Smack Studio

About

Smack Studio is a single player and multiplayer casual fighting game. It was developed by ThirdPixel Interactive and was released on July 31, 2024. It received positive reviews from players.

"Smack Studio is a sandbox fighting game currently in Early Access, featuring Kickstarter-funded creation tools to transform 2D sprites into 3D animations. Battle it out with up to 8 players in offline mode or 4 players online, with fast-paced gameplay, smooth game feel, and high combo potential. Play against friends or CPU players, and export your animations for use in your own projects."

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

+13

Skip User Reviews

89%

Audience ScoreBased on 409 reviews

gameplay21 positive mentions

stability8 negative mentions

The character creation tools are intuitive and allow for a high degree of customization, making it easy for players to create unique fighters.
The gameplay is smooth and reminiscent of classic platform fighters, providing a fun and engaging experience.
The community is active and supportive, with many players sharing their custom characters and creations.

The game suffers from bugs and crashes, particularly in the character editor, which can disrupt the creative process.
There is a lack of comprehensive tutorials and documentation, making it difficult for new players to fully understand the character creation system.
The online multiplayer feature is not yet implemented, limiting the game's replayability and social aspects.

gameplay
46 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
46%
47%
7%
The gameplay of the platform fighter is generally praised for its smoothness and fun mechanics, drawing comparisons to popular titles like Super Smash Bros. and Rivals of Aether. While some players note issues with controls and bugs, the core mechanics, including unique features like ultras and a character editor, provide an engaging experience for both beginners and seasoned players. Overall, the game shows promise with its solid foundation, though it requires further refinement and content expansion.
- “When I first tried this game pre-alpha at PAX West 2021, what attracted me to the game was its gameplay - it felt surprisingly smooth and responsive.”
- “Smack Studio delivers on exactly what it promises: a tight platform fighter with a good foundation of mechanics (including some new ones) that shines the brightest in its character creation.”
- “The core mechanics feel as good as Super Smash Bros. Melee, Rivals of Aether, or Nick All-Stars Brawl (all, in my opinion, excellent platform fighting games with variances in control).”
- “It's not exactly a great game; the content is extremely sparse and the combat mechanics are much simpler compared to other games in the genre.”
- “The mechanical identity of the game is not very unique at the time of writing, the most unique being ultras, a super move that you get after dealing a certain amount of damage to the opponent.”
- “Button remapping broke the game for me; gameplay tries to emulate Smash Bros.”
graphics
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
22%
65%
13%
The graphics of the game are praised for their unique character creation capabilities and charming pixel art style, which blends beautifully with a 3D environment. However, users have reported performance issues, particularly on lower-end systems and certain graphics cards, leading to rendering errors and frame rate drops. While the visuals are generally well-received, there is a call for more customizable graphics options to enhance accessibility for all players.
- “The attention to detail is remarkable, and the art style is both charming and distinctive.”
- “The pixel art visuals on a 3D background are beautiful, reminiscent of Octopath Traveler.”
- “The lighting and textures blend 2D and 3D beautifully; I'm excited to see the finalized graphics.”
- “The editor is meant to accommodate the 3D movements of characters, and 3D is made mandatory, meaning there's this huge 3D room that always has bright colors cycling by default (even if I change this, my in-editor preferences are never saved permanently) and killing my computer, even on the lowest graphics settings.”
- “I'd really like to give this program a good review but instead found out a couple of hours too late that 3080 Ti and above have a consistent 3D rendering graphics error giving the appearance of black outlines where there shouldn't be and missing pixels. Very unfortunate.”
- “Well, the editor doesn't actually work on certain graphics cards; it's something that's getting worked on, but up until it actually gets fixed, I cannot recommend this knowing that its biggest and best aspect is basically impossible to use in some systems.”
music
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
34%
33%
The music in the game is widely praised for its energetic and engaging soundtrack, which enhances the overall atmosphere and gameplay experience. However, some players have noted issues with the volume levels being excessively loud upon startup, detracting from the enjoyment. Overall, the sound design and music are considered standout features, with requests for additional customization options like a background music editor.
- “The soundtrack has me bopping in my chair.”
- “I love the general atmosphere, the sound effects, the music.”
- “Decent gameplay, amazing sound design and music.”
- “The first issue you'll be greeted with upon launching the game is the damage your eardrums will receive when the game blasts its music at 2000% volume with no way to lower it in game.”
- “Also release the damn OST on YouTube, tired of booting this game up to jam. I don't care if it's not released v1.0, the tracks are bangers!”
- “Just please add a background music editor, I'd like to be able to make my own character with her own battle theme!”
stability
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is frequently criticized, with users reporting numerous bugs and crashes during both online and solo play, necessitating restarts. While the character creation tools are praised for their power and ease of use, the overall experience is marred by instability and a lack of customization options. However, the development team's responsiveness to issues has been noted positively amidst the game's technical shortcomings.
- “The online mode is super buggy and very unstable; even in solo play, I had to restart my game a few times because it got stuck loading the stage.”
- “Very buggy, and needs a lot more documentation or tutorials for advanced use cases.”
- “Game is somewhat buggy, as to be expected.”
optimization
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
17%
50%
The game's optimization has received criticism, with users reporting significant performance issues, particularly in certain stages and the editor, where frame rates drop considerably. While some players acknowledge the potential for improvement over time, they express frustration over the game's demanding graphical elements and the need for simpler designs to enhance performance. Overall, despite these challenges, many find the gameplay enjoyable and rewarding.
- “Although the game has performance problems, I believe it will become a much better game over time.”
- “Had a few performance issues, especially in the editor where I was getting around 30fps, while in regular in-game I was getting a solid 60; but more than forgiven, given the early-access status and how fun and rewarding the experience in the editor was.”
- “Also, this game is not greatly optimized.”
- “I'm sorry, but I'm just really frustrated about the performance, especially since the game could work just fine if it had a more simplistic and less intensive style for the stages, and if the lighting was simpler or nonexistent, or if the bloom wasn't there.”
- “Good game/game maker, but I'm having some performance issues in the character creator and in the main menu. Also, please add audio options; this game is very loud.”
character development
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
17%
50%
Character development in Smack Studio is praised for its creative character design features, allowing users to easily create and export sprites for their own projects. However, the experience is marred by bugs and design flaws in the editor, which can lead to frustration despite the smooth and responsive gameplay mechanics. Overall, while the character design aspect is engaging, technical issues detract from the overall experience.
- “Smack Studio is a gem of a game that blends platformer fighting with the creative joy of character design.”
- “When you look at the character design, you wouldn't expect it to run so smoothly, but damn, movement is tight and responsive, fights feel frenetic, so you never feel like things are going too slow or like the pixels are blocky.”
- “Unfortunately, however, the game and its editors are riddled with bugs and questionable design choices that may just make your experience in the editor frustrating regardless of how easy the game makes character design.”
- “I'm reviewing the character designer aspect of this software; the game element is not really something I've been using the software for.”
- “I watched the online character designer tutorial after hearing about this software and that you could export sprites for use in your own projects.”
grinding
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
60%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious, often requiring significant time investment that detracts from the enjoyment of online play. The character creation process, while praised for its quality, is marred by cumbersome mechanics that can lead to frustrating experiences, especially when managing sprite sheets and deleting unwanted elements.
- “It's so disappointing that the main drive of most fighting games and their communities, online play and just playing with others in general, becomes an incredibly tedious experience that really takes away that joy of beating the hell out of each other.”
- “You have to go through the tedious process of deleting everything, which you can't do all at once or it crashes the game before you even start to set up your own character.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
story
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
The reviews indicate that the game lacks a story, with multiple users noting the absence of any narrative elements.
- “No story.”
- “No story.”
- “No story.”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
67%
Players highlight the strong replayability of the game, attributing it to the inclusion of custom characters, a fun platform fighter experience, and a promising stage creator. The extensive character roster and active workshop community further enhance its longevity, suggesting that the game's replay value will significantly exceed its initial cost.
- “It's a fun, well-made platform fighter, with tons of replay value and a good starting roster.”
- “The promise of a stage creator and the vast multitudes of characters on the workshop already proves this game will have replay value far outlasting the cost of the game.”
- “These custom characters add much replay value to the game.”
- “The promise of a stage creator, and the vast multitudes of characters on the workshop already proves this game will have replay value far outlasting the cost of the game.”
humor
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is highlighted by its quirky character designs and the amusing glitches, such as crashes during character finalization, which add an unexpected comedic element. Players find it particularly entertaining to engage with friends, often referencing popular comedic characters like Peter Griffin, enhancing the overall fun experience.
- “Finalizing characters can often crash the game, even if what you're finalizing isn't that intensive, which is really funny for software dedicated to pixel art.”
- “Just want to play a platform fighter with funny characters you've seen the community create?”
- “It's very funny to play with friends, and all of us go full Peter Griffin.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization strategy for the game effectively utilizes social media advertising, particularly on platforms like TikTok, to highlight unique features such as pixel animation with bones, which has garnered positive attention from users.
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The atmosphere of the game is highly praised, with users highlighting the effective sound effects and music that enhance the overall experience.
- “I love the overall atmosphere, the sound effects, and the music.”
- “The ambiance is incredibly immersive, making you feel like you're truly part of the world.”
- “The atmospheric design is stunning, with every detail contributing to a captivating experience.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
While the game's editor is highlighted as its main attraction, players find that the emotional engagement and community-driven content available through the Steam Workshop enhance the overall experience, making it a worthwhile purchase even for those who may not use the editor.