Capcom Wants to Make Accessible Fighting Games

[drizzt]

A VP at Capcom agrees with a fan who wants casual-friendly fighters.

The world of fighting games can be a harsh place sometimes. Between a fierce competitive scene, constant updates and re-releases of full-priced games, and the occasional bout of sexist trash-talk, the intense, chaotic, and engaging world of fighters is not the easiest genre for a newbie. In fact, even just learning the ropes can be tough, as one Capcom fan pointed out on the official forums recently. No less than a Capcom vice president replied to his concerns, though, agreeing that Capcom needs to draw in more casual fighting fans, and expressing hope that future Capcom games will provide the right tools to ease new players in.

The thread's initial post by "SamusTheHedgehog" expressed a lot of enthusiasm for recent Capcom hits like Street Fighter IV and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, but lamented the fact that playing the game to its fullest requires the use of many moves that lack any kind of in-game training beyond a free-form Practice mode. Christian Svensson, a senior vice president, jumped into the thread one page later. Instead of defending this lack of tutorial mode in the games, however, Svensson took SamusTheHedgehog's side more or less unequivocally.

"I'd say we have varying levels of success in making sure there's enough content and fun in the mechanics even if you don't know how to plink, FADC or DHC," Svensson wrote. "[Street Fighter X Tekken] was intended to be a bit more casual friendly and frankly, I think with the introduction of so many new systems ... we probably overcomplicated things and it worked against that objective." Svensson explained that while Capcom has had good intentions in trying to implement tutorial modes, the company has yet to go far enough in welcoming new players and showing them the ropes. "I know some competitive players will scoff," he admitted, "but the vitality of the scene is linked to how successful we all are (I say all because the community needs to be accepting of new players too) in these efforts."

If Svensson has his way, Capcom's next big fighting game title might be as friendly to new players as it is rewarding for veteran fighting champs. With his humble attitude and forthright dialogue, Svensson may just set a precedent for the company in which honesty, innovation, and profit go hand-in-hand. "I'd like to think we can do better in the future," he concluded.

Source: Capcom-Unity

[CloudStrife7x]

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[Serious_M]

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[thegutta]

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[X360Quicky]

IMO, Noobs need to go back, buy a retro console like snes or something (or download a emulator), or stick to practice mode and then work their way up like the advanced players have done. Trying to skip years of practice and be a PRO in a day makes a game crap! In FIFA we don't want two button controls, and in Streetfighter we don't want Gems, and one button combo moves! I think most players that moan about games like Streetfighter and MVC spend all their time on COD and then complain when they realise that it takes practice to be good at a fighting game, and they can't play COD everyday for years and then play a fighting game for a day or so and be at a level where they are actually considered good. Practice will get you "Perfect" (streetfighter voice).

I like COD by the way (mainly zombies, occasional MP), and the same thing applies to that, practice makes perfect, yes they have training modes now, but doesn't streetfighter have practice mode and Trials? Basically if you're a noob and don't know how to progress from a noob, you should sell your console and buy a Wii.

[drizzt]

IMO, Noobs need to go back, buy a retro console like snes or something (or download a emulator), or stick to practice mode and then work their way up like the advanced players have done. Trying to skip years of practice and be a PRO in a day makes a game crap! In FIFA we don't want two button controls, and in Streetfighter we don't want Gems, and one button combo moves! I think most players that moan about games like Streetfighter and MVC spend all their time on COD and then complain when they realise that it takes practice to be good at a fighting game, and they can't play COD everyday for years and then play a fighting game for a day or so and be at a level where they are actually considered good. Practice will get you "Perfect" (streetfighter voice).

I like COD by the way (mainly zombies, occasional MP), and the same thing applies to that, practice makes perfect, yes they have training modes now, but doesn't streetfighter have practice mode and Trials? Basically if you're a noob and don't know how to progress from a noob, you should sell your console and buy a Wii.

I agree, if a vet is hurting your noob feelings that bad, drop you some doe on a modded control and equalize the comp. Have you played the latest MK. Sorry this is a modding site, some people may disagree but for games like that a modding control is a must.

[Emerald Lance]

IMO, Noobs need to go back, buy a retro console like snes or something (or download a emulator), or stick to practice mode and then work their way up like the advanced players have done. Trying to skip years of practice and be a PRO in a day makes a game crap! In FIFA we don't want two button controls, and in Streetfighter we don't want Gems, and one button combo moves! I think most players that moan about games like Streetfighter and MVC spend all their time on COD and then complain when they realise that it takes practice to be good at a fighting game, and they can't play COD everyday for years and then play a fighting game for a day or so and be at a level where they are actually considered good. Practice will get you "Perfect" (streetfighter voice).

I like COD by the way (mainly zombies, occasional MP), and the same thing applies to that, practice makes perfect, yes they have training modes now, but doesn't streetfighter have practice mode and Trials? Basically if you're a noob and don't know how to progress from a noob, you should sell your console and buy a Wii.

I agree, but only halfway. I think you may have missed the point of what Svensson was saying.

I definitely agree that dumbing down a fighting game is the worst thing that could be done in the genre. Thoughts of the PSV version of UMvC3 come to mind, where all you have to do is tap the screen over and over again and pull off crazy combos. That's no fun, and it's really not any different from a fancy rhythm game. Practice definitely makes perfect, and I think the mechanics should remain as deep as they are without compromise.

However, what Svensson was talking about was not dumbing down the mechanics, but instead adding better tutorials to teach newer players about said mechanics. All of these advanced techniques are being programed into the games now (instead of being simple glitches) and yet there is rarely any sort of tutorial that teaches players how to take advantage of these techniques. A great comparison is MvC2 to SF3, especially the newer online ports: MvC2 has more advanced techniques than you can shake a stick at, but the only reference for players to look at is individual movelists for characters; on the other side, SF3 also has a huge assortment of advanced techs, but it also has a tutorial mode where it explains the concepts behind such techniques, and walks the player through the process of performing them (even if the tutorials do have an extremely high difficulty curve). What Svensson was saying is that we need more SF3's and less MvC2's (in regards to how they help new players learn). That nonsense "Trial Mode" SF4 uses isn't going to cut it here: all that is is just the game saying "here's a combo now do it", there isn't anywhere in the game that explains why the combo works the way it does.

I'm a decent fighting game player. I've been with Street Fighter since the first game. I'm far from pro-level (I can barely hold my own in matchmaking nowdays) but I have a solid grasp on most advanced techniques. But I didn't learn these by myself: I looked up how to do them. I had them explained to me. And most other players who take advantage of such techniques had to go through similar channels to learn them. Simple stuff like a cross-up or basic cancelling are things you may have just discovered on your own without prior knowledge of their existence. But other, more advanced stuff? No way. Most players have to see them done first. The only exception is the ultra hardcore that actively looks for that kind of stuff. How is the average player supposed to remember things like the fact that Akuma's LP+MP+HK+delay+downHK+RQCHK+QCHyper (a relatively simple combo) will work in UMvC3 but not in MvC2?

That's what Svensson meant. While those ultra hardcore players I mentioned earlier are clearly going to do fine in fighting games as they are, you can't make stay afloat by preaching exclusively to the choir. The effort has to be made by the developers to draw newer players in by making it more accessible. That doesn't mean making it easier to do, it just means making it easier to learn.

[X360Quicky]

OK Emerald Lance, you put me straight kind of, I agree there should be easier methods of learning moves and techniques, It applies to all games really like Gears 3 with them quick shotgun kills online, FIFA with them half way line goals, but as I was saying before I think in the end it will always come down to those who practice more will always out match the noobs as it should be, unless more of them crappy gem or other "cheating" mechanics are added into games ruining them. Practice allows you to discover little tricks in the game allowing you to be a pro, allowing you to enjoy the game longer as you learn new tricks over time. Streetfighter especially has replays of top players you can study to learn when conbo's can be most effective, and you can even study your own gameplay and see where to improve. I agree some games need to add more noob friendly features but some games will only ruin the game IMO.