Ask THQ: Developer Q&A 9

In this Q&A, John focuses mainly on your CAF questions. However, Omar Kendall, a designer on Undisputed, jumps in to tackle the question many of you have been concerned with: the submission system.

It's a huge Q&A so be sure to hit the title for the entire article, and thanks for waiting.

Is the demo the final version of the game, or are you guys going to tweak some things before May 19th?

We definitely had some time in between the demo and final game to fix
some small issues here and there, but the gameplay in the demo is
fairly indicative of the final product.

Can you "deadleg" an opponent with enough inside/outside leg kicks?

Repeated strikes to an opponent’s legs will cause him to move more slowly and lower the damage that he can inflict via kicks. You can’t completely disable an opponent’s legs, but working him with inside/outside leg kicks is a valid strategy and definitely has a tangible effect that can turn the tide of a fight.

Can you go into detail on how rising or dropping a weight class will affect a fighter's attributes, such as cardio strength?

For the sake of being as accurate as possible, fighters who are allowed to rise or drop weight classes each carry their weight a little differently. Moving up in weight may cause one fighter to lose some speed and pop on his punches, while a fighter in his own weight class may not be as shaky when moving down.

How did you arrive at 7 years being the CAF career length?

Due to the way that our Career Mode and Create-a-Fighter progression work, a seven-year period for a Career Mode playthrough allows a proficient player ample time to build a very competitive fighter and also felt perfect to us from a playtime standpoint. We expect players will want to experience the Career Mode multiple times, so we tried to ensure that each playthrough was long enough to be enjoyable and indicative of an actual UFC career, as well as compact enough as to not drag on to the point of frustration. It is also worth pointing out that you can retire a fighter at any time from a Career Mode playthrough. If for some reason you do not want to complete an entire Career Mode, you have the option of ending it at any point without losing the progress made on your created fighter.

Is there an online CAF matchmaking system? Will I be able to choose search criteria of win/loss record, total fights, attribute total, or other variables? I would like to be able to take my CAF online as he is moving up through the ranks rather than the typical fighting game in which all online CAFs have maximum attributes.

Created fighters are supported in online Ranked or Unranked play and are identical to their offline counterparts, possessing all of the same skills and attributes. While fighters created through the Create-a-Fighter system share the same total number of points that can be allocated to their Attributes or Fighter Skills, fighters who are brought up through the Career Mode have the potential to be even more well-rounded. If you are serious about taking a created fighter online, it is definitely in your best interest to train him properly using the Career Mode! This should ensure that much like the real UFC fighters present in the game, each created opponent will have different strengths, weaknesses and play style.

Can you explain the submission system in detail? Are submissions going to be easier to achieve with other fighters than on the demo?

I’m so glad someone has asked this question! I’ve seen more than a few people misunderstand our submission system, so here’s the scoop.

Submissions pit two people against each other in a struggle that takes into account many factors. First, the offensive fighter’s submission skill and the type of submission being performed are considered. The higher a fighter’s Submission Offense and the more advantageous the position from which the submission is attempted, the higher the likelihood the submission will succeed. That’s why some people have noticed in our demo that Mauricio “Shogun” Rua’s triangle submission from mount is easier than other submissions, like the knee bar from guard or the kimura from half guard. Also, the method the offensive fighter uses to sink in the submission plays an important part. There are two ways to execute a submission – mashing the face buttons or rotating the right stick, a maneuver we call The Shine. In all cases, The Shine is going to be a better method to sink in a submission. Make sure you rotate that stick fast! The faster you rotate the stick, the higher your chance of success.

It’s the defensive side and how players deal with submissions that I think confuses a lot of people. Similarly to the offensive fighter, a defensive fighter has stats that influence how successful he is at getting out of submissions. But in the defensive fighter’s case, they have two different stats – Strength and Submission Defense – and which state is used depends on which type of escape is performed. Brute force escapes, which are performed by rapidly mashing the face buttons, only take into account Strength. The other type of submission escape, Technical Escapes, which are also executed via The Shine, only look at a defensive fighter’s Submission Defense. As a defender, your best bet is to know which of these two stats is higher and to utilize the escape suited to that higher stat.

There is another extremely important factor in the success rate of a submission, and that is the defender’s energy level. I have seen many people incorrectly assert that the best way to execute a submission is to weaken your opponent by beating him up. This is simply not true! Energy is not lowered by hurting your opponent; stamina is the answer. Energy is only depleted when your opponent performs actions; running, striking, transitions, etc. all temporarily lower energy levels, and the lower your opponent’s energy level, the more vulnerable he is to submissions. We didn’t want fighters coming out and submitting people instantly, simply because they have a higher Submission Offense.  We feel this would be very frustrating for players (and yes, there are fighters in the game with higher Submission Offense than Shogun and lower Submission Defense than Chuck Liddell, so there will be matchups where submissions are a bit easier than others). For example, Brock Lesnar has extremely high Strength and Standing Striking Offense, but even he can’t just one-punch KO everyone in the game at will.  It just wouldn’t be fun, and we just don’t think it’d be fun with submissions, either.

My suggestion would be for submission fighters to pay close attention to what actions their opponents are performing to see when a submission opportunity presents itself. If you land a takedown and your opponent immediately starts spamming transition attempts or has just delivered a flurry of strikes and left himself gassed, this means he’s using up a lot of energy and thus will be vulnerable to a submission. However, if the opponent is playing a calmer strategy and is perhaps only attempting to protect himself while throwing carefully timed strikes, submitting  isn’t going to be a very viable option.

Hope this helps!

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