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[mattrified]

I wanted to start a devlog for my 2D fighting game, Battle High 2.  It is released, but I wouldn't really call it done as I'm still updating it as well as working on some new features, which is why I designated it as 50%.

Here's the game's website:  http://www.battlehigh2.com

I've also been blogging about it on my personal blog.  Is it acceptable to just put links to that here?  I'm not sure, but here are some posts from the past concerning the game's development:

Changes I was going to make:  http://mattrifiedgames.blogspot.com/2014/06/battle-high-2-tentative-changes.html

Third Update:  http://mattrifiedgames.blogspot.com/2014/09/battle-high-2-3rd-times-charm.html

OUYA Build:  http://mattrifiedgames.blogspot.com/2014/12/battle-high-2-on-ouya.html

Character Pipeline (with some links I just noticed I need to fix):  http://mattrifiedgames.blogspot.com/2015/01/first-post-of-2015-battle-high-and.html

Grading the game based on a talk on fighting games:  http://mattrifiedgames.blogspot.com/2015/03/grading-battle-high-2-from-mike-zs.html

The long-history of this game was that it started out as a GameMaker project.  I was invited to work on the game near the end of its initial cycle adding some extra features -- palette select most notably.

Then, when XNA was out, I offered to port it so it could be on XBLIG and did that.  After some mild success, the original team and I put together Battle High 2 and released that on XNA.  Then, I tried porting it to Unity on 3 separate occassions as I wanted the game on the OUYA; the OUYA version was released prior a little after January of this year.

This dev log is really about new features I want to work on:

• Improved AI
• New Modes
• New Characters
• Online

I still may do some sort of duel blog / dev log here, but I'm usually more private -- too private -- with my updates and whatnot, so I decided to try and branch out and try and get feedback from other sources.  This isn't the most exciting post, but once I get some of the OUYA work wrapped up -- trying to get the game working through the OUYA China stuff -- I'll be posting more updates.


Thanks,

[mattrified]

Wrote a new thing on my blog about the game:  http://mattrifiedgames.blogspot.com/2015/03/future-battle-high-2-plans.html

Right now I created a survey and am just trying to get a schedule and plan down about what updates I'm making next.  Hopefully next dev log post I make here will have some gifs and other exciting visuals!

[mattrified]

Had a bit of a fight with doubt, almost making me cancel the game:  http://mattrifiedgames.blogspot.com/2015/04/battle-high-2-futureplans.html.

I'm still working on finish it, but just cut a lot of scope.  I'm hoping my next post here has some actual footage... 

[Connor]

ambition is an awesome thing to have. its fine to dream big, just do it within reason. keep it up, you can do it ^^

[mattrified]

I decided to make a quick devlog update with...  VIDEO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zPalCq8y44&feature=youtu.be&a

The above is a video about some training dummy stuff I've added to the game.

One challenge with this -- and one tragic realization -- is I didn't really plan the original game out with this in mind, so one of the challenges was creating an accurate, virtual controller.  Fortunately, a lot of things are well preserved from the XNA version to the Unity version, but if I were to start over with a new fighting game, I would definitely try and make a better training dummy / AI from the start.  One great reason is simply because it could have helped me SO much during my testing phase.

Anyway, right now, I have the ability to make the AI move, crouch, jump, block, and then allow the player to record inputs -- for testing block strings and other things.

That's it for now, but I feel like I'm over the slump I wrote about in my last update for sure -- at least a little bit.

[mattrified]

Minor update on the game.  I made a new intro video:





It's just a video of the newest stuff showing off some of the characters, more for marketing purposes.

I then tried to make a series of "patch note" videos:





Problem is they were taking way too long and I decided to scrap them and focus on something else.  At the moment, I'm working on balancing the cast more, particularly fixing infinite combo issues I was having with some of the cast.

I also created a version for itch.io:  http://mattrified.itch.io/bh2
And I updated the versions on Desura and OUYA.

My next major task, after making sure all the character balancing make sense, is to work and focus on the AI.  This has been a struggle for me since I'm not an expert at AI.  I decided though that I don't want to be like the new Killer Instint where the AI learns and tries to be human.  I want this to feel like an older arcade game, so I'm going to make my AI difficult to fight -- not impossible though and no magical cheating (hopefully).  Anyway, that's my next major tasks.  The hope is that I can complete this before the 15th, have versions on Desura, itch.io, and OUYA that are all the "final" versions before starting the work I have to do for Battle High 2 A+ (the Xbox One version.)

I'm also showing the game at a small gathering in Pittsburgh; that should be interesting...

[Julius The Pious]

Love the intro video. Specially the fact that it's less than a minute long. All action!



BTW, your website returns a 404 when you're inside a directory:

http://www.battlehigh2.com/characters.htm

then you click home:

http://www.battlehigh2.com/index.htm

[mattrified]

Love the intro video. Specially the fact that it's less than a minute long. All action!

Thanks!

BTW, your website returns a 404 when you're inside a directory:

http://www.battlehigh2.com/characters.htm

then you click home:

http://www.battlehigh2.com/index.htm

Oops!  I never realized that; a friend designed and built it for me awhile ago..  I just updated the pages that should fix that hopefully.  They should go to just battlehigh2.com instead of /index.htm (which doesn't exist for some reason)  Thanks again!

[mattrified]

So a quick update.  I'm working on a new character for the game:


I'm also working on porting the backgrounds to 3D.  Fortunately, most of the original backgrounds were done in Sketchup.  I need to redo some, for example in the second video, the background sprites don't scroll properly, but here are some videos:









Finally, the Xbox One version is coming along nicely.  Not sure what else I can say about that...hoping to submit to cert. by September 15th.

[mattrified]

Another small update for Battle High 2 A+:



Also have a video of the new character in progress:





I've been struggling to finish this game for awhile.  Not this iteration but working on the game as a whole.  I think my issue lately has been that I want to create something new, but I also don't like to just leave something unfinished.  I realize that by adding a new character, I was adding work, but the creation of new content has been really nice.  I feel a bit rusty writing this character's story and bio, but for now, I think it works.

[mattrified]

Thought I'd add more progress.

One of the big changes from Battle High 2 to Battle High 2 A+ is the change from 2D backgrounds to 3D.  I was happy with how this progress was going at first:





But the more I work on it, mostly when I start texturing, the less I'm thrilled with the 3D backgrounds.  They just look so flat and I tried using outline shaders but they didn't look good either.






A part of me is thinking I'm being too hard on myself; a part of me is thinking the textures just need a bit more detail and texture and better lighting; a third part of me is like, "Who cares?  Just get this done already!"



Anyway, I still have a few more to do; hopefully I can finish them this week.  I'm so close to finishing this game.  Just some Xbox One testing and other things, but I feel like I have SO much to do.

[mattrified]

Made a video of the background work: 

.  I'm going to pause and focus on other features, but it's missing something.

I notice it has no flare or school spirit.  Adding some of that could help. 

If worse comes to worse I could go back to the 2D backgrounds, but I would really hate to do that actually.

[marcgfx]

I think your backgrounds look good, some are just too dark. I think you are overusing the people cheering in the background, some more neutral watchers might be good? or maybe dont have that sychronized cheering.

the stone block shoduken attack ist kind of weird. its rather slow, so i would expect you could jump on it

[mattrified]

I'm so closed to submitting for CERT!

I'm in feature lock.  I'm waiting on some final art for content lock, and then a short Q/A period before submitting to CERT.  I'm losing some time due to Unite, but I'm hoping and confident I can finish!

Here are some updates:

More 3D background work:  http://mattrified.tumblr.com/post/129191235274/the-3d-backgrounds-in-battle-high-2-a-work-in

Updated UI Work: 

[mattrified]

Battle High 2 A+ has been officially submitted to cert.

Idk how much I can say because of ID@Xbox NDAs, but it'll be...interesting...

Anyway, here's a .gif of the newest character's artwork

[mattrified]

My game was approved by cert this week!

Battle High 2 A+ will officially be coming to Xbox One in December!

This game will be a challenge for me now for a couple reasons. 

• I've never done actual marketing for a game I've worked on.  Either my employer did or I just didn't take time to do it
• I haven't really supported a game post-launch to the extent I want to with this one.  Part of the reason is the game was previously on Xbox 360 and updating was sort of a pain.

I'm not really expecting a lot, but I'm just glad that it's "done" and I can move onto something else, but I also don't want to abandon this.  I'm a little bummed I couldn't get an online mode working; however, I didn't REALLY try because I know the best time to start online multiplayer for a game is at the beginning.

Also, would it still be appropriate to write about my post-launch adventures with the title in this part of the forum or is there a better place?

[verticalvertex]

My game was approved by cert this week!

Battle High 2 A+ will officially be coming to Xbox One in December!

This game will be a challenge for me now for a couple reasons. 

• I've never done actual marketing for a game I've worked on.  Either my employer did or I just didn't take time to do it
• I haven't really supported a game post-launch to the extent I want to with this one.  Part of the reason is the game was previously on Xbox 360 and updating was sort of a pain.

Congratulations.
I'm not really expecting a lot, but I'm just glad that it's "done" and I can move onto something else, but I also don't want to abandon this.  I'm a little bummed I couldn't get an online mode working; however, I didn't REALLY try because I know the best time to start online multiplayer for a game is at the beginning.

Also, would it still be appropriate to write about my post-launch adventures with the title in this part of the forum or is there a better place?

[mattrified]

So the game is out today:

https://store.xbox.com/en-US/Xbox-One/Games/Battle-High-2-A/807d4389-cf3f-4d43-93ca-45f841e0f9b2

For the last couple of weeks I've been attempting to do some semblance of press stuff.  I worked with a media company to help write and send a press release to people.  I won't be sure how well that did yet, so I can't really recommend (or not recommend) them.  I still think I could have done more, but a lot of people did request review codes; I'm curious to how many people will actually write reviews / stream the game though.  I also did an interview last night for a podcast.  That was fun and a first.

I did get my first review (for this version):  http://xboxgamerreviews.com/battle-high-2-a-plus-review .  It's not crushing (or glowing), but it definitely makes me feel I could have done better; it's good to know that I can fix some of these things with updates, but updates can only help so much if the initial launch is weak.

Overall, I'm happy to get the game out and very thankful to everyone who helped (in the credits here:  http://www.battlehigh2.com/credits.html)

[mattrified]

http://www.mattrifiedgames.blogspot.com/2016/01/battle-high-2-updates-january-2016.html

Wrote about future updates I do; though the game is released, it's not quite "DONE".

[mattrified]

More writing about post-launch support:

http://mattrifiedgames.blogspot.com/2016/02/battle-high-2-version-1100.html

I just got my first content release approved!  I'm really happy about the ID@Xbox program so far.  There are moments of complication and confusion, but overall, it's been a pleasant experience.