Shoryuken.com is the latest website to catch up with Capcom's Seth Killian. This is a really good interview, with questions more in vein with hardcore Street Fighter fans.Keits: As you know, Shoryuken is interested in a slightly different subset of information than the average SSF4 buyer. They are more interested in balance changes and gameplay nuances. Can you explain a little about the process of balancing a game like Super SF4? Where do you start? What information do you draw upon to find things you want to change?
Seth: You start with the data generated by the competitive community from SFIV--it's simply the largest body of data on the subject available. We have more information than we've ever had before, not only because of vastly improved lines of communication between the company and players, but also because of the hard numbers from online stats and even arcades. Who are people playing? Which characters are winning? Etc. Then of course you've got all the new characters to handle. Job #1 is to make sure they come through as characters and are fun to play, and from there you turn to balancing them to make sure they play nice with everybody else and create interesting matchups. To some degree you can slot them in around everyone else ("how will Hakan deal with fireballs cross-screen?"), but many of them turned out to be their own challenge.
Keits: Who tests the game for balance at Capcom? Do you bring in established high level players and have them sign super secret NDA contracts? What kind of feedback do they usually bring you?
Seth: There's a lot more to being a good tester than simply being an excellent competitive player, but yes, our games are played by high-level players under NDAs. There have been some names you'd recognize from SBO, but it's not Daigo and Justin if that's what you're thinking--the testers are full-time Capcom employees. While Capcom QA is a pretty closed shop, it's well known in the Japanese games industry that Capcom QA is the most hardcore unit in the business, and I can say firsthand that the team is full of some real beasts. As an example, some of you may remember a strong SF3:3S player named Raoh (played on Japan's 3S team, been to a couple of EVOs and beasted, etc.). He no longer works for Capcom QA (so I can talk about him), and while that was before my time, I'm told he wasn't able to win their internal competitions. So top 8 at EVO, SBO qualifier, and the Japanese national team doesn't necessarily mean you win inside of Capcom QA. The testers are serious business.
oh dang, that's crazy.
I'd like to play these guys some time, definitely!
BRING IT ON CAPCOM!!! XD
"We at Shoryuken are elitist fags with more intention of completely disassembling a game's engine than just enjoying the smooth ride, thus ridding ourselves of any kind of fun because WE PLAY TO WIN and are better than you. Kbai"
Really, I struggled ti continue when the article started with "As you know, we at SRK aren't the average player!"
Seeing as how SRK is far the largest SF community site, they are in a way the average. The majority. Stop trying to get up on that pedestal.
@9 aka speedwagon: you do know that Seth is a leasing member of SRk, right? And that he and SRK members were organizing SF events at times nobody else was playing SF that invited players like Daigo to EVO etc. That SRK has a long time been the only serious site about fighting games for the period that nobody played those anymore.
Sure it has an influx of a new blood, but the leaders are still the rare artifacts that always have been for the genre.
There is no competing with SRK if it comes to knowledge.
@#9
SRK is definitely not the "majority" of SFIV or TvC fans. Largest organized group, almost certainly, but still smaller than the big mass of Street Fighter players around, from casual players to smaller groups of dedicated people.
Anyway, the point wasn't really to get up on a pedestal. Other interviews focus on what the new ultras look like, SRK focused on gameplay and balance adjustments. This is definitely not your average interview.
Great info.