Silver Trash

So, it took me a while to actually play Street Fighter V, but eventually I received it as a gift from my father who was waxing nostalgic over our playing Street Fighter II Turbo during my childhood.

My time is far more limited these days and playing games is usually contingent on sacrificing an hour or two of sleep or a sufficiently fathomless nap from the kids. But, after having managed some preliminary exploration into the game, I determined that I ought to at least be able to make it as "silver trash" with minimal training. Recently I met this goal more easily than I had expected and I'm curious what it will take to get to gold.

Now, I'd heard a lot of talk about rage quitting being a major issue among SFV players. My personal experience was at odds with this, though; where were all these quitters, anyway?

Turns out they are in Silver league.

Almost uniformly the bronzies I had been playing saw their matches through to the end and overwhelmingly they chose to play out the whole set without much regard to gaming the system for points. Likewise gold players would often see through an entire set with me despite the paltry gains in points a victory over myself would have netted them. But, when I began to regularly compete with players the three silver ranks, things started to change; suddenly I understood the complaints.

Based on the quitting, the style of play, and meta gaming for points seen in Silver league, my current hypothesis is as follows:

Silver leaguers are disproportionately prideful to their actual skill level.

For the record, I take on nearly all commers. I'll finish a set with just about anyone, except perhaps the poorest of rookies who would be done more harm by it point-wise and people proven to rage quit when things don't go in their favor. If something needs to be addressed in real life, i leave the controller and forfeit the points. I never rage quit. I've received some massive blows to my score because of this, but also seen massive gains by overcoming high rankers.

Part of what is so fascinating about fighting games for me is how they reveal the personallity of players. I'm curious how Golds will behave, but for now an important lesson is that Silvers are probably very vulnerable l to trolling tactics. Repeatedly throw them or tick away at them with only light punches; being obnoxious in gameplay will likely put a silver on tilt and if you can then withstand and counter their offense you'll have yourself a win.

I Just Want to Feel Something Again

Recently, I heard a friend of mine mention with reluctant apprehension that we are "...in a golden age of gaming, I guess."

What a strange demeanor by which to deliver that phrase. But, I think I know why he was reluctant to admit what ought to be a glorious revelation.

What I think he realized was that we have all the necessary infrastructure in place for a golden age of gaming; all the wheels seem to be turning, after all. People have convenient access to powerful games-making software and an unprecedented ability to self publish their work or get it into a number of viable publishing platforms. I can tell you from experience that even representation on the major home consoles is far more accessible than it was less than a decade ago. This can be illustrated simply by taking a look at their respective digital storefronts.

Yet here we are, wistfully awaiting for something important to happen, all the while sighing over it's absence and lamenting the disappointments that arrive instead. Why?

I have seen many ideas put forth, but I will cut to the chase and identify what I observe to be the worst problem:

Insincerity.

I have come to understand this as one of the hallmark features of millennial art. In an age of prodigious opportunity, where individuals really can make their visionary game a reality, people far too often choose to instead produce something ironic and irreverent, affirming what they purport to admire on one hand, but sneering condescendingly at it from the other.

These are the "turbo fist puncher" homages to Streets of Rage and the "super blocky dungeon" successors to Wizardy.

Perhaps you think I simply don't have a sense of humor, but when I look out and observe that contemporary works inspired by previous successes are ubiquitously either failed attempts to reboot someone else's property or aweless, uninsightful satires, I have to conclude that by and large no one cares or understands what previously existed.

Thank goodness Doom is supposed to be good.

Greenlight Achieved

Starbreak was successfully greenlight for presence on Steam. Thanks to everyone who voted!

Proto-Wildfire

A very early concept of a character which would eventually become the Wildfire.

At this point in development, any character type could use any weapon. However, I still wanted to design characters for promotional purposes and this was going to be the character representing what we were then calling the soldier class (Think Phantasy Star Online.) A sword seemed the most appropriate weapon for him at the time. Currently, there isn't a sword in Starbreak at all!

Spriter and Character Art for Starbreak

At the Starbreak developer blog, we've made a post addressing character art. It is a brief overview of how we use Spriter.

Although this was written primarily by myself, I notice that some edits and additional sentences were added which I was unaware of.

There will be additional posts relative to Starbreak's art made in the coming weeks. I may post additional things here, too.

Starbreak is in open beta right now and you can play in your browser, no strings attached.

Game Pics - Castlevania III

Castlevania III (NES)

Castlevania III

• NES
• 1989
• HAL Laboratory
• (256x240)x4

On My Taste In Choosing Playable Characters

I've learned from playing fighting games with great seriousness that the abilities of a playable character in games can be scrutinized to a degree that I otherwise may not have realized. It's given me a much greater appreciation for game design in general, but the impetus behind this post is a question that often lingers in the back of my mind, only occasionally entertained.

"Why do I pick the characters I do?"

There are many reasons, of course. My tastes have changed with time, experience, and by whim. I thought that by making some posts about the topic I might unearth some deeply entrenched n information of great importance. Magnitudes of great wisdom for the world to behold!

Or maybe just the good, fun speculation typical of fandom.

I don't think I'll address the aforementioned reasons in any kind of order. But, the attribute which strikes me as being interesting tonight is "balance."

Ryu (Street Fighter III)

Balance seems to be a recurring theme for me. I can only tolerate the dabbling into of more extremes for a short time. I've found that characters which lean greatly to some extreme, be it speed, power, etc, are often saddled with some opposing weakness of equal extremity. When that weakness is exploited, I can't help but feel greatly frustrated at the feeling that I simply could not rise to the challenge. It's one thing to fail by way of poor execution and another entirely to fail by way of lack of tools.

"Sun Tzu said: The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy."

 This quote from Sun Tzu always comes to mind when I consider character choice on the basis of balance. While it may not be possible to defend from all possible tactics, I highly value characters who have the ability to respond well to as many offensive tactics as possible. In many games, this often involves picking characters with answers to questions like the following:

• Can I deal with an opponent at a distance?

Hadoken

• Can I deal with an opponent who gets in close?

Shoryuken

• Can I deal with an opponent who is extremely fast?

Short

Crouching Short

Crouching Jab

Toss

• Can I survive mistakes without instant failure?

3rd Strike Stamina Rankings:

Hugo

1385

Urien

1285

Alex

1200

Dudley

1200

Ken

1200

Makoto

1200

Q

1200

Ryu

1120

Chun-Li

1120

Elena

1120

Necro

1120

Oro

1120

Remy

1120

Sean

1120

Twelve

1050

Ibuki

1035

Yang

1020

Yun

1020

Akuma

985

As you can see, and as you may have expected, Ryu really fits the bill when it comes to balance. He remains my favorite fighting game character to date.

Game Pics - Air Fortress

Air Fortress

Air Fortress
NES
1989
Hal Laboratory

(256x240)x4 px

Duskwing with Tea

Duskwing With Tea

The Duskwing. I am still undecided about certain subtleties in her design.

Understanding 2D Camera Work In Games

Super Mario World camera system

Here's an interesting write up on a topic I must admit I have largely taken for granted. Although I have not read through the entire thing, I already find it interesting enough that I think it merit's sharing.

Working on my game Mushroom 11, I was faced with many different design and technology challenges. I wasn't expecting to find references to issues like dynamically changing shapes or vertex animation, but I was quite surprised that camera work, a subject with more than 30 years of history in games, was hardly discussed.

For those of you interested in game design, or art in games, I think it's an excellent read and I appreciate the effort put into understanding these subtleties.

Duskwing Portrait

Duskwing Portrait

A portrait of the Duskwing from Starbreak.