The Final Tag-Workforce
Professional-wrestling and RPGs? Collectively?
The mix makes extra sense than you would possibly suppose, and is extra highly effective (and sweatier) than you’ll be able to probably think about.
WrestleQuest is our love letter to each this cherished online game style and this intense, charming, and infrequently foolish sport. These artwork kinds share many qualities, equivalent to a concentrate on story, larger-than-life characters, the spectacle of fight, and drama that leaps off the display screen.
Extra than simply mixing components from pro-wrestling and RPGs, we went as much as the highest rope and wrestlified the RPG components to make it greater, bolder, and higher than ever.
What does that imply? Let’s elbow drop in to see how we wrestlified JRPG fight, tropes, and extra. However first, let’s have a look behind the newborn oil at what WrestleQuest actually is.
What’s WrestleQuest?
WrestleQuest combines our love of JRPGs, pro-wrestling, and the toys of our youth right into a recreation like no different. It enables you to journey by way of a wrestling universe as two rivals on a quest to avoid wasting pro-wrestling from the grip of a scheming tyrant. You’ll lower promos, get choke slammed, and journey by way of distant lands and elements unknown.
That includes 12 playable characters, 50+ hours of content material, 100 gallons of child oil, 5000+ pound of pixels, and 30+ licensed wrestlers – together with legends like Macho Man Randy Savage, Andre the Big, Jeff Jarrett, Jake the Snake, DDP, Sgt Slaughter, and extra – the sport is made by hardcore wrestling followers and lifelong JRPG gamers.
If you’re new to pro-wrestling, JRPGs, or each, don’t fear. WrestleQuest is the proper recreation to introduce you to this sport and/or style, and makes it straightforward so that you can get caught up within the story and take part on the hype.
Wrestlification Outlined
WrestleQuest takes JRPGs and explores them by way of a wrestling lens – however what does that imply? How do you “wrestlify” one thing?
Wrestlification is the method of creating one thing (an occasion, a recreation, or perhaps a individual) sweatier, stronger, and extra dramatic. By means of wrestling, athletic rivalries develop into life-or-death conflicts, easy trash speak turns into catch phrases that stay on eternally, and character ideas take flesh to encourage generations. It’s about taking boring recreation design components and respiration new life into them, like a wrestler altering their gimmick.
We did this to each facet of JRPGs, from evolving stale fight to revitalizing drained tropes.
Evolving JRPG Fight
Certainly one of our main design objectives in WrestleQuest was to evolve the basic JRPG fight components. Many people grew up with turn-based battle techniques, and I feel we are able to all admit that they will get boring after some time – what number of battles have you ever received by merely spamming the “assault” command?
WrestleQuest turns up the thrill and engagement of JRPG battles by capturing the drama, motion, and spectacle of pro-wrestling matches. One of many first methods we did that is by way of hand-drawn animation. Each suplex, piledrive, and sidewalk slam is fully-animated in attractive pixels. This implies battles are enjoyable to play, watch, and even stream.
Subsequent, we put each battle in entrance of a stay viewers. Similar to an actual wrestling match, they got here to see some hard-hitting strikes and spectacle, so don’t allow them to down!
Relatedly, the Hype Meter is a sign of this stay crowd’s engagement with the struggle. In the event you simply hit the “assault” button on auto-pilot, the group will get bored, and the Hype Meter will drain out. When that occurs, your enemies get stronger. However, should you combine up your technique and placed on present, you then’ll fill the meter and unlock bonuses, like energy buffs and extra XP!
Moreover, battles are stuffed with occasions and triggers that drive you to concentrate or pay the worth. From timed presses and button mashing to items bouncing off the ropes and enemies that you need to pin to win, WrestleQuest retains your head within the struggle.
Including Even Extra Spectacle to Boss Fights
We went all out to make boss battles actually memorable occasions. Earlier than these main confrontations, you’ll customise a walk-on routine, so you’ll be able to fashion and profile down the doorway ramp. After that, you’ll hop on the mic for some smacktalk, buying and selling insults together with your opponent. Each of those can generate hype earlier than the match even begins!
Dramatic Moments take it even additional. These are particular standards throughout battles, like letting your opponent kick out twice, which can be difficult to satisfy however pay you again with distinctive gear and even particular cinematics!
Fixing JRPG Tropes with Wrestlification
We’ve additionally thrown out stale JRPG components wherever we are able to, and tapped in a wrestlified alternative.
For instance, you received’t discover locked doorways and keys in WrestleQuest. As a substitute, tables bar your path – and in wrestling, there’s just one manner by way of a desk. Discover a particular token to summon a wrestler, then throw them by way of a desk to unblock the way in which. With this function, the easy act of opening a locked door turns into an entertaining visible feast. It’s all about including that wrestling spectacle into even probably the most primary facets of JRPGs.
In the identical vein, we’ve thrown drained character cliches out of the ring. Stalwart knights, evil sorcerers, and secret princesses have develop into devious managers, Machiavellian promoters, and heels that followers like to hate.
A Championship Story
As talked about, narratives are the muse of each pro-wrestling and JRPGs. Professional-wrestling is a storytelling artwork. It’s constructed on narratives that develop behind-the-scenes, in-the-ring, and past. Plotlines culminate over weeks and months, with feuds, betrayals, dramatic reveals, and surprising swerves.
What’s extra, the wild world of wrestling is completely different than the rest. You’ve bought scripts that go awry, forcing wrestlers to ad-lib within the ring. Actual life drama spills into the present, with diva antics jeopardizing months of planning and content material with a no-show. Managers on an influence journey can destroy the careers of their rivals, even on the expense of alienating their followers, and even endangering their promotion.
All of that is fertile floor that has gone untouched in JRPGs, till now. In WrestleQuest, you’ll meet distinctive characters with recent tales stemming from a world that’s begging to get the story-driven therapy it deserves.
So slap on these tights, oil up these muscle mass, and take a look at WrestleQuest for a pixel-powered RPG like no different!