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Soul Saber 2 is a multiplayer 3D shooter where players will take on the roles of droids, facing off against one another in clothing-destroying combat. As each droid takes damage, their clothing will slowly be eradicated, leaving synthetic flesh dangling in the wind as players lose the match.
Siliconera spoke with Yamadaya, developer of Soul Saber 2, to learn about why clothing destruction became part of the game, as well as the varied classes who will be tearing each others’ clothes off through gunfire.
Why make a multiplayer action game about blasting people’s clothes off?
Initially, costume breaking was not planned, but I got some requests for that. I’d hoped that it was not difficult to apply with the pixel shader that I programmed before. When I tried it, I found it was a nice way to express damage.
What drew you to make Soul Saber 2?
I am creating games to present own my ideas. It is also a big motivation to entertain people around me and see their responses.
Soul Saber 2 features droids with different combat roles. How do those roles counter each other in combat?
For me, it’s important that every droid has its own roles. Droids are categorized in 4 types: melee, short range, defense, and support type. Melee and short range type droids move very fast, on the other hand, defense and support type droids are not. Just like fast droids have roles to attack and disturb enemies with their speed, slower droids also have important roles to support the team.
Can you tell us about some of the characters players will be able to choose from? What makes them different from each other?
Melee type "THIRD" and support type "Miyuko.LSP" are contrasting. Aiming skill is not required for "THIRD", because he has no shooting weapons. In order to fight in proper range, his players are required high avoidance performance to approach enemies.
On the other hand, "Miyuko.LSP" is specialized in long range shooting. So her players required high aiming skill. Short range type droids can fight in various situations, especially "FIRST(multi-purpose version of THIRD)", who is an all-arounder.
What are some of the unique powers that the droids will have? Unique weapons?
"Mea" has the unique power to recover HP of the nearby team members. "Miyuko.ST" has a "Stealth" skill that disables lock-on, and makes nearby team members invisible.
Missiles fired by support-type droids have manual control mode, enabling them to shoot enemies behind objects, and short range type can avoid missiles by using their unique skill "jamming".
Will players be able to shoot the clothes off of all the characters? How does the clothes tearing work in the game?
All humanoid type droids(including males) have costume off, depending on their damage.
The amount of the costume break is controlled in the option(You can also disable it).
What thoughts go into creating an interesting map for twelve people, all using different classes, to fight in?
While creating maps, I took great care to not make "safe areas", and tried to make sure players had no free time. To keep battles fresh, objects are located randomly in some maps. Until now, this game has 6 maps for PVP, and 2 maps for offline.
You mention two different control styles. Can you tell us a bit more detailed information on the differences between Beginner and Expert style?
Beginner style automatically aims the target in lock-on. The aiming accuracy depends on the shooting amount, though with fewer shots being more accurate and repeated shots having less chance to hit. Players in beginner style control also have a defense bonus, but cannot boost while the defense gauge is low.
Expert style requires players to aim at their targets manually. The accuracy of the weapons highly depends on the player’s skill, and there is no penalty for how quickly you fire. This style has no boost limit, either. Players with high avoidance skills can fully enjoy the high speed of battle, but depending on how often they boost, their defense levels will go down. If players in expert style boost too much, one shot can be critical.
How important will strategy be to Soul Saber 2?
As much as it about speed and costume break, the variety of PvP tactics is also important for Soul Saber 2. Beginners also have chance to win purely by smart character choice and team tactics. Even in a 1 on 6 battle, one player can defeat about 6 enemies by making intelligent use of their technical abilities. I would like you to enjoy the game in various way.
