The Pure Game Design of Fighting Games

Fighting Games have always illustrated the purest aspects of game design, whether balance, asymmetry , risk/ reward decisions or depth, but they are also notoriously hard to learn. Unlike most genres, fighting games don't tutorialize the game well within its own systems, and hence it expects players to rely on themselves or the community to learn. Because of this, although fighting games have extreme depth and a practically infinite possibility space, they are very inaccessible. This video explores the history and design of fighting games, the concepts in game design they illustrate , and the pain and joy of learning them through the eyes of yours truly.

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Sources

Playing to Win , David Sirlin
https://sirlin.squarespace.com/ptw

Game Design Theory , Keith Burgun

A decade of approachability to fighting games, GDC talk
   • 09 to '19: A Decade of Approachabilit...  

Depth in Strategic Games
http://julian.togelius.com/Lantz2017D...

How to play Virtua Fighter
   • How to play Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate...  

Designing Games , Tynan Sylvester

The Ethics of Computer Games, Miguel Sicart

The Morals of Chess
https://franklinpapers.org/framedVolu...


Additional thanks to new patrons not included at the end

Jaron Saturnino, Dmajan Jovanovic , Charles Voita , Lou Hidjy