As Mike Z said, a lot of the UI stuff doesn’t really need to be said. It should just be common sense. However, there are a few things I’d like to add and/or comment on. I’ve mentioned a lot of this stuff already so apologies if I sound like a broken record.
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Tap-to-set is really good, but it can also be implemented poorly, eg. USFIV and 3SOE, which don’t allow you to unset buttons. To implement tap-to-set correctly can be fairly tricky. For example, if you make a button like SELECT/BACK to be your default “unset” button, how do you implement that in games that use these buttons for play/replay/reset in Training Mode? GG Xrd handles this requiring you to hold right to unset a button. But this forces you to have a different implementation on PC, where you’d have to configure directional buttons on keyboard. So maybe a better option to do it is make the players hold a button for 1 second if they want to unset it.
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Games should also include two different Button Config screens - a slimmed down version for VS mode, and a full featured version for training mode. There’s no need to have button config options for Save state/Replay etc in VS mode.
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I think it would be a good idea to have the selected character (or a default one) to appear on the button config screen and perform the move as you press the button. This helps a lot when players are more familiar than the visual appearance with the moves than their technical names, and or the layout of the button-config screen (think foreigners who only play in the arcades who have no idea of how the console layouts work).
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Having win stats in VS mode is nice, but also have an option to reset the stats.
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Allow players to switch sides from the pause menu or char select screen. Some games get this half right as they allow you to choose a controller at the start of VS mode. But it should also allow you to switch sides from the pause menu. This is important because when playing offline during VS mode, you don’t really go back to the main menu when a new player comes along. The previous players disconnect their controllers, the new players connect theirs, and then they spend the next minute trying to figure out if they should swap ports, chairs or just play like that. Unnecessary.
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Only allow inputs from Player 1 and Player 2 during matches. This should eliminate that wireless controller Pause issue. This is tricky because sometimes it’s an underlying OS thing, but if you can do it, then do it, or at least have an option for it.
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Permanent Random Select for stages (and players) is nice, but sometimes loading times and memory constraints limit this as an option. DON’T implement this if the random stages/characters take long to load. Provide it as an option. (It should be an option anyway because even if you choose Random Select for characters, some tournaments prevent you from switching characters during a set).
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Just use Smash Bros options for VS settings and build on it. Seriously. Allow the players to select from a pool of stages. eg. If noone likes Volcano stage in SFIV, allow the player to deselect it so that it won’t show up even in Random Select. For music, the options should be Random/Player 1/Player 2/Stage or a random selection of P1/P2/Stage. A lot of stage designers and music producers don’t particularly like this as an option because they design music for a particular stage, but IMO for offline VS mode the player should be able to choose what they want. You should have an option for Random Select to include different colour palettes and costumes as well, and it should be as configurable as the stages (eg. Disallow Blanka Alt. 3 in SFIV)
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Different Stages and costumes should not cause the game to run at different speeds
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There are business reasons that some companies don’t include frame data/hitbox information in training mode. eg. Selling guidebooks themselves or through a 3rd party. Unfortunately players don’t have much of a say here. Interestingly enough, there are also things like having training modes where combos are demonstrated through certain sound and visual cues that aren’t easy to implement because of patents by other companies.
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Use the best netcode as determined through thorough play testing and feedback. Not always possible because of budget/time/technological constraints. But choosing XYZ netcode just because it’s XYZ is almost universally a bad idea.
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You should be able to select any stage/BGM for training mode
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You should be able to switch characters with the dummy without going back to char select. The same in games with multiple supers. Just allow the player to select from the training mode option screen.
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If memory and load times permit, allow the player to select stages and characters without going back to Char/Stage select. Think of the command list in 3SOE. It brings up a list of all the characters and you pick one. Char select should work the same if possible.
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Allow the player to select the default training mode characters. In USFIV, the default chars are always Juri and Hakan (I think). I don’t play these chars so I rarely pick them in training mode.
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“Use as reversal” is a necessary option in training mode, but also allow the player different slots for recording and then give them an option to play it back randomly. eg. Record a DP, Backdash, crouch tech, jump etc. Then set the dummy to do these randomly on the first frame possible. If possible, allow them to set a bit of delay after the first possible frame (eg. “wait 3f then do cr.lp”). All these options can be overwhelming for newbies, so they should be tucked away under “advanced” settings.
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Allow for different training configurations that can be saved and reloaded
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You should be able to watch a replay, select a time frame, and then be able to recreate the exact situation (characters, stage, position, inputs) in training mode, giving you the option to select which player should be the training dummy and which one you want to control. This is very useful for training against setups and strategies that you don’t know 100% how to recreate.
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Some very useful training mode options take a lot of time to implement, and realistically will only be used by a handful of people who buy the game. If you can’t implement everything you want, consider adding it as DLC. This goes for tutorial modes as well. I’d rather pay $10 for a decent Training Mode than a furry costume…
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Training dummy auto-block should not apply on wake-up. At least have an option to disable it.
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Damage in training mode should be displayed in 2 ways: Damage output at current life scaling, and Damage output at max health
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It’s nice to see where certain combos failed like in GG and BB, but I personally consider this visual clutter and would be prefer to only have it in training mode, or in replays.
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This should go without saying, but the command history list should be available for P1 and P2 in training mode. It’s amazing how many games neglect this simple feature.
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Consider using a different hit-spark or visual indicator for punishment. TTT2 does this now I believe, but only in training mode. This gives you and spectators an indication of whether or not a player’s move was punished, or if they just did not block correctly.
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X-up implementation is really a design choice around playability (and visuals). There’s no “right” and “wrong” way to do them, and in fact they can even be set per character (as Mike Z explained about Carl Clover) and even per-move, although it takes more work. I don’t agree with him that they aren’t handled “properly” in Arc Sys games.
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His examples about unblockables are a good demonstration of what I was talking about earlier, which is roughly “good” design choices do not equal “good” game. 3rd Strike is a great example of this (*and a not-so-great one). Capcom actually removed Urien and Oro’s unblockables from the game. What happened? Players refused to play the new revision and arcade owners were forced to revert back to the previous version. Kuroda himself recently said that without these unblockables Urien and Oro would not be very good. What does this mean? 3S is a better game because of a “bad” design choice! At the end of the day, no matter what YOU think is good for the game, more often that not its success will depend on the players. (*If I’m not mistaken, you can parry your way out of these unblockables)
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3 Button inputs DO have an impact on playability outside of simply making execution harder/easier. eg. Boxer’s TAP prevents him from teching or using throws and using focus attacks while he is charging.
It’s also important to realise that a lot of the arguments he and other people make for an against certain things can also be applied to other things that they do like, or don’t necessarily have a problem with. For example, if you argue that “no supers should ever have to be harder that QCF + 2 buttons because XYZ does it and it’s just fine”, you should be able to argue that no game should ever need more than 1*/2/3/4 attack buttons because ABC does it and it’s also fine (*Evil Zone on the PSX only uses 1 button + directional inputs). This is not about a certain aspect of fighting games per se, but it’s just something to be aware of when considering arguments.
On his opinion against Stun/Dizzy: “Getting hit again because you got hit before is bad design” is not a good argument against dizzies in my opinion. Combos rely on this aspect of fighting games. If you cannot get hit again immediately after getting hit, then combos wouldn’t be possible. Dizzies also allow you to use combos that aren’t really seen much outside punishment opportunities. Furthermore, they allow for interesting (IMO) metagame battles (“Do I play more cautiously now that stun is coming up, or do I take advantage of his aggression and bait him into punishable offense?”). That said, you certainly don’t NEED a dizzy mechanic in a fighting game.
On guard crush: He neglects to mention that many games that have a guard crush mechanic also include Alpha Counters.