it's the UTMV FIGHTING GAME DEV BLOG @utmv-fg - Tumblr Blog

HELLO PAGE

Here's a docs folder full of dev stuff for you to peruse

INDEX

Initial Concept + Test Sprites

ACT/MERCY mechanic

Stage Mockups

Stage/Menu Mockups v2

About Movesets

About Controls and Inputs

About Sound Effects

UPDATE #1 - 4.13.25

UPDATE #2 - 10.1.25

#utmv fighting game #index

UTMV Fighting Game Progress Update #2 - 10.1.25

Hello, everyone.

It's been a while, hasn't it?

Someone very nice dropped me an ask (on my other blog? I can't find it now) re: how I was doing, so I felt like making a little update post.

I haven't been able to work on things (especially this game) much at all lately between family and work and other stressors, as I mentioned in that ask if you saw it. The thing I didn't mention that might be apparent is that I've just been depressed. But as my therapist tells me, this is a normal thing that happens sometimes and it is temporary.

For now, I figured if I don't have lots of cool progress to show you, I can at least open up a little about where I stopped in the process (because I think it's interesting).

VVVV

So, picture me. A tiny spider sitting at my computer.

I'm done with the basic tutorials of Game Maker and am trying to tackle actually making a game. The kind of game I want to make is relatively complicated, so I decide to make two smaller prototypes that'll focus on the parts of the big game that I think I'll have the hardest time figuring out.

A game that focuses on branching paths based on simple player choices with a short cutscene between each transition and endings that depend on your cumulative choices. (Temp. title: Hands.)

A game that focuses on the actual needs of a fighting game. Stage parameters, moves, epic finishers, etc. (Temp. title: Super Muybridge Fighter.)

I decide early on that I'm gonna borrow the photographic oeuvre of Eadweard Muybridge so I don't have to draw sprites just for some tests and spend a few days scanning in pages from collections of his work I've had lying around since my dad gave them to me high school.

Then what? How do I actually build this thing?

See, the way Game Maker thinks is by association. Every little action and instance needs to be connected to something else. You can't just tell the game to make a little dude walk. You need to associate his walking sprite with his game object, and give that object commands that interact with gravity and movement/positioning (which you have to define yourself) and the ground he's standing on and what room that ground is in and which room he gets sent to when he walks off the screen and how that transition is supposed to be executed. And then you have to remember to tell him to stop walking.

That all in itself sounds complicated, and it gets worse when you think about how to put together an entire game.

But there are ways to organize this. In fact, there are multiple ways. You can use indexes (basically making lists of things you can point at with numbers and tell the program to use) to keep track of different categories of thing and point at them when you need them. You can set up scripts that contain programming you want to use over and over, so you can just hand each little guy a script on how to walk instead of having to teach them all individually. And then there are tools for grouping scripts and making indexes that contain other indexes (maps, I think), and character parenting and instance execution code manipulation and many many other cool tricks to make connecting all your things easier.

In fact, there are so many fucking things to make it easier that it becomes really really hard to know what would be best for what concept and where the pitfalls are. And I realize a lot of that comes down to trial and error (and asking forums).

But I have two ideas. Mostly on how to tackle the branching path concept in Hands.

~~~~~~~~~~

Think of it like a theme park ride.

You, the player, move from room to room--with different actors and props for each room. When you get to the end of a room, you make a choice, and a door appears. As you step through it, you enter a little dark room where a cutscene plays, and then you go on to the next prop-filled room. If an actor must appear in more than one room, they're cloned to be in both places at once with a different shirt and lines to read. The room paths just split and split and split until there are tons of hallways, each with their own discreet end-room and exit door.

(The player object transitions between separate game rooms, and each room uses discreet instances of reused objects placed in appropriate rooms. Use character parenting and scripts for primary functions, edit secondary programming and execution code for specialized functions.)

Higher volume of pathways and copies of things to manage, but each thing has less-complex stuff to do.

~~~~~~~~~~

+++++++++

2. Think of it like a theatrical stage.

There is only one room. The game engine dresses up the room to look like a different room for each scene. When the player, sitting in the audience, makes a choice at the end of the scene, the curtains go down for a minute as they watch a cutscene, and the actors and props rearrange and redress themselves for the next scene.

(The player object is reset to the same room after room completion and choice made, but indexes/maps swap out background textures, enemy objects, characteristic variables, dialogue, etc. Actor objects contain all possible needed functions and dialogue and execute them during appropriate scenes.)

Lower volume of rooms and objects, but more complex use of the objects in play.

+++++++++

Anyway, as I figure out which will hurt my/your computer less (and my head), feel free to chime in with any advice if you have it.

Things are very very tough out there, but stay warm and keep pushing.

<3 Daisy

#utmv fighting game #utmv fg #progress update 2 #update 10.1.25

wootwona

since the old version of this post was flagged for ‘adult content’…

reblog this post if your account is a trans safe space or owned by a trans person!

along with that, reblog if your account is a non-binary spectrum safe space or owned by someone on the nb spectrum!

scream-telehead

Diversity win, the person who makes art of very weird characters and monsters is queer as fuck!

unfairlyfallen

👁️🫵🫶

utmv-fg

UTMV Fighting Game Progress Update #1 - 4.13.25

A ton tbh, but not a ton to show off.

Game development just takes a long time to get out from under the boring stuff, and I haven't had a lot of time to get through an extra long boring part. I've been very busy and very tired, but I'm still cramming in a couple hours to work on this whenever I can sit up at my computer and concentrate.

The other main reason it's taking a while is because I've realized the most effective way for me to learn Game Maker is to take some of the video tutorials out there and write them down into a searchable document, making notes on what each part does to make sure I understand.

And by that, I mean doing this--

--for 20 lessons worth of material. Maybe more.

Which isn't as impossible a task as it sounds. I think the repetition really is teaching me the steps and vocabulary I'll need to navigate programming on my own. Plus, this might be proof that I'm less likely to fall victim to programming fatigue.

I've already followed an actual video tutorial with Game Maker itself (I made an extremely sloppy platformer where Frisk goomba stomps a bunch of Ink clones), but that's not quite enough to etch anything lasting into the adhd putty that is my brain.

Once all the studying is done, I'll hopefully have enough building blocks and forum post tips to stumble my way through a proof of concept build. (And I have a pretty funny idea for cutting down on sprite drawing time, involving Muybridge plates.)

I know I haven't been doing as much of the cool and fun parts of game making like sprite art, UI design, story writing, and feature development. But to be honest, it just doesn't feel like the right thing to be focusing on until I can get basic game functionality off the ground. I've watched way too many projects collapse in my day because the sprinkles outweighed the cake.

HOWEVER! I accidentally let my instagram algorithm know that I like weird industrial/improvised/custom instrument music, and now I'm swimming in it. You can check that out in the MUSIC REF/INSPO doc if you like.

Also here's the tutorial I was using if you, too, would like to lose your mind learning GMVL. It's a little outdated, but it's got some really helpful stuff in it.

Slyddar's Gamemaker DND Platformer Tutorial

I'm gonna keep the doc I'm using to study in a non-shared folder for now, only because I can't decide if it'll divert people away from his actual videos. It wouldn't be right, considering that I'd be lost without this dude in the first place. But maybe I'll change my mind. It could be more of a companion guide. I dunno.

Anyway, seeya later!

#reblogging for night folk #utmv fg #utmv fighting game #update 4.13.25 #update 1 #progress update

UTMV Fighting Game Progress Update #1 - 4.13.25

A ton tbh, but not a ton to show off.

Game development just takes a long time to get out from under the boring stuff, and I haven't had a lot of time to get through an extra long boring part. I've been very busy and very tired, but I'm still cramming in a couple hours to work on this whenever I can sit up at my computer and concentrate.

The other main reason it's taking a while is because I've realized the most effective way for me to learn Game Maker is to take some of the video tutorials out there and write them down into a searchable document, making notes on what each part does to make sure I understand.

And by that, I mean doing this--

--for 20 lessons worth of material. Maybe more.

Which isn't as impossible a task as it sounds. I think the repetition really is teaching me the steps and vocabulary I'll need to navigate programming on my own. Plus, this might be proof that I'm less likely to fall victim to programming fatigue.

I've already followed an actual video tutorial with Game Maker itself (I made an extremely sloppy platformer where Frisk goomba stomps a bunch of Ink clones), but that's not quite enough to etch anything lasting into the adhd putty that is my brain.

Once all the studying is done, I'll hopefully have enough building blocks and forum post tips to stumble my way through a proof of concept build. (And I have a pretty funny idea for cutting down on sprite drawing time, involving Muybridge plates.)

I know I haven't been doing as much of the cool and fun parts of game making like sprite art, UI design, story writing, and feature development. But to be honest, it just doesn't feel like the right thing to be focusing on until I can get basic game functionality off the ground. I've watched way too many projects collapse in my day because the sprinkles outweighed the cake.

HOWEVER! I accidentally let my instagram algorithm know that I like weird industrial/improvised/custom instrument music, and now I'm swimming in it. You can check that out in the MUSIC REF/INSPO doc if you like.

Also here's the tutorial I was using if you, too, would like to lose your mind learning GMVL. It's a little outdated, but it's got some really helpful stuff in it.

Slyddar's Gamemaker DND Platformer Tutorial

I'm gonna keep the doc I'm using to study in a non-shared folder for now, only because I can't decide if it'll divert people away from his actual videos. It wouldn't be right, considering that I'd be lost without this dude in the first place. But maybe I'll change my mind. It could be more of a companion guide. I dunno.

Anyway, seeya later!

#utmv fg #utmv fighting game #update 4.13.25 #update 1 #progress update

daisy-the-spider

Okay since the utmv fighting game thing is eating my brain like a good old fashioned brain slug…

What if there were an ACT/MERCY mechanic?

Like, you could just beat your opponent to a pulp by depleting their HP. Or, you could do some alternative set of ACT moves that would deplete their will to fight and give you… i dunno, some kinda special payoff.

It’d be harder to do than just punching, like in the original game. And it’d be even tougher to do against more violent fighters (or using more violent fighters), but with a bigger payout. Maybe it’d require pulling off combos to trigger certain milestones (like getting dragonballs in DBFZ… i think that’s how it works?) or doing a certain nonviolent move when an opponent exposes a weakness that you would usually punish physically.

It smells like said reward would require some kind of secondary economy that i can’t picture at the moment bc i just woke up, but i’ll keep percolating on it as i play with sprites.

Feel free to chime in with your thoughts.

utmv-fg

So according to my controls and inputs post, fighting/sparing would be equally easy. It’s just a matter of picking a moveset at the start of a match and sticking to it.

But the secondary incentive could still be a good idea to make it a little more engaging to keep playing past storymode.

Like, what if you got badges or unlocked an achievement tree with some extra art for setting up certain matches and finishing them a certain way that may not occur in storymode? (Ex - any match between Toriel and Asgore unlocks “Marriage Counseling”. US Paps vs Swap Sans gets “Great and Magnificent”. Making Floweys spare each other gets “Idiot”.) Or for finishing off a certain number of matches with spares or fights? (Ex - 100 spares gets “True Pacifist”, and 100 fights gets “You Monster”, and both gets you “True Neutral”.)

It could either be a greyed out checklist for the player to follow or a more nondescript diagram of blank nodes with hints on how to unlock them—rewarding the player for experimenting and roleplaying.

Does that sound like a good time? Lemme know.

#i’m remembering the achievements from attack of the toybots #utmv fighting game #undertale au fighting game #utmv fg #utmvfg #act mechanic #mercy mechanic #mechanics #concepts

utmv-fg

K my life has become slightly less insane, so let’s talk about

SOUND EFFECTS.

Sound effects are obviously really important to game feel, and I’d want the sound font of most menuing and stuff to match the original UT.

But, in terms of combat sfx, I have another idea.

I don’t picture there being many voice lines in this fighting game outside of a special easter egg/reward here or there. Dialogue usually only happens in word bubbles between matches or subtitles during cutscenes.

So instead, what if I could characterize fighters by giving them unique, slightly abstract sfx packs that fit their vibe?

Undyne has very stereotypical heavy combat sounds with some anime stings, someone like Classic Paps or Swap Sans has softer, goofier sounds (maybe an occasional squeaky toy noise if they get punished on whiff). Fresh makes 90s soundbites. Dust sounds like creepy hollow instruments/percussion. Error makes bugged out windows sfx (insert bluescreen gag on whiff). Ink makes woodblock sounds, idk.

It’d be a ton more work, even if I limited it to special moves and counters. And it’d be tough to balance to prevent it from turning into a cacophony of mismatched noise or distracting gags. But it might be a nice touch.

What do you think? Any suggestions on who would sound like what?

the-selfinsert

I like this idea a lot! I wonder if maybe to keep some cohesion certain sounds could have a similar base to them but are done with different things. Sort of like playing the same note on a different instrument, if that makes sense. What I mean is that maybe you could make some kind of hit sound for most basic jabs, but then apply some filter or try to recreate the noise with something else for the unique touch.

As for specific characters, I think the Storyshift twins could have sound effects pretty similar ot some of Asriel's in the base game, particularly the stars, and a lot of softer "shining" noises, if that makes sense. Just a though, nothing too serious

#sound effects #sfx #that makes sense #and yeah it would probably help

K my life has become slightly less insane, so let’s talk about

SOUND EFFECTS.

Sound effects are obviously really important to game feel, and I’d want the sound font of most menuing and stuff to match the original UT.

But, in terms of combat sfx, I have another idea.

I don’t picture there being many voice lines in this fighting game outside of a special easter egg/reward here or there. Dialogue usually only happens in word bubbles between matches or subtitles during cutscenes.

So instead, what if I could characterize fighters by giving them unique, slightly abstract sfx packs that fit their vibe?

Undyne has very stereotypical heavy combat sounds with some anime stings, someone like Classic Paps or Swap Sans has softer, goofier sounds (maybe an occasional squeaky toy noise if they get punished on whiff). Fresh makes 90s soundbites. Dust sounds like creepy hollow instruments/percussion. Error makes bugged out windows sfx (insert bluescreen gag on whiff). Ink makes woodblock sounds, idk.

It’d be a ton more work, even if I limited it to special moves and counters. And it’d be tough to balance to prevent it from turning into a cacophony of mismatched noise or distracting gags. But it might be a nice touch.

What do you think? Any suggestions on who would sound like what?

#utmv fighting game #utmv fg #utmvfg #concepts #sound effects #sfx

utmv-fg

Thoughts on controls and inputs

I think the biggest reason I’ve avoided playing fighting games despite loving the concept is the control/execution complexity.

I’m adhd and autistic af and instantly forget combos and get overwhelmed. It’s true in most games, actually. I have a habit of picking a favorite weapon/move and mashing my way through. Otherwise, the game becomes stressful instead of fun. I’ve picked up similar accounts from other people over the years.

So how do I make this more accessible without completely neutering what’s largely fundamental and fun about fighting game controls…?

My first idea is to just limit the combos. Don’t make them complicated. Don’t give a million to every character. With so many characters, that’d be an insane burden not just for me to program but for the player to keep track of (it’d likely get boring and samey too). So, the fun factor comes from getting to play as all these AUs, each with a neat little set of moves that doesn’t require too much investment to get your head around. Because that’s more what the point of this project is—being a celebration of the fandom’s creations. I don’t mind not making it into EVO.

Cool. Good. But even a basic moveset without crazy combos still has lots of options for button/key presses. What else?

Another idea I had has to do with the SPARE mechanic. I could divide the control scheme in half. Only use A and B to do FIGHT moves, only X and Y for MERCY moves. Executing those moves builds the FIGHT or MERCY meters, and whichever one fills up first will finish the fight. You’re encouraged to pick one or the other and stick to it, otherwise you’d just be taking longer to win the match and risk getting your ass kicked (or… hugged?) by the opponent and losing.

Even if, say, A and Y were exclusively for jumping and blocking, there’s still plenty of minor combo potential if you pair B and X with other inputs so the combat doesn’t come down to who can mash the fastest.

Still the same signature fighting game feel, just… smaller in scale.

Does that make sense? Am I missing any glaring issues? Pls comment below.

maizeversal

Hmm... Maybe you could have one button for jumping, one each for dedicated Mercy and Fight attacks, and one for a very light move that does a tiny bit of damage for both (and might be long-range)? That way, you have an extra button that can be used to combo with either of them, but still has a little bit of utility on its own (interrupting the enemy rather than actually doing significant damage).

And you could put blocking on one of the bumper keys, which, in my opinion, just feels better than using the same four buttons all the time. The trigger buttons could be a small dodge-dash, and if you combine the dash with a jump at the right time, you get a lot more distance but can be hit during that time because it counts as a jump and not a dash anymore. The timing wouldn't be too tight, but still plays into the idea of simple combos.

As for the other bumper... Maybe a stomp move? It can act as just a quick way of getting back onto the ground, and some characters might be able to use it as an attack if they combo it with one. Maybe for some of them, landing on an enemy will make them bounce off and deal damage, like Hollow Knight nail pogo.

utmv-fg

*puts this in my pocket*

utmv-fg

Ooh! What if Y does a juggle starter? It can trip, grapple, or launch an opponent into the air, and you can FIGHT or MERCY from there. It’s a neutral component. More or less effective depending on timing and your player character’s specs.

#controls and inputs #concepts #mechanics #utmv fighting game #utmv fg #undertale au fighting game