Directional Throws and Team Throws

[psychotherapist]

Currently, you have two options after grabbing someone: a "power punch", which does a generous amount of damage, and a normal throw, which sacrifices damage for knockback allowing you to kill people using environmental hazards. I think this could be improved with some variation. My suggestion is to add two new types of throws: an downwards throw and an upwards throw.

I'll start off with the downwards throw. The downwards throw has two different angles, depending on if you're standing on a platform or not. When standing on solid ground, the throw sends the opponent diagonally downwards and forwards, with the opponent landing about 2/3 the distance away as the power punch. It doesn't do more damage though, only as much as a normal punch. It's really not that interesting really, but when you're standing on a platform, it's a different story.
On a platform, the angle changes to almost vertically downwards, and the opponent passes through the first platform they come in contact with. Basically, you force someone to drop through a platform, with effects ranging from minor fall damage to an instant kill when dropped onto explosive barrels (with sufficient height of course). You can even damage other players if you drop one onto another.

The upwards throw sends your opponent skywards, very slightly angled forwards. Gravity causes them to fall back towards you (in helpless state) and you may then follow up with whatever you like. A punch or kick, an aerial punch or flying kick, or if you have a ranged weapon, you even have enough time to draw a shotgun or magnum and shoot them out the air (if you have nimble fingers). You can also throw someone into a ceiling if it's low enough, which causes a standing punch worth of damage and makes them come back immediately. So this move's special "thing" is that it's versatile: you have a multitude of follow-up options after throwing the enemy.

Another feature is the ability to throw your teammates. You could harmlessly pickup your teammates and throw them without them entering the helpless state. This means they can grab ledges and perform aerial attacks. With an upwards throw, you can reach ledges you wouldn't be able to with a regular jump. The forward throw gives them more forward momentum, and they travel further than even a sprinting jump. You also can not perform a power punch or a down throw with a teammate (as those don't really have much application in teamplay). Aerial attacks have a slight bonus in their respective areas when performed after a team throw (1.5 x damage for the punch, 1.5 x knockback for the kick. Maybe an aerial block could give you some invincibility frames after absorbing damage to avoid multiple quick attacks?), to encourage teamplay and mixups in your attacks.

This last section is about how to input the throws. Power punch would stays like it is right now (attack button). Forward throw is now used when you hold left or right and then press attack. Up throw is used with up and attack, while down throw is used with down and attack. I think this control scheme is intuitive enough and it gets rid of the block button being involved (who presses "block" to throw someone?).
Picking up a teammate is done by performing a grab and holding down. The other player is also required to be ducking, to prevent accidental pickups. The teammate can be held indefinitely but can also escape at will by pressing the block button.

That concludes my suggestion on new throws and new teaming possibilities.

TL;DR: Two new moves: up throw which launches foes upwards, and down throw which drops them through platforms. Teammates can also be grabbed and thrown as a sort of improved jump.

[MScull]

This seems like a great addition to SFD. The only thing I think should be changed, is that when you throw someone downwards it will keep the slight angle to the direction you're facing. Because I think it's really hard to check if a platform is directly under you. As the platforms will very in angles etc. Also when you're not directly pixel perfect above the platform, you'll still be able to throw him through it, as a downwards throw will always throw a player through the first platform he or she is hitting.

One more thing I noticed while writing this comment is that I believe your control scheme could be improved a little bit.
I think it's better to keep the 'D' button as the main 'throw' button, here is my scheme:

While grabbing:
'A' = Lavish damage on the player.
'D' = Throw the player sideways in the direction you are facing.
'D + UP' = Throw the player upwards.
D + DOWN' = Throw the player downwards.

I believe this feature would be a very good addition to SFD and would like to play with it. A lot.

[Corporal Adrian Shephard]

I am not sure that if we need such complexity in one small aspect in this game. I am even not sure if we need complexity in this game. My honest opinion is that game should be simple to a point and complex on other point. For example game was simple before grabs, melee could be memorized with some moves and use it after and after, but now grabs bring a new point of view and its now more complex in a better way. And i think the game is on the right line just between too complex and too simple. And i am feeling afraid for a possible change of its way.

[psychotherapist]

This seems like a great addition to SFD. The only thing I think should be changed, is that when you throw someone downwards it will keep the slight angle to the direction you're facing. Because I think it's really hard to check if a platform is directly under you. As the platforms will very in angles etc. Also when you're not directly pixel perfect above the platform, you'll still be able to throw him through it, as a downwards throw will always throw a player through the first platform he or she is hitting.

I think this wouldn't be too bad of a problem really. The way I would check if the downwards angle should be used is to just draw a line from the grabbed player's feet downwards until it hits anything. If tile is a platform, use downwards angle and set a flag that makes the thrown player ignore the first platform. Otherwise, use diagonally down and allow them to bounce off platforms normally.

One more thing I noticed while writing this comment is that I believe your control scheme could be improved a little bit.
I think it's better to keep the 'D' button as the main 'throw' button, here is my scheme:

While grabbing:
'A' = Lavish damage on the player.
'D' = Throw the player sideways in the direction you are facing.
'D + UP' = Throw the player upwards.
D + DOWN' = Throw the player downwards.

Maybe it's just a matter of preference? I just felt that the directional keys fit with the different throws. Like: power punch does less knockback than the other throws, so you wouldn't press anything, prioritize damage and keep him at close range. The throws send your foes away from you, so it'd be appropriate to hold one of the movement keys as well. But if my control scheme were used, I think it wouldn't be a bad idea if the block key could function as the attack key. It just wouldn't do anything else anyway, and you could perform the different throws with any key you like.

I am not sure that if we need such complexity in one small aspect in this game. I am even not sure if we need complexity in this game. My honest opinion is that game should be simple to a point and complex on other point. For example game was simple before grabs, melee could be memorized with some moves and use it after and after, but now grabs bring a new point of view and its now more complex in a better way. And i think the game is on the right line just between too complex and too simple. And i am feeling afraid for a possible change of its way.

I think more complex mechanics just raise the skill ceiling of the game. There is more to learn, so you'd get players who are more skillful than those in a game with less or more limited options. I'm aware that there is a limit to how many features you should include in a game but my suggestion is just an expansion to throws, which I feel is a bit lacking in variety.
I also don't really think it's really that complex. Two new moves to launch an opponent up and down, and the ability to throw teammates as a sort of extended, improved jump. I know the post may be a bit of a wall of text, but I want to explain it as clear as I can and to not leave anyone with questions. I could probably condense it quite a bit actually, but I'm afraid I might leave some people wondering. I think I'll add a short recap to the post for clarification actually.