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[IbizaPocholo]

• Matt McMuscels introduces a new episode of his series, "The Worst Fighting Game," and explains his quest to find the worst fighting game ever made.
• The episode focuses on the game War Gods, a Mortal Kombat clone developed by Midway in 1996.
• George Petro, the co-lead developer of War Gods, explains how the team received a tape of Virtual Fighter from Japan and decided to switch from developing a multiplayer 3D tank game to creating a fighting game using 3D technology.
• The team had to learn about fighting game design and use the same 3D technology that powered Cruise in USA, leading to tension within the company as the Mortal Kombat team was busy developing MK3.
• The War Gods team had to solve many problems on the fly, as this was their first 3D game. They created the roster of gods by digitizing photos of costumed actors and motion-capturing them, but the process resulted in a stiff and awkward look.
• War Gods was delayed in getting to market, and by the time it was released, there was already better-looking competition available, such as Tekken 2.
• George Petro believes that if they could go back in time, they would have scrapped the mesh idea and redone everything with articulated skeletons, which was where the fighting world was headed.
• The episode aims to determine whether War Gods can dethrone the current champion of the worst fighting game ever made.

• The host has played many fighting games, including War gods, which is often considered one of the worst games in the genre.
• While controlling the characters in War gods doesn't feel great, it's not as bad as some other fighting games the host has played.
• War gods has a bad reputation, but the host thinks it might have been better received if it wasn't compared to the hugely successful Mortal Kombat franchise.
• Despite its flaws, the host believes War gods manages to avoid being one of the worst fighting games ever made.

The Development of War Gods: A Midway Fighting Game​

War Gods was a 1996 classic fighting game produced by Midway, known for its attempt to produce a sister series to Mortal Kombat. The game was Midway's first attempt at 3D fighting game design, and it was based on the same 3D technology that powered Cruise in USA.

The Development of War Gods​

The War Gods team was largely composed of either new staff or those who worked on other genres at Midway. The team had to switch over to 3D technology, and it took them quite a bit of time to become familiar with fighting game design. Meanwhile, the Mortal Kombat team was busy developing MK3 via the reliable digitization process, so they had no time for this polygon-based game. This divide instilled a bit of tension within the company as MK was one of Midway's biggest cash cows, and so for a bunch of outsiders who take a crack at another fighting game altogether was seen as a bit of a slight.

The only asset shared by both series were martial arts actors Brian Glenn and Carrie Hoskins who played Shao Khan and Sonia blade, respectively. They also pulled double duty as Warhead and Vala.

Motion Capture​

The process used to create the roster of gods wasn't typical human characters were costumed and then digitized. A 3D version was built and mapped with the digitized photos, and each character was motion-captured. This was a first for Midway at the time, and the animations were exported as a series of meshes. The game program could interpolate between the meshes so storage requirements were lowered. This was quite a bit of work, having to dress up actors in costumes, photographing them from every angle, and do motion capture. Unfortunately, this process wasn't exactly a refined method as it resulted in a stiff, awkward look that many have pointed out as one of the game's shortcomings.

The Reception of War Gods​

One of the other shortcomings of the game was its delay in getting to market. Once it finally did release in late 1996, the arcade scene was already flooded with tons of better-looking competition, which George Petro felt hurt War God's chances to make an impact. There are always a lot of factors that play into how a game is received. Of course, the fact that it was a fighting game coming from Midway and not named MK was disappointing to the market. It was actually Tekken 2 that caused most of the problems. It came out before War Gods, and that game was so cool, and War Gods was just not that cool. If they could rewind the clock, they should have scrapped the mesh idea and redone everything with articulated skeletons. That's where the fighting world was headed, and they were behind the times.

Conclusion​

War Gods might not have achieved the same level of success as Mortal Kombat or other fighting games of the time, but it still holds a place in the hearts of fans. The development of the game was full of challenges, and the team had to go through a lot of problem-solving to create the game. While it might not have lived up to expectations in terms of graphics and gameplay, it still holds a place in gaming history as one of the early pioneers of 3D fighting games.

 

[drotahorror]

Interesting.

 

[Raven77]

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Well...I used to love this game. Guess I'm a complete idiot.