Fight School Simulator
Preview
Let's get ready to rumble
by Howie Howard
previewed on PC
Let's get ready to rumble!
Well, maybe not rumble but we certainly will be doing some building and a lot of fighting. Fight School Simulator is the new early access game from indie game house Queen Developers. The game is an action, RPG and simulation PC game with the main focus of building a martial arts Dojo and school and then set out to train students so they can become martial arts master fighters.
The preview version of the game we tested provides a good idea of what can be expect in the future full release. In the beginning players start out in what appears to be an oriental or Japanese-like town. The setting seems to be in the distant past due to the sailing ship docked at the port. You start with nothing other than a note from your uncle telling you he wants you to accomplish your dream of becoming a martial arts Dojo owner and a master Kung-Fu fighter. Your uncle kindly bequeaths to you his entire net worth of 500 credits and you are then ready to set out on your quest.
A building we will go...
Building the Dojo really isn't difficult because goals pop up on screen telling you to first find a shop to rent in order to house the business. After wandering around the village you will see a for rent sign and clicking on it causes a screen to pop up where the name of the Dojo can be entered along with the option to change colors and add a logo picture. This name and logo are then displayed on the front of your building and the logo shows up on the map. After doing that you are then instructed to clean the premises by sweeping up dirt, removing papers from the windows and placing the accumulated trash bags on a cart across the street. Starting is as simple as that.
Eventually a message to purchase six training devices pops up and allows players to place them in the Dojo and then to sign up their first students. The students pay a fee each day and the fee amount is based on their level. The gym gets ten credits per day for a junior trainee, fifteen for a mid-level and twenty five for a senior level student. Each student has a name, age and learning level listed at the time of admittance and you can accept or reject them as you see fit. The listed level at sign up seems to be the designation of what their potential to learn is with seniors seemingly gaining fighting proficiency faster than mid level and junior trainees. So, you have the option to keep or reject the students that will be trained. However, senior potential students seem to be rarer, and I chose to allow all levels to join in the name of earning money quicker.
Always keep your trainees motivated and happy.
There are other requirements that come along and a few of them are to buy and put up posters on the walls in order to motivate the students. Also advertisement fliers need to be sent out which will prompt villagers to join your Dojo. Every training machine addition to the gym costs money and it comes with a maintenance fee. You can hire students as grasshoppers and they will help with cleaning up the dirt students bring in, but you are responsible for making equipment repairs. It is important to keep the students happy and motivated because they will quit to join a competing Dojo if unhappy. Since each Dojo in the village teaches it's own specific fighting style you won't want students to leave because they will take your training style with them to their new Dojo and it will be used against your school in tournaments!
There are some very nice touches in the way students look. The students belt and outfit color changes as they gain fighting levels. You can look at an individuals profile and see their proficiency on the different training devices in your Dojo. The profile also shows whether they are developing as a kick expert, balanced fighter or a punch pro. Plus, you can tell what their fighting rank is simply by observing their belt and outfit color. A beginning level 0 to 5 will wear a red belt and white outfit. Purple belt and yellow outfit for level 6 to 10. White belt, blue outfit for level 11 to 15, blue, red for level 16 to 20 and black belt, black outfit for level 21 and above. With that said, it is nice to see your students walking around town wearing their distinctive color scheme and each Dojo in town has different colors. When you see them in town you can instruct them to follow you or to help fight when needed.
This Dojo needs some improvements
Whilst the game as a whole looks great, the mouse and keyboard controls are rather clunky. Since this is still in Early access. I'd be confident that the controls will be improved upon. Another negative is moving around the village. There is a map that is available, but scrolling the map is awkward in that you have to click an arrow located on the sides of the map with the mouse. Scrolling with the mouse would be much better. Plus, the map only allows you to quick return to you house to sleep, so there will be a lot of walking around. I would like to see quick travel added for all discovered locations like the Master and frequently traveled to places such as your Dojo and the merchant.
Whilst the game is playable and reasonably fun, there are a few other aspects of the game that could be improved. The character is moved around by using the W,A,S,D keys. In order to accomplish interactive actions like talking to NPCs it is necessary to point at them with the mouse and then hit the E key. It would be better if it was all point and click. Opening doors also requires the mouse point and E key combination.
Maintain and clean, repair and teach
The Dojo needs to be maintained by repairing the training equipment and sweeping up dirt and those actions are found by pushing the Tab key and then clicking the mouse on the choice from a menu. These activities can also be activated by hitting B to build, C to clean, F to fight and R to repair. Players need to push Tab and then point at moves to activate it and see your different learned fighting moves. This is clunky and it needs to be improved, but it is still functional as is. Since there is already mouse point and click present in the game, I'm hoping that the finished version will be all point and click.
There is a lot to this game and I liked the way the main character needs to interact with his Master in order to learn new moves that are used to increase his fighting ability. Your fighting move knowledge helps when you are fighting and it helps when teaching the students. If you haven't learned the move then neither will the trainees. The Master requires a small fee and completion of a task and test. A couple of the beginning tasks were to recover some items and cut up some bamboo with a katana sword for the Master's pagoda. These weren't too difficult and the accompanying test wasn't hard either. When I encountered the flying kick move test, which is described as being “the determination technique” and it is “based on making the right decision at the right time,” I just could not figure out how to do the test. Not being able to complete this letter alignment sequence essentially ended my ability to learn that technique. With that said, I think a help option should be incorporated in to the game.
A good looking Dojo
For a PC game that has been in early access for only about a month or so, Fight School Simulator is looking very good and it is a lot of fun to play. The sounds are nice and after signing up a new student they give a little grunt or make a noise of acknowledgment and then bow. Add in a lot of things to do and a whole lot more content to be added in the future and this fighting game looks like it could be a hit for those interested in building and fighting simulations. I enjoyed my time with Fight School Simulator and am looking forward to seeing the full release version.
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