Ex-Street Fighter Dev Growing Fighting Game Market with Fantasy Strike

David Sirlin, Street Fighter HD Remix lead developer, leads Sirlin Games who hope to grow the fighting game market with Fantasy Strike. The game is designed to be so radically accessible that even non fighting gamers can enjoy it. The kicker is that it isn’t supposed to sacrifice the depth of strategy in doing so. It is also said to be a great way to unite gamers who enjoy different types of fighters but are not evenly matched in any one series.

That last part is actually rather appealing to me. Some people can flat out kick my ass at things like Street Fighter <<looks at my fellow Co-Owner Steve Baltimore>> where I tend to be more dominant in games like Virtua Fighter. It would be nice for people who are more adept at certain fighting style games to be able to play something together on a more even playing level.

Anyhow, controlling your character is supposed to be simpler than in just about any other fighter as they don’t have joystick motions. The difficulty will come in with knowing exactly what to do when, as they are more focused on your decisions leading the fight… which is how any good fight goes in a game you are amazeballs at I suppose.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5r7yezQomA

Check out the press release below or the crowd-publishing campaign for Fantasy Strike on Fig for more information and let us know what you think.

PRESS RELEASE

Fantasy Strike, in Development for Two Years, Launches Crowd-Publishing Campaign on Fig, accepting up to $2 Million in Investment; Launch Set for Late 2018

Sirlin Games, led by Street Fighter HD Remix lead developer David Sirlin, wants to break down barriers in the fighting game world. Its upcoming game, Fantasy Strike, is designed to be so “radically accessible” (without sacrificing depth of strategy) that even non-fighting-gamers can enjoy the genre. It’s also a way to unite fighting gamers; when two friends each play a different traditional fighting game, it’s tough for them to have a good match in either game, but they can both get up to speed in Fantasy Strike in minutes.

“Controlling your character is simpler than in just about any other fighting game,” says David Sirlin, President of Sirlin Games. “We don’t have joystick motions—we don’t even have CROUCH. The difficulty all comes from deciding what to do and when to do it. We’re very interested in gameplay depth, we just want it to come from your decisions. That approach has allowed us to draw in a much wider audience at trade shows than would usually be interested in a fighting game.”

Fantasy Strike is in development for Steam (Mac and PC) and PlayStation 4, expected to launch late 2018. In order to accomplish that, today Sirlin Games kicks off a crowd-publishing campaign for Fantasy Strike on Fig (www.fig.co/fantasystrike), offering both investment and reward opportunities, including a whopping $2,000,000 open for reservations of Fig securities that will generate a return based on the game’s sales.

Though pre-selling Steam Early Access is common in crowdfunding, in an uncommon move, Sirlin Games is offering a playable version of Fantasy Strikeimmediately after the campaign ends in August to those who pledge for the deluxe version ($49 or more). This is months ahead of the public Steam Early Access release.

CURRENT DEVELOPMENT STATUS

Fantasy Strike has been in development for two years. The team has cultivated the game’s cell-shaded look and labored over the integration of GGPO networking, the best-in-class form of online play in fighting games. Fantasy Strike currently features 8 characters and 4 stages, with more on the way. Arcade, local versus, online play, and training mode will be playable immediately following the Fig campaign, with numerous additional gameplay modes planned for the game’s full release.

For more information on Fantasy Strike, please visit: http://fig.co/fantasystrike.

About Sirlin Games

David Sirlin, lead designer of Street Fighter HD Remix, author of Playing to Win and a former pro fighting game player, helms Sirlin Games, an independent video game developer based in Emeryville, California that specializes in competitive multiplayer games.