Skip blurb if you just want to know how to play the game.

So summer is finally over and I’ve done my best to keep my promise. I haven’t been too frequent with updates because I took a short hiatus in late July to play the new fire emblem game, although this wasn’t entirely intentional. The game REALLY captured my attention and held its grip on me for a while but I took a break from that to shift my focus back onto this project. So what I have for you now is a demo just like I promised. I meet all the goals set up from the previous post EXCEPT having more than one stage. I’m sure it might sound lazy but it was the last thing on my list of goals to meet as I thought everything else took higher precedence. So now without wasting any more of your time let me explain how to play this game.

HOW TO PLAY

Button Layout for Keyboard and Game pad controller:

Jump: Z key/ Top face button

Light Attack: X key/ Right face button

Heavy Attack: C key/ Left face button

Special Attack: V key/ Bottom face button

Assist Attack: B key/ Right Trigger

Grab: Q key/ Right Bumper

Block: Space bar/ Left Trigger

Dash: S key/ Left Bumper

Start/Pause: Enter key/ Start button

Run: A key

Movement: Arrow keys/ Left Analog stick

A few things to note is that these controls can be customized in the Character select screen by clicking on the controller image on the player’s character slot. Tap jump (The ability to jump by pressing the up button/flicking the analog stick upward) is a feature that will soon be added to the customization menu however is currently left out. Keyboard players have the ability to tap jump and controller players do not. Players using controllers also have the ability to use their right analog stick. Currently this analog stick will allow the player to use light attacks but in the future will be allowed to be customized by the player to use heavy, special or assist attacks.

CHARACTER SELECT SCREEN

This is the first screen you’ll be able to interact with when loading the game. Here you be able to choose your characters, set up the type of battle, and activate extra features. Players will be able to select from a diverse roster of 1 character when choosing who to play as. Players can choose to play with or without an assist as they are not required. To actually select any characters, players must pick up their pencil tool next to their player slot at the bottom of the screen. The same must be done when selecting computer players (CPUs). Computer players can be activated by clicking on the Human/Cpu button at the bottom of the character slot. The matches themselves come in two types being timed and stock battles. Timed battles require players to collect points by knocking out other players/cpus and at the end of the player determined time period a winner is decided. Stock battles are a last man standing situation where players play until they lose all of their remaining lives. Players can determine the number of lives each player starts with and the maximum length of the match. The last things offered on this screen are two extra options where players can put the match into practice mode and debug mode. Practice mode makes all CPUs do nothing as to allow the player to practice in peace. Debug mode will display my disgusting hit and hurt boxes in the following match. Players interested in this mode will find useful information about the area of attack on certain moves and will be more likely to see the game break every now and then. An extra note to realize is that while players can customize controls these controls are specifically for fights as the character select screen/result screens have strict controls that cannot be changed.

Confirm: Z key/ Right face button

Cancel: X key/ Left face button

Start: Enter key/ start button

Movement: Arrow keys/ Left analog stick

FIGHTS!!

So for anyone that may not have played any type of platform fighting here are how matches typically play out. Each fighter will start off with a percentage rather than a health bar. This percentage increases as the fighter is attacked and the higher their percentage the farther the players are sent when begin hit. Players lose lives when fighters get knocked off screen so the higher the players percentage the more vulnerable they are. To attack players have the ability to use Light/Heavy/Special/Assist attacks where each have various purposes. Light attacks are quick and are typically used to rack up damage, heavy attacks are slow but can send enemies flying at high percentages, special attacks can have a variety of uses like being projectiles, counters or recovery moves. Assist attacks can simply be thought of special moves performed by a separate ally. Something else to be aware of is the ability to dash/air dash. By pressing the dash button, or by moving while blocking the player will dash forward or back ward. This can be done on the ground or in the air to allow extra movement options. Players are allotted a certain amount of jumps, dashes, and recovery specials while in the air. These will be useful when trying to come back to the stage when being sent flying. Dashes and recovery specials will be replenished when getting hit or when jumping off walls(which is performed by moving in the opposite direction as a wall the fighter is touching in the air).

RESULTS SCREEN

Once the battle is over players will be faced with the results screen where they will find out the placement of each player depending on the win conditions. From here players can vote on whether to restart the match or move back to the character select screen. By pressing the designated confirm key/button the player will vote to have a rematch but when pressing the cancel key/button the player will vote to move back to the character select screen. Rematches will only occur if the vote is unanimous in favor of a rematch, if anyone chooses cancel the game will move back to the character select screen.

End of How to Play segment

With that out of the way, I hope any and all of those who choose to waste their time with my game has an entertaining time and is willing enough to give some feedback. Let me know if you love or hate any aspect of the game as I will take note and try to make the game an even better experience. It may take a little while with school starting a little too soon but I plan on releasing an update with bug/gameplay fixes and hopefully maybe even a new character. This has been a fun experience that few may come across but fun all the same so I hope anyone reading this tries out the demo and has a great day.