Game Genre Fighting Game

8th October 2012

Genre Analysis-Fighting Game Team 2 8th October 2012

Table of Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 3 History: .......................................................................................................................................................... 3 Game Play: .................................................................................................................................................... 4 The Basic Mechanism: .................................................................................................................................. 4 Player Engagement ................................................................................................................................... 4 Core Challenges: ........................................................................................................................................... 5 1.

Priority Prior ity management manageme nt .................................. ................. ................................... ................................... ................................... ................................... ............................. ............ 5

Visual skills ................................................................................................................................................ 5 Anticipation skills ...................................................................................................................................... 6 Dexterity skills ........................................................................................................................................... 6 2.

Space Management Managemen t ................................. ................ ................................... ................................... ................................... ................................... ................................ ............... 6

3.

Quick mind ................................. ................ .................................. ................................... ................................... ................................... .................................... ............................. ........... 7

4.

Timing: ................................. ................ ................................... ................................... .................................. ................................... .................................... ................................... ................. 8

5.

Eye-Hand Coordination: Coordin ation: ................................. ................ ................................... ................................... ................................... ................................... .......................... ......... 9

Pramod, Tejaswini, Mohit, Sohaan

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The Game Genre Analysis of Fighting Game Introduction Fighting game is a video game genre where the player controls an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent. These characters tend to be of equal power and fight matches consisting of several rounds, which take place in an arena. Players must master techniques such as blocking, counter-attacking, and chaining together sequences of attacks known as "combos". "combos". Games traditionally show fighters from a side-view, even as the genre has progressed from 2D to 3D graphics. Fighting games typically involve involve hand-to-hand combat, but may also feature feature melee weapons. It may also contain special power attacks.

History: Fighting games find their origin in boxing games but evolved towards battles between characters with fantastic abilities and complex special attacks. -

The very first game of this genre, Heavyweight Champ was released in 1976.

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Karate Champ and The Way of the Exploding Fist popularized one-on-one fighting games in 1984 and 1985 respectively.

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In 1985, 1985, Yie Ar Kung-Fu featured antagonists with differing fighting styles. styles .

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In 1987, 1987, Street Fighter introduced hidden special attacks. attacks .

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In 1991, 1991, Capcom's Capcom's highly successful Street Fighter II refined and popularized many of the conventions of the genre.

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Late 1990 gave some famous games as Street Fighter EX, EX , The King of Fighters, Fighters , also started Dead or Alive series series..

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In 1994-95 , Namco released Tekken, which proved successful in PlayStation.

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In 1999, 1999, Nintendo released first game in Super Smash Bros Series. Series.


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Game Play: Fighting games are games where the player engages in combat with an opponent. Usually, characters are of equal power, have various combos they can use and the difference in the skills of the players decides the winner. Fighting games are usually competitive type games i.e. Agon. In these games, the player needs to be a Joker or a Competitor Com petitor as the goal of the game is to defeat all enemies in the level to proceed with the game to become the best fighter.

The Basic Mechanism: Player Engagement 

Player engagement is understood as the level of continuation continuation desire experienced in game, during play or over a longer l onger period of time, when players dedicate themselves to coming back and playing a game again and again. Player engagement is initiated by a player’s individual motivation to begin playing and is driven by continuation desire, which can result in perseverance, determination and tenacity. Player engagement is furthermore related to a range of emotions (enjoyment, fun, satisfaction, etc.) and experiences (e.g. the feeling being immersed, present or in flow) which may or may not be part of a player’s experience of engagement, depending on both the player and the type of game played.

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In fighting games the player is engaged in the game, because usually the characters in the fighting games are powerful and have a great personality and have the ability to perform various special attacks and combos. The player feels powerful when he learns to fight with his character and when he takes his opponent down.

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Fighting games are of competitive nature, which makes the player come back to the game for new challenges; the engagement level goes up when the player is challenged by another player who has mastered the game.

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Fighting games have extrinsic objectives; the objective is to get into a challenging duel with other players and as come out as a winner. The players may or may not get into a challenge.


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Player engagement process in fighting games can be visualized through the Challenges, Fight, Victory/Defeat, and Affect.

Challenge

Fight

Leader Boards

Victory/Defeat

Core Challenges: 1. Priority management

Visual skills: The game deals with good visual skills and really good perception skills. Sometimes, the enemy movement is very fast, f ast, that the player also needs to anticipate the opponent’s future actions. Due to this player has increased awareness in indulgence in the game. Many of the fighting games don’t need much focus f ocus on the surroundings. But games like li ke Super Gem Fighters: Mini Mix is a game where player needs to focus over the surroundings,


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as every hit to opponent, chest or the cloud gives many different drops that affect the particular fight, by increasing health, leveling up and special resource.

Anticipation Anticipation skills: Here is where the difference is defined. The fighting games eventual work on making the player an anticipator of the opponents attacks. This makes a good player different from a better player. This improves the players block movement to happen faster.

Dexterity skills: Of course, it asks the player to have quick reflexes as the opponents will try its best to be fast in attacking. Super Gem Fighters: Mini Mix needs player pla yer to have high dexterity skills as once a player is caught by the opponent’s regular skill attacks; it’s hard to get out.

Dexterity(Dodge Attack) 2. Space Management

Space Management is the core challenge in fighting games. With practice the players know their character moves, combos, abilities and the Area of Effect of their moves and abilities. It is very crucial for the players to know the range of their attacks because if the player misses his attack, then there are chances that the opponent will take the opportunity to attack the player.


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3. Quick mind

An important mechanism of fighting games is Counter Attacks. Due to counter attacks the game reduces the frustration in the game, as the player is not cornered to one side of the screen with the same attack by the opponent. 

For example in Street Fighter: Turbo most of the pl ayer with Ryu , they'll jump in with Hard Kick, then into a Crouching Medium Kick and Cancel into a Fireball, which is a 3-hit combo if it lands. If you block low after the jump in, they'll often just walk up and throw you. This basic tactic is very effective because the offensive player puts you at risk to take damage either way, but there's a great way to counter it. After the jump in attack, start blocking low and roll the joystick to a standing defensive position (Away). This lets you block any immediate low attacks, and if your opponent tries to run up and throw you, you'll already be standing and in a good position to counter throw them. This is a very important strategy to learn because it helps reduce some of the dominance of Tick Throwing.

Hadouken 

There is a lot of stuff that needs quick thinking in fighting games. For example in Street Fighter 2 the World Warrior. There’s a few times in the game when you cannot throw your opponents. They are: 

A short period after being knocked down. All characters cannot be thrown again until they’ve been on their feet for 13 frames (13/60th of a second)

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While recovering from block or hit stun.


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

When executing some moves. For example you cannot throw Ken when he’s in the animation for his Shoryuken, but you can toss him when he is throwing a Hadouken.

4. Timing:

Timing in fighting game refers to timing your attacks properly in fighting game by learning your opponent’s moves. More importantly timing in fighting games refers to cancelling animations to create a sequence of attacks when hit in rapid succession and hence creating a combo. Further more, fighting games also feature a specific type of o f animation canceling called “Roman Cancel”. Roman Cancel:

Roman cancelling refers to cancelling an animation on command. It first appeared in the game Guilty Gear X from which it gets its name. Roman Cancelling appears in other games such as Street Fighter 4 under the name of Focus Attack Dash Cancel, Cancel, or FADC. Roman Canceling is primarily used to cancel the animation of one attack so you could perform another attack that you normally wouldn't be able to perform. A common example of this is found in Street Fighter IV where Ryu performs a shoryuken then FADC's or Roman Cancels into his super combo or ultra combo.


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Other fighting games that have this feature are The Ki ng of Fighter XIII and the new Street Fighter games. Roman Canceling: Using any form of input or interruption to cause a character's sprite or 3D animation for landing/attacking/etc landing/attacking/etc to drop frames and stop early. This allows you to instantly keep moving or attacking rather than waiting for said animation to finish going through all its frames.

5. Eye-Hand Coordination:

As any fighting game every character has different and various types of combos. Some are normal combos, and then there special ability combos. Following are tables to show different types of combos of a few fighting games:

Counter/Block - Basically, only 2 types of actions determine the outcome of a fighting game: Counter attacking at the right time and blocking with the right timing to avoid getting damage.

Use of Combo


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Pai Chan No.

Attack

Control s

Damage Done

Range

Ti me

1

P unch

P unch

5%

Cl ose

Fast

2

Duck P unch

Down+Punch

3%

Cl ose

Fast

3

Ki ck

Ki ck

11%

Me di um

Fast

4

Round Ki ck

Si de +P unch+ki ck

20%

Long

Me di um

5

Ai r Ki ck 1

Jump+Ki ck

24%

Long

Me di um

6

Ai r Ki ck 2

Jump+Ki ck+Si de

25%

Long

Me di um

7

Duck Ki ck

Down+Ki ck

5%

Cl ose

Fast

8

Power Ki ck

Punch+Punch+Ki ck+Ki ck

45%

Long

Sl ow

Akira Yuki N o.

Attack

Control s

Damage

Range

Ti me

1

P unch

P unch

6%

Cl ose

Fast

2

Duck P unch

Down+Punch

4%

Cl ose

Fast

3

Dash P unch

Si de +Si de +P unch

17%

Me di um

Me di um

4

Ki ck

Ki ck

14%

Me di um

Fast

5

Spe e d Ki ck

Punch+Ki ck

24%

Long

Me di um

6

Ai r Ki ck

Jump+Ki ck

24%

Me di um

Me di um

7

Duck Ki ck

Down+ Ki ck

7%

Cl ose

Fast

8

Doubl e Ki ck

Jump+Si de +Ki ck

20%

Long

Sl ow

Kage Maru N o.

Attack

Control s

Damage

Range

Ti me

1

P unch

P unch

5%

Cl ose

Fast

2

Duck P unch

Down+Punch

4%

Cl ose

Me di um

3

Ki ck

Ki ck

11%

Me di um

Fast

4

Ai r Ki ck

Jump+Ki ck

24%

Me di um

Me di um

5

Duck Ki ck

Down+Ki ck

7%

Cl ose

Me di um

6

Round Ki ck

Si de +Si de +Ki ck

20%

Long

Sl ow

7

Spe e d Ki ck

Si de +P unch+Ki ck

20%

Long

Me di um

8

Power Ki ck

Si de +Si de +P unch+Ki ck

17%

Long

Sl ow

9

Doubl e Ki ck

Jump+Si de +Guard+Ki ck

20%

Me di um

Sl ow


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Akuma (Se cret Character) Damage No

Attack

Type

Controls

Area

Done

Range

Efect

1

Ove r Head Ki ck

Normal

Forward + Ki ck

10%

Cl ose

NO

2

Front Ki ck

Normal

Forward Down+ Punch

15%

Cl ose

NO

3

Zankuu Hadouke n

Ai r+Ge m

Quarte r Ci rcl e Forward+Punch

15- 20%

Me di um cl ose

NO

4

Tatsumaki Zankukyaku

Gem

Quarte r Ci rcl e Back+Ki ck

20- 40%

Me di um

NO

5

Tenma Gou Zankuu

Hal f Ci rcl e Back+Hal f Ci rcl e Forward+Punch

15- 20%

Me di um

Yes

Range

Efect

15%

Cl ose

NO

Ai r+Spe ci al Combo

Chun-Li (Stree t Fighter Character) Character) Damage No

1

Attack

Forward Ki ck

Type

Controls

Normal

Forward + Ki ck

Area

Done

2

Roundhouse ki ck

Normal

Forward Down+ Ki ck

10%

Me di um cl ose

NO

3 4

Hyakure tsu Kyaku Hi shou Kyaku

tap+Ge m Gem

Tap Ki ck Gragon moti on+Ki ck

10- 15% 15%

Cl ose Me di um cl ose

NO NO

5

Hazan Hi shou KyaKu

Spe ci al Combo

Dragon moti n +Spe ci al

20- 25%

Me di um

NO

Morrigan (Darkstalkers Character) Damage No

Attack

Type

Controls

Area

Done

Range

Efect

1

Shoe Attack

Normal

Forward+Punch

10%

Cl ose

NO

2

Uppe r cut Fi st

Normal

Forward Down+Punch

5%

Cl ose

NO

3

Soul Fi st

Ai r+Ge m

Quarte r Ci rcl e Forward+Punch

10- 15%

Medi um Long

NO

4

Shadow Bl ade

Gem

Dragon Moti on+Punch

20- 25%

Me di um Cl ose

Yes

5

Darkne ss i l l usi on

Spe ci al Combo

Hal f Ci rcl e Forward +Spe ci al

35- 40%

Me di um Cl ose

NO

Range

Efect

Cl ose

NO

Feli cia (Darkstalkers Character) Character) Damage No

Area

Done

Type

Controls

Uppe r Ki ck

Normal

Forward Down+ Punch

2

Toe Ki ck

Normal

Forward Down+ Ki ck

10%

Cl ose

NO

3 4

Rol l i ng Bucke r Hysteri c Star

Gem Tap

Quarte r ci rcl e f orward+Punch+Punch Tap Punch

10- 15% 10- 15%

Me di um Cl ose

NO Yes

5

Crazy f or you

Hal f Ci rcl e Forward+Hal f Ci rcl e Back+Ki ck

25- 30%

Medi um Long

NO

1

Attack

Spe ci al Combo

10%

Tessa (Red Earth Character) Damage No

Attack

Type

Controls

Area

Done

Range

Efect

1

Cat Rol l

Normal

Forward Down+ Ki ck

10%

Cl ose

NO

2

Mouse Whi p

Normal

Down+Ki ck

5%

Cl ose

NO

3

CatKi ck

Ai r

Forward+Ki ck

3- 5%

Cl ose

NO

Gem

Quarte r Forward+Ki ck

5- 10%

Me di um

NO

Spe ci al Combo

Hal f Back+Speci al

20- 25%

Cl ose

Yes

4

Dragon's Roar

5

Untouchabl e Force


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Street Fighter 2: The World Warrior


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The important elements of a Fighting game: 1. The Character All fighting games have a particular life gage. This l ife/Health gage is same for every playable character. But sometimes there are games having other gages of Mana/energy/gem, for more effective attacks. For Example game like Touhou Arcade Fighter has a mana gage giving the player a time limit to use special abilities. Similarly Super Gem Fighter: Mini Mix uses 3 different Gem gages on different types of special attacks. More the wait for the ability to regenerate more is the effect of the ability.

Using Gems for Special Attacks Combo moves animation structure:

The game is really responsive in order to help the player to push buttons at the right time. The time is between the first and the second hit, which is same as the time between the second and the third hit. After a simple move the animation transformation to a special move in a regular sequence of hits during each enemy is fluid and it’s better for the player. It also gives player ti me to think about next move or the opponent to block the ability attack. For example, in Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix the special ability shows the image of the character who is going to attack, giving the opponent time to block. And in Vitua Fighter


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when your character is about to jump or use any combo attack it takes some time for the smooth animation to play, which gives the opponent to time to avoid. 2. Abilities Starting from basic punch and kick attacks to combinations of punch, kick and directional pads to special ability attacks, a character could perform in a fighting game. The abilities could vary from Range to A.O.E to timing. But the most confusing is the blocks in different fighting games. For example in street fighter 2 the block decreases the damage of the opponent to 2% damage, where as in Super Gem Fighters: Mini Mix the block completely blocks the enemy attacks. Concept of slots of different moves around the character, it is as follows:

Jump Forward up

for

Punch or

combo

Kick for combo

Kick or

Behind

Punch

for Block

Forward down Punch or Kick for

Down

combo

for combo

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One of the new abilities came in i n to being in the genre, called Counter Attack. Attack. The player can counter his opponent attacks by performing the right type of attack to counter a special attack. The counter attacks can sometimes be as simple as blocking an attack and then just performing a light punch attack.

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Few new abilities where discovered with the improvement and more liking of f ighting genre games. One of them was a grab and a throw. As the name it is the ability of the playable character. Different games had their different types of grabs and throws. Taking the


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example of Street Fighter 2, where characters like Blanka and Zangief grab the opponent and do bite attack, Characters like Ryu and Ken Flip throw them back.

Blanka Bite Attack 3. Multi-player Vs Solo Fighting games are always judged on the basis of multiplayer ( 2 players). But the fighting games are made with proper storylines for each character and their reasons to fight. For example in Virua fighter, fighters come together to fight in the world champion ship for a king, but turns out they end up fighting an alien ( bonus character) which is very hard to defeat. In Yie Ar Kung-Fu, the main character goes on to become the master of all martial art and regain his father’s name and honor.

Vs / Solo Mode


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4. Replay ability Fighting games doesn’t have tutorial mode therefore player has to play and practice to be master at certain character/ game as whole. Also as player plays the game he discovers new ability or new ways to kill opponent. For example, in Tobal finishing off opponent is not the only way to win the f ight, player can knock opponent out of the ring to win the fight. Unlocking new characters and storyline can also be purpose to play fighting game again and again.

Unlockable Character(Mortal Kombat 3)

5. Art/SFX There isn’t much to describe the art and Sfx of fighting games, as at the end all fighting games only work on making their visuals and sound better. Every new game in this genre when released reveals better resolution and art of the characters and back ground, along with the audio improvements. i mprovements. There are dialogs in games when the characters pronounce the name of the ability when they use it. For example in Street fighter and Super gem fighter the character shouts their ability names.


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Pacing in fighting games: Pacing in fighting game can be determined by how long it generally takes for one player to defeat another actively engaged player. In any game or genre which gives the player the option to do a PVP the pacing is determined in the similar way. Movement Impetus 

Movement Impetus refers to the desire of the player to move forward in the game. Since fighting when player in VS mode don’t put the player to play a story mode.

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The movement impetus in fighting games could be analyzed by the desire and the will of the player to go up on the leader boards by defeating other player especially in a Ranked match.

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Normally, hardcore players who play ranked matches of fighting games usually strive and play hard to maintain and get to the top of the leader boards. The pacing fighting games can also be analyzed by the player’s desire to win the first round and

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then fight the second round and finally win the fight. In case if he faces defeat in the 2 nd round the movement impetus to fight the 3 rd round will be higher. 

Many fighting games nowadays have a achievement system, achievement on certain number of matches, achievement for doing special types of combos etc. Achievements can also be unlocked when the player plays against the computer. This also motivates the player t o move ahead in the game.

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The movement impetus in all fighting games is always high.

Threat

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When in a fight the threat always increases when the opponent is close and also when the opponent is just about to perform a special attack.

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In fighting games, the battle ground sets the tension in the game. For example in Mortal Combat 3, when the player’s character is hit hard by his opponent through tones of combos, the player’s characters is slammed down on the ground by the opponents character, breaking the ground and the landing on the level below

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In fighting games when the player’s character takes a lot damage, the character stuns for a moment. The threat level for that moment goes very high as the player’s character is not in his control, because it takes about 4-5 seconds to recover from the stun.

Tension 

The tension in fighting games defends on player skills and how well the player can counter the opponent’s attacks. If the player has learned his opponent moves well, the tension in a fight is


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comparatively less in comparison to the tension created by a character that the player has not ever played against.

Tempo

The tempo in fighting game is usually very high. Fighting games require spilt – spilt – second decision making and requires high levels of reaction. The tempo itself may change dramatically over t he course of battle. The tempo in the fighting games is similar to the tempo noticed in a boss fight of any game. The curve below shows the tempo in a fight.

The fights tend to have more of a climax feel. They are generally eased into the first part of the fight, but as they start to chip away at its health it begins to attack with more and more intensity, until the final phase where the player performs the finishing attack on his opponent. Once the opponent is defeated the threat is completed eliminated the tempo drops to pretty much nothing and hence u see a decline in the tempo.


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Street Fighter 2 RYU vs E.HONDA (Please look for the following link for Pacing done below)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7xY6rID5Yo

0.07 secs to 0.18 secs

In this part of the clip the t he Ryu is at ease as E.Honda is not very close to him and Ryu does the first damage to E.Honda. Considering the player has faced E.Honda before and he is aware of his attacks the t he threat level is medium. The tempo in fighting games or any combat is usually on a higher side. Threat - 4 Tension – Tension – 5 Tempo – Tempo – 8 0.19 to 0.28 secs

In this part of the clip E.Honda starts getting aggr essive and comes closer to Ryu to attack him. The threat level rises. The tension is still medium and the tempo is also high. Threat – Threat – 8 Tension – Tension – 6 Tempo – Tempo – 9 0.29 to 0.45

In this part of the clip E.Honda is still attacking Ryu but keeps going back and forth and misses the Hundred Hand Slap. The threat increases when Ryu sees E.Honda initiating the Hundred Hand Slap, but soon he is at ease when E.Honda misses it. Threat – Threat – 8 Tension – Tension – 6 Tempo – Tempo – 9 0.46 to 0.59

In this part of the clip, E.Honda finally KO’s Ryu. The threat level is at the highest when Ryu health bar is completely red and is still hanging in there.


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Threat – Threat – 10 Tension -6 Tempo – Tempo – 9 1.00secs to 1.50secs

In this part of the clip the t he tension is really high as the Ryu lost the first round as he is not sure about what coming up for him in the next round. The threat is also on a higher side. There is a lot of variation in threat levels as the player has understood E.Honda’s moves and is continuously sp amming E.Honda with Ryu’s Hadoukens. Threat – Threat – 8 Tension – Tension – 8 Tempo – Tempo – 8 1.51 secs to 2.08

In this part of the clip Ryu is still spamming E.Honda with his hadouken and he finally KO’s him. The threat level in this part is a little less compared to the earlier parts as E.Honda is at a distance from Ryu and Ryu has the full control over the situation as E.Honda doesn’t have any attacks to counter Ryu’s hadouken except for escaping it by jumping. Threat – Threat – 6 Tension – Tension – 5 Tempo – Tempo – 8 2.09 secs to 3.19

In this round Ryu is again at an ease but the tension level is a little higher than the previous clip as it’s a final round and a decider round. Ryu continues to spam E.Honda with hadouken and uses low kicks when E.Honda comes close to him Threat – Threat – 8 Tension – Tension – 8 Tempo – Tempo – 9


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Game Genre Fighting Game

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