Freedom Planet Fighter Design Doc (WIP)

Freedom Planet Fighter: Who Gives A Shit About The Title

Design intent: Make a fighting game based on the Freedom Planet world that is easy to pick up in terms of input difficulty while still allowing room for high level innovation, similar to games like Persona 4 Arena. In short, 'easy to pick up, hard to master'.

Buttons: 4 (Blazblue-styled ABCD: weak, medium, strong and special respectively)

Cast: 8 characters (Lilac, Carol, Milla, Torque, Spade, Neera, Serpentine, Brevon)

System Mechanics

*Meter
Blazblue-styled: you have four sectioned bars that count as 25 meter individually, up to a maximum of 100. You can spend 25 meter to do enhanced (EX) special moves, and 50 meter to do supers.
You gain meter by attacking, blocking, being attacked and using special moves (EX moves are excluded). One should ideally be able to gain significantly more meter from stringing together combos and from aggressive pressure-based play than from passive, reactionary play.

*Health
Each character has a set amount of health (10,000 units). There should be no character specific differences, except during 'power up' supers.

*Timer
Game time should move at a moderate pace. Ideally, rounds will take 40 seconds to resolve on average, and less than 15 seconds if one player character is absolutely dominating. Supers will temporarily freeze the timer. Timeouts should be uncommon; the player characters will have to actively cause a timeout to happen, rather than it happening through no fault of the players.

*Blocking
There will be no guard counter in-game. Instead, the guard counter should be the player's ability to weather the storm of high-low mixups, crossups and throw attempts. There may be guard crush attacks in game, however. As well, characters can spend meter on defensive options such as pushblock and blow-back attacks if the offensive proves too strong for the defender.

*Teching
There will be ground rolls and air recovery. The former is simple; there will be forward and back rolls, neutral get-up and delayed wakeup. Air recovery is also similar, with forward, back and neutral recovery. Some knockdown attacks may force you to recover in place instead of rolling away.

*Throws
Throws will be done with two buttons. The break window will be at least 6 frames, indicated by a large exclamation mark over the character being thrown. In the case of both characters throwing each other at the same time or the thrown character breaking the throw, they will automatically break from each other. The throws themselves should do standardized damage with a forced damage proration (subsequent hit after throw does 80% damage, and throw combos may scale much more harshly in terms of damage).

*Hitstun/Proration
Hitstun should be consistent across moves, with no decay occurring like in Blazblue or similar games. Proration will follow Blazblue's P1/P2 damage system, where certain attacks add more or less damage to the combo when used as a starter. Supers will have a minimum damage limit that is not affected by proration.

*soon™

Character Playstyles

*Lilac: Close to mid-ranged all-rounder character. Has double jump and airdash.
*Carol: Rushdown character, has poor anti-air options. Only has double jump with the motorcycle, otherwise will need to use Wild Kicks and wall jump for upwards aerial mobility. Airdash is an arced pounce.
*Milla: Trap-based character. Needs time to set up her offense and has poor defensive options, but should be good at discouraging options from the opponent and closing off parts of the stage. Double jump is a floaty flutter, but has no airdash without using Super Shield Burst mobility.
*Spade: Close to long-ranged zoning character. Has decent close range options, but is much more effective when pelting the opponent with cards. Does high amounts of chip damage with the sheer amount of projectiles he should be able to throw out on the screen. Has no double jump, but has two 8-way dashes and can hover using a special move.
*Torque: Mid-range projectile rushdown character. Has extremely poor defensive options, so is most effective in a 'best defense is good offense' way. Can load blaster with several different types of ammo that shoot different types of projectiles. Has a double jump, but no air dash.
*Neera: Close to mid-ranged mix-up character. Can freeze enemies in place to extend combos or set up resets. Has no real double jump or dash; aerial mobility is instead done with specials.
*Serpentine: Close-range rushdown with mid-range effectiveness. Highly mobile on the ground and has the ability to cancel attacks and projectiles with dashes, as well as being able to consistently hit the opponent if they are directly above him. Has no double jump, but has an airdash.
*Brevon: Close-range brute force character. The only character to have a maximum of 150 meter. Has high meter gain on hit, but attacking with the knife depletes his meter. Can also charge attacks to deal even more damage at the cost of meter. Has a super jump, but no double jump or air dash, and has no aerial mobility via specials.

Character Movesets

Lilac:

*Specials
- (qcb+A/B/C) 214A/B/C: Dragon Boost
Lilac charges face-first at the opponent.
On hit: Opponent is sent flying a short distance.
On counter-hit: Deals more damage, increased hitstun.
On block: Lilac bounces off into the air and falls a short distance away, unable to act until she lands. With the C version, she can act shortly after bouncing off, but can be punished.
*A and B versions go forwards at different distances (A is a quarter screen distance, while B is half screen). C version goes diagonally upwards.
* Projectile invulnerable from startup to end of active frames.
* Can be used in the air. When used this way, A and B versions have carried-over momentum at the end of the active frames, while C version goes diagonally downwards.
- (dp+A/B) 623A/B: Rising Uppercut
Lilac rises in the air with an uppercut. Can be moved forwards or backwards.
On hit: Opponent is launched into the air.
On counter-hit: Opponent is unable to do an air tech until they hit the ground. Also launched higher.
On block: A version is negative on block. B version is much more punishable on block.
* A version has projectile invulnerability from startup to first active frame. Has less startup overall.
* B version is strike invulnerable from startup to first active frame and does multiple hits. Has higher recovery.
* Air-usable. Has no invulnerability when used this way in both versions.

- (qcf+A/B) 236 A/B: Cyclone
Lilac spins at the opponent, dealing damage with each hit.
On hit: Opponent takes damage and goes into hitstun reel.
On counter-hit: More damage.
On block: A version is slightly positive on block, while B version is neutral to slightly negative on block.
* Any forward momentum you had prior to using this move will be applied to the spin.
* Air usable. Gives a small boost of height when used this way, and can be cancelled by inputting the move again.

EX Specials:
-(qcb+D) 214D: EX Dragon Boost
Lilac charges up an Empowered Dragon Boost, then takes off at full speed, covering the entire screen.
On hit: Opponent is hit multiple times and launched into the air, unable to tech when they hit the ground.
On counter-hit: More damage.
On block: Lilac passes through the opponent if there is any space on the other side. Technically negative on block, but cannot be punished immediately depending on how far Lilac went.
* Deals damage during startup frames as well.
* Projectile invulnerable from start to end of active frames.
* During startup, the player can hold up to do a diagonally upwards EX Dragon Boost, or down for diagonally downwards.
* Air-usable.

-(dp+D) 623D: EX Rising Uppercut
Self-explanatory. More hits than B version.
On hit: Opponent is launched into the air.
On counter-hit: More damage, higher launch, opponent cannot tech until they hit the ground.
On block: D version is neutral to slightly negative on block.
*D version is fully invulnerable from startup to first active frame. Has less recovery than the A version.
*Air-usable. Unlike non-EX versions, it retains its invulnerability when used in the air.


(qcf+D) 236D: EX Cyclone
Lilac rises off the ground in a spin.
On hit: Opponent is launched into the air.
On counter-hit: More damage.
On block: D version is highly negative on block.
* If you hit the opponent with this move, the recovery can be cancelled into a dash or double jump.

Supers
soon™