The Morning After the Night Before

Flooring

2010-07-04T17:23:00.000-07:00

Right from the get-go of getting my own place, I knew I wanted to change the carpet to hardwood floors. Hardwood is just easier to clean, maintains better over time, and let's be honest, it looks a lot classier.

However, since I'm a poor poor homeowner, I couldn't afford to pay a contractor $2-3k to do the job. Well that and, let's face it, I wouldn't be able to get a smug sense of self-satisfaction if I did. So that being the case, I decided to do the job myself.

No sweat, right? Um... yeah.... *koff*

First some reference pictures of what it looked like before:

2 rooms + a closet = easy right?

Day 1

So the first thing I had to do was rip out all the old carpet and foam padding.

All I can say is that it was a good thing I am a little, um... minimalist... in terms of furniture, because with all the moving around, this step alone took my mom and I nearly a day!

And yes, that is the same plant in both pictures. I am not a money tree aficionado or something.

Step 2 is to clear the floor of all debris. Concrete seems to generate an UNLIMITED amount of dust. Every time I swept/vacuumed there seemed to be just as much dust left over. That pretty much constituted day 1.

Day 2

Dad and I headed downtown to tackle the next part. Before laying down any boards, we rolled out some cork underlay. This part was, thankfully, quite easy (except for some weird cuts for the walk-in closet.

We also got some lunch-time entertainment from a visitor that day on top of St. Mike's Hospital.

This pic was taken from my window!

After laying out all the cork, it was finally time to start putting down floor boards. The box claimed that the boards featured "easy, snap-together construction." Well the boards certainly snap together... but easily? I can definitively say that that is some embelishing by the marketing department.

We only managed to finish this much by the end of Day 2. = \

Day 3

The start of Day 3 wasn't going so well either, but over time I developed a pretty good technique involving a block of wood, a hammer, and plenty of curse words my parents' didn't seem to realize I knew. In any case, things progressed much faster as the days went on, and we even managed to work quite economically without wasting almost any boards.

The twins (fraternal of course), set up shop in my closet.

The results of Day 3 were MUCH more encouraging.

Day 4

Day 4 was really just buckling down and getting to work using techniques developed on Day 3. However, if there's one thing I was pretty happy with, it was our ability to get the joints under the door frames just right.

It would've been very easy to cop-out and go for an easier solution here (which would've left a somewhat unsightly gap that I've seen in some other places), but we decided to take our time and do it right and I think it looks pretty good.

Rome wasn't built in a day, but my bedroom was floored in one.

Now all that remains is moving the twins out of my walk-in closet, flooring in there, and then the monumental task of cleaning up!

What's behind door 2806?

2010-01-12T05:50:00.001-08:00

What indeed... You'll find out soon.

Cake eaters

2009-11-03T08:07:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I witnessed the most hilarious form of "I refuse to take the last piece" syndrome.

A building-wide email went out from a nice individual who brought in a whole chocolate cake from some function over the weekend. Of course, the early birds got first dibs. Personally, i don't really go for chocolate early in the morning.

Anyway, walked passed it at lunch and noticed there was one piece left. Then when I went to return my plate, I saw there was 1/2 a piece left. Then later in the day, 1/4, 1/8, and a I shit you not, 1/16th. Now honestly, who thinks leaving a slice of cake no thicker than a piece of paper is doing any a service?

I wish I had my camera, because it was pretty hilarious.

The Layout Challenge

2009-09-11T06:37:00.000-07:00

I looked at a condo the other day. Wonderful building, great location... questionable unit. Not in terms of size or quality, but in terms of layout. This is the best I could do...

I'm wavering on putting a bid down dependent on figuring out a layout I really love. So I'm issuing a challenge. If you can re-layout this in a way that I love it, I will buy you dinner. You can edit the layout by going here.

Note that the little wall seperating the current living area from the dining area can be demolished.

I hope you have better luck than I did!

Took me long enough

2009-09-03T14:11:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how time just seems to run away.

I was meaning to do this like, months ago. Aren't they beautiful?

The 2nd one (red) took about half as much time as my first one. Hooray for procedure optimization! Thanks Yuk for the art, the fact that they match looks incredible!

Working on something new...

2009-08-13T09:54:00.000-07:00

The wheels are already turning...

Something's different from before...

2009-08-12T17:13:00.000-07:00

Can you figure out what it is? = D

The Crafter

2009-08-10T08:50:00.000-07:00

In keeping with this rather introspective summer, I took the Keirsey Bates personality test (one of the longer and more "respected" *koff* personality tests in existence). My result was this:

ISTP- The Crafter

You scored 36% I to E, 58% N to S, 62% F to T, and 63% J to P!

You do not approach strangers readily, but you have no problem leading. You are so sure of yourself, others are hesitant not to listen. Your type is known as the crafter, which belongs to the larger group of experiencers. You are likely a master of tools, including vehicles, musical instruments, and weapons. Most pilots are of this personality type. You are always on the go, you live for the here and now to follow your whims, and you share your type with 10% of the population. You don't feel very parental, but you feel your fraternal bonds very deeply.

As a romantic partner, you are calm and handy to have around when something goes wrong. You are very responsive to immediate and obvious needs in your partner, but are less comfortable with emotional ones. You are fun, playful, and adventurous. However, at your heart, you are something of a loner and will resist exposing your private thoughts. You want to be appreciated for your ability to size up a problem and solve it quickly. You feel most appreciated when you are left to do your own thing spontaneously.

This seems surprisingly accurate, and even though you can say that about a lot of these generality tests (or zodiacs, etc), this one actually seems adequetly detailed as well.

If you're interested in trying it, you can find a re-creation of the test here.

I feel stupid

2009-08-07T06:06:00.000-07:00

...for repeatedly making the same mistakes I've made since I was 17. -_-

You'd figure after so much education, I'd have learned, but I guess there's some things they don't teach you in school.

That is all.

Love is not a weakness

2009-08-04T17:48:00.001-07:00

This is just a repost from before... >_<

It's kind of a funny thing. If you know me, you know I'm someone who takes things easy. I'm very laid back and tend to go with the flow. I acknowledge a certain chaos in life, in fact I cherish it, because it makes life interesting and unpredictable. In fact, I think I tend to stir up a little chaos now and then (okay, probably a little more than "now and then") just for shits and giggles.

Except now I realize this might not be the case.

The more I think about it, the more I think I have a pathalogical need for control and parity. Control, not so much in the sense of controlling other people, mind you. I'm very much a believer in people making decisions for themsleves, though I'm perfectly willing to help them make those decisions if they ask for it. And I don't feel a particular need to control a situation either. It's more like, I have to have some sense, no, I have to know that I'm in control of myself, because I assume everyone else is in complete control of themselves. To not be in control is to be something "less" than them.

Take, for example, my incessent ragging on other people. I've never actually been able to explain why I do that. Seriously, it's like an automated response, I have to actually try very hard not to do it. And it has nothing to do with disrespecting people. In fact I find the people I make fun of the most are the people I hold in the highest light. So why? I think it's very simple. It's to keep them distanced. It's to keep me on level ground with them. If someone confronts me about it, I shrug it off and laugh again. They're trying to break down a wall, but I have a very good construction company. And right there, I believe, is my problem with love.

Love is a powerful force. A mere encounter with someone you love can consume your mind for days. Every little thing they say to you is meticulously picked apart by your brain even hours after they've forgotten they said it. You spend hours and hours doing something inane to put a smile on their face for 10 seconds... and it's worth it! In short, love is a force that takes away your control. It is chaos. Beautiful, sweet, heart-aching chaos. And only recently have I realized, I am afraid of it.

If there's one thing people have told me, it's that I wait way too long to tell them what I'm feeling. I was always convinced it was because I have a complete inability to date someone I don't know personally (which, as I'm told, is too late). Now I realize this is only half true. Loving someone means putting yourself into their hands. They have won you over. Their actions dictate your responses (involuntary though they may be). You are in their pocket, and incredibly, 95% of your body tells you that's exactly where you want to be. But there's no parity here. She might (and in my experience, probably) feels nothing for you. It's a leap out into a black canyon, aiming for a 5x5 foot ledge you can't see. I don't know if you've seen a real canyon before; it's a scary fucking thing. I've plummetted to my death a few times already (that is an impossible sentence - oh look another joke). So what do I do? Rather than exposing my "weakness," and saying anything at all, I use that time to convince myself the feeling isn't real. That it's a phase. It'll go away. So I bury it, deep underground. And life returns to normal. But at least I have my control. At least I have my parity.

At least...

Maybe love isn't so bad. Even in the times it has no chance.

More fiddling...

2009-07-31T11:22:00.001-07:00

The wonders of the FBX file format got me the textures that I was missing before...

However the results were... a little less than perfect, as you may notice from Chun's miscolored legs and ghostly arms...

There's also something mighty weird going on in the background of the China stage...

It's always in the last place you look...

2009-07-28T05:19:00.000-07:00

Waiting to submit my next rejected offer sheet.

Searching for my next unrequited love.

Sitting in front of my monitor, staring at a book I'm no longer sure is any good.

I seem to have lost my joy for life,

if anyone sees it, would you mind returning it to me?

Oh the things I do at work

2009-07-23T12:14:00.000-07:00

So this morning I discovered a neat little application called 3DRipperDX. It allows you to take "3D screenshots" of executable files but, even better than that, lets you extract the 3D models into 3DS Max! Of course, 3DS Max is readily available to me in the office... so it was just a matter of getting some sort of application to rip geometry from...

...gee, let me think about that.

I ended up "borrowing" the models from the Street Fighter IV benchmark tool. It was super easy and as you can see, the models it extracted are picture perfect from the game... or so I thought...

When I first extracted the files, they actually looked like this...

Which looked totally fine... until I rotated the scene...

Whoa! Ryu and Sakura are looking pretty anorexic there! It seems the SF4 models are a little lacking in the z-axis, which is perfectly sensible since you rarely ever see them from anything but the side. So I had to chunk them up a little.

After figuring out how to expand the FOV a little in the conversion, I started getting some really workable (and frankly fantastic looking) extractions.

Oh noes Viper! Here comez Ultra!

You can also get some interesting angles on familiar events.

I swear to god if I have to see another jab shoryu FADC to Ultra again...

Here's what it looks like in Maya.

And of course, I have to end on some obligatory girl-on-girl action.

This is the way I would choose to go out.

= D

It's ALIVE!

2009-04-20T18:09:00.000-07:00

It's a beautiful baby... uh... well joystick. But hey, it works! It took a few trips back and forth from the workshop to get the solder points just right though...

First I had to grab some extra HAPP buttons for my Start/Select/Guide (pictured here in that order). With the case built it was time to wire up this bad boy. I went with a cheapo brand Madcatz wired controller for this build, which I read is one of the ideal ways to go in this scenario. Basically what I had to do was rip away the circuit board and solder wires to all the correct contacts (using a diagram from the web) and connect them to my stick/buttons).

Well, it's been about 8 years since I last did anything remotely close to soldering so you can imagine how... intimidated... I was. Sure enough, I applied way too much solder on my first run through so that I accidentally connected a terminal and a ground. I knew I messed up with every single button activated UP.

I also messed up the guide button on my first run through. There must've been a short or something because the xbox dashboard kept coming up randomly. Some spirited scratching of the contact with a knife fixed that little snafu.

This project took a little longer than I originally thought, but the results look fantastic. I'm someone who has no REAL wood working OR electronics experience, and I was able to make a perfectly working product that I'm incredibly happy with. Honestly, I think anyone can do this with a little time and effort and it's so rewarding.

Now to go pwn some n00bz!

I would've gotten a D in shop class...

2009-04-14T19:43:00.000-07:00

...a D that is, for "D"amn awesome!

So here's the story. In February I, along with apparently thousands and thousands of other people, pre-ordered a joystick for, what was then, the impending release of Street Fighter 4.

Fast forward to April 14th, and I am still sans said joystick.

Apparently Madcatz (the company producing these sticks) fucked up huge with a little calculation concerning supply and demand. Even now as sticks are just starting to ship to the US, there still seems to be no clear answer for Canadians besides going to ebay and buying these things at a ridiculously inflated price ($400?? No thanks).

So fuck that. It was time to get preemptive.

It was time to build my own.

Now, I haven't done any woodworking since, oh, grade 11 I guess? But making a box should be pretty simple right? Well, uh, turns out... not so much. Let's just say, mistakes were made.

After planning and re-planning, measuring and re-measuring, I eventually cut myself something that looked pretty good.

Except I encountered mistake # 1. I decided to cut L-brackets to fit the wood into, rather than just a butt joint. Technically this should've been a bit stronger since I can apply more glue, except I failed to cut the L-joints straight, so it left big gaps that I had to fill in with glue. The gaps were big enough that I had a HELL of a time trying to get the glue to set (stupid gravity getting in my way!). The final result DID eventually dry, albeit a bit messily. With some work, I'm hoping I can sand it flush.

In retrospect, next time I will fill it in with a glue + sawdust mixture. Oh and um, cut the L-bracket straighter. <_<>_>

Oddly enough I did a pretty good job routing my console. For the button holes I used a 1-1/2" cylindrical cutter drill bit. For the joystick mount, I decided to forego using a router (that thing looked frighteningly beastly) and went ghetto by drilling a bunch of gigantic holes and then sawing them together using a jigsaw.

Cutting the plexiglass was also pretty simple. For these I used a 1-1/8" bit (a customizable bit I had lying around) since 1-1/4" was too big. I went with a Hori EX2 template since that's the stick I'm using now and I'm very comfortable with the button arrangement. You might notice in earlier pictures there are buttons on the side as well. Those are for Start/Select and the Xbox Guide button (side mounted so I don't accidentally hit them during play).

My next problem was routing a mount for my joystick's mounting plate. I wasn't too sure how to cut out a portion that was exactly 7mm into the surface of the wood (normal joystick mounting height is 9 mm, and the plexiglass was 2mm). Again, I didn't want to use the router. Luckily I found an attachement for my drill that a.) kept the bit straight and b.) locked at a certain height. So I basically drilled a bunch of holes and then wiggled it around to cut away the wood. It wasn't the smoothest, but acceptably flat for mounting.

And with that little problem solved, the stick's construction is essentially finished!

This project was a ton of fun, and was an absolutely awesome learning experience about woodworking and construction planning. As a testament to how easy this project is, I had VERY little woodworking experience prior to this (although I was lucky to have all the tools). I already know where I can fix some mistakes for next time too! But for now, bring on the wiring!

2009-03-30T06:07:00.001-07:00

Q: How badly do I want this?

A: Very badly.

Theory Fighter: Volume 5: Execution Extravaganza!

2009-03-12T08:33:00.000-07:00

A little introduction: Given the amazing success of Street Fighter IV already (it was sold out in Japan on day 1 and is tough to find a launch copy in Canada/USA) and the massive influx of new players, the Street Fighter community is bigger than ever. Even though the game is new, there are already a lot of very good players out there, but for most people, this will be their first Street Fighter in over a decade! To help those people, I welcome you to "Theory Fighter." In each installment I will try to explain some of the concepts that seperate a noob from a pro using practical examples and setups for varying characters. For the most part, these are concepts that can be used in any Street Fighter game, and in some cases, any competitive game period.

Note that this series of articles will very much be geared towards newcomers, so if you're a Street Fighter Veteran the information here may be of limited use. Also note though, that these articles will assume you're at least familiar with the Street Fighter (IV specifically) core mechanics.

Remember, there's a huge difference between a noob and a scrub. A noob knows (s)he's a beginner, but willing to learn. A scrub is convinced he's already good before (s)he's learned anything.

Don't forget to read Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3, and Volume 4.

------------------------

Lexicon

Here's a short list of words I'll be using that you need to be familiar with. You can skip this section if you're confident you understand this terminology.

Buffer

To do the motion for one move while another move is in progress. Buffers generally (but not always) lead to a chain.

------------------------

Theory Fighter: Volume 5: Execution Extravaganza

In our first 4 articles we've been focused a lot on playing the game with your brain. Having good habits and understanding tactics is very important, however it leaves out one crucial factor. Although your brain tells you what you want to do, your hands are actually your only link to your fighter. Without good execution, it won't matter how good your tactics are, because you won't be able to do anything with them.

I should note here that I am not the greatest at executing either. If I had to point out my biggest flaw, I'd probably identify it as execution. However, in my struggle to become more consistent, I have learned a few things about Street Fighter (and SF4 in particular) that I think everyone would benefit from knowing. So here is, in no particular order, some execution tips.

Starting out with Bread and Butters / Chaining vs linking with advanced BnBs

As I stated in Volume 2, bread and butter combos are your life in Street Fighter. This is especially important for new players because it gives them a way to do consistent (keyword) damage and extend their range. Initially, I would suggest looking for a bread and butter that is EASY. Something very simple like c. MK xx Hadoken with Ken/Ryu or c. MK xx Soul Spiral with Rose. Are you detecting a pattern here? Almost universally (almost), all characters can use this c. MK xx some special move bnb. You can add a jumping attack to it (probably j. HK or j. HP) and, again for many characters, you can usually buffer a super to the end when you get a guaranteed hit.

Eventually, you're going to feel you've progressed to a point where you want a fancier, stronger, better bnb combo. In Street Fighter IV, these often come down to link combos.

When you watch video of Street Fighter, you'll probably see a lot of advanced players use combos like c. LP, c. LK, c. LP xx some special move. These are safer than the average beginner bnb combo because you can confirm the special move (see Volume 2). They also put the opponent into blockstun for longer and push you to a safe distance which makes them hard to counter attack on block. However, DOING them can seem difficult for a beginner. The LPs and LKs might be easy enough, but sometimes it may seem impossible to chain the special move afterward. Why? This is where you need to understand a key difference between chains (see Volume 2) and links (see Volume 4).

In practically all Street Fighter games, LP and LK are chainable into eachother. So by pressing, say, LP very quickly, you can usually rattle off a simple 3 hit combo before you're too far for the punches to reach anymore. It would seem simple enough to chain a special move AFTER this 3 hit chain to extend it to four hits, right? Unfortunately, you'd be wrong. Street Fighter IV has a strange property that does NOT allow you to chain a special after chained LP or LK. However, you CAN chain a special after LINKED LP and LK. Therefore, to perform these new bnb combos, you must make sure to LINK the LP/LKs and not chain them.

Example # 1

Ryu jumps in on Ken and performs a j.MP followed by rapidly tapping LP, c. LK and then performs a Shoryuken. All the hits connect, but the Shoryuken is strangely absent. This is because he chained the hits before it, instead of linking them.

Now say Ryu jumps in on Ken and performs a j. MP followed by a rhythmic tapping of LP, c. LK. He chains the last c. LK into a Shoryuken. This time he gets all the hits (albeit much slower) followed immediately by a fireball.

Watch the combo at 3:14 to see a LP, LK link

This will take practice, and many of the 1st and 2nd stage "Hard Trials" in SFIV teach you these combos. The key in this sequence is to realize you are LINKING the j. MP into the first LP, LINKING the LP, c. LK sequence, and then CHAINING the c. LK into a Shoryuken. In this way, the button sequence would sound something like this.

tap, tap, tap, tap-tap.

-or-

j.MP, LP, c. LK-Shoryuken

Where commas indicate slower rhythmic timing and dashes represent quick sequential timing. The hadoken motion is quickly input between the last two taps.

Pre-buffering and Juggling Ultras

The term pre-buffering can mean a couple of things depending on who you ask. One definition is using the motion of a special move as a part of a motion of another special move. Another definition is "queuing up" commands so that they activate when the current action is complete. These are both valid definitions and are both extremely useful.

Definition 1 is most useful when you want to chain a special move into a super move. It allows you to repurpose the motion of the special move as inputs for the super.

Example # 1

Say Ryu wants to chain his Hadoken into a Shinkuu Hadoken super. Your first reaction might be to do

down, down-forward, forward + punch

Then

down, down-forward, forward, down, down-forward, forward + punch

In actuality, the easiest way to do this combo is.

down, down-forward, forward + punch, down, down-forward, forward + punch

Look at that closely. It looks as though we're omitting an entire motion for the super fireball sequence here! However, if you look even closer, you see that's not the case. The two fireball motions necessary for the super fireball are actually in there, but we used one to activate the normal fireball!

Example # 2

Say I wanted to do Balrog's Dash Punch into Super dash punch. This seems impossible since you have to charge BOTH for a full 2 seconds. But, using the technique we outlined above, we can do it easily. The motion would be.

Charge back, forward + punch, back, forward + punch.

In this case, not only are you repurposing the motion of the Dash Punch in the motion of the Super Dash Punch, but you are using the SAME charge to perform both moves.

----

Definition 2 means to buffer (that is, perform a motion while an action is in progress) a motion so that you don't have to perform it when a move ends. One of the most obvious forms of pre-buffering in SF4 is when using a focus attack. BEFORE the focus attack even lands, you can tap forward twice to dash. Afte the focus attack connects, your character will dash automatically, even though you did the dash input very very early.

Prebuffering is also useful when confirming. When you are performing a bread and butter combo, you can pre-buffer the motion for your special move, but only press punch/kick to actually activate the special move if you see the initial bnb hit. This gives you a safety net in case your opponent blocks your attack. For an example of this, see the Cammy example in Volume 1.

Prebuffering moves will make your execution life in SF much easier. However, in Street Fighter IV it also presents a problem in one very specific area. Juggling Ultras. You may have noticed elite players performing awesome stunts like juggling Ryu's Ultra fireball from a Shoryuken or Abel juggling his Ultra from a c. HP. However, when you try to do them, you may find that the Ultra doesn't come out or that you end up with a super instead. This is due to prebuffering.

In Street Fighter IV, you CANNOT prebuffer motions for Ultras in any way. This has a lot to do with the fact that Ultras cannot be chained, but even in situations where chaining does not apply, you still cannot pre-buffer Ultra commands. This was the source of much frustration for me until I figured it out.

Example # 1

One of Rufus easiest setups for his Ultra is from a LK xx HK chain combo followed by an Ultra. However, if you try to prebuffer the Ultra command while the HK is still in progress, 99% of the time you will end up with a super (the other 1% of the time you'll end up with nothing). The correct way to do this sequence is to do the LK xx HK chain combo and then wait until the HK is completely finished. Then quickly do the motion for the Ultra.

Example # 2

One of Ryu's easiest setups (one of MANY) for his Ultra is to anti-air an opponent with a LP Shoryuken into Ultra. However, if you start doing the motion for the Ultra at ANY TIME before Ryu's feet hit the ground, you will get an EX fireball. Again, prebuffering is the culprit here. Do not start performing the motion for the Ultra until after Ryu has landed.

Shortcut motions and Input Leniency

Street Fighter 4 allows you to perform some motions inexactly, which can be a help or hindrance depending on what you're trying to do. I haven't found too many, but the ones I know of are:

Shoryuken motion = forward, down, down-forward + punch : Shortcut = down-forward, down-forward + punch.
Tiger Knee motion = down-back, down, down-forward, forward, up-forward + kick : Shortcut = down-back, up-forward + kick.

Feel free to write me back with anymore you find.

Another interesting note is that motions don't have to be precise when doing moves. There is quite a large Input Leniency in Street Fighter 4 which allows the system to interpret technically incorrect inputs as inputs for special moves. This is a general rule for all characters that is especially beneficial to charge characters.

Example # 1

Consider Ken who wants to combo a Shoryuken into a Shoryureppa super. The motion should be:

forward, down, down-forward + punch xx down, down-forward, forward, down, down-forward, forward + punch.

However, as we learned in the previous section, we would want to apply our skill in prebuffering to make this easier on ourselves. But if we examine this, there is no "common place" to put one motion inside the other (because Ken's super is not a double-shoryuken motion). This would seem to indicate we can't use pre-buffering here. However, due to SF4's Input Leniency, the game WILL actualy accept the initial shoryuken as the first input of the Shoryureppa super. So, we can do this:

forward, down, down-forward + punch, down, down-forward, forward + punch.

In other words, all we need to do is a Shoryuken followed immediately by a fireball, and the game considers that the motion for a Shoryureppa super! This works because the Shoryuken motion is considered "close enough" to a fireball motion by the game engine.

Check out 3:15 to see Prebuffering and Input Leniency at work!

Keeping your charge (with charge characters)

Charge characters are interesting in that they play fundamentally different from "roll-motion" characters. What some beginners don't realize is that you can charge at ANY time during or even before a match. Thus, when using them, you almost ALWAYS want to maintain a down-back charge (since this charges two directions at once). When I say you can charge ANY time I literally mean ANY time.

Immediately after jumping, charge down-back
Aftering being knocked down, charge down-back
During any move, charge down-back
Before a round starts, charge down-back

You would do well to maintain your charge in all these situations. This takes some mental training, but eventually it becomes an automatic reaction.

You can also use Input Leniency (see above) in conjunction with charging to perform some technically impossible feats!

Example # 1

A common setup for Balrog's Ultra is to juggle it from a Buffalo Headbutt. Technically the Buffalo Headbutt motion is charge down, up + punch while his Ultra motion is charge back, forward, back, forward + 3 punches. These two motions seem to be at odds since one forces you to lose charge for the other.

Or does it?

To correctly perform this sequence, you can perform the Buffallo Headbutt by charging down-back, up-back + punch. By doing this sequence, the game still reads this as a valid down, up + punch motion, but allows you to maintain your backward charge. Then all you need to do is wait for Balrog to land and then perform his Ultra motion. There you have it, a very simple Ultra setup.

Early attacks and "acting vs reacting" in general

Most beginners start out playing reactively. They see something and then block it or counter it. This usually works fine when playing other beginners, but at high level play it's just too slow. Eventually, you've got to start acting on things you figure "will" happen, but haven't happened yet. This is the concept of "early attacks."

Not surprisingly, an early attack is when you initiate an attack to counter something that hasn't happened yet. In a sense, meaties (see Volume 4) are a form of Early Attack. Early attacks work because by the time your move has gotten to its active frames, your opponent's move will only be in its startup frames.

Example # 1

One of the best ways to win an air-to-air battle is with an early attack. By jumping and immediately attacking, you can win air-to-air battles in which your opponent's move seems like it should win. Consider Sakura's j. MK versus Ryu's j. HK. Normally, Ryu's j. HK would beat Sakura clean. However, if Sakura anticipates Ryu's jump, jumps herself, and immediately performs a j. MK (so that the MK is already out while she is still on her way up), Sakura will knock Ryu out of his attack before the active frames of his j.HK even start. In a way, Sakura has pre-empted Ryu.

Safe Jumping

Jumping in Street Fighter (SF4 especially) is very dangerous. Since you can't block or focus in the air, you are essentially putting yourself in a defenseless position. If you jump predictably, your weakness will be magnified 10x.

In general, try to only jump when your opponent is already commited to a move. Otherwise, jump when out of range. Don't forget to use your straight-up jump to confuse opponents (especially those that like to throw projectiles a lot). If you want to jump straight onto your opponent to initiate an offense, make sure you lock him/her into blockstun first (or make them feel like they are locked in block stun at least). Time some jumps short of your opponent so that they will miss a few anti-airs (therefore putting doubt in their mind about using it). These will all improve your jumping habits.

There is one more technique for jumping, which is called a Safe Jump. In general, it is a very, VERY bad idea to jump in on a downed opponent, especially those with an anti-air move that has startup invincibility. However, safe jumping allows you to mitigate this risk. A safe jump occurs when you jump in and attack your opponent VERY late in the jump. If your opponent stands or blocks, the late attack will just barely hit them. However, if the opponent goes for wakeup reversal move, you will land in time and block! This works because your active frames are intersecting their startup frames. Even though they are invincible during those startup frames, they are still not HITTING you in those frames. Safe jumping takes very precise timing, but with it, you can very easily bait anti-air moves.

Negative Edge

One tidbit that is not commonly known is that special and super moves in Street Fighter can be activated when a button is pressed OR when a button is released. The latter is called a Negative Edge.

Negative edge is most useful in combos and complex sequences where pressing a button twice would be way too slow. How you apply it and how often you use it is strictly up to you. Personally, find I only Negative Edge about 5% of my moves, and only in combos.

Example # 1

One of Ryu's basic Focus combos is HP Shoryuken, EX Focus Cancel, MP Shoryuken. An EX Focus Cancel lets you cancel the recovery time of certain moves (in this case the HP Shoryuken) by performing an immediate Focus Attack. You can further cancel a Focus Attack with a dash. Thus, this entire sequence looks like:

forward, down, down-forward + HP xx hold MP + MK xx forward, forward xx release MP + MK, forward, down, down-forward + MP.

This is a lot of buttons to press in a short time. However, you can use Negative Edge to make this sequence a bit easier.

forward, down, down-forward + HP xx hold MP + MK xx forward, forward xx forward, down, down-forward + release MP + MK.

You probably have to look pretty hard to spot the difference, but notice we reuse the "release" of MP + MK (the EX Focus Cancel) as the input for Ryu's MP shoryuken. This eliminates one MP button press. It may not seem like much, but in the heat of battle, remembering less is often better. In fact, we can use input leniency AND a shortcut motion (see above) for the Shoryuken to make this even simpler.

down-forward, down-forward + HP xx hold MP + MK xx down-forward, down-forward xx release MP + MK.

In this case we use input leniency to interpret the down-forward, down-forward as a dash (after the EX Focus Cancel) and a shortcut motion to use that same motion for the Shoryuken! Suddenly, by combining these three techniques together, this combo becomes very easy to do!

Option-selecting

Option-selecting is a technique employed to perform a motion a certain way so that if it fails, you are still left relatively safe. Although this technique was used a lot in previous Street Fighters, it isn't too prominent in Street Fighter IV. However, there is one very specific (and easy) use that can greatly heighten your game. Teching throws.

A tech throw is the primary counter for a throw. It occurs when you perform a throw very quickly after your opponent performs one, and results in neither of you taking damage. However, if you guess an opponent's throw incorrectly, you often end up with an embarrassing throw whiff animation which can leave you vulnerable long enough to eat a bad counterattack.

To avoid this, you can crouch tech. Rather than pressing LP + LK to tech a throw, get in the habit of pressing down + LP + LK. If you end up missing a tech throw, you will end up with a c. LP. This happens because you cannot throw while crouching, but you CAN tech a throw while crouching. Thus, with this technique, the computer selects the appropriate option (hence the name, Option Select).

Conclusion

Phew, there's an absolute ton of info in there. The key takeaway is that, just like life, you can't play Street Fighter on good intentions alone. All the mind games in the world mean nothing if you lack the tools to act on them. For some, practicing execution is a grueling task, for others it is greatly enjoyable and rewarding. Irregardless, if you want to be good at the game it's something you HAVE to do. My advice is to start in training mode, just to make sure you can do them, but quickly move to arcade mode. The computer isn't the smartest, but it is excellent for training mechanical techniques in real-game scenarios. Once you feel some of these things have become second nature, take your game online or in person and I guarantee you'll see the improvement.

Before I leave you today (for the sunny, hopefully-snow-covered mountains of Whistler, BC), I'd like to point you to an excellent tutorial video I found recently.

It is an excellent beginner's guide to the execution skills you need to perform bread and butters.

Viper IRL

2009-03-11T07:01:00.000-07:00

Victoria Beckham?

or CRIMSON VIPER??

Theory Fighter: Volume 4: Offense and Defense 102

2009-03-02T21:04:00.000-08:00

Note that this series of articles will very much be geared towards newcomers, so if you're a Street Fighter Veteran the information here may be of limited use. Also note though, that these articles will assume you're at least familiar with the Street Fighter (IV specifically) core mechanics.

Remember, there's a huge difference between a noob and a scrub. A noob knows (s)he's a beginner, but willing to learn. A scrub is convinced he's already good before (s)he's learned anything.

Don't forget to read Volume 1, Volume 2, and Volume 3.

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Lexicon

Here's a short list of words I'll be using that you need to be familiar with. You can skip this section if you're confident you understand this terminology.

Block String

A series of moves that, when blocked, are difficult to counterattack either during or even after the string is over.

Block Stun/Hit Stun

The state your character enters when they are in the process of blocking or being hit. Functionally, both these states are the same, although hit stun often lasts longer than blockstun. You cannot attack or be thrown while in block/hit stun. To launch a counter attack after a block (or even a hit), you must wait for block/hit stun to be OVER.

Flinch

A flinch occurs after a one character has blocked a series of moves from another character and goes for a counterattack after (s)he leaves block stun.

Frame Advantage

A state in which your attack leaves you in a neutral stance (i.e. ready to attack again) before your opponent recovers from block/hit stun. For example, if Ryu attacks an opponent with his c. MP, he can recover fast enough to combo into his c. MK before the opponent's hit stun ends. Frame Advantage is crucial for doing Link Combos

Link Combos

A combo in which you let one move recover before you perform the next move in the combo. Link combos are often associated with very tight timing, sometimes affording you as little as 1 frame of advantage to input your move properly. You can practice Link combos in Street Fighter IV's Challenge mode, in the 5th level of the Normal Trial section.

This is the shorthand notation for one move chaining into another one. For example, Ryu's bnb c. MK to Hadoken can be written c. MK xx Hadoken. For the definition of a chain, see Volume 2.

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Theory Fighter: Volume 4: Offense and Defense 102

Before anyone asks, yes, I was supposed to do a dedicated section on defense in this volume. But as I thought about the subject, I realized I had a very difficult time breaking up offensive and defensive scenarios. I realized that this is because of Yomi. Just because the situation seems to be in one person's control doesn't necessarily mean it is so. That's when I realized I had my next topic.

A lot of new players lose a lot because they don't understand the objective of Street Fighter. It's to win, right? It's to knock out my opponent, right? Yes and no. While knocking out your opponent is certainly an objective, it isn't your main objective during a match. This is the kind of thinking that makes a player use his Super in a round that is all but over instead of stocking his meter for the next round. This is the kind of thinking that pushes the player with the big lead into a dumb mistake instead of waiting out the clock.

So what is Street Fighter then? At high level, Street Fighter is about managing two things: Space and time. Space is the more obvious component here, but what do we mean when we say "time?" Time extends passed the simple round time. In this article we will refer to it as the time in which your opponent can act on your vulnerability. If you can maintain control of these two factors, then a match greatly swings in your favor.

Controlling space and time

Much like the ancient martial arts that have been practiced for centuries, there are a number of common attack patterns you'll see in Street Fighter. In general, all these patterns can be boiled down to two primary types of offense: rushdown and turtle. A lot of new players like to characterize themselves immediately as one of these styles. However, if you ask them why, they'll respond with something like "I attack a lot" or "I stay back and block a lot." This isn't really what these offenses are. An attack style is characterized by the way you control space. Each of these styles is unique in the way they lock down opponents, and limit their options. In terms of space and time, the optimal way to play BOTH strategies is to limit your opponent to a very small play space, and give him/her only a short window of time to decide the next move.

Rushdown

A rushdown offense works by locking your opponent in a box, which you then attack from the outside. This removes the majority of the play field from his/her control. Everytime your opponent tries to break out of the box, you counter and put them back into it. This last part is very important. Rushdown is less about eliminating all your opponent's options (because in a truly balanced game, this is impossible), but rather it is about pressing your opponent into panic, and then opening up an option you've already determined for them. In the split second they have to make a decision about what to do, they take the bait and you punish. The illusion of choice is the key here, because it demoralizes your opponent and puts them in a state where they start to second guess themselves. Once this happens, even more options open up for you.

Example # 1

Say we consider Ryu bearing down on Ken. Ryu attacks using a series of moves that Ken blocks successfully (this is known as a block string, we will look at this in a few moments). In the slight pause that Ryu looks like he's out of options, Ken launches into a counterattack which Ryu punishes with a seemingly psychic Shoryuken! Of course in this scenario, Ryu is not a mind reader. He actively opened that window for counterattack which he then exploited. In essence, the entire sequence was under Ryu's control from the start.

Rushdown typically works by locking your opponent into a state we call block stun. Block stun occurs, unsurprisingly, when you block an attack. The time from you blocking to the time you return to a neutral state (when you can perform a move) is called block stun. It's important to note you cannot do ANYTHING while in block stun. Block stun essentially paralyzes you. This has an interesting psychological effect on players, because if you can put them into block stun often, in a relatively short amount of time, you create the illusion that they are losing control of the fight. Then, when you open up an opportunity when they are no longer in block stun, you can bet they'll attempt a counter attack, for no other reason than they won't know when they'll get another chance.

Example # 2

Consider Rufus keeping a constant pressure on his opponent with dive kicks and LK xx Galactic Tornado bnb combos. Say at one point he dive kicks in with a LK xx HK chain combo (which can be further linked to his Ultra) that the opponent blocks. A panicked opponent may see this as his/her one chance for a counter attack. However, if Rufus delays for just a half second, and then performs his Ultra, he will most likely catch them on a flinch. Again, this gives the illusion of a psychic attack, but in reality Rufus' rushdown has manipulated this entire situation by leaving an obvious avenue for counterattack.

This is a trick/shenanigan you say? You're absolutely right. But think about it this way. If you do this enough times, will your opponent punish you the next time they block your LK xx HK chain? Probably not. If they stop punishing this chain, then you can now suddenly fish with it safely to setup your Ultra in the future. If they start punishing it again, you can use this trick again! Of course at this point, we get back into another Yomi discussion.

So, how do we keep players in block stun? We use something called a block string.

Block Strings

A block string is exactly what it sounds like, a series of moves that your opponent blocks. What use is that, you may wonder. In fact, having good solid block strings is crucial to playing a good game for most characters. Block strings allow you to have failed offenses, yet return to a safe distance where your opponent cannot attack you effectively. Block strings also allow you to fish more safely for your bnb combo. If even one part of the block string hits, you can chain that hit into further hits. Most importantly, block strings allow you to create the illusion of opportunity for your opponent, which you can then capitalize on.

What goes into a good block string? A "true" block string is a link combo that gets blocked. Link combos, by their definition, leave no true "space" for your opponent to counterattack, yet because they're so slow, they often create that illusion. False block strings are just as important. These are moves which you either can't link together, or purposely don't link together (say by slightly delaying your next move). False block strings create the illusion of opportunity that you want your opponent to act on. Of course it should go without saying that you want to always end a false block string with a quick recovering move, or a move that gives you Frame Advantage (otherwise you really ARE leaving yourself open!).

Mixing true block strings with the occasional false block string confuses your opponent, making them think there are windows where there aren't, or handcuffing him in situations where you are truly vulnerable.

Example # 1

In this video, Ryu makes almost abusive use of his block strings to keep his opponents anchored down in block stun. His opponents have so few opportunities to counterattack, and even when they do they are relatively small panic attacks just to get Ryu off them. Some of the strings, such as c. MP, c. MP at 1:26, and then forward + HP, c. LP only a second later, are true block strings. Dhalsim has no chance to retaliate. When Dhalsim finally does land a MK after that, Ryu is already starting his Focus Attack which he uses to finish Dhalsim off. This highlights the strength of block strings in a rushdown offense. They give you time to plan for your opponent's next move, while simultaneously pushing them into a panic state.

You can also look at the sequence at 2:03. Ryu performs a true block string, Focus Attack dash into c. LP, c. HP, EX Hadoken, c. MK, EX Hadoken. There is a miniscule delay after the final EX Hadoken in that sequence, creating the illusion of opportunity, at which point Ryu shuts it down with another EX Hadoken. By keeping the opponent locked down in block stun, Ryu is able to control the match by opening pockets where he deems fit.

-------

A lot of beginners like to fancy themselves as rushdown players. It's flashy and impressive, no doubt, but control is the key between a true rushdown player and a player who's just mashing buttons.

Turtle

Contrary to popular belief, Turtle style is not the opposite of Rushdown style. If you think about it, this makes sense. Why would you actively put yourself in a corner and only attack opponents who came near you? It's reactionary and, in principle, that's just silly. The true aim of turtle style is to control as much of the playfield in front of you for as long as you can before your opponent reaches you. When (s)he does reach you, you can either change styles or run away and continue.

Example # 1

Some characters are better equipped to play Turtle style than others. Akuma is the ultimate turtle character in Street Fighter IV (although Sagat certainly gives him a run for his money). His air Hadoken covers a huge diagonal portion of the screen, his horizontal Hadoken covers the entire horizontal field (not to mention his Red Hadoken eats other normal fireballs), and his Shoryuken covers a vertical right in front of him. Add to this a teleport (for quickly getting back to turtle distance) and you have a character built for controlling a huge amount of the playfield without putting himself in almost any risk.

Turtle style is about making as much work as possible for your opponent. You want to test his/her dexterity and execution. The very best turtle players hover just inside their maximum range of attack, while keeping their opponent just outside theirs (also known as zoning). Even in a mirror match this is possible by walking/dashing in and out of optimal range (which is a phenomenon many players call "dancing on the sweet spot). From here you can poke at your opponent's defenses, searching for weakness.

Poking/Zoning

You should always be looking for your opponent's weaknesses and actively testing his/her defenses. One way to do this is by poking at them with safe attacks. There isn't much else to say about this really, save for one. Make sure when you poke your opponent at the maximum possible range of your poking move. Naturally this requires a certain comfort with your character's move set. Returning to the above video, notice that Akuma often keeps Ryu at midrange rather than across the screen. Why? Because this is the maximum range of his air Hadoken and his c. MK, his two most effective pokes. Notice with his c. MK especially that Akuma almost always connects it so that only the very tip of his foot hits the enemy. This way, even if it is blocked, your opponent almost has no option quick enough to retaliate.

Example # 1

Consider Guile, who's basic gameplay is arguably designed around a zone. Guile has the unique ability to follow his projectiles instantly (other fireball wielding characters have recovery). He also has a good long range poke in the form of his c. MK, and a useful overhead that has only slightly less range. Due to his instant recovery Sonic Boom, Guile's effective range is anywhere he can follow up his Sonic Boom! His entire game is built around throwing a Sonic Boom to lock down his opponent and then following up with a standing HK (to initiate a hit or block string), c. MK (to hit low) or walk forward and do a forward + MP overhead (to hit high). If the opponent tries to counter, (s)he'll be hit by the Sonic Boom. If (s)he blocks, Guile scores a free block or hit depending on how they block, which gives him time to charge another Sonic Boom. If the opponent jumps, Guile can use MK at range or c. HP up close. If they block the entire sequence and wait to counterattack, Guile can retreat with his b + MK command move and start the sequence with a Sonic Boom again. Thus, Guile has locked his opponent into a zone far outside his opponent's effective range and can control the match from this position. Like the rushdown offense, he can leave a purposeful space anywhere in this sequence, and then counter with a high priority Flash Kick, or he can break the sequence and go for a throw.

Check out this video of Dagger_G playing and see if you can pick out the different instances he zones his opponent.

Even when playing Turtle style, you are still forcing your opponent to make quick decisions about situations that you actually control.

Zoning on wakeup

Being knocked down is a very disadvantaged situation for the downed player, yet too many offensive players allow this opportunity to pass them by. There are many ways to put pressure on a downed opponent, but here we will only focus on one. Meaty pokes.

Meaty Pokes

Meaties refers to a general situation when a player throws out an early attack on a downed opponent so that only the tail end of the active frames intersect the opponent as they rise up. Meaties enable you to "stuff" your opponent's counterattacks, because you will be hitting them with your active frames while they are in their startup frames. There are only two ways to defend against a meaty attack. One is to block, but this puts you at further risk as your opponent is sure to go into a block string. The other is to perform a reversal move with invincible startup (such as a Shoryuken).

As the name suggests, a meaty poke is when you poke an opponent as they wakeup from a knockdown. You still want to be very cautious about your range, but when done correctly, meaty pokes can score you free damage on opponents who think they can counterattack you. Even if they don't go for a counter move, a meaty poke leaves you relatively safe and, once again, puts them into block stun.

However, a meaty poke can be defeated with a high-priority wakeup move (such as a Shoryuken). As such, you don't want to be throwing them out too predictably. However, you CAN use meaty pokes to bait an opponent. At high level play, simply standing over their body will no longer be enough to bait a Shoryuken (as we did in Volume 3). Instead, you'll need to give them something to bite on. An extremely early attack on a waking opponent, one that looks like it will be a meaty, is the perfect way to get them to commit. Mix up real meaties with bait meaties and soon your opponents won't know what to do.

As an extension to this, one of the absolute safest ways to put pressure on a downed opponent is with a meaty fireball. This is a basic, barebones tactic that seems obvious, yet goes unused by many players. As an opponent rises from a fall, throw a fireball (preferably a slow one) so that they stand up into it. More often than not, you can follow up with a second fireball (a fast one) that is all but guaranteed to hit (or at least be blocked). This is a simple sequence that keeps opponents locked in block stun (or at the very worst, performing a Focus Attack), giving you the initiative.

Again, this is all about forcing your opponent to make split second decisions about situations you have control over.

Conclusion

An important takeaway from this article is that styles are not mutually exclusive. The great Fei Lo...er, I mean Bruce Lee, once said that the greatest form is to be formless. Even the most offensive rushdown players zone and poke, and even the most defensive players need to initiate some kind of offense (otherwise how would they win?). To play a complete game you should understand the situations when you need to use both these forms.

More importantly than that though, remember that your style/form is not an indication of the speed that you play or the rate at which you attack, those aren't important. Whether it takes you 100 Sonic Booms or 2 Ultra combos, the only thing that matters is that you walk away with a win. The important thing is to remember that these styles are a generalization about how you control a match's two most important resources. Space and time. You want to command as much of the play space as you can, while forcing the opponent into options that you've carefully laid out for them. It's like cornering a hog. You surround him and leave him with only one avenue of escape, right into a waiting net.

Then you have bacon.

Next time: An execution extravaganza!

Thoery Fighter: Volume 3: Offense and Defense 101

2009-02-26T11:19:00.000-08:00

Remember, there's a huge difference between a noob and a scrub. A noob knows (s)he's a beginner, but willing to learn. A scrub is convinced he's already good before (s)he's learned anything.

Don't forget to read Volume 1 and Volume 2

------------------------

Lexicon

Here's a short list of words I'll be using that you need to be familiar with. You can skip this section if you're confident you understand this terminology.

Wakeup

A situation when one player has been knocked down and is starting to stand up and the other player is bearing down on him/her.

Crossup

An attack aimed such that you hit them on one side of their body, yet land on the other side. This is useful for confusing your opponent.

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Theory Fighter: Volume 3: Offense and Defense 101

Now that you know the compositions of your moves and the different ways you can alter them (see Volume 1 and Volume 2) we're ready to start setting up our approach to the fight. Before we get into the specific strategies you can use in the game though, it's worthwhile to spend an article examining the principles Street Fighter was designed around.

At its heart, any competitive game is a test of one human will versus another. This is true of Street Fighter, poker, hockey, chess, even Monopoly (both the board game and the business world - har-har aren't I so clever?). Remember that Street Fighter is just the tool, the real competition is happening between you and your opponent. Street Fighter is an exceptionally well designed tool, but it is still just a tool. Ryu doesn't beat Ken. You beat your opponent.

Yomi
(Note, this section borrows heavily from David Sirlin's "Playing to Win." Check out his online book if you have a chance.)

Yomi is a Japanese term which roughly translates to reading another's mind. In Street Fighter, knowing what your opponent will do and when (s)he will do it is key to forming the right counter strategy. You're probably already using Yomi without even realizing it. You see your opponent jump a lot, you predict a jump, you counter with an anti-air. You realize your opponent always does a Shoryuken when he stands from a knockdown, you block it, and punish with your bnb combo. These are both examples of Yomi.

However, Yomi exists in different "levels." Predicting an opponent's jump is called Yomi Level 1. But what if your opponent predicts you prediction? (S)He can use an appropriate counter to that! Then you need to find an appropriate counter for that and so on and so on.

Street Fighter, more often than not, exists in a CIRCULAR YOMI LEVEL 3. Before explaining this, let's look at an example.

Example # 1
(This is a greatly simplified example but will work for the purposes of demonstration.)

Let's say Ryu has Ken locked in a corner and is pressuring with repeated fireballs just inside half a screen distance. If Ken continues to block the fireballs, he will get chipped to death (because blocked special moves still deal a bit of damage). If Ken tries to throw his own fireball, he'll probably get hit on startup. However, Ryu's repeated fireballs are predictable, so he jumps forward over the next one and attacks. This is Yomi Level 1.

Now let's say Ryu knows he's being predictable, or even doing this on purpose. He knows Ken will jump, so he looks out for it. When he sees it, he uses a Shoryuken to hit him out of the air. This is Yomi Level 2.

Now we get into the fun part. Say Ken wants to jump, but knows Ryu will Shoryuken. In this case, Ken can jump straight up. An antsy Ryu will Shoryuken and miss him, giving him ample time to counterattack while Ryu recovers. This is Yomi Level 3.

Finally, say Ryu expects everything we've outlined above. How does he deal with a straight up jump? He throws a slow fireball. This way, Ken will land on it when he comes back down from his jump. This is Yomi Level 4.

Whoa whoa, back the truck up. Didn't we just say this was a 3 level system?

Good observation, I just broke the design of the game. Or did I? Look at the solution for Yomi Level 4. Notice that it is exactly the same as Ryu's initial move (repeated Hadokens). If Ken wants to counter with a Yomi Level 5, he would jump over the slow fireball. But then that means Yomi Level 5 = Yomi Level 1! This is why we call it a Circular Yomi Level 3 system. You and your opponent can read eachother's intentions over and over and the system won't break down. As long as you know what move your opponent is going to do, there is a set way to counter it.

In general, Street Fighter is nothing more than this situation over and over and over.

Street, Paper, Scissors
(Note, this section borrows heavily from user "Derek" on the capcom-unity forum)

In terms of Circular Yomi Level 3, Rock Paper Scissors is the perfect competitive game. The game is designed in such a way that if you know what your opponent is going to do, there is a way to counter his/her move with 100% certainty. If you are at a higher level of Yomi than your opponent, then you are rewarded. In a similar way, you can think of every situation in Street Fighter as a Rock Paper Scissors standoff.

Well, almost.

The fundamental flaw in this logic is this. You could play 10 games of Rock Paper Scissors and if you win 6/10 games, you win overall. However, in Street Fighter, winning more confrontations does not always win you the match. If I manage to counter your missed fireballs with MK 5 times, but then leave myself open to your Ultra combo once, it is more than likely that will put me behind.

You must always be mindful not only of the damage you can potentially do to your opponent, but of the damage that can be done to you as well.

Example # 1

Let's examine a situation on wakeup. A wakeup occurs when you've been knocked down and your opponent is bearing down on you as you stand up. More often than not, if you stand over a beginner as they wake up, they'll go for a Shoryuken or other anti-air. This works well to stuff opponents who want to push an attack, because the Shoryuken is completely invulnerable during its startup frames.

However, the Shoryuken is a risky commitment, particularly if your opponent is not jumping in. There's no guarantee your opponent is going to attack you. In fact, it's just as likely they're trying to bait that high risk move out of you so they can go for a punishing counterattack. The Shoryuken is one of THE WORST moves to have blocked, and against good competition can cost you up to half a life bar.

Dan scores a knockdown on Ken, then baits an EX Shoryuken which he punishes with an Ultra

So what other option do you have?

Wake up and block.

Yes, sometimes you'll miss out on the opportunity to hit a homerun with your Shoryuken. However, if you stand up and block, what do you lose? Nothing. In fact, you may even catch your opponent off guard long enough to land a throw. No it isn't as damaging as a Shoryuken, but it is a much safer option that still has the possibility of scoring you damage.

This is not to say never do a wake up Shoryuken. What it does mean is to be smart about your options. If you see your opponent jump infront of you, that is an obvious situation to use a wake up Shoryuken. If your opponent has a tendency to stick out a move as you're getting up, then a Shoryuken is probably an acceptable risk. However, too many players go for risky Shoryukens on every wakeup, hoping for big damage, and then getting slammed on a reversal. Whatever work they put into the match up to that point suddenly doesn't matter, because they're behind again. In this way, you can think of Street Fighter as Weighted Rock Paper Scissors. You want to choose the option that affords you the most gain, for the minimum risk.

Natural Selection

There is a natural culmination that emerges from both the concept of Yomi and the design of Rock Paper Scissors, and that is the notion of adaptation. To win at a high level in Street Fighter, you must not only be aware of what your options are, but those of your opponent. One of the most famous quotes from the Sun Tzu (also known as The Art of War) is:

"To know yourself, but not your enemy, this is a half victory.

To know your enemy, but not yourself, this is a half victory.

To know yourself and to know your enemy, is to win 100 out of 100 battles"

Before we get into this subject, let's take a look at two videos from the same player.

Example # 1

Let's take a look at this Blanka. I'm not sure who this is, but he posted his video publicly so it's fair game. Beyond his talking, look at the actual way he plays Blanka. It's not too shabby. He certainly has the concept of cross-ups (attacks that force your opponent to block the wrong way), mixups, and hops into bites (3 strategies crucial to playing Blanka). Especially considering Sakura seems to have no answer for the rush down, this guy is playing "his" game very well.

Now let's look at a second match featuring the same player:

Here is a telltale sign of the inability to adapt. First off, some of his complaints are legitimate. There is a degree of lag in the game and in general, Zangief's Spinning Pile Driver (SPD) and Ultra are both very very good.

That being said, neither of those reasons applies in this match.

The first indication that this is a player's fault is at the 1:00 mark when he HIMSELF calls the fact that his opponent is trying to pull an Ultra. The Blanka player here has all the advantage. He is at a higher level of Yomi AND he has the lead (health-wise). Yet what does he do? He presses his attack with both a risky slide AND a dash forward. He claims he's done nothing wrong, yet he's made two crucial mistakes already. This isn't even mentioning the fact that even had his opponent NOT used the Ultra, the Blanka player had willingly put himself in the corner! In this case his Yomi is useless because he doesn't act on it. He is locked into his own game and can't see options outside of it.

The optimal solution here would've been to stay back, poke with cr. HP, and Vertical Roll any jump attempts. Even if Zangief managed to get within this perimeter, a simple jump would've avoided an Ultra or SPD.

Fastforwarding to 1:33, he claims that Zangief tricks only work online and then promptly eats a whiffed Green Glove into a 360 Power Bomb. However, this isn't just an "online" strategy. Watch countless videos from SF4 tournaments around the world and you will discover this is a legitimate Zangief setup because the Green Glove scares people into blocking. There is a functional reason to use these moves in sequence; lag is not part of the equation. The Blanka player doesn't realize this. He assumes any strategy Zangief uses should be invalid versus his Blanka strategy, so instead he attributes the hit to lag.

Finally, at about 2:10, we see a similar situation to the 1:00 example. Again, the Blanka player knows an Ultra is coming, and again, he slides multiple times and fails to recognize the jump-in. The result? He eats an Ultra. Frankly, I'm shocked he didn't eat an Ultra sooner off the blocked slides, but this final example puts a heavy exclamation point on his inability to adapt even from round to round.

Am I being condescending? I'm not trying to be, really I'm not. It takes a man to upload a video of himself losing (although I question his motives, I suspect he's looking for commentors to agree with his rantings). From a game perspective, his Blanka sets aren't bad, he knows a few combos, he has some hop tricks, and against most other characters a poke slide is a perfectly legitimate and effective strategy. However, that only makes the point even clearer. The Blanka player is only playing half the game. He expects the same sets and strategies to work on every opponent, regardless of the matchup. In short, he is very comfortable playing is own game, but if you take him out of it he is either unwilling, or unable to adapt. Against Zangief you absolutely want to keep him out of SPD range, not willingly move yourself into it! The sad thing is that, given the way he's talking, he doesn't seem to realize his mistakes and thus will be doomed to repeat them.

On a personal note, I fought one such player recently. Oddly enough he was playing Zangief. He repeatedly tried to jump-in and SPD, so I repeatedly hit him out of the air with a simple c. HP. This lasted two FULL rounds until I won the match. Shortly afterward I received a personal message asking if I enjoyed being "cheap" doing the same move over and over and that he was going to report me. I simply sent back a message that read "I don't mind."

Conclusion

There are a lot of ways to play Street Fighter. You can play a rushdown style, a turtle style, or a zoning style. We'll touch on the specifics of these later, but the important thing to realize is that your style is only half the game. To play a full game of Street Fighter, you need to consider not only your options and tendencies, but the options and tendencies of your opponent. You need to get into their head, figure out what they're thinking, and when you do that, you need to devise a counter strategy and execute it. Once you've done that, you can ride that strategy until they figure it out and use a counter on you. This is the absolute base of Yomi. If we were playing Rock Paper Scissors, and I only ever chose rock ("Good ol' rock, nothing beats that"), why would you have any reason to choose anything but paper? Would that be "cheap?"

The first step to developing good Yomi is realizing when you don't have it. If you're so locked into your own game that you can't see the moves of your opponent, you're doomed to make mistakes and lose matchups where you're disadvantaged. Everyone loses, that's not something that should concern you. Your Battle Points shouldn't concern you. What SHOULD concern you is losing and not understanding why you lost, especially if you kept losing to one "cheap" move. More often than not, being "cheaped" means you weren't able to adapt to the situation, so there was no reason for your opponent to change it. In these cases, I suggest you take a step back from the game and, while the memory is still fresh, think about what exactly you were doing and what your opponent was doing. Form a counter strategy. Then challenge again. If you win, then you came up with the right counter strategy. If not, then there's absolutely no shame in going back to the drawing board. With time, you will learn to make and adjust strategies in mid-match.

That's when you start to unearth the game within the game.

Next time: Defense, defense, defense

Happy bday to me

2009-02-25T06:34:00.000-08:00

Theory Fighter: Volume 2: Bread and Butter combos

2009-02-23T13:30:00.000-08:00

Remember, there's a huge difference between a noob and a scrub. A noob knows (s)he's a beginner, but willing to learn. A scrub is convinced he's already good before (s)he's learned anything.

You can find Volume I here

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Lexicon

Here's a short list of words I'll be using that you need to be familiar with. You can skip this section if you're confident you understand this terminology.

Combo

A sequence of moves that, if the first hit connects, cannot be blocked by the opponent until the combo is complete. A combo can come in two varieties: Chain and Link. For this article we will focus on chains.

Chain

A chain occurs when you use one move to "cancel" the recovery animation of another move. If done correctly, this results in the first move never entering its recovery animation phase, and if you land it then you will get a combo. For example, Ryu can chain his cr. MK into a Hadoken fireball. When done correctly, Ryu goes right from the active frames of his cr. MK to the startup frames of his Hadoken, without ever showing the recovery frames of his cr. MK. For more information on frames, see Volume I here.

A correct chain with Ryu. Notice that he goes straight from his cr. MK's active frames to his fireball's startup.

There isn't really a trick to performing chains. Just press the button or do the motion for your next move while the previous move is still in progress. You want to time it so you complete the next command just after the previous move connects with the opponent (be it a hit or even if blocked). Note that not ALL moves are chainable. For example, unlike Ryu, you CANNOT chain Fei Long's cr. MK into any of his special moves. Finding chainable moves must be done through experimentation (or through Street Fighter IV's excellent Challenge Mode). Also note you cannot chain from a whiffed move. A move must connect (hit or blocked) to chain into the next move.

cr
Anytime you see the letters "cr" followed by an attack (LP, MP, HP, LK, MK, HK), this indicates "crouching." Otherwise, assume standing.

Main
Your primary and best character.

Priority
One move's ability to win when it comes into contact with another move. Contrary to popular belief, people do not get "lucky" when they hit you out of an attack with another attack. These are all predetermined by the priority of the two moves. For example, Ryu's crouching MK has higher priority than Blanka's crouching LK. Therefore, if the moves ever clash during their active frames, Blanka will always get hit.

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Theory Fighter: Volume 2: Bread and Butter combos

Before I start this article I'm going to make something abundantly clear:

Beginners put way too much emphasis on the importance of long combos.

I'm not sure why this is. Maybe it's because they're flashy and impressive. Maybe it's because its the primary thing you can practice in arcade mode against the CPU. Either way, the fact remains that long, complex combos, despite being damaging and invigorating, make up a relatively small part of a Street Fighter match. Check any Street Fighter IV tournament video on youtube (you can find a ton here: http://www.youtube.com/user/Min0ra). I wager you see very few long combos. Conversely, I also wager you'll see the same 3 to 4 hit combos used over and over again. These small combos might not be as flashy, or do as much damage, but their effectiveness comes in the number of times you can land them, and the safety they afford if you miss them.

These are your "bread and butter"

The Bread and Butter combo (bnb)

When choosing a character to main, it is absolutely imperative you find a bread and butter combo. This is your all purpose go-to move to punish your opponents mistakes. Your bread and butter doesn't need to be complicated, it can be as few as two hits, but you must constantly work on it so that it becomes automatic. When your opponent whiffs something, or you block a move with a lot of recovery frames, you should automatically go for your bread and butter. You absolutely, positively must execute this combo with near 100% consistency.

Phew. I hope I got across the point that this is important.

So what goes into a good bread and butter? An optimal bread and butter combo starts with a move that has quick startup, good range, high priority, low recovery, and leaves you relatively safe even if blocked. A bread and butter combo also shouldn't use any of your EX meter, since you want to be able to perform it in any circumstance. By that same token, you should be able to perform your bread and butter combo from the ground without a jump-in. Jump-ins take too long which cost you many opportunities to deal guaranteed damage.

Example # 1
Ryu can chain his cr. MK into a Hurricane Kick. This is not a long or particularly flashy combo, but what it lacks in pizzazz it makes up for in consistency. You will land this, a lot. The cr. MK is a relatively high priority move with good enough startup time that it can punish many moves on block. If you connect with this combo it leaves your opponent on the floor, but if done at the right distance, the LK Hurricanne Kick is difficult to counterattack even if your combo is blocked. Thus, this combo fulfills our criteria of being simple, moderately damaging, yet also safe.

You can have more than one bread and butter combo. In fact, as you get better, its a good idea to have a number of them for different situations. In high level play, it is often smart to maximize safety even at the expense of losing some damage potential. Although the above bread and butter is relatively safe, a blocked Hurricane Kick can still be punished by very quick opponents.

Example # 2
An even safer bnb combo for Ryu is his cr. MK into his Hadoken fireball. True, this combo does piddly damage even compared to the combo in example # 1, but it's so incredibly safe that you can throw it out repeatedly without fear of counterattack, especially when done at a range just inside Ryu's foot. Check out this video from one of the best arcades in Japan and count how many times both players (Ryu and Akuma) use this simple combo.

A slightly less obvious but crucial thing you want to be careful of is that your bread and butter combo of choice works on characters of ALL sizes, whether they are standing or blocking. This is important because no matter how safe a move is on block, almost all moves are very punishable if you whiff them.

Example # 3

Consider Ken's standing mp, standing HP chain. This is an easy chain combo (unique to Ken) that doesn't have a lot of recovery that you can further chain into ANY of his specials. It seems like a pretty good candidate for a bread and butter. Unfortunately, the standing HP will completely whiff small to regular sized opponents when they are crouching. This is a HUGE liability, because even if you connect with the MP, it means you could potentially whiff the HP on a crouching opponent, giving them ample time during both your active AND recovery frames to launch a counterattack.

Changing the properties of your moves

Bread and Butter combos can have some unforseen advantages that you may not realize right off the bat. The three major benefits are confirming, hiding recovery, and block switch.

Confirming

Confirming is a technique in Street Fighter where you only finish a combo when you know the hits before it have connected. This is useful because combos often end in risky, high recovery special moves. This essentially lets you "fish" with the beginning of your bread and butter with significantly less risk.

Example # 1
One of Cammy's primary bnb combos is cr. LK, cr.LK chained into her Spiral Arrow special. However, her Spiral Arrow has a lot of recovery time if it gets blocked, making it rather dangerous to use her bread and butter. However, with enough training and good reflexes, a Cammy player can learn to perform the Spiral Arrow only when they've confirmed the cr. LK, cr. LK has hit the opponent. Most people do this by performing the first cr. LK and then performing the motion for the Spiral Arrow (down, down-toward, toward), but ONLY pressing kick again if/when they confirm the second cr. LK has hit. If the cr. LK is blocked, then the Cammy player simply doesn't press kick for the Spiral Arrow, leaving her relatively safe since the cr. LK has very short recovery time. This essentially allows you to hide bad recovery moves behind much safer, short recovery moves.

Example # 2
Let's take a look at that Ryu vs Gouki match again (above). Notice at 4:20, Ryu jumps in and fishes with his cr. MP, cr. MK and then his cr. MK again without getting punished! If any of these hits connected, you can bet he would have confirmed into a Hadoken or Hurricane Kick.

Confirming can be difficult even for elite players. There are always scenarios where players inevitably read a hit/block wrong, or act before they've confirmed, which leads to blocked specials (hence why you'll still see this even at the elite level). However, even if you only confirm with a 50% success rate, that's 1/2 fewer combos you will eat as a result of blocked bnb combos.

Hiding Recovery

This is basically the opposite of confirming. By chaining moves together, you can hide long recovery moves by chaining short recovery moves to them. This is important because it gives you a use for some moves that would otherwise be too slow and dangerous to consider.

Example # 1

Rufus's standing HP leaves him at a considerable disadvantage if blocked. Conversely, Rufus' special move "Galactic Tornado" has unusually good recovery time (it only leaves you disadvantaged for 1/60th of a second!). Therefore, whenever trying to attack with his HP, it is generally a good idea to tack on a Galactic Tornado, which leaves him significantly less vulnerable if he gets blocked.

Rufus' HP is blocked, but he chains a Galactic Tornado to hide the recovery.

Block switch

Block switch isn't real Street Fighter terminology, but its a relevant topic that many players take for granted. By chaining moves together, you can effectively change the way these moves must be blocked. This is very useful for confusing your opponent with mixup games.

Example # 1
Let's examine Ken's Hurricane Kick. Normally, Ken's Hurricane Kick can be blocked high. However, if you chain cr. MK into a Hurricane Kick, this must be blocked LOW (because his cr. MK must be blocked low). This essentially gives you a Hurricane Kick that must be blocked low.

You can also think of it as adding free extra hits/damage to your cr. MK. Either way, the result is the same, you are getting more damage than a Hurricane Kick or cr. MK individually, but stealing the "block low" property of the cr. MK.

Example # 2
Now let's look at this the other way. Normally, you would block Rufus' cr. LK by crouch blocking. However, Rufus has a command normal called the Dive Kick, which allows him to drop very quickly from a jump at an angle. This move MUST be blocked high. By jumping and performing this move while you are still very close to the ground, you can surprise a crouch blocking opponent and then combo into his cr. LK (which you can further chain into a Galactic Tornado).

Rufus performs his dive kick very low to the ground, which hits a crouching opponent. This is often called "Instant Overhead"

Like the previous example, this changes the property of one move by "attaching" it to another.

Note: I have just discovered, much to my embarrassment, that Rufus' dive kicks can actually be blocked low. Now, this doesn't completely invalidate the above example, because you can often catch characters when they attempt to poke you back, but I would be remiss not to mention my mistake.

Conclusion

The key to playing a successful game is consistency, consistency, consistency. Flashy combos are great when you have a solid, obvious opening. However, more often than not, you will need to rely on a short, sweet, non-risky combo over and over to get you consistent damage on your opponent. This combo is like your best friend. Even as your game evolves and you learn new tricks and strategies, it will stay with you all the way to the end. It will give you a way to poke at your enemy's defenses, it will give you a way to punish their mistakes with a healthy amount of damage.

In short, it will make you a threat.

Next time: Offense and Defense 101

Theory Fighter: Volume 1: Breaking down normals and specials

2009-02-23T05:38:00.000-08:00

Remember, there's a huge difference between a noob and a scrub. A noob knows (s)he's a beginner, but willing to learn. A scrub is convinced he's already good before (s)he's learned anything.

------------------------

Lexicon

Here's a short list of words I'll be using that you need to be familiar with. You can skip this section if you're confident you understand this terminology.

Frames

A central principal in Street Fighter is understanding that the game runs its animation in frames. What is a frame? Street Fighter IV runs at 60 frames per second. Therefore, a frame is 1/60th of a second in game time. When you perform a move, it takes a certain number of frames. In this series of articles we will NOT get into specific frame counting, but it will refer to the duration of moves in both frames and seconds (you'll see why in this article).

Normals

A normal is any move you get when you press a face button on your pad/stick. The normals are Light Punch (LP), Medium Punch (MP), Hard Punch (HP), Light Kick (LK), Medium Kick (MK), Hard Kick (HK).

Command-Normals

A command normal is a character-specific move you get when you press a certain direction + a face button on your pad/stick. For example, Ryu's overhead punch is toward + MP.

cr
Anytime you see the letters "cr" followed by an attack (LP, MP, HP, LK, MK, HK), this indicates "crouching." Otherwise, assume standing.

Specials

A special is any move that requires a joystick motion and a face button. For example, Ryu's Hadoken is done by pressing down, downtoward, toward + punch.

Blocking/Guarding

Blocking is your primary defensive technique in Street Fighter, and is performed by holding away from your opponent. There are two kinds of blocks: a standing block and a crouching block. Standing blocks will block any move that hits high or mid. Crouching blocks will block any move that hits low or mid. It is important to note that most jumping attacks hit high and most crouching KICKS hit low. Therefore you must block these accordingly.

Whiff

To miss a move completely.

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Theory Fighter Volume 1: Breaking down normals and specials

In this first installment we will be looking at the composition of each move in your repetoire.

Every move (normal, command, special, super, ultra, you get the idea) in the entire game is composed of three parts.

Startup - The number of frames from the time you input a command (i.e. press a button) to the the ACTIVE time (see below). These are non-hitting frames.
Active - The number of frames that a move can actually hit someone.
Recovery - The number of frames after the active time to the time when you return to a neutral stand/crouch at which time you can perform another move.

Understanding these three factors is VERY important, and the first barrier to shedding some common bad habits. Contrary to popular belief (among noobs), not EVERY move for EVERY character is useful. Some characters have moves so bad you don't ever want to touch them. Strictly in terms of time (there are other factors like range and priority which we will leave for a later article), a GOOD move is one with short startup, long active, and short recovery.

Example 1

Let's compare Sagat's Tiger Upper and his Tiger Knee. Both moves have near instantaneous startup time. Both moves also have a very long active time. However, if you miss a Tiger Upper, it leaves Sagat far off the ground. The time that it takes him to fall from the peak of his uppercut to the floor again (and for the half second it takes for him to gather himself after he lands) is the recovery time. At any point during this recovery your opponent can (and should) exploit you and attack since you cannot block during recovery. This makes the Tiger Upper a very dangerous move to spam indiscriminately.

Sagat whiffs a Tiger Upper and gets comboed even AFTER he lands.

Now compare this to the recovery on the Tiger Knee. Not only does Sagat have less distance to fall, but he also falls faster. This gives the opponent much less time to think of a counter before you are in a state in which you can block again. In fact, the recovery on this move is SO good that often times you can block your opponent's counter attack and counter his counter!

Balrog blocks Sagat's Tiger Knee, yet Sagat still returns to his neutral stance before Balrog can act.

Speaking in more general terms, LP/LK usually have few startup and recovery frames (and thus are safe to whiff or have blocked) while HP/HK can have long startup and recovery frames (making them very dangerous to whiff or have blocked). MP/MK is often somewhere in-between (obviously the tradeoff here is that LP/LK do far less damage than HP/HK).

This is also true of special moves. Special moves performed with LP/LK often have less startup/recovery than the same special move performed with HP/HK.

Example # 1

Consider Sakura's Hurricanne Kick. Performed with HK, this move is very dangerous to have blocked because she moves so far into her opponent and the recovery is quite long. It is almost a sure thing that getting this blocked up close will result in you eating a combo.

Sakura whiffs a HK Hurricanne Kick and eats a reversal combo

Now consider Sakura's Hurricanne Kick performed with LK. She travels almost nowhere and barely leaves the ground. However, she also spends barely any frames recovering from it. This means you can use it without much fear of retaliation. It's no coincidence that her LK Hurricanne Kick is considered her best special.

It is KEY to recognize recovery times. Some moves may not look like they're in recovery when they really are. This is especially true of forward moving body attacks.

Example # 2

Consider Cammy's Spiral Arrow (also known as the Cannon Drill). In this move, she propels forward close to the ground with her legs extended out. The HK version of this move hits twice, but travels a very long distance. Although it does not look like it, it has fairly long (and easily punishable) recovery time.

The "active" frames of the Spiral Arrow. These are the ONLY frames that can hit.

Let's say Cammy performs a Spiral Arrow on you at close range, and you've blocked both hits successfully. AS SOON as you've blocked the second hit, the active frames of her move are over. The trick with this particular special move is that her recovery frames look VERY MUCH like her active frames. As a result, you may be afraid to counter her due to a fear of a phantom 3rd hit (which is impossible). The important thing to remember is that the move can only ever hit twice. Therefore, as soon as you've blocked that second hit, you HAVE to launch your counter attack despite the fact that she is still in her Spiral Arrow animation. In fact, this is the whole point, because she won't be able to block.

Despite the fact that the recovery LOOKS like it can hit you, it can't! Be like Fei Long and go for a reversal!

Note that in this particular example, Cammy can use her LK or MK Spiral Arrow, which only hits ONCE. You can still counter these versions, but if she decides to mix them up, then you need to be cautious.

Recognizing situations like this will be difficult at first, but with more experience it will become second nature.

Conclusion

So what does this all add up to? The core mechanic of Street Fighter, like any competitive game, is capitalizing on your opponent's mistakes. The most basic way of doing this is to abuse an opponent's recovery time. How many times have you fought scrubs that show off dragon punches at mid screen for no real reason other than to declare to the world that they can do them? Punish them in their recovery and, if they're smart, they'll quickly stop doing it. If you block a combo that ends in a high recovery move, punish them! The absolute key difference between being afraid of an opponent and not being afraid, is whether or not (s)he can properly punish you for making mistakes. If (s)he can't, then what's to stop you from going for risky high-damaging combos? What's to stop you from relying on a single strategy and riding it to a win? Why should you be scared?

If there's any takeaway from this first volume, it's that Street Fighter is about minimizing the risks you take, while maximizing the risks of your opponent. Play tight, don't put yourself in situations when your recovery frames will get you killed, but at the same time, actively LOOK for (or even better, predict) situations when your opponent will be in recovery. I stress again that it will take a little while to recognize these situations, but they WILL come naturally with time. It is also important to note that, although it is definitely important to recognize the recovery of specific moves for specific characters, you WILL form a GENERAL understanding of recovery which is applicable to all opponents. This is the first barrier to entering high-level play.

Next time - Bread and Butter combos

Joysticks part II!

2009-02-12T11:47:00.000-08:00

Street Fighter 4 is preordered.

My new joystick is preordered.

My parts are ready.

Fight night is coming...

So now that I have a new joystick on the way (thanks Yuk!), I've really started updating the template I had on here earlier. Unfortunately this new joystick, unlike my old EX2, has a little less face real-estate which meant I had to shift some of the characters so their faces could be seen. This created a problem (especially in Chun's case) where they looked uncentered which weighted the joystick too much to one side.

To remedy this solution I pulled some ink splotches from the internet and fused them into the stick. Tada!

Let me know what you think. Personally, I think it's an improvement over the white designs, but I'm not sure I'm quite done with Chun-Li's. I really want the splotches to look wave-like and I'm not quite sure I accomplished that yet. I think I will also make the splotches on Viper's arc a little more.

Edit: Congrats Yuk for winning the SFIV CE Cover Contest! The only "bad" thing about this is that the images on my joysticks are NO LONGER UNIQUE! (*sad face*)

My desk

2009-02-06T05:34:00.001-08:00

Usually I'm too lazy to do stuff like this, but what the hey, it sounded fun. That and I seem to have worked myself into a predisposition to do anything Yukiko asks me to (mental note, check for signs of brainwashing).

Were we supposed to clean our desks before doing this? This is the craptacular state mine is usually in. Objects of note include the incredibly chinese mug, my joystick parts (which I still haven't had a chance to install yet!), some reminders to renew my license, and some random sketches. Oh right, and a vial of anti-malaria pills I was SUPPOSED to take after Mexico... but then never did. Oops.
My computer setup. Notice my shiny nice Macbook Pro next to my ultra shit tablet laptop (which, yes, is broken into two pieces). Also note the calculus book propping up said crappy laptop. Also of note is the "Ultimate Ninja's Handbook," which I have yet to read.

And, just because I can, here's my workstation at the office.

Other than needing a much larger monitor, notice the awesome Locco Rocco (which my coworkers call "the smiling orange"), which is my favorite thing to randomly play with when I'm waiting for builds to load. In a close second is "The Trial of Colonol Sweeto," and of course the requisite Duplo Batman and Jack Skellington. Oh right, and a Mortal Kombat branded squishy toy... in the shape of a human heart!

Er, I guess I tag Lynn... since she's the only other blog I know that hasn't already been tagged.

Jay's Peak in Vermont

2009-02-05T06:09:00.000-08:00

Here's a little thing I put together after our trip to Jay's Peak this weekend. Enjoy!

Hadoken!

2009-01-18T17:02:00.001-08:00

I recently entered an online contest related to SFIV. The rules? Present the "hadoken" in as interesting a way as possible.

I figured what better way to present it than a hadoken... made of hadokens!

This mosaic is made up of 101 other hadoken pictures, spanning every game I could think of that featured a shoto, from the original Street Fighter and its iterations to some really obscure shit (SF: Mouse Generation? SF: The Korean Drama??). It took quite a while to assemble. Click the image for a larger version with a full list of references.

Here's hoping I win.

Joysticks!

2009-01-08T06:15:00.000-08:00

SFIV is coming and I can't wait. In commemoration of such an event, I've decided to mod my joystick. This is the first time I'll be attempting something like this (and I'm a little nervous since I haven't really done any electronics-related stuff since, oh, High School).

I'm going to do one first, see how that turns out, and then hopefully do another for my brother.

This is a three-fold process. First I'll be pulling out the old buttons to make way for some new Sanwa OBSF-30 buttons. These are much quicker reacting than the stock and a little bigger.

Next I'll be gutting the stock Hori stick and replacing it with a Sanwa JLW-TM-8 balltop joystick. This will be a little looser than the default configuration and hold up better over time. Apparently, there are different "gates" you can get (the plastic part that locks the joystick in place) and I'll be going with a square gate. The only real difference here is that a square gate will lock to the corners when you move the stick, whereas an octagonal gate won't. It's strictly personal preference (I'm used to square, so I'm sticking with square).

And finally, the piece-de-resistance, I'm going to take off the boring cover panel and replace it with some SICK new artwork courtesy of Yukiko.

Now, if all that goes well, I'll probably have the confidence to do another. Imagine THESE twin babies, one with blue buttons/ball-top and one with red!

For anyone interested, I'm getting the parts from Lizard Lick (http://www.lizardlickamusements.com), which has good prices and cheap shipping. The total price of this project will probably come in just under $50 (which is not bad, + joystick that'll be about $90... a retail stick with Sanwa parts sells for about $140).

I know this seems a little obsessive of me, but frankly, I had a good time learning about what all this stuff does, and it'll be a fun time getting my hands dirty in some electronic work again.

Plus... it's gonna look/perform so sexy.

Now, I'm just saying, if anyone wants to buy me the parts to mod that second stick... my birthday is riiiiiiiight around the time SFIV comes out... I'm just saying. = D

Addendum: What looks better, my initial design, or this slightly reworked one?

Welcome to (Street)Fight Club

2008-12-21T21:37:00.000-08:00

I’m going to start with something ridiculously mushy here. I’m willing to look like a fool here, and say Street Fighter as a series has profoundly impacted my life. Stupid eh? I’m just some kind of freak right? Well, before I lose all credibility, please hear me out. Street Fighter has provided me with a social AND competitive avenue, one that is fun and, by its nature, introduced healthy rivalries into my life. I really think - and yes even in my mid 20’s I still think it’s relevant – that it’s not the game, but the community the game builds in us, that makes it so special.

And now, with a new Street Fighter coming out in a couple of months, it's the perfect time to invite everyone to join me in my favorite hobby.

At this point you’re probably still rolling your eyes, but I’d like for you to just give me 5 minutes of your time to read my reasons. If you still aren’t interested after reading them, then by all means, you can bail.

3 reasons to fight

1. Why should I bother?

Like any game (video or other), Street Fighter is a competitive tool, in exactly the same mould as basketball, poker, or chess. However, SF is unique in the near-absolute purity if its rules. How so? Basketball (and all sports in general) have nearly impossible-to-enforce rules. How many basketball games have you seen in which a bad call decided the game? How many lame “and-1s” ruin good pickup games at your local gym? Likewise, poker, which is definitely a game of skill, always has an element of luck involved. You can play your opponent flawlessly, but still get beaten on the river.

Street Fighter, like all those aforementioned games, is rooted in “Yomi.” Yomi is the Japanese phrase for “reading your opponent’s mind.” How satisfying is it in Poker when you know exactly what your opponent has in his hand? Why is drawing a charge or blocking a shot the most satisfying play in basketball? I suggest here it’s because of Yomi. Now imagine a game that is built ENTIRELY around the concept of Yomi.

That is Street Fighter.

Okay, so poker is a high Yomi game too, so why should I learn SF if I already play poker? This goes back to the notion that SF is “pure;” the rules of the game never change, and the limits of the game make it impossible for you to act outside them. There are no unknown factors to sideswipe you, no teammates to blame; you are in a match alone against your opponent with a finite toolset of moves. In essence, you are in complete control of your own ability to win or lese. The onus is on you, and you alone, and that purity of experience, in my opinion, is hard to find anywhere else.

2. Why are you telling me this now?

For those of you who might not know, Street Fighter IV (ten years in the making, so to speak) is coming out on February 17, 2009. I’ve played Street Fighter for more than a decade now, both casually and competitively, and I’m telling you right now, as a competitive tool it can’t be beat. It has all the purity of chess, but with the pace of many sports. I’m also telling you this because the producers of this game have tailor-made this game for newcomers. Many of the complicated systems from the past (parries, custom combos, etc for those who know what those mean) are all gone. They’ve all been replaced with a system that was specifically designed to be simple, yet deeply rooted in Yomi. The hype around this game is high (and having played it, I can tell you right now it’s a solid game), and come February 17, there will be a LOT of newbies online. The best way to learn anything is always to have opponents of equal skill to play against.

Put together all those factors leads to this conclusion. If you ever wanted to try really learning Street Fighter (and I encourage you to), February 17th and on will be that time.

3. The game is so complicated and I haven’t played ever/in a long time, aren’t I too far behind?

I won’t sugar coat this. If you want to start, you’re probably going to lose at first; probably a lot. Against more seasoned opponents, against the computer-controlled AI. Many of you probably last played Street Fighter II on your SNES, and considered the ability to throw fireballs and hurricane kicks the epitome of your success. There’s no other way to say this…

You will suck.

But before you all click away, I’m going to explain why this is a good thing. Like all sports, Street Fighter consists of two levels, the mechanics and the meta-game. Golf sucks when you’re still learning to swing. Basketball sucks when you still shoot like a granny. Hockey sucks… well, hockey just sucks (*kidding!*). What I mean is that, a lot of people get hung up on the mechanics and quit there, never even reaching the warm-gooey centre that is the meta-game. But once you get the mechanics, they will come to you just like a golf swing or a basketball shot, I promise you. Then the entire meta-game opens up for you. You will grow, you will get better, you will start to match wits with others who’ve figured it out too. Rivalry breeds the best competition, and I 100% assure you, you will accrue rivals.

Everything the game gives to you after that is sooooo worth it.

Closing Words

One might look at Street Fighter and just see “another videogame.” That isn’t accurate. Most games last a month or two. You start at stage 1 and progress linearly through the game. The game gets harder and you adapt until you reach the final stage. As the end credits roll, you sit back, pat yourself on the back, and then think about what game you want to get next.

That is NOT Street Fighter.

Street Fighter doesn’t have a story (not one that matters anyway) and it doesn’t have linear progression. Stage 1, in a sense, doesn’t exist in the game so much as it exists in you. As you “progress” in the game, you devise your own tactics, you learn from the tactics of others, and this is the progression you experience in the game. You’ll keep playing the same characters, keep fighting the same opponents, keep fighting on the same levels, but somehow, you’ll continue to grow and progress. The final stage is whatever you yourself become when you decide to hang up your gloves or put away your controller for good. Hopefully by then you have a positive win/loss record. = )

I didn’t write this as a lame attempt to force people to play. I didn’t write it because I just wanted fresh meat to beat up on. I wrote this, because Street Fighter provided me with an amazing base of competition and self-evaluation I’ve never gotten anywhere else. I wrote this because I’ve already trained people with only a “passing” interest, into rivals who can now out-spar me.

But most of all, I wrote this because competitive Street Fighter with good friends is one of the most enjoyable ways I can spend an evening, and if I can teach even one more person the beauty of that, then writing all this was worth it.

One of these things is not like the other...

2008-12-11T11:38:00.001-08:00

The first returns for this year's NBA All-Star ballots is back. One of these things is a little peculiar... can you figure it out?

Forwards:

LeBron James (Clev) 643,786;

Kevin Garnett (Bos) 495,514;

Yi Jianlian (NJ) 356,556;

Chris Bosh (Tor) 274,195;

Paul Pierce (Bos) 153,512

Oh China, I knew you were unreasonable... but this is ridiculous.

How owned I got

2008-12-09T07:17:00.001-08:00

I present to you exhibit A: The Xbox 360 title "Gears of War 2," which I purchased legitmately from renowned seller "Futureshop."

Now I present exhibit B: The PC title "True Crime: Streets of LA," which I found after opening the "Gears of War 2" disc case. Make special note that True Crimes is not, in fact, Gears of War 2.

And finally, exhibit C: Rather than a game manual, I instead find 50 Lottario entry forms.

If it pleases the court, I would like to present this case as the definition of "owned."

The word game

2008-11-25T06:31:00.000-08:00

Here's a fun game spawned from a conversation I had the other day. I love ragging on my dad about the way he mispronounces words, and we all know there's some common ones like

'erb vs H-erb

tomayto vs tomahto (but really, do you know anyone that pronounces it that second way?).

But then... there's some that fall into a grey area... So how do YOU pronounce the following?

PRAWcessor vs PRO-cessor

CON-tribute vs con-TRI-bute

DEE-fense vs de-fence

Care-a-mel vs Car-a-mel

anahl-a-jus vs anahl-a-gus

ban-ahl vs banAL

com-pair-able vs comp-or-able

and then of course...

ur-an-us vs Your-Anus.

Trivial? Yes. Waste of time? Yes. But that's what a blog is often for, right? (Or should that be, that's what a blog is Off-en for?)

Golf

2008-11-21T06:03:00.001-08:00

Man... this is possibly the worst designed golf trophy ever...

...or maybe the best.

Sense: This post makes none

2008-11-04T13:35:00.000-08:00

Well, I was about to write something about the pumpkin I made for halloween this year...

...but this image was just too good not to share instead. = D

On Good Friends and Good Food

2008-10-14T13:11:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess I held the event so I might as well write a few words about it.

First off, I won't recap how things went. There are plenty of blogs attached to this one that you can find that stuff out.

First thing's first, HUGE amount of thanks go out to Yukiko and Paul for their immense help. I suspect I may have reaped much more of the thanks than perhaps I myself deserve, but I assure you we all put in a huge amount of work (not to mention days and dollars) to make this something special, which I really thought it was. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't have fun for the 3 days we tackled this thing.

Second thing, thanks for everyone who showed up and pitched in, be it via food (I was blown away by everyone's ability to cook well!) or money. Obviously without attendees, this would've been a pretty lonely event. And not a SINGLE person complained about the food I assigned them. That was incredible.

So, with those two "administrative" points out of the way, I just wanted to say a little bit about why I did this. Since before I could remember, Thanksgiving has always been about family. My mom always did the whole turkey, potatoes (though strangely no stuffing), and pie thing. It got to the point where it was automatic. More importantly though, it was always a time to see everyone. But with expectation came an inevitable level of "taking it for granted."

In university I kind of discovered that Thanksgiving was NOT this huge thing for most people. In fact, I found it quite stunning to realize my family was probably in the minority. At first, being the ass I am, it offered me great opportunity to stick my tongue out at others and tell them "a bar? f- that, I'm having turkey and pie at home bitch!" But this year, with my parents gone, it gave me the opportunity to share something with everyone that was/is commonplace for me, but perhaps something unusual for them.

So why not?

So that was the reason I wanted to put this little shin-dig together. The only other thing I really want to say is that I know I looked stressed out during the planning period and even a bit during the party. God knows, there were a few times I thought about 30 people in my house and just wanted to cancel the whole thing. Furthermore, I appreciate everyone who told me to sit down, take a rest, etc, etc. I'm grateful for all the thanks I got from people constantly. I definitly thank everyone who asked how they could help out (and especially those who basically forced their way into the cleanup process). I know it seemed like I ignored your advice/questions a lot of the time. It was because, above all else, I wanted you all to be able to take the party for granted. I wanted everyone to enjoy Thanksgiving, without worrying about all the remedial little things, if only for one night. And I only ever saw smiles, so I think we did alright in that respect. If I wanted everyone to take away one thing from that party, it was this:

It wasn't about me, just like it wasn't about Paul or Yuk. The aim was to make it about everyone else. It was about extended family.

That is how you do Thanksgiving the right way. That is the right way to be thankful.

I hope that for the people whom Thanksgiving was just a "long weekend" before, that it's something a little more now.

- Matt

On childhood memories

2008-09-03T06:16:00.000-07:00

So who remembers this guy? Hands anyone? Everyone? Right, so the majority of you probably know Piccolo, the badass alien from the Dragonball saga. So, now do you recognize this guy?

What? No? CLEARLY it's the same guy right?

So when I heard there was a new film coming out in 2009 based on Dragonball, my first thought was FAIL. I mean, how would that even work? There were no living people that looked like any of these characters, and the Matrix Revolutions already gave me a sour taste for the kind of fighting we'd probably see from Hollywood's incarnation of Goku's adventure.

But then I heard that Stephen Chow was attached to it, and suddenly there was a glimmer of hope. I loved Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle, and his style of film making fit the notion of a living cartoon better than anyone I would've thought of. I was cautiously optimistic.

Until now.

For those of you that don't know, that's James Marsters underneath that horrible generic alien costume. Yes, the same James Marsters who was in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Now I've got nothing against the guy, but Piccolo he is not.

Oh right, and this guy is Goku.

I don't really need to say anything else here, do I?

Did I ever mention how much I love my job?

2008-08-28T13:38:00.001-07:00

I WANT ONE. But since I can't have one, I figured I'd do the next best thing and build one.

Two failed attempts later, I finally get something that looks... well, relatively accurate. As I work towards the inner layers, this thing is getting harder and harder to do right though...

While I was building this, it just occurred to me that the Tumbler really does look like a bat... well kind of... if you squint, you can kind of see one stretching on the floor.

On Giant Robots

2008-08-05T09:01:00.000-07:00

So about a year go I was working on this and then inexplicably lost the file. Well I found it again (albeit an older version) so i thought I'd share.

I built this after only about... 2 months experience using Maya. If that's not a testament to usability, I don't know what is.

The character is EVA-01 from the show Neon Genesis Evangelion. This is based on WETA's movie concept art.

One last thing on TDK

2008-07-23T09:44:00.001-07:00

I just happened across this while surfing the web. I had to put it up because, quite frankly, it was my favorite part of the movie.

*Spoiler warning* (sort of)

------------

Batman: You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain. I get to lose things. Because I'm not a hero. Not like Dent. I killed those people. That's what I can be.

Gordon: No, no, you can't! You're not --

Batman: I'm whatever Gotham needs me to be. Call it in.

Gordon: They'll hunt you.

Batman: You'll hunt me. You'll condemn me. Send the dogs on me. Because that's what needs to happen. Because sometimes, the truth isn't good enough. Sometimes people deserve more. Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded.

*Batman runs away*

Gordon's Kid: Batman! Batman! Why is he running, dad?

Gordon: Because we have to chase him.

Gordon's Kid: He didn't do anything wrong.

Gordon: Because he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him. Because he can take it. Because he's not a hero. He's a silent guardian.

A watchful protector.

A dark knight.

----------

Thank you, that is all.

What the people deserve. What the people need.

2008-07-19T11:46:00.001-07:00

A warning. If you have not seen the film, turn back now. I could give a quick review of the movie without delving into the depths of its devlish details (how's that for some alliteration?), but to do so would leave only an empty husk of what this film is. If you're going to comment on The Batman, you need those details. Those details are what make this something more than just "another" superhero movie.

So again, if you haven't seen the film, turn back now.

And even now, about 13 hours removed from the movie, I am still in silent awe of what I've beheld. As I sit here, listening to the soundtrack, still mulling detail upon detail in my head, I'd be quite challenged to stand up and give a lecture on the film. Why? Because I don't think I absorbed everything there was to absorb. Truly, like films like Shawshank Redemption and The Godfather, The Dark Knight has such a wealth of information to feed to you that at the end of the film you feel an odd sense of complete satisfaction (like a huge steak), yet also a yearning for more.

Let's look at just a few of those details.

The Joker: Any conversation on this film has to start with Heath Ledger's interpretation of the Joker. This is not the cackling persona many of you are probably familiar with from previous films and TV shows. This isn't even the Joker you know from the Batman Animated Series (a role which Mark Hamill filled admirably). This IS the dark comic Joker. This is Arkham Asylum Joker. A sick and twisted individual who's as frightening as any horror villain you can name. I was worried the first time he gave his speech about getting his scars. Just another villain with a sad backstory, I thought. But by the third time he explains it, each story sadistically different from the last, I understood. The Joker is horrifying in his sheer inhumanity. His stories do nothing more than humor us and our need to "explain" his sadism. He is a man unmotivated by greed, unmotivated by power. He is a man that exists wholly, and purely, as the antithesis (or is that companion?) to Batman. He is less a man than a symbol, and if Batman is meant to be incorruptible, surely the Joker here is "un-virtuable."

And that's really where I was happily surprised (though I shouldn't have been). Joker is more than just "some villain," something that even Ra's Al Ghoul felt like in the first movie. In the film he utters this to Batman: "You complete me." And as creepily funny as that moment was, that is what Joker is in the comics and in this film. His initial goal is to unmask Batman, but somewhere along the line he realizes he just wants to exist alongside him. Nolan got this so right, its unnerving. It helps that Heath Ledger does a fantastic job, complete with creepy lip licking and smacking and fantastic zombie-like shuffling. Did anyone else notice that his face-paint "melts" over time so that it almost seems like his entire face is melting? In a word, fantastic.

Harvey "Two-Face": Eckhart does a good job as Harvey Dent, though not as outstanding as Ledger's Joker. One thing I loved about this iteration though, was the story of Harvey's coin. The transformation of the coin from a 100% choice, to 50% chance is so parallel to his transformation and whoever's idea it was to introduce that as Harvey's "thing" even before his scarring (if memory serves, in the comics, the coin does not initially belong to him, nor does it appear until the moment he gets scarred) needs a medal.

The pace: You know, to be honest, I wasn't digging the pace early on. The bank robbery was cute but a bit unspectacular. Likewise the scene with the duplicate Bat"men" and the Scarecrow seemed like it was included for no other reason than to show Batman in action for those who may not have seen the first movie. However, the very moment that the Joker pulls off his "pencil" trick, I was captured and from there the rest was gold. Nolan carries an unbelievable level of tension that just does not let up over 2.5 hours. The movie feels like a thriller, without being a thriller. Even if some of the plot points are a little predictable (the clowns as the captives in the high-rise scene for example), Nolan manages to spruce it up with some very unexpected stuff (Batman taking on and almost incapacitating the soldiers). The way he paints Batman as the anti-hero (or perhaps pragmatist is more apt) really is something else.

The ending: As the movie came to a close, I almost found myself disappointed that it ends with nothing more than Batman tackling Harvey. Of course, now I know that moment was nothing more than a lead up for the Jim Gordon speech, which was a DOOZY and easily my favorite moment (even amongst car chases, fist fights, flying and fanatical murders). I was at odds a few times about what the film was REALLY about, but now I think I know. Sacrifice. Doing what needs to be done. The movie ends on such a low note, and yet I couldn't imagine a better ending. The duality of what the city needs, versus what it deserves. In the middle of the film, Bruce turns to Alfred and utters these prophetic words: "I now understand what I must become, to defeat men like him." And only in the end, as the "White Knight" Harvey Dent lies broken on the ground with a gun in his hand and blood on his hands, and Batman assumes the (unjust) responsibility for the man's sins, can the audience really understand what "The Dark Knight" means. He becomes the killer that is needed to defeat the Joker, but in name only. As a man he stays true to his principles. It's such a wonderfully poetic explanation, that I was left absolutely speechless at the end. This movie begs for a sequel, not because it will sell gangbusters (because it will) and not because the audience will yearn for more (because they will), but because it demands one.

This is a story that doesn't need to be finished, bit it is one that deserves to be finished.

Now everyone, go out and get a copy of Alan Moore's "The Watchmen," one of the densest, most satisfying pieces of fiction ever made.

On Dream Fights and Writing

2008-06-24T10:10:00.000-07:00

On Dream #2. Only bits and pieces today. I remember vividly sitting in an elementary school classroom talking to my friend... about his GUN. Except when he shows it to me, it's not a standard handgun. It's gigantic, like some sort of Fisherprice "My first gun." I open the barrel and out pops a round. The round is shaped like a bullet, but it's hollow and fragile, like an empty soup can. The end is frayed open, like an explosion popped out of it.

Somehow that leads to me in a subway with a group of people I don't know. I'm some sort of camp leader, and I know that we're involved in some sort of game. Except I'm not sure what that game is, but I know it's something sinister. We walk down the subway platform, which is inexplicably filled with shipping containers. On the far side another gang appears, men much bigger than me and mine. They come straight at us, evidently ready to fight. Looking into the cracks of one of the shipping containers, I pull out a foldup table and smack their leader in the face. He goes down and his gang runs. Meanwhile we get on the train, confident we're safe now.

Then I wake up.

On Writing. A question I get asked surprisingly often is, when I write fiction, do I already have everything planned out, or do I make it up as I go along? The answer really depends on whether you're talking about the overall plot, or a specific scene in the plot. I'll answer this in a two-parter (one today, one tomorrow).

On Writing Plots. Everything I write is always based on some sort of concept I'd want to see explored. This is hardly different, I suspect, from most writers. Almost 99% of the time I'll apply that concept to the real world, thinking "what if I could do this?" For example, the book I'm working on was based on the thought I had of "what if chaos followed me everywhere I went?" And the followup question "Could I still be some kind of hero even then?" I'm really drawn to hero pieces. I like to daydream about having some fantastic power and then becoming some kind of superhero. I used to daydream in high school about saving girls I liked from some terrible monsters. @_@

Anyway, nowadays I find I have an intense interest in meta-science. That is, science that doesn't really exist. For example, in the anime Full Metal Alchemist, Alchemy is a meta-science. It has rules (you can't get anything more out of an alchemic reaction than you put into it) and a society that applies those rules. Almost universally in all my stories, there will be some kind of world meta-science that different characters then learn how to use in unique ways. I find it's a fantastic way of tying everyone together, creating interest and suspense, and the key foundation to some satisfying conflict resolutions. No one likes the deus-ex-machina approach.

So then, as an overall concept, I tend to first think of a concept, put myself in a heroic role in it, and then build a foundation of meta-science around it.

Oh right, and then I change the main character's name... because let's face it, Matt Chan is just not a good hero name.

On Zones and Deadpan Comedians

2008-06-23T06:31:00.000-07:00

On the FriendZone. Okay, I gotta say that I just don't understand the concept of the friendzone. Actually, scratch that, I understand the concept, I just don't agree with it. My understanding is that people are absolutely dead-set against dating friends because on the chance that it doesn't work, the friendship is broken. I can understand that fear, I can even sympathize with it, but at the same time its such a pessimistic view.

Here's the part where I start uncomprehending. If the above is true, does that mean we're wholly expected to date people we don't know? Because that's where I have some serious issues. I can't fathom walking up to a girl I just met a half hour ago and asking her out on a date. Why? Because frankly, I'm just not interested. Yes, she might be hot, but let's face it, you can be hot and still be mind-numbingly dull or a flake, the list goes on. So I want to know her first, I want to know that something between us would even have a chance before going through all the turmoil. That makes sense, doesn' t it? But by the time you set that all up, she then considers you a friend and your right back at square one.

Let me put it another way. When you see a dying man on the street, do you wait for him to die and then brush off your hands and say "well, at least I didn't know him," or do you try and help the guy and give him the best chance to live BEFORE he dies? Of course you do the latter. When I go in for that sort of thing, I don't look at it like I want to cover my ass when the whole thing blows up. I want to give it the most chance to succeed, so I pick people who seem compatible. If it still blows up, yeah that sucks, but at least I knew it had a chance.

That's why I'll never understand the FriendZone. It's a policy built upon the assumption of failure.

On Deadpan Comedians. So I found I needed a lot of cheering up this weekend and something that always does the job is good standup comedy. I've always been one to say that comedians (well the good ones) have got to be some of the most intelligent people on the planet in order to cater to such a huge demographic successfully. I also have a huge amount of respect for anyone who dedicates themselves to putting smiles on the faces of others. They've always inspired me to do the same, albeit with uneven success.

So luckily, it just so happened that I caught a one hour Demetri Martin special on the Comedy Channel. You may know him as one of the correspondents on the Daily Show and and absolute genius (no really, he was in his final year of Law at Yale University before he quit to do comedy). He's an absolute genius of deadpan comedy, very similar to the late Mitch Hedberg (also hilarious) and his routine put a huge smile on my face when I really needed it. Here's just a smattering of some of his best one-liners.

I think they named oranges before they named carrots. "What's that?" "It's orange... oranges." "Okay, what about that?" .... "Oh sh*t... long pointies?"

How fast does a zebra need to run before it looks grey?

If you can't tell the difference between a spoon and a ladle... then you're fat!

Now I met many chocoholics, but I ain't never seen no chocohol! We got an epidemic people, people who love chocolate and don't understand the rules of word endings.

I went whale watching once, it was very similar, to watching people on a boat get disappointed!

I mobile home with a flat tire, is a home!

You ever think its funny how finger puppets is okay, as a noun?

Hiking is just walking where its okay to pee. Sometimes old people hike by mistake.

Hot potato is a very different game when you're starving. Then its more like my potato! Burn my fingertips but I don't give a damn, its free food.

If I ever saw an amputee being hanged, I'd just... yell out letters!

On Blogs and Dream Dinners

2008-06-23T05:52:00.000-07:00

On Blogging. Ok I told myself I'd never do this. I've never thought of myself as having the most entertaining thoughts, nor have I ever been the most generous with what good ones I have, but lately it seems like I've just had an overwhelming amount of stuff bouncing around in my head.. which quite frankly is impacting my productiveness. So there.

However, I tend to have a hard time writing without a theme. So I'm going to turn this into a dream log too, since I have the (apparently uncommon) ability to remember my previous night's dream in great detail every morning. I know some people feel weird about writing this stuff, but I figure I take no responsibility for my subconscious. So there.

On Dream # 1. I'm sitting in a giant construction bin, like one of those shipping containers except cut in half so that it almost seems like a giant roller-coaster cab. There's, I don't know, about 20 people sitting in it with me in four rows of chairs that face each other. The bin is hooked up to a cable above us, so I figure we're going for a gondola ride.

In the makeshift gondola I'm talking to a large black woman. I don't know her, not in real life anyway, but in the dream I know she's a teacher, maybe some kind of work colleague. There is no subject to our conversation, I'm only really aware that it's taking place but not of its contents. The gondola shakes and everyone files out, which is strange because it hasn't moved.

We head up the mountain on foot, except when we get to the top its now a plaza at night. All those "passengers" have vanished and now I'm standing with a girl I once knew back in High School. We walk along the strip of restaurants and I point to one and say "Does that one count?" I'm not sure what that means.

Then we're in the car. I'm not sure why we need to drive to a restaurant across the parking lot. Oh wait, we're not in the parking lot anymore. Now we're driving down my street, crossing the traffic lights. I tell her she missed the turn. She just says she'll turn at the next road. Of course, we pass it and she doesn't turn. I ask her if she's seeing anyone and she says no. Then she hugs me, except I'm in the back seat, which evidently means no one is driving the car.

Now we're in the restaurant. The tables are set up in two's, but for some reason we're not sitting at the same table. Instead, we're sitting at the same side of adjacent tables. I look across my table and at first it's empty. Then people start filing in and now I'm at a table of about 10-15 people. Some of them I know, some of them are people I haven't seen in ages, some of them are people I never even really knew or liked.

Then I wake up.