Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, and other fighting games all have one thing in common: their combos involve a complex mix of button presses and movements that are difficult to master. If you want to play the game at a competitive level it takes a huge amount of time and practice.
Seth Killian, a former developer for Capcom who worked on Street Fighter 4, had a problem with that. He wanted gamers to have a fighter where they didn’t have to remember special button sequences and movements. Killian says he wanted a fighting game with the same hardcore feeling as other fighters without the complex move sets; something that could be played with a keyboard instead of a computer.
The trouble with making the switch to keyboard in Rising Thunder is getting players past the desire for traditional controls. Killian thinks players will be able to get past those desires while they’re playing Rising Thunder:
“I think there’s a satisfaction … and the fireball’s a good example because it does actually mirror the motion [of what’s happening in the game]. About 90 percent of the specials don’t really do that anymore. They start to become more and more abstract. But ultimately the fun of actually being able to do the moves that you’re trying to do when you want to do them completely eclipses the value of doing those moves in sort of a more traditional way.”
In order to make the game a reality Killian joined the team at Radiant Entertainment. The Radiant team is also made up of Tom Cannon founder of the EVO Championship Series tournament and Tony Cannon developer of GGPO. All of whom wanted to create a fighting game that is every bit as hardcore as gamers expect without the added complexity. So the team has the talent and experience to create a game like Rising Thunder, but there’s now way to know how if players will accept a simpler fighting sim.
Thankfully the team is eager for player feedback, planning to make as many adjustments as it takes to get the game where players enjoy it.
