Removal . . .

After Kimbo's untimely knock out by the hands of Seth Petruzelli, I decided we may wanna remove the character modeled in his likeness. Being knock out in a few seconds, kinda takes away the menacing edge. But this isn't a bad thing, because my recent obsession with Bleach has spawned an even greater addition to the FriendFighter franchise.

The Return . . .

Small hibernation on my part ladies and gents. I was extremely focused on the rapid growth of my music venture DJMixtapez.com. But I'm back like you owe me money. We shall continue the epic journey to create the greatest iPhone game with a few changes, a few additions, maybe some strippers, Papa John's pizza and a yacht full of creativity. You still in? Good.

P.S: I'm in the market for a iPhone developer to help me actually create the game. I have the creative process on lock but the actual zeros and ones elude me. So if you or anyone you know is a iPhone developer, have them email me at fightthruthepain@friendfighter.net. The deal is a profit split, 5% is already gone so it'll be 45% to me, 45% to whomever signs on the other 5% will be donated to a random game development or artistic foundation.

Meet Guitar Zero . . .

Dark side of the moon. Perfection. Fuego. Your choice.

Difficulty . . .

I decided on a difficulty scale. Players will have three options: Tough, Tougher & Toughest. I think the point is clear. The game will be hard regardless of the level.

Guitar Zero??

Here is Roc's first color draft of Guitar Zero. Notice the amazing coloring in the jeans. The blue/yellow color scheme is dead on. We discussed adding a tattoo to G.Z to give him a little more edge. But I wanted something silly. I wanted something that said "Why the hell did you get a tatt of that" type of thing. Roc nailed it with the Atari tattoo. I'm not feeling the glasses, kinda removes the edgeness. The AC/DC shirt has to go too, its a cliche. I'm thinking Pink Floyd.

MC 215 . . .

The next character brought to life will be;

Name: MC 215
Origin: Break Dancing Halls Of New York
Background: MC 215 is a dedicated B-Boy that misses the prestige break dancing once held. He wears a big gold rope chain, 80's throwback outfits and sports a Kid-N-Play box haircut with parts throughout. He uses break dancing and pop/locking as attack moves. MC 215 has a medium build and is a little on the tall side. His sneakers are either basic Adidas or low top Converses.

Guitar Zero Outline . . .

The rock gods have spoken. Fuego.

History . . .

I was asked recently about the overall story of the game. I felt from the beginning the game wouldn't have a solid story to stand on. More like a moment-in-time type of thing. Where players are dropped into the moments before the tournament and then thrust into the heart of the fight. But after a little thought, I figured a slight back story might be effective. The back stories can serve as glimpses into the lives/motivations of all the fighters prior to them entering the tournament. The stories will be completely funny based recaps nothing serious. I have a guy that would be great for the job but he's too much of a "family guy" at the moment. Fuego.

Fans . . .

As I was designing the training area, a new feature popped into my head. Thinking back to Def Jam's Fight For NY game and a few scenes from Fight Club, I remembered how much cooler the battles with fight fans standing around appeared. The influx of fans made the moment feel more edgy and captured the essence of a no-holds-bar fight. I decided to add the fan element to the game. As players progress, fans will start to gather for their fights. The more wins a player has the more fans he/she will have at every fight. Fuego.

Tough Decisions . . .

After taking a long look at the character breakdown, I realized I had no other choice than to cut down the number of characters in the game. The decision was based upon the level of animation every character would require. I didn't plan on having generic stand-in animations. Every move would be custom designed against every character. Meaning Guitar Zero's "Zerosmith" appearance would change based upon whomever he was fighting. With that said, I don't think animating for 30 characters is feasible at this time. I haven't ruled out the possibility 30 characters for the sequel though. So as it stands, the count has been lowered to 20. Only two main characters where affected, the rest were hidden characters. Here is the final breakdown:

12 Main Characters - Available from the jump.

4 Hidden Characters - Unlocked by meeting certain criteria.

4 Boss Characters - 3 of the 4 unlocked after being defeated.

Seems a little slim but the remaining characters can handle the workload.

Matador . . .

I have to be honest, I find inspiration in the strangest events. Earlier I heard a Spanish airport announcement which reminded me that I didn't have significant Hispanic representation. I wondered how I would create a character that didn't fall into the typical stereotype. I found that matadors are big in the Hispanic community so I decided to make a play on the sport. Our guy "Raoul" will be a world renowned bull fighter that has never harmed a bull. He is so smooth and elegant all his battles end in the bull fainting from exhaustion. Being such a great matador isn't enough for Raoul though, he wants his booty to receive some recognition. Therefore, Raoul wears those Prince ass-less chaps during all his battles and doesn't hesitate to remind people of his fantastic booty. Come on . . . you gotta laugh at that. Fuego.

Commitment . . .

Previously, players were required to enter a confirmation tap during every exchange. In case you forgot, each exchange consist of each player selecting 5 commands and then tapping the game logo to confirm their choices. I'm dropping the confirmation requirement. After watching a recent Hopkins match, I realized once a fighter commits to throwing a punch there is no taking the it back. Gamers will no longer have that courtesy either. Whatever a player chooses during an exchange is what he/she will have to live with. No Indian givers allowed.

The Stage Is Set . . .

The backgrounds in FF will be fully utilized by every character. No additional damage will occur from background collision but players will definitely get a kick out of the interactions they will see. For example, the first background I envisioned is a elevated parking lot with plenty of cars, some parked and others driving past the players, for the characters to interact with. Imagine Bow giving Mary Ann a swift elbow to the stomach sending her flying thru on parked car. She flips out the other side as Bow chases towards her. She kicks the car sending it flying at Bow. Bow is blindsided by the car and sent crashing out the building as Mary Ann follows him to continue the fight on the street. That's just one small section of a bigger stage, wait till you see the beach house scene. Fugeo.

The Notepad . . .

The notepad, the iPhone replica and the Boombox are the three items present within every Hub screen. The notepad contains all the Advanced Techniques/Annihilators the player has mastered along with the names and brief tips on unlocking the ones they didn't. Question marks will be place holders for the areas the players have yet to uncover. For example: we know Guitar Zero's "The Rolling Zone" is performed by entering MP-HP-LP-LP-HP. However, if they player didn't unlock the move then the listing would look like this MP-HP-?-?-? = ?. Annihlators are listed the same way. Shadow figures below each Advanced Techique/Annihilator listing will aid players in uncovering every move.

Man Down . . .

I never mention the character Mr. Johnson but he was supposed to be this business type character that used various offices tools as weapons. He was gonna be a sharp young entrepreneur that loved to moon people and streak naked showing his you-know-what. Hence the name Mr. Johnson. Well, he didn't make the cut. I decided to delete the character and substitute him with Guitar Zero. A moment of silence please.

What's In A Name . . .

I was looking over my vast font collection when I noticed certain fonts seemed to perfectly describe certain characters. I entered a marathon designing sprint and managed to match 22 of the 30 characters to fitting title fonts. The font's will be used primarily in the character selection screen. But who knows where else we can use them. Above is an example of Guitar Zero's screen font. Feels like a rock and roll title doesn't it? Fuego.

Guitar Zero . . .

The next character brought to life will be;

Name: Guitar Zero
Origin: Guitar Hero Hall Of Fame
Background: Guitar Zero is the world's greatest Guitar Hero player. He has mastered every instrument and level of the game. Guitar Zero is an overweight guy with looks similar to Jack Black. He carries an exact replica of the guitar from Guitar Hero and wears a funky rock n roll outfit that barely covers his large stomach. He has long black hair accompanied by little chest hair. All his attacks are executed through the guitar.

Gamer Badge . . .

The gamer badge is designed similar to XBL's Dashboard with sleekness of a Yahoo! widget. The badge will contain all the info each gamer in the system. Players will be able to challenge other gamers via this badge as well as adding Battle Buddies. The badge will include the player's Wins, Loses, Global Rank, Local Rank, Battle Buddies, User Name, City & State.

Meet Mary Ann . . .

Fuego.

Travis . . .

TheDC can't run itself so we need a operator. I decided to immortalize one of my favorite drummers and one of the luckiest guys on the planet; Travis Barker. Travis will be in charge of TheDC. He will handle all the transactions and provide brief hints/tips for every player. Fuego.