The KEY to every GREAT fighting game.

[00:00] motion

[00:02] the movement of an object from one place

[00:04] to another it can be described by its

[00:06] speed direction and acceleration in the

[00:09] world of video games motion plays a

[00:11] crucial role in creating realistic and

[00:13] immersive experiences but it can also be

[00:15] used to exaggerate those things as well

[00:16] for example in sports games like FIFA

[00:18] the motion of the players and the ball

[00:20] are often based on real life physics to

[00:22] create a more authentic experience but

[00:24] in something like arcade racing games

[00:25] things like motion blur speed lines or

[00:28] other effects are often embellished to

[00:29] make the cars feel faster than they

[00:31] would be in real life but one thing that

[00:32] both games have in common is how

[00:34] important character movement or object

[00:35] movement is the only physical thing

[00:37] connecting a player to the game is the

[00:39] controller so the input of a player's

[00:41] device must feel smooth and match up

[00:42] with what is happening on screen even

[00:44] the way those characters react to their

[00:46] environment or other players must be

[00:47] executed carefully in order to give that

[00:49] sense of immersion it's hard to get lost

[00:51] in a game that doesn't make you feel

[00:52] like you're there

[00:54] [Music]

[00:59] this implementation of motion is

[01:01] especially crucial when it comes to

[01:02] fighting games as even the tiniest of

[01:04] movements and have a significant impact

[01:06] on the game so today we're going to look

[01:08] at the importance of motion and fighting

[01:10] games and how it's the key to making

[01:11] them great if you want to see more

[01:12] videos like this then make sure to

[01:13] subscribe it helps the channel out and

[01:15] you can always change your mind now when

[01:17] I talk about motion and fighting games

[01:18] I'm referring to everything the

[01:20] characters do on screen this includes

[01:22] attacks movement like running and

[01:23] jumping and even things like blocking

[01:25] there are some cases where the movement

[01:27] of stages or other factors come into

[01:28] play but for Simplicity I'm gonna stick

[01:30] with just the characters as that is

[01:32] something that every fighting game has

[01:33] from a visual perspective motion is

[01:36] obviously important for making the game

[01:37] look good a character with smooth and

[01:39] fluid movements can create a more

[01:40] Dynamic and exciting experience for the

[01:42] player while a character with choppy and

[01:44] sluggish movements can worsen the

[01:45] overall experience part of the reason

[01:47] why Street Fighter third strike is so

[01:48] popular and is still being talked about

[01:50] today is because of its incredible

[01:51] animation the character designs are all

[01:53] incredibly detailed with each fighter

[01:55] having their own unique style and

[01:57] moveset the in-game animation also flows

[01:59] really well making the fights look and

[02:01] feel like real martial arts matches the

[02:03] way they did it was using a combination

[02:04] of traditional hand-drawn animation and

[02:06] computer generated Graphics the game's

[02:08] character sprites were mostly hand drawn

[02:10] and then transferred digitally allowing

[02:12] for a lot more control and detail at the

[02:14] cost of time and probably sanity however

[02:16] this wasn't the case for some characters

[02:18] like Elena you can tell something looks

[02:20] different about her from the rest of the

[02:21] cast and that's because some of her

[02:23] moves are rotoscope someone was actually

[02:24] able to find the sword's material for

[02:26] her Victory pose which kind of led to

[02:28] people looking further into it and it is

[02:30] believed that the same method was used

[02:31] for her Idol animation as well you can

[02:33] even see the Sprite change for a split

[02:34] second in Street Fighter New Generation

[02:36] when her heel animation is active an

[02:38] advantage that rotoscoping gives is the

[02:40] smoothest in animation and less time

[02:42] spent because every Sprite is basically

[02:43] drawn for you you just have to trace it

[02:45] but just like everything else it also

[02:47] comes with the cost you can clearly see

[02:48] the loss in detail when looking at the

[02:50] hands and feet compared to other

[02:51] characters that were fully drawn it's

[02:53] kind of like what happens when people

[02:54] use that Tick Tock filter also once you

[02:56] realize this it's very obvious that her

[02:58] head was just pasted on afterwards as it

[03:00] never moves which is kind of uncanny in

[03:02] the grand scheme of things it's not

[03:04] really a big deal as the game moves so

[03:05] fast anyway so you probably wouldn't

[03:07] notice it's just something once you

[03:08] notice you really can't unsee but the

[03:10] technique of how artists choose to

[03:12] animate motion plays a big role in the

[03:13] overall art style and feel of the game

[03:15] for example Mortal Kombat uses motion

[03:17] capture to realistically showcase moves

[03:19] accurately it's basically like how Elena

[03:21] was rotoscoped but for 3D this technique

[03:24] makes the game feel and look modern as

[03:26] you're essentially using real life moves

[03:27] and attacks for the base of your

[03:28] characters then changing or tweaking

[03:30] certain parts whenever needed it also

[03:32] makes the animation process slightly

[03:33] easier in terms of getting the core

[03:35] movement down at least as most of your

[03:37] time will be spent tweaking the

[03:38] animation instead of creating it it's

[03:40] been clear since the beginning that

[03:41] Mortal Kombat has always gone for a more

[03:43] realistic approach in how their

[03:44] characters move the first iteration of

[03:46] the game used real people as Sprites and

[03:48] then imported them straight into the

[03:50] game so it's only fitting that they'd

[03:51] use motion capture to retain that same

[03:53] Essence Tekken also has adopted this

[03:55] technique as well and in my opinion it

[03:57] gets to Showcase it better because the

[03:58] game's movement allows players to use

[04:00] every aspect of the 3D space if you've

[04:02] ever seen tasks used on Tekken

[04:04] characters the way they Dodge each

[04:05] other's attacks feels like you're

[04:06] watching a martial arts movie where both

[04:08] opponents are at similar skill levels

[04:10] now something that this style of

[04:11] Animation lacks in my opinion is

[04:13] elasticity it's not a bad thing if

[04:14] you're going for a more modern approach

[04:16] like Tekken or Mortal Kombat but it's

[04:18] definitely something you have to

[04:19] consider when choosing a style of

[04:20] Animation elasticity is what gives

[04:22] cartoons its dramatic feel when a Looney

[04:24] Tunes character gets bonked in the head

[04:27] the extreme movements and reactions of

[04:29] that character effectively showcase that

[04:31] the compressing and stretching of Limbs

[04:33] really sells how hard that frying pan

[04:34] hit Tom's face even though that kind of

[04:36] body Distortion isn't realistic you can

[04:38] see this technique in a lot of 2D

[04:40] animated games like skull grows the

[04:42] wind-up and release of attacks have this

[04:43] effect to show how powerful the move is

[04:45] the more your character basically breaks

[04:47] its limbs the more damage that move does

[04:49] although there are a few exceptions like

[04:50] dulcim whose whole moveset is based on

[04:52] him being stretchy this technique is

[04:54] often paired with something called

[04:55] smearing while elasticity can show the

[04:57] windup and release of an attack smearing

[04:59] displays the speed of it as it is often

[05:01] used between frames of key poses there

[05:03] are usually two different ways of

[05:04] smearing and animation the first way is

[05:06] to quite literally smear the in-between

[05:08] frames distorting them and stretching

[05:10] them as they move from one to another

[05:11] the second way is by sort of duplicating

[05:13] the frames with all of them kind of

[05:14] overlapping each other until the

[05:16] animation is finished both methods are

[05:18] effective and is sometimes used together

[05:19] as there really isn't a correct way to

[05:21] do it it will always look smooth as long

[05:23] as you can create some sort of motion

[05:24] blur between the frames because that's

[05:26] all you're basically doing one of the

[05:27] challenges in implementing Motion in

[05:29] fighting games is achieving balance

[05:30] between realism and creativity super

[05:32] realistic fighting games require

[05:34] accurate simulations of movement this

[05:36] introduces the element of Randomness

[05:37] where some reactions to moves don't

[05:39] always have the same result just like in

[05:41] real life for example in UFC you might

[05:43] be able to get a knockdown a certain way

[05:44] but if that situation happens again

[05:46] there's a chance that you won't this is

[05:47] why in the UFC game you don't have a

[05:49] health bar as there's no fixed amount of

[05:51] damage that moves have on the other hand

[05:53] overly creative and flashy moves can

[05:55] make it really hard to balance the game

[05:56] especially when those attacks have a lot

[05:58] of forward move I mean look no further

[06:00] than Luke I've talked about him enough

[06:02] so you guys already know and when you

[06:03] start to drift really far from the realm

[06:05] of martial arts at what point does the

[06:07] game stop being a fighting game and turn

[06:08] into something else like a shooter for

[06:10] example this is the reason why many

[06:11] fighting games share similar mechanics

[06:13] especially when it comes to martial arts

[06:15] because it's how the genre Roots itself

[06:16] but don't get me wrong it's good to

[06:18] think outside of the box but at least

[06:19] make sure you visit it once in a while

[06:21] something I never realized before is how

[06:23] important it is for each move to

[06:25] communicate info to the players every

[06:27] single move should have these three

[06:28] things startup frames active frames and

[06:31] Recovery frames now depending on what

[06:33] type of move it is these three

[06:34] parameters are tweaked accordingly light

[06:36] attacks should usually be very quick

[06:37] with minimal amounts of startup active

[06:40] and Recovery frames while special moves

[06:42] are usually slower heavily telegraphed

[06:43] attacks that have a large portion of all

[06:45] three and you can probably recognize why

[06:47] it's a bad idea to give normal moves

[06:49] long startup and Recovery frames or give

[06:51] special moves no startup or recovery

[06:52] another interesting thing to look at is

[06:54] how characters react to their attack

[06:55] missing or being blocked usually when

[06:57] this happens the animation looks

[06:58] different and a different audio queue is

[07:00] played this lets the opponent know that

[07:02] the other player has made an error and

[07:04] they can punish accordingly overall

[07:06] motion plays a significant role in

[07:07] fighting games as it affects the

[07:09] gameplay strategy and the smoothness of

[07:11] the game so it's important for the devs

[07:13] to consider the pros and cons of the

[07:14] ways they choose to implement it whether

[07:16] that's by 2D sprite animation 3d motion

[07:18] capture or even computer simulations

[07:20] each method has their own ways of adding

[07:22] excitement to the game if you guys

[07:23] enjoyed this video please make sure to

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[07:34] have a great day peace

[07:39] [Music]

[07:54] [Music]