Round 1 – The Opression of Being Dominated

This is the continuation of my campaign for better fighting games, hopefully culminating in a project of my own.  I’m making this up as I go along, and trying to be transparent with it all.

Nobody likes losing.  I know I don’t.  Even if you are of sound mind and calm countenance, losing is still a negative experience.  But does that mean it can’t be fun?  Losing is simply a matter of mechanics.  You lose because the rules say you lose.  The rules don’t say you shouldn’t have fun.

Losing

This means that the mechanics of the game have to be crafted such that there are still meaningful choices to be made while losing.  Basically, if I’m getting beat down, do I still have stuff to do? 

Time to Stop Complaining and Fight

Humor me for a few lines, reader.  Imagine a game.  Not just any game, a highly-nuanced, complex game; a competitive game.  This game has next to no tutorial yes requires large amounts of precision and timing for even moderately skilled play.  At high levels, this game necessitates using glitches and exploits to combat its own complicated systems.  The game has no internal progression and makes no effort to teach the player, even through a simple challenge-curve.  Are you disgusted yet?  This is a problem, no?  I mean, the controls could be tight.  It could be a pretty game.  All of the window dressing could be perfectly in order.  And yet, here we are, with a frustrating game because it does nothing for the player at all.

“But Jon,” you say.  “This game isn’t even real.  Who would make a game like this?  Who would play it?”