Fighting Games, My Stomach Feels Sickly and What A Revelation It Is: I got on the internet today and after about an hour I found myself slightly sick to my stomach in a nervous sort of way. Seems strange and unfounded really. So lets recap what led to this sick feeling. P.S. This topic is about video games (Specifically the Fighting Game genre) and game design, so youve been warned if youre not into that sort of thing, you should probably stop reading. But Id love for some discussion on this particular topic if you can stomach this dangerously long status post. So I caught up on some video games as lit. videos by my good friend Sir Mr. The II. Heres a sample so to produce shameless advertising of my friends work https://youtube/watch?v=p5Ro9A6JrYs -Well that was inspiring, relaxing and fun, but then I found myself going Oh yeah, while I have the internet. I have some business to attend to concerning my study towards my dream of self occupation. Today, I had a very specific task to attend to. I decided to research the Fighting Game genre, specifically its flaws, searching through forums which discussed what anyone had complaints about. This is because its one of the two major genres within the video game industry I have the most passion about playing on my own time. The most common complaints I found had to do with core features which are found lacking in the genre as a whole. The one I heard most, was how inaccessible it is to new players. Basically, developers keep adding more complicated mechanics in every new title, while taking little to no development time to give amateur players the tools they need to understand the game on the most basic, fundamental level. One post linked an Extra Credits video outlining the entire problem. Here: https://youtube/watch?v=n_xG1Yg_QoM Beyond that, desires and complaints were all across the board. I think the more I read, the more I came to realize that EVERYONE who plays these games wants to see something dramatically different, often in the exact opposite nature as another opinion only two posts/blogs ago. All of this has made me reevaluate my time within the fighting games online community, somewhere around the good years of 2008-2011(When I had reliable internet at my home.), bringing to light that the coveted genre Ive spent years of my life falling in love with has such overwhelming flaws in the very core of design. Essentially preventing the series from expanding any further than it already has. There all seemingly obvious problems which I had never fully, honestly considered up till now. Most likely because I am one of the loyal fans mentioned in that Extra Credits video, who knows everything about anything there is to understand about the genre, but fails by being completely blind to all its major flaws. This is basically when I started feeling sick. Even before considering any of the major issues in terms of a fighting games delivery on the larger, grander scale, here I am realizing I was actually interested in working for on a type of game where tiny details such as one single, solitary mechanic can make or break its entire existence for the players. It truly is daunting for anyone to realistically consider diving straight into this niche audience, I mean... as long as you still actually care what players think. Which Id like to. Well, since Im all worked up about it, why not address some of these major issues? I have a lot of friends who are interested in video games but not particularly so much of the Fighting Game genre, most likely for all the reasons Im about to go into. Id like to give any who are still reading a little insight into this subject through my experiences only given to me by being such a long time fan. To clarify, lets get into more specifically What are these problems? Where do they originate from? Why do they still linger? Why this all brings me down? You dont have to be a genius to figure out how obvious a design flaw it is for developers to expect people to take off running before learning to crawl. Then, why is it still happening all the time, and why didnt I even notice it before? So lets do a run down of the major issues this genre faces starting with the most popular. The Issues: (1) Fighting Games are too difficult for newer players to get into, lacking tools needed to help beginners gain access to its complicated controls and mechanics. (2) Fighting Games lack complicated in-depth storytelling, and focus the brunt of its focus far and away from any narrative driven gameplay. (3) Fighting Games are designed purely for its cult fanbase, and not for any wider audience of players. This post is to inform rather than argue against, because these are legitimate claims as to what genre truly lacks. However, just to start us off Ill list a few examples where these points arent necessarily true, only to make the point that it doesnt have to be this way, but somehow still is (Unfortunately.). - A few more recent fighting games are offering more informative tutorials on how to play the game, Dead or Alive 5 comes off the top of my head, having instructions on how to play the game through step-by-step lessons divided into categories of difficulty from Beginner to Advanced. - Soul Calibur is pretty well known for its canon, in-depth, character driven story, and does offer modes of play that have a more narrative flow like Weapon Master Mode. - Games like Super Smash Bros. have also found a way to be more inclusive to a wider audience without limiting itself to a cult fanbase. Those are the few, however. Those few more recent series of games that have tried to evolve the genre to knew heights and appeal to the average gamer in more ways than meaningless, yet complicated combative gameplay. The majority of Fighting Games do not offer an enriched experience besides what can be found in the depth of its competitive aspects. As I said, Im here to inform, and guide you on where I think this problem find its roots. Why many who are fighting game fans, rarely even consider why the games dont appeal to a wide mass of player audiences. So here we go... My Reasoning: (1) It may surprise you that I have seldom considered Fighting Games to be a more challenging genre to get into, at least not exceptionally so. Virtually every fighting game drops you onto a character select screen and expects the player to make a decision and start learning as you go. Of course this seems like an impassible barrier of knowledge to anyone whose never played one of these games in their life, and it pretty much is. But let me tell you something so I can give you an idea of where Im coming from. This immense, seemingly impassable barrier, becomes infinitely easier to overcome having any prior experience with fighting games like I do. I can pick up a fighting game, ANY fighting game, and in about 10 minutes of messing around with a single character, figure out what I CAN do, what I NEED to do, what I probably WANT to do, and my muscle memory will do much of that on instinct. This is likely connected directly to the developers and player-bases reliance on knowledge of fundamentals. Its interesting to note that virtually every fighting game takes nearly all its core mechanics from previous games, tracing its roots all the way back to the all-too-famous Street Fighter II. If you have knowledge of any of these predecessors, the learning of a seemingly new game becomes more like reviewing an enhanced edition of skills you already knew. The fundamentals of how to play each game carry over to the next and in the end, casts the illusion on people like me that its all fairly obvious and rather simple. You can also attribute part of the problem to many fighting games having been designed to be played on arcade cabinets. Most fighting games are made in Japan, and you need to understand that arcade culture is still going rather strong overseas. As such, the passing of knowledge through word of mouth instead of insightful tutorials is the name of the game (No pun intended.). Getting bogged down with tutorials would only prevent other players who already have this knowledge, who want to skip right to the action. I could also get into how Japanese developers have seen hard times lately, due to their general inability to evolve with the changing times. Its a pretty obvious connection to make, and I dont think much more needs to be said to make the point so... moving on. (2) In the case of story telling, again, I could bring up the fact that most these games are made to be arcade cabinets with players eagerly waiting to get into the action rather than being bogged down with a long and complicated narrative. But in an attempt to move away from that point, I want to address why players of fighting games rarely even notice this weakness and/or dont spend time talking about it. I think avid followers of the genre get so far absorbed into the details of its many complicated competitive aspects that we entirely forget anything else that could be used to increase the games effectiveness in drawing our attention. Its entirely possible that as a culture, weve become so absorbed into the mechanics and characters from a gameplay perspective, that we hardly ever think about how any of it relates to us in an artistic, literary way. Each game has so much complexity and depth to its functionality that caring too much of a hoot about a narrative tying it all together becomes completely overshadowed by the demand for improved gameplay. Improved functionality, additional characters, better character balance, ect. Consider characters in fighting games for a moment, as less like a book for us to read, and more like clothing for us to wear. They can be understood as an avatar of the player. Other than the his/her techniques and play-style, the most immediate aspect I think any player concerns him/herself with is the characters aesthetics. I can tell you Ive always preferred Ken over Ryu, mostly for simple, maybe even shallow reasons. He had more personality than Ryu, and was American, so I could relate to him slightly better. And thats pretty much what most characters in fighting games have to offer, and its all they need to offer to keep fans coming back. A look, origin, and personality. No more, no less. Because its not the story were so eagerly waiting to dive into. Its all about the competitive combat. That familiar, reliable, chess game we love to keep playing every time its re-released but with a couple new tweaks from the last time. That super ultra ultimate version we know weve always been waiting for. Hell yes. The characters dont need to serve as anything other than a way to express ourselves through competition. This character represents me, competeing. In every coordinated action it takes, in every loss it laments, and every victory it celebrates. The numerous and unique options for what it can and cant do, and the aesthetics it throws on top of that are the only thing that immediately concerns us long-time players, because its the only thing that really affects us most of the time. The character doesnt need a complicated story. Most the story can be found in my experience competing against other players who are eager to discover what theyre made of. Its a sport that lacks motive other than to be a sport and entertaining. This isnt to say that having a story would prevent characters in fighting games to function as effective avatars. In fact, it only has room for improvement in that area. The point Im making is that its not necessary for them to do so most of the time, due to the player-bases huge focus on the functionality of the game rather than any kind of narrative. I know that when I go into thinking up concepts for a fighting game, the first thing I focus on is style and mechanics. Its a stigma of the fanbase whcih is why the need for a complicated story is so rarely voiced within the community. And stigma, general knowledge, or accepting of the status quo is exactly why it all fails to evolve. (3) It can seem like Im only summarizing what I was already said with the third and final point... well yeah, thats pretty much where Im going because everything sort of feeds into this main central problem. The biggest contributor to the genres unwillingness to evolve and expand is that nearly all developers of fighting games are fans of playing fighting games. Causing an blanket state of obliviousness to the genres flaws as we know it. The games are built solely upon that niche audiences desires, leading to its own inevitable downfall. Quite simply, we dont care enough to care. We dont care if the game features a comprehensive story. It only takes away from the genres more refined qualities, such as the games balance and enjoyability. We dont care about making the game more accessible to knew players. I think some kind of like how the audience sticks to the hyper dedicated. It shuffles out all those scrubs who dont know what theyre doing. So you dont have the built-in muscle memory we do, quit complaining! Either have the dedication to learn, or go away! No, really, thats the mindset here, and I think I may have even fallen trap to it myself. Whenever I get into designing a fighting game, I never think about changing the status quo in these areas where the genre sorely needs to reinvent itself. Fighting games are so complicated with their character depth that tackling any other issue rarely sees wide spread praise from their audiences. *sigh* I feel sick because I dont know what to do about it. I want to address these issues in my own work but it makes a complicated project turn into an ambiguous project. Even if I add a story, spending too much time on a narrative would take time away focusing on the competitive aspects which I love. Most the time I roll with the classic arcade mode -get some text and maybe a cutscene at the end- strategy. Hmm... Since I went into so much talking about characters as more avatars than books, maybe a decide your own path sorta narrative would be most effective for a Fighting Games design. *shrugs* Mm~hmmm. So thats basically my post for this evening-er, morning? Gosh that took awhile... Itd probably be better if I made vlogs on Youtube or something. Anyhow what do you think? Anyone still with me? Hah!
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 13:51:37 +0000
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