It looks like the scrap pile is getting a little bigger. Fight Night has finally gone down to the mat and was counted out. The mechanisms were still really cool, and I’m sure I can re-use them in another game, but not this one. Fight Night had it’s moments, but there was a severe thematic disconnect which doomed this game to mediocrity at best. I’ve seen quite a few bouts, and I have never seen anybody squat down and punch somebody in the knee. This is what the mechanisms of the game were basically asking you to do. Although it was funny at times, this disconnect stopped the players from really immersing themselves into the game. The timing and the intensity may have matched a real fight, but the actions never seemed quite right. Lesson learned.
Tag: Sparring
A Glimmer of Hope
The first playtest of Fight Night Version #9 went off the rails. The hurriedly put together graphics were hard to follow, there was no clear player direction, and the mechanism’s in general were a little clunky and slow. The teach was horrible (My Bad) and one of the mechanisms was broken so bad we couldn’t finish the game. Ouch!
There is, however, a glimmer of hope. I witnessed the first emergent strategy in any of my games. The players were also immersed in their roles in the game, not through any story or art in the game, but by their behavior alone. It would have to be the behavior, because the art in the prototype is so cheesy. This is a sign that there is something intriguing buried under this current mess of a game. Yeah!
The first steps are to fix the broken mechanisms, then deal with the graphic issues, and finally guide the players a little better. This version of the game will be a test bed for determining player behaviors and looking for patterns.
Once I have more information, I can start looking at simplifying the game while adding more opportunities for unique player actions. This will come later in version #10. “Stay tuned to this station for further updates.”
Special thanks to the play-testers for their time and their valuable insights.
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