Rivals’s Workshop has seen a huge number of ambitious mods and characters, many of them pushing the bounds of what can be achieved with the platform. Depending on the creator’s goals, the added complexity can either be a boon for their character’s appeal, or a hindrance for players trying to figure out their character, sometimes unintentionally. So for those in the latter group, what can be done to make characters more accessible and understandable, while keeping them unique and fun to play? Here I’ll be discussing five tips for making characters more intuitive, without losing on depth or appeal.
Keep It Simple
Starting with the obvious: characters can be made unique without having a plethora of gimmicks, alternate forms, special variations, auto-combos and inventory systems layered on top of each other. Sometimes, less is simply more – especially when you consider the difficulty of an opponent keeping track of every option your character has. Rivals’s base roster characters all have mostly simple attacks and a single core gimmick at most. In this way, neither player is overwhelmed when figuring out their character’s options, or when learning which options to avoid from their opponent.
Never be afraid of cutting gimmicks from a character, especially early on in development. Toggle and streamline them over time so that only the best, most necessary ideas are kept. If you can explain your character’s mechanic in two short sentences, you should be good to go. ‘Leftover’ gimmick ideas can always be saved for a future character, which can turn out even better than trying to cram everything into one.
Hold Direction, Press Button, Hit Opponent
When you press the attack button, the character should put out a hitbox in the general direction you’re holding. Yes, this is another common sense rule, and yes, if you’re making a custom character you’re probably doing this already! But, it may be tempting to work around this step if you’re porting an existing character from a non-platform-fighter game, and don’t have the correct animations or references to add a move with proper coverage. Unfortunately, doing this *will* affect the character’s intuitiveness in the long run. If you’re able to, it is highly recommended to improvise a new move instead.
There are a couple less obvious quirks that Rivals has when mapping hitboxes to buttons: Up-Strong should reach high enough to hit above a platform, and Down-Strong should be able to hit an opponent who is overlapping with the character. With these guidelines intact, you can ensure your character’s general functions feel consistent with the Rivals’ cast, even if the attacks themselves are completely unique.
Be Mindful With ‘Moving’ Normal Attacks
Sometimes it can be beneficial for a character to have ‘moving’ Normal attacks – one common example is a Forward Tilt that steps the character a short distance forwards. In general, moving attacks will feel intuitive as long as the attack direction matches the movement direction. But keep in mind that if aiming for a base-cast character feel, even slight forward movements outside of jab combos should be added sparsely.
There are a few cases where creators may want to break this rule – in fact, a large number of the Rivals cast have a normal attack which moves them in an unusual way. For example, Orcane can use his Forward-Aerial to propel himself backwards, and Sylvanos’s Back-Aerial can briefly stall his movement in the air. These sorts of moves will feel unintuitive for players at first, but can be learned and adjusted to quickly. While I would recommend keeping these kinds of moves to a minimum, they are worthwhile for the uniqueness they can add to a character.
Synergy between Theme and Mechanics
Rivals’ gimmicks excel at being easy to understand at a glance, and the biggest reason for this is how their gimmicks and their overall theme mesh in a simple and understandable way. Flowers that grow grass around them, ice that makes a character slide, mech weapons that overheat after extended use – these are all existing ideas that commonly relate to each other, and this helps them to be easily understood at a glance.
On the flipside, if a character used a box of TNT to deflect projectiles, or threw a skateboard as a healing item, the player would be understandably confused. Because the imagery and the effect didn’t match, the player ends up having the wrong expectation of what the character’s gimmick does. ‘Dissonant’ mechanics like these should be avoided early when designing a new character. Setting up expectations through clear, recognizable visuals and strong, logical themes will help your character feel intuitive from the moment they’re picked up.
Make It Obvious
Finally, and most importantly, you can make characters feel more intuitive by tying clues and hints into the character itself. Well made animations, sound cues and pointers can seamlessly make a character more understandable, even when being picked up or fought against for the first time. If done well, an experienced player should be able to figure out the majority of a character’s tools with only minimal reading beforehand.
The majority of a character’s hints should be conveyed through the character’s animation and audio. A good rule of thumb is to have the character look in the direction they are attacking in, and exaggerate the character’s action as much as possible so that it reads clearly. Use effects or smears to lead the eye, and have flashes or sound cues to warn opponents of an imminent threat. When the attack hits, use appropriate hitpause, hitsparks and sound effects to tell the player how strong that attack was. All of this feedback amounts to the player getting a full impression of a move from the moment they press the button.
More obvious cues may be needed in some cases, such as glowing auras, big icons and pointer arrows to tell players about important mechanics. I think that it is best to use obvious cues for abstract, videogame-esque concepts, such as meters, charge attacks, status effects and other gimmicks that don’t follow real-world logic. Adding too many obvious cues can be distracting however, and it can lessen the fun of figuring out a character naturally. It is up to the creator to find a good balance between helping the player find the character’s tools, and risking mechanics that the player won’t discover on their own.
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