MbShea@PWP@English@UMCP

Abstract: I bought my first fighting game on a whim, thinking that I had never played one before, and it might be fun to try something new. I watched footage of tournaments, read about moves and characters, and practiced against computer-controlled opponents, with little change in my ability. However, in playing against other people, I found myself gradually improving. To help other new fighting game players improve their skills with a little less trial-and-error involved, I wrote this guide as a aid to practicing, going over the major skill milestones I experienced: mashing buttons to familiarize with controls, acknowledging the flow from offense to defense, control of resources including space, and prediction in decision-making. I find these skills to be relevant to nearly any fighting game, with exceptions being either those that have fundamentally different mechanics, or those that emphasize a specific subset of the above skills. In addition, I have provided resources for getting more familiar with the fighting game community around Maryland, or for those players who want more detailed on a specific game, character, or mechanic.

Reader’s Profile: A prospective fighting game player who does not want to take the extra time to practice. They have the expectation that simply reading the information without attempting to apply it in the context of playing other people is going to be enough to teach them.

Reader’s Response: I read all the techniques in this guide, but when I played a few matches against my friends, I lost every time. I wanted to show off what I learned, but I don’t think I have any talent. I can remember combos and moves with special inputs if I fight in Training Mode against a computer-controlled opponent that does nothing, but how am I supposed to remember all that when another person is fighting against me?

S, in the beginning of your document -- and as examples, when you discuss moves and strategy -- please be aware of giving the reader a taxonomy of game types. You do not need to do this all, but at least look at this list and be sure to make categories and select a few games to use in your analysis and guide.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fighting_games