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How to Design a

Fighting Game

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AnimeNYC / PlayNYC

August 2025

​

M. Paul Weeks

Discord: mpaulweeks

twitch.tv/mpaulweeks

contact@mpaul.games

mpaul.games/talks

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What to Expect Today

  1. Building Blocks
  2. Gameplay Design
  3. Balancing
  4. Best Practices
  5. Q&A

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Building Blocks

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Finite State Machine

  • Like a flowchart
  • Can only be doing 1 action at a time
  • Actions only go into specific other actions
  • Everything leads back to Standing

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Hitboxes and Hurtboxes

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Gameplay Design

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Movement

  • Classic 2D (Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat)
    • Walk, dash, jump
  • Faster 2D (King of Fighters, Under Night In-Birth)
    • Running, short hopping, more air options
  • Airdasher or “Anime” (Strive, Marvel vs Capcom)
    • Double jump, air dash in 1-8 direction, superjump
  • Good movement => Strong offense
  • Games with good movement tend to have�more defensive options to compensate�(pushblock, burst, instant block, etc)

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Character Design

  • Characters should fulfill the power fantasy
  • Players want to feel strong
  • How does your character break the rules?

Common Archetype Pros

  • Grapplers have big unblockable grabs
  • Zoners can attack from far away
  • Rushdown characters smother you to death
  • Puppet characters make it a 2v1 fight
  • Vortex characters reward gambling addicts
  • Grapplers have big unblockable grabs
  • Zoners can attack from a safe distance
  • Rushdown characters smother you to death
  • Puppet characters make it a 2v1 fight
  • Vortex characters reward gambling addicts

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Hitboxes and Hurtboxes

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Combo Design

  • Once you land a hit, you’re playing a different game
  • Combo skill =/= Fighting skill

Pros:

  • Skill expression
  • Great for solo practice

Cons:

  • Less game time where decisions are being made
  • Removes agency from the other player

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Infinite Combo Prevention

  • Limited juggle points aka “flipout” (Street Fighter)
    • Pros: Puts emphasis on grounded combos, usually easy to learn
    • Cons: Limits combo design and interesting conversions, juggles are very prescriptive
  • Hitstun Deterioration (Marvel vs Capcom 3, Blazblue, Under Night)
    • Pros: Feels very freeform, enables fun conversions
    • Cons: Encourages loops, becomes complicated with different starters
  • Gravity scaling (Mortal Kombat, Strive)
    • Pros: Combo “progress” is visible and intuitive
    • Cons: Can look janky and feel inconsistent
  • Knockdown Value (Killer Instinct, Skullgirls)
    • Pros: Combos are consistent and ending is predictable
    • Cons: Very mechanical, can disrupt immersion

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Balancing

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Balance Tool #1: Stats

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Balancing with Stats

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  • Stats are simple numbers that are easy to change
  • Doesn’t change moment-to-moment gameplay
  • Blunt, predictable, boring

Examples

  • Health
  • Damage
  • Meter Gain

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Balance Tool #2: Knobs

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Balancing with Knobs

  • Knobs are subtle numbers that are also easy to change
  • Knobs change play patterns and matchups
  • Can excite and/or alienate your playerbase

Examples

  • Movement
  • Hitbox Size
  • Startup/Active/Recovery Frames
  • Hitstun/Blockstun

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Hitboxes and Hurtboxes

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Let’s talk about Frames

  • 60 frames per second
  • Each frame lasts 16.6ms
  • 3 phases to any attack:

Startup > Active > Recovery

  • These are measured in frames
  • Startup: 5, Active: 2, Recovery: 10
  • “Cancels” allow you to skip recovery

Startup X > Active X > Startup Y

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Balancing Tool #3: Design

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Balancing with Design

  • Each character should have clear weaknesses
  • Limitations can be fun!
  • Creates texture and interesting matchups

Revisiting Archetypes

  • Grapplers are slow and useless at distance
  • Zoners have limited options up close
  • Rushdown characters are glass cannons
  • Puppet characters are weaker alone
  • Vortex characters punish gambling addicts
  • Grapplers are slow and useless at distance
  • Zoners have limited options up close
  • Rushdown characters are glass cannons
  • Puppet characters are weaker alone
  • Vortex characters punish gambling addicts

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Pros

Cons

Archetypes - Pros and Cons

  • Grapplers are slow and useless at distance
  • Zoners have limited options up close
  • Rushdown characters are glass cannons
  • Puppet characters are weaker alone
  • Vortex characters punish gambling addicts
  • Grapplers have big unblockable grabs
  • Zoners can attack from a safe distance
  • Rushdown characters smother you to death
  • Puppet characters make it a 2v1 fight
  • Vortex characters reward gambling addicts

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Does the tool fit the game?

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Does the tool fit the game?

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Best Practices

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Fighting Games have Evolved

  • Simple defense with only blocking�=> Active defense with pushblock, IB, alpha counter, BURST
  • Random damage/stun �=> Predictable outcomes
  • Proximity Throw �=> Dedicated throw button/command
  • Proximity normals �=> Command normals
  • Learn from history!

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Playtesting

  • Playtesting at meetups or conventions is great for fresh eyes and fun factor
  • Dedicated playtesters will show you things you didn’t know were possible
  • Make sure you WATCH the gameplay
  • Cultivates diehard fans

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It’s never too early to playtest

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Player Feedback

  • Accept the fact that many players will be better than you at your own game
  • Don’t get defensive, resist the urge to argue
  • Solicit feedback to make sure you don’t remove the fun
  • Explain patches and why you made them
  • Give all changes time to stew

� Your audience is good at recognizing � problems and bad at solving them.� - Mark Rosewater, Head Designer of Magic the Gathering

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Rollback Netcode

  • aka “Eventually consistent”
  • Required for all modern FGs

Pros:

  • No lag
  • Prevents some cheating
  • P2P = no server, saves dev costs!

Cons:

  • Jarring visual/audio
  • Game must be built with it in mind
  • Difficult to add later

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Rollback Netcode Requirements

  • Deterministic
    • Only sharing inputs means both games need to simulate the game identically
    • Want randomness? Use game tick or shared seed
  • Serializable
    • Rollback needs a way to save/load game state quickly
    • Think emulator save states
  • Decouple Logic from Rendering
    • Rollback 5 frames? Simulate Logic 5 times, render 1 time
  • Gotta Go Fast
    • 60 FPS = less than 17ms per frame
    • Rollbacks need to simulate the game X times

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How to Design a

Fighting Game

​

AnimeNYC / PlayNYC

August 2025

​

M. Paul Weeks

Discord: mpaulweeks

twitch.tv/mpaulweeks

contact@mpaul.games

mpaul.games/talks