Two weeks ago, i recommended MacroLua as an emulator utility for scripting tool-assisted combos. I’m hoping that some of you were intrigued enough by its potential to give it a try. The following guidelines are intended to help you guys get started on the right foot.
Rule #1: Always leave a few empty frames of wait time at the beginning of your scripts.
Personally, 99% of my scripts begin with W10 as a rule. Weird input errors tend to happen if you start scripts with commands on the very first frame.
Generally you’ll want to leave at least 60 frames of idle wait time before each combo for video editing purposes. It’s a good idea to incorporate that into your script from the get-go. The last thing you want to do is spend an hour developing a combo around some random occurance only to discover that the whole thing falls apart when you move it back by 60 frames.
By the way, if a combo doesn’t work, try adjusting the wait number before the script. Sometimes random factors such as turbo speed, projectile slowdown, and superfreeze startup can disrupt a working script. If you’re starting from a fixed save state, the script will always produce the same result. After all, that’s the main advantage of using emulators.
Before you give up on a script, try increasing the wait number at the beginning to see if it changes anything. Some combos work on every frame, some work on every other frame, some on every four frames, some every twelve frames, and so on up to thousands.
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After the premieres of Super Fireball Battle and style exhibition v.one at Evo2k10, quite a few people asked me about the tool-assistance methods used to capture oldschool game clips. With a new version (1.08) of MacroLua released yesterday, i thought now would be a good opportunity to introduce the program.
Here’s the basic concept. You create a save state using any supported emulator, then you write down a sequence of inputs frame by frame in a text file. MacroLua loads that state and tells the emulator to begin running your commands from that fixed point. If you tell it to execute R.D.L.U1. then Zangief will perform an LP Spinning Piledriver in 4 frames.
There are many advantages to this method, but the most obvious one is consistency. Let’s look at a game like SF2HF where damage and dizzies are randomized. If you script a fireball on the 10th frame followed by another fireball on the 80th frame and it dizzies the opponent, then it’ll always dizzy every time you run that state/script. On the other hand, if you try the same thing using a programmable controller with two fireballs set 70 frames apart, the outcome will be random because your starting point would be random.
To begin, simply download the latest version of MacroLua and follow the installation directions. I don’t want to get into details because those steps might change in the future, but if you run into any problems that you can’t solve in ten minutes, please feel free to ask here.
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When i got on stage at Evo, jchensor asked how i have time to write weekly strategy articles, manage Strategy Corner features on SRK, and still find enough material for combo videos. My answer was, “It’s not just me.” I’d like to explain that briefly.
I always tell people that i would rather explore any decent game with massive community support, over a game i absolutely love which nobody plays. There’s a simple reason for that: Everything i can find on my own in two years, a dedicated community like Shoryuken.com could find within three months.
The later stages of a fighting game’s evolution are what fascinate me, personally. I’ve never been a big fan of the surface-level week-one stuff. Obviously someone has to do it, but it’s not a particularly sophisticated phase when all is said and done.
In fact, i waited fifteen months after SF4 was released to begin working on combos for that game. By then all the basics were well-established, giving me the opportunity to dive right into the deep end of the pool. It would’ve taken three years to reach that point on my own.
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Last month, i said that combo videos and combos in general comprise a relatively small piece of the complete fighting game puzzle. How exactly do they factor into the overall picture?
Tactically speaking, executing a combo is a lot like finishing a traditional three-point play in basketball. As a reward for driving past a perimiter defender and baiting an interior defensive mistake, the player is granted an additional free throw after the made basket. The two primary components of free throw shooting are technical ability and maintaining composure.
Can free throws decide games? Absolutely. Does anyone consider free throws a core strategic aspect of the game? No. They serve a clear purpose, but there’s much more to the game on a fundamental level: spacing, timing, footwork, adaptation, defense, etc.
In fighting games, landing a combo involves recognizing an opportunity, evaluating damage options, having the technical ability to perform the combo, and maintaining enough composure to pull it off under pressure. Anyone who drops a combo during tournament play should absolutely be penalized for failing to complete a simple task that they can ice ninety-nine times out of a hundred in practice. That’s a perfectly valid part of the game.
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The initial spark is always accidental. You fire up Training Mode, you pick a character, you mess around, you try something on a whim, and it happens to work. Now your real creative task is surrounding that discovery with the right pieces to refine it into something special. Choosing the right direction is the single most important step to creating a good combo. Here’s a basic roadmap of the most prominent routes.
Build Around an Element
The direct approach is starting with one substantial breakthrough, then expanding the combo in both directions. Let’s say you notice SF4 Akuma’s c.MK xx HK Tatsumaki Zankukyaku landing in a strange manner that allows him to follow up. What’s the most impressive combo you can construct atop that foundation? Since Akuma requires lots of meter for extended juggles, how about arranging a five-bar combo and saving most of it for the end?
Connect Multiple Elements
A slightly more complicated method is taking two or more such pieces and tying them together. The more you add, the more challenging it becomes – and thereby more rigid. Sometimes you’re left with only one viable path from one point to the next. Of course, it depends on the game engine. For instance the Versus series is considerably more accommodating than the oldschool SF2 series in this regard.
Follow Through on a Unique Setup
Once in a while, an innovative setup can be intriguing enough on its own to warrant a combo demonstration. It’s usually impossible to add anything extra prior to such elaborate provisions, so you can only build forward in these cases. The distinct benefits provided by each individual setup tend to dictate their resultant combos. Try to utilize every advantage gained.
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