Card Fight!

“Card Fight!” explores a new take on fighting game combat.  Instead of traditional fighting game controls, all actions and attacks are represented by cards which are selected and played by a single key press.  

Additionally, time in the game freezes whenever a fighter is able to act, creating an opportunity to strategically assess the situation and choose the next move.  Manage attack timing and spacing carefully to defeat the computer opponent!

Featuring:

• Unique fighting game combat design
• Original music and sound design 
• Retro-inspired graphics

Controls

Left/Right Arrow Keys	Move back/forward
Down Arrow Key	Block
A	Play first attack card
S	Play second attack card
D	Play third attack card
F	Play fourth attack card
Escape	Open pause menu, or exit full-screen browser window

Game Details

Card Details

Time

The amount of time required to perform the attack.  The first number is the total time.  The second number is the startup time, and the third number is the recovery time.  (The time values are “game time units,” not seconds.)

Range

The maximum distance the attack can reach.

Push

The distance that the opponent is pushed away if the attack connects.

Damage

The amount of health loss inflicted by the attack.  The first number indicates the damage for a direct hit, while the second number indicates the damage when the attack is blocked.

Stun

The amount of time the opponent will be stunned and unable to act when hit by the attack.  The first number indicates the stun for a direct hit, while the second number indicates the stun time when the attack is blocked.

Developer Commentary

Fighting games are uniquely visually satisfying but also have perhaps the highest skill floor of any genre.  Even modern games that offer simplified one-button specials and the like can require a high degree of execution and fast reactions.

I’ve often wanted to see a game use the presentation of a fighting game while removing the physical dexterity and reaction speed skill requirements, leaving only a focus on the strategic elements of spacing and timing attacks.  

Another aspect of retro fighting games that can make them challenging to approach is that the properties of attacks, such as the animation “frame data,” are hidden, leaving players to figure things out through trial-and-error.  While modern games make this data available in training modes, I wanted to see a game use that animation timing information directly as a visible element of the gameplay.

 “Card Fight!” is an attempt to imagine what such a game could look like.  It has no complex inputs, just single key presses assigned to actions.  Because the game pauses whenever characters can take an action, it doesn’t require fast responses.  The card interface makes all the attack properties visible during the game, such as the animation times, range, and hit-stun/block-stun values.  The card approach also requires players to make effective use of a limited set of options and adds randomized unpredictability to the attacks that each character has available at any time.

As a solo dev experiment project, there’s not a lot of content here, just a single character with a mirror match against the computer.  (And I’m not a visual artist, so please forgive the stick figures.)  In any case, if you give it a try–thank you!