2020 Spring Showcase/Presentations/Button Studios

Welcome to the fifth ever Button Direct presentation, with me, Puddle, brought to you by the Fantendo Spring 2020 Showcase.
Well, it’s been a while hasn’t it? My last direct here was in October of 2018, and boy a lot has happened since then. I really haven’t been active much for the past year, occasionally dropping by to make a few edits on my long-term projects. In all honesty it’s not been a great year, as I’ve been really busy with school work and dealing with issues of my own.
Pushing myself to work on projects has been tough, but in spite of that I’ve brought myself here today to share with you what I hope to work on in the future. I’d generally like to apologise to most of you for my inconsistency here, and my promises to work on things that inadvertently postponed due to a lack of motivation. So I hope you’ll all forgive me.
Anyway, this isn’t about me; this is about my projects and what I’m gonna be working on over the next few months. Sit back, and relax as the presentation is about to get underway!
==Puddle’s Super Smash Bros.==
DLC COMING SOON
That’s right, my self-driven passion project, Puddle's Super Smash Bros., still has a long way to go, as I’ll be adding five characters to the game in the form of downloadable content over the next few months.
These fighters will be bundled together in what I’d like to call the . Each fighter will be made available for £2.99 ($3.99) each, but you’ll be able to get all five bundled together for only £9.99 ($12.99). A great deal if you ask me. There’s not really a theme to the characters I’ll be adding to the game, other than the fact that these will all be newcomers from video game series. Each fighter will be bundled with a stage, an assist trophy, and several music tracks added to the game’s ever-growing library (which you can find on Youtube, by the way!)
The soundtrack for Puddle’s Super Smash Bros. really means a lot to me as music and video games are a huge part of my life, so I can confirm that I will continue to regularly update the game with my favourite tracks from gaming.
Now you’re probably wanting to know who these characters are and, truth be told, I don’t really know myself! I’ve shortlisted some ideas for characters I’d like to work with, but at the moment everything is still up in the air and uncertain.
Well, almost everything is uncertain. There’s one thing I’d like to show you. Please take a look at this:
The camera pans from deep space, showing Mario, Luigi, Baby Mario and Baby Luigi in a futuristic space station. All of a sudden, they’re attacked by Bowser Jr.’s contraptions, which knock out all of them but Mario. As the red-capped plumber rushes forwards to deal a blow to Bowser Jr., and the young Koopa prepares to retaliate with his Clown Car’s saw, a laser beam intercepts their clash, knocking both of them back in a puff of smoke. The two fighters turn around, and in the smoke, see a small figure with a laser gun pointed at them. Mario and Bowser Jr. look on in shock as the smoke clears, revealing the silhoette’s identity.
Shroob fires several shots at Mario and Bowser Jr. before cackling menacingly as the footage switches to real gameplay, showing Shroob’s brand new 3D model. Shroob’s attacks that are shown include firing his signature laser gun, which shoots a small laser projectile directly forwards, as well as summoning a Shroob U.F.O. to fly to greater heights. For his Final Smash, Shroob summons Commander Shroob who, on attack, orders a stampede of Shroobs to attack fighters, before launching a devastating Shroob-Omb onto the field.
Shroob is the first character I will be adding to Puddle’s Super Smash Bros. as downloadable content. However, Shroob is not included within the Fabulous Five Fighter’s Pass and will instead be made available as an early purchase bonus for those who buy the fighter’s pass. Alternatively, those who have purchased another Button Studios title on their Nymbus, such as Fruit Punch or Draco Duel, will be able to download Shroob for free. Shroob will join the fray on March 28th 2020, alongside a new stage, Shroob Castle. I hope you look forward to playing as Shroob!
==Mario Kart: Platinum==
It’s been quite a while since I’ve worked on Mario Kart: Gold, having finished developing it and all, so I’m pleased to say I’ll be returning to working on one of my first projects in the form of remastered edition for the Nymbus.
Mario Kart: Platinum will launch for the Nymbus. This version of the game will feature all content and DLC from the original Mario Kart: Gold, as well as some added features. Some of these will be a surprise, but I’ll reveal some of them to you now.
*New Characters: 10 characters that weren’t included in Mario Kart: Gold will be included in the expansion. Among these are retired Mario Kart veterans, Parakoopa and R.O.B., as well as some familiar faces from Mario’s various RPG adventures, such as Starlow and Fawful. You’ll have to wait to find out the other 6 characters!
*Returning Tracks: 4 bonus cups will be included, bringing the grand total to 16 cups with 64 tracks. All of the 16 added tracks will be fan-favourite retro tracks such as N64 Yoshi Valley, GCN Daisy Cruiser, DS Tick Tock Clock and Wii Coconut Mall.
*New Game Modes: Inspired by the frantic meta of Mario Kart Wii, several online-exclusive multiplayer game modes will be added. Those of you familiar with the Mario Kart Wii community will be familiar with the Item Rain and Cup Knockout modes will be glad to know that these modes will be added into the game. The game will also include 300cc, and All Cup Tour Ultra, which involves playing all 64 tracks in the game back-to-back in a random order with up to four players (Don’t worry, you’ll be able to pause and pick up your progress at any time).
With all this added content you may be thinking - what’s the point in adding all these gamemodes? Well, I’m pleased to announce that we at Button Studios have something special planned for players who are able to win all cups, including All Cup Tour, in 50cc, 100cc, 150cc, 200c and 300cc. Players who are dedicated enough to surmount this challenge will be invited to the Mario Kart: Platinum Invitational Tournament 2020, which will take place in November 2020. We hope that hardcore Mario Kart fans will step up to this challenge!
Mario Kart: Platinum will be released on the Nymbus on May 3rd 2020.
==Draco Duel 2==
I’ve teased off this one quite a lot now, and ideas have been brewing for almost a year, but now I think I’m ready to finally share some details about the game.
Draco Duel 2 has been my main focus project for many months, as a sequel to my favourite project of mine, Draco Duel and I’ve been working hard on making everything as good as I can possibly make it. So please bare with me if updates are slow, as I really want to make this my best piece of work on the site.
So let’s get started shall we. My main objective with Draco Duel 2 was to streamline the combat system while including most aspects from the original game. Duels are now stock-based matches, so instead of defeating your opponent once, you will now have to defeat them twice. Of course this has been balanced out by reducing the amount of damage needed to remove one of your foe’s stocks. I made this change to allow for a more interesting metagame in which a greater range of moves are viable. For example, damaging status effects such as Toxic and Nightmare are no longer ridiculously overpowered as these effects will end when a stock is cleared. Furthermore, this new change allows for new move concepts, for example, one character you will meet later on has a unique kamikaze-style attack, in which they deal an immense amount of damage in exchange for instantly depleting their own stock.
Now moving on to one of the biggest changes in Draco Duel 2. You may remember in Draco Duel, Essences could be used to boost your character in a particular way, such as slightly increasing an attack, providing resistance to another, or even adding completely random effects. In Draco Duel 2, Essences have been removed, and instead, a fairer, more customisable method of boosting your character will be available. This method is known as the Dragon Skill Tree. Each character has their own branch of the tree, allowing their attacks to become upgraded in exchange for Etherium that you collect from winning battles and Daily Challenges. It will take a lot of Etherium to fully complete a character’s Skill Tree, so to have the best possible character, it will take a lot of hard work. Of course, if you’re not happy with the choices you’ve made, you can reverse your Skill Tree progress to get your Etherium back.
One of the main new aspects of Draco Duel 2 is the Frenzy game mode. While all of Draco Duel’s game modes were oriented around fighting and combat, Draco Duel 2 offers a variety of 4 all new game styles with a different objective other than KO’ing your opponents.
*In Heart Harvest, players compete to see who can collect the most Dragon Hearts from around the Arena.
*In Crystal Crown, players fight for possession of a crown which reduces speed but offers access to a powerful exclusive attack.
*In Bright Beacons, players fight for control over 4 coloured beacons around the Arena.
*In Dracoball, players take turns striking a ball across a net, however it’s possible to sabotage your opponents by attacking them mid-match!
These games are all 2-v-2, but can be freely played with either CPU opponents/allies, local multiplayer, or online multiplayer with either friends or strangers.
You’ve probably heard enough about the changes to the game now, so, I think it’s time to talk characters. The Draconids of Draco Duel were one of my favourite aspects of the project so I’m looking forward to introducing the new characters that will be playable in Draco Duel 2. After thinking about new character ideas a lot, I’ve narrowed it down, and there will be 8 brand new playable characters in Draco Duel 2.
					
					
					
					
Replikka, Ectospasm, Hexabomb and Fungroyas, as well as the 4 secret characters, will join the 12 characters from the original game, for a total of 20 unique playable fighters. One of the biggest challenges in the game will be the Arcania Grand Prix, in which players fight every character back-to-back on their home stage. This will obviously take a while, so we’re adding a Quick Save feature to Arcania Grand Prix, which will allow you to save your progress after a match so you don’t have to fight all 20 games in one sitting.
Before we go onto the next part of the direct, I have a trailer I’d like to show you. Please take a look:
The camera fades from darkness, showing a CGI scene of a Duel between Lumino and Replikka at the Dracolosseum. Two commentators can be seen cheering on as the fight carries on, when all of a sudden, the sky turns black and the screen shakes. Lumino and Replikka are knocked to the ground as a purple vortex appears in the sky above the arena, surrounded by swirling black clouds and lightning. The crowd goes into chaos as Xsomnis, the Nightmare Warrior, and emperor of the Etherial Realm, appears out of the vortex in her dragon form. This causes shadowy hands to appear out of the ground, grabbing members of the crowd and dragging them into the ground. Replikka and Lumino are seen fighting off these shadow hands, until one grabs Lumino, pulling him into the ground and causing him to vanish instantly. Xsomnis lands to the ground in front of Replikka as the two charge at each other to Duel.
What you saw there was the opening scene of the game’s Story Mode. That’s right, Draco Duel 2 will feature a 20-hour single-player campaign following the story as the Etherial Rift opens, bringing nightmares to Arcania and threatening its peaceful balance. It’s up to 8 new heroes to save the legendary Draconid heroes that were captured by the darkness. With the help of Duel commentators, Ziggy and Zarra, the heroes will travel the land of Arcania, fighting Xsomnis’s Etherial army to cleanse the world of her wrath.
Draco Duel 2 will come to Nymbus systems in Fall 2020.
==Sting==
Now it’s time for something completely new I’ve been working on.
Sting is a single-player beat-em-up adventure and one of my first projects that focuses largely on both story and gameplay. Taking place within the giant-sized city of Megapolis, Sting follows the adventure of the titular quartet of insect-sized superheroes, Sting, who have the objective of saving Megapolis’s insect population from the notorious Exterminator, who plans to eradicate all pests and vermin from the city to boost his failing business. After the members of Sting fall for a fake distress call which ends up being one of the Exterminator’s traps, the entirety of the insect kingdom is put in jeopardy. Sting will need the help of several other insect superheroes to stand a chance against the Exterminator.
This project is still very early in development so don't expect a whole lot of info about this for a while. I still hope you'll look forward to finding out about it soon!
And that just about brings us to the end of this presentation. Thank you for being here and I hope you enjoyed it!
==One Last Thing==
That’s right. Heihachi Mishima from the famed fighting games of the Tekken series will be coming to Puddle’s Super Smash Bros. as the first character in the Fabulous Five Fighter’s Pass. He will join the fray in April 2020.
Well that’s all for today’s direct. I know there wasn’t much but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless and I look forward to sticking around Fantendo more and working on my projects here. I'll be working on pages for a bit over the next few days while I'm quarantined. Love you guys, stay safe <3
Category:Fantendo 2020 Spring Showcase
Category:Showcases