[Char] Shogun

[UbberWill]

So, hi there i'm UbberWill (UW) i was lurking on the forums for years and now i've decided to finaly start to create my own LF2 stuff (becouse i realy like it and i like to create things).

First played LF2 in... i don't even know when (long time) and since i still love to play it with my friends.
I did some modifications back then and now (dc and spriting), but now i wanted to give something to this great community: my own "creations"...

Now i want to introduce you the one i refer as "the Shogun".
I still have to write a background story for him, but anyway...
He is an undead lich who was trained in swordsmanship  when he was alive. Someday he earned the title of "shogun" 
when [INSERT HEROIC TALES HERE]... but became mad through his rule due to paranoia and several assassinating assaults.
Being blinded by his paranoia and the fear of death he tried many ways to reach immortality...
bla bla bla... and he ended up as a lich consumed by vengeance and thirst for power.

As i wrote above i still need a nice story for him (and a name).

As a lich he is using different type of spells and necromancy  (maybe not this version but later...) and he has a huge dai(?)-katana which makes him a good melee fighter.


Currently his moves are:
Horizontal and vertical "Void Ball" (Fa, Ua),
3 types of attack using his sword (Da, Fj, Uj)
(complete move list is in the readme.txt)

And some screenshots (i was lazy to create .gifs so yeah only screenies yet)

Sceenshot (Click to View)

Screenshot (Click to View)

Screenshot (Click to View)

Download
MEDIAFIRE

MEGA

I made it from 0 but after i found Gad's Template Spritesheet thread:
(http://lf-empire.de/forum/showthread.php?tid=8862)
 i fitted my sources in to this template and continued working with it so many many thanks to Gad!

I will update it in the near future 'couse i need a better face picture and some effects like the fire slash thing and the ice ball and of course i need to add some more move like summoning a ghost or something.

Sorry for my lack of grammar and other mistakes. English is a foreign language to me.

[STM1993]

Downloaded and gave it a quick go, here's a video:

(pardon the slight FPS spikes in the video)

* The animation is very fluid and the sprites are actually pretty cool, if lacking in shading.
* Lack of _mirror sprites. Please add them so that players do not need to manually mirror (else the sprites come out wrong when facing left).
* The character is a slow but big & powerful type. One regular attack will send enemy into DOP state, and he has state 7(defend) in many of his attacks.
* He cannot swing light weapons, only throw them. Notable lack of drinking sound.

Moves: (note: I didn't follow the exact names listed in the readme)
A = Stunning Hit (this does not chain into a 3-hit combo like Knight)
Grab = Standard grab attack (can hit very fast like Julian. Also his grab range is much shorter than his size would imply)
Super = Kick
Jump A = Standard jump slash
>>A = Hop & Strike (yes, character actually hops into mid-air, not a sprite trick)
>>D = Shadow Dash (cannot pickup items)
>>JA = Standard dash attack

D>A(+A...) = Void Ball (Sometimes the ball will pull you up with whirlwind effect, pretty inconsistent)
D>AJ = Void Ball x2
D>A D>A = Multi-Void Ball (Only 3 can hit)

D^A(+A...) = Air Void Ball (behaves similarly to D>A when it hits)
D^AJ = Air Void Ball x2
D^A D^A = Void Rain (launch multiple air void balls very high into the air, takes a long time to come down. The timing for input is very strict compared to D>AD>A)

D>J = Shadow Slash (can move on z-axis, each shadow can hit, but you can't make all of them connect)
D>JJ = Flame Ball (this ignores John's shield and does not destroy state 3006 attacks)

DvA = Demon Stab (At very close range, it will become a grab that can heal beyond max HP, then kick. There is a flaw where the character can be hit by victim's jump attack at the end of the move)
DVAA = Ice Ball (very short range)

D^J = Blade Spin (hold back to cancel. Will pull enemies only if they are very close)
(hit)D^J = Counter Blade Spin (this one is a quick swing with shockwave effect that pushes enemies away)


I have a few issues with this character:
1) His DxA moves will very easily chain into DxJ moves. Try using D>AJ and missing the input and you'll see that he immediately does D>J. This can be incredibly frustrating given the number of moves that can chain that way and yet don't work as combos.

2) For all the moves Shogun has, he doesn't have any combos to speak of, like Deep being able to do DvA JA or DvAA D<AAA. A lot of his moves feel very unnecessary, especially the many different variations of void ball.

3) Doesn't have a consistent theme in gameplay. Hard to explain, but it feels like the character cannot agree whether he is an undead void user or a swordmaster with either fire or ice abilities. I believe this is also another reason why combos aren't thought out as a result.


Overall a cool character, but very unpolished.

[UbberWill]

Thanks for the feedback and the more detailed character description

This character is still on my worktable and yes he is still unpolished. I wanted to post him to get some feedbacks on it.
About those issues:
I have the same feel about them as well. Note that i've did the dc stuff using one of those PDK exe-s (for the quick testing of smaller changes), so that is why i forget about the _mirror sprites (*updated first post)  and it does not had that quick chain non-combo thing. (i've tested in other LF2 exe-s and those had it) I will fix this, but first i need to figure out his final attacks then i'll be able to make combos for him.
I need another name and face pic for him, i don't realy like the current ones. (ideas are welcome)

[Bupkis]

Awesome dude hope to see more lf2 development

[Hellblazer]

Not too shabby for a beginner. Seems cool to me. Keep it up!

[UbberWill]

So, i'm almost finished with his (still not yet) summonable zombie minion

Zombie (Click to View)

It will be slow and weak (it's a zombie, a reanimated corpse nothing else!) it will also spit/puke, maybe explode and something more idk.
About the "Shogun"...
I'm still in the lack of idea for her moves but i think i will make a second form for him (like Louis and LouisEX)
wich will have more mage type attacks (lightning, fire, etc) and the first form will have the swordsman moves.
And i was thinking about creating a mod/modpack containing undead type characters (yeah guess what's my favorite race in most strategy games), but if i start it, i think i will be needing some help
Anyway here is a Julian colored "Shogun":

Spoiler (Click to View)

[STM1993]

Haha, the zombie is adorable!

About the "Shogun"...
I'm still in the lack of idea for her moves but i think i will make a second form for him (like Louis and LouisEX)
wich will have more mage type attacks (lightning, fire, etc) and the first form will have the swordsman moves.

I think you should stick to just one sword-based moveset containing 4 moves - 1 or 2 as projectiles like the default LF2 characters. In your case, just 1 projectile mapped to D>A (can re-use voidball with a few tweaks) since you already have a zombie summon that acts like a homing projectile in a way. The remaining 2 moves could be utility or close combat moves, though I would find a way to avoid being too similar to Deep/Davis in that regard.

The concept could be a big but slow character, revolving heavily around distracting/trapping his opponent before getting into position and going in for the kill. Take inspiration from Dennis & Rudolf or even Bat for the kind of playstyle I'm talking about, just make sure Shogun is a variant who is big but slow like Knight/Deep instead of commonly being a small but fast character.

[UbberWill]

!UPDATE!
Now the "Shogun" can summon a zombie! Use weapons (only on ground in air he will still throw them), changed the D^A from the upwards void ball to a combo attack (an upward slice, then a kick with the other possibilities), but i kept the upward void ball volley(?), did some small tweaks at some parts where it was needed.
About the Zombie. It's a slow weak... zombie what else. Yet it doesn't have any attacks (just a catching with some biting), when being summoned by the "Shogun" it will have like 50-160 health so he's realy just good for a distraction as it takes a few hits and dies. The "Shogun" also can heal it a bit (by hitting DvJ won't summon another one it will heal the existing one instead).
And that's for now, i will change their face picture, make some attacks for the zombie...

(MEGA is a bit laggy now will add an alternate link later...)

[STM1993]

Gave it a quick try.


The zombie is really fun haha, and good job making it largely impossible to have more than 1(I haven't been able to make 2 like your readme suggests) while still making it useful. I do have some issues with it:
* Healing the zombie will also hurt yourself, which is fine. Problem is that the itr that hits has the default fall: 20, which means you can stun yourself and the zombie trying to heal the zombie.

* If zombie has heavy weapon, he will not drop it when he is hit by the healing despite being injured. This is a known quirk with ik9(john shield), but I'd solve this by simply making it have fall: -1 instead of fall: 20.

* Because the zombie starts off with 500hp before being hit by an itr, its real maximum HP is 500. If it drinks milk or goes to the next stage in stage mode, it can recover up to 500hp. Nothing much you can do here.

* Shotgun will heal any and all zombies, even if he doesn't have one of his own. That's a pretty big flaw imo. Should make it fire a ball that homes towards only friendly zombies. You'd have to modify jan_chaseh.dat (see Beeya by YinYin), though I'm not too sure if its possible to make zombie detection work in this case.

* Maybe its a better idea to heal zombies using ik8 or hit_Fa 4, so that you can't overheal a zombie beyond 500hp and the zombie cannot last forever if it keeps taking damage without drinking milk and also solves the whole fall 20 issue.


Gotta say its also weird to see a zombie roll.
Won't recommend giving zombies more moves else overpowered, plus you'd need to code AI for it.
I guess Shotgun is a boss character. I still believe he has too many moves and is overpowered, but its fine for now since its not a finished character.

[UbberWill]

Hmm, thanks for suggesting the ik8 (i forgot about it, even i've used it before).

I was able to do a less OP healing effect with it. Now it heals a friendly zombie, only the nearest and puts the hostile ones in a fake DOP state, almost all of them. There is a bug in it when the zombies "hugging" each other (one catches another) then there is a chance for this effect to do the opposite.

I decreased the heals fallpoint to prevent the "Sho(t)gun" from being stunned by his own attack, but this is necessary for this whole summon to stop the user from spamming the stage with zombies...

I will try to figure out a good balance for "Shogun", i mean mp usage, damage, etc and if i see that there is a need for an AI, maybe i will try to make one, and yes i tried to make him a boss like character.

For now i will start to design and create another character (don't know what will it be yet), but will update "Shogun" when i think it's ready to go again

As always i still need a face picture and another name, so if someone wants to help just pm me.