I frequently say, "Ranked is a parasite on everything that makes fighting games beautiful and worthwhile," but still boot up ranked modes more often than I'd like.
Gonna take this as a sign to look for longer matches elsewhere more often.
Individually, a person who plays fighting games may have a bunch of different complicated nuanced motivations and emotions that are served by different parts of the fighting game experience — not limited to the game itself on their console, but the broader journey of mastery and connectivity. The high-minded ideal FGC stuff I mentioned above is real and does exist! It just doesn’t exist enough to sell the millions of copies that go into funding the next Street Fighter or Tekken. At scale, building and selling games as a service looks a lot more like making a theme park or a casino, where you have customers entering at a given point, you give them choices on what kind of experience they can have in your game, and you give them clear signs and paths to choose from in order to make it easy for them. In the above section, we established that people play video games because they want to feel something specific. It’s a brief moment of agency in a day where you were otherwise probably at the mercy of some stupid bullshit at your job, or at school, or in your family, or on the bus, or whatever. We spend most of our day pushing the boulder up, and the brief moment of rest we get is choosing the video game we play in between eating dinner and going to sleep, where we get to act like the person we imagine ourselves to be as the boulder rolls back down the hill.
"Why ranked sucks and we can't get rid of it"
Wrote about how fighting games rely on ranked matchmaking to retain players even though it often makes the experience worse. Read this to learn about friction, addiction, motivation, and how you can Ranked responsibly.
www.patreon.com/posts/152427...
Been playing through the Metal Gear Solid games for the first time, and just finished MGS2...
I was missing out.
I need a documentary about the development of Resident Evil 7 and the RE Engine at Capcom.
It feels like those projects together were the medium through which Capcom figured out how to reach their modern success.
I bet there's some great stories from that time.
"Why rollback and netplay events are good for locals, actually"
Last night I hosted a sweet locals session out of my garage and then after cleaning up I read one of the worst fighting game takes in recent memory, so here's my attempt to upcycle it.
www.patreon.com/posts/why-ro...
Screenshot of a text document that reads as follows: This is a game trying to say something. It gets a bit muddled at times, wrestling with themes it hasn’t quite pinned down. However that does not hold back Metal Gear Solid from lodging itself in my brain. The game carries lingering concerns about nuclear weapons from the Cold War, a fascination with the relationship between one’s personal history and the human genome and how that informs their life choices, skepticism of the systems of power around the world, and a desire to be a badass video game on the Sony Playstation. The game doesn’t have answers or clear messages for all these themes. It simply declares that you choose life in general and to live it. And I think that’s enough. I feel as if the game wasn’t trying to give all these answers, but to compel the player to join the game in contemplating these ideas. And it succeeded with me. Video games with such strong voices don’t come all the time. I would have to imagine much of this voice coming from Hideo Kojima. I think I have to see what the rest of his games are about.
Finished Metal Gear Solid for the first time.
Wonderful game.
Oh he's wonderful! Thank you!
Torterra
I've started playing Metal Gear Solid for the first time, and it has immediately lodged itself into my brain.
"On protagonist myths, killing your joy, and why I still compete in fighting games"
Wrote for a bit about how my time with martial arts helped me frame my continuing journey with fighting games, and why it's better to be a side character instead of a protagonist.
www.patreon.com/posts/on-pro...
A screenshot of a tweet from Bafael that reads, "by SF6 season 3, every character will have a selectable level 2 super, screenshot this post"
@bafael.bsky.social I am obligated to call you out.
ahead of every tournament, I always say- remember why you play. play because it's fun. play out of love. it's the best thing for our souls, so try to remember it as much as you can.
Yasuo's long range S2 is supposed to lead to 90% damage right? #2xko_yasuo
Here's mine!
This pose was super fun to try and create a cycle from!
Here's the youtube link to my run! If you missed it go check it out!
Returning back to some games from the early 2000's, and I'm struck by how often stray ideas end up in the final game.
Ideas that start from "Wouldn't it be cool if ___," could just be implemented into games back then. Reminds me just how much of game design was found through experimentation.
A New Challenger Appears! #PunchPlanet welcomes its latest character RENO in 0.8.4 available now on #SteamEarlyAccess!
Store
store.steampowered.com/app/577970/P...
Patch Notes
store.steampowered.com/news/app/577...
#indiegames #indiedev #fightinggames #scifi #madewithunity #unity3d #animation
I have a few criticisms of Fatal Fury, but this is a really good launch version of a fighting game.
#cotw_Hokutomaru
Midscreen safe jump routes for when you have and don't have SPG.
Got my color
April Pose Cycle challenge details! Have fun!
(images and resources in the post below)
These get me to add a bunch of stuff to my wishlist every time.
Thank you for your hard work!
There was a lot of good game animation in 2024, and I found ALL OF IT.
#animation
youtu.be/eD_dYrVFTEY
Combining a few ideas I've seen in clips floating around. #GGST_VE
My power went out so I had to DQ 😭
Decided to enter and rep the Zeku. A bit rusty but gonna be a good time regardless!
This week's show? Unmatched. 🏡 Congratulations to your #SF6 Top 8 Champions of The KickBack 46.
🏆 Sh | Rasec
🥈 rufianMX
🥉 RaveFGC
🏅 SKL | Rookie
🏅 @oliver-misbach.bsky.social
🏅 Freezie5425
🏅 LAGr | Jazdero
🏅 KINGSMAN
🎙️ @itsflokey.bsky.social @sephmitchell.bsky.social
It's tournaments that like that reignite the passion for fighting games #CapcomcupXI
