Action John: With Rising Thunder being PC-centric, and free to play, are you planning on making it a service with released characters, perhaps an in-game currency? Or will you go with a more traditional game route?



Seth Killian: When I say we haven't even started on the store, I mean that literally. I can't share any details because no details actually exist! We've looked at a lot of different models, but we don't want it to be complicated or sneaky. We also want to make sure you have access to all the gameplay. We like models like LoL and DOTA for pricing, and the bottom line is that we want to make sure it's possible for our #1 player in the world to have never paid us any money at all.

: What inspired you to pursue Rising Thunder? Why now?: Fighting games have an amazing tradition that spans 20+ years of competition. The new games look fancier, meters and mechanics come and go, but for most of that time, they have changed remarkably little. I started this project by thinking about where I feel fighting games will be in a few years, and how to build a game with that in mind.Online will be a growing focus for the FGC, so Rising Thunder's online has to be the very best in the world. The game has to be playable by people who aren't willing to put months into just practicing special moves and bread and butters just to start forming basic strategies. Finally, within 5 years, I think every serious competitive game will be free-to-play, so I wanted to build a game starting from there.All of the biggest competitive games in the world follow this model, and its not a coincidence that those are the ones that end up drawing huge numbers of players. Many of those games took years to build an audience, but they all have a similar DNA with those features in common.When you look at fighting games as a genre, they aren't great in any of these categories. Currently, fighting games have a spotty track record for online, ranging from "pretty good" to outright bad. They all require you to spend money for gameplay, and the base execution requirements range from "harder than Dark Souls" to some crazy stuff that intimidates even existing fighting game fans.Again, all of those demands (money up-front, shaky online, and executional obstacles) are there before potential players get a chance to engage with even very basic strategies.Beyond all that, I was really just excited to try and remove barriers to competition. I wanted a game where everyone was invited, and nobody felt like "well I guess I'll never be able to play that thing." So we built a game where you don't have to give us $60 to play and decide whether you like it. You don't have to have a thriving local scene to be a serious player. You don't have to grind just executing special inputs to start playing "for real." You can play for free, you can start to play strategically in hours instead of months, and you can compete seriously even if you aren't lucky enough to have great players nearby.There are plenty of people making good quality traditional fighting games. With Rising Thunder, I wanted to push things forward rather than stay in one place. I felt those were three of the biggest things keeping people away from fighting games, so I wanted to tackle them head-on.: While the game's lack of complicated special inputs definitely caters to a new audience, or one fresh to fighting games, what will professional and tournament level players gain from experiencing the game? What elements of the game cater to their needs?: From the beginning, none of us had any interest in building a "simple" game. I wanted to build a core fighting game--a game that I would want to play myself, and a game I could play hard with my very, very demanding FGC friends. The only hand-holding this game does is to say "you don't have to practice special move inputs." That's it. There's still a ton to learn, about characters and matchups, you still have to play smart, you still have to win the neutral game, you have to solve zoning puzzles, set traps, and make great reads against tough opponents.I've watched ChrisG, Justin Wong, FChamp, SnakeEyez, Reynald, Rico Suave, and even top Smash players (and so many more!) on Rising Thunder streams. They are all able to play the game at a high level, and I don't remember ever seeing people from so many different backgrounds, together, seriously playing the same game before. I think another fighting game legend put it best, when Alex Valle said: "Easier execution just means you can learn your character's optimal combos in 30 minutes, instead of days/weeks. Still gotta land that hit in the neutral game."As for what Rising Thunder offers high-level players, instead of hearing me talk about the theory behind the game, I think it's better to let them speak for themselves. Lots of people have said great things on their streams, but here's an exchange I saw on twitter that I think sums it up fairly well:



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: Would you like Rising Thunder to become a main title in the competitive scene? Is ESports an avenue you and Radiant would like to pursue?: Given everyone's background at Radiant, you can bet your butt we will definitely be holding and supporting competitions. The response to the Alpha has already been incredibly larger than we could have imagined, but it's up to the players themselves how big that eventually grows. For our part at Radiant, we are 100% committed to making the game better continuously. We've introduced new Variant moves every week, as well as fixing online bugs, improving matchmaking, and more.We will continue to work on the UI, stages, the character's looks, new characters, and new modes. We want to make a game that is worth the time people invest into it, and that absolutely includes strong support for the competitive scene.: Though the game is only in Alpha, it's quite solid and I personally find it very fun to play. Is there anything you'd like to tell our readers concerning the project, or anything else?: In talking about the future, it's also important to look back at the past. The entire historical direction of the Street Fighter series has been consistently moving towards easier inputs. I think SFV has taken some great steps in the same direction with their new direction. Every time things get easier, people scream that the sky is falling, scrubs will rule the planet, this will ruin games, etc. Old people show up and tell you how much better it was back in the day, and how kids today are spoiled. And yet each time things get a little easier, we still have amazing matches, the great players and known pros still win, and the community tends to grow.We've already seen all of that happening in Rising Thunder, and I think there's a TON of historical evidence that easier inputs don't hurt the game. They just broaden it and make it more competitive. That's exactly what we're trying to do with Rising Thunder. Broaden the community, make it more competitive, but build it around core fighting game principles - controlling space, footsies, and mind-games that force hard reads. We also want it to be free, and to have amazing online, and even more as we get further into development.For as much as I talk about the future, the game boils down to the heart of what I love most in fighting games: zoning, footsies, hard reads, and match-up knowledge. It has a lot of very real, direct tests of your decision-making. The specials are easy to do, but it's just as demanding in terms of the moment-to-moment gameplay. If you make bad decisions, you will lose. Play smart, out-think the opponent, and you will win.We've created what you can play right now with only 8 people in about a year. We love fighters, we love this game, and we plan to surprise everyone with what small groups can do when they're 100% dedicated to getting things right for their players.