Hello Fire Pro fans, company mouthpiece Dave K here with an update on our progress through Early Access.

Since launch we’ve focused on bug fixes with weekly patches, but we’re ready to shift our attention to expanding your gameplay options.

Our latest patch rolls out two new features: Custom music support and S-1 rules!

Custom music support allows you to set your own wrestler entrance theme and match BGM. This feature supports MP3, WAV and OGG file types.

First things first: To get the music into your game, move the files into the game’s installation directory. By default, this should be something like:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\FPW\BGM

You can set a wrestler’s entrance theme from:
Edit Mode > Wrestler Edit (Create/load your wrestler) Skill > Theme Music

And to set music during a match, set up a match as normal, then go to:
Settings > Match BGM

Also, this is very important: DO NOT add/remove music files while the game is running! This may cause unexpected issues. Please exit the game before sorting your music collection.

The Workshop doesn’t support custom music, so if you upload a wrestler with custom music to the Workshop, the theme of the Workshop wrestler will revert to the default track.
The other new feature should be familiar to longtime fans: S-1 Rules Match (the Fire Pro answer to kickboxing)! Originally we didn’t plan to include this mode, but enough people asked for it so it’s back by popular demand.

Before you trade your tights for boxer shorts, keep the following S-1 special rules in mind:

• Matches are decided by KO/TKO
• Matches are fought in timed rounds (similar to Gruesome Fighting)
• No grappling moves/submissions
• No running inside the ring
• Strikes receive a large damage bonus for wrestlers using an MMA-centric fight style (Shooter, Grappler, Fighter)

That about covers the new features. For detailed patch notes, please visit the Steam forums.

One last thing before I sign off:

We launched a Twitch channel to directly address user feedback and announce upcoming features.

Even I don’t know what Director Matsumoto will let slip until we’re on the air, so be sure to drop by!

In a few weeks we’ll have the head programmer on as a guest to talk shop and show us how the engine works under the hood. Watch this space for details, or follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Steam!

Until next time, stay strong.
-Dave K

 

Hello Fire Pro fans, company mouthpiece Dave K here to remind you that the journey of a thousand matches starts with a single edit.

Already gone through Mission Mode but still have questions about Edit Mode and online play? We put together a couple of short videos to use in conjunction with the instruction manual to get you started. If you need additional help, the Steam forums are a stockpile of useful information.

EDIT MODE OVERVIEW

ONLINE MODE OVERVIEW

Until next time, stay strong.
-Dave K

Fire Pro fans, welcome to the dawn of a new age!

It took us over 10 years to actualize Fire Pro Wrestling World, but today it’s finally here, in Early Access!

It’s been a long journey.
I nearly gave up many times along the way.
I followed through to the end, and look where it got us.
But I wasn’t alone… you and fans like you helped push me through the rough spots.

The title is still in development but it stands for great things to come.
I’m asking you for your suggestions, for your praise and complaints to help make this the ultimate Fire Pro experience!

If you’re a fan who grew up with the series like I did, then this day is almost enough to make a grown man cry.
And if this is your first time in the ring, once you step into the squared circle, I promise you won’t want to leave.

All I can say is: Thank you! Everyone!

Tomoyuki Matsumoto
–Fire Pro Wrestling World Executive Director

 

Salutations super slammers, company mouthpiece Dave K here with more backstage info straight from the dev room. Today I’d like to break down the most anticipated new feature—online matchmaking!

If you want to jump in on the action, you can search for a Quick Match (find all open rooms, parameters be damned), a Custom Match (narrow down results with search parameters), or host a match by creating your own room.

As host, you can set the number of participants, the opponent to either CPU or human, playstyle (“Pro Wrestling” if you want to work an entertaining match, “Cement” if winning is the only thing that matters), game mode, match rules (deathmatch, MMA etc.) and connection speed. For VS human matches you can set the desired skill level of your opponent (“Skill Level” is self-evaluated, be honest!) and for VS CPU matches you can set the upper-limit on edit points to keep wrestlers evenly-matched.

You can also lock the room with a password for private matches with friends.

Single 1-v-1 matches will be available at launch while CPU-vs-CPU simmed matches will support up to 4 wrestlers. We plan to increase the number of available participants during Early Access.

And that’s about the long and short of it. I’ll see you (and the rest of the world) in the ring when the gong sounds on July 10^th!

Until then, stay strong.
-Dave K

Hello guys and gals, company mouthpiece Dave K here once again to bring you the score.

Customization is the beating heart of the Fire Pro Wrestling series. Today I’m going to talk about how we’ve overhauled Edit Mode and explain how to share your creation over the Steam Workshop.

[EDIT WRESTLER]

Newcomers may not notice the improvements but we’ve made the system more user-friendly. Now you can preview the wrestler from the front and back (as well as do a 360-turn around of individual parts). On top of 4 costumes per wrestler, you can now adjust the size of individual parts (head/torso/arm/hand/leg). But the biggest change is how layers are handled.

It’s easier to explain if we look at a real example with my favorite bruiser, “Suplex Hurricane” Max Bertrand. His shoe is broken up into 4 layers: The “body” of the shoe, the soles, the stripes and the laces. In previous Fire Pros, all these pieces would have been a single layer and adjusting the color a particular element was a matter of trial-and-error. Now you can easily edit the color of each layer AND there’s even a RGB color picker that allows you to copy/paste colors between layers.The new system will give you greater freedom than ever before. If you need proof, look no further than “Sergeant” Steel Johnson’s camo pants. And if there’s a design element that’s sorely lacking, let us know!

[STEAM WORKSHOP]Operating the Workshop is so simple you could do it trapped in a headlock. You can both upload and download items from within the Edit Mode menu.When you upload an item, you’ll be able to include a description, revision notes and search tags. To download an item, simply subscribe to it and restart the application. Once subscribed to an item, any updates will be downloaded automatically. You can even use these edits as the base for your own creations!I’d show you examples of our test uploads, but the testers aren’t pro CAW creators. That’s why I’m counting on you—yes, you reading this!—to help populate the Workshop with the champions of tomorrow, today. (OK, technically the game doesn’t launch until July 10, but you know what I mean.)

Until next time, stay strong.

-Dave K

 

Greetings grapple fans! This is Spike Chunsoft company mouthpiece Dave K. I’m sorry for keeping you all in the dark for so long but the suits upstairs have finally cleared me to say what you’ve been waiting to hear:

Fire Pro Wrestling World will hit Steam Early Access on July 10 for $19.99.

Fire Pro Wrestling World takes the classic gameplay engine that earned the series its loyal following and builds upon it with, and this is big, online play and Steam Workshop support to share your custom wrestlers.

“But wait,” you say, “where does the ‘Early Access’ part come in?” While the game is fully-formed, it’s far from complete. We want community input to help us decide where to invest our man hours. What new moves, modes or features do you want to see? Asking is free!

Fire Pro lives on today thanks to the community and I’m counting on your feedback and help in teaching newbies the ropes. Of course, we promise to do our part with tutorial videos and this development blog. Who knows, if I can convince the IT team to let me hijack a computer I might even be able to get director Matsumoto do some streaming.

Check out this post for a sampling of the new content ready for Early Access and check back in the weeks leading up to launch for more details about the Steam Workshop, online matches and maybe even some fresh features.

Until next time, stay strong.

-Dave K