So do you guys have a confirmed list yet, or are we still throwing out ideas?

(sorry, I've been away from the board for a while, so I've missed most of this project)

Actually, the current list we're working with is on page 1 of the Engine/Design Doc thread. The current list consists of:

Quote (Cave Story)
Xoda Rap (Noitu Love 2)
Naija (Aquaria)
Turner (Lugaru)
Trilby (Trilby: The Art of Theft and Chzo Quadrilogy)
Gomez (Fez)
Lyle (Lyle in Cube Sector)
Nikujin (Nikujin)
Curly (Cave Story)
Balrog (Cave Story)
Akuji (Akuji the Demon)
Ip (The Underside)
Sexy Hiker (Sexy Hiking)
Gish (Gish)
Liero (Liero)
The Golden Knight (Bonesaw)
Dwarf (Dwarf Fortress)
Iji (Iji)
Barkley (Barkley: Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden)
Lameza (La Mulana)
Cabadath (Chzo Quadrilogy)

and possibly:
Blue Knight (Castle Crashers)
Shotgun Ninja (Shotgun Ninja)


Don't know how many character we'll finish, but I think that's a pretty well-rounded list.

I think the one-tile tall sections of wall should be one-way platforms. And maybe you should get rid of the small wall at the right-central part of the screen. If the Outer Wall has any distinguishing features, it should be that one side of the stage is much safer than the other.

By the way, there's no formal list of stages, yet. The ones in my post in the stages thread are just suggestions. But I do thing this would be an excellent first stage.

Nevermind.

Beautiful!

He's a ninja. So he could do all kinds of cool moves while performing his attacks. Like kicking and shooting at the same time or in a sequence.

Stuff like that.

*shrugs*

It could work. We'd just need to make up some moves that combine acrobatics with shooting.


So, based on the responses, it doesn't seem like there's a whole lot of support for a Castle Crasher or Spirit Engine character. I still think the former would be a good idea- it's a well-known indie game even among non-indie folks, and there are plenty of interesting possibilities for moves.

I can't count very well.

[obtuse]

this story is too obtuse

Hehe... puns...

One last suggestion, based on the original scheme:
I don't think the polar star fired forward is necessary since the spirit King would mostly be used instead, if it has a short warmup and cooldown (which it has in cave story). Instead we could just do a punch for neutral A but still leave the polar star up and down attacks.

Spirit King has a very large cooldown in order to balance it. Polar Star is a 6-frame attack, and Spirit King takes nearly 30 frames to execute.

Polar Star has great range, and its intended to get off a few quick points of damage without stunning the enemy. Spirit King is powerful and unblockable, and it can hit multiple enemies in a large area, but it has much less range. The two attacks are very different.

You can try it out in the latest release of the engine, if you haven't already.

Here's a crazy idea. If you really don't like the idea of projectiles as standard attacks, we could change the move list to this:

A: Blade
>A: Spirit King
^A: Booster
vA: Rocket Launcher

S: Spur
>S: Polar Star
^S: Polar Star (Fired Upwards)
vS: Fireball

That way, his basic attacks are all relatively short-ranged. The lack of a special recovery move might be annoying, though.

It's not like he never receives stupid emails.

[a rocket shot downwards.]

It's still a 'brawling' game so putting only one or two close-range attacks in it wouldn't really work. I suggest A being a kick or punch (or a 3-strike combo), and >A being the blade.

Quote has four close-ranged attacks- Blade, Rocket, Booster and Spirit King (although this attack has very good reach).

The problem I have with replacing Polar Star with a Punch is that Polar Star has a more well-defined niche. It's Quote's only standard projectile that doesn't require charging. Punch, on the other hand, is difficult to distinguish from Blade. Sure, one might have slightly higher knockback, and the other might deal better damage, but ultimately, they fill the same role.

Also, I'd like to make each character as unique as possible, to reflect the wonderful uniqueness of the original games. If every character's movelist looks like:
A - Punch
>A - Charge
^A - Uppercut
vA - Pound
then the characters begin to blur together too much.

vA: I don't know. Possibly a melee attack or a rocket shot downwards.

That's what it is now. 

vA Air: Machine gun shooting down, propelling quote upwards a little just like it does in the game.

That's Curly's thing.

vS: Rocket launched forwards.

What's wrong with Fireballs? It's one of Cave Story's most unique weapons, and it certainly fills a valuable role (attacking enemies on slopes and pressuring enemies into the air). Missiles are a little redundant with Spur (both would be slow, powerful, forward-aiming projectiles).

Cave Story Ripoff!

and how is it a cave story i fucking made it up jack ass.

Relax. It's just an inside joke.

But yeah, like others have said, start small and work on a simple project.

Also, work on improving your grammar. I'm not trying to be condescending; people are unlikely to respond positively to your suggestions if you can't take the time to type coherent sentences. If English isn't your first language, it's usually a good idea to note that somewhere in your post.

The main problem with Shotgun Ninja is that there's little to really set him apart from the other characters. What makes his shotgun and bomb different from the bombs and projectiles of Liero, Lameza and Iji?

Originally, A was Blade and >A was Polar Star. The problem was, you'd slowly shift to the right when using Polar Star, when you wanted to stay stationary, and, as others have mentioned, using neutral A attacks in a melee is a little more difficult, so the Blade was harder to use. After testing the attacks, I had to switch them.

Would anyone particularly care if I eliminated shooting the polar star downwards in favor of a faster, weaker missile?

Yeah, probably. 

Also, the crouching slash as I've programmed it is really low - he practically lies on his belly. But I'm not sure about it because even with such a low hitbox, he still can't avoid a standard projectile or a flipper kick with it. And even if I change it so he can, it seems kind of counterintuitive that only Nikujin can crouch to avoid stuff, and then only when he attacks. I might change it so that it doesn't affect his hitbox, but instead commits him to a longer, but stronger attack.

I'd need to change the engine a bit to make changing hitboxes possible. If there's enough support for the change, I'll make it, but for the most part, static hitboxes work fine.

Cave Story Ripoff!

This thread's beautiful. It's like Haiku.

Also, it's good for post whores.

This is fun! Whee!

Isn't it? As soon as school stops being difficult (Damn you, quarter system!) I'll get right to work on Turner.