Hi brawlers!
K. A. here, Community Manager for HyperBrawl Tournament. I'm back with another Behind the Brawl development blog and this time I've sat down with our Game Designer, Scott, to look at HyperBrawl's three different hero classes - and why they're important to gameplay. Let's jump in!
Hero classes - what are they?
The heroes of HyperBrawl come in three different types; Swift, Tank and Core. These classes offer slightly different play styles and benefits, giving players more strategy and diversity in their gameplay. Here's the quick rundown:
- Swift heroes are faster and more agile, but can't deal or take as much damage. They're good for getting around the arena quickly, but less capable in a brawl.
- Tank heroes are very strong and have more health, but are slower than other hero types. They can be great in a brawl or at defending the goal area.
- Core heroes are jack of all trades. They're somewhere in between the other two types, which makes them good at everything, without excelling at anything.
Ultimately it's important to note that any hero can be used for any job; it all depends on your play style and what your opponent is bringing to the brawl.
Settling on three classes
In the very early days of development, each hero was much more unique and had their own abilities, though this quickly became very difficult to balance. Another concern was how confusing it became to play, when you would suddenly need hours of practice to learn the ins and outs of each character. Being able to just pick up the controller and play was always important to us, so the system needed simplification.
With a class system, the game became much easier to both balance and understand. Settling on a few classes allowed us to be able to fall back on class rule sets to help balance the game, while making the game in a way that most players would be able to get into more easily, simply because it's so common in other games and genres already.
Turning the unique heroes into class-based archetypes was actually what introduced the weapons we have today. Each hero was originally conceived to have their own unique abilities/weapons, but the class system allowed us to separate the heroes from the weapons, which now means that any hero can use any weapon. This has allowed for considerably more flexibility in each player's play style - and allows you to really play the game any way you want, with whatever hero and weapon combination you prefer.
Balancing each hero
Balancing became a lot easier once we decided on the hero classes and their pre-defined rule sets. We did a lot of testing in the early stages of development, that allowed us to lock down each class' behaviour quite quickly. Now when we add a new hero to the roster, we assign them a class and that immediately gives us a specific framework to work from. This allows us to still be creative and make them unique within their given class, without risking their overall balance getting out of hand.
As each hero has their own unique stats, however, there is still some tweaking that can be done on a hero-by-hero basis - and as we see players experiment and provide us with feedback, changes can quite easily be made over time as needed.
Advice for new players
Experimentation is the key. The team's done their best to ensure, that HyperBrawl doesn't have a "best loadout"; it all depends on your play style. Maybe you like the Tank characters for their added health or ability to goal keep, or maybe you prefer a Swift class for their ability to out-run the slower heroes, opening up new opportunities in the arena.
Generally, we'd advise that you try all three classes and the various weapon combinations to find what works for you. Changing up your weapon can completely change how you play a specific hero or class too; you may normally want to keep your distance with a Swift character due to their low health, but equipping them with the Slam Hammer and getting up close and personal for a devastating attack can be effective too. Experiment and have fun - and let us know your favourites!
Want to know more?
That's it for this Behind the Brawl dev blog. We've now done five of these and are always keen to know what you would like us to talk about in the future. Whether you're curious about HyperBrawl's gameplay or development, ask away and we'll answer best we can!
For the latest news as well as the occasional tips and tricks, be sure to follow us on Twitter or join us on Discord. Finally, as always, if you haven't already, please consider Wishlisting HyperBrawl on Steam - it really helps!
See you in the arena!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/591760/HyperBrawl_Tournament/