Touhou: Incident Zero - idea engineering thread (Finalized roster, Alpha build announcement)

[RicePigeon]

Touhou: Incident Zero - idea engineering thread

So after working on THRP for a while, I decided now was a good opportunity to expand my horizons with gameplay and create a spinoff/reboot. Some mechanics are borrowed, but others are drastically different;

 

Story

Incidents are nothing new in Gensokyo; in fact, one might even say that the occurrence of incidents are Gensokyo's way of life. Incidents generally follow a simple formula: youkai cause an incident while humans attempt to resolve them. In this way, the conflict between humans and youkai, with the spellcard rules governing the ensuing battles, ensure the youkai's continued existence and the balance of Gensokyo. Although rare, it is possible for an incident to threaten the entire existence of Gensokyo; in these cases, it is not unheard of for even the most youkai-like youkai to become involved in resolving these situations.

 

Lately, however, residents of Gensokyo have begun to act strangely; youkai who are normally docile suddenly becoming aggressive, and fairies exhibiting power beyond their natural limits. At first this seemed to be a repeat of the Miracle Mallet and Four Seasons incidents, but soon, new aggressive youkai never before seen in Gensokyo began to appear. After such youkai were exterminated, all that was left were mysterious black fragments; those who have found them describe experiencing certain changes to themselves, exhibiting powers that they normally wouldn't be capable of, with different fragments bestowing different abilities. To the humans whose jobs was to exterminate youkai, these newfound powers had their advantages. But these same fragments had the power to alter their surroundings, even bringing people and youkai claiming to be from Gensokyo who had never been seen before, telling stories of incidents that had never happened. If these fragments have the ability to change Gensokyo's history, and even its inhabitants, could these fragments be part of something even bigger, an incident to cause even an even bigger incident? For the shrine maiden, Reimu Hakurei, perhaps gathering these fragments together would provide an answer to this "Incident Zero".

 

Controls
X, Y, and Z for attacks.

 

A is now used for player-specific actions, and will differ by player. For instance, Marisa will use this to execute her EX Specials, while Sanae will this to control her wind gusts.

 

B is now used for the new Bomb mechanic, as well as Last Words. See Alignment System for more details.

 

Combos and Chaining
All characters follow a simple cancelling method for attacks:

Normals -> Command Normals -> Specials -> Spellcards/Last Words

 

Damage Proration
All attacks apply a proration value, which reduces the damage of the next attack in a combo by a scalar amount. All attacks, whether they be Normals, Specials, and Spellcards have a 10% minimum scale. Cancelling any attack into a Spellcard or Last Word will automatically apply a 92.5% proration during the attack's startup. Unlike that of Touhou RP: Gensokyo Reloaded, Last Words are now affected by proration and always have a minimum scale of 30%.

 

Spellcards and Last Words
Spellcards in Incident Zero are functionally identical to Supers from traditional fighting games; they can be executed only with a certain amount of power. Each character has two levels of power meter (2000 power total), with each Spellcard consuming one level. Although rare, certain characters may also possess a Spellcard that requires two levels of meter (2000 power).

 

Last Words are higher level Spellcards; each character, with the exception of Marisa, has exactly one Last Word. The conditions for using a Last Word is directly tied to which alignment the player chooses. Type-C characters do not have access to Last Words. It should be noted that Shinki has an additional requirement of unlocking all six seals on her inscribed pentagram before her Last Word can be used.

 

All Spellcards and Last Words that deal damage will cause untechable Knockdowns and have no juggle restrictions.

 

Spirit Meter & Bombs
Each player has access to a spirit meter. Once the spirit meter is full, it will reset to 0 and the player will gain a bomb. The method of gaining spirit, the method & effects of using bombs, and the maximum number of bombs the player can hold are all dictated by which alignment the player chooses at the beginning of the round.

 

Alignment System
Similar to the Faith system of Hopeless Masquerade, Incident Zero allows each character to utilize different alignments: Type-A, Type-B, or Type-C. Similar to grooves in other fighting games, each alignment bestows upon the character certain perks and changes to their gameplay, with each alignment consisting of their own pros & cons. Each alignment also dictates how bombs are obtained and used, as well as which Last Word the character gains access to when choosing Type-A or Type-B.

 

Type-A is a primarily offense-oriented alignment. Spirit meter will only increase as the player deals damage to an opponent. A bomb will cost 100% of the Spirit Meter and can be used by pressing ; bombs deal no damage, but will inflict Hard Knockdown on hit, grants the user with startup invincibility, and gives the user 1000 Power and 25% Spirit Meter on hit. Bombs can only be used when the player is in a grounded idle state, and cannot be cancelled. Once the player has reached 2000 Power, they can enter Spellcard Declaration Mode with ; this a time limited mode whose duration is inversely dependent on the player's life, with the duration lasting longer the lower the player's Life is. During Spellcard Declaration Mode, the player's Power bar will begin to gradually decrease; during this time, all of the player's Spellcards will cost 250 power, but will have a slight damage decrease. Spellcard Declaration Mode is also the only time a player can activate their Last Word A once they have reached 100% Spirit Meter, which ends Spellcard Declaration Mode on use. Spellcard Declaration Mode can only be used once per match.

 

Type-B is a primarily defense-oriented alignment. Type-B characters fill their spirit meter as they take damage, and using a bomb costs 25% of the Spirit Meter. The player can execute a charged attack with , which has lengthy startup depending on how long is held for, and becomes unblockable at full charge; during this time, the player will have one hit of Armor. Bombs can be used during blockstun by inputting , which will cause the character to execute one of their Special moves as a counterattack, similar to an Alpha Counter. Spirit meter can also be gained through the use of a Just Defense, which will negate all damage and gain a small bit of Life back, as well as adding a greater amount of spirit than simply blocking. Type-B characters can activate their Last Word B once they have reached at least 50% Spirit Meter and 1000 Power, and will consume all available Spirit Meter on use, with the additional Spirit consumed either increasing the Last Word's damage or duration, depending on the Last Word. Shinki is the only except to this rule, as her Last Word requires 100% Spirit Meter when in Type-B.

 

Type-C is a primarily speed-oriented alignment. Type-C characters gain Spirit Meter by performing offensive actions, such as hitting an opponent, and can use Bombs at the cost of 33% of the Spirit Meter. Bombs can be used during any action by pressing , which will cancel the character's current action, including Spellcards. Bombs can also be utilized to perform a Graze Dash with ; a Graze Dash differs from a regular dash in that it both causes the user to home in on the opponent, as well as granting them projectile invincibility. A Graze Dash can be cancelled into any attack just like a normal dash. Additionally, any action may be cancelled into a Graze Dash at the cost 66% Spirit Meter. Skillful use of Type-C bombs can effectively extend combos and allow for cancels that are not normally possible, such as a Spellcard into a Special or another Spellcard. Type-C characters do not gain access to any of their Last Words; instead, they have access to Speed Focus, activated at 2000 Power with , which will allow them to Jump Cancel some of their attacks, while ignoring juggle flag limitations.

 

Roster
Incident Zero's roster comes in at 21 characters, with 12 characters returning from Gensokyo Reloaded along with 9 new characters. The confirmed roster is as follows (names in italic denote new characters);

 

Character	Game Representation
Reimu Hakurei	Higly Responsive to Prayers
Marisa Kirisame	Story of Eastern Wonderland
Yuuka Kazami	Lotus Land Story
Alice Margatroid Shinki	Mystic Square
Hong Meiling Sakuya Izayoi	Embodiment of Scarlet Devil
Youmu Konpaku Yukari Yakumo	Perfect Cherry Blossom
Reisen Udongein Inaba	Imperishable Night
Aya Shameimaru	Phantasmagoria of Flower View / Shoot the Bullet
Momiji Inubashiri Sanae Kochiya	Mountain of Faith
Iku Nagae	Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
Satori Komeiji	Subterranean Animism
Byakuren Hijiri	Undefined Fantastic Object
Mamizou Futatsuiwa	Ten Desires
Hata no Kokoro	Hopeless Masquerade
Sekibanki	Double Dealing Character
Kasen Ibaraki	Wild and Horned Hermit / Urban Legend in Limbo
Nameless	Original / Touhou: Incident Zero

 

 

[Ori-Ori]

Can you please add Remi and Flandre?

 

This sounds interesting.

[Superteletubbies64]

8 hours ago, Weiss_Circal said:

Can you please add Remi and Flandre?

 

This sounds interesting.

 

he said he's only going to add one character from each game.  This means that for example, if youmu is in the game, yuyuko and yukari won't

[Ori-Ori]

6 hours ago, Superteletubbies64 said:

 

he said he's only going to add one character from each game.  This means that for example, if youmu is in the game, yuyuko and yukari won't

 

Oops...

[StrongestPotato]

6 hours ago, Weiss_Circal said:

 

Oops...

if so, GIVE ME HONG MEILING! (and also Yukari)

[Ori-Ori]

1 minute ago, OxyontheWolf said:

if so, GIVE ME HONG MEILING! (and also Yukari)

 

AND GIVE ME SAKUYA AND REISEN!

[StrongestPotato]

On 11/2/2017 at 7:08 PM, Weiss_Circal said:

 

AND GIVE ME SAKUYA AND REISEN!

sorry to say, but Reisen's not making it, for they already have Medicine

[Superteletubbies64]

33 minutes ago, OxyontheWolf said:

sorry to say, but Reisen's not making it, for they already have Medicine

Reisen comes from IN, Medicine comes from PoFV, they're different games so there's still a possibility

 

GIVE ME KOMACHI

[StrongestPotato]

10 minutes ago, Superteletubbies64 said:

Reisen comes from IN, Medicine comes from PoFV, they're different games so there's still a possibility

 

GIVE ME KOMACHI

oh, sorry, well, in that case, from IN, I'd like Reisen, from MoF, I'd like Aya, and from EoTSD, why don't you give us Cirno? after all, she's Touhou's poster girl (ironically more so than Reimu)

[PlasmoidThunder]

Technically Aya originates from PoFV, plus Sanae is already the MoF rep.

[Ori-Ori]

6 hours ago, OxyontheWolf said:

sorry to say, but Reisen's not making it, for they already have Medicine

 

But Reisen came from Touhou 8 while Medicine came from Touhou 9.

[Flowrellik]

So essentially it's gonna be a Touhou game with a specialized groove system for spellcards and whatnot? Oh man this is gonna be SWEET!

[StrongestPotato]

17 hours ago, GarchompMatt said:

Technically Aya originates from PoFV, plus Sanae is already the MoF rep.

ah, in that case, remove Reisen, and give us Keine, she has a little more potential

[RicePigeon]

The focus will primarily be on characters that aren't playable in THRP. Though I can probably give a good guess as to who may end up being the reps for the remaining games. Don't count any of these as official though;

 

MS - Alice, though there is someone else I had in mind

EoSD- Most likely Sakuya, though I'm not against the idea of someone else

PCB - Youmu

SA - Either Utsuho or Koishi, unless someone else gets in?

TD - The only one with workable sprites is Mamizou, afaik...

[RicePigeon]

In case anyone wants a sneak peek at some of the planned changes the THRP characters will undergo in IZ;

 

Reimu

• Buddhist Bomb Counter: Ascension Kick
• Pressing A causes Reimu to create a barrier projectile that remains stationary. If a Hakurei Amulet passes through this barrier, the amulet will split in two, with each one gaining slight homing properties.
• Dimensional Rift: Usable only under Shinto or Taoist alignments. Replaced with Instant Dimensional Rift while under Buddhist-alignment.
• Gains ability to wall teleport with B,B in the corner while under Taoist-alignment, similar to Yukari.
• Divine Spirit "Fantasy Seal": Usable only under Shinto or Buddhist alignments. Replaced with Holy Relic "Yin-Yang Sanctifier Orb" while under Taoist-alignment.
• "Fantasy Heaven": removed
• "Fantasy Nature": Now divided into "Fantasy Nature -Shinto Type-" and "Fantasy Nature -Buddhist Type-". Shinto Type works identical to THRP, while Buddhist Type works as a counterattack identical to Hopeless Masquerade.

Marisa

• Buddhist Bomb Counter: Miasma Sweep
• Three-tier Embellishment Magic mechanic removed. All Specials now have an A version that requires 500 Power, which can be used free of cost during Spellcard Declaration mode in Shinto-alignment.
• "Sungrazer": removed
• "Final Spark": renamed "Sure-Fire Master Spark", can now only be used during Shinto-alignment.
• New Last Word: "Final Spark", usable only during Buddhist-alignment (functionally identical to SWR's Final Spark).

Yuuka

• Buddhist Bomb Counter: Flowers in the Wind
• Holding A now grants Yuuka limited super armor while button is held, but drastically reduces walking speed. Releasing causes Yuuka to perform an attack.
• "Original Master Spark": renamed "True Master Spark", usable only during Shinto-alignment.
• "Dual Spark": usable only during Buddhist-alignment.

Sanae

• Buddhist Bomb Counter: Wind Goddess ~ Thrust (does not put Kanako on cooldown when used as a bomb).
• Wind is now directed using A + direction.
• "Moses's Miracle: usable only during Shinto-alignment.
• "Night of the Supernova Storm": removed.
• New Last Word: "Nine-Syllable Stabs", usable only during Buddhist-alignment.

Byakuren

• Buddhist Bomb Counter: Virupaksa's Eye
• Byakuren now charges orbs with A.
• All Specials now have an A version that consumes orbs. X, Y, and Z versions of Specials no longer require orbs.
• "Master of Buddhist Cosmology": Now has an A version that consumes all orbs on use, which buffs damage. X, Y, and Z versions now have startup invincibility.
• "Angira's Vedas": Usable only during Shinto-alignment.
• Superhuman "Byakuren Hijiri": Now a Level 1 Spellcard. Duration is now dependent on number of light orb charges Byakuren has when activated.
• New Last Word: "Five-Element Mountain of Shakyamuni", usable only during Buddhist-alignment.

[Darkflare]

All right, I think a few things need to be carefully reconsidered.

 

Shinto is possibly the best groove right now mainly because the bombs are gold bursts. You have to remember that in GG and P4A, Gold bursting used the Burst gauge which you only had one and it filled at a fairly slow pace. Not to mention that your super meter reset to 0 in the next round. I'm assuming meter carries over in I0, not to mention the fact that you can carry 3 bombs which gives you plenty of chances to gold burst. In fact, a viable strategy would be to land a bnb into gold burst, activate SCD mode, spam super and then land another bnb into burst when the mode ended. I would take a look at MB's Heat mode/UNIEL's Veil off to have an idea on how to properly do SCD mode

 

Buddhism seems lacking to me. The only thing it provides are Alpha counters and Just defend. Just defend could be good if it also reduces block stun, but even then, I feel the other two grooves provide better tools.

 

Taoism I feel has the problem that it's main gimmick of being able to Roman cancel will be too limited. Sure, RCs are really powerful but with only 2 bombs and no idea how fast they regenerate, you potentially run the risk of barely being able to RC much. Personally, I think the speed focus could be better represented with Custom Combos instead of RC.

 

Atheist groove should totally be a thing.

[RicePigeon]

@Darkflare Alright, so taking your suggestions into account, I've decided to go with the following changes to the alignment system;

 

Shinto

• Maximum number of bombs decreased to 2.
• Bombs no longer grant Power.
• SCD mode can now only be used once per match (as opposed to once per round).
• Spellcards now only cost 1/4 of their Power requirement during SCD mode, as opposed to free (thus subtracting from SCD mode's timer).

Buddhist

• Now gains access to a Focus Attack with B.
• Just Defends now grant a small amount of Life back.

Taoist

• Maximum number of bombs increased to 3.
• Gains access to a Custom Combo mode with 2000 Power & QCB+C.

 

EDIT: Instead of a Custom Combo mode, I do have one other idea for Taoist;

Taoist aligned characters will have access to a Graze Dash performed with QCF+B. Graze Dashes cost 1 bomb and will target the opponent's position, as well as granting the user with projectile invincibility during the dash. These dashes can be acted out of like any normal dash. Moves can be cancelled into a Graze Dash at the cost of 2 bombs instead of 1.

[Darkflare]

Unless I'm missing something, Shinto bombs do nothing now. The knockback effect might be better as a launcher instead to go with the groove's offense oriented intention although in that case any moves done after that bomb in the same combo would have to suffer a big damage proration.

 

I have some doubts about making SCD and Custom Combo activated with QC motions.

[RicePigeon]

Perhaps I should have been a bit more clear in my original idea. The idea was that Shinto bombs would give about 250-500 Power, rather than a full power stock. Since I was unaware that missed adding this, I was under the impression that the value I had in mind was still too much judging by your response, so I figured 0 would be a better value. I blame myself on that.

 

The idea of having Custom Combos & SCD activated with QC motions was to condense everything into the 6-button gameplay and also for consistency (ie: bomb related commands would utilize the B button as well) although looking at it now, I do suppose the C button would make more sense since those two actions don't actually use bombs. As far as the commands go, what exactly did you have in mind?

[Darkflare]

I was thinking XYZ. It's not something I think should be shared with other special commands.

[RicePigeon]

Updated first post to reflect the proposed changes to the alignments

[RicePigeon]

Added Sakuya to the initial roster. Expect to see a list of individual character changes for the returning characters soon

[RicePigeon]

 

Made some changes to the alignments, which are outlined in the first post. Also confirming Sakuya as part of the initial roster. Lifebars are still a WIP.

[StrongestPotato]

10 hours ago, Ricepigeon said:

 

Made some changes to the alignments, which are outlined in the first post. Also confirming Sakuya as part of the initial roster. Lifebars are still a WIP.

for SWR, you should add Iku Nagae

[PlasmoidThunder]

Echoing what I said in the Discord server, the lifebars themselves look pretty bland in terms of design. The layout is nice, but the design...isn't. I get that it's a W.I.P. though, so that's likely to change.