Newsletter 38

Welcome to the Wrestling Gamers United newsletter #38

In this issue

1) The Meter
2) Business
3) Poor Mel
4) Your help
5) New Media
6) Menus

1) The Meter
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Attitude, special, finisher, momentum, burning. Whatever you call it and even if you don't see it on screen every wrestling game uses a form of meter to track each wrestler's damage and energy. The question is, with so many good and bad examples from other games, how will the meter in PWX work?

Well, it depends.

1) The wrestler with the higher meter is generally at an advantage. His moves are less likely to be reversed and he is more likely to reverse move attempts performed on him. Importance being placed on the word "likely".

2) Special moves can be attempted at any time during the match. A full meter indicates a 99% chance of success. An empty meter indicates a less than 1% chance of success. The chances are of course further adjusted to account for specific wrestler attributes etc.

3) As mentioned earlier, each class of wrestler will have a different way to drive his meter up associated with his specific abilities. For example, a power wrestler who spends the entire match attempting cartwheels and small packages will not be rewarded with a full meter. Playing to your strengths will be the way to go.

4) It's not confirmed yet, but we may have the special meter react to how you perform as a face or heel as well.

5) Depending on your attributes a full meter may also allow a desperation kick out. The cost would be a depleted meter but a second chance at life and this would only be allowed once per match. Again, the chance of success depends on how full the meter is and nothing is guaranteed.

6) At this point in development we are not planning to have players store specials.

What do you think of our plans for the meter mechanics so far? Do you think what we have planned will give us the best compromise between other methods and the best opportunity for fun and realistic gameplay? Do you see room for improvement? Let us know!

2) Business
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This week I've worked my butt off drastically improving our chances of being taken seriously by investors and other business partners. With the help of a few successful and talented business associates work is well under way on such important issues as the PWX business plan which in and of itself has taken over forty hours of my time already and promises to take much more before I'm happy with it. A business plan is basically what the name suggests. It's a big fat document that details everything from how much money will be used to pay our crew to how many paper clips we'll need to buy. It's a required piece of literature in the business world and every start up needs one. Well, now we're working on one.

With it, investors can see that we have a solid plan for success and aren't just flying by the seat of our pants.

Speaking of investors, our friend Tracy has one in mind but not before we complete the business plan. Hence, today I'm working on the business plan instead of cleaning my basement. Don't tell my wife.

3) Poor Mel
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Mel is getting a nasty root canal done this morning and we all wish him a quick and painless recovery. A world without Mel talking is like... a peaceful place where everyone gets along I suppose. Just kidding Mel-a-nator. I hope it goes well buddy.

4) Your help
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A big thank you to everyone who chipped in a helped me sort out which magazines and websites to advertise in. I got a great list of places to contact and it'll greatly help me write the marketing portion of the business plan. Thanks guys!

5) New media
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It's been a few weeks since I added any new media to the website and I thought I should explain why. Up until this point the models and animations you've seen have been pre production tests and mock ups. The purpose of sharing these with you was to show everyone we we're serious about the project and that work has already begun. Now that that point has been made I feel it's in the best interest of the project to hold off until we have more up to date game ready material.

Of course, that's my opinion but why don't you tell me what you would like to see? Are you interested in seeing more rough drafts and early production media such as wrestler wire frames and concept art? If so, I'd be happy to share them with you. But if not then I'll wait until we have confirmed in-game media to show you.

That doesn't include Jessica's character sketches which are considered finished works and will likely appear in some form of future media like print ads, instruction manual, promo, etc. Jess hasn't stopped working on the character designs and I'll likely upload a new one later today.

Let me know how you feel about my decision to hold off.

6) Menus
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I've often said that the most exciting thing we can show fans is not flashy screen shots or promo movies. I seriously believe our fans are most interested in seeing the menus and options instead! We've all been mislead by great looking games that turn out to be clunkers. Can you imagine if THQ released shots of WMX8's CAW menu? Sales might have been a different story.

Marla has asked that we begin the programming planning by getting the menu system down on paper as an overall road map of what PWX is supposed to do. Once features can be confirmed I'd like to share the menu screens with you and you'll see why I think you'll get even more excited about the game.

In the meantime and in-between time, that's it. Another edition of Wrestling Gamers United.

Thank you all,
Dave Wishnowski