Game Genre Fighting Game

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Genre Analysis-Fighting Game

Team 2

8th Octobe

Pramod, Tejaswini, Mohit, Sohaan GDA1

Table of ContentsIntroduction .................................................................................................................................................. 3

History: .......................................................................................................................................................... 3

Game Play: .................................................................................................................................................... 4

The Basic Mechanism: .................................................................................................................................. 4

Player Engagement ................................................................................................................................... 4

Core Challenges: ........................................................................................................................................... 5

1. Priority management .................................................................................................................... 5

Visual skills ................................................................................................................................................ 5

Anticipation skills ...................................................................................................................................... 6

Dexterity skills ........................................................................................................................................... 6

2. Space Management ...................................................................................................................... 6

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

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

5. Eye-Hand Coordination: ................................................................................................................ 9


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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".

Games traditionally show fighters from a side-view, even as the genre has progressed from 2D

to 3D graphics. Fighting games typically involve hand-to-hand combat, but may also 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.

- Karate ChampandThe Way of the Exploding Fistpopularized one-on-one fighting games in

1984 and 1985 respectively.

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

- In 1987,Street Fighterintroduced hidden special attacks.

- In 1991, Capcom's highly successfulStreet Fighter IIrefined and popularized many of theconventions of the genre.

- Late 1990 gave some famous games as Street Fighter EX, The King of Fighters, also started

Dead or Alive series.

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

- In 1999, Nintendo released first game in Super Smash Bros Series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_genrehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_combathttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combo_(gaming)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karate_Champhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karate_Champhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_of_the_Exploding_Fisthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_of_the_Exploding_Fisthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_of_the_Exploding_Fisthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yie_Ar_Kung-Fuhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yie_Ar_Kung-Fuhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yie_Ar_Kung-Fuhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_Fighter_(video_game)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_Fighter_(video_game)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_Fighter_(video_game)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capcomhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_Fighter_IIhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_Fighter_IIhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_Fighter_IIhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_Fighter_IIhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capcomhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_Fighter_(video_game)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yie_Ar_Kung-Fuhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_of_the_Exploding_Fisthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karate_Champhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combo_(gaming)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_combathttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_genre


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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 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 desire experienced in

game, during play or over a longer period of time, when players dedicate themselves to

coming back and playing a game again and again.

Player engagement is initiated by a players 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 players experience of engagement, depending

on both the player and the type of game played. 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.

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.

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 achallenge.


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Player engagement process in fighting games can be visualized through the Challenges, Fight,

Victory/Defeat, and Affect.

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, that the player also needs to anticipate the

opponents future actions. Due to this player has increased awareness in indulgence in the

game.

Many of the fighting games dont need much focus on the surroundings. But games like

Super Gem Fighters: Mini Mix is a game where player needs to focus over the surroundings,

Victory/Defeat

Challenge

FightLeader Boards


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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 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 to have high dexterity skills as once a player is

caught by the opponents regular skill attacks; its 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 player 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. Theres 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

theyve been on their feet for 13 frames (13/60th of a second)

While recovering from block or hit stun.


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When executing some moves. For example you cannot throw Ken when hes 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 opponents 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 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, 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 ashoryuken 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 King 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 to drop frames and stop early. This allows you to

instantly keep moving or attacking rather than waiting for said animation to finish goingthrough 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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No. Attack Controls Damage Done Range Time

1 Punch Punch 5% Close Fast

2 Duck Punch Down+Punch 3% Close Fast

3 Kick Kick 11% Medium Fast

4 Round Kick Side+Punch+kick 20% Long Medium5 Air Kick 1 Jump+Kick 24% Long Medium

6 Air Kick 2 Jump+Kick+Side 25% Long Medium

7 Duck Kick Down+Kick 5% Close Fast

8 Power Kick Punch+Punch+Kick+Kick 45% Long Slow

No. Attack Controls Damage Range Time


2 Duck Punch Down+Punch 4% Close Fast

3 Dash Punch Side+Side+Punch 17% Medium Medium


5 Speed Kick Punch+Kick 24% Long Medium6 Air Kick Jump+Kick 24% Medium Medium

7 Duck Kick Down+ Kick 7% Close Fast

8 Double Kick Jump+Side+Kick 20% Long Slow

No. Attack Controls Damage Range Time


2 Duck Punch Down+Punch 4% Close Medium


4 Air Kick Jump+Kick 24% Medium Medium

5 Duck Kick Down+Kick 7% Close Medium

6 Round Kick Side+Side+Kick 20% Long Slow7 Speed Kick Side+Punch+Kick 20% Long Medium

8 Power Kick Side+Side+Punch+Kick 17% Long Slow

9 Double Kick Jump+Side+Guard+Kick 20% Medium Slow

Pai Chan

Akira Yuki

Kage Maru


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o Attack Type Controls

Damage

Done Range

Area

Efect

Over Head Kick Normal Forward + Kick 10% Close NO

Front Kick Normal Forward Down+ Punch 15% Close NO

Zankuu Hadouken Air+Gem Quarter Circle Forward+Punch 15-20% Medium close NOTatsumaki Zankukyaku Gem Quarter Circle Back+Kick 20-40% Medium NO

Tenma Gou Zankuu Air+Special Combo Half Circle Back+Half Circle Forward+Punch 15-20% Medium Yes


Damage

Done Range

Area

Efect

Forward Kick Normal Forward + Kick 15% Close NO

Roundhouse kick Normal Forward Down+ Kick 10% Medium close NO

Hyakuretsu Kyaku tap+Gem Tap Kick 10-15% Close NO

Hishou Kyaku Gem Gragon motion+Kick 15% Medium close NO

Hazan Hishou KyaKu Special Combo Dragon motin +Special 20-25% Medium NO


Damage

Done Range

Area

Efect

Shoe Attack Normal Forward+Punch 10% Close NO

Upper cut Fist Normal Forward Down+Punch 5% Close NO

Soul Fist Air+Gem Quarter Circle Forward+Punch 10-15% Medium Long NO

Shadow Blade Gem Dragon Motion+Punch 20-25% Medium Close Yes

Darkness illusion Special Combo Half Circle Forward +Special 35-40% Medium Close NO


Damage

Done Range

Area

Efect

Upper Kick Normal Forward Down+ Punch 10% Close NO

Toe Kick Normal Forward Down+ Kick 10% Close NO

Rolling Bucker Gem Quarter circle forward+Punch+Punch 10-15% Medium NO

Hysteric Star Tap Tap Punch 10-15% Close Yes

Crazy for you Special Combo Half Circle Forward+Half Circle Back+Kick 25-30% Medium Long NO


Damage

Done Range

Area

Efect

Cat Roll Normal Forward Down+ Kick 10% Close NO

Mouse Whip Normal Down+Kick 5% Close NO

CatKick Air Forward+Kick 3-5% Close NO

Dragon's Roar Gem Quarter Forward+Kick 5-10% Medium NO

Untouchable Force Special Combo Half Back+Special 20-25% Close Yes

Akuma (Secret Character)

Chun-Li (Street Fighter Character)

Morrigan (Darkstalkers Character)

Felicia (Darkstalkers Character)

Tessa (Red Earth Character)


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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 life/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 its better for the player.

It also gives player time 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 directionalpads 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:

- One of the new abilities came in to being in the genre, called Counter Attack. The player can

counter his opponent attacks by performing the right type of attack to counter a specialattack. The counter attacks can sometimes be as simple as blocking an attack and then just

performing a light punch attack.

- Few new abilities where discovered with the improvement and more liking of fighting 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

Jump

for

combo

Down

for

combo

Kick or

Punch

Forward

down Punch

or Kick for

combo

Forward up

Punch or

Kick for

combo

Behind

for

Block


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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 fathers name and honor.

Vs / Solo Mode


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4. Replay ability

Fighting games doesnt 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 fight, 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 isnt 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. 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 defeatanother 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 dont put the player to play a story mode.

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.

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 players desire to win the first round and

then fight the second round and finally win the fight. In case if he faces defeat in the 2nd 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 to move

ahead in the game.

The movement impetus in all fighting games is always high.

Threat

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.

In fighting games, the battle ground sets the tension in the game. For example in Mortal Combat

3, when the players character is hit hard by his opponent through tones of combos, the players

characters is slammed down on the ground by the opponents character, breaking the ground

and the landing on the level below

In fighting games when the players character takes a lot damage, the character stuns for amoment. The threat level for that moment goes very high as the players 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

opponents 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 second decision making

and requires high levels of reaction. The tempo itself may change dramatically over the 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 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

threat level is medium. The tempo in fighting games or any combat is usually on a higher side.

Threat - 4

Tension 5

Tempo 8

0.19 to 0.28 secs

In this part of the clip E.Honda starts getting aggressive and comes closer to Ryu to attack him. The

threat level rises. The tension is still medium and the tempo is also high.

Threat 8

Tension 6

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 8

Tension 6

Tempo 9

0.46 to 0.59

In this part of the clip, E.Honda finally KOs Ryu. The threat level is at the highest when Ryu health bar is

completely red and is still hanging in there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7xY6rID5Yohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7xY6rID5Yohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7xY6rID5Yo


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Threat 10

Tension -6

Tempo 9

1.00secs to 1.50secs

In this part of the clip the 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.Hondas moves and is continuously spamming E.Honda

with Ryus Hadoukens.

Threat 8

Tension 8

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 KOs 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 doesnt have any attacks to counter Ryus

hadouken except for escaping it by jumping.

Threat 6

Tension 5

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 its 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 8

Tension 8

Tempo 9

Game Genre Fighting Game

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