Building a Fighting Game with the Universal Fighting Engine

I recently took part in a unique game jam called #fightJam, where I had the opportunity to develop a fighting game using the Universal Fighting Engine. Despite the tight deadline of a month, my partner and I were able to produce a playable game through creative problem-solving.

Character Development and Gameplay Design

Our first task was to create the moves and animations for the main character, using the Robot Kyle sample as a reference. To make our game stand out, we customized the animations to fit a chibi character style.

We faced the challenge of deciding on the gameplay style, considering both traditional Street Fighter and Platform Fighter options. Due to the time constraint, we ultimately went with a simpler 2-button fighting game style.

Scaling Character Parts

One of our main hurdles was scaling the character's arms and legs for attacks. Chibi characters have shorter limbs, which made it difficult to determine which parts should and shouldn't hit. After some experimentation, I was able to solve this issue by scripting the scaling of parts through animation events.

Story and Enemy Characters

Initially, our game was set in a museum where a curse brought art pieces to life, but we eventually changed it to a school setting. We wanted to incorporate the Science, Art, and Nature theme of the game jam, so we created enemy characters for each theme: a robot for science, a statue for art, and a human-sized ant for nature. We also obtained free assets for the robot and ant and created a Venus de Milo statue on VRoid for the art enemy.

Main Character Design

My partner, who is an artist, played a key role in designing the main character, Ren. I made Ren using VRoid and my partner created his outfit. I also used a hairstyle I created on VRoid, available for free on my Booth shop (https://booth.pm/en/items/4481253). VRoid was incredibly helpful in creating anime-style human figures, and I highly recommend it.

Background Images and Future Goals

My partner also designed the background image in the gallery stage, which features humorous takes on famous paintings. I am thrilled with the result and eager to see what other characters and stages we will come up with in the future.

Vacation and Game Development

Recently, I took a trip to San Francisco and was fortunate enough to have a laptop and workstation at my airbnb. This allowed me to keep working on the game even while on vacation.

Overall, developing the fighting game with the Universal Fighting Engine was a fantastic experience. Although challenging, I learned a lot and am excited to see where this project takes me. There are still many elements, such as story elements and additional moves and animations, that I would like to add to the game. However, it was a valuable learning experience to try to complete the project within a set time frame. I hope to continue improving the game and turn it into a fully-realized fighting game in the future.