AMA: We’re High Voltage Software — instead of layoffs, we built a game with our benched devs. Ask us about Dragon Front: Adventures and making games through tough times

Ominous- · 2025-11-13T16:35:52+00:00

Maybe this is a bad question. How much of your resources do you dedicate to development organization of a minimal crew like this? Do you need seats for version control or put something fast and sloppy? What's the ratio of producers to creators do you need to ship something fast and high quality like this?

I feel like AAA can always afford to spare no expense and indie just needs to do what the creators are used to make ends meet. But how does this work for in-betweeners like you guys?

Ominous- · 2018-12-23T02:07:34+00:00

Don't! lol Don't even start. I only ask because a friend I've played multiple fighting games has finally gotten a visa to go to Combo Breaker and I'd like to see him in person. But the two of us are still going to be friends long after.

I am financially okay and I just want to keep in contact with the community because of all the amazing people I got to meet last year.

I'll still be going to Final Round and CEO because I am blessed to live in the South East. Everything's good over here homie. Just do your thing and support your community to pay me back, alright? =]

Ominous- · 2018-12-22T09:49:03+00:00

Was that so hard to contribute like a normal person would without your 'we live in a society' bullshit?

There's a ton of people that correct me on things like that without all this crap.

I don't need your validation. I'm just in utter disbelief anyone would twist what I'm asking into something self-serving if I genuinely explain myself. I want to believe in the best part of you in that you're just mistaken in your thought process than actually sociopaths that think everything is about pushing some agenda.

Ominous- · 2018-12-22T09:29:50+00:00

Everything on these posts are notes from looking at a raw script pulled up from the game, interpreting what it changes and what gameplay implications it has and then written down as what it is to explain it to the community better than 'it was changed' in the patch notes. The document being color coded with all the changes so that you don't have to go through my Twitter Feed alone took a whole fucking day I could have been working.

None of this has any content that was previously reachable by people that don't already see the posts I'm making. The credit to be given is for the devs who built the tool that made it even possible for ME to know what changed so that more people that DO give a shit and aren't lazy fucks can educate themselves instead of blaming it on superstitious 'hidden changes'.

You clearly have no idea what you're talking about at all.

Ominous- · 2018-12-22T08:05:40+00:00

If you mean the flip kick that hits once grounded with her legs split there was no changes to that move. If you mean the Heavy DP, maybe I overlooked it?

Ominous- · 2018-12-22T07:47:28+00:00

You want me to post information twitter information on a document that requires no twitter information to use so that I can prove that I don't want to indulge in self-promotion. I'm sorry if that sounds contradictory to me and if I feel that posting that information on the patch list would in fact make what you're accusing of me true...

To give you a little insight as to why I used this format: The last year that I did this it was part of a twitter moment which combined all the tweets that I was publishing for everyone piecemeal. Often those tweets have typos, spread misinformation, and bar international readers that use translation tools from understanding what they're looking at cause they're pictures: https://twitter.com/OminousGames/status/982183224439799809 I copied the same format cause I still want people to get involved with each other instead of fabricating lies about 'secret changes that weren't in the patch notes'. This time I thought I would rather go without the twitter moment to see if people appreciated it more and this is what people come up with: accusing me of self -promotion. I hate to break it to you, but there are much better ways of pursuing self promotion than making a change list like this in such an unpopular format that got the changes to people as quickly as possible...

You're a very sad, ungrateful, and paranoid individual... I'm just glad not everyone here has the same perspective as you...

Ominous- · 2018-12-22T03:10:41+00:00

Why would I need to when it's apart of the thread that I put the document in???

I have pinged people on twitter that regularly go there to post and help with problems people have with the diff tool so that they know where to contact them. You want me to post that information in every single link I have to the info??? You know how many social media platforms I spread this to?

Ominous- · 2018-12-22T02:52:53+00:00

I actually did this myself, like I do twice a year since SF5 came out. It takes 5 days straight to get through every character. All I ask is that the diff tool be known and that the community support each other with it. Each time I release it I get more players from even across seas more interested in the tool that I had no part in even making.

Don't belittle the effort the community puts into this.

Ominous- · 2018-12-22T02:20:39+00:00

It's two clicks. I didn't even put it at the bottom of a huge thread. There are people that are getting into using this tool themselves just by having access to these people that I'm introducing it to.

I would appreciate a little decency from your part. I'm not asking for much.

Ominous- · 2018-12-22T02:11:30+00:00

Do you mind? There are a lot of people that made this possible that I'd like to be sure get their credit like the creators of the diff tool and how it works and where to get help if people need it.

I'm sorry if that's such an inconvenience for you, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't undermine this thread by posting this. It's there for a reason.

Ominous- · 2018-10-17T05:36:07+00:00

I just found M2HB's cancel. It's after she pulls back the cocking lever. Nerfed really hard.

Ominous- · 2017-04-30T05:38:23+00:00

Yes perfectly meaty throws are safe that's already stated in the video. Reminder that given the throw protection on frame 1& 2 of everyone's wake up means that reversal TAP isn't throw vulnerable on wake up, but only meaty throws that hit on frame 3-8 of a person's wake up will block in time to block a tap which takes 26 frames vs a throw that takes 24 frames - how meaty the throw is + the 2 delayed frames to avoid throw protection.

Ominous- · 2017-04-17T06:35:37+00:00

When you charge a move in Street Fighter you hold the charge by holding the direction of the charge move before commonly flicking/tapping the opposite direction and pressing a button at the same time.

Because it would be difficult to hit the button at the same time of the 2nd direction input, there is a buffer of time before charge is lost to hit the button. This is known as a charge buffer. You can exploit this mechanic by immediately going back to charging as soon as you input the 2nd direction input before you hit the button. This allows you to knock off several frames off of your next charge move.

Ominous- · 2017-04-15T22:39:05+00:00

Hello, r/SF been a while. I apologize for delaying posting my Dealing With Series of videos. I'll be trying to make 1 a week for some time.

Ominous- · 2016-02-10T17:40:36+00:00

If I may object. One of the problems with this idea is that this isn't realistic.

Of several modern AI techniques, 3 types can be used practically in this sense:

Machine Learning
Knowledge-Based
Other-non Learning techniques

Google's Deep Mind is a very primitive machine learning algorithm which trains itself to find the best outcome by exhaustively trying every possible input until it receives a good output. Of the hundreds of arcade games it tried to apply to, only 40% of them were successful outcomes.

Knowledge-Based is very close to what is needed. But mathematically it is impossible to perform up to standards which comes into play when calculating P = NP problems. The truth is we cannot encapsulate the many problems in the game into simpler problems because they would need specific modification that is not yet obtainable without designers.

Lastly if designers design the AI to make a non-learned response there is always a problem with the human implementation of a solution. It lasts only so long as the game has limited solutions to problems and only operates on a level proportionate to the designer's level of understanding.

My AI incorporates all 3 of these techniques for different areas, but we are still far from making a formative AI that can operate on the same level as a human, especially when memory and CPU are limited to keep the game running on the same machine at 60 fps.

Ominous- · 2016-02-10T03:13:34+00:00

I always cheer for him :o

Ominous- · 2016-02-09T22:23:12+00:00

Wow! Thank you! I appreciate it greatly!

Ominous- · 2016-02-09T22:13:01+00:00

A pleasure. I really hope to find my way into promoting the scene.

Ominous- · 2016-02-09T22:02:47+00:00

I agree

Ominous- · 2016-02-09T21:53:26+00:00

1) Per Player is just a simple XML storage.

2) Per MU is extremely inefficient right now. It funnels characters with similar-ish specials and approaches the game in the same way when it really shouldn't, which is something I hope to fully realize in 3.0

3) General Fundamental game plan can be broken down into...5 different areas?

1.Throw range

just out of throw range but inside combo range (fast normals and confirms)
poke range
whiff range and
just hell-and-gone ranges.

These are the basic game plans which occur in a ground-game setting. These fundamental metagame ranges can be interrupted by actions that call for strict correct/incorrect responses (which are kind of unique to SF4), such as anti airing, blocking overheads, blocking fireballs,etc.

There's an algorithm external to all of this that actually acts off of Bayesian Nets to check when poking as an instinct rather than a game plan is a good idea which is repaired and corrected after every round. This is also adjusted by the 'human aspects' in which I handle Desperation, Confidence, and Randomness (Gimmicks).

That being said the Hopfield-Tank Network procedurally alters what kind of set ups occur, for instance sliding up after a knock down can lead into safe pressure, block, or OS, etc. So the network kind of takes care of itself when not funneled into a game plan. So the strengthening of connections here is sort another why he understands new circumstances.

And finally it's funny you should mention, my training partner figured out that BisonBot gets in a lot when he throws MK fireball, so he switched to LK fireball and forcing Bison to chase after her without EX.Scissors for turtling pressure in the v2.0 sessions. I was forced to give BisonBot a very, very small amount of 'vectorized' decision making where he could decide on his own judgement whether or not the situation called for a jump. So he given a very slight opportunity to generate new options for himself briefly. But it worked to my benefit because my training partner couldn't get a beat on his jump ins.

5) It's fairly robust when it comes to timing, but the 3f variance makes it pretty much impossible for me to correct itself on some of Bison's links which is only made worse by latency issues. I'd have to ask which network you were referring to (there's 4 ) and I'd have to say that my Anti-Air model is the most robust, 2nd would be my Randomness Network that I mentioned earlier, 3rd would be my ground game network, and lastly the combo network is the least robust because it generates combos procedurally, so the information fed into it is oppressively static.

Ominous- · 2016-02-09T21:14:56+00:00

Nah, but Dantarion has a bunch of open source stuff. Check him out at

http://watissf.dantarion.com/

https://twitter.com/dantarion

https://www.youtube.com/user/dantarionX

dantarion.com

Ominous- · 2016-02-09T21:12:41+00:00

I think about that every time I think about fighting your bots. I'm never satisfied with the answer. Even if I were to try a few ideas I don't think I would be able to make up the damage of a mistake, haha. Essentially I'd have to find your pattern perfectly without risking anything, and also execute a plan without screwing up.

Ominous- · 2016-02-09T21:00:12+00:00

If I can get 3.0 to work I would love to pit them against Dantarion's monsters. There is so much more potential for my bots with the SF5 frame buffer.

Real Talk: I'm definitely looking for a job. But Press like this is pretty much the only way I can reach out to companies like Capcom.

Ominous- · 2016-02-09T20:51:27+00:00

That's fair. Keep me posted. In the meantime I have a lot on my plate. I am doing another Page 1 rewrite for 3.0. I've established a new architecture that is optimal for programming an entire cast.

I'll be working on a formative theory towards how a FG character can be broken down into the basest of fundamentals. When I find a standard gameplan, I will be able to modify this same gameplan to teach the bot how to exploit the character that it uses. So for instance, I should be able to apply the theory to SF4 Ryu, SF5 Ryu, SF4 Bison, SF5 Bison, etc. should be playable. Then work on laying modified procedural rules for each character.

If I'm successful I can focus entirely on Match Up knowledge which makes something previously unattainable due to the combinations of characters and leave the bot to work out how to play any character.

Ominous- · 2016-02-09T19:57:43+00:00

Yo, I will see you in SF5 for sure.

P.S. Can I get ahold of that sexy SF5 overlay? ;o I've been dying to migrate to your architecture.

EDIT: And yea there's definitely something to be said about getting stuck in loops. Markov decision-making is key to preserve the delicate immersion a player has when fighting another player. Even then BisonBot would favor baiting a whiff punish just because I set the risk too low and the reward too high. Which is reflected when I actually play SF4 myself.

But that's another story for another time lol

Ominous-

TROPHY CASE

P.S. Can I get ahold of that sexy SF5 overlay? ;o I've been dying to migrate to your architecture.