Well, i guess the cat is officially out of the bag. I finally get to show you guys the game i’ve quietly been working on for the past eight months!
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale is a new four-player fighting game developed by SuperBot Entertainment, studio presidented by Chan Park and game directored by Omar Kendall. I’ve been working in the combat design department under lead combat designer Paul Edwards.
We’ve grown into a fairly large team – with quite a few oldschool fighting game community members whose names you may recognize, such as senior combat designer Ed Ma and lead animator Tommy Ho. These guys have been in the game industry for a very long time and their experience has been a huge asset on this project.
Our goal was to make every facet of Battle Royale’s gameplay as deep, varied, polished, and accessible as possible – so that it would be fun and rewarding for anyone to pick up and play. When it comes to core combat systems and high level design decisions, i have a ridiculous amount of faith in Omar, Paul, Ed, and our team as a whole.
For more information about the first six playable characters and first four levels, please check out any of the following hands-on previews:
GT.TV | IGN | G4 | GameSpot | Kotaku | Joystiq | TotalPlayStation | USA Today
I really can’t wait to see where the fighting game community takes PSASBR when you get your hands on it this holiday season. I hope you all thoroughly enjoy playing it.
That sounds like a cool idea and i vaguely remember a couple of our designers talking about something like that a few months ago – but no, Sackboy can’t copy moves from other characters. His lvl1 super just has a few cool costume variants.
They’re randomly selected each time you perform his lvl1 super, so they can’t change the functionality of the attack or else it would become really frustrating to use. A little bit of randomness can be fun sometimes, but we tried to avoid that sort of thing with super move behavior.
Sackboy does have a lot of really interesting moves though. I don’t remember seeing anything quite like his bounce pad, his fan, or his teleport in any other fighting game before.
wow, thanks for clearing that up…he looks like a blast to play! my new favorite character! so, can you explain his moveset a bit more? like tell me if his bouncepads can bounce back projectile attacks back at opponents or If he can use his bouncepad with his other moves, eg. bouncepad+fan+cake making a bouncing fan that makes cakes fly in all directions? is his moveset that deep, and would you say Sackboy is the only character where practically all his moves can be used together? btw his moveset seems to allow you to use creativity (like in LBP) but how creative can you be with his moveset?
one more thing…Does LBP’s narrator speak in Sackboys intro and stuff cause Sackboy doesn’t really talk or make any sounds whatsoever?
Wait, thought of something else…his level 2 super, where he drops fiery blocks…I wanna know if you (like you can do in LBP) tilt it to different angles for you to drop it at? I feel this can offer some more strategy in using this super…tilt it so you can get a character on a platform AND a person on the ground…I also wanna know if when you move the fiery blocks, that if you drop it while still moving it, the momentum from moving it will make the block fly to the side a bit before landing, kinda like throwing em?
Maj, I have another question…I’m not asking if its represented as a character, item, stage, etc…I’m just asking if you guys have heard of/know these games: Scaler, Malice, The Unholy War, War of the Monsters?
I’ll try to answer as much as i can, but some of your questions might have to wait until the game is released so everyone can enjoy finding the answers on their own.
Sackboy can combine most of his moves in interesting ways, but there are a few restrictions. Actually the only one i can think of is that he can’t bounce his fan, but he should be able to do most other things that seem intuitive.
I wouldn’t say he’s the only character who can be creative with his moveset though, because lots of our characters can combine multiple attacks to be more effective. Sackboy’s combinations might be the most obvious, but for example Sir Daniel’s shield changes the way his shoulder charge works. A lot of the “gadget” characters like Ratchet and Spike have great synergy between their attacks, covering a lot of important spaces at once.
Don’t pay too much attention to the sounds in the trailers. Most of that stuff is temp assets and will be much, much better when the game is ready for release. I remember a lot of people were complaining about the hit sounds in our first trailers, but those were all placeholders.
If you’re familiar with game development at all, sound is always one of the last elements to come together, so don’t worry about missing audio. Our lead sound designer Doug Prior is awesome. He just added final audio to something i was working on this week and it sounds amazing.
As for Sackboy’s lvl2 super, activating it basically stops his momentum like most supers, so it doesn’t carry over to the fiery coals. You can’t really tilt them either, but they do behave like physics objects when you drop them, so you can get some creative results with level platforms.
As for your last question, all i can say is that we’ve done extensive amounts of research on Sony properties. We’ve covered just about every obscure game you can think of, and we’re constantly looking for more Sony lore to add to PASBR. It’s not my place to talk about character selection, but there are many reasons for our roster being what it is, and we believe it’s the best collection of characters we could possibly assemble under the circumstances.
I mean i’d love to put Guile in PASBR throwing gigantic Sonic Hurricanes at fools, but that’s probably not gonna happen – for lots of obvious reasons and some not-so-obvious reasons. Anyway i’m sorry for being vague on this topic, but like i said in an earlier comment, there’s really no new information i can provide about character selection.
wow, thanks for the post, I appreciate it and understand…I can’t wait for this game! thanks to all of you for making this awesome game!
Maj, another question…will there be a stats menu that tells you how many kills you got, how many times you played as a character, how many deaths you’ve had, etc.? and what other events are you guys gonna be at besides TGS? and how many characters are you gonna announce at TGS?
My main concern is if Superbot is revealing any more characters. I know Superbot is going to TGS, and NYCC (Maybe even Brazil GS and Eurogamer Expo) but will you be revealing more characters that are on disc or DLC characters? Also about pre-order costumes, will all characters get a pre-order costume or is it just for the first 10 announced? Will you have to unlock some characters or is everyone going to be available from the start? Either way I’m happy because it’s fun unlocking characters but at the same time it would suck if I brought the game over to a friends house and only get to play like half the roster. My 2 last questions are short and simple. Will there be a cinematic intro like in every fighting game? Is there anything related to War of the Monsters in PSAS? I’m sorry if I asked too many questions about the game. You probably can’t even answer some of them. But I appreciate the hard work Superbot put in to make this game. Thank you for your time!
Can you explain the purpose of minions? what do they do? and also, is there gonna be unlockable characters in the game? I love unlocking characters in games…one more question…Sir Dans lvl 3, can you explain how it works? how does get kills?
Hm, i don’t think i can answer any of those questions. Sorry guys, you know you shouldn’t be asking me about that stuff. November is right around the corner, so you won’t have to wait much longer for all the answers.
oh ok then Maj, you have been very helpful…Now to wait…
I just thought of something Maj…Sackboys fan…Can it blow anything or are there a few exceptions such as it can’t blow the electric thing Sackboy drops? I know it can’t blow the automatic kill level 3s and stuff but what about the level 3s that are like Sweet Tooth’s and Kratos’?
Maj, I have a suggestion…I am a HUGE Sweet Tooth fan and I must say you did an excellent job capturing his essense, all the lines he says in the game are great! I just have to say though, his voice…It sounds a bit off…His voice needs to be a bit deeper, since the voice you guys have for him now doesn’t sound quite right just yet…So do you guys mind touching up his voice to make it a bit deeper? That would make him perfect to me, Thanks!
Can’t promise anything, but i’ll pass along the message. It might’ve already changed from what you heard before. Like i said, an overwhelming amount of sound work typically gets done at the last minute, very close to the deadline.
ok thank you Maj
Maj, I have a problem…I have the PASBR EU Beta but I am unable to plau it due to the fact I don’t have an HDtv…so what should I do? and will the final game be like this?
I don’t think you have to worry about that. The final game will have standard 4:3 resolution support for people who don’t have HD TVs. I think that might be a Sony requirement. Are there any PS3 games that can’t be played on non-widescreen televisions at all?
that I own? no, all ps3 games I have work on em…I think 3D games require HDtvs though, I’m not sure
Maj, important question…many many fans are worried that the 20 characters revealed are in fact the final characters for this game, no other characters are in the retail game…so I ask you, are the 20 characters revealed in fact, the only characters in the game? all characters have been revealed?
No comment. Sorry dude, you know i can’t talk about the character roster. There are much better places to find that information.
Anyway while i’m here, this article is amazing: http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/10/10/the-trials-and-tribulations-of-playstation-all-stars-battle-royale
Just very well-researched, well-written, considerate, and insightful all around. Thanks Lucy O’Brien!
aw ok Maj…and read that, very good article!
By the way, i was told that the current PlayStation Plus Beta (which will become open to all PSN members next week) supports 4:3 screen resolution, so try it out if you haven’t already.
Will do Maj!…btw, are you able to tell me how Dreamscape works? like is the garden theme it’s ONLY background? and how many configurations does it have? enough so that no level is the same every time you play it?
I played the beta and have to say…Sweet Tooth is too slow and lacks range in his charge and shotgun…he has to be patched as his charge barely gets you anywhere (which sucks as he is slow already), and the shotgun use to be a great range, now it’s like you have to be right in front of an opponent to hit em, and he was a great speed before, now he is way to slow…I am ok with the remapped “O” attacks but these things I listed have to be fixed…so please fix these things?
Dreamscape has a number of different layouts that are randomly selected, but you can definitely learn the configurations and plan your strategy around them. It definitely isn’t meant to be so chaotic that you never know what to expect, but there’s enough variety between the layouts to keep it fresh.
As for Sweet Tooth, i think his shotgun is still really good. It’s one of the fastest eject attacks in the game, and honestly the old range was overpowered. He’s still extremely effective up close and he can provide excellent support in 2v2 matches.
When i play as Sweet Tooth, he always seems to have lvl1 super available. That means any little mistake can score me a kill. Since his lvl1 supers aren’t expensive, i never feel bad about taking a chance and missing. And of course, if you can build up to a lvl3 super and activate it at the right spot, that’s 3-6 kills easy.
Don’t give up on him just yet, and let me know what you think next week after you’ve gotten to play some more matches over the weekend. I’m curious if your opinion changes.
Yep, my opinion is changed. After getting advice from fellow Sweet Tooth players, I was able to get use to him and even win matches! I now like him better like this, he was more of a Big Daddy type character before since people just used him to go into battles head on with the charge and shotgun, no one ever used his other attacks, so it’s better this way…BTW I’d like to suggest Pyramid Head for DLC (with Silent Hill level), he’s an interesting character and can bring a unique playstyle to the table
Here is how Pyramid Head can work in this game http://community.us.playstation.com/t5/PlayStation-All-Stars-Battle/Pyramid-Head-Moveset-Revised/td-p/38674269
^My Pyramid Head moveset
That’s pretty impressive! I’m sure he’d make a great addition to the roster with that moveset. I like the emphasis on movement via de-materializing; that seems like a neat trick. Haha i gotta admit though, that dude creeps me out.
In other news, PASBR was recently featured on Level|Up’s stream at Wednesday Night Fights in Super Arcade!
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale Preview at WNF
We all had a lot of fun and i thought it went really well, although i didn’t even realize we were on stream until an hour after the stream had started.
If i remember correctly, i played Radec, Sir Daniel, Sir Daniel, Ratchet, Sweet Tooth, Sweet Tooth, Evil Cole, Dante, and Evil Cole.
Can you believe the game comes out next week? It already feels surreal. Damn, i can’t imagine what Tuesday’s going to be like.
OMG thanks for the kind words about my moveset Maj, it means alot, and it would be an honor if you used my moveset for him if he made it as DLC…I am super stoked for PSAS next week! I seriously can’t wait! my mind just has PSAS on it!…OOH i’ll check this stream out…can’t get enough PSAS!
Maj, I saw the weirdest (but in a good way) Titles in PSAS…”Reptiles vs Robots”…so I ask, what made you guys come up with this name? it seems specific, like why REPTILES vs Robots? what is it referencing?
You know what, i have no idea. You might want to ask @LeifJohansen since he was responsible for most of those unlockable progression bonuses.
ah ok, thanks!
hey question: Along with DLC characters and stages, are you guys also gonna do costumes, modes, and more unlockables such as titles?
There’s really not much i can say about DLC. Personally i’d love it if we could do all those things and more, but DLC depends on a lot of factors that i can’t really go into. And naturally it depends on how many players show interest in DLC extras, which of course depends on how many people decide to get the game in the first place.
I mean that’s just common sense, but in some ways it really is that simple. So the only thing i can say is keep an eye on the PlayStation Blog because that’s probably the first place you’ll see any DLC announcements.
Everything i know about DLC can change ten times before the announcement makes it official. Sometimes that’s just how it goes, believe it or not.
I hade this cool Idea to have specific matches in PSAS that have rules created by the player, that have to be followed (such as a 1v1 with no jumping or the opponent gets to kill you for free) and was wondering if you guys are gonna do this occationally (where the winner gains bonus RP points or something like a special customization feature for all characters such as a hat)? I think it would be pretty cool if you guys did this
I’d also like to say…DON’T nerf Sackboy because the people on the forum say so…they are just too lazy to come up with strategies to combat Sackboy…he is perfect the way he is…if you nerf his attacks, he will be like useless, so please don’t nerf him?
Match customization is kind of tricky because having more options (especially unexpected funny options) is nice, but it’s also hard to implement in a way that seems natural and seamless. There’s quite a few match settings in the game already – like changing AP gain rate, item spawn rate, and active/passive mashups, but i agree there’s always room to add more.
As for Sackboy, my personal opinion is that he’s only one or two changes away from being in line with everyone else. Character balance is a trial-and-error process, but the good news is we can keep refining stuff until we reach a stable equilibrium.
Ok, but what I meant was not add any particular settings to the game per say, I mean have the actual player make up his own rules for a particular match, such as “THE CAKE IS A LIE!” where the rules I made up for this are all players play as Sackboy, but NO ONE can use Cake, so the players basically play the whole match without pressing circle…stuff like that, not full blown settings to be added to the game via patch or something…I was wondering if you guys would do something like this where you just make up rules to be followed and the winner of the match who followed the rules gets bonus RP, the players who don’t follow em lose RP i guess
can you explain how tournament mode works? i don’t get it…what is this season thing? how does it work?
btw Maj, one of my friends wanted me to suggest an Aya Brea (Parasite Eve) and Pyramid Head rivalry (If they make it in of cource) to you for DLC for PSAS, and I agree that this would in fact be a perfect rivalry, so I hope you guys can check out and consider this, thanks!
How would you input those custom match rules though? And how would they be conveyed to the other players? Don’t get me wrong, it definitely sounds cool – but it might have to be a completely new online mode.
I’m not exactly sure how rankings work in Tournament Mode, but a lot of people have been asking, so there might be some information about it released soon. I’ll remember to post the link here if that happens, although i’m sure you’ll hear about it.
oh you don’t have to input them into the game…just (in the case of a no jumping match) have all players agree to not press X throughout the entire match, not set it to “X is disabled”. It’s kinda like promising to do the rules rather than being forced to do em…that’s what I meant, although the idea of a mode that allows you to disable controls or invert them for all players would be awesome! it could be like doing the “change controls” menu but as a mode! You guys could also have “big head” “Speed” etcs in a mode like this! if you guys could pull something like this off than that would ve an awesome mode!
it would also be awesome if in a mode like this, you can set a characters attacks to only have a max amount of hits/shots, like Sackboy having only 5 cakes to shoot for a whole match!
http://community.us.playstation.com/t5/PlayStation-All-Stars-Battle/MT-s-Moveset-Compilation/m-p/39284557#U39284557
^Ya…just gonna leave this compilation of all my PSAS character movesets here…tell me what you think of them! (that is the 1s you haven’t already seen)