THE FIGHTERS RESOURCE - Official Thread

[Gorsalami]

In order to keep things all in once place, I made this thread here. The other two threads (Progress & Ideas) will continue existing; The former will have 'set in stone' mechanics and the latter, all suggestions and gameplay ideas.

This thread should explain all the game's mechanics. If something was overlooked and/or have any doubts, post them here so I can address them.

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*THE FIGHTERS RESOURCE*

WORKSHOP THREAD

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check the old thread here.

This is THE FIGHTERS RESOURCE's official sprite thread. This is where you make and show sprites for the project, and give C+C on others' works. There are guidelines to follow to keep style consistency and organization.

1-Prologue

GUIDELINES:

1-Don't beg for anyone else to make your character. If you want to participate, do it yourself.
2-Don't join here unless you've been a member for at least 2 months. This will avoid random unknown people to join the project.
3-If you want to sprite someone else, ask said person first for permission.
4-Do your best at completing your sheets. If you stop working on it halfway through, you won't be added in the game. Please make all the animations and resources.

WHAT IS TFR?
The Fighters Resource (TFR), as the name suggests, is a fighting game project starring TSR's original characters. It is a 2D-fighting game that borrows a lot of gameplay elements from famous games from the genre, such as Street Fighter. You're invited to participate on the project, by:

1-Making a full character sheet;
2-Making a helper;
3-Making miscellaneous stuff (levels, effects, etc).

Note: I take full responsability for music. You can suggest tunes for me to base your theme on, though. Send them via PMs.

2-Getting Started

GAMEPLAY:
The gameplay borrows a lot from 90's 2D fighting games. Two characters face each other in a 2D field. They can walk forward and backward, jump, crouch and attack. Attacking the opponent depletes his HP. The player wins if:

1-The opponent's HP is reduced to 0;
2-The timer ends and you have more HP than the opponent.

You need to win two rounds in order to advance to the next opponent. You beat the game by winning against all opponents. Losing twice to the same opponent ends the fight and you'll be sent to a continue screen. Choosing yes will put you against the same opponent again, and choosing no ends the game.

OFFENSE:
TFR has two attack buttons: Punch (P) and Kick (K). All other abilities can be performed by combining those buttons with the D-pad. Attacks can also be performed while crouching or in mid-air.

Differently from some fighters, TFR has 'BACK' and 'FORWARD' attacks. Those can be performed by pressing 'BACK' or 'FORWARD' when pressing an attack button. 'BACK' attacks are weak and evasive, causing the opponent to be launched upwards, and can be used to start combos. 'FORWARD' attacks are stronger and sends opponents away, giving yu some extra space. THE 'FORWARD' AND 'BACK' DOES NOT HAVE TO DO WITH THE ATTACK'S DIRECTION.

Specials can be performed by inputting a button sequence (for example, quarter-circle+P). They're exclusive per character and some of them can be performed in mid-air. In order to balance things out, each character can have a maximum of 4 special moves.

Hitting the enemy multiple times in a row summons the 'THANK COUNTER' (aka combo counter). This depletes a good amount of the opponent's HP and gives you bonus points according to number of hits.

Grabbing is performed by pressing any of the attack buttons near opponent. Once grabbing the opponent, you can:

1-Grab-attack him by pressing any of the attack buttons. You can deal him four hits before breaking loose;
2-Throw him by pressing FORWARD+any of the attack buttons.

Note: Some characters' grab-attacks also sends opponents away.

Button-mashing will make you break loose faster.

Attacking or being attacked fills up your 'GOGNIO' bar. When full, you can perform a 'GOGNIO Special move'. They're exclusive per character and can have different effects. Basically, 'GOGNIO Special moves' are divided in three categories:

1-Devastating move that depletes a lot of opponent's HP;
2-Move that gives the player some advantage (such as healing);
3-Spritality.

DEFENSE:
Defending in TFR works similarly to Street Fighter's. The character will automatically block any attack if the player presses 'BACK' button. Defending lowers the damage taken from attacks (though it'll still deplete some of the HP). You can defend while standing up, crouched and in mid-air. Note that defending will fail if the opponent attacks an unsafe spot (for example, defending while standing up does not protect you from low attacks; crouch-defending does not protect you from aerial attacks, and so on).

In addition to common defense, 'BACKPEDALLING' is also possible. 'BACKPEDALLING', or parrying in common fighter terminology, consists in the player pressing FORWARD the exact moment the attack connects. This negates the attack completely and gives you bonus points. Those bonuses increase exponentially as more successful 'BACKPEDALS' are performed, and reverts back to normal if the player misses it or defends normally. As it requires precise timing, it is difficult to 'BACKPEDAL'.

Some characters' 'BACKPEDALLING' have special effects, such as reflecting projectiles back.

Finally, performing a 'BACKPEDAL' while being attacked in middle of a combo resets the opponent's 'THANK COUNTER', removes the bonus points and stuns the opponent for a long time, giving the player chance to comeback.

SPRITALITY:
Spritality is an event that is triggered when you win the second round and has a full 'GOGNIO bar'. Inputting a certain button sequence will deal the unconscious opponent a final blow. Think Mortal Kombat's Fatality, but with less gore.

It is an special animation unique to each caracter that 'humiliates' the opponent, such as changing him into an anime girl (Midnight Moe), sending him into outer space (Chaoxys') etc. Be creative!

HELPERS:
Helpers are characters that you can summon a fixed number of times, to aid you in the battle. Think Marvel VS Capcom's helper system.

A helper has four main animations:

1-Entrance;
2-Attack;
3-Leaving;
4-Hurt.

Note: Some helpers don't need hurt frames.

FIGHTERS:
The fighters are the bulk of this project. They need to have all of these movements to be considered complete:

BASIC MOVELIST:

IDLE basic standing animation
WALK FRONT foward movement towards the enemy
WALK BACK (IF NEEDED) backwards movement away from the enemy
DUCK an idle stance with your character crouching on the floor
JUMP IN PLACE (IF NEEDED) Jumps vertically in place
JUMP FORWARD jumps towards the enemy
JUMP BACKWARD (IF NEEDED) jumps away from the enemy
PUNCH 1 a basic, weak ground attack
PUNCH 2 a second, basic weak attack that follows after [PUNCH 2]
FORWARD PUNCH a strong attack that launches the oponent backwards upon impact
BACK PUNCH an evaside, weak attack that launches the oponent upwards
DUCK PUNCH a basic attack performed while crouching [DUCK]
JUMP PUNCH a basic attack performed while any of the [JUMP] actions is performed. AKA a mid-air [PUNCH] attack
KICK a basic, weak ground attack
KICK 2 (IF NEEDED) a basic, weak ground attack that follows after [KICK 2]
FORWARD KICK an evaside, delayed weak attack that launches the oponent upwards.
BACK KICK a strong, delayed attack that launches the oponent backwards upon impact
DUCK KICK a basic attack performed while crouching [DUCK]
JUMP KICK a basic attack performed while any of the [JUMP] actions is performed. AKA a mid-air [KICK] attack
DEFEND a basic, quick defensive maneuver to directly block enemy attacks and reduce their damage while your character is standing [IDLE]
DUCK DEFEND a basic, quick defensive maneuver to directly block enemy attacks and reduce their damage while your character is crouching [DUCK]
AIR DEFEND a basic, quick defensive maneuver to directly block enemy attacks and reduce their damage while your character is mid-air [JUMP]
SPECIAL MOVE 1 An advanced, special move unique to your character wich is performed after a special input is performed. damage and effects are unique to each special move.
SPECIAL MOVE 2 An advanced, special move unique to your character wich is performed after a special input is performed. damage and effects are unique to each special move.
SPECIAL MOVE 3 An advanced, special move unique to your character wich is performed after a special input is performed. damage and effects are unique to each special move.
GRAB A grappling move. your character holds the enemy rendering it defenseless. can and will bypass [DEFEND].
GRAB ATTACK A basic attack performed while your character holds the enemy. follows up after [GRAB]
THROW A basic attack. The enemy is launched away from your character to inflict damage. follows up after [GRAB]
HIT damage taken from a basic enemy attack
HARD HIT damage taken from a strong enemy attack
DUCK HIT damage taken from an enemy attack while crounching [DUCK]
JUMP HIT damage taken from an enemy attack while in mid-air [JUMP]
FACEPLANT [HIT] animation where your character's head directly impacts on the ground
KO animation of your character laying on the ground after being damaged by an attack. or if all your energy has been depleted an the end of a round.
COMEBACK recovering animation. your character goes back to his [IDLE] animation after [KO] animation was displayed.
STRAWBERRY A status ailment. your character is displayed wearing a strawberry costume, rendered completely defenseless. MUST use strawberry template provided.
FROZEN A status ailment. your character is rendered inmobile inside of a giant ice block. MUST use ice block template provided.
DEPIXELIZED A special [HIT] frame. your character partially desintegrates.
BURNT A special [HIT] frame displayed after your character is damaged by a fire-based attack.
MIDNIGHT MOE An special, unique animation. your character is transformed into a femenine character of your choice.
WIN POSE 1 Displayed after wining a round
WIN POSE 2 (IF NEEDED) alternative to [WIN POSE 1]

Note: All moves marked 'IF NEEDED' are optional. Also, Not all poses are in the list; those are the essential ones. Focus on the needed first, then we can think on additional things.

TEMPLATE


Before making your fighter sprites, have in mind how they're supposed to play, and take your time explaining others, be it by text or in image examples. Don't forget to label the moves according to the basic movelist along with the button input. As a good fighting game, TFR needs to have different character types, so be creative. We don't want a bunch of shotoclones.

3-The Start of the Battle!

"A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, the very fabric of a small world began to rapidly unravel. Four knights, Kat, Kosheh, Grooveman, and Dex frantically tried to cease the World War that had engulfed the nations of the world tSRopia. However, one of the knights, Dex, was unmercifully slain as he tried to quiet the violent hearts of tSRopia's warriors. Angered at the loss of one of his appointed knights, a massive light erupted from the sky as Dazz, the creator of this universe, descended to the world of tSRopia. He began to destroy his creations, weeping as he attempted to purify his evil engulfed world. However, he decided to spare the worlds greatest fighters. He planned on creating a new world, a resourceful based upon video games. Ultimately, he was unsatisfied with himself as well, and decided he would no longer rule as the most supreme being of the universe. Dazz decided to host a tournament to determine his successor. To make the tournament more entertaining, he embedded the contestants with the powers of the greatest fighters of Video Game history, so the mighty god Dazz would not become bored to a basic, monotonous fighting tournament. Dazz soon left in a chariot of fire, and the fighters prepared for the most important tournament in the history of tSRopia."

4-Sprites, Sprites and Sprites
TFR's style sprite is fairly simplistic, allowing several people to mimic it without big problems. This also makes progress easier. You have 44 unique colors to use, and a sprite canvas size limited to multiples of 8 (character sprites are 64x64). Please refer to this tutorial.



The animations are also limited to ensure fast and constant production. Please refer to these tutorials.





5-Backing the Grounds
TFR's background canvas are, at the moment, 320x240. It is unknown if it'll support scrolling or if the space will be bigger, so 640x240 (double the horizontal space) should suffice. To avoid blending with the sprites, make the far objects with a lighter outline, and if necessary, use an image editor program to lower the saturation artificially.