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Gemhead Hiatus: Apologies and Return
General | Posted 12 years ago
Canid_Paladin here to update everyone on the situation 
VinVulpis and I have been in. We've just recently moved to NY and both time and money have been tight. With things settling down, we'll be posting a lot more updates to all of our pages. We apologize for the unannounced delay (at first we didn't believe we would be gone too long but settling in has been a stressful procedure) and hope you're looking forward to more Space Punch news in the coming days :3Gemhead Studios around the net:
Facebook - Tumblr - Twitter
Interested in free art? Get in to official Space Punch art!
General | Posted 12 years agoWe will be holding raffles very often on our social sites at facebook, tumblr, and twitter (means you can enter three times per raffle!), and all you'll have to do is follow and share/reblog/retweet to be entered! The artwork will typically be of a character of your creation or choice sparring with an official character from Space Punch, or interacting with the cast in other ways. These giveaways will either happen one or twice a month and will be announced on each of our social sites, so follow Gemhead around the web now (at the bottom of the journal) to be notified of the first giveaway!
Gemhead Studios has the right to decline character entries that are offensive, copyrighted, or otherwise and reserves the right to use the artwork for official purposes. Your character will not be used otherwise without permission from the creator.
Gemhead Studios around the net:
Facebook - Tumblr - Twitter
Gemhead Studios has the right to decline character entries that are offensive, copyrighted, or otherwise and reserves the right to use the artwork for official purposes. Your character will not be used otherwise without permission from the creator.
Gemhead Studios around the net:
Facebook - Tumblr - Twitter
Mechanical Skill in Competitive Fighting Games
General | Posted 12 years agoLink to original post: http://gemheadstudios.tumblr.com/po.....in-competitive
During development talks for Space Punch, Vincent and I are constantly debating how much mechanical skill we would actually like to require of the player, and truthfully, a big goal of ours is to keep it LOW, at least, in comparison to popular fighting games.
First of all let me explain what mechanical skill is. It is your ability to perform, typically under pressure, which usually goes in hand with strategic skill, which is your ability to figure out what to do. If you're playing Super Mario Bros., figuring out you need to jump over the pit is strategic skill, and your ability to do it is mechanical skill. One asks the question "what will you do?" and the other asks "can you do it?"
The balance between mechanical and strategic skill is different from game to game, in fact, some games have absolutely no trace of one or the other. For instance, Final Fantasy Tactics is completely strategic skill, whereas Dance Dance Revolution is completely mechanical skill, and honestly, there is nothing wrong with that, they just appeal to different players.
However, the competitive fighting game scene seems to have a curse, where professional fighting game players will discredit a fighting game for not being mechanically challenging enough, and I would say the biggest victim of this would be the Super Smash Bros. series.
I will make it known time and time again that Super Smash Bros. is indeed my absolute favorite fighting game franchise. While it does have party elements to it, the game definitely has the grounds to be played competitively, yet people will try to claim it's "not a real fighter".
So what is a "real fighter"? Honestly, I don't believe that's for people to define. In the end I've concluded that the phrase is shallow and has no meaning. That Super Smash Bros. is as much a fighting game as Street Fighter, I'd even go so far as to say wrestling games are as well, because honestly, who has the right to say they're not? Competitive balancing might not have been a priority in these games, but that doesn't make it any less "real".
As game development evolves we see classic genre categorization become much less credible. Two games in the RPG genre can play completely different from one other, when you compare game franchises such as The Legend of Zelda, the Tales series, and Final Fantasy (And even games within the Final Fantasy franchise can play completely different from one another). In order to get a real grasp on a game through simply telling someone what genre it is, you have to dive deeper and deeper in to subgenres, to the point where a game is no longer an "RPG", now it's "an online action adventure game with RPG and puzzle elements", or you can use popular terms such as "Metroidvania".
So for lack of a better term, I'd like to go the route of the latter and, at least for use in this post, define the "Capcom Fighter" genre as "two-dimensional fighting games that put a lot of emphasis on mechanical skill". Yes, even games not made by Capcom fall within this for the sake of the article, such as Mortal Kombat, King of Fighters, Killer Instinct, etc.
Once again I feel the need to reiterate the fact that games that require advanced mechanical skill are no lesser for doing so. However, I feel the fighting scene may need to reconsider the phrase "real fighter" and instead say something along the lines of "it doesn't play like a Capcom fighter", because it is pretentious to try and say that only fighting games that play like Capcom fighters are real fighters.
The way some of these games create a high mechanical skill ceiling is by requiring the player to memorize and practice the timing of long chains of attacks that don't particularly make sense to chain for any other reason than "the game lets you do it". And in the case of Street Fighter IV, some combos will only work if the button is pressed at the exact correct time (try to complete a full set of character challenges and you'll see what I mean), otherwise the game essentially ignores the fact that you pressed it.
In the case of older games in the King of Fighters franchise (particular memories of 2002UM), a lot of mechanical skill comes from memorizing the ridiculous potential and inputs of each individual character. A character in Street Fighter might have 3 specials, 2 uniques, some ultras and supers, but a King of Fighters character can have multiple pages of inputs!
But let's get back to Street Fighter IV's inputs, while simpler than KoF's, are still sort of... odd. One I can remember off the top of my head is one of Blanka's ultras that requires you to charge diagonally down and backwards, then roll diagonally down and forward, roll back diagonally down and backwards, then cross diagonally up and forward. This is something I feel Street Fighter III did much better, most supers only required double quarter circles or double circles and a button.
And yet, Street Fighter III probably has the highest skill ceiling in competitive fighting. For better or for worse, the absolute best players can be distinguished easily from even the good players. I must admit that out of all the Capcom fighters, this is my favorite, and to its credit, it has managed to hold a competitive scene for years even though it is considered the obscurest game of the series (Screw II honestly, the only reason it's still popular is because of nostalgia appeal YEAH I SAID IT).
Where does Street Fighter III's high mechanical skill ceiling lie? Well, it's all in the parrying system. If a player presses forward right before getting hit by an attack, the attack will deal no damage and the player can almost immediately react with a counterattack. There is no limit to parrying so long as you have control of your character, and you can even incorporate the forward input for a parry in to an attack input (Take a look at this crazy video of Hayao doing a double full circle input all while parrying a Chun Li super to get what I mean).
While the mechanical skill ceiling was set extremely high by parrying, the strategic skill was also affected by the fact that the parrying system existed. Aggressive approaches had to be well-thought out, and even the safest approach could be punished by the best players. What did this do to the game though?
Setting such a high skill ceiling really drove away new players, who would be decimated by anyone practiced. In order to be good at this game, you had to put a lot of effort in to learning it. The difference between an average player and an advanced player was titanic. But at the same time it gave its competitive scene credit. When the best players played, nobody doubted how difficult it was to play on that level.
It was Street Fighter IV that would see that parrying was ultimately removed and replaced with focus attacking, a much simpler counterattack that gives the player one hit of super armor and a stun if charged long enough, to lower that skill ceiling (and yet, I feel that a lot of the mechanical skill required in the game was just shifted around to unecessary areas). For the longest time, years even, I've debated with myself as to whether or not parrying needed to be removed, and frankly, I do believe it was a good idea now.
Is it dangerous for a game to require too much skill? This will forever be debatable, with games such as Farmville and Starcraft II both being so successful but being on completely different ends of the skill requirement spectrum. Perhaps a better question is, is it too dangerous for a game to require too much skill to begin enjoying it? And with its small but dedicated fanbase all being practiced, it is difficult for a new player to jump in and just enjoy it, whereas in IV, you can have a new player and a good player play against each other and still enjoy it. (Perhaps in another post I'll touch on "enjoying the loss", but I can't possibly fit that in this post)
I feel another good example of this would be DotA, where the game is currently hard to enjoy without putting a lot of research and effort in to it, and as a game designer, I feel this kind of practice should be avoided to create an enjoyable experience. A player should be able to learn how to play a game well by playing it, with the option to advance more quickly by doing research. I particularly feel that Street Fighter IV and DotA do not offer the former option, and the player will only feel frustration from trying to improve via the more natural method.
DotA also requires a lot of mechanical skill in its competitive play, off the top of my head I can recall Orb Walking and animation canceling. There are a lot of DotA players who prefer these mechanics be in the game, just as fighting game fans prefer mechanical combos be in their games. Again, there is nothing wrong with this, but I do feel perhaps these players do cling to a mechanical tactic they learned to justify their own ability and widen the skill gap between them and the players just below them. However, League of Legends, another MOBA based on DotA, removed a lot of the mechanical skill that was required in DotA. So why is League of Legends still really popular and considered competitive whereas fighting game fans will give no credit to Super Smash Bros. for doing the same thing?
Divekick is in a very similar boat as Super Smash Bros., where there is a crowd that is convinced that Divekick is not a real fighting game for its "lack of depth", but honestly, it is exactly the game that all future fighting game developers should look to when making the fighting games of the next generation. Divekick focuses much less on mechanical skill and moreso on the player's positioning and ability to play mind games as well as land the hit that counts. That's not to say the mechanical skill is non-existant, but in the case of Divekick it is very miniscule and is mainly apparent simply through the timing of your actions.
I believe a game's competitive potential ultimately comes down to the strategic skill I mentioned earlier. In my opinion League of Legends requires much more strategic skill than DotA due to the fact that League of Legends is more team-oriented whereas DotA allows one player to carry a game. That's not to say League of Legends does not require mechanical skill. It is present in skill shot and location targeting abilities, auto attack kiting, objective smiting, etc. But what I prefer about League of Legends is that it has a very good balance between choice and action.
I personally feel the strategy of getting your hits in, which is what I love about Super Smash Bros., is more important than the mechanical ability to continuously follow up those hits with combos, whereas it seems to be the opposite way in most Capcom fighters. And when it comes down to it, the strategy of the player is where those crowd-gasping moments come from in spectated competitive gaming. For instance, if you were to spectate a Guitar Hero tournament, you honestly expect the competitors to be capable of performing the tracks. While it may be interesting to see them answer the question "can they do it?" it is much more satisfying to see someone answer the question "what will they do?" in another game.
I also do not see much difference between a short Guitar Hero track and a fighting game combo. It's something you memorized, practiced, and performed, as if a theatrical play. And while I must repeat, there is nothing wrong with having competitive gaming scenes based on that, you've never heard anyone gasp in shock as an actor managed to recite an extremely long line of dialogue on stage, either. I know that people insist that what makes combos so integral is that the action must be performed under pressure, but at the same time, other games do force the player to perform under pressure, but rather than mechanically, they are forced to make the right choice in a split second, and I feel there is a lot of value in that for a competitive game.
So with Space Punch, we'd like to focus on giving the player choice and rewarding them for making the right one (think Dark Souls combat), rather than test their muscle memory. There will be no cryptic inputs, and no inputs required for a followup move that doesn't make sense to not do (such as Tizoc of Garou: Mark of the Wolves' "Grif-Fall" attack). That's not to say the game will not require mechanical skill, as once again I feel that a good balance between the two is essential, but it will not be the focus.
During development talks for Space Punch, Vincent and I are constantly debating how much mechanical skill we would actually like to require of the player, and truthfully, a big goal of ours is to keep it LOW, at least, in comparison to popular fighting games.
First of all let me explain what mechanical skill is. It is your ability to perform, typically under pressure, which usually goes in hand with strategic skill, which is your ability to figure out what to do. If you're playing Super Mario Bros., figuring out you need to jump over the pit is strategic skill, and your ability to do it is mechanical skill. One asks the question "what will you do?" and the other asks "can you do it?"
The balance between mechanical and strategic skill is different from game to game, in fact, some games have absolutely no trace of one or the other. For instance, Final Fantasy Tactics is completely strategic skill, whereas Dance Dance Revolution is completely mechanical skill, and honestly, there is nothing wrong with that, they just appeal to different players.
However, the competitive fighting game scene seems to have a curse, where professional fighting game players will discredit a fighting game for not being mechanically challenging enough, and I would say the biggest victim of this would be the Super Smash Bros. series.
I will make it known time and time again that Super Smash Bros. is indeed my absolute favorite fighting game franchise. While it does have party elements to it, the game definitely has the grounds to be played competitively, yet people will try to claim it's "not a real fighter".
So what is a "real fighter"? Honestly, I don't believe that's for people to define. In the end I've concluded that the phrase is shallow and has no meaning. That Super Smash Bros. is as much a fighting game as Street Fighter, I'd even go so far as to say wrestling games are as well, because honestly, who has the right to say they're not? Competitive balancing might not have been a priority in these games, but that doesn't make it any less "real".
As game development evolves we see classic genre categorization become much less credible. Two games in the RPG genre can play completely different from one other, when you compare game franchises such as The Legend of Zelda, the Tales series, and Final Fantasy (And even games within the Final Fantasy franchise can play completely different from one another). In order to get a real grasp on a game through simply telling someone what genre it is, you have to dive deeper and deeper in to subgenres, to the point where a game is no longer an "RPG", now it's "an online action adventure game with RPG and puzzle elements", or you can use popular terms such as "Metroidvania".
So for lack of a better term, I'd like to go the route of the latter and, at least for use in this post, define the "Capcom Fighter" genre as "two-dimensional fighting games that put a lot of emphasis on mechanical skill". Yes, even games not made by Capcom fall within this for the sake of the article, such as Mortal Kombat, King of Fighters, Killer Instinct, etc.
Once again I feel the need to reiterate the fact that games that require advanced mechanical skill are no lesser for doing so. However, I feel the fighting scene may need to reconsider the phrase "real fighter" and instead say something along the lines of "it doesn't play like a Capcom fighter", because it is pretentious to try and say that only fighting games that play like Capcom fighters are real fighters.
The way some of these games create a high mechanical skill ceiling is by requiring the player to memorize and practice the timing of long chains of attacks that don't particularly make sense to chain for any other reason than "the game lets you do it". And in the case of Street Fighter IV, some combos will only work if the button is pressed at the exact correct time (try to complete a full set of character challenges and you'll see what I mean), otherwise the game essentially ignores the fact that you pressed it.
In the case of older games in the King of Fighters franchise (particular memories of 2002UM), a lot of mechanical skill comes from memorizing the ridiculous potential and inputs of each individual character. A character in Street Fighter might have 3 specials, 2 uniques, some ultras and supers, but a King of Fighters character can have multiple pages of inputs!
But let's get back to Street Fighter IV's inputs, while simpler than KoF's, are still sort of... odd. One I can remember off the top of my head is one of Blanka's ultras that requires you to charge diagonally down and backwards, then roll diagonally down and forward, roll back diagonally down and backwards, then cross diagonally up and forward. This is something I feel Street Fighter III did much better, most supers only required double quarter circles or double circles and a button.
And yet, Street Fighter III probably has the highest skill ceiling in competitive fighting. For better or for worse, the absolute best players can be distinguished easily from even the good players. I must admit that out of all the Capcom fighters, this is my favorite, and to its credit, it has managed to hold a competitive scene for years even though it is considered the obscurest game of the series (Screw II honestly, the only reason it's still popular is because of nostalgia appeal YEAH I SAID IT).
Where does Street Fighter III's high mechanical skill ceiling lie? Well, it's all in the parrying system. If a player presses forward right before getting hit by an attack, the attack will deal no damage and the player can almost immediately react with a counterattack. There is no limit to parrying so long as you have control of your character, and you can even incorporate the forward input for a parry in to an attack input (Take a look at this crazy video of Hayao doing a double full circle input all while parrying a Chun Li super to get what I mean).
While the mechanical skill ceiling was set extremely high by parrying, the strategic skill was also affected by the fact that the parrying system existed. Aggressive approaches had to be well-thought out, and even the safest approach could be punished by the best players. What did this do to the game though?
Setting such a high skill ceiling really drove away new players, who would be decimated by anyone practiced. In order to be good at this game, you had to put a lot of effort in to learning it. The difference between an average player and an advanced player was titanic. But at the same time it gave its competitive scene credit. When the best players played, nobody doubted how difficult it was to play on that level.
It was Street Fighter IV that would see that parrying was ultimately removed and replaced with focus attacking, a much simpler counterattack that gives the player one hit of super armor and a stun if charged long enough, to lower that skill ceiling (and yet, I feel that a lot of the mechanical skill required in the game was just shifted around to unecessary areas). For the longest time, years even, I've debated with myself as to whether or not parrying needed to be removed, and frankly, I do believe it was a good idea now.
Is it dangerous for a game to require too much skill? This will forever be debatable, with games such as Farmville and Starcraft II both being so successful but being on completely different ends of the skill requirement spectrum. Perhaps a better question is, is it too dangerous for a game to require too much skill to begin enjoying it? And with its small but dedicated fanbase all being practiced, it is difficult for a new player to jump in and just enjoy it, whereas in IV, you can have a new player and a good player play against each other and still enjoy it. (Perhaps in another post I'll touch on "enjoying the loss", but I can't possibly fit that in this post)
I feel another good example of this would be DotA, where the game is currently hard to enjoy without putting a lot of research and effort in to it, and as a game designer, I feel this kind of practice should be avoided to create an enjoyable experience. A player should be able to learn how to play a game well by playing it, with the option to advance more quickly by doing research. I particularly feel that Street Fighter IV and DotA do not offer the former option, and the player will only feel frustration from trying to improve via the more natural method.
DotA also requires a lot of mechanical skill in its competitive play, off the top of my head I can recall Orb Walking and animation canceling. There are a lot of DotA players who prefer these mechanics be in the game, just as fighting game fans prefer mechanical combos be in their games. Again, there is nothing wrong with this, but I do feel perhaps these players do cling to a mechanical tactic they learned to justify their own ability and widen the skill gap between them and the players just below them. However, League of Legends, another MOBA based on DotA, removed a lot of the mechanical skill that was required in DotA. So why is League of Legends still really popular and considered competitive whereas fighting game fans will give no credit to Super Smash Bros. for doing the same thing?
Divekick is in a very similar boat as Super Smash Bros., where there is a crowd that is convinced that Divekick is not a real fighting game for its "lack of depth", but honestly, it is exactly the game that all future fighting game developers should look to when making the fighting games of the next generation. Divekick focuses much less on mechanical skill and moreso on the player's positioning and ability to play mind games as well as land the hit that counts. That's not to say the mechanical skill is non-existant, but in the case of Divekick it is very miniscule and is mainly apparent simply through the timing of your actions.
I believe a game's competitive potential ultimately comes down to the strategic skill I mentioned earlier. In my opinion League of Legends requires much more strategic skill than DotA due to the fact that League of Legends is more team-oriented whereas DotA allows one player to carry a game. That's not to say League of Legends does not require mechanical skill. It is present in skill shot and location targeting abilities, auto attack kiting, objective smiting, etc. But what I prefer about League of Legends is that it has a very good balance between choice and action.
I personally feel the strategy of getting your hits in, which is what I love about Super Smash Bros., is more important than the mechanical ability to continuously follow up those hits with combos, whereas it seems to be the opposite way in most Capcom fighters. And when it comes down to it, the strategy of the player is where those crowd-gasping moments come from in spectated competitive gaming. For instance, if you were to spectate a Guitar Hero tournament, you honestly expect the competitors to be capable of performing the tracks. While it may be interesting to see them answer the question "can they do it?" it is much more satisfying to see someone answer the question "what will they do?" in another game.
I also do not see much difference between a short Guitar Hero track and a fighting game combo. It's something you memorized, practiced, and performed, as if a theatrical play. And while I must repeat, there is nothing wrong with having competitive gaming scenes based on that, you've never heard anyone gasp in shock as an actor managed to recite an extremely long line of dialogue on stage, either. I know that people insist that what makes combos so integral is that the action must be performed under pressure, but at the same time, other games do force the player to perform under pressure, but rather than mechanically, they are forced to make the right choice in a split second, and I feel there is a lot of value in that for a competitive game.
So with Space Punch, we'd like to focus on giving the player choice and rewarding them for making the right one (think Dark Souls combat), rather than test their muscle memory. There will be no cryptic inputs, and no inputs required for a followup move that doesn't make sense to not do (such as Tizoc of Garou: Mark of the Wolves' "Grif-Fall" attack). That's not to say the game will not require mechanical skill, as once again I feel that a good balance between the two is essential, but it will not be the focus.
Gemhead Twitter is up!
General | Posted 12 years agoMeet the Team!
General | Posted 12 years agoMain Team:
VinVulpis Super rad guy. Does the arts and musics. Mastermind behind errythang. Has been in/on books!
Spyke Lead programmer! Plays a lot of Guild Wars 2. Worked on League of Legends! Also makes apps!
Con Badger Co-Programmer! Knows everything about game development and is our wisebro <3 He picked Unity as our engine!
BenTheDragon Co-Animator and Artist! The nicest dude in the world. Raised a ton of money for Mighty No. 9! (Also almost beat WingZero in Skullgirls!)
chetchaka Co-Animator! Fell in to a volcano! He needs to give me more to write about him ;w;
Canid_Paladin Public Relations and Creative Consultant! Writing the stuff you're reading! LOVES EXCLAMATION POINTS!
https://twitter.com/IshwaJPW Doesn't have an FA! Project Manager and Writer! Makes sure shit gets done! Publishes books! Leader of a large writing community on Long Island!
Contributors: (Note me if I forgot to mention you aaaaaa)
Music!
Riesin 
Woofle
Voices!
Gadas
Special Thanks!
BeastsFuryStudio
VinVulpis Super rad guy. Does the arts and musics. Mastermind behind errythang. Has been in/on books!
Spyke Lead programmer! Plays a lot of Guild Wars 2. Worked on League of Legends! Also makes apps!
Con Badger Co-Programmer! Knows everything about game development and is our wisebro <3 He picked Unity as our engine!
BenTheDragon Co-Animator and Artist! The nicest dude in the world. Raised a ton of money for Mighty No. 9! (Also almost beat WingZero in Skullgirls!)
chetchaka Co-Animator! Fell in to a volcano! He needs to give me more to write about him ;w; Canid_Paladin Public Relations and Creative Consultant! Writing the stuff you're reading! LOVES EXCLAMATION POINTS!https://twitter.com/IshwaJPW Doesn't have an FA! Project Manager and Writer! Makes sure shit gets done! Publishes books! Leader of a large writing community on Long Island!
Contributors: (Note me if I forgot to mention you aaaaaa)
Music!
Riesin 
WoofleVoices!
GadasSpecial Thanks!
BeastsFuryStudioFrom the Gemhead Blog: Welcome!
General | Posted 12 years agohttp://gemheadstudios.tumblr.com/
Welcome to the official Gemhead Studios blog, where throughout development, we will be posting periodic updates showcasing graphical assets, soundtrack music, concept art, screenshots, and more!
Gemhead Studios is a small group of indie game developers who are accomplished in programming, writing, and art. Our experiences range from having worked on League of Legends to being published both in and on books, as well as previous work in creating completely original characters for MUGEN.
We currently have one free character available for download for the MUGEN engine, and as development on the project progresses, we will be expanding that roster, as all assets used in our own game will be exported for use in MUGEN. The game itself will be developed in Unity, and we hope to have the game available on multiple platforms.
Though the character does not reflect how the finished game will play, ShadowRoo is an excellent benchmark of the quality of work you can expect from Gemhead. Shadowroo can be downloaded at the following link: http://carbunkleuniverse.com/ShadowRoo.php
For all project updates, please feel free to follow us on tumblr as we will be updating the blog periodically. Twitter and Facebook pages will be added soon, as well as links to each developer’s personal websites and blogs. Thank you for your interest in our work!
Welcome to the official Gemhead Studios blog, where throughout development, we will be posting periodic updates showcasing graphical assets, soundtrack music, concept art, screenshots, and more!
Gemhead Studios is a small group of indie game developers who are accomplished in programming, writing, and art. Our experiences range from having worked on League of Legends to being published both in and on books, as well as previous work in creating completely original characters for MUGEN.
We currently have one free character available for download for the MUGEN engine, and as development on the project progresses, we will be expanding that roster, as all assets used in our own game will be exported for use in MUGEN. The game itself will be developed in Unity, and we hope to have the game available on multiple platforms.
Though the character does not reflect how the finished game will play, ShadowRoo is an excellent benchmark of the quality of work you can expect from Gemhead. Shadowroo can be downloaded at the following link: http://carbunkleuniverse.com/ShadowRoo.php
For all project updates, please feel free to follow us on tumblr as we will be updating the blog periodically. Twitter and Facebook pages will be added soon, as well as links to each developer’s personal websites and blogs. Thank you for your interest in our work!
