It takes years of dedicated gameplay before players are able to accurately time their attacks in fighting games, a gruesome training regimen which publisher Bandai Namco Entertainment intends to make a little bit easier.
According to a new patent published recently, Bandai Namco Entertainment wants its upcoming fighting games such as Tekken 8 to observe how (and when) players are inputting their attacks before recommending them an appropriate timing to make the same attacks efficient and lethal.
It all comes down to frame data which the fighting game community considers its bread and butter. When a player throws out a punch, the extended arm provides an opportunity for their opponent to counter because the player must first recover before throwing out another punch. The frame data here determines the time (or frame) where players can attack or block.
The proposed in-game recommendation system of Bandai Namco Entertainment will help players learn whether to slow down or speed up their different attacks.
For example, a player might be countering a specific attack too slow. An in-game notification will inform the player to input the same counter move a little quicker. Hence, boosting muscle memory which normally takes professional players years of training. That and how such a gameplay system for Tekken 8 will allow players to quickly hone their skills to make the Tekken esports scene fairly formidable.
The stiff time is a predetermined length of time set to every action of a player character, and is a time required before starting a next action after execution of an action.
The patent discloses a technique to display lengths of stiff times and a difference between the stiff times on an attacking side and a defensing side on a game screen.
Bandai Namco Entertainment also suggests in its filing that the same system can be designed to learn from high-level players and teach the same timings and combination of attacks to newcomers. Furthermore, when it comes to selecting characters, the patented system can recommend characters based off player-specific levels of reactions and their usual attack-input routines.
It is important to note that all fighting games have deep tutorials for players to utilize. Like its preceding installments, Tekken 8 will also contain an in-game tutorial for players to spend time in to learn the numerous attack moves of a chosen character. However, instead of learning to time their attacks in multiplayer, Tekken 8 players will potentially be taught by the game itself.
Tekken 8 has not been announced but considering the six-year development period of Tekken 7, Bandai Namco Entertainment might possibly be making an announcement in the coming couple of years.
