TL;DR: Consider us somewhere between the puzzle-like action of Punch-Out and the simulation-like mechanics of Fight Night, with a bit of the dazzle of Hajime no Ippo!
Boxing video games are one of the oldest genres on the block. Growing up as a kid, I played the heck out of Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!. I fondly recall swapping the controller back and forth with my brother as we were repeatedly defeated by Mike Tyson's lightning punches. It was a ridiculously difficult test of reflexes and mental endurance - but that's what made beating the game so special!
When Khang Le and I started working on Beast Boxing, we liked the idea of trying to develop gameplay that was somewhere in between the puzzle-like problem-solving approach used by Punch-Out and the slow simulation-style boxing popularized by Fight Night. Above, you can check out I made a quick image that shows how our visual approach changed over time, as we learned more about which technology route we wanted to take.
Initially, we had prototypes with pure sprite-based 2D animation, but after working through just a handful of the illustrations needed to animate one character with just a few punches, we decided against taking this approach. Eventually, we stuck with the fixed 2.5 perspective and specially-crafted 2D characters that used transparent, illustrated parts to cut down on modeling time while maintaining the level of detail and look that we wanted.
For almost 6 months of early development time, all I had to work with was the Pig character with a partially complete animation set. It was rough going - now that I know how hard fighting games are to create, I would never have picked it as my first large game project!
Other than video games, both Khang and I were VERY inspired by the Anime series Hajime No Ippo, or "Fighting Spirit" in the US. We loved the sense of drama, style, and the way that the story revealed competitors with real motivations and an equal desire to win.
Admittedly, we didn't really know what we were getting into when we started collaborating on this game. I probably programmed 5 or 6 different control schemes and rule setups, trying to find something that really clicked. In the end, even though we were inspired by all of these other projects, I feel like Beast Boxing really stands out on its own. We made a lot of unique decisions, including gesture-based controls, fighting-game-like win rules, a completely new world inhabited with wild characters, and a sense of action and speed that isn't matched by games that adhere too closely to simulation.
One of the most interesting things about the mobile version is that we did try to make the game appeal to a casual audience - maybe a little too hard! Many people breezed through the story mode in a sitting because they set the game to Easy, then put the game away. They didn't realize that there were entirely different behaviors and enemy action / combo sequences for the Normal and Hardcore difficulty levels!
To correct that mistake, I took the Hardcore-mode difficulty level and basically made it the default in Beast Boxing Turbo. On the PC/Mac, I want to reach out to the audience that's just like me - people who remember how hard that original Punch-Out game was, and wish they could have that level of pulse-pounding action and insanity greet them in the midgame and late game. And since I personally love Demon's Souls and Dark Souls so much, Turbo offers NewGame+ modes, ramping the difficulty up each time you beat the game. It's gotten so hard that I know how the opponents think, but can only handle up to about NG(3+) or so with a really leveled character.
Well, it's been fun reminiscing - don't forget to track the game!
If you yourself have any burning questions about Beast Boxing Turbo, please make a comment and I'll try to write up a post for everyone's benefit!
-Gordon
Wow, that was a really expansive answer, but I really understand a lot more about this game's story now, so thanks a lot for taking my question to heart. By the way, I noticed the player character is a transparent green form - will that be mandatory or will there be an optional full model for the player as in Punch-out(what little I have played from it), I found it hard to distinguish the separate parts of my character and what his position/stance on the ring was.
Thanks for your question, it certainly made for a fun blog post! The game is designed for first-person perspective only. The action is very streamlined from regular sim games, and much of the game is about jumping in and out of alignment to attack/defend quickly. You can move side to side, but not front-to-back, and attacks are jab (L&R, no independent cross), hook, and uppercut. Instead of a triggered quick dodge, it worked better to let the player work on keeping distance when needed. It was also a budget necessity since we self-funded and were learning a lot as we went along. :)
Oh, so the green transparent boxer in the picture is like a placeholder, so you know from whose eyes you'll be seeing this? Other than that it all sounds very well thought out(a lot of boxing is jumping in and out - well smart boxing any way) and the punches sound good, but if you have an orthodox stance isn't the right jab technically a cross(since the back arm is crossing the whole distance and twisting the body)?
Ah, that's actually just an early concept piece Khang did before we settled on first-person view. :) The screenshot in the bottom right shows how you just see your own gloves as your avatar.
Yep, you're right about the cross - but I never really mention stance in the game. It's one of those design decisions I came down on the side of Punch-Out and arcade mechanics with.