January Devlog Part 2: Badlands Gameplay, Fixer Bar, Kiera Fig, MORE!

Hey again, SB here! Fullscreen this one please. So since December we've basically been all gears firing on the Shot One Fighters prototype. Atm we are in the polish phase with a 1 character, 2 stage prototype. In the last week or two we basically assembled a Badlands theme stage, complete with a fully functional Godbuster and minions nearby heckling you. 

This little video shows Volley in action, alongside a chunk of her moveset- Including her Bunker Buster hyper move. Just keep this under wraps as it's unannounced obviously. Be aware that the footage above is still WIP, plenty of bugs, lighting issues and more that still need addressing as well. Including her moveset!

We were kind of inspired by late 90's stages, which had a ton of personality to them- As of late fighting games have been suffering from very bland background designs. 

I like to reference Capcom VS Snk as one of my favorites. Every stage told a story. When's the last time you had a fight in the middle of a smoldering car wreck? They don't make them like they used to. The last time we probably saw stages this fun was probably Street Fighter X Tekken, which had a lot of fun stuff.

Rigman went to town on the storytelling here, including a bunch of scrapper bots betting their limbs over bootleg Beyblade matches in a corner of the stage. This is the kind of fun stuff we like to see.

EDEN Bar Stage Concept: 

What's cool about working on more than one title set in the same Universe is that we're able to knock out concepts that apply to both titles. This includes this stage/area concept for EDEN, or fixer bar as we call it.

Kiera watching in the background, without even having touched her fries. Tsk tsk.

In the current draft of the story you meet Kiera for one of the first times in this seedy underground bar, where she unceremoniously gives you the cold shoulder. This will make a cool setting for the Fighters title as well, and we'll populate it with plenty of NPC's just like Badlands above. Some highlights will be the dance stage in the BG, a giant moving turbine in the ceiling and other easter eggs.

Included are some concepts for the jaded robo bartender who runs EDEN and will be most displeased at you throwing hands in their dingy bar. 

Kiera Figurine (Diamond Backer Mini Update):

I mentioned about 2 posts ago about a collab with Mark Lambert- Who is helping us prototype a more cost efficient mini statue of Kiera. The sculpt is now done and a one shot of these is being prototyped. I'm currently researching a cost effective way to make a batch of these. More soon as the manufacturer has quoted some pretty decent prices for cost. 

Regarding the plush delay, 2 out of 3 of the new prototypes are complete. I've been working around the clock on feedback and getting these on hand so we can get a batch greenlit. Would have been nice to have these by PAX East but due to Chinese New Year being from Jan. 25-Feb. 25 this sets us back on production. Either way the prototypes are nearly complete and will be shipped out to Diamond Backers with the new care package. 

In Summary:

Anyways- End goal is that we'll have a playable, secret Shot One Fighters build at PAX East in March as we're ahead of schedule. It'll only have 1 character (Volley) but it'll show off what we're cooking up.

Our deadline to wrap on the prototype is January 15, afterwards we'll be resuming work on Shot One Core and finishing the brawler prototype. Cheers!