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Combo Devils is an upcoming platform fighter from Team Punkzilla that I think has a lot of heart and promise. The game is being developed by a small indie team, and while it still seeks funding to become a reality, what they have on offer looks incredible. I recently had a chance to sit down with some of the developers and learn more about what makes them tick and their love of fighting games. Unfortunately, the audio was corrupted, so I wasn’t able to produce a video of our chat. That will have to wait for some time in the future.
That said, after watching hours of matches and talking to the Combo Devils team, I think it’s a game that any publisher should want in their collection of titles. With a wide variety of cool modes, including a Roguelite mode, this is far more than just a platform fighting game. The developers at Team Punkzilla want this title to have something for everyone, and I think so far, it delivers.
The developers hope to secure funding for the game, and its community hopes for the same thing. The in-progress game has an active Discord where people can discuss Combo Devils, and it’s been shown off at several fighting game events/tournaments.
Team Punkzilla discusses in-development Combo Devils fighting game
Q. First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us! For those who might not be aware, could you introduce yourselves and the concept of Combo Devils?
Team Punkzilla: Hello, we are Team Punkzilla. On our main team are Cordell, Tim, Nikita, Izzy, and Will. We are also supported by volunteers, friends, and family and couldn’t have gotten this far without their help. The concept for Combo Devils was always to be a platform fighter, initially conceived by Cordell after a certain notorious game mod ceased development.
Over time, Cordell brought on the rest of us to help build the game and world, each of us bringing something unique to the game that we have now. Combo Devils is a competitive platform fighting game focused on tight controls, innovative mechanics, and compelling co-operative content, with a new cast of characters and a unique world for the players to experience.
Q. Combo Devils has such a cool look to it when it comes to the current character art and battleground. What inspired you to make a platform-based fighter?
Team Punkzilla: Thank you for the kind words about the game’s visual style! The biggest inspiration for us is Smash Brothers, of course, which a lot of us grew up playing. That game had a big impact on our sensibilities as artists and creators, but so did many other games adjacent to Smash.
On the surface, our game may just seem like another platform fighter, but what sets us apart is what I think is our biggest inspiration - innovation of the genre. We are going out of our way to make a game that embraces a high level of competitive play by not being afraid of deviating the platform-fighting genre away from its roots. The new elements that we are bringing to the genre are what give us the most excitement to make the game.
Q. One thing your gameplay trailer made sure to reveal is that the game uses Rollback netcode. How important was it for your team to implement this?
Team Punkzilla: Given the state of fighting games released without Rollback netcode, the surge in interest in online fighting game tournaments, and just keeping up with the latest technology, it was a no-brainer to implement Rollback. We didn’t initially start with Rollback, and once it was implemented, it was a hard pill to swallow since we lost a lot of our design work. Thankfully, we were able to put it all back together once the system was put in.
Q. Your Discord is full of the developers, fans, fighting game content creators, and much more. How important has their input been to the growth and shaping of Combo Devils?
Team Punkzilla: Before the discord went public, it was originally a private discord with a couple of friends, acquaintances, and some highly skilled competitive players that we met during our own personal stints into competitive games. They gave us a lot of really useful feedback that helped us adjust the game to what it is now.
So their input has been very important. Having a place where we can directly interact with the people interested in our game has been invaluable when it comes to shaping the game. Now that it is public, we get direct questions from our fans that really helps us get a better idea of what kind of expectations people have for the final release.
Q. Though this is a platform fighter, it has the movement of an anime fighter and what looks like a modern parry system. While developing this game, what fighting games were you playing, past or present, to find ideas?
Team Punkzilla: While working on this game, we all looked into our collective gaming histories and dug up some old gems for ideas. While playing the most recent Street Fighters, we also checked out 3, 4, and the Alpha series. Some on the team are very good at Tekken, Dragon Ball Fighters Z, and Guilty Gear, so some of the systems and rules from those games were used as inspiration.
Many other games that gave us inspiration were Marvel vs Capcom, Skull Girls, Naruto Gekitou Ninja Taisen 4, Garou Mark of the Wolves, Powerstone, and Lethal League. No fighting game was off the table when we were looking for inspiration to flesh out our combat system.
Q. I'd like to circle back to the parry system of Combo Devils a bit. That kind of system can either be easy-to-learn-hard-to-master or bone-bustingly frustrating. Can you give me some insight on how it works?
Team Punkzilla: The Parry works a lot like Smash Ultimate. Hold the shield, and when you release it, your shield will glow green for about 6 frames - this is the parry window. Our shield is directional, but right now the parry is omnidirectional, meaning you don’t need to aim your block in order to parry. However, we have been considering making that a condition as well. But we’ll wait and see how high-level play develops.
Q. What kind of controller do you recommend players use? Will leverless items like Hitboxes work well with Combo Devils - even in the other game modes?
Team Punkzilla: A lot of our prototyping and playtesting has come from using the Xbox 360 controller, so the game feels really good with that. However, we recommend players use whatever they are most comfortable with - we went to great lengths to try to support as many different controllers as possible, including keyboards, GameCube controllers, the Hitbox, and others.
Q. However, Combo Devils is so much more than a platform fighter! The part that really got me hooked - despite being a lifelong fighting game fan - is the Roguelite mode. Can you tell us a little more about that?
Team Punkzilla: Fighting games aren’t fun if the players aren’t around the same level, and with a game with such a high skill ceiling as ours, we built the roguelite mode with that in mind - it's a casual experience where you can play with your friends while getting acquainted with the mechanics of the game. The roguelite is still very much under development.
However, the Basic idea of the Roguelite mode is that up to 4 players will cooperatively explore and fight through dangerous zones, collect artifacts with cool buffs, and at certain points, you will have a choice to turn in your artifacts and end the run or keep pressing forward with a higher risk and reward involved.
Q. Will that mode have any impact on the versus modes of Combo Devils? Whether that means character unlocks, skins, color changes, or things of that nature?
Team Punkzilla: The way the Roguelite mode and versus modes will interact is still largely under construction, but it’s safe to say that any cosmetics you gain during the Roguelite mode would be usable in the versus mode and vice versa.
Another thing about roguelite modes is enhancing your character with buffs, and at the moment, we do not currently have plans to allow those buffs to be used in a versus setting, but it is certainly a feature that we will consider if there’s interest in such a mode.
Q. Another important thing fighting game fans are always wondering about - DLC. It might be too early, but what can you tell us about Combo Devil's monetization?
Team Punkzilla: Well, first of all, there needs to be interest in the game before we can really discuss DLC or skins, but of course, we’d love to get to that point. The way we raise funding for the game really dictates the way monetization and DLC will be rolled out. We prefer a more straightforward approach to DLC and skins - meaning you can simply just purchase these features on the store instead of it being barred behind an in-game currency.
Q. 2024 is a hot year for fighting games - SF6 is going strong, Tekken 8 drops, and Under Night has another entry this year as well. If you could collaborate with another fighting game, which would it be, or what guest characters would you like to see show up in Combo Devils?
Team Punkzilla: At the moment, we aren’t really looking to add guest characters; we want our game’s characters to be able to stand on their own two feet without needing cross-collaboration to give them legitimacy. However, we aren’t entirely opposed to the idea - the crossover needs to be a right fit for the theme of the world.
Q. What does the future hold for Combo Devils? What are your most ambitious ideas and plans going forward?
Team Punkzilla: For us, the most ambitious plan we have is getting Combo Devils launched in the first place. We have a lot of factors stacked against us at the moment, so getting the game to the finishing line is an immense challenge. We have a lot of exciting things we want to do post-release, but they seem like remote possibilities with how precarious the entire game industry has become.
Combo Devils is a game in development by Team Punkzilla. It’s a platform fighter with a lot of heart and incredible promise. You can find more about the game on its Steam Page, their YouTube channel, and perhaps at the next fighting game major.
