Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Explosive





-Akira, is a very good example of a explosive character. He moves around very slowly, but have several different attack dashes. That makes him suddenly be close to the opponent very quickly. And almost every attack Akira has directly knocks the opponent down(take down). He do have some counters, but except those, hes 100% straight forward.


Ryu, Sagat, Cody : Street fighter
: Soul Calibur
Akira, Vanessa: Virtua fighter
Aba,Slayer, Order Sol: Guilty Gear
Ragna: Blazblue
Ein(Hayate),:Dead Or Alive
Hayate, Captain America, Venom,:Marvel Vs Capcom
Heikachi,Bryan:Tekken

Explosive characters, features characters which as with strong/slow cant really do any long combos. They will have very limited hit per combo, but do high damage per attack. A reason why explosive characters have short combos is almost always because of they have take down, on almost every attack. This means the opponent character is instantly knocked of the ground, which will create a combo. But a very short combo. While it sounds like take down is a bad thing to have then, in many cases its actually very good because the user can because of this always do reasonable high damage from almost any situations
The most classic difference is Ryu vs Ken, if Ken hits the opponent with for example tatsumaki senpu(attack dash), he will do more damage then Ryu (Ken is short combo speed). But if Ken hits them in bad position, for example in the air, and only get 1 hit, the damage will be very low. If Ryu hits a standing opponent he only get 1 hit, it deals medium damage, if he hits an air born opponent he gets 1 hit, still dealing medium damage. In the same manner Ryu’s Shoryuken(anti air attack), per hit deals more damage making it a better anti air attack, as using either Ryu or Kens Shoryuken against an air born opponent results in 1 hit. But using it in close combat as the end of a combo, Ken can get in 4 hits dealing much more damage then Ryu.

These character type, is usually the easiest character for the user to learn the basic. The have a very high damage output per attack compared to every other character(expect strong/slow) but are much easier to get in close with. Resulting in that a new user can steadily deal at least medium damage constantly against another beginner user.

Noteworthy.
A good character type to have for new users and note! That this character type is almost always male, are either hot headed, battle seekers or calm collected warrior personality. And most importantly several story main characters are Explosive. Ryu (street fighter),Akira(virtua fighter) Kazama family (Tekken), Ragna(Blazblue). Hayate is arguably the main character of Dead or Alive, and Captain America is the leader(of the other characters) and often the front figure(commercials etc) of Marvel vs Capcom.
They are also very straight, to the case. Attacks goes in one direction, no tricks. No strange set ups, just pure damage from strong fast attacks.
They often have a relation to short combo speed characters and are almost always good persons. But are instead chaotic good while a few is lawful good.
Point is, the main character in fighting games are very often this arch type and its often the easiest character to learn for a beginner player.

common mechanics:
Simply said these characters are short combo speed with take down.
Take down, with many explosive dash attacks, or other type of movement attacks, such as invisible frame attack,
High priority attack, to overpower other characters in close combat.
Projectile, similar to short combo speed, explosive characters can have projectiles which also then are bad projectiles, but nonetheless range attacks. But compared to short combo speed, they do more damage, so relatively good projectile(Ryu vs Ken case)
3d explosive characters often have knock back.

Mechanic Not to have:
This characters don't have any thing that aren't straight forward while having projectile, Back traveling projectile is a no, no.
And they have attack dash, but often not dash.
Teleport.
Traps etc, any kind of game resource.
Noting that complicate the gameplay

Game statistic:
High Health, High attack damage, Very high/extremely high Recovery time, Low/Extremely low movement speed. Varied attack speed often special attacks are high speed while normal are low.

All round





-Taskmaster basically got everything. Which is reasonable comic wise(his power is that he copies other people), game wise, hes fun to play as he got no weakness.


Gouken, (Most characters in Street fighter is “kinda” all round): Street fighter
Necrid, Yoshimutsu,: Soul Calibur
Sarah,Lei-Fei: Virtua fighter
Anji Mito, Faust,Johnny,: Guilty Gear
Tsubaki, Noel,: Blazblue
Helena, Dead Or Alive
Taskmaster, :Marvel Vs Capcom



These characters are easy to compare to completely arbitrary other genres, for example all round character in Mario Kart, where for example Mario is a all round type(type name given by the game itself), and he got average speed, average acceleration, average weight etc. All around in fighting games should be the same. And they should have a varied mix of mechanics. What this means is that they often can get in close pretty easy, can escape pretty easy, have some projectiles etc. The result is that they cant do any real long combos or do any real complicated control play. Which makes them the ideal starter character for beginners.
They have a very easy learning curve at start, usually as they lack depth.This is something that is hard to fix because if they have to much depth they become too good(read Taskmaster below).

- I think any fighting game a most is to have at least 2 all round characters as they are by far the easiest character for an intermediate player, While explosive is the easiest for beginners(straight forward play), all round don't have the same problems against for example strong/slow, as they usually have some type of projectile. Making all round really good for the player that have learned the basic and wants to improve against all other characters.
- And I will state its OK, to leave them not be the very best character, aka, have no depth. Because give them to much complex high level play and they will be to strong. Instead they should be a good part of the game for non expert players. And if they have enough variety, they will work on expert level because they user can then win by changing gameplay tactic constantly. Which other arch type cant.

Common Mechanic:
The important here is to give the character little of everything. Simple said they should have some mechanics from fast/weak + control + strong/slow. For example Taskmaster have:
Projectile(angled), air projectile (angled), counter = control
2 Different Attack dash, Air Attack Dash, target combo throw(headbutt which only can be used after sword attacks, combo opener) = fast/weak
Then he has the statistic of a strong slow(or arguably a explosive), high attack damage, high recovery , high health etc. He also haves ultra counter(which counters basically anything, which is strong control mechanic primarily), simply said he got mechanics from every other arch type.

Mechanic Not to have:
Taskmaster is a prime example, of how not do a all round characters, he would be a great design if some part where removed. He have to much of everything, for example while he should have projectile he have 3 different angled projectile both ground in air, and 3 different ultra beam projectile. Hes projectile is also charge able creating a special beam projectile, if the user charges. And he have reflect, and counter high and low. This means hes really, really good control, But he got none of the statistic of a control, so he still have a high health game resource etc. One the same time, he got several different ways to start of combos or get in fast, like a fast/weak character. While hes good at everything, like all round should be, hes relatively compared to other characters really good at everything.
Hes consensually agreed to be one of the better characters by every user(writing about the game, and from the field/lab studie to).

Game statistic:
Medium on everything, kinda the thing. Most characters do have 1-2 values that are either a little lower or higher.

Short combo speed





-Sol-badguy, is very much the short speed character. In many ways hes similar to fast/weak, he have 2 different increased movement speed maneuvers and a dash attack. All to get in and start of combos. But he cant do very long combos(in comparison to for example Chip, Sol-badguy’s combos is around 10-15). Instead he is closer to all round, and then features generally better statistic, higher health, more damage per attack. But also then other mechanics such as projectile and better anti air mechanics. The most important difference is really that he cant do as much damage, as the combos aren't as long but he can much easier start combos.

Ken, Yuri, : Street fighter
Mitsurugi, Setsuka, Cassandra, Yoda, : Soul Calibur
Lau, Brad: Virtua fighter
May,Sol Badguy, Ky Kiske: Guilty Gear
Jin: Blazblue
Strider,Captain Commando, Spider-man, Jin, :Marvel Vs Capcom

The key difference from fast/weak is 2 things, and usually its 1 of them not both,.
Either short combo speed character is better getting in close then the fast/weak, or they have projectiles making them not having to get in close. This makes them a lot better against strong/slow, which is the fast/weak hardest match up.
They also have better statistic, having more health and higher damage per attack, making them be a good starter character. With higher health they can do more mistakes, and can go in close with stronger characters without losing so much relatively health points. And with higher damage per attack they don’t have to perform the best combos to deal high damage. From this a important balance is that short combo speed, cant do any super long combos. While they often have the second longest combos, they can still have a huge gap from fast/weak in max hits, and there for deal a significant lower damage when comparing best possibles combos.

Characters, are almost exclusively humans.These humans are almost always, lawful good alignment, and a few are chaotic good. They often have a relation to the main character,(Ken,Jin,Ky Kiske etc)

Common mechanics:
Short range attacks, but can have projectiles.(Difference from fast/weak) These projectiles are weak in damage and the possibilities of using them is often limited(difference from speed control).
Mobility mechanic: Have some extra mobility Dash, Dash Attack, should not have any “great mobility mechanic(triple dash etc)
Can have wall bounce or ground bounce, but more limited then fast/weak.

Mechanic Not to have:
Take down.
Command throw, rarely have any improve throws.

Game statistic:
Low/medium Health, Medium attack damage, Medium Recovery time, Medium/High movement speed. Medium attack speed,

Fast/weak






-Chip is really good case of fast/weak, a good user can do up to over 50+ hits.(real hits no ultra attack to add 20+), hes incredible fast, have a lot of extra mobility. Ridiculously
weak, but still does the highest damage in the game. Meaning, each attack is extremely low damage, but because the user can set so many attacks together that becomes very high damage.




Cammy,Chun-Li, Yang,Yun,Fie Long, Guy : Street fighter
Raphael,Maxi, Yun sun, Xiancha,: Soul Calibur
Lion, Pai, Jacky, : Virtua fighter
Chip, Millia Rage,: Guilty Gear
Taokaka,Bang(in the middle between fast/weak and speed control) : Blazblue
Zack,:Dead Or Alive
Zero,X-23, Wolverine,Wesker,:Marvel Vs Capcom
Eddie,Hwarang:Tekken

Fast/weak(and often referred to speed character for short), characters are fast and cheap against stronger characters. They are pretty straight forward. The user has to get in, but in a good position, as they often don’t have good priority or any health. They should do the highest amount of damage, if a user can perform their long combos. These characters i reasonable a good character to start with, and is one of the most common character type. Its easy to do some damage constantly making them fun for the beginner user, and as they can deal the highest damage when the user have trained a lot, they usually have a lot of depth. The combos are often created from using game mechanics like wall bounce or continues air combos.
This results in that fast/weak is a most for any fighting game. Easy to start with hard to master. And a very good intermediate level of characters. At intermediate the user can do most of the better combos, and get in close. While another user at intermediate often can’t do the right counter measurement not to caught in combos.

-I believe the biggest reason everyone hates Yun/Yang and Fei long now at Street fighter, because the very easy to be come intermediate with. And they to easily get in and do to high damage.

Avoid to make fast/weak characters do to high damage at intermediate level. They should do the highest damage from perfect combos.


Very commonly fast/weak is represented as fast flexible females. Or small sized males. As with Strong control, the users affordance is that the weak looking characters, are weak, but very fast.
-From all my experience playing with new users, its very good to have that most females are this arch type. Many, many times people who are beginner user and don't know the characters abilities. Will have the prejudgement that the female character is fast/weak resulting in that they pick them or don't pick if they don’t what that arch type. So a user with former game experience will often then pick a female because they like this kind of character, as its a good character to start up and learn the game with.



Common mechanics:
Short range attack.
Mobility mechanics: Is very important for fast/weak, they should have a variation of these mechanics, Dash(Double,Triple,Side, Air, Attack), Wall jump,
Different angled attacks(to break opponents block), or mix up game,For example Guy(SF) can add in a special throw in a target combo. Means they should be able to create varied attacks in close combat, from the same situations.
Recovery mechanic(as noted below), needs to be very low, so the user can perform very long combos.
Wall bounce,Ground Bounce(to make combos longer)

Mechanic not to have:
Take Down,
Limited priority, a fast/weak character cant have to many high priority attacks, then they can simply beat anyone to easy when they are in close combat, But they need at least 1 high priority to have a special attack for strong/slow, and other characters.
Teleport, or other mechanics of similar effect, Teleport Dash etc. Its important that a fast/weak character move towards the opponent is a “sense able” way, and not suddenly appear behind them.



Game statistic:
Very low Health, Very low attack damage, Extremely Low Recovery time, Very High movement speed. Very High attack speed,

Speed control






-Axl Low, this character is the speed control definition. Hes fast, but got very long range. He can keep the opponent away very easily, but still have low recovery. So if a user does a mistake, he/she might be able to still avoid afterwards or being able to do another attack. He got a super fast Dash attack, a Range throw, Counter, but can still easily do 10+ combos. Because of this his statistic is terrible low, when it comes to attack and health. He also have extremely low priority even when he have an classic anti air attack(usually very high priority) its very low priority resulting in that hes extremely bad in close combat. Which is the paradox of speed control as they still do more damage in close combat then at distance. Meaning there is the option of going in close, if the chance is given




Ibuki,Guile : Street fighter
Zazamel,Cervantes,Killik,: Soul Calibur
Axl Low,Bridget: Guilty Gear
Arakune(cs),Bang,Hazama,: Blazblue
Kasumi, Ayane:Dead Or Alive
Jill(2,complete new character in 3),Amaseteru,Deadpool:Marvel Vs Capcom


Speed control, is a very reactive gameplay. The character have varied distance attacks, and are very fast. Meaning the user should be able to punish most movement of the other user. While the user still has to predict the other users attacks, some characters are still so fast, that they can miss once and then have another chance. (still missing twice will result in the speed control user to lose). Speed control is a pretty decent starter character, and is a good character to have in a game. As they are kinda the bridge to the harder control characters. This don't mean that they are easy at higher levels! General speaking, these character are not the easiest start character as the user needs to learn some of the other characters abilities. But they are a very good intermediate user character. When a user is at intermediate level, these characters are easy to use, as the user have learned most of the fundamentals of all characters and have learned the basic of their own character. Making them be a strong pick for a user, playing against a user at his/her own level or lower.
But they are actually hard too, at top level, because as they are so weak in distance. the user have to take the decision of when to go in close. This is a key feature of speed control gameplay. They do fairly high damage, in close combat given by long combos. The user should have too consider constantly, when to go in close and when to keep max distance.


Their is no given character look for speed control, but they usually have long range weapons or long range attacks rather then projectile. Less monster kind of characters and more human.




Common game mechanics:
Long range attacks, or projectiles.
Ranged Throw,
Mobility mechanics: Extra Dash, but often they have more of an offensive mobility mechanics. So instead of extra dash, its often then, Dash Attack, Teleport Attack, and several have “extreme dash”(very fast dash, read Hazama ((hook dash))

Mechanic Not to have:
High Priority, they shouldn't be to good in close combat.
Take down, on short range attacks.



Game statistic:
Low/very low Health, Very low attack damage, Low Recovery time, High movement speed. High attack speed,

Control




-Akuma, is the classic control character if anyone(maybe is more Dhalsim), he got everything Ryu got, but more, such as 3 different angled air projectile, charge able projectile, Teleport etc. But balanced by having really low health, having, low attack damage. Simply said, he got a lot more options but one of the worst statistic in street fighter.


Akuma,Dhalsim,: Street fighter
Ivy,Voldo,: Soul Calibur
Aoi, Shun di: Virtua fighter
Eddie,Dizzy: Guilty Gear
Arakune(ct),V-13, Rachel: Blazblue
Haybusa:Dead Or Alive
Arthur,Cable, Iron man,Iceman,Modok :Marvel Vs Capcom


Similar to strong slow, these characters are generally harder to play. But they should have more options, resulting in that on a intermediate level, they probably are the hardest character to play. Because then the user will have to try and learn all the different mechanics, because of this, when the user have transition to expert they will have more options and have it easier then control strong(more reactive play). But these character type is still the second hardest for a user to play or sometimes the hardest.
Control character can be hard to pin point on their share number of abilities, as they usually just have a lot of mechanics. They are often a combination of a speed controlled and strong control, and they have all the bad statistic from those 2 character types.
In 3D fighting games, a control character can have a lot counters, the important is that they can counter everything. Or let them have a lot of avoidance mechanic, but not mobility, the point is that they often can’t just run away from attacks. But they can “stand still” and avoid them

These kind of characters comes in a lot of varied forms, female/male monster/strange creature. So there is not general prejudgement the user will have of how a control character looks like. They can also have both technology, weapon, magic, martial art etc that makes them be control. Simple said, they are placed in this category, by having a lot of options and having really bad statistic( Reverse of all round which have decent statistic in everything)

Common mechanics:
Different projectiles, angled projectiles, air projectiles, Back traveling projectile, homing projectile,
Counters, usually a difference form strong control is that, they have a more varied usage of different counters,
Avoidance mechanics, Such as teleport, Teleport Dash, or attack and/or movement self imposed displacement. For example Shun di(VF), laying on the ground, self imposed fall after kicks etc.

Mechanic Not to have:
Control characters can actually have most mechanics, because they are balanced by having really low statistic.
But primarily, its no point to let them have invisible frame as they extremely rarely would have to Dodge other projectiles. And by standing still avoidance they can, simply just stand more still, which seems to be a little overpowering.
-Dhalsim actually have this in street fighter, which I personally think make no sense, he got good projectile and best range on attacks and can be immune to damage without moving. But it has no point in close combat, making it effectively only be good against other control mechanics. Well as a result he cant lose in a range battle against all round characters which is reasonable, but he wouldn't lose regardless, so it feels kinda over the top.

Rarely they have a lot of mobility mechanics, because then the other user will never catch them, but still as mentioned Teleport is very common. The key, seems to be to have some mobility, so it won’t be to easy to catch a control character, but not to much.
- I would say they can have 1 extra mobility maybe 2, for example having teleport to right and to left. Having more then that, will be to much, but its similar to as in strong control, if every character have at least 2 dash, then control probably needs 2 dash + dash/teleport/etc.

Game Resource:

Game statistic:
Low Health, Low attack damage, Medium,Recovery time, Low movement speed. Low attack speed,

Slow Control





-Dormammu, I think is the best definition of a strong control. He got incredible strong distance attack, but if the user predicts wrong, not only does he have high recovery, but also he channels many of his attacks(spells). Meaning he stands still for huge amount of time(fighting game time), resulting in that 1 mistake is very high punishment. He also have a lot of game resource but all of them takes time to charge up.




Strong control. its high risk, high gain type of characters. As they have often have incredible high recovery doing a mistake with them, is not good. Also they have high attack time, meaning they often channel their attacks, or generally very long animation of their attacks. This 2 factors stack together, which means that if a user does a mistake they are screwed.
Gameplay wise the strong control are usually the most power full characters, because they are either the strongest character damage wise, or are slightly weaker then strong/slow but have really good distance attacks. They can also do ranged combos, which results in very high damage but still not being close to the other user. They can have mechanics such as, capture, ranged throw or game resources in their advantage to create combos on distance.
The result of this is that strong control is the most proactive character. While control is proactive/reactive, speed control is reactive. This means for the user, this is not the beginner character they should pick. These characters are very often the hardest character to play. It takes a lot of prediction skill for a user to be able to win, in close combat they normally have to use counter or the right kind of overpowering attack to get freed, mistake means being almost punished 100% of the time, and the user have to be plan ahead all trap, have to be placed earlier at good places etc.
Generally all 3 control types requires that the user have extended knowledge of what the other characters can do. To be able to determine what the user can do.

Strong Control characters, are often one of the lowest represented characters. Often the lowest. Which is a good thing as its no beginner user that can start with this kind of character, and even on higher skill levels they are still the hardest. They actually scale proportionally with how good the opponent is, if the user also is a beginner at least they cant use all their characters mobility etc. So actually on higher levels(expert/pro users) it will then of course be even harder to predict the next move, and a good user will always do a perfect combo against a strong control user that made the wrong decision.
But on the same time, strong control, can often be “overpowered”(imballanced), as when a user play them perfectly the will do a lot of damage and keep out of the distance of the other users. They should be hard to play, as the end result is a very good character

The type in itself, is usually some kind of strange “creature”, or mystic person. This is to make sense on how the character can summon stuff out of the ground or how they can use humongous weapons. But their is no need for that, a character can very well be a strong control, and be normal human, just that it seems hard to have reasonable explanation for their abilities. Still, experienced fighting game users, will by far, when they see a strange big character believe that is probably a strong control. There is a easy gained user friendliness to follow this pattern.

-Before Marvel Vs Capcom 3 was released, images of Dormammu was released but no gameplay footage, people directly started assuming that he was gonna be the new Blackhearth, be very slow with strange projectiles, and being able to summon stuff.


Astaroth, Rock, Darth Vader,Soeng Mina: Soul Calibur
Kage-Maru: Virtua fighter
Testament: Guilty Gear
Haku-men: Blazblue
Tengu(boss character): Dead Or Alive
Thanos, Sentinel, Blackhearth, Dormammu: Marvel Vs Capcom


Common mechanics.
Different strong projectiles, such as Back Traveling Projectile.
Being able to combo projectiles,
Counter.
Long range melee attacks.
Capture.
Ranged Throw

Mechanic Not to have:
Mobility mechanic, similar to strong/slow rare to find extra dash, and teleport! This is important as teleport is a common mechanic for control. Note that strong control usually have to escape bad position with counters. Or simply overpowering the other user(strong attacks). One reason is to increase the difficulty playing as strong control, but also that they have a lot of pre planned mechanic, which shouldn't be to easy to combo. If the user have too much mobility, then they can simply teleport or dash etc to the opponent that just got caught in a trap.
Usually they have limited Air abilities(compared to control and speed/control), but can be used. This should probably be designed more after what other characters can do, can everyone air throw, give them air throw, can some characters do air throw, they probably shouldn't have air throw, as the game style is often(90% of the time) to stand still on the ground and predict the opponent moves.

Game resource:
Strong Control, often have traps or can summon something to help them.
Both extra control able partners and single minded animals/monsters etc.

Game statistic:
High health, High damage per attack, Extremely high recovery, Low Mobility, Low attack speed

Slow/strong




-The incredible Hulk, play able in Marvel Vs Capcom franchise(and other games), classic character with incredible high damage and high health, Hulk most important mechanic in the mvc3 is the increased defence mechanic.



Zangief,Balrog , Abel, Hakkan, Hugo: Street fighter
Lizardman,Nightmare and Siegfried can be viewed as this to, or they are strong control they are in between the 2 axles: Soul Calibur
Wolf,Jeffry ,Goh : Virtua fighter
Potemkin: Guilty Gear
Iron Tager: Blazblue
Leon, Bass : Dead Or Alive
The Hulk, Juggernaut: Marvel Vs Capcom
King : Tekken


For obvious reason the general design of slow strong is a very muscular, but also this type is almost 100% male. Their is a few subversion of this type, 2 main ones. Either the character is a grappler, using different set of command throws. Or the character have very strong attacks, often having increased defence, so that the user can deal this attacks trough the other users attack.
The character should not have any mobility game mechanics, as they are the strongest game character in close distance. But because of this these characters can be tremendously weak in match up against controller character if they don’t have any avoid mechanic. A common in street fighter is the invisible frame(attack),this is a good design as the user have to time their ability to move trough projectiles to reach the opponent. Which usually will create a good meta game, the problem can be if the character have to good avoid mechanic is that they are to good in close distance. Which means they will often become to strong versus fast/weak,explosive characters and short combo speed.

These characters is often a good, starter character for users. Because of this its good if they have some easier input or simpler combos, which in most games they have as they have the shortest max number of hits per combo. To make them have “deepth” they often have the most “complicated” input for their stronger attacks, the classic full circle input is the most common. This creates that a slow/strong character have a really strong wake up game. As most users cant do their input while standing with them. This usually have a negative effect for the beginner user, as this means that the other user will never want to be close to them.
But on he same time, they are very user friendly for intermediate and expert users. Because for users with more experience at least the grappler characters almost always have the exact same input for their abilities.
This means that giving a strong/slow grappler something else then full and half circle command throws might help the beginner user, but will upset experience players.

Common mechanics:
Command Throw: different version of command throw, These different throws,
should have higher priority then normal throws and pass by most attacks.
Air anti throw, Note , Air Throw is not common for slow strong. But anti air is.
Low Throw, Crouching Trow etc.
Invisible Frame, or Invisible Frame attack,
Increased Defence,

Mechanic Not to have:
Any mobility mechanic, teleport, Dash, etc. They can have a limited usage of mobility mechanic for example if every character have 2 or more Dash, they can have 1, so its more about the relativity between the characters. Strong/slow should have lower mobility.
It shouldn't be to easy to reach the other user with these kind of characters.
Projectiles/long range attacks,give them projectile and they turn into strong control or at least get close towards that. Removing their disadvantage of having no mobility.

Game statistic:
Very High Health, Very High attack damage, Very High Recovery time, Very low movement speed. very low attack speed,

Arch Types

Hello, I will now go trough what I think is the most interesting part from my research(full file can be find at my portfolio), I plan to write more here to.

Fighting Game Arch Types

This element of different types of characters, have been mentioned several different time. As mentioned they are established from the game mechanics of individual characters similarities cross games, and from observation of users. There is several good things with establish this term. First of, this whole research is much easier to write when looking at the fighting games, basing the analyze on why characters have different mechanics.
But the most important point with this, is as mentioned earlier, that these arch types are very important to the user. All the observation of field/lab studie and interviews points in the favor for that different users play different. This might not sound like any surprise, it is not. But with this 8 different types, the idea is to being able to say what character should be in a game.
These 8 types also have a interesting effect on meta gaming, of fighting games. While it cant be said for 100% certain out come, by basing the assumption that the user will play the character to its intended usage(playing the right way). How most play session will look can be determined. This don’t mean that by using this, its possible to determine the outcome, meaning who of the players will win cant be said. But how the users will play their respective character can be said. And to really emphasize this is mainly because different conceptual play strategies comes from what arch type the user is playing.
For example if User A plays a strong/slow character he will probably employ a pawn for a pawn play style, and he will have few game mechanics that work on range(zero probably). And User B plays a speed control., will take a control approach. While teoricatilly User B could try and go in close and do stronger combos as a speed control arch type usually will have that, he probably never will do that voluntarily. User A will constantly have to hunt user B, and on the same time when user A comes in close with User B, user A cant just attack him, as then he/she could land in a long combo from user B, meaning User A have to come in close and use the right attacks, strong attacks that have either high priority but often just attacks that do purely high damage. This is one of the most “unfair” battles, the speed control is arguably the best character against strong slow, because speed control have both range attacks and game mechanics increasing mobility such as extra dash, or simply increased movement speed. But on the same time, the speed control is often the weakest character in the game, weakest as in cant do any high damage combos. And with very low health, resulting in that if er B does a few mistakes, User B easily wins. Another thing that can be said, is the game will probably take long time. Because User B should lead in health in the start of the play session but it will take a huge amount of time to win by range attacks. And speed control, users generally will be extremely “cowardice” always trying to play at max distance.
Point is, its easy to write(for me) at least 10 pages for each possible match up. Foretelling on how each play session will be. Know when the game characters are ordered in to decided places.

The creation of arch types, made me realize its 8 different types that can be said exist, many games don't have all 8 but most have 5-.6 at least.




Image 5.1 A, First its easy to determine this 4 basic types. Based on the general concept of different type of gameplay and game mechanics.



Image 5.1.B, The sub arch types, are different characters that is kinda in between the other ones, they share game mechanics and game statics.

By combing these 2 different views on game characters I cam up with this 8 axle grid to describe different characters. But not only is the axles values, its more that they are in this position I have carefully planned out, so that characters can be positioned in between
axles.




Image 5.1.C, This is the 8 axle grid, that shows where characters can be positioned. Its important to understand that a character don't have to be at the very axle. While some characters are the very pure mix of for example fast/weak and Control(Axle low 5.1.6), some are even in between this 8.

Is there then a point to create a 16 axle grid etc, no because these are the 8 fundamental gameplay styles a user want to, simple said these 8 are the core and then almost every character is in between 2 axles.



Image 5.1.D. For example a character like Nightmare from Soul calibur 2, is very much in a equal distance between strong control and strong/slow. Making it hard to determine what to brand him as. More an illustration of how this is not black and white.
Other characters such as mentioned Axl low, perfectly fits the axle edge.
Ryu and Ken, from Street fighter are famous from being very similar(shoto clone), but they do have some difference, using this 8 grid, it can be show that they are both placed close to all round but Ryu has more explosive traits(and more strong slow traits) while Ken is close to short combo speed(and have some fast/weak traits).


OK, so this is how I created the arch type system. Now I will go trough each of the 8 different ones, and add up more then what I did in my researches, especially more gameplay situations, I merely couldn't write more in the paper.