Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Why are all fighting games asymmetrical? Who made up this rule
that they all have to have 12 or more characters? Why can't they just
have one? This should have been tried by now, at least. But, if you are
going to make an asymmetrical game, do me this favor: play with it as a
symmetrical game for a long time while you're testing it. The game must
stand up on its foundation, just like a house. Towards the end of develop-
ment, when you're confident that the core mechanisms are strong, you
can add the asymmetry.
Too Much Complexity
If you decide to use asymmetry, don't go overboard. Start with a small
number of characters—something like three or four—and see how deep
and flavorful you can make those characters. If you have a great new idea
for another character, then try it out. Start at three characters, and move
up, slowly and only when you are truly inspired to do so. Do not, under
any circumstances, choose a number of characters up front and then try
to meet your quota of 8, 12, or 20 characters.
Further, consider the number of moves very carefully. Keep in mind
that these are real-time games, with continuous movement onscreen.
That means that even if you had only two moves—like, say, a jump kick
and a block—the amount of emergent complexity is quite large. People
take for granted the immense amount of gameplay meaning and infor-
mation passed along by a real-time game with continuous space. So,
again—start with just two or three moves, and then increase the number
only as needed
.
Do you really need a “strong and fierce� punch? Do you
really need both an “uppercut in place� and a “jumping uppercut�? All
of these add more inherent complexity, which your players must learn
before they are able to really play, so you're making the game harder to
play and harder to balance. Don't overwhelm your players with noise
moves—it makes any good moves your system had to start with lose
their identities.
Health Bars
Most fighting games have two colored bars at the top of the screen rep-
resenting each character's health. When a bar is completely empty, that
player has lost. There's nothing wrong
with health bars, but the fact is
that they aren't tied in to the game happening on the screen all that well.
hey have zero
relationship with the player's onscreen position, and they
don't convey much about the match itself. All that matters with a health
bar is whether it is depleted or not; no other state has any effect on the
game, and for this reason it's somewhat flat
