Last on our “Learning From The Best” series is a genre that only recently began making a comeback after a few years of seeing little attention. For many of us, it all started back in the late 80s and early 90s, when teenagers and adults alike flooded arcades to see who was the best at Street Fighter, The King of Fighters, and other great titles. Console gamers also enjoyed a rich library of fighting games throughout the decade, with groundbreaking (and often controversial) games like Mortal Kombat, Tekken, and Marvel vs. Capcom.

But eventually the genre started suffering a descent in popularity that would continue for nearly two decades. Plenty of great games from renowned franchises were released, but it was clear that fighting games were past their most prominent days. Fortunately, our fire for these games began growing again with the help of titles like Super Smash Bros, Street Fighter IV, and a few reboots.

The following are some ideas that we agree help make a fighting game both irresistible to play, and fun to watch:

Characters That Stand Out

It doesn’t matter how great a fighting game’s mechanics are, or how large their character roster is, if every fighter feels the same. In fact, they should not only have unique movesets, but should also look attractive and interesting. We’re not saying that one or few characters can’t play somewhat the same, like Ryu and Ken from Street Fighter, but there should be some variety or else your players will quickly get bored.

Besides the fast-paced gameplay, BlazBlue has always attracted gamers due to its colorful cast of characters. Robotic girls with floating swords, black blob-like creatures, giant red cyborgs, and the inevitable scantily-clad girl with animal ears; suffice to say, there’s no lack in diversity. But more importantly, every character not only looks different, but also plays nothing like the rest. Even if your fighting game ends up having less than 10 characters, make each one of them fun to play and you’ll have no problem gaining a crowd of fans.

A Great Story Mode

Truth be told, the average fighting game enthusiast isn’t likely to invest their time and money in a title simply for its single-player mode. This may be because this genre, which is far from the best in terms of a storytelling tool, is more about competing against other human players. However, it’s a huge plus when there’s a good story mode that lets you get familiar with characters, learn interesting backstories, and more.

A well-crafted game that ended up being a major success, both critically and commercially, Soul Calibur II had one of the better single-player modes of any fighting game at the time. It involved completing a variety of missions that offered interesting story texts as well as gold, which was used to buy new weapons and other unlockables. Watching the narrative unfold as you fight with characters wielding an arsenal of different weapons was far more enjoyable than the “fight through the roster” story modes that other games have.

A Fun, Approachable Combo System

There’s nothing more fun that putting together a string of hits that completely devastates your foe, especially when you’ve spent hours trying to perfect that very combo. At the same time, it’s easy for players to pick up a fighting game once and never touch it again if they find themselves frustrated by the fact that it only takes one failed block for their opponent to bring their health down to zero. In other words, combos should be fun to perform but not impossible to break out of.

Although there are plenty of good examples, we can’t help but go with Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. Despite being a Wii title with a roster filled with Japanese anime characters, it was praised for serving as the return of vs.-style gameplay. These titles have a mechanic called “Mega Crash” that can be performed at almost any time to break your opponent’s combo.

A Dab Of Innovation

To the average person, every fighting game appears the same. After choosing your characters (and sometimes stage), the players then press buttons either wildly or intelligently until one of the two is defeated. But to a game designer and avid fighting gamer, this is hardly the case. We know why Marvel vs Capcom, Tekken, and Guilty Gear, – or Dead or Alive and Killer Instinct – are different. To anyone considering developing their own fighting game, we recommend that you study how the little gameplay differences, not visuals or story, are what  truly what set them all apart.

Of course, there’s only one game series we can think of that was infused with enough novelty to truly feel unlike any other fighting game out there: Super Smash Bros. Now one of the most popular games of the genre, the original Smash was groundbreaking for its gameplay that involved trying to knock opponents off the stage instead of depleting a health bar. Four players, unique character playstyles, and a percent-based system are a few of the many ways Nintendo did what they do best: innovate.

[su_note]Want a career in game design? Learn more about the School of Game Design at the New York Film Academy. [/su_note]

During their 2005 E3 press conference, Sony showed off the power of the PlayStation 3 in a way that Square Enix regretted for many years after. To confirm that they were supporting the new console, a tech demo was shown featuring a gorgeous new remake of the first few moments from Final Fantasy VII.

The 2,000 press members in attendance cheered joyously as they saw two of the most beloved characters in RPG history in what appeared to be a remake of the game. Instead, President Yoichi Wada would quickly confirm that it was merely a demo and nothing more, resulting in perhaps the biggest burn a developer has ever given its fans.

Gamers have, since then, clamored for a Final Fantasy VII remake where they can explore a familiar world and relive memorable scenes in HD. Square Enix would ignore the mass of requests and instead release the original title on the PlayStation Network as well as on other platforms like iPhone, Android, and Steam.

In fact, it would not be for another seven years that Square Enix would bring up the idea. In 2012, CEO Yoichi Wada explained in a shareholder meeting that a remake of the acclaimed RPG would not happen until a new Final Fantasy game exceeded the quality of the legendary 1997 title. The head of Square Enix even went on to say that remaking FF7 at the time would signal the end of the franchise.

Fast forward once again to June 15 of 2015, when Square Enix finally announced what many thought would never come. During Sony’s E3 press conference we saw our first glimpse of the official Final Fantasy VII remake via another beautiful re-imagining of Midgar. The reveal was followed with passionate applause and claims that, aside from Xbox One’s backwards compatibility, it was one of the best announcements of that E3 press conference.

If you were one of the many who were blown away by the original back in the PlayStation days, the following question is simple: why is an FF7 remake such a big deal?  But like any groundbreaking title from the past, it’s sometimes hard to explain to someone unfamiliar with just how innovative and important this particular JRPG was nearly eighteen years ago. Maybe this is why many are now wondering exactly how the remake will be handled.

The nostalgia factor has us remembering a powerful story linked together by meaningful characters, addicting gameplay, and a world unlike any other. However, anyone who takes a close look at the original title will realize just how poorly it has aged; not just in terms of visuals, but gameplay as well. Will Square Enix keep the same gameplay, turn-based combat and all, or will it lean more toward the real-time combat system of newer entries like the upcoming Final Fantasy XV?

Suffice to say, Square Enix has quite a challenge on their hands, as they work to create something that will please the nostalgic gamers as well as younger players. The latter might not have the patience for simple turn-based combat, random battles, and a storyline that by today’s standards isn’t as breathtaking as it was before. Even the original FF7 fanboys might be surprised by how much better the gameplay, story, and dialogue are in their minds after nearly 20 years.

Whatever direction they decide to go in, it’s just great to see them finally give fans what they’ve been asking for. Final Fantasy VII continued to be the most successful entry in the series with nearly 10 million units sold, which hopefully means that Square Enix will work hard to give us a remake that we won’t regret having asked for for nearly a decade.

[su_note]Want to design and develop video games? Learn more about the School of Game Design at the New York Film Academy. Campuses in New York and Los Angeles.[/su_note]

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Although they’re certainly not for everyone, puzzle games offer a unique joy that few other genres can provide. There’s just something about confronting a problem that requires more than your average thinking to figure out, but even better is the feeling of satisfaction when everything finally ‘clicks’. Of course, most developers will tell you that designing a puzzle game is a puzzle itself – it requires quite a bit of thinking!

The following are a few ingredients for a puzzle game that not only draws players in but keeps them engaged after every challenge.

1. Simplicity Is Often Best

Some of the most popular puzzle games out there today consist of only one or two main mechanics. If you don’t believe us, consider the success match-3 games like Bejeweled, Candy Crush Saga, and Pokemon Shuffle have seen in the last few years. This is because most puzzle game enthusiasts are looking for the kind of challenge that is easy to get familiar with, but also has plenty of depth, which is easier to design when the puzzles are simple.

Arguably one of the greatest puzzle games of all time, and a perfect example, is none other than Tetris. Flipping a few different shapes around to fit them together and create horizontal lines sounds easy enough, right? It would be if the pieces didn’t start to fall faster and faster as you progress, creating a fun progression of difficulty that escalates the better you do. Sometimes, just adding a small twist to a solid gameplay mechanic is all you need to create a unique experience.

2. The Puzzles Should Have A Purpose And Feel Rewarding

Even if you come up with a ton of amazing puzzles to toss into your game, the player will probably feel empty after finding the solution if it didn’t push them closer to some kind of goal. In other words, the player should get the impression that there was a good reason for overcoming the puzzle, and that it didn’t exist just to stand in their way.

One of the better examples are the Portal games. When you think about it, these games are pretty much a string of puzzles you’re led through from start to finish. But thanks to amazing storytelling, the player feels satisfaction after every puzzle solved because they advance the story and are rewarded with more dialogue from GLaDOS.

3. Find Inspiration From Real Life

You can ask many puzzle game developers where they got their inspiration and we’re sure a good number will say it came to them while walking their dog or cooking a meal. Like any game genre, players tend to become more immersed into a game if it feels familiar to them – even puzzle games.

Consider World Of Goo, a game that blew everyone away when it released in 2008, and not just because it was made by two people in their spare time inside a Starbucks. This game involves using sticky blobs to build towers and bridges – things most of us see every day when we go outside or watch a movie, television show, and so on. 2D Boy somehow knew it’d be fun to use a group of gooey blobs to construct something capable of standing firm over various dangers.

4. The Puzzle Should Make Players Feel Smart

A prominent game designer recentlfy said that the key to crafting engaging puzzles is making the player feel smart after solving it even though the answer was obvious. This may sound silly at first, until you realize that every good puzzle game always presents the player with the tools needed to solve each challenge. That is to say, there was really only one solution to the problem, but it was only apparent after a bit of thinking on the player’s part.

Another tremendous puzzle game is Braid, which perfectly illustrates this idea. In Braid you are introduced with a new time-based mechanic in each world – rewinding time, zones unaffected by your time abilities, a shadow that appears after rewinding time, etc.

Players quickly get the hang of the world but eventually hit a puzzle that stumps them, which of course involves using the new mechanic in a specific way to solve it. This makes the player feel enlightened as they’re filled with a pleasure that only comes from figuring out a solution to a seemingly-impossible puzzle, even if afterwards the solution seems obvious.

[su_note]Want to design and develop video games? Learn more about the School of Game Design at the New York Film Academy. Campuses in New York and Los Angeles.[/su_note]

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