The King of Fighters XIV was made when
SNK's then-CEO Eikichi Kawasaki decided the company should return to producing appealing fighting games rather than
Pachinko-style
slot machines and mobile apps. The game began full production in April 2014 using staff from
Esaka. The development team wanted the game to be easy to play and as popular as ''
The King of Fighters '98 and KOF 2002. While The King of Fighters XIII
was a success, the staff said it was challenging to new players. Accordingly, they intended to combine the simplicity of KOF '98
with the Quick Max features of KOF 2002
and the method used to manage meters in KOF XIII''. and was present at the
PlayStation Experience 2015. SNK chose to develop the game for the
PlayStation 4 because of the console's high worldwide sales. The company did not want to add a new system to the game, but made some changes in response to
The King of Fighters XIII; they had yet to decide whether they would update the game or leave it as a single release followed by sequels.
Engine In October 2015, it was confirmed
Yasuyuki Oda, the battle designer of
Street Fighter IV, would direct
The King of Fighters XIV. This was his first contribution to the franchise, leading a younger staff. Oda claimed the
KOF franchise was unique for its fast-paced combat and how players have to react to the game's mechanics. During Oda's first employment at SNK, games like
Virtua Fighter motivated him to make a 3D game after his departure. When he returned, he transitioned the
King of Fighters series from 2D to 3D, though the adaption of some characters was more difficult than others. 3D models for characters like
Leona Heidern were more difficult than those for
Chang Koehan. SNK developed the game engine internally. They considered using
Unreal Engine 4, but decided against using the version at the time since it did not fit with SNK's budget and goals. Rather than using
cel-shaded graphic, the staff adhered to Oda and Kuroki's vision for the
King of Fighters series to follow the ''
'94'
s style. According to the developer Neo_G, Neo Geo games of that vintage have a look that tried to imitate reality using pixels. According to Oda, the series always had tall, realistic characters until XIII'', which uses a style similar to
anime. The original game has realistic visuals which clash with character models like Kula Diamond and
Athena Asamiya, so they chose the current look. The development team found running the game at 60
frames per second (fps) in
full HD challenging. The demand for 60 fps over more detailed graphics was made to ensure the game would perform well online. Hayato Watanabe created the battle design; Eisuke Ogura was the main artist. Oda said while researching for the game's new characters, they avoided stereotypes like Japanese
sumo wrestlers to produce more diversity in the cast which includes characters of various nationalities. Oda coined the term "Kyo-ify" based on the series' main character Kyo Kusanagi in regards to the stylishness presented in the cast. As a result, Oda wanted the fighters to look as appealing as Kyo. Art director
Nobuyuki Kuroki found it unfair that only a few designers were included on the staff. Keisuke Ogura created newcomers Shun'ei and Sylvie, distancing them from previous veterans. He was also in charge of Athena's look as the character always wears different clothing. Kuroki regarded Shun'ei as important to the narrative, desiring his personality to contrast previous leads. Main characters Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami underwent a major redesign to fit the series' new
story arc while at the same time the development team tried to keep their appeal intact. Kuroki said he made this move despite fearing a negative response based on the rivals' popularity. SNK was satisfied with the way the Chinese market received the game even though it was slightly censored in the country. One roster is composed entirely of returning characters, while another has mostly new characters, so the staff selected from all of them, wanting to give the roster some regional colors, grouping teams by countries and concepts, such as a female fighters team. Ogura denied speculation that King of Dinosaurs was a redesign of Tizoc from
Garou: Mark of the Wolves, and said they just had similar fighting styles. However, upon the game's release, fans found out that King of Dinosaurs and Tizoc were the same character. In the Neo Geo era of the series, developers could not add
Nakoruru from
Samurai Shodown because of the
KOF engine's limitations. When the character was revealed in
KOF XIV, her popularity surprised the developers who indicated that in spite of the Orochi clan members' deaths in the series' first story arc, they might consider adding them depending on the storyline. Before being added as
DLC characters, SNK also considered
Blue Mary and
Ryuji Yamazaki from the
Fatal Fury series for the base roster, but they wanted the game to feel more like
The King of Fighters. They noted the game lacked characters from
Art of Fighting and attempted to add Jack Turner and John Crawley. However, Oda declined to do this because of their lack of popularity. The developers considered
Rock Howard from
Garou: Mark of the Wolves for inclusion but found it complicated due to chronology issues: Rock had appeared in previous
KOF as a child rather than a teenager so it was not possible to incorporate him to the cast. ==Release==