Lucien Sanchez
02-28-2012, 06:20 PM
Having seen the numerous threads suggesting a WMMA/WreSpi hybrid since WMMA 1, I've been thinking of this idea on and off for years now. My favourite thing (maybe) about WMMA 3 is it's excellent fight engine. I think it's got incredible realism for a text based engine and it's scope for continuous refinement, tweaks and improvements make it utterly absorbing. So, seeing as we already have this great engine, why not use it in another game? However, I think there's too many issues with a WMMA/WreSpi hybrid, ie.:
- An MMA fighter often only fights 20-30 times in a career. This would make the bulk of a career mode very short.
- The moves list could be extremely confusing.
And so on. What I'd suggest is to go the other way and control a fight camp. Here you'd be given the option of being one of the following, with the chances to move to other roles over time:
- An Assistant: The assistant coach has no say in contracts, bookings, or any financial decisions. They help coach bigger name fighters in the camp although this is only cosmetic. The only role the player would act out would be being in charge of training programs for lesser name fighters and cornering them in fights. By being associated with successful camps and fighters, you would eventually move up to head coach/manager or be offered positions at other camps. The advantage to being an assistant is that you have less responsibility and less ties to the camp, making it easier to leave. Realistically this job would only be used in the career mode, not in a free play.
- Head Coach: The head coach of a camp is responsible for organising all fighters training regiments, hiring/firing assistants and cornering fighters. The advantages to being a head coach would be being able to delegate lesser name fighters to assistants, not having to deal with contract negotiations and being able to bring in the right staff to improve fighters. The Head Coach has medium ties to the camp, meaning leaving may cause several effects, such as loyal fighters jumping camp or leaving altogether, forming negative relationships with other fighters/coaches and so on. This role would appeal to WMMA players who enjoyed the meat of the game but didn't enjoy running the company.
- Manager: Finally, the manager role. This is probably the most played role, as it can feature everything. The manager can either stick to financial decisions or also be a head coach, to simulate how some camps also handle contracts for fighters. As well as coaching, the manager is responsible for negotiating deals for the fighters to fight in organisations, approaching fighters, companies, sponsors to deal with the camp, balancing the books at the camp, arranging fights with companies and arranging cuts of fighters pay. The manager would also deal with unexpected issues, such as travel problems, drug issues (similar to EWR's incidents). The advantage of being a manager is you can micro-manage everything, however you are the most responsible. A manager also has the biggest ties to a camp and so their leaving may lead to the biggest shake-ups. Perhaps even financial ties could hinder their departure.
The game modes would include:
- Career/Realism Mode: Start off as an assistant at a small camp and work your way up the ladder, jumping camps if you like. Perhaps even staying with one camp your whole career or saving enough money to start your own. Starting off at 18 (minimum age, could be higher) then retiring at 70 (or earlier if you prefer), you could even be a retired fighter/injured fighter/other sportsperson (leading to specialist skills such as boxing coach) like the football manager series.
- Free Mode: Take over anyone in the database and go from there, retiring at 70. You could theoretically take over Black House and look after dos Santos, Anderson Silva and the Nogueiras. Or be Greg Jackson and run his domain. Or go into the Cornellverse and coach the great Fezzik, maybe sign a GAMMA contract.
- Tournament Mode: Kind of an exhibition, you'd pick a fighter, set up a tournament or single fight, then corner them through it.
At the heart of the game would be the fight engine. While the WMMA3 fight engine is awesome, I assume it's not organic and still works like WMMA1 but presented as commentary. The only change that would be needed is to generate a first round, then allow the user/coach the opportunity to give tactics and instructions to the fighter (ie. Use Wrestling + be ultra defensive would result in the fighter trying to control position but not much else, while be aggressive and drop bombs would result in a tank abbott style gameplan) before generating the next round. Obviously coach/fighter skills would determine the effectiveness of the gameplan. There's no sense in telling Royce Gracie to throw heavy leather against a competent striker. You'd also be able to scout the opponent and form a gameplan prior to the first round.
The main challenges of the game would be:
- Developing the fighters at your disposal into the best they can be to further the camp and attract better fighters.
- Winning fights. :eek:
- Identifying weaknesses in the camp and bringing in the right assistant coaches without tipping the payscale.
- Signing your fighters to the best organisations (UFC, PRIDE, GAMMA, Alpha-1) but making sure they can compete too. So not just throwing them to the wolves the instant Joe Silva calls.
- Negotiating good fighter contracts with promotions but also getting a chunk for the camp. Getting good sponsors too.
- Dealing with incidents such as fighters missing weight, missing planes/press conferences, drug abuse in the camp, companies needing late notice replacement fighters.
- Building relationships and loyalty among coaches and fighters. Managing other relationships, such as fighters arguing and leaving. See Jones/Evans.
To me the beauty of it is that the fight engine kind of exists, although no doubt Adam can tell me it's not feasible :p The contract engine already has a base. The game universe exists, you'd just need to create the coaches.
There's also a great potential for mods here. Can you imagine starting a Dawn of MMA game, building your own camp and taking Shamrock to fight Gracie and then moulding the sports future stars?
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So I've been rambling for half an hour now and it probably makes no sense as I'm falling asleep, but I maintain that if someone can refine that idea, it'd make an excellent game. :cool:
- An MMA fighter often only fights 20-30 times in a career. This would make the bulk of a career mode very short.
- The moves list could be extremely confusing.
And so on. What I'd suggest is to go the other way and control a fight camp. Here you'd be given the option of being one of the following, with the chances to move to other roles over time:
- An Assistant: The assistant coach has no say in contracts, bookings, or any financial decisions. They help coach bigger name fighters in the camp although this is only cosmetic. The only role the player would act out would be being in charge of training programs for lesser name fighters and cornering them in fights. By being associated with successful camps and fighters, you would eventually move up to head coach/manager or be offered positions at other camps. The advantage to being an assistant is that you have less responsibility and less ties to the camp, making it easier to leave. Realistically this job would only be used in the career mode, not in a free play.
- Head Coach: The head coach of a camp is responsible for organising all fighters training regiments, hiring/firing assistants and cornering fighters. The advantages to being a head coach would be being able to delegate lesser name fighters to assistants, not having to deal with contract negotiations and being able to bring in the right staff to improve fighters. The Head Coach has medium ties to the camp, meaning leaving may cause several effects, such as loyal fighters jumping camp or leaving altogether, forming negative relationships with other fighters/coaches and so on. This role would appeal to WMMA players who enjoyed the meat of the game but didn't enjoy running the company.
- Manager: Finally, the manager role. This is probably the most played role, as it can feature everything. The manager can either stick to financial decisions or also be a head coach, to simulate how some camps also handle contracts for fighters. As well as coaching, the manager is responsible for negotiating deals for the fighters to fight in organisations, approaching fighters, companies, sponsors to deal with the camp, balancing the books at the camp, arranging fights with companies and arranging cuts of fighters pay. The manager would also deal with unexpected issues, such as travel problems, drug issues (similar to EWR's incidents). The advantage of being a manager is you can micro-manage everything, however you are the most responsible. A manager also has the biggest ties to a camp and so their leaving may lead to the biggest shake-ups. Perhaps even financial ties could hinder their departure.
The game modes would include:
- Career/Realism Mode: Start off as an assistant at a small camp and work your way up the ladder, jumping camps if you like. Perhaps even staying with one camp your whole career or saving enough money to start your own. Starting off at 18 (minimum age, could be higher) then retiring at 70 (or earlier if you prefer), you could even be a retired fighter/injured fighter/other sportsperson (leading to specialist skills such as boxing coach) like the football manager series.
- Free Mode: Take over anyone in the database and go from there, retiring at 70. You could theoretically take over Black House and look after dos Santos, Anderson Silva and the Nogueiras. Or be Greg Jackson and run his domain. Or go into the Cornellverse and coach the great Fezzik, maybe sign a GAMMA contract.
- Tournament Mode: Kind of an exhibition, you'd pick a fighter, set up a tournament or single fight, then corner them through it.
At the heart of the game would be the fight engine. While the WMMA3 fight engine is awesome, I assume it's not organic and still works like WMMA1 but presented as commentary. The only change that would be needed is to generate a first round, then allow the user/coach the opportunity to give tactics and instructions to the fighter (ie. Use Wrestling + be ultra defensive would result in the fighter trying to control position but not much else, while be aggressive and drop bombs would result in a tank abbott style gameplan) before generating the next round. Obviously coach/fighter skills would determine the effectiveness of the gameplan. There's no sense in telling Royce Gracie to throw heavy leather against a competent striker. You'd also be able to scout the opponent and form a gameplan prior to the first round.
The main challenges of the game would be:
- Developing the fighters at your disposal into the best they can be to further the camp and attract better fighters.
- Winning fights. :eek:
- Identifying weaknesses in the camp and bringing in the right assistant coaches without tipping the payscale.
- Signing your fighters to the best organisations (UFC, PRIDE, GAMMA, Alpha-1) but making sure they can compete too. So not just throwing them to the wolves the instant Joe Silva calls.
- Negotiating good fighter contracts with promotions but also getting a chunk for the camp. Getting good sponsors too.
- Dealing with incidents such as fighters missing weight, missing planes/press conferences, drug abuse in the camp, companies needing late notice replacement fighters.
- Building relationships and loyalty among coaches and fighters. Managing other relationships, such as fighters arguing and leaving. See Jones/Evans.
To me the beauty of it is that the fight engine kind of exists, although no doubt Adam can tell me it's not feasible :p The contract engine already has a base. The game universe exists, you'd just need to create the coaches.
There's also a great potential for mods here. Can you imagine starting a Dawn of MMA game, building your own camp and taking Shamrock to fight Gracie and then moulding the sports future stars?
-----------------------------------------------------------
So I've been rambling for half an hour now and it probably makes no sense as I'm falling asleep, but I maintain that if someone can refine that idea, it'd make an excellent game. :cool: