Hey just wanted some of your opinions on which character ideas you like better.

It's sci-fi cyber elements mixed with horror, weapons combat and fantasy. Which of the choices for these characters would be the best one I should go with?

1. A snowman creature or ice wendigo?

2. A voodoo/sorcerer pirate? Or Southeast Asian sorcerer shaman?

3. An American witch from the US like Alaska or Nebraska? Or from the Philippine Islands? Or an Italian witch from Italy with pagan powers? Make her an evil witch or more nature mystic?

4. An ancient Egyptian inspired scarecrow? A feudal era Japanese ninja-inspired scarecrow? Or a southern US Texas farmland scarecrow?

5. A medical psycho nurse&doctor duo, make them superhuman zombies with medical fighting weapons like saws, needles, scalpels? Or cyborgs with cybernetic needles, scalpels etc?

6. An American war hero female soldier? Or an Italian/Spaniard soldier?

Whilst I've started on my own in this industry about a year ago and can't really give you a recipe for success (anybody that can. let me know ;)), I can give you my analysis of looking at myself playing, being an Old Seadog of a Gamer Who Has Seen it All.

- Which characters are fun to play?

I mean, if you were playing (or example) the "American war here female soldier" and it was all kick-kick-punch-kick, would it be any fun? Would it be any more fun to kick-kick-punch-kick with an "ancient Egyptian inspired scarecrow"?

Consider going from the bottom up: look at your character ideas and consider what kind of cool moves could fit each of them (and maybe some sort of unique mechanic for extra powerful moves).

Maybe have a mini story (even if cheesy, cheey is good) for who they are and why they're there kicking the shit out of each other. (There's a wonderful analysis out there - sorry, lost the link - of why No Man's Sky sucks as a game because it has no story to drive the player, as analysed by an English Literature major).

So look at them from the point of view of the player controlling the character and making it do its think and consider what kind of cool moves make sense for them, what kind of upsides and downsides can there reasonably be part of said character in playing terms and what would make people want to play one sometimes but a different ones some other times.

Then look at them in terms of playing pairs - i.e. is there a character which would be so overpowering as being always dominant or there's always some kind of challenge on both sides for any fighting pair.

Coming from that angle you'll probably trim down your choices naturally AND end up with a cool story that might even inform you on the graphical design of characters and scenery.

PS: Just a suggestion. I might have no idea what I'm talking about. Take it with a pinch.

From my experience, what makes a fighter entertaining are the different responses to attacks and the effects of the attacks. Also a 2d fighter would not stand out if it's not based on an anime (fanservice). 

If you want a good example of fighter look at : Bleach Blade Battlers 2 PS2 and Def Jam PS2. 

From the drawing style. As most of the audience will be male; the characters should be 2 or 3 atletic man (the punk, the retro-rocker, the worker) a police and a fat man, and old person or a drunk, and then a lot of ladies with sexi outfits.

You can make moves like : Blocking, counter-atackes, blocking with stun, defense break, trowing techniques, special powers, and such.

Let me tell you my friend, that in the 2d fighting world, everything has been invented already.

Saludos.

15 hours ago, RevanT1 said:

Hey just wanted some of your opinions on which character ideas you like better.

 

It's sci-fi cyber elements mixed with horror, weapons combat and fantasy. Which of the choices for these characters would be the best one I should go with?

1. A snowman creature or ice wendigo?

2. A voodoo/sorcerer pirate? Or Southeast Asian sorcerer shaman?

3. An American witch from the US like Alaska or Nebraska? Or from the Philippine Islands? Or an Italian witch from Italy with pagan powers? Make her an evil witch or more nature mystic?

4. An ancient Egyptian inspired scarecrow? A feudal era Japanese ninja-inspired scarecrow? Or a southern US Texas farmland scarecrow?

5. A medical psycho nurse&doctor duo, make them superhuman zombies with medical fighting weapons like saws, needles, scalpels? Or cyborgs with cybernetic needles, scalpels etc?

6. An American war hero female soldier? Or an Italian/Spaniard soldier?

Out of all the choices, I would say go with the last one.. the American war hero. Why? Because a lot of people will either be able to relate to it, not necessarily from experience.. but being an American or even just the whole army theme itself. I guess that was a poor explanation why. But that is the one I gravitate to after reading all the descriptions, and I'm not even American! 

@Aceticon tthank you for your advice, I'm probably looking to take this game in a more serious art style approach. Maybe I can decide more what style suits the theme but I rather get the design choice down first but I agree, the fighting style has to be fun according to the design I choose. 

@ElMacquinoa that is true maybe I need to think outside if 2D so this will stand out more?

10 hours ago, TraderJones said:

Out of all the choices, I would say go with the last one.. the American war hero. Why? Because a lot of people will either be able to relate to it, not necessarily from experience.. but being an American or even just the whole army theme itself. I guess that was a poor explanation why. But that is the one I gravitate to after reading all the descriptions, and I'm not even American! 

Thanks! But I put each catagory of each theme to choose from not just one character out of the bunch soso say for the choice between snowman and wendigo? And Egyptian scarecrow or Japanese scarecrow? Etc..