Hi everyone! I’m 135, a coder and balancer for SSF2. Today I’ll be covering new features in Beta which will help the game run faster, even on older computers.
As a gaming platform, the PC has its set of advantages and disadvantages. It is customizable and relatively powerful. However, PCs are not standardized. All Wiis, for example, have proper specs to smoothly run games designed for Wiis. PCs, on the other hand, vary drastically in performance, and therefore PC game designers need to do their best to accommodate machines of varying strengths. Unfortunately, even the most optimized games can still lag on slower machines. And lag is bad.
Hi everyone, and welcome for another SSF2 dev blog!
I am Chernabogue, a developer from the Audio team and a musician from OverClocked ReMix. You may remember hearing some of my work a few weeks ago in the first Audio blog. Speaking of which, on behalf of the whole Music team, I’d like thank you for the positive reception on the first tracks we presented. But enough talk, let’s dive into what you clicked on the link for!
Today’s blog is a little special, because I won’t be the only one to write it. Every developer from the Music team will present a totally new track they worked on. Yes, you read that right, you’re going to get a big preview of 5 new tracks from the game! Exciting, isn’t it? Let’s start right now and see what our first member has to say!
Hi hi! I’m ElvisDitto, and you’ve probably seen me around FaceBook or YouTube from time to time. I handle sprites here and there on this little ol’ game we call Super Smash Flash 2. My confirmation to SSF2 is a unique sort of tag team with Zero Insanity, who you may remember from our stage blog a couple of weeks ago. We work together with a real synergy.
Aha, I’m rambling. More on that stuff later.
For now, I’m here to talk to you all about Pokémon, because if anyone knows anything about me, they know that there is nothing that I love more than those little pocket monsters.
With regards to our new demo, we knew that we had to up the ante in every aspect we could, and naturally, PokéBall Pokémon were no exception. It was no secret that in previous versions of Smash Flash we used a mix-match of different styles for these guys, but now we’re getting things more organised.
Let’s start with throwing this here PokéBall.
POKéBALL GO!
Garchomp! Strike with Draco Meteor!
I guess Luigi should have realized he needs a Pokémon in order to battle.
Garchomp cries out, stunning opponents in front of it, then uses “Draco Meteor” a devastating Dragon-type move that calls down a shower of meteors from the sky.
Since the last demo, you’ll see we’ve caught a wide range of new Pokémon for you to play around with. We put a lot of care and attention into each one. We hope you enjoy the variety!
Zygarde is too zany for me!
Zygarde doesn’t like it’s environment being encroached on and will use its signature move, “Land’s Wrath” to try and get revenge. It slams the ground with it’s giant tail, causing fissures in the ground.
You mess with the Heracross, you get the horn!
Heracross is a fun one, as it’ll fly towards an enemy, then hurl them into the sky with its “Mega Horn”. You’re going to have to time your movement carefully if you plan on avoiding this one.
It’s just a little airborne, it’s still good, it’s still good!
Tepig pops out, and starts running at high speed, while engulfed in flames. If it hits an opponent, it’ll crash into them, setting them ablaze too! That’s why this move is called “Heat Crash”
You'll only ever see these types of characters standing next to each other in a Smash Bros. fangame.
Unlike Smash for Wii U and 3DS, our Snivy will use its signature ability, Leaf Tornado. Sharp leavs will spin around Snivy’s general area, so be sure to avoid getting too close!
Seedot, assemble!
Seedot, the ever adorable acorn Pokémon will march into battle, then fire out seeds like a gattling gun. This technique is known as “Bullet Seed”
Keeping in true to official Smash Bros, Jirachi will float upwards into the sky. Perhaps it grants a wish as it floats?
On top of this, a few more familiar faces are making a much needed return. We hope they live up to your expectations.
Beedrill always did frighten me as a kid.
Beedrill buzz into the playing field in a huge swarm of hatred. They will “Take Down” anyone in their way.
Bellossom is ready to entice foes into a deep sleep.
Bellossom dances, shaking off “Sleep Powder” as it does so. Perhaps if it danced more gracefully…
And Koffing’s “Smokescreen” is now the right colour!
It’s super effective at blocking the view of the battlefield.
Wow! Venusaur, Blastoise and Charizard! What starter did you guys choose?
Returning from Melee, Venusaur uses “Earthquake” and shakes the ground around him causing a ruckus, Charizard uses “Flamethrower” on either side of him dealing fiery multi-hit damage, and Blastoise uses “Hydro Pump” firing a watery projectile that pushes foes backward!
Speaking of familiar faces….
I bet you didn’t think you’d see this little guy return, now did you?
Pichu has been missing out since Melee, but this time around it packs a real punch!
Pichu will jump up and shock anyone nearby with a powerful “Thunder Wave”.
On TOP of everything else, we also have a few Pokémon variants. What does that mean, you ask? Well, much like clones in the playable roster, some Pokémon function the same as others, but with differing stats.
Will you get Porygon?
Porygon2?
PorygonZ, new to SSF2, is an option as well!
There’s even more of a gamble now with certain Pokémon than before! Try and find them all!
Pokémon are popular all over the world, and I think this last point will accurately reflect that. Not only do they appear inside PokéBalls, but you may also find them hiding in plain sight on stages!
Beldum? Were you jealous that your older sibling was already a pokéball?
Magnemite gracefully bobs around.
Now that we’ve celebrated the 20th Anniversary of Pokémon in style, I’d say this blog is done and dusted. Stay tuned, as next week we have the lovely Chernabogue who is going to talk to y’all about some more of the musical tracks in the game. Hope you enjoyed this week’s Dev Blog! Until next time. ElvisDitto, signing off.
Hiya! Welcome to the 9th SSF2 Beta Dev Blog! I’m TSON, head of Public Relations and overall, a pain in our lead developer Cleod9’s side! Nice to meet you!
One of the major things that I contribute to SSF2 is endless nagging and programming to fix issues that the community brings to our attention, and to make sure that the game feels and plays as much like an official Smash title as possible.. As the person who reads through all (and yes, I literally mean all!) of the comments on our Facebook, watches every YouTube video with SSF2 in the title, searches Twitter for mentions of our game, and combs through almost all of the threads on our forums every single day, I’d like to think I have a pretty good grasp on the pain points of the current public version of the game. Today’s blog is about listening to you guys, fixing the issues, and tweaking our mechanics!
Before we get to more technical mechanics though, I want to go over a few major pain points; the first? Save data. We’ve all had this issue. The game screen goes black or gets stuck at 99%, you gotta right click and clear your local storage, wiping out everything you’ve done. Your controls, your MGN login, and any setting you’ve tweaked. In Beta? No more!
Never again!
Another major pain point? Tags. Who knows why the character limit was set so low in older Smash titles? I’m pleased to let you know that you can fit up to ten characters in your tag in SSF2 Beta. With great power comes great responsibility.
What NOT to do with the extra room.
In-game move priority. In SSF2 v0.9b and earlier, moves were set to an arbitrary number to decide if they should beat out or clank with another – and the number effectively did nothing as priority as a whole ended up breaking in one of the more recent patches. And in Beta? Well, we’ve fixed it of course! Just like in official Smash titles, if an attack is within 8% of another, they are at risk of clanking. Careful, though – all aerial attacks and some special grounded attacks are unable to clank with anything!
Make sure to have good timing to negate your opponent’s attacks!
And moves who don’t clank – what happens if they land at the same time? It’s called a trade, and both players are supposed to take damage. This is our current project that we’re working on, and it isn’t done yet. But it’s clear that the old port priority system where certain players would win all the time:
…cannot stay. Once Beta is released, players will have equal footing regardless of which player port you are in – no more of this.
What would happen if you DIDN’T want to go on the offensive, though? ..You’d probably try shielding, right? Well, in SSF2 v0.9b, you would hear a shielding sound pretty quickly (frame 2) but your shield wouldn’t come out until a little after (frame 3), which was driving some of us crazy. We’ve aligned the two in SSF2 Beta (on frame 2), which should make defending yourself a little easier. We’ve also fixed a really interesting glitch that would make it impossible to powershield an opponent’s attack on the first frame your shield comes out if they had port priority over you. All-around, the general weirdness of shields should be gone, making them much more viable.
This could really turn the tides!
Do you remember the mechanic we added where a weak attack would force the opponent to stand up? This is something Smash players call a jab reset, or a forced getup as we call it. This was fine and dandy in its initial form… it allowed you to convert an opponent’s missed opportunity into landing your powerful finisher! But, we want to make it even MORE useful to encourage not only disrespectful Falcon Punches, but also creative combos. Your attack will now cause the opponent to do a little bounce before they stand up – this gives you more time to get into position and set up the extension of your combo! No infinites allowed, though – we’ve set a limit on how many forced getups you can do in a row before the opponent stands up automatically.
I could get used to this.
SSF2 Beta also has universally lowered traction so the movement feels closer to an official Smash Bros. title… and, well, so that it is easier for our more technical players to ledge-cancel their attacks and taunts.
I’m unplugging my speakers.
Do me a favor – open up SSF2 v0.9b. Pick Captain Falcon. Do a Falcon Punch, and then let go of your special attack button, then press and hold it again. No matter how you time this, it will do absolutely nothing. Now do the same thing with your standard attack button. No matter how you time this, the jab will come out as soon as possible. Now, do another Falcon Punch, but try to do a smash attack during Falcon Punch and have it activate as soon as it’s done. You can’t!
This concept of pressing something early so that the game lets you do it as soon as possible is called buffering. It is inconsistent and pretty random in SSF2 v0.9b, as you can see. SSF2 Beta improves on this; you can buffer smash attacks out of specials, specials out of other specials, and everything in between, HOWEVER you MUST do so close to the end of the attack, just like in the official titles. Make sure to time things right!
Buffering helps you do stuff like this if you have grandma fingers.
The low traction will be extra useful now, too. We’ve finally addressed one of the biggest complaints about SSF2’s gameplay, and that is the lack of consistent endlag on recoveries and powerful attacks. We’ve gone through every attack in the game and carefully crafted a balance to this delay that still allows you to string together the combos that you expect, but also allows your opponent to punish you if you decide to throw out the wrong move in the wrong situation. No get out of jail free cards here – especially so if you’re recovering!
Might have to think a little harder about what I do and when I do it…
Alright, that’s all we’ve got for the blog this week, guys! Next week’s blog is gonna be a celebration of a pretty big milestone this year. If you wanna know exactly what we’re celebrating, all of you have gotta catch us next time. Later!
Hello, and welcome back once again everyone! I am Zero Insanity, a senior developer that’s somewhat a jack of all trades on the team. It seems that one of the core parts of the game has yet to be discussed. That is of course, you guessed right, stages! So today I’m honored to go over some of the stages for SSF2 Beta. Let’s get started!
I know you’re just itching to see the new stages in SSF2 Beta first – we’ll get to those in just a little bit, so don’t you worry. Instead, I’d like to present to you that a stage you probably know, has gotten a fresh new coat of paint along with other updates! To start this off, take a look at Jungle Hijinx here:
Say goodbye!
Now take a look at the SSF2 Beta version of Jungle Hijinx!
Welcome to the jungle!
That’s right! Jungle Hijinx has gotten a sweet new look! It’s even a floating stage now with its very familiar wooden board finish. Make sure you look out for that flying barrel, it just might save you in a tight spot. This version of the stage is still being worked on (mainly adding to the background), but it seemed fitting to include it in the stage blog anyway so that you guys know what to look out for once it’s done!
Truth be told, that’s not the only stage that got a touch up. In fact, do you remember this stage from some demos ago, or even from the original Super Smash Flash? I hope you do because it’s Mushroom Kingdom II, also known as Subcon. It’s making a comeback, again! Dare to compare?
Oh my, this stage was a nightmare!
No no, this just won’t do, so feast your eyes on this Subcon!
It’s a dream come true!
Yep, Subcon is returning with a fresh new look in SSF2 Beta! Don’t forget to watch out for your not so friendly neighborhood Birdo, and maybe the friendly Pidget riding it’s magic flying carpet.
Happy Easter!
What a great way to travel!
Now Subcon isn’t the only Mario stage coming to SSF2 Beta. I’m hoping that you remember this one a bit more than Subcon. If not, then let me re-introduce to you to a REAL classic stage, Mushroom Kingdom I from the original Super Smash Bros.!
This takes me back!
Comes complete with the Warp Pipes that you can warp through, along with those nasty Piranha Plants.
No thanks!
Now that our blast from the past moment is over, it’s time to go over some new stages I promised earlier! Let’s this section off with a stage that you may have seen from our Facebook posts. Behold! The Lake of Rage! Based around the small lake area from Pokemon Gold, Silver, and Crystal!
Looks quite peaceful... Why is it called Lake of--
This stage comes with a somewhat long side of the shore that goes into a forest, and another that’s a small island. It may look nice and quiet, but it won’t be for long… because here comes the Red Gyarados!
Eek! He's huge!
Gyarados isn’t too happy about a battle happening at his lake, so he’s gonna try and clear the area with a classic and deadly move that most Pokemon fans should know. That is, of course, Hyper Beam!
Gyarados used Hyper Beam!
We hope you enjoy this stage because it’s gonna be a blast!
However, that’s not the only new stage in SSF2 Beta. Let’s take a look at one our character’s new home stage, Mr. Game & Watch. Welcome to his new stage, Flatzone+! This stage is bigger than your average Flatzone stage, and with our own twist as well!
Looks kinda familiar?
Note that while the stage does look familiar, there are some pretty huge differences in hazards… but we’ll be going over the hazards in a later blog.
Mr. Game and Watch is really heavy.. help me Meta Knight!
Now it’s finally time to introduce to you possibly a first in Smash Bros. history and for SSF2 Beta, Steel Diver! A completely underwater stage for some intense low gravity battles along with some Submarine warfare!
Look at that ocean view!
This stage is from the game with the same name, Steel Diver on the Nintendo 3DS. It makes it debut not as an item like in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS, but as actual playable underwater stage; something that the official Smash Bros. games hasn’t done yet. When hazards are on, characters’ physics are affected, so there are things that are possible here that would normally never be… hopefully you’ll love the results!
Floaty!
Well, that’s all for this blog, folks! I hope you enjoyed this, and had a nice read. Oh, and just a friendly reminder – everything shown here (and in other dev blogs) is not final so some things might change. See ya next time!