Thread by @thebencheah

If all you know about martial arts is from games, movies, anime, etc., you're definitely mistaken.

If you have direct experience of martial arts, fight scenes in pop culture become boring. If not downright frustrating.

Here's why.

/1

A brief intro:

I've studied Pekiti Tirsia Kali for 3.5 years and counting.

PTK is a Filipino martial art that encompasses swordplay, single and double stick, knives, empty hands, and spear work.

I'll be writing primarily through this frame of reference. /2

1. SPEED, EFFICIENCY, PERCEPTION

Games, movies, TV and anime are predominantly visual media.

Once fists start flying, the audience needs to see the action.

This is especially important in games, because it's the main reference the player uses to battle NPCs. /3

Visual media solves the problem of seeing the action through various tricks:

-Actors making big, wide movements
-Slow motion
-Close-ups on key blows
-Actors slowing down as they fight

The first trick is the most commonly-employed I've seen.

It's also the most frustrating. /4

Speed in martial arts comes from efficiency and distance.

Agility, coordination, entrained nerve pathways and raw strength all have their roles to play. But you can't assume that you can outspeed the other guy.

Thus, you need to manage distance and be efficient. /5

Take the shortest possible distance to targets.

Activate only the muscles you need. Relax those you don't.

Change the distance to the threat to change your timing, and the threat's, and to take yourself off the path of the threat's weapons.

These have one thing in common: /6

Done right, you can't see them.

Or rather, you only see their effects on target.

And weapons coming in at you at top speed.

This trains you to process data much faster, especially incoming threats, and react to threats more swiftly.

/7

To get an idea of how fast a trained martial artist can respond and move, just look at this:



/8

The audience needs to see the action.

But they're not likely to be trained martial artists, with an accelerated perception of time.

Many modern creators--especially those who are NOT martial artists--solve this by having the characters make big, visible actions. /9

In a passive medium (movies, anime, etc.), this makes fight scenes boring.

My mind is moving much faster than the action on the screen. That makes the fight scene practically sluggish to me.

In games, fight scenes become downright frustrating. /10

Gamers need to see characters move. Action animations in modern action RPGs tend to be wide and flashy and visible -- and slow.

It's no exaggeration to say that for every two blows many game characters throw, I can throw three or four.

This throws off my internal timing. /11

When I hit the attack button, in my mind the attack is complete.

But the animation is slooooooow.

I need to wait just for the avatar to catch up before he'll respond to another click.

Then another SLOOOOOOOOOOOOW follow-up.

Rinse, repeat. /12

In action RPGs, you're fighting with three timings:

1. Your character's animations.
2. The enemy's animations.
3. Your own timing.

When an enemy attacks me in a game, in my mind I've already processed and countered him. But the player character is SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW. /13

This disrupts my inner timing.

It reduces a visceral combat scene to , essentially, a game of clicking at just the right time.

When, in your mind, you have already defeated the threat, but your player character is so slow he gets slaughtered, it is extremely frustrating. /14

I have rage-quit games that have character animations so wide and slow you can take a micro-nap in between swings.

I'm supposed to be controlling an elite warrior, but I can fight better than him. Ridiculous. These days, I hardly touch ARPGs for this reason.

/15

2. POWER AND SPEED

Some games have a 'heavy attack' button.

You hit that button, and your character winds up for a huge shattering blow.

Looks powerful, right?

It's just ridiculous. /16

Here's a secret to blade-based martial arts.

All blows are power blows.

With a blade, you don't need a lot of force to cut someone. You just need to bring the blade on him while getting out of the way of his.

/17

Here's another secret:

Heavy attacks in real life are FAST.

PTK uses one-handed weapons. When throwing a power blow, you brace your master hand with your support hand and strike.

This makes you MUCH faster than before. /18

Force equals mass times acceleration.

To have more force, you need more mass, a longer period of acceleration, a higher starting speed, or a combination thereof.

Big wide movements don't increase any of that. They just open you to a counter. /19

Two-handed weapons in visual media are portrayed as powerful, but significantly slower than one-handed weapons.

They are powerful. But they aren't slow.

With both hands on the weapon, you are levering it with your entire body.

Done right, you will be FAST. /20

Long weapons do have more mass to move, which may make them slower.

But long weapons engage threats at a DISTANCE, which means you have slightly more time.

With proper body mechanics and range, the difference in speed becomes manageable, if not insignificant. /21

And I'm not even talking about moves that shorten your grip on your weapon, which improves speed.

Choking up your grip on a naginata.

Holding the middle of a long staff with both hands.

These and other moves changes the length of the weapon, and with it range and speed. /22

I'm writing this after training the spear earlier today.

My spear moves were as fast as my stick strikes. If not faster.

Only two-handed stick strikes were faster.

That's the frame of reference I have for combat.

Which is out of sync of all game and video characters. /23

With that said, there IS one case where the heavy attack trope actually applies to real life:

Attacks from the rear side.

An orthodox boxing stance places your left side forward, right side rear.

You jab with your weak hand, deliver power blows with your master hand. /24

This works because your master hand travels through more space, and thus accelerates further.

But boxing is not a weapon-based art.

Different body mechanics and power chains, different tactics and different tools. /25

Weapons are force multipliers.

With a weapon, you can inflict so much damage that the advantages of striking from the rear end is mostly nullified.

There is no advantage to making big, wide movements at all. /26

Even if we're talking empty hand arts, the difference in speed is very slight.

Try this:

Take up an orthodox boxing stance.

Jab with your weak side.

Now punch with your right.

What's the difference in speed? /27

It's measurable in milliseconds.

Not seconds. Not beats. Not even half-seconds (if you're fast enough).

Think heartbeats.

A 'heavy attack' really isn't that slow. /28

Once you know this, you see 'heavy attacks' for what they are:

Risk-reward management.

Heavy attacks are high risk, higher damage. Fast attacks are lower risk, lower damage.

Logical, right?

But not to me. /29

You don't want to trade blows with an enemy. In a weapons-based art, it means you die too.

You must minimise risk to yourself while maximising risk to him.

That means you act FAST, move FAST, strike FAST, follow up FAST.

/30

I use heavy attacks in ARPGs rarely, if at all. If I do, it's usually only when the enemy gives me a big opening. Any other situation will throw off my timing.

From my perspective, 'heavy attacks' are just pointless.

/31

This thread is getting real long, so here's a final (for now) point:

3. DISTANCE AND FOOTWORK

In visual media, you're likely to see characters making huge steps when moving.

Understandable, since the audience has to see the action.

But in games, it's frustrating. /32

If you dodge an attack, does it matter if you dodge it by an inch, a foot, a yard, or a mile?

Not really. The attack misses you anyway.

But!

The further you are from a target, the more distance you must travel to counterattack.

And the more time he has to recover. /33

Characters in visual media move a lot more than is necessary.

With limited animating resources, it's best to err on the side of caution, right?

But it throws off my timing, because the character is SLOOOOOOOOW, and wastes time remaneuvering. /34

As for long dodges like rolls and somersaults...

Let's just say that against huge sweeping attacks from big enemies, it's better to shuffle out of the way than make a roll you can't control.

Against a human-sized enemy, a regular shuffle will do.

Big movements = SLOW

/35

The whole point of this thread is to point out where designers and creators can address pain points.

Games, movies, anime, etc. are supposed to be entertaining.

But if the on-screen action doesn't jive with the consumer's timing and perception, it's frustrating. /36

Can creators improve?

Maybe. But we have to accept the limitations of the media as well. And that of an audience that isn't well-versed in MA.

But little things that taking out big actions and sharpening movements will go a long way. /37

It creates the sensation of speed, velocity, power.

It lines up with the perceptions of a trained audience.

And it eliminates the sense of mental drag. /38

I've got a lot more to say on this topic, but it's late and I've got many other things to do.

If y'all want me to talk more about the intersection of MA and media, let me know! /end