How similar to Smash are you aiming for? From reading the description of what you consider plaform fighter necessities, I expect that one of the major goals for the project is to make the game feel very natural to Smash players, particularly Melee/PM players, and that's something I think everyone wants or is at least OK with. However, I am worried about whether or not you will you go above and beyond to add unique universal mechanics to bring something new to the genre, or at least a reason to play your game over previously-established platform fighters. Based on no gameplay footage or anything of the sort, your game already sounds more similar to Smash than even Rivals is. My mind immediately goes to hyperbole and wonders if it would be incorrect to say that whatever you're building can be boiled down to Melee on a new platform with different characters and an eSports focus. I would play that for sure, as would plenty of other people from this community, but I think holding Melee up as this completely immaculate creation that cannot be altered or improved upon is dangerous for anyone seeking to enter the platform fighter space and bring new people in to the scene. I guess what I'm really asking here is, what are you doing differently game design wise to ensure that players will want to play your game rather than just going back to Melee or their game of choice?
Are you creating any characters that are intentionally reminiscent of top tier characters in other Smash games to help players to transition easier? Or are you attempting to create only completely original designs?
What kind of art style are you going for? Pixel-art like Rivals, semi-realistic 3D like Melee, high-quality sprites like KoF13?
Is there going to be any significant single-player content or are you going to be focusing on PvP? In a similar vein, will you be including settings for casual play or sticking solely to competition?
What sort of development model were you thinking about, if you've decided yet? Early access, f2p, initial purchase + free dlc, delivering all the content there will ever be at once; what did you had in mind with regards to how you intend to release and develop the game as far as players are concerned.
Thanks for doing this AMA, I and a bunch of other people I'm sure have been waiting to hear anything concrete about this project. I'm super excited for the game, but I'm trying to be cautiously optimistic (especially since we haven't seen any gameplay footage), so if any of these questions seem a little bit loaded that is why.