World of Mixed Martial Arts III: Developer's Journal

[Adam Ryland]

#25: Range Striking

 

The striking section of the match engine has had one of the biggest overhauls thanks to the addition of different ranges. It can now take the form of either ranged striking or pocket striking.

 

Ranged striking is when the two fighters have some distance between them, and is based on the WMMA2 striking engine. From this distance the fighters can use jabs and leg kicks to control distance, dart in and out to throw strikes, and have to take a step in before they can shoot for takedowns. Reach becomes a big part of strategy, as it can allow a fighter to dictate where the fight takes place.

 

Pocket striking, as the name suggests, is when one (or both) fighters step in so that they're very close to each other. From here the fighters can throw more shots to the body, use knees and elbows more effectively, and are close enough that they can easily drop down and look for takedowns. It also allows fighters to get close enough to grab hold of the opponent for grappling or to pull guard. As they are closer together, reach advantages becomes less important and, conversely, quick reaction times, technical striking ability, and good defense become more important. It also means that it becomes easier to score major blows, as the opponent has less time to get out of the way.

 

Different ranges give advantages to different fighters. Taking a real world example, Sean Sherk is the perfect example of someone who is much more effective in the pocket than at range; it helps minimise the negative impact of having a small reach, and allows him to use his powerful short strikes and the threat of a double leg to overwhelm opponents. On the flip side, someone like Lyoto Machida may prefer to stay at range and dart in and out to make the best use of his mobility and elusiveness.

 

This feature, therefore, adds a whole new layer of strategy to the striking game - essentially doubling the striking engine from WMMA2. Wrestlers won't just be able to go straight for takedowns, they'll need to negotiate the tricky move from range to pocket without getting picked off with jabs, leg kicks or other strikes. Tall strikers who can't grapple may have to be more defensive to stop the opponent collapsing the pocket. High pressure fighters will want to stay in the pocket as much as possible to overwhelm their opponent. And so forth.

[Adam Ryland]

This week will have two entries per day; the first will be a regular entry, the second will be one of the less interesting match engine changes.

 

#26: User Talents

 

Taken from TEW2010, WMMA3 sees the introduction of User Talents. For those of you who haven't played TEW, these are four categories that define how skilled your user character is at certain aspects of the game. Each is rated from 0-10, with 0 being awful and 10 being fantastic. A 5 neither gives advantages or disadvantages in that area (essentially allowing you to turn off the feature entirely if you wish). You get a certain amount of points to spend at the start of each game, and can gain further points as the game progresses.

 

The four categories are Negotiating (makes it easier to handle fighter negotiations), Eye For Talent (reduces the previously announced Fog Of War effects), Match Making (reduces the amount of rejections during match making, meaning that it becomes easier to set up the fights you want) and Promotion (allows you to better hype up fights).

 

#27: Foot Stomps

 

A small but realistic addition to the match engine, fighters can now deliver foot stomps to their opponent when grappling up against the ropes or fence. This can cause damage to the feet and reduce the opponent's mobility.

[Adam Ryland]

#28: Moment-In-Time Rankings

 

A small feature that will nonetheless probably be popular is the addition of Moment-In-Time Rankings. The way that this works is that when a match happens, the game stores the current rankings of the fighter involved; whenever you look at that fight record in the future, you'll be able to see (in brackets) what their respective rankings were at that point in time. This is especially useful when viewing a specific fighter's history as it allows you to see where his big victories were.

 

#29: Hooks In

 

A new addition to the match engine occurs when a fighter has taken his opponent's back; he can now try to gets hooks in. If successful, this takes the aggressor to a modified version of the normal "rear mount" situation where he has added control - this makes it easier for him to work for submissions and makes it harder for the opponent to spin around or get free, especially during the application of a rear naked choke. This addition adds a little bit of extra realism to the ground game.

[Adam Ryland]

#30-#32: Making Weight

 

(This entry is actually three different additions that are all linked together and so can't really be discussed individually, hence the numbering.)

 

So that the process of making weight becomes more realistic, there are now two new stats for fighters called Weight Cutting (that controls how good they are at shedding pounds) and Walking Weight (that shows what weight they are at when they start). The higher the Cutting score, the better they are at it, so they can lose more weight and do it more consistently than those with a low score.

 

Furthermore, weight cutting is now taken into account much more accurately in the match engine. During the bout you will not only be able to see what they weighed in at, but also what they weigh in reality when the fight actually began. This second weight is what is actually used in terms of calculations, meaning that someone who is good at weight cutting can come into the fight significantly heavier than he was at the weigh ins, giving him the same advantages that you'd have in reality. As with reality, fighters who attempt a huge cut can also experience drawbacks due to dehydration, physical fatigue, lack of energy, etc.

 

The combination of all these features allows for a much more realistic simulation of making weight as it allows fighters who are good at cutting to come down from a higher weight and then pack some of it back on post-weigh ins, and also a better and more accurate method of judging who is likely to fail to make weight. It is especially good for simulating the Western fighters who use weight cutting as a critical part of their strategy, coming into fights with a major size advantage.

 

#33: Rubber Guard

 

A new position for the match engine is Rubber Guard, which is open to skilled ground fighters with a high degree of flexibility. As you'd expect, this allows the fighter on the bottom to take the initiative and attack with a variety of submissions, sweeps, and small strikes.

[Adam Ryland]

#34: Delegation

 

Located in the Fighters Negotiations screen, the new Delegation button allows you to let the AI take control. Once in control, the AI will do its best to seal the deal without going overboard on the terms it offers, and the entire process happens instantly (as oppose to having to wait and see each rejection \ new offer).

 

The advantages are that it allows the player to skip negotiating with every single fighter on the roster and that the AI can be relied upon to get most people to sign to a decent contract. The disadvantage is that the AI doesn't have the ability to skillfully manipulate the negotiations to get a great deal like the player could if he was doing it, and so potentially the resulting deal from the AI may be slightly worse than if the user did the process himself.

 

#35: Technical Submissions

 

A new finish that wasn't in previous games, WMMA3 allows referees to call a Technical Submission in some situations (such as if a fighter is put to sleep, or is clearly in danger of being seriously injured by remaining in a hold).

[Adam Ryland]

#36: Eras

 

Another feature taken from the TEW series and added to WMMA is the concept of Eras. These can be defined in the editor. Each Era is given a specific time period (e.g. "March 1990 to July 1994"), and as long as the game is within those dates it is considered active. Once active, the Era can alter the normal settings for certain events; these include the percentage of Modern to Old School fighters being generated (i.e. the higher the percentage, the more chance new fighters have of having a broad base of skills rather than being one-dimensional), the amount of crossover stars from other combat sports, and the average quality of male and female fighters being generated. Eras therefore allow the database maker to guide the game in a certain direction.

 

#37: Gassing Arms

 

As part of the improvements to submissions, one new potential occurrence is that a fighter can lock on a hold (usually a guillotine) and try and squeeze it to make up for the fact that it isn't perfectly applied; if this doesn't work, they can end up gassing their arms out. If this happens, the fighter will find his hand speed lessened, his hands held lower, some of his power reduced, etc, etc.

[Adam Ryland]

#38: Fantasy Match Making

 

There are plenty of new options in WMMA3 that allow you to customise your gameplay experience; one of these is Fantasy Booking. When turned on, as the name suggests, this essentially allows you to ignore all the realistic touches - fighters rejecting fights because of relationships, athletic commissions blocking certain fighters, etc, etc - and just book whatever you want (within reason; some fundamental blocks remain, such as not being able to do male vs female bouts or use deceased fighters). This has been included for those who are looking to play the game in more of a fantasy "what if?" way, or who just want to focus on the "game" element of WMMA3 rather than the "sim" element.

 

#39: Back Crucifix

 

A new position added to the game is the "back crucifix", recently seen in the Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Jason Brilz fight; this is where the attacker is behind the opponent, applying the crucifix. This is quite a rare position to achieve in the game, as in reality.

[Adam Ryland]

#40: Destiny Overwrite

 

A feature that is primarily for mod makers to use but which has benefits for everyone, a Destiny Overwrite section is available via the Fighter editor.

 

As most people know by now, in both TEW and WMMA the timing of things like retirements, physical peak, etc, are controlled by a variable called Destiny; this is randomised at the start of each new game to ensure a unique game. What the new Destiny Overwrite section does is allow the mod maker to set certain elements so that they ignore the Destiny variable and give the same result each time. For example, you can set it so that a fighter's Physical Decline is set to only happen very late in his career - this would be useful if you were modeling someone like Randy Couture.

 

This feature therefore allows the mod maker to set up his database so that certain aspects of reality are always adhered to.

 

#41: Doing The Werdum

 

New to the match engine, submission experts now have the ability to "do a Werdum"; that is, they have access to a special section of code whereby they can interrupt a ground and pound attack by throwing up a triangle or armbar out of the blue and try to catch the opponent unaware. This feature, of course based on the famous Fedor fight, helps make truly elite submission artists even more dangerous, as unlike everyone else they don't have to wait for a pause in the ground and pound.

[Adam Ryland]

#42: Ground Control Revamp

 

In order to more accurately simulate matches some of the ground stats have been revamped. Attacking and Defensive Positioning are now gone, replaced with Top Ground Control, Bottom Ground Control and Guard Control.

 

As the names suggest, TGC is how good the fighter is at controlling an opponent who is underneath him (therefore used to simulate suffocating top control), Guard Control is the fighter's ability to control an opponent who is in his guard (useful for simulating people with strong jiu jitsu skills), and BGC is the fighters control from the bottom in any position other than guard (used to stop people passing or posturing up from half guard, side control, etc).

 

These three are also more intuitive to use than the previous versions, which should hopefully make for better mods.

 

#43: More Random Elements

 

In order to create a more realistic simulation, the match engine now includes many random elements. These are mostly quite rare, but will pop up from time to time. These include things like fighters slipping after throwing a high kick, clashes of heads during grappling, accidental low blows off kicks and knees, inadvertent eye pokes, etc. These all help to better immerse you in the experience.

[Adam Ryland]

#44: Quick Comparison

 

The match making section now includes a useful new feature called Quick Comparison. Once you have selected two fighters you simply press the button and it brings up a side-by-side analysis of their skills, colour-coded by advantage; green text indicates the fighter is better in that area, red indicates he's worse, and yellow means they are even.

 

This helps the player enormously, particularly when you're trying to hand-pick opponents for a fighter you're looking to get a win.

 

#45: Towel Throwing

 

A new finish to the game, and one that is quite rare, sees a fighter's corner be able to throw in the towel to end a match. This can happen if the fighter is getting beaten so badly that he has mentally given up and there's clearly no way back for him, or if he suffers an injury and the corner think that it would be a mistake to send him back out for the next round.

[Adam Ryland]

#46-47: Fight Metrics

 

New to WMMA3 is the concept of Fight Metrics. A statistical feature, basically the match engine keeps track of everything that happened during a fight and at the end of the bout you have the option of viewing an analysis. This analysis shows you information on strikes, submission attempts, etc, etc. The report looks something like this (for each fighter):

 

Standing Punches: 50% Scored (10 of 20)

Standing Kicks: 0% Scores (0 of 3)

Takedowns: 100% Success (1 of 1)

Ground Strikes: 80% Scored (4 of 5)

 

Those are just four of the categories, shown to give an example, there are more in the game.

 

On top of this, the Fight Metrics for every single fight that is simulated in each game are stored on file. From a fighter's profile you can then go and see a breakdown of his overall career Fight Metric stats, again showing percentages as well as the actual numbers.

 

#48: More Rules

 

The amount of rules that can be applied to a fight (or company) have been expanded in WMMA3. Amongst the new rules, Elbow Strikes To The Head can now be divided by Ground or Standing, Foot Stomps can be banned, and Soccer Kicks can be outlawed to the Head or Body.

[Adam Ryland]

#49: Strength By Numbers

 

Following on from the previously announced Fight Metrics, the in-game web site now has a special subsection called Strength By Numbers. This is a collection of stats all based around the Fight Metrics results. There are a huge number of categories, ranging from all the way from Total Number Of Standing Punches Attempted to Highest Percentage Of Submissions Achieved From Attempts, and each one will give a top ten based on the fighters in the database.

 

#50: Submissions From Grapple

 

Submission-oriented grapplers have two new moves that can make them more dangerous from the clinch. Firstly, they can now leap and pull the opponent down into their guard, which is useful if they do not have the skills to use a takedown to get on top. Secondly, flying armbars have now been added, one of the more spectacular submissions in the game. These two additions add a bit more depth for certain fighters.

[Adam Ryland]

#51: Event-Driven vs. TV-Driven

 

New to the game is the fact that companies can be set to be either Event-Driven or TV-Driven.

 

The former is how all companies worked in the past, where the emphasis is on regular shows with the ultimate aim being to make money off a pay-per-view schedule. These companies can and will go for TV shows, but these are designed primarily to create new stars and build interest in the company, in order to help garner more interest for the big events.

 

The latter is a new option, and means that the company will more aggressively pursue getting a TV deal, will run them more regularly once they have them, will see pay-per-view events as an occasional "extra", and will rarely run non-PPV events. Obviously, their booking tactics will also change in line with this as, for example, it would clearly not make any sense for them to save their big matches for PPV when it's TV they're focused on.

 

#52: Reacting To Strikes

 

Fighters will now react better to strikes. Fighters with weak stand-up who do not like getting hit may quickly back away as soon as they feel a stiff blow land, whereas real warriors may just ignore it and continue to come forward. These reactions are visible in the commentary, and can actually impact the fight itself (as a fighter who keeps backing out of the pocket every time a strike hits may actually last longer in certain circumstances than one who takes it and stays at close range).

[Adam Ryland]

#53: Achievements

 

Taken from the TEW series, WMMA3 will now feature an Achievements section. For those who haven't played TEW, this is similar to the trophies that you get on PS3 games, where you are rewarded for doing certain tasks or reaching certain goals. WMMA's is heavily based around the match engine, with most of the Achievements requiring you to view certain rare events (for example, one is that you must witness a gogoplata finish to a fight). It's basically a nice extra to give you something else to aim for.

 

#54: Back To The Wall

 

When a fighter is in a tough spot, knowing that he has one round left and he is definitely losing, there is now the chance that they will either show Mental Fortitude or suffer a Mental Collapse - both are based on a fighter's Heart.

 

Mental Fortitude means that they show great willpower and are going to leave it all in the cage in an effort to turn things around and win - there is commentary saying this is happening, and they get a stats boost to simulate this burst of mental strength.

 

Mental Collapse means that their will is broken, and again features commentary explaining this, but means that they get a stats penalty to simulate the fact that they've all but given up.

 

These are in to better simulate the impact a fighter's will has on fights.

[Adam Ryland]

#55: Match Making Screen

 

The match making screen has been radically altered for WMMA3, with a focus on making the entire process quicker and more user friendly. Amongst the changes are:

 

- All your shows can be booked from the same screen, with one drop down menu allowing you to quickly switch between them. This eliminates the need to exit the screen and come back every time you want to change the show, and also means that you need literally seconds to check up on what you've already booked elsewhere.

 

- Matches can now be re-ordered via the main screen without any need to access the match itself. This means that you can re-order an entire show in just a few clicks.

 

- All the different tools (Roster Analysis, Unavailable Fighters, Rankings, History, etc, etc) are available from the main screen as well as when booking the individual matches, meaning that no matter where you are (your office, the match making screen, creating a specific match) you have all the information at your finger tips.

 

#56: Drug Test Failure

 

If a fighter wins a match but then fails a drugs test, the game will go back and alter the result in the history files to become a No Contest draw, as in line with reality.

[Adam Ryland]

#57: Defense History

 

New to the game is the fact that when viewing a fighter's history you will now be able to see notes on whether the match saw him win, retain or lose titles. This is oppose to previous games, where you'd need to piece together such information by looking at other people's records and the title's history. This makes it much easier to keep track and to get a good overview of the way a fighter's career has gone.

 

#58: Throws And Trips

 

When fighters go for takedowns from the clinch, the game now has the ability to specify the technique being used. This is done by looking at the fighter's background. Wrestlers will be more likely to use Greco-Roman techniques to slam their opponent to the ground, whereas Judokas will use their array of leverage throws and trips. This adds to the realism of the game.

 

 

Next week will be five days dedicated to looking at the new stats that have been added to Fighters.

[Adam Ryland]

#59: Clinch Split

 

The first of the new Fighter stats that will be looked at this week is the split that has occurred with the Clinch stats. WMMA3 now splits them into two: Wrestling Clinch and Muay Thai Clinch.

 

The Wrestling Clinch uses the same stats as WMMA2. Muay Thai Clinch modifies them slightly by replacing Grappling with Control (as in being able to control an opponent and keep them in the Muay Thai plum) and removing Takedowns, Takedown Defense, and Dirty Boxing.

 

The reason for this change is that WMMA2's system didn't differentiate between the two types; this led to wrestlers automatically being good at controlling opponent in the Muay Thai plum, and likewise, Muay Thai fighters being excellent at doing damage in a wrestling clinch against the cage or ropes. By splitting them up it allows better a simulation and more accuracy.

 

#60: The Salaverry

 

Another new position added to the game is the top crucifix \ Salaverry position. This is achieved from side control and allows the fighter on top to rain down blows, a la Matt Hughes, or set up submissions.

[Adam Ryland]

#61: Passing

 

An entirely new addition to the Ground stats is Passing. Very simply, this is the fighter's ability to pass from one position to another, i.e. from guard to half guard, etc. This has been added as it's such an important part of the ground game and so deserves to be recognised with its own specific stat.

 

#62: Strike Submission

 

A new finish that has been added to the match engine is submission through strikes. Fighters with low heart are most susceptible to this, which sees them tap out to a vicious ground and pound barrage rather than get knocked out.

[Adam Ryland]

#63: Submission Defense

 

The single Ground -> Submission Defense stat from WMMA2 is split into two for WMMA3, becoming Submission Defense (Top) and Submission Defence (Bottom), based on the position of the fighter defending. The reason for this is that it allows a more accurate simulation, as some fighters, particularly wrestlers, are quite good at avoiding submissions as long as they're on top, but are noticeably worse if they're the ones underneath.

 

#64: Chipping Away

 

Strikes to the head in the new game will now reduce the opponent's chin strength slightly each time, essentially allowing the attacker to slowly wear down his opponent over time in order to get him in a position to be knocked out. This again makes for a better, more realistic simulation.

[Adam Ryland]

#65: Marketability

 

The marketability stats have been increased from two to four for WMMA3; the list now includes Charisma, Microphone Skills, Looks and Menace. These stats affect how a fighter is perceived, and can lead to increased rates of popularity increase or decrease depending on the circumstance.

 

On top of that, there are now two check boxes; Natural Babyface and Natural Heel. If ticked, this indicates that the fighter is automatically always going to be a fan favourite (such as Rich Franklin) or a figure of hatred (such as Josh Koscheck). These also affect the rate of popularity increase, and are also reflected in many of the stories that will appear on the Internet site (for example, Natural Heels will be more likely to come across as egotistical, bullying or arrogant when doing interviews).

 

#66: Bad Decisions

 

New to the commentary engine is the fact that if the judge's make an obviously bad call, you will see text talking about it. For example, after the decision is announced the commentary team may talk about how it was an absolute robbery.

 

--

 

To update people on the current situation, I can reveal that the coding of the game is finished, and the team are now in the final stages of testing, finishing up the interface, and designing the database. We should be ready to announce the official release dates within the next two weeks, and it will almost certainly be in line with our previous estimate that it'd be coming out in December, pre-Christmas.

[Adam Ryland]

#67: Aura

 

Joining the Reputation and Performance stats is Aura. This is a stat that is heavily linked to Reputation, but is much more volatile - whereas Reputation has to be earned over a long period of time, Aura is much more immediate; a couple of impressive KO finishes and it will start rising rapidly, and likewise it will fall like a stone on the back of a couple of bad losses. Aura works as a "booster" for Reputation, simulating how fans have a very short-term mindset when it comes to fighters, and allows hot streaks to be better represented.

 

#68: Takedown Defense

 

There are two new types of defense that can be done by a fighter being hit with a takedown. One is a "spin away" type movement, where the fighter either spins out of the takedown before he is taken off his feet, or more commonly, he spins out and away almost as soon as he touches the ground and so can get back to his feet (Junior Dos Santos did this especially well in his fight with Gabriel Gonzaga). The second type is that the fighter can use a semi-sprawl, grab an underhook, and twist his hips; spinning the attacker around so that he can be pushed up against the ropes or cage wall.

[Adam Ryland]

#69: Mod Maker +

 

New to WMMA3 is the "Mod Maker +" mode; this is available via the Fighter editor. This feature gives the user a (filterable) list of the fighters in the game, and the ability to select any of the stats used in the game (i.e. Cardio, Punching Power, etc) - whichever stat is selected is then shown in brackets after the fighter's name (e.g. you would see "Fighter 1 (82%), Fighter 2 (76%), etc). Furthermore, also on screen is a statistical breakdown of how many fighters are at each skill level (e.g. the first line might be "91-100 = 15 fighters (2%)", the next line "81-90 = 109 fighters (14%)", etc, etc.

 

The user can then select some (or all) of the fighters by ticking boxes and then apply direct changes, either setting everyone selected to a specific value or increasing \ reducing them by a certain amount. These changes are then applied directly to the fighters.

 

The idea behind this feature is that it allows mod makers a much greater degree of control over the stats. The list and statistical breakdown make stat "leveling" much easier as you have an overview, and the ability to make mass changes gives the user a much easier task when it comes to making sure that everyone's stats are in-line with the rest of the game world.

 

Obviously, this feature won't be used by everyone, as it's directly aimed at the people who make databases. However, as it means that user-made databases should end up being better balanced (and quicker to produce), everyone benefits in the long run.

 

#70: Swarming Stomps And Kicks

 

When a fighter knocks down an opponent and has him stunned, he now has the ability to wade in and try and finish the fight by swarming him with stomps and kicks (obviously this only applies if the rules allow it), trying to blitz him to force the referee to step in.

[Adam Ryland]

#71: Strategic Rises

 

New to WMMA, and in fact to any of my games, is the concept of Strategic Rises. Basically, once a player's company reaches 100% popularity it will no longer automatically rise to the next level; instead, the player will be able to manually trigger the rise. The benefit of this is that it means the player is fully in control of when the rise happens and therefore can properly prepare for it (e.g. by beefing up his roster) instead of potentially moving up before he's actually ready. Of course, the option only exists while the company remains at 100% popularity - once it drops down, the player would have to get back to 100% in order to rise.

 

#72: Punch Drunk

 

In previous games a strike that connected could cause one of three states; causes damage, causes a knock down, or causes a knock out. A fourth state is added for WMMA3, which causes a stunned state. The victim remains standing, but is groggy \ on rubbery legs \ dazed, and therefore is wide open to be finished off. This state is triggered if the move was within a few points of causing a knock down but didn't quite make it.

[Adam Ryland]

#73-74: Preparation and Recuperation

 

Two new stats that have been added for fighters are Preparation and Recuperation. Preparation is used to calculate how much time the fighter requires to get ready for a bout (i.e. how long is his usual pre-fight camp), while Recuperation decides how much time, on average, he will take off after a fight before he is ready to consider taking another.

 

These two stats have been added to make the pre-fight camps \ time off sections of the game more realistic and easier to control; unlike in previous versions where it was difficult to specify a fighter's behaviour, now the mod maker can specifically set it if he wants a fighter to be willing to fight at a moment's notice or if he should fight sporadically. It should be noted that these stats do change over time in the game.

 

#75: What Goes Up Must Come Down

 

A new move that has been added to the game is the German suplex; this is available from the "back grapple" position for a spectacular takedown.

[Adam Ryland]

#76: Event Ratings

 

As some people seemed confused by the event rating system in WMMA2, the new game separates it into two for clarity. Each event now has a commercial rating (a measure of how it did in terms of drawing fan interest) and a critical rating (how good the show was at providing entertaining fights). The commercial rating is the most important of the two from a business stand-point, as the higher it is the more money you're likely to make, but the critical is also useful as it helps attract new fans.

 

#77: Leg Dives

 

A new type of attack is a leg dive, whereby a fighter will suddenly dive down and try to grab hold of one of the opponent's legs. This is different from an attempted single leg as the attacker is not trying to force the opponent onto his back, instead he's simply trying to either lock up a submission (like a flying heel hook or a trip into a kneebar) or at least start a potential ground battle. Leg dives are used mainly by fighters who have submission skills but who do not feel they can get the opponent to the mat through the traditional means of a takedown or by knocking them down with strikes.