digi Croc

Hello! My name is Javed Miah and I am the creator of Brock Crocodile. I’m a major platformer fan

and my first video game console was the SEGA Mega Drive. From an early age I’ve always wanted

to make video games and Brock happens to be an idea from early childhood. I’ve been dabbling

in game design since around 2000 when Clickteam released one of it’s most successful products,

The Games Factory.

At the time I was part of the fangaming scene that was emerging but oddly enough it never

did cross my mind to make Brock (probably thanks to the ease of assets taken from already

produced games that existed). I finally picked up the idea of making my own game in 2009 and

have been working on Brock ever since then.

in development

In a few words, what is Brock Crocodile?Brock Crocodile is a action adventure platformer that takes heavy inspiration from a host

of classic SEGA titles of the 16 bit era. Whether it be the colorful worlds you found in

Monster World, the complex level designs of Sonic the Hedgehog or the structure of titles

like Quackshot, it draws a lot from that era in both art direction and feel. However the game

isn’t meant to just emulate. More crucially, it’s meant to feel like a title that had just come

out alongside other 16 bit classics.

What are the primary goals of the game?The game follows a linear storyline as the players take control of the titular hero and journey

from his hometown in chase of the Fearsome Four and their employer. The game is currently

divided up into two game modes, the hubtown (of which there are 3 locales) and the levels

themselves (planned 10 levels with 20 stages in total). Players can access both via the map

screen to either continue the story, stock up on items, or replay completed stages for more

gems to purchase items and find the treasures hidden in each stage. Treasures are part of

exploration aspect for Brock Crocodile and we’re hoping it provides plenty of replayability

for platforming fans!

In terms of both traversal and combat, what are some of the moves that Brock will have in the final game? With Brock I’ve decided to give him a set move set. My goal has been to give the players

the only moves they need to complete the game with. So you have the basic movement and

jump, but then you can toggle between using Brock’s fruitgun or his whip. The fruitgun is

used for long distance attacks, perfect for players who like to play a bit on the safe side.

The whip is used for both combat and helping Brock deal with certain gimmicks such as

hooks to swing across or pull up crates to open new paths. Both weapons have additional

power ups you can purchase in town, such as explosive nuts or a vine whip. When it comes

to powerups, I’m very much keeping them fruity; it just adds a bit of extra personality to

the game.

I should say though that players will be able to access this items from the get go with the

only additional items able to be purchased later on being lives and invincibility. For me

a core principle is that if you somehow jumped from level 1 to level 10, outside of the

increased difficulty, players should have no trouble completing the stage with what they

have on hand.

Brock Crocodile has a look that’s heavily reminiscent of 16 bit SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive games. Can you talk about what sources inspired the art and color palette used in the game?The art direction is a mixture of everything and not solely just SEGA, growing up I loved

watching cartoons like DuckTales and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles so they played an

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influence one way or another. But then you got worlds in Ristar and Sonic that had no

bearing in reality but looked amazing to run through and explore. I wanted to strike a line

between “These guys live here,” and “Well this really doesn’t make sense either.” Massive,

multi-story museums? Sure why not? A giant bee air fortress? Go for it!

Another important part for the art was to make sure that while it was consistent, it also

remained fresh. When I look at say, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, it always amazed me how distinct

each level was. Ditto with another one of my favorite games Shinobi III, in that each level

had a completely different theme and color palette compared to the last. That’s one thing

I learned researching these games is that most areas try to be different from one another.

While the art itself may not have been influenced by Shinobi, the overall direction has been.

The palette itself is mostly inspired by the Sonic the Hedgehog games; we’re actually

restricting ourselves to whatever colors the Sonic games used. And this leads back to my

previous point, coming up with a working color scheme that felt fresh every stage. You’d go

from a level that is predominantly orange, to brown, to blue, to green.

What about the gameplay? What were your sources of inspiration?First, an obvious one is the Sonic franchise but mostly in design rather than core mechanics.

Prior to the move to 3D, most Sonic games had these huge complicated and intricate level

designs with its own set pieces that was full of secrets to find or faster routes to uncover.

Brock’s speed is definitely influenced by my love of faster paced platformers like Rayman

and Sonic. The structure of Brock and the world is greatly influenced from the likes of

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Quackshot and Monster World. You have a safe hub where Brock can interact with NPCs and

then you have the ability to select and revisit stages. Both titles had a hand in influencing

Brock’s gameplay as rather than turning into a near invincible ball of doom, Brock relies on

his melee combat to take out the baddies.

When it came to Brock’s abilities the idea to saddle him with a whip came from the idea of

wanting him to be able to explore temples and jungles. What better adventurer item than

a whip? Swinging across chasms is so iconic for adventurers like Indiana Jones too, and it

definitely played its part. Giving Brock a fruitgun has less to do with other games and me

thinking up a crazy and light hearted means of attack for Brock so people know what the

tone is like right away!

What are some of the tricks and techniques you’re using to ensure the game is reminiscent of a retro game?It mostly just comes down to studying how artists shaded older games and the use of color

palettes. I tend to use The Spriters Resource and check titles like Sonic, Rister, Monster

World, and so on to see how the art was designed and see how many frames per animation

a character would use. Trying to ensure the animation was great to look at but not too

fluid that it would seem too advance for 16 bit titles. Certain other bits of the art, like

the mugshots, were inspired from some of SEGA’s classic RPGs such as Shining Force or

Phantasy Star. In terms of gameplay, I’m just sticking to basic elements that you could find

in most 16 bit titles; what you see in the classics is what you mostly get.

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Were there any design ideas that you had to scrap? If so what were they and why?A core idea that was scraped was giving Brock the ability to haul himself upwards from a

horizontal pole. This unfortunately was scrapped because of time constraints, but it’s an

idea I’d like to revisit in future if Brock is successful. It would have allow for better and more

varied levels because instead of the player simply having to chose a lower path or higher

path he could go directly above himself/herself! Likewise, some gimmicks, like Brock being

able to pull out platforms from walls, were cut due to the difficulty in implementing them

and the time required to test it out.

What’s been the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?Definitely the beginning part! I’m not a programmer by profession so getting used to and

needing to plan ahead did hinder the development at the early stage. Thankfully the engine

I’m using to produce the game, Multimedia Fusion 2, has a host of libraries and a great

community of willing people to help with any question you might have. Looking back at

it, the learning experience has been invaluable and I sorely doubt that whatever game I

produce next it would take even half the time to develop as this one.

What is the current status of the game?We’ve completed 9 stages and finished work on the base engine for both the levels and

hubtowns. I’d say we’re about 50% complete. Originally I began development of the game

by myself, since then I’ve added a great group of individuals to help with the game. Last

August we had Steve Lakawicz join and helping produce the music, and towards the end of

last year I added a level artist (Matthew Weekes), and sprite artist (Molly Heady Carroll) to

ensure we can speed up development!

Is there a release date set? And what platforms will you be focusing on?No release date has been set but we’re aiming for sometime late 2015. Currently the game

is only being released on Windows PC.

Thanks for your time. We wish you good luck with the game!Thank you and please be excited for Brock Crocodile!

“The learning experience has been invaluable and I sorely doubt that whatever

game I produce next it would take even half the time to develop as this one.”

in development

You can participate in the July edition by sending us your own design.

What do I need to send?

This issue will be about in-game particles, meaning that we are looking for

designs used for animation. Think about the fire, clouds, water effects, electricity

effects, etc.

Though you are not limited to how much you send of each particle, we will set a

basic guideline of:

• 3-8 different particles

• 1-8 versions of the particle

Deadline: May 11thSend this to: submit@eyeforgames.comState your name, developer, game, and the website.

Please note that we have limited placements available!

Participate in our June edition!

Send us your in-game particles!

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T H E A R T A N D D E S I G N O F V I D E O G A M E S - A R T B O O K S P E C I A L

StoicTHE BANNER SAGA

T O P I C :C H A R A C T E R D E S I G N

in depth

I’m Alex Thomas, the creative director at Stoic. Really

though, titles don’t mean a whole lot for an indie

developer. There are three of us at Stoic: myself, Arnie

Jorgensen (the art director), and John Watson (the

technical director). What it usually ends up meaning

is that we all end up doing a little bit of everything,

or rather, a lot of everything. While John has a definite

stranglehold on the programming side of things, we all

have a lot of influence on the design and the production

decisions involved in making a game of this scope.

Alex ThomasCreative Director

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in depth

C O N C E P T

This was always something we intended to do from

the beginning. For one, I've been interested in two-

dimensional animation from a young age. I went to

college as a 2D animation major but got a job in

games development before I was able to work on any

animated features, so this is something of a personal

goal for me. On a pragmatic level, we worked out a

method of rotoscoping (which involves standing on a

ladder with a camcorder) which lets us capture exactly

what we want before we turn it into traditional 2D

animation, creating each frame of the action by hand.

Rook and Alette were characters who we designed the

whole world around. We were really interested in a

fantasy world that wasn't about heroes; it was about

normal people. Rook is a middle-aged father with a

teenage daughter. He's not out to save the world; he's

out to protect his family. In a lot of ways, our keystone

that we come back to over and over is that these are

normal people. They don't command armies and have

royal blood. Rook is a hunter with a woodman's axe.

His daughter learned to hunt from him. We created

them with the idea that we wanted the player to feel

what they did: confusion, frustration, and the will

to survive in the face of insurmountable odds. All

feelings you wouldn't usually try to hang on your

audience.

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in depth

in depth

Just like our choice to go with a nordic theme, we

wanted enemies who weren't just generic copies from

other genres. We rejected the giants as mankind's

enemy from the beginning. We wanted a race that

looked original and even more imposing than the Varl,

yet not wild monsters who roar and spit. Ultimately,

we were really inspired by the quiet but imposing

feeling that you get from the creatures in Shadow

of the Colossus, and we didn't want it to be obvious

exactly what they are. Are they made of stone? Just

wearing stone armor? Maybe not even living? These

are things that get revealed throughout the first game.

The Varl are the giants in The Banner Saga. They're

our take on the jotun from Norse mythology. If you

know much Norse mythology, you know that the frost

giants, mankind, and the Aesir gods were constantly

fighting each other. And our Varl did clash with men

in the past. Now they have an uneasy alliance with

each other as they work together to keep the Dredge

held back. Overall there's an interesting relationship

between them: the enormous, powerful Varl can't

have children, and each one was hand-made by a god

who is dead. When they're gone that's it, and those

times seem to be happening now.

in depth

“We were really interested in a fantasy world that wasn’t about heroes;

it was about normal people.”

in depth

In a few words, what is Salt?Salt is a game based almost entirely on exploration and adventure.

It involves you sailing across an ocean and exploring all the different

islands you come across. All of the islands are procedurally generated so

the world is potentially infinite, allowing you to explore as long as you

like.

What are the primary goals of the game?Our main goal with Salt is to give players a massive world that they can get lost

in, all the while creating their own adventure. We really want players to be able

to play the game the way they want, and have a memorable experience doing so.

Freedom is key in Salt.

Open world survival games have become increasingly more common, especially on PC. Did you do any into research into other games of the genre before working on Salt? Salt often gets referred to as a survival game, probably because of the setting and

the hunger bar in the game, but at its core it really isn’t. The survival aspects of

Salt are very soft and most of the emphasis is put on adventure, exploration, and

RPG aspects. Because of this, we took most of our inspiration from games of that

nature. Particularly open world games with more RPG and exploration elements.

Why did you decide to go with a mechanic of sailing and traveling to different islands, as opposed to having one or two large land masses?This was really just the first idea we came up with. It seemed to be a

natural fit for a procedurally generated world. Plus it adds all the fun

that can come from life at sea, such as upgrading ships, sailing on huge

waves, fishing, and so forth. It felt like it hadn’t been done too much as

well and so we wanted to do something unique.

in-developmentSalt

Developer: Lavaboots Studio

My name is Will Sterling. I handle the audio and marketing side of the

game, as well as game design.

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Why did you choose to go with a procedurally generated world?There a couple reasons we chose to go with a procedurally generated world. One of the main reasons

is that it seemed to fit quite naturally in our design goals for the game. We want there to be a feeling

of freedom and vastness to the game and procedural generation fit very well with this goal. It was

also a way for us a small team to create a large amount of content, without having to design every

single island from the ground up. Instead we can give islands certain parameters and let them create

themselves.

Salt is also going to have a main quest line, is that correct? How do you balance implementing a story with an open world game?Yes! Salt will have a main quest line. This is something we are very excited about. This basically allows

us to add a tremendous amount of depth and lore into the game, as well a sense of objective. I think

the key to balancing this story line in an open world is to keep it optional. As we’ve said before, we

really want players to be free to play the way they want. This means you won’t be forced to partake

in the main story. You’ll be free to go along your way and fight bosses, upgrade ships, hunt wildlife,

and all of the other features without having to partake in the story. However, if you want to explore

the story behind Salt, then it will always be there for you.

How do you balance the realism part of a survival game with the entertainment factor? How do you decide when a mechanic is fun but needs tweaked, versus a mechanic that needs removed from the game?This balance mainly just comes from testing. There’s been quite a lot of mechanics we have started

to implement, only to realize they aren’t fun. I think our main goal is immersion and not realism. If

approaching a mechanic from a realistic approach helps with immersion and is fun, then we will do

so. However, if it isn’t fun and doesn’t help with immersion, then we won’t implement it just for the

sake of realism. We also try to make sure everything fits within our setting and culture of the game.

The setting of Salt allows for both fantasy and realism, which gives us a great deal of freedom.

Were there any design ideas that you had to scrap? If so what were they and why?Yes, there’s been quite a few things we’ve had to scrap. I think one feature that comes to mind is

cutting down trees. We originally had thought about allowing the player to cut down trees. It seemed

natural. Then we realized just how many trees are actually on our islands. It’s a very large number. We

“I think the key to balancing this story line in an open world

is to keep it optional.”

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realized that cutting down trees would largely cripple

the exploration side of the game and discourage

players from exploring other islands. Furthermore,

we realized it would require a complete rebalance of

resources, how many trees spawn, how much wood

things cost to make, etc. Overall, we realized it didn’t

fit in with our design goals and so we scrapped the

idea.

What’s been the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?I think one the biggest challenges we face while

developing Salt is restricting ourselves to only

working on certain content. With a game like

Salt, there are a ton of different directions you

can go and things you can work on. We have to

be intentional with making sure that each and

every update we release pushes us closer to a

complete state of the game and falls within our vision

for Salt. This means there are a lot of great ideas and

things we’d like to do that we have to put on the back

burner to ensure the game has a cohesive feel and

gets released in a timely manner.

What is the current status of the game?We’ve come a long way since we originally released

Salt into Early Access about six months ago. The

game has a good deal of content currently but we’ve

still got a good bit to go. We are about to release

an update with the first portion of the main quest

implemented. After that we’ll be working on a GUI

overhaul. We’ll also be working on implementing

an expansion of the current content (more island

types, npcs, wildlife) and adding in a weather system.

Once we get the complete story implemented and

all of the single player content fleshed out, we’ll

then move on to implementing multiplayer which

will be one of the last things we do before release.

Is there a release date set? We don’t have a definite release date yet. It’s

hard to tell because some things may take

longer or shorter than we anticipate, such as

multiplayer. We are currently shooting to have the

game ready for release by early 2016, possibly sooner

depending on how smoothly certain elements get

implemented. The closer we get to release the more

accurate of a timeframe we’ll be able to give as well.

So we’ll definitely be keeping our players and others

updated with our progress and when they can expect

Salt to be finished.

in development

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Released in 1976, the Fairchild Channel F was

the first console with programmable cartridges. It was also the first console

with a microprocessor.

••

FunFact

funfact

Don’t miss this episode!

• Observe: Kickstarter

• In-development: Risks and Rewards

becoming a game developer

• In-depth: Improving quality of life within

the game industry

episode #3

LISTEN NOW

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FEATURED BY

BLOODBORNEc o n c e p t a r t

www.creativeuncut.com

feature | creative uncut

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inspired by the games played as kid

in development

Hi! My name is Ash Monif, I am the CEO and Co-Founder of Grimm Bros. Grimm

Bros is a small five-person indie game studio with a deep passion for RPGs.

My role in the company is to do everything possible to ensure that the team

is happy and has everything they need to be successful. I take care of PR,

marketing, biz dev, QA testing, playtesting, finances, ops, you name it! And if

I have a little spare time, I help out on production and design.

I N S P I R AT I O N

Randis (our co-Founder and COO) and I have been in the games industry for quite

a while. We both worked on many games, and while it was fun, it wasn’t ever truly

satisfying. When we started Grimm Bros. we asked ourselves “What kind of games

do we want to make?” And the answer we found was that we wanted to make the

kinds of games we played as kids. Dragon Fin Soup is a combination of many of

the elements we loved in RPGs, JRPGs, and Roguelikes.

We first started out with the goal of making an accessible, modern, roguelike

experience. As development continued, we began to add in a balance of different

elements such as a classic console RPG story mode and some twisted fairy tales.

We at Grimm Bros. are big fans of the old school classic fairy tales - not the Disney

white-washed stuff!

C O N C E P T

The concept of Dragon Fin Soup evolved through development. We were probably

most excited to have been able to include Morgiana, our second playable hero!

She also has a dark back story, and a unique fighting style different from Red

Robin’s. Morgiana is from the Fairy Tale of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves from

1001 Arabian Nights. She’s a dual-wielding assassin with some sweet new abilities!

inspired by the games played as kidDragon Fin Soup

We are following the development process of Dragon Fin Soup, an action role-playing game, created by Grimm Bros.

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Thanks to our Kickstarter, we were able to realize a much greater vision of Dragon

Fin Soup than before. Our third playable character would’ve been Geppetto, from

Pinocchio, but a much more dark and twisted version of him where Geppetto’s son

dies, and Geppetto uses dark magic to resurrect him as a golem. Due to our limited

resources and time, we decided to make Red Robin our main protagonist, with a

complete badass story mode, and Morgiana as an alternative player character with

unique abilities. However, there are still tons of great and exciting ideas that we

would love to add to our universe.

P R I M A R Y G O A L

Sorry, no spoilers! But just to give you a hint…Dragon Fin Soup has three distinct

game modes. You can choose to unravel the tale of your chosen character in Story

Mode, embark on a journey to discover the wilds of Asura in Survival Mode, or boldly

enter the deadly endless Labyrinth Mode for high scores and achievements!

In Dragon Fin Soup there are no lame stereotypical heroes. Instead, we feature flawed

characters, each with their own unique abilities and motivations. Our main protagonist

is Red Robin, whose dark bloody past has come back to haunt her with a vengeance.

C O M P L I C AT I O N S A N D C H A L L E N G E S D U R I N G D E V E L O P M E N T

Of course! All game projects have their own unique challenges and problems. In

Dragon Fin Soup the main challenge we faced was managing our scope and making

sure we could offer a high-quality experience with a small team. Despite all of our

collective experience, it’s still a constant challenge to contain scope and make sure

we deliver a high quality game. Randis leads development, and constantly monitors

the progress of the team. We prioritize tasks as needed to make sure we’re doing the

most important tasks throughout development.

I’ve been making games for fifteen years, my partner Randis for eighteen; we’ve

worked all over the industry from AAA to mobile titles. We know what we’re doing and

are able to execute on what we promise. We were a bit worried that we were getting

carried away in all the excitement of the Kickstarter, but we’re happy to say that we’re

on track to deliver everything that we promised!

W H AT C A N A P L AY E R D O A N D D O E S T H I S E X PA N D W H I L E A

P L AY E R P R O G R E S S E S I N T H E G A M E ?

Depending on the game mode the player selects you will have different goals. As far

as what a player can do, you’re just gonna have to play the game. But I can tell you

that exploration, murder, mayhem, quests, puzzles, minigames, and all sorts of fun

wait in store for you!

in development

“We know what we’re doing and are able to execute on what

we promise.”

39EFG

in development

THEN & NOW

Street Fighter IV“Eventually I was given a small budget to create a prototype. That wasn’t really down to me pestering

my superiors so much as all of the journalists and fans started making a lot of noise and pressuring

Capcom. This was a strategic plot on my part. I had been asking all the journalists to make noise

about the series when out and about. I would always tell them that it was their responsibility to tell

Capcom, not me as I don’t have the power. Journalists and fans have the power to move Capcom -

not producers. With so many voices crying out for a Street Fighter game Capcom could no longer

ignore it any more and so they gave the green light for a prototype and they asked me to create it.

It’s a miracle that happened after a decade...”

- Yoshinori Ono on Street Fighter IV, in an interview with Eurogamer

“The only thing that doesn’t change is the excitement of the fight.”

- Cody Travers

Street Fighter IV

In 2008, Capcom and Dimps released the long awaited Street

Fighter IV. The first numbered Street Fighter game in nine years,

SFIV quickly became a staple of the fighting game community.

Bright, colorful characters and silky smooth animations continued

to be a trademark of the Street Fighter series. In recent years players

would see the release of fighting games as Marvel vs. Capcom

3, Skullgirls, Injustice: Gods Among Us, and Mortal Kombat. But

Street Fighter IV did it first, and with gameplay reminiscient of

Street Fighter II.

The 2008 release of Street Fighter IV spurred fighting games to

newfound popularity, and made a new generation of players a fan

of the genre.

THEN

• Released: (July 18, 2008 ) Japan

only Arcade version, (February 12,

2009 in Japan, February 17 in NA,

February 20 in EU) Playstation 3 /

Xbox 360 , (July 2, 2009 in Japan,

July 3 in EU, July 7 in NA) Windows

• Developer: Capcom, Dimps

• Platform: PC, PS3, Xbox 360, iOS,

Arcade (Japan only)

Super Street Fighter IV

Despite its name, Super Street Fighter IV was less of a mass

revision and more of an expansion to the original game. The base

gameplay remained the same, but ten new fighters and five new

stages were added. New characters to this interation included Dee

Jay, Adon, Dudley, Guy, Cody, Hakan, Juri, Ibuki, Makoto, and T.

Hawk.

Every returning character also got a new ultra move, which could

be selected prior to the beginning of each fight. This meant there

were now two ultra moves for each character. Another important

addition was a new Replay Channel, which allowed players to save

replays and watch other players’ replays from worldwide matches.

Other modes included a team battle mode, where 1-4 players

could play versus matches online with a team of characters, and an

endless battle mode, where players challenge a queue of fighters

to become the “King of the Hill.”

Its handheld equivalent, Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition was

a Nintendo 3DS launch title in both Japan and the West, where

it launched alongside such titles as The Sims 3, Madden NFL

Football, Super Monkey Ball 3D, and Pilotwings Resort. Despite the

limitations of a handheld, Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition was

well received, selling over a million copies.

NOW

• When did the new content get

released? (April 27, 2010 in North

America, April 28, 2010 in Japan,

April 30, 2011 in EU) Playstation 3

/ Xbox 360, (February 26, 2011 in

Japan, March 25, 2011 in EU, March

27, 2011 in North America, March 31,

2011 in Australia) Nintendo 3DS

• What was this new content about?

Adding new stages, characters, ultra

moves, and play modes

• What more did the new content

bring to the audience? Super Street

Fighter IV was a launch title for

Nintendo’s new 3DS handheld

41EFG

then and now

then and now

then and now

Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition

The arcade edition introduced Yun and Yang, characters from

Street Fighter III, and made them playable characters. In addition,

Evil Ryu and Oni were also made playable characters. Previously

they were in the game, but only as hidden bosses. This brought

the current SFIV roster to a whopping 39 characters.

Each character had moves that were re-worked and tweaked for

balancing. Some characters had their health increased, some had

hit boxes tweaked, others had specific moves’ damages reduced.

For example, Oni had his health raised slightly from 950 to 1,000

points. Guy had his throw range increased, allowing him to throw

characters similarly to Ryu. Guile had damage from his flash kick

reduced. Tons of changes were made, although most of them

would only be noticed by experienced players.

More than anything, Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition made

a lot of gameplay and balancing tweaks, further refining the Street

Fighter IV formula.

NOW

• When did the new content get

released? (December 16, 2010 in

Japan and North America, January

25, 2011 in EU) Arcade, (June 7,

2011) console download, (June 30,

2011 in Japan, June 28, 2011 in

North America, June 24, 2011 in EU)

Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 physical

copies, (July 5, 2011) Windows

• What was this new content about?

Bringing the improvements of the

Japanese arcade version to home

consoles

• What more did the new content

bring to the audience? New playable

characters

Ultra Street Fighter IV

The final installment of Street Fighter IV, released in 2014, saw

a total roster count of 44 playable characters, compared to the

2008’s release of 25 characters. New characters included Elena,

Decapre, Poison, Hugo Andore, and Rolento Schugerg. Six stages

were added. Both new characters and new stages were featured in

a previous crossover game Street Fighter X Tekken. Being the final

iteration of the series, Capcom included an Edition Select feature.

then and now

A U T H O R ’ S P E R S P E C T I V E

by Jerry Kline

This allowed players to choose what version of a Street Fighter

IV character they would want to play as in the game’s different

modes. Now there were not only 44 different characters, but

different versions of the characters since Street Fighter IV’s 2008

debut.

New modes included an online training mode and a team battle

mode. The online training mode allows players to train online

with their friends. Team battle is a 3-on-3 online versus mode that

allows players to fight in an elimination mode in which the health

bar carries over from one match to another.

In addition to more balance changes, Ultra Street Fighter IV also

added red focus, delayed standing, and the ultra combo double.

Red focus allows players to use their super meter to absorb multiple

attacks from opponents. Delayed standing or delayed wakeup

allows players to temporarily delay their character from standing

up when knocked down, allowing them to potentially avoid an

immediate follow up attack from an opponent. Ultra Double

Combo allows players to select both ultra combos of a character

before entering a match, allowing either one to be usuable in play

against an opponent. However, the damage reduction for each

combo is reduced as a result, which means raw power has been

traded for strategy and utility.

The final major iteration ensured the game’s longevity, with a

massive roster, new modes, balance tweaks and major changes

to the fighting mechanics. Ultra Street Fighter IV is an entirely

different beast from vanilla Street Fighter IV.

NOW

• When did the new content get

released? (June 3, 2014 digital

upgrade) Xbox 360 and PS3, (August

5, 2014) detail and retail versions

for PS3 and Xbox 360, (August 8,

2014 digital upgrade and digital

download) PC

• What was this new content about?

New characters and stages that

were previously featured in Street

Fighter X Tekken, as well as new

game modes

• What more did the new content

bring to the audience? More

character balancing changes, as

well as major changes to the game’s

core mechanics

Street Fighter IV has been iterated upon and revised as much as it famous

predecessor, Street Fighter II. What started out as a cautious revitalization of a major

Capcom franchise turned into an expansive, balanced fighting game. What started

out as an internal Capcom pipe dream became a reality. Street Fighter IV has sold

over six million copies, helped kickstart a new generation of fighting games, and

created a newfound love for the series. Much like Street Fighter II, Street Fighter IV

is going to be around for a long time.

then and now

B A C K T H I S P R O J E C TK I C K S T A R T E R H I G H L I G H T

O U T W A R D T H E A D V E N T U R E R L I F E S I M

Outward is an open world RPG with a focus

on simulating the life of an adventurer -- not a

legendary hero.

Outward started with a simple question:

"What would it really be like to live the life of

an adventurer?"

From simulating the day-to-day lifestyle

of living alone in a vast world filled with

creatures of fantasy to retiring and passing

on your knowledge and skills to your next of

kin, Outward is about creating a complete

adventuring experience. It's not just

combat, it's not just survival, it's both and

more.

Kickstarter project will end on:Sunday, May 10 2015 9:01 PM CEST

Goal:$150,000 (CAD) - $120,000

Game:Outward - The Adventurer Life Sim

DeveloperNine Dots Canada

An open world RPG with co-op and survival elements. To be released on PC and consoles.

46 EFG

eye for...

B A C K T H I S P R O J E C T

• Cooperative survival and adventure

• An open world filled with handcrafted regions

• A complete adventuring experience

• Fully envisioned survival mechanics

• Legacy system to pass down items and skills

• Dynamic player defeat

and more...

O U T W A R D T H E A D V E N T U R E R L I F E S I M

An open world RPG with co-op and survival elements. To be released on PC and consoles.

47EFG

eye for...

W W W . E Y E F O R G A M E S . C O ME A R LY V E R S I O N

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