Suplex Saga Update & Wrestlemania 35 Thoughts

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Suplex Saga Update

Suplex Saga development is still underway. We are currently in the asset development stage, which includes art and sound. The core engine is working, though the battle we’re tweaking right now. Our plan is to have a demo ready by the end of Summer. We’ll first be distributing the demos to donators and streamers, followed by releasing it to the public a bit later. As for the full game’s release, that is planned for sometime in 2020. Rpgs, unfortunately, are a pretty big project compared to our previous projects.

Wrestlemania 35

Now to take a detour away from usual game development news. As you know, we’re avid wrestling fans here, and I personally have been following WWE for a long time, since their WWF days. Their upcoming wrestlemania, I will have to say, isn’t exactly interesting me as past ones. Nothing will ever touch Wrestlemania 19, when The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin went at it for one final time. The story build up was incredible, and the finale was a good conclusion to both their feud and Stone Cold’s career.

Coming into Wrestlemania 35, there is not a single match that is giving me hype like previous Wrestlemanias. But instead of just saying it, why don’t I tell you why based on each match we know is going to happen thus far.

Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royale

This is the mini royal rumble for competitors who don’t have a match but allows them to showcase at wrestlemania nonetheless. My biggest disappointment of this match is that Braun Strowman is going to be a part of it. Not because of dislike reasons, but because that man deserves more than this. Braun has been a hot commodity for WWE for ages. He’s always on top, and is nearly feuding with the top contenders. And yet, here he is being thrown into a low end match while the likes of Finn Balor and Seth Rollins get to face top competitors. Braun should be facing Lashley or Brock Lesnar. He is wasted potential, and I feel sorry that he isn’t thrusted into the top spot.

Buddy Murphy vs Tony Nese Cruiserweight Championship

I won’t lie. I haven’t been interested in 205 live or the cruiserweight championship for a long time. The last time it was interesting to me was when Enzo and Neville was feuding. It made the show feel a lot more hot, and it’s a shame both wrestlers are no longer with the company. So there’s not much I can really say about this match. I’m sure both men are going to put on a good show.

Kurt Angle vs Baron Corbin

As everyone has already speculated, John Cena or someone more worthy should have been the one to fight Kurt Angle. I respect the story consistency, but this is his retirement match. Let someone that has been special in the business with him be the finale. I’m actually disappointed that it wasn’t Brock Lesnar he was fighting. They had one of the best rivalries I had ever seen back in the day. If there’s one main event that should have happened, it should have been between these two. Nevertheless, Baron should at least come out in a proper wrestling attire. The suit look is embarrassing on him.

The Miz vs. Shane McMahon

It’s a nice short term story to lead up to Wrestlemania. It wasn’t like Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho, where they were friends for quite a while, then after the big ending, you wanted to see Jericho beat Kevin Owen’s face in. The thing is: this match is kind of like throwing two spot wrestlers into the same match. I get why they are both angry, but I really wasn’t sold on the drama that this match is suppose to bring. I’m hoping that this thing all leads up to Shane attacking The Miz cause he was jealous that he had a better relationship with his father than Shane has. It would be a great tie in to the whole Kofi/ Vince angle going on right now. Oh well, I’m sure that isn’t it.

Samoa Joe vs Rey Mysterio

This will be an okay match. Both are good wrestlers. Thing is, I have nothing to be really hyped for. There’s no story between them. They’re just gunning for the belt cause they want to. Simple, but not wrestlemania material.

Triple H vs Batista

A nice follow up from the Evolution reunion. It was a nice burn when Batista delivered that punchline to Triple H, reminding him that he has never pinned him. At first, we all thought nothing of it. Then right on Ric Flair’s birthday, we get the rude awakening of Batista coming back and delivering on that very point. It’s a nice old-style way of starting a feud, and I dig it. These two, being veterans, understand how to start drama. And they did well to the point that I’m somewhat interested in this match. Unfortunately, like a lot of the matches on this card, it was done at a quick notice with no amount of build up to give history. It has history, but it’s piggybacking on their past rather than making something in the present.

Aj Styles vs. Randy Orton

What a missed opportunity of just bringing the AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura feud back. Last wrestlemania, Nakamura gave AJ a lowblow which started his heel turn. There should have been a use of this next PPV to bring it back around so they can settle the score for good. The main problem is that they wasted their heat on the next couple of PPVs, destroying any kind of build up they could have done. Now AJ Styles is fighting Randy Orton for absolutely no reason, and Nakamura so far is without a big match. What a disappointment.

Roman Reigns vs. Drew McIntyre

Another throw away match. I’m happy that Roman is back from what could have been a terminal sickness with his leukemia, this match is just another filler. Drew is a mean person, and I know Roman has beef with him, but it feels like this match should have been at a smaller ppv rather the annual big one. I come to Wrestlemania for the story enders, and big climatic matches. Not cause two guys started fighting for a bit and now need to fight at the next ppv that happens to come up. Drew would have been better going against Brock Lesnar, or Braun Strowman. Something big and exciting.

Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins

Anyone remember this?

scared rollins facing brock lesnar

Yes, that was back when Seth Rollins was with the Authority and Brock Lesnar stared him out the window. Here we are years later, and it’s now Seth scaring Brock out of the ring. So my main question is: what changed between then and now to where he can do that with ease? Oh right, nothing. Seth had to bring a chair just to challenge Brock Lesnar, which should bring home the thought that is in the back of all of our minds: Seth is not a believable foe for Brock Lesnar. He’s a good contender and all, but against the likes of Drew, Bobby Lashley, and Braun Strowman, he shouldn’t be the one facing Brock Lesnar. One of them should be doing it. Not cause Seth is bad, but because they are more believable opponents. Monsters against monsters. And I’m sorry to say, when I think of monsters, I don’t think of Seth Rollins. Still, it should be quite the match to watch.

Ronda Rousey vs Becky Lynch vs Charlotte, Women’s Championship

I have one question in reference to this match: where is Asuka? You know, the woman who also has a Woman’s Championship AND defeated Becky Lynch? Ever since Royal Rumble, Asuka has been pushed out of the picture, while these three women have been in the spotlight. It’s rather insulting to do that, and I feel like this is one moment where either the writers or whoever made this decision, dropped the ball on giving a better match in the women division. It was a fumbled opportunity. I’m sure they’ll all wrestle fine, but this is the last of the matches I really don’t have any interest in. There’s no heat drawing me to it.

Last Thoughts

The above match card isn’t finalized. There’s probably going to be some twist that happens, and more matches to be added. After all, there’s both show tag team titles to feud for, the intercontinental championship, the new women’s tag team titles, Asuka’s women championship to defend, and Daniel Bryan’s WWE title. This is perhaps where my disappointment really comes to show itself. We have had one year to prepare stories and heat for all these feuds and all these belts and not ONE has any kind of story behind it. Not one makes you go “Man, I can’t wait to see the finale”. When you don’t have obvious matchups awaiting at Wrestlemania, you know there’s something wrong with your creative format. And I’m sure this is criticism WWE gets a lot.

Whatever they are doing, they are sacrificing the theater of wrestling; the reasoning we all come to watch it in the first place. This episodic way of doing matches and stories doesn’t give me much to stay for. What’s more saddening is that I am finding the entertainment at smaller wrestling avenues more fun than what I see from WWE. The reason is very simple: these wrestling avenues are using the tried and true method of theater acting. They have characters, they have stories, and they know how to keep you invested in the match. They don’t have a big audience to play to, nor are they trying to stay ad friendly for tv companies. To them, all they care about is the entertainment. So ironically, I believe the “E” part of WWE is what the company has really forgotten about compared to their smaller counterparts. I’m not big on indies, but they are certainly doing one part of wrestling right that WWE is not doing.

Our game Suplex Saga is a callback to that style of wrestling where you are invested in the superstars and the world they are in. And maybe one day, WWE will return to that style of wrestling, too.

  • Cordero

Suplex Saga Update

Working on general mapping for the demo level. Tilesets currently in development, and will be put in as soon as they are done.. Building out the level for the demo in Unity in the meantime with placeholder art.. Ace is running around bumping into walls. Next implementation: Interacting (and kicking) objects. Dialogue system already working. Could use some tweaks. Have him teleporting around.

General mapping for demo

Another Night

Spent the evening finetuning the dialogue system. Decided to try the Paper Mario way of having the dialogue hover above the speaker. We’ll add the graphical tail like a comic book later.

In other news, we haven’t been getting the funding we thought we would through paypal. So the second launch of the Suplex Saga kickstarter really will tell if the project can come out sooner or much later. The demo headlighting it will hopefully let it do better. We’re also going to be scaling down our donation goal, as it seems it was too ambitious and likely scared potential backers. This will also mean we’ll have to scale back our project to whatever we receive. The campaign is planned next year.

We still haven’t gotten ourselves yet on the Nintendo Switch, but based on talks between us and Nintendo, we may be getting an opportunity in January. If that goes well, we’ll be able to finally bring Ohayou! Beginner’s Japanese to it, along with Suplex Saga. We’ll be bringing other new projects we want to try to it, too. Keep the fingers crossed.

The Conclusion of Suplex Saga Kickstarter

We will like to thank everyone who supported this project as it reaches the 22 hours remaining mark. We appreciate all the interest and we’re aware that we are not going to make the funding. This kickstarter has taught us a lot and we’re going to improve our community outreach to build more awareness and trust in the game. Our next step is creating a demo for people to be able to play so they can experience what we have in mind for the game. Please feel free to follow us on Twitter so you can stay in touch about future Suplex Saga news. You may also sign up for our newsletter on the sidebar. Keep a watch either there or on our Twitter where we’ll announce the release of the demo. Thank you.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/FingerGunGames

Ohayou! Beginner’s Japanese on the Wii U so far & Suplex Saga Kickstarter

battle-preview

So, those who follow us, you know that our game Ohayou! Beginner’s Japanese hasn’t been ported to the Nintendo Switch. The reason has been that we haven’t been allowed to develop for the console for the time being. However, despite the Nintendo Wii U being discontinued, we’re still getting some sales every month on the game. It’s nice to see that a game like that is still being purchased. Imagine how successful it could be if we were able to get it on the Switch. Our game was built for that type of handheld experience. In time, I suppose.

The Suplex Saga Kickstarter only has 4 days to go. We’re sitting at 14% funding with 420 backers and nearly 9K out of 60K. As you can see, there’s a good chance we won’t make it, but miracles have happened before. I can’t say for sure what led to the lack of funding and backers, but it’s clear that we haven’t sold the idea enough yet to the public, which we will have to learn from. In the end, we’re still a small studio and we have to earn our rep with the community before we can hope for something lucrative as a 60K crowdfunding. It has been a good learning experience, and it’ll allow us to reevaluate our stance as a video game company and future business.

– Cordero