Toasty

I was having a good conversation the other day with my Father on competitive gaming. At age 60, he isn't one to sit down and play a round of Instagib CTF. He enjoyed his foray into less strenuous video games such as Wii Bowling, which he soundly thrashed me at, being an ex-bowler himself. (He made me look terrible.) My Dad is an actuary, spending lots of time with numbers all week long, and is a fan of math / odds based games like Blackjack and (especially) Backgammon.

During our talk, he looks at me and says, "I just don't get it, what's the point of Fighting Games?" It hit me like a sack of bricks. To me, a solid Fighting Game is the blending of chess and action movie. To my Dad watching some guys play a fighter, they mash a bunch of buttons, they beat the shit out of each other on the screen, and someone goes home happy. The whole underlying ruleset is unknown to the outsider - not just my Dad, but to the bulk of fighting game consumers. Spacing, mixups, footsies, oki; an entire language goes unknown to most people that actually buy the fighter. (Except 'wakeup'. Believe me, SF4 XBOX Live Ken knows ALL about wakeups.)

But, is 'Eye Candy Button Masher X' really what sells? It used to. Mortal Kombat II was wildly popular in arcades, and while I have fond memories of the game and it has achieved a cult fanbase, it is by no means a structurally sound game. Mortal Kombat vs. DC is similar; Superman really IS the Superman of that game. His ground pound combos into itself, and if he wins one round, he can bug it so the match doesn't go on to another round; he just wins. MKvDC is sluggish, broken, and created not for a community to delve into, learn, and compete with, but rather made to earn a quick buck off of gamers who want to answer that "timeless" question, who would win between Batman and Sub-Zero? Find out in: Mortal Kombat vs. DC! You know what? Go buy a Wrestling Game, create Batman and Sub-Zero or whoever else you want, and stop funding Midway's awful product. Companies like Midway can get the fuck out of the Fighting Game market. (And they will, too! )

With Street Fighter, Tekken, Guilty Gear, and so on, the designers understand that visuals are important in drawing in the casual fan to the purchase, but they also set out to craft a system that is fun, intriguing, and balanced. These games are sent in early beta phases to arcades for testing amongst the best fighting gamers. You originally had to block C. Viper's Flame Kick while standing; with how good she's proven to be now, imagine how godly Viper would be if that change never happened.

Similarly it's important to note that if you make a game with too many complex inputs, or inaccessible characters / fighting styles, you won't gain the rich fanbase you need to sell copies, much less play your game. But the fact stands; gamers are getting smarter. Competitive games are growing in market and in number. There are game leagues with logos ripped straight from professional sports, prize pools are growing in digits, and there are Starcraft players you might confuse for NASCAR racers with all the logos on their uniforms.



The competitive gaming community is on the rise, and as it spreads, so does its language. While I can't be sure that Fighting Games can ever overcome the burden of the 'Button Masher' branding in the public eye, a man can dream.

Street Fighter 4: State of the Game

This upcoming weekend is going to be interesting for SF4, as the National Tournament Finals are being held in San Fran. Top 16 Gamestop winners are going to duke it out, and MD/VA is being represented by Eric Kim. Eric's been a solid SF3 player for a long time, and his Sagat is no joke. More offense heavy than I think he should be, but extremely solid. Daigo of all people will also be there, collecting a free trip to California and a big paycheck, and hopefully Eric will smoke him too. :)

Take a look at the most popular arcade games in Japan right now;

Video Games
1. Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion - 365.4 (-)
2. Blazblue - 274.2 (-)
3. Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam vs Gundam - 260.3 (-)
4. Sugoi! Arcana Heart 2: Tenkousei Akane to Nazuna - 217.2 (UP)
5. Melty Blood: Actress Again - 184.7 (DOWN)
6. Virtua Fighter 5R - 115.6 (-)
7. Guilty Gear XX Accent Core - 111.5 (UP)
8. Street Fighter IV - 83.4 (DOWN)
9. Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike - 76.1 (UP)
10. Death Smiles Mega Black Label - 52.4 (-)

(Courtesy Arcadia Magazine, May 2009)

Blazblue at #2? Guilty Gear moving UP? Street Fighter 4 at 8th? What's going on? Granted, this is the first installment of the SF4 franchise. Seems like it's possible, though, that Zangief / Sagat / Boxer is too much for the Japanese scene to handle. Zangief is an especially big problem. Matt Frank "The Tank", a common face in the fighting game scene from North Carolina, has this to say about SF4 Gief;

"He still loses hard to most of the top characters, but the characters he does beat stand little to no chance against him; he's kinda like ST Honda (who I also hate) in that respect. I don't like him cuz he's braindead stupid easy, and he's absolutely no fun to fight as or to fight against. I mean, you can't fucking sweep lariat most of the goddamned time. What the hell?

He's like AC Pot, but without all of the system options that GG has that let you get away from Pot. There are far too many characters that have zero options to escape once they're cornered by Gief. He's one of the things that make me question whether or not I actually think this game is long term good, and according to Arcadia, Japan agrees with me."

When you have a character in a game that does extremely well against most of the low to mid tiers but poor against some higher tiers, it becomes a headache for the community. It's even more problematic in some ways; since he's got his issues with some characters, and thus avoids the ban hammer. So either you're picking a character that gets smashed to bits by that problem character, or you pick that problem character and get scraped badly in an unfavorable matchup. This issue applies not just to SF4 Gief, but also ST Honda (Has problems vs projectile characters) and I believe Algol in Soul Calibur 4. Characters like these can discourage picking those low-mid tier characters in the first place, for fear of ever running into that guy in tournament.

That being said, SF4 is still alive and well, both in Japan and (especially) in America. It's certainly better than SF3, and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.

Rock Paper Scissors: Game Patriarch

Competitive games all boil down to decisions. In essence, Rock Paper Scissors is the Kevin Bacon of competitive games; every game and its decisions can be traced back to good ol' RPS. Take a look at these examples.

First Person Shooter: There is a heavy degree of aim and mobility for success in FPS, but RPS certainly exists. In Unreal Tournament, if I have just a Flak Cannon, you have just a Lightning Gun, and we're looking at each other on opposite sides of the map, guess what, you're rock and I'm scissors. On the other hand, if we're face to face, you're going to be riddled from head to toe with flak. So there is a weapon hierarchy that exists, but it's all based positionally. You don't want to be using the Shock Rifle at close range, but at long and especially mid range, it is one of THE guns to have. Granted, if all I've got is the close range Flak Cannon and you're packing a long ranger at long range, I'm getting the hell out of your line of sight and play that RPS game when it's more convenient for me.

Real Time Strategy: In RTS, you have access to all kinds of units with their own strengths and weaknesses, and it's up to the player to figure out what kind of units he'll need to win the match. For instance, you are playing Terran in Starcraft. If you discover your opponent building lots of air units, you could get to work building Goliaths, which are fantastic ground to air. However, they're pretty terribad ground to ground, and thus your opponent can respond appropriately.

Fighting: As a fighter evolves, a matchup list eventually emerges. A matchup list is a chart which shows you how many wins a character should get against another out of ten. Nowadays, it's rare that the cream of the competitive fighting game crop has 8-2 or worse matchups in their systems, but certainly 6-4s and 7-3s exist. SF4 is a great example of this. Zangief has a lot of 6-4s, but a few characters like Sagat and Blanka are extremely problematic for him (7-3). This is a much softer version of RPS, and in Japan especially players are encouraged to stick with their character from start to finish of a tournament. It's awesome watching a skilled player beat scissors with his paper.

The RPS will always rear itself in any competitive game, one way or another. In sports games; do you know what play I will run? What pitch I will throw? In tactics games; where will I move my characters? What kind of abilities I will use? In the end, it all boils down to determining what your opponents options are, determining what he will do, and countering it appropriately. But more importantly, it's what separates competitive games from one another and makes them more intriguing; the choices you both have access to, the ways you can gather information, and the sick mind games you can pull on your opponents.

Tournament Play

I Got Next is going to be some good.

This past weekend, I was in Ashburn, Virginia for a tournament, C3 Revivial Night. The main event of the day was the Street Fighter 4 3v3 Team Tournament, which had some of the East Coast's top players. Our team finished 7th out of about 28 teams, largely thanks to some crazy good teammates. SF4 3v3 is a very interesting format; each team sends out one of their players to fight (at point), and the winner stays on the machine. The losing player's team gets to choose who to send out next; for instance, if our M. Bison just lost to their Balrog, we send in our Zangief, since Zangief has a favorable matchup against Balrog. Sending in Zangief, however, means that if we win, they're likely to bring in their Sagat, who's a bad match for Gief. Making teams that are able to handle a wide variety of the entire roster and figuring out team order is part of the fun, on top of cheering for your teammates. It's an absolute blast, and goes to show that 1v1 isn't the only way to make a competitive fighting game entertaining.

Games can really shine when the game extends past the ruleset and actually fuels player interaction / emotion; when something happens in the game that lives on far after the game has ended. In Fighting Games, the most infamous moment is likely the Evolution Daigo / Justin Wong Street Fighter 3 video. Street Fighter 4 just got its first. If you haven't seen this video, it's about time you have.

Kensou (C. Viper) vs. Liston (Sagat), Final Round Top 32

Pros and Cons

As I flesh out the meat and bones of this card game, I want to make sure it's a blast to play. What are the pros and cons from a 'fun' gameplay standpoint of a card game and a fighting game relevant to my idea, and what can be taken from them? Long post incoming.

Magic: The Gathering Pros and Cons;

+ Collecting. The cards all have value, different rarities / availability, and some slick artwork. 

+ Deck Variety. Tons of cards, tons of options. There are competitive decks, casual decks, crappy decks and janky decks. The amount of cards also means there's generally some card(s) that counter the "best" deck in the format. 

+ Wide gameplay options. There are generally lots of decisions to be made in the game, especially in draft and Type 2, and it's a far cry from the rudimentary rock-paper-scissors base. There are also many ways to trick your opponent or earn victory, some of which being hilarious and/or embarassing, which make for great storytelling even after the game has ended.

- "Mana Screwed". To play cards, you need to use mana, the resource of the game. You will inevitably play some games against people who could have little idea of the deeper gameplay going on, but if your hand is devoid of mana, you either risk playing that hand or you go one card down. The VS and WoW card systems have anti-mana screwed mechanics; you can play any card as a resource, though "plot twists" / "locations" (VS) and "quests" (WoW) were much preferred to be played in your resource row.

- Too much variety? The wide variety of cards leads to a select few cards being top dollar, and 80% of the cards players own stuffed in closets wasting space. Some cards have similar effects, but one is just "better" than the other for obvious reasons. 

Capcom vs. SNK 2 Pros and Cons

+ Options! An extremely wide cast of characters to select from for a fighter; many familiar faces across the board. You get to pick up to three of them for your team. You also select one of six different "grooves", which applies basic rules from six past fighters (3 Capcom, 3 SNK) that your team plays under. For example, some let you roll, air block, and so on. Finally, you have four points of 'ratio' to spend on your team of 1-3 characters, with ratio 1 characters being weakest and ratio 4 being a fucking house. (One ratio 4, however, means you only get one character.)

+ 1v1 "Teamwork". My A-Groove Iori might have a tough time against your C-Groove Blanka, but I have Cammy coming up next if Iori goes down, and she does fine against him. (That might be complete bullshit but you get the idea.)

+- - Tiers. The higher tiers in this game, while certainly nothing as excusive and godlike as in Marvel, are still very dominant. You'll never see a Kyosuke in an American tournament past round 1, and you'll see plenty of Sagats and Blankas. That being said, the mid tiers can still be relatively competitive, and it's always refreshing and exciting to watch skilled mid tier players like Combofiend (Rock/Rolento/Eagle) and Buktooth (Iori/Morrigan/Hibiki) run their game.

- No real team synergy. There's no tagging, no combined attacks, nothing outside of some special win quotes. From a gameplay standpoint this is more of a preference thing, but it's worth noting for the purposes of my game.

- Custom combos. The dreaded A-Groove. Its main draw is getting a full super bar, and then activating your Custom combo mode, where upon first activating you get some invincibility, and any hit landed while in the mode is turned into a fucking painful (and ridiculous looking) combo that ends in a super. It can be a very all or nothing mode (sometimes the worst thing that'll happen is you'll break their guard gauge and take off 15% anyway), and while it does get the crowd talking, I find it stretches the risk / reward balance too wide. To see some examples with Bison, check out the link below. The action begins at 1:03.

M. Bison makes babies cry

What have we learned? Card collecting and dispariging card rarities piques interest, finding the right variety amount is crucial, developing multiple decision options past rock paper scissors makes for more fun and interesting gameplay, keep the power of your cards and mechanics in check, and whatever do you, don't get mana screwed.

Teaming Up

Ever since playing Marvel vs. Capcom (the original), I have toyed with design ideas surrounding team based fighting games. Characters on your team having passive abilities that work when tagged out; team attacks ala Project Justice (Rival Schools), but enhanced ones, in terms of both effectiveness and visuals, with certain members of the cast; having players pair up certain characters whose abilities, both active and passive mix well, much like a Magic player would pair strong cards in a combo deck.

RPG elements in fighting games have historically been a mixed bag; Gem Fighter, for instance, has items flying around the screen at times, and I never found it adding much to gameplay. On the other hand, Battle Fantasia characters have visible "hit points", which, when set against a background with an "Item Shop", makes a whole lot of sense. Warzard went so far as having an intricate password system, through which your character actually gained levels, growing stronger and learning new moves.

In my card game, with four characters per player and two characters "in play" at a time, I have a lot of design options to make in regards to incorporating card and team synergy. Characters which pay life to use their main attacks teaming with lifegain characters, characters who use only magic-based attacks amplified by magic boosting characters, and the aforementioned team attacks are all on the drawing board. 

Photos and Lightning Frogs

Took some photos with a friend today by a railroad. This was the end of the white in my white shoes, but it was well worth it.

Photo Gallery

Afterwards, it was time to check out the fresh Blazblue arcade cabinet in Glen Burnie. Blazblue is one of the newest fighting games to be released; it's Guilty Gear's spiritual successor, and it's largely only available in Japanese arcades until this Summer. That is, except for a scant few American locations, like Glen Burnie. 

Blazblue takes the movement and damage of Guilty Gear, tones it down a bit, and adds the traditionally 3D wakeup games of forward, backward, and neutral teching, putting an unfamiliar spin on wakeups for a 2D fighter. The game is gorgeous in Widescreen HD, and the quirky design from GG holds true in BB. My character has a wind button that influences character and projectile momentum, a fat bat pet, an animated umbrella, lightning frogs, living pumpkins and cannonballs that turn into lightning rods which, of course, energize at the push of a button. It's wild stuff, and that's just one character. Check it out at the Power Gamer in Glen Burnie if you're interested.