One of the hottest games going right now is DrinkBox Studios's Guacamelee! for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. The reasons are plentiful, with the curious combination of a Metroidvania-like structure and masked Mexican wrestlers as the stars being near the top of the list. Along with the drop dead gorgeous art style and the countless in-jokes that the game is overflowing with.
Though the gameplay, specifically the combat, is what everyone is enjoying the most. And in a recent PlayStation Blog post by Graham Smith, COO of the studio, we learn that it used to be considerably different:
"Well, when we started making Guacamelee! we knew we wanted to include punching, but not just ordinary punching. We built a proof-of-concept demo, a video of which I have included below for your approval."
As one can see, the original iteration of the combat had blocking, holds, and even charge-up moves. Fairly standard stuff when it comes to video games, and none of which is in the final game. Why?
"Turns out that stuff slows down the pace of exploring an open world game, and like my wife always says, pacing is everything!"
Instead, the game utilizes throws, rolls, and even posing. As odd as it might sound, striking a pose (at least in the manner in which Guacamelee! implements it) does not slow down the action the least bit.
Though it's also interesting how a mindful consideration of style also adds to the flavor and pace. In particular the special attacks, which utilizes explosions of color. Be sure to check out the blog post for examples.
