Fightin' Foenatics: Skullgirls Chapter (TFH Pre-Alpha Crew)

[Songhacker]

EDIT: We have a Twitch account now! Check out the Fightin' Fœnatics at www.twitch.tv/fightinfoenatic; you'll see us streaming training sessions and (once we get people ready for them) our casual tourneys on Fridays at 8 PM US EST!

Welcome to the thread for the Skullgirls chapter of a Them's Fightin' Herds crew I'm trying to start up, the "Fightin' Fœnatics."
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THE GOAL

I'm looking to get TFH fans together preemptively, supporting the game's eventual release while welcoming all fans, even those new to fighting games entirely. It's going to take Mane6 some time to really get everything packaged up enough for us to test as a beta (especially since they haven't even finished four of the six characters yet), so in the interim I'm suggesting all of us start sharpening our proverbial axes on what I think is one of the most beginner-friendly, yet still fully-featured and combo-extensive, fighting games out there. Skullgirls features truly diverse characters, one of the most impressive and feature-laden training modes ever, an extensive game mechanics tutorial, GGPO's fantastic netcode for smooth online play,


THE METHODS

This group is committed to encouraging players to converse with each other and to getting some matches going, such that we can gauge skill levels and see who needs to talk to who. To start, I'll be maintaining an Excel sheet (or something similar) of players with their skill levels, region, and W-L ratio, recommending matches within the group with a focus on gearing players up to more difficult opponents over time. This type of matchmaking exists for a lot of online leaderboards, but they'll still occasionally have your face get stomped by somebody that's miles ahead of you. We don't want you to get stomped unless you want to (or if you REALLY start talkin' a lotta' smack), so the goal is to avoid those demotivating scenarios unless requested. Players are going to be on the honor system for reporting match results, and if significant disputes arise for a particular match, we'll probably be forced to strike the results for the record. End up in multiple disputes with different people and it'll be safe to assume you're probably the faulty function, so you'll be removed from our equation.

Training is really important too, and using all the patience I've gathered from countless casualty drill sets/difficult maintenance items/hours on watch in an active reactor plant, I'll start by offering my own time (what's available of it) to train those below my skill level, no matter how much of a beginner they might be. Once more players join we'll have hopefully have a base of people willing to train others, so we'll use a similar Excel-based system to pair people up, schedules permitting. Keep in mind that if you don't at least work with me or any other assigned trainers when suggestions/instructions are given, you won't improve. That's just how it is..."practice makes perfect," and if you really take that saying motto to heart, you'll see the truth of it in the long run. At the end of training we'll gather both brief trainer/trainee training reports and store them for future reference; this will additionally act as a report mechanism for unruly individuals, and again, if the same person keeps ending up involved in issues, then they'll be removed. It's pretty simple.

Additionally, every Friday night at 8PM US EST, I'm looking to get as many members together as possible to test their skills in a casual tournament (titled "Friday Night Fœnatics"), with the format to be determined based on participants (Swiss, double elimination, single elimination). It's going to be restricted to PS4 players for now, though I'll figure out a Steam option very soon, and possibly switch the main (mane) event over from PS4 should that really be the dominant sector of interest. I personally have access to all versions of Skullgirls, but the PS4 release is currently the most fully-featured and supports a superior frame rate to the PS3 version (and is likely to become the tournament standard if it's not already...Sony's been making big moves on the FGC), thus the selection.

THE NAME

It's pretty simple. The Mane6 stream chats came to the conclusion awhile back that we should be called "Fœnatics" if we were to assign ourselves a fandom title (they're just so fun, those little titles), and since the group's biggest goal is to improve our actual fighting game abilities, adding the keyword of the genre to the group's name seemed a must. Therefore, "Fightin' Fœnatics."

THE œ

Hold the "Alt" key and enter "0156" on the number pad. In case you didn't feel like looking it up (I had to).

THE ME

I'm a long-time 2D fighter enthusiast, and I've been a fan ever since the magic day my mutant-loving ass stumbled across X-Men: Children of the Atom (the very first game in the VS series!) in an arcade at the tender age of 12...since then it's been a slow but steady build into a life-long love, encompassing all the works of such greats as Capcom, SNK, ArcSystemWorks, and now even these wonderful indie devs like Lab Zero and Mane6. If you consider Smash a fighting game, then I even owe my Naval tour to fighters (since I sorta' let "competitive" Brawl wreck my attempt at college). So yeah, I also spent six years as a US Navy nuclear ET, nearly four of those aboard an active Virginia-class submarine, and now that I'm out I've got a number of new opportunities sitting in front of me for my next job, but even with this transitional phase going on I'm doing my best to improve in my game of choice (Skullgirls for now).

My time in the service has taught me a lot about how much someone who's hardly the best at something can still strive to help get it accomplished, or (more importantly) excel at managing the team effort from a leadership standpoint. This is very applicable as I'm hardly a tourney vet and I need a lot more practice to get my own execution down, but I'm more than familiar with the jargon and can still execute close to half-health combos in Skullgirls despite that. I think this qualifies me to at least help get this aspect of the community going (since Mane6 are going to be busy for a bit), though I'm more than comfortable handing the reins to more appropriate individuals as they appear.

Also, if whatever my next job ends up being permits, you'll be seeing me at NEC 16 this year competing in the Skullgirls tournament. If it doesn't...well, at least I'm still supporting by having registered for it.

THE COMMUNITY

Well, I only just started this idea, so there isn't really a community 'cause ain't none of you joined yet! What I'm looking for from our player base, however, is a group of people actually committed to improving themselves as well as each other. There's plenty of groups and crews and resources for people to join and read and what have you, but even then new players may not know who to talk to or where to start, or may even be too shy.

Make no mistake, the FGC can be a rowdy place sometimes, so often times new players are intimidated by the attitudes or language of tourney-goers/online warriors. I'm looking for a combination of approaches here: with the influx of potentially clueless players this game is bound to provide, this group would seek to be a nurturing resource for those who wish to improve while also attempting to maintain the salty soul that has seen fighting games get more and more mainstream (we ain't MOBAs by any means...but screw MOBAs :-p). Basically, we're going to try somethin' difficult by catering to the brony "ideologies" (I put that in quotes because I've far too often seen them not be applied, both online and IRL) of friendship and fun while also catering to the we're-here-to-win FGC mentality. We'll go with "casual-competitive" as a designator, but as long as we're still enjoying the pursuit of victory, that's all that really matters. If you don't enjoy improving then...well, you're probably in the wrong group.

For the fighter gamers who don't really identify with the other communities supporting this game, all we're really looking for are people willing to give and show respect, encouraging the beginners while simultaneously challenging them and showcasing just what all that practice can do. Most of you will end up paired with each other, but anyone willing to exhibit some patience is more than welcome to throw in for training slots. It's important to note that teaching the details helps reinforce those details in your own mind, and can help make you a better player even when you're not actually the one playing.

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MORE THAN ANYTHING, I would love for fans of Them's Fightin' Herds and members of this group to promote a sense of belonging to everyone who honest-to-God tries to improve, and I mean that. In particular, I want to call out how male-dominated the world of 2D fighters are. While this is historically due to the niche interest, times are a' changin' and we're looking to accomodate players who aren't just the same type of dudes as always. Competitive video gaming is becoming more and more popular, and unlike conventional/physical competitions, size/strength disadvantages are meaningless. Here it's all about basic hand-eye coordination and how fast you can think on the fly, much of which can be improved with practice (though natural talent will also always exist for the lucky few).

THE CONTACT INFO

If all this sounds interesting to you, and you agree with the methods to my attempt at managing and evolving this group, please follow on Twitter @FightinFoenatic. Additionally, you can email fightingfoenatics@gmail.com, request to join the PS4 community ("Fightin' Fœnatics - Skullgirls Chapter"), or contact me via Steam (Superhacker75mil) or Skype (SonghackerMMX).

If you don't think you'd be committed enough to fight/train regularly, you should still hit up the group to support and improve upon the idea, and who knows, maybe we can find a place for you yet.
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The real stampede may be a ways off, but that doesn't mean we can't herd up the rest of you rarin' for a fight. Let's get to scrappin'!

 

[Stridershy]

I'm all for this. I've been following these guys for years and to finally see this game come to life after everything that's happened is simply amazing.

 

[Some Person]

Hello there! It's nice to see someone else out there wanting to bring up competitive scenes for TFH, and I'm totally down for helping when TFH becomes a reality.

However, I would suggest against having there be Skullgirls tournaments as the way to get people prepared. Mostly since SG and TFH will be radically different games when the time comes for it. Skullgirls has team size and variation, assists, alpha counters, DHCs, burst baits, and undizzy, just to name a few things. TFH doesn't have any of these things. If people who were completely new to fighting games picked up Skullgirls and expected every fighting game to act just like it, then things could end badly for them. If nothing else, it wouldn't hurt to get a group together right now so people are ready when TFH becomes available.

There's currently a Discord group with people all invested in TFH, and it would be a great place to at least talk about this idea with them to see what can be done. Also, there are plans on a fansite (I think it'll be similar to this site, even) which would make all the arrangements much easier to pull off for locals and tournaments.

I'm not saying don't do this idea, cause I mean, if people go for it and wanna do it, then why not. However, I'd suggest waiting until TFH comes out since that's the game people are really looking forward to out of this whole concept. Also would suggest against PS4 since a vast majority of the community uses PC as it is.

Best of luck in your endeavors!

 

[Songhacker]

Hello there! It's nice to see someone else out there wanting to bring up competitive scenes for TFH, and I'm totally down for helping when TFH becomes a reality.

However, I would suggest against having there be Skullgirls tournaments as the way to get people prepared. Mostly since SG and TFH will be radically different games when the time comes for it. Skullgirls has team size and variation, assists, alpha counters, DHCs, burst baits, and undizzy, just to name a few things. TFH doesn't have any of these things. If people who were completely new to fighting games picked up Skullgirls and expected every fighting game to act just like it, then things could end badly for them. If nothing else, it wouldn't hurt to get a group together right now so people are ready when TFH becomes available.

There's currently a Discord group with people all invested in TFH, and it would be a great place to at least talk about this idea with them to see what can be done. Also, there are plans on a fansite (I think it'll be similar to this site, even) which would make all the arrangements much easier to pull off for locals and tournaments.

I'm not saying don't do this idea, cause I mean, if people go for it and wanna do it, then why not. However, I'd suggest waiting until TFH comes out since that's the game people are really looking forward to out of this whole concept. Also would suggest against PS4 since a vast majority of the community uses PC as it is.

Best of luck in your endeavors!

I really wish that my earlier edit discussing this had come through last night, because I covered the concern in detail. Believe me, I know TFH is a completely different game; sharing the same engine does not make them the same game in the slighest (though they'll have the same training mode options, or should, which is awesome). I'm aware that it might even be a better choice to rally people around BlazBlue, since the 3-button + drive system is much much more in alignment with the TFH style.

That said, I don't think I'd be wrong by saying there's the greatest overlap between FGC fans/players and TFH fans in the Skullgirls community, and with easy input windows, gorgeous character animation, and excellent training tools, it's definitely the fighter I think we can use to get all the beginners ready once the actual beta for TFH comes around (plus the true anime fighters can be even more alienating to non-fighter gamers than the rest of the pack). All fighters share the same basic concepts...neutral game, hitstun, wakeup, mixups...and it's much more important to get people started learning all those then to sit around and discuss what might be while Mane6 scrambles to get a beta together.

I definitely appreciate the feedback, though. Believe me when I say I was expecting some comments along these lines. Keep in mind that the actual tournaments themselves are less of what I want to do with this community when compared to the training environment I'd like to foster.

 

[Muro]

Many good initiatives don't work out due to "too little too late". Here it somewhat feels like a rare opposite situation of "too much too soon". :)

What I can say today is that I definitely plan to attempt picking up TFH competitively. Will it grabs my attention on the gameplay level as much as Skullgirls did? I probably won't know for sure until I actually get my hands on it (=when it's released in 2017, as I unfortunately won't be among betaboys).

If it does, I might be interested in helping organise online events and help with building and maintaining the competitive community, but that depends on a number of factors that might change a lot within 1,5 years (Will Skullbats EU still be a thing? Will I still be the one organising it? Will my schedule allow it? Won't I "burn out" on doing this sort of thing by then? etc).

It's a good idea to keep the followers of TFH together, though that will sort of be taken care of by the backer forums once they launch soon. I for one intend to hang around it and keep an eye on the development news we'll be getting with time. Whether or not the Fightin' Foenatics initiative picks up specifically now, the time just before the beta launches (late 2016?) will be a good time to remind people about it and start gathering players hungry for some fisticuffs. Er, hooficuffs?

 

[Some Person]

If it does, I might be interested in helping organise online events and help with building and maintaining the competitive community

Yo, the more scenes there are around the world, the better.

Also, there's currently a Discord group focused on the people who wanna get into TFH, so I can toss an invite to people who are interested

 

[Songhacker]

Many good initiatives don't work out due to "too little too late". Here it somewhat feels like a rare opposite situation of "too much too soon". :)

What I can say today is that I definitely plan to attempt picking up TFH competitively. Will it grabs my attention on the gameplay level as much as Skullgirls did? I probably won't know for sure until I actually get my hands on it (=when it's released in 2017, as I unfortunately won't be among betaboys).

If it does, I might be interested in helping organise online events and help with building and maintaining the competitive community, but that depends on a number of factors that might change a lot within 1,5 years (Will Skullbats EU still be a thing? Will I still be the one organising it? Will my schedule allow it? Won't I "burn out" on doing this sort of thing by then? etc).

It's a good idea to keep the followers of TFH together, though that will sort of be taken care of by the backer forums once they launch soon. I for one intend to hang around it and keep an eye on the development news we'll be getting with time. Whether or not the Fightin' Foenatics initiative picks up specifically now, the time just before the beta launches (late 2016?) will be a good time to remind people about it and start gathering players hungry for some fisticuffs. Er, hooficuffs?

Yo, the more scenes there are around the world, the better.

Also, there's currently a Discord group focused on the people who wanna get into TFH, so I can toss an invite to people who are interested

Thanks for the interest and support. I didn't actually know where the "Discord" group was that you mentioned (whether it was a fansite or something) and haven't sought it out yet, so that's why I haven't put any word out myself there. Your help is much appreciated.

It may seem like too much too soon, but there really are SO many fans of this game that have openly expressed zero knowledge of fighters. So long as they have a willingness to start learning, we can get them on the right track so that when the game they're really chomping at the bit for finally releases a beta, they can jump on in, hoofs a flyin'. My biggest concern is that many of the backers may simply lose interest because they just don't think they can actually hang against good players; if we can nip that in the bud early, then I consider one of the biggest goals accomplished.

If you folks are interested in spreading the word, please let people know that the first of the Fightin' Fœnatics Twitch streams will happen tonight, 8PM US EST. We'll be focusing on group structure and initial training, and I intend to be showcasing training sessions on the stream itself. Let them know to contact "Songhacker" on Skype so that they can get added to the Skype chat, where the most up-to-date information will shared.

 

[KiokuChan]

Hi! I saw you at the last TFH stream. I'd be interested. Also I'd be complete beginner tier. I just bought Skull Girls now. I probably need to buy a controller that I can use on my PC soon too..

 

[Muro]

I probably need to buy a controller that I can use on my PC soon too..

I know some high level competitive Skullgirls players who use the keyboard as their controller of choice.
By mentioning this I want to say that sure, you can buy a controller for fighting games, but you don't need to.

 

[KiokuChan]

I know some high level competitive Skullgirls players who use the keyboard as their controller of choice.
By mentioning this I want to say that sure, you can buy a controller for fighting games, but you don't need to.

Alright thanks. I've been using keyboard so far. I'm getting used to special motions with it. That said I have already found some things that it seems like it won't do (like forward jump + a certain attack consistantly worked while facing one direction but not another). I saw that this has to do with how keys are wired together. Still for the most part it works reasonably well for now.. at least for getting through story and stuff. I've done story for 3 characters on normal (Filia, Peacock, and Painwheel). I didn't finish all tutorials. Certain things I may want to try once I have a controller. I was in the middle of the air combos one I think.

Now I finished Parasoul on normal too.. man I keep liking all the characters, even ones i don't necessarily expect to. Mainly I didn't think Parasoul or Valentine would be characters I could come to appreciate (as characters not necessarily in terms of fighting style.) Parasould easily proved me wrong, and someone's analysis of Valentine as a character did the same. It seems like everyone may end up pretty likable, but we'll see. ^_^

 

[Songhacker]

Alright thanks. I've been using keyboard so far. I'm getting used to special motions with it. That said I have already found some things that it seems like it won't do (like forward jump + a certain attack consistantly worked while facing one direction but not another). I saw that this has to do with how keys are wired together. Still for the most part it works reasonably well for now.. at least for getting through story and stuff. I've done story for 3 characters on normal (Filia, Peacock, and Painwheel). I didn't finish all tutorials. Certain things I may want to try once I have a controller. I was in the middle of the air combos one I think.

Now I finished Parasoul on normal too.. man I keep liking all the characters, even ones i don't necessarily expect to. Mainly I didn't think Parasoul or Valentine would be characters I could come to appreciate (as characters not necessarily in terms of fighting style.) Parasould easily proved me wrong, and someone's analysis of Valentine as a character did the same. It seems like everyone may end up pretty likable, but we'll see. ^_^

I was just playing someone the other day who surprised me with his keyboard play. It's definitely doable but not exactly recommended. Also, the in-game personality of all the characters is pretty top-notch, so overtime you'll probably find yourself liking everyone. I'm usually the least fond of Filia, since her design feels pretty uninspired, but her movement and animations are just as cool as anyone else. Other characters, like Beowulf, both standard/Robo Fortunes, Peacock, Big Band, and Squigly (pretty much the whole rest of the cast) just spew personality everywhere, so they're so much more enjoyable.

AS FOR TODAY, AIN'T NO STREAM. I spent this week in the midwest, driving and flying around out there to assist family and look into my next job opportunity (looking very promising and the offer's on the table, just no financial deets yet)...but now I'd rather chillax.

As a result, I didn't feel like trying to manage a stream (either yesterday or today), but I would still like to train with peeps should your Halloween plans support it (i.e. you don't really have any, like me...it's the one yearly event I never really do anything for 'cause I've got shit for creativity).

Hit up the Skype chat or the Discord server if you want in.

 

[KiokuChan]

I was just playing someone the other day who surprised me with his keyboard play. It's definitely doable but not exactly recommended. Also, the in-game personality of all the characters is pretty top-notch, so overtime you'll probably find yourself liking everyone. I'm usually the least fond of Filia, since her design feels pretty uninspired, but her movement and animations are just as cool as anyone else. Other characters, like Beowulf, both standard/Robo Fortunes, Peacock, Big Band, and Squigly (pretty much the whole rest of the cast) just spew personality everywhere, so they're so much more enjoyable.

AS FOR TODAY, AIN'T NO STREAM. I spent this week in the midwest, driving and flying around out there to assist family and look into my next job opportunity (looking very promising and the offer's on the table, just no financial deets yet)...but now I'd rather chillax.

As a result, I didn't feel like trying to manage a stream (either yesterday or today), but I would still like to train with peeps should your Halloween plans support it (i.e. you don't really have any, like me...it's the one yearly event I never really do anything for 'cause I've got shit for creativity).

Hit up the Skype chat or the Discord server if you want in.

I still thought Filia was cool because it was based off of a Japanese youkai myth I haven't seen interpreted into a game character yet. I actually am not on the Skype chat or the Discord server currently. I'll have to figure that out.