The Battle of Ze 择
A downloadable game
Ze is heavily inspired by popular fighting game titles such as Street Fighter, The King of Fighters, and Super Smash Bros. The game breaks down, incorporates, and simplifies core fighting game concepts like Combo, Counter, and Punish.
Although just got into fighting games in the recent few years, I was deeply impressed by its history, complexity, and welcoming community. To introduce this genre to more players who are hesitant to try it out, I decided to design this card game that captures the essence of fighting games.
Why Ze?
The name Ze (择), in Chinese, means “choice”, while also being a term in the Chinese fighting game community for “forcing your opponent to choose”. When expressed in a card game form, this idea strongly emphasizes how every move players make in fighting games can be countered by others, which creates the cycles of reward and punishment.
For how to play, please refer to the downloadable rule book below, as well as all the cards you will need to play this game.
Download
Install instructions
To play, you may print out the cards in the zip folder below and cut them out.
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Hi, the files are too heavy for me. Can you compress them please?
Hi thanks for checking out my game! Just want to make sure which file is too heavy for you? The rule book or the cards?
The rules I think. 282 Mo is a lot, it makes reading so difficult with a slow reader like mine. I can find a workaround, but I thought I’d let you know. It happens when you import full quality images directly in the layout. It’s good to have a high quality version but (online, free) pdf shrinkers can make a more accessible lighter version.
Thanks for letting me know! I just uploaded the compressed version, let me know if it looks ok.
You rock! t’s still a bit wonky in that the pdf doesn’t have pages, it’s like a long scroll I have to zoom in a lot to read. I can actually read it, so I’d say it works.
Yeah sorry about that lol at least it's more accessible now. Again thanks for bringing it up I appreciate it!
I like what I read a lot. Is there a way to not crowd the comments with my feedback? And also, what type of feedback would you like?
What I’m liking so far: it feels like a real combat sport match. The rules are not overwhelming, colors and information order help getting into the complexity, promising deep but “intuitive” tactical mind games.
Don't worry I don't mind it, after all that's what the comment section is for! Unfortunately, since this is one of my older projects, I'm not actively looking for feedback now but feel free to discuss the game!
One thing in the back of my mind though was that I wish I had more time to playtest the game on a more competitive level to utilize mechanics like Parry.
Also, it's been about 2 years since I made this game, and now I have a deeper understanding of fighting game concepts. There might be something I want to change about the game if I ever want to give it a rework.
I’ll print and propose to play the game. I even thought of some cards I want to make, like, diversify grabs. I’ve been looking for this game for a couple of years actually!
The game may be a thing of the past for you, but I think you captured a feel of combat that is right, and made it into a form many people can engage with. That’s a lot!
A few regrets: the jab is drawn as a hook, Recoil is not so clear until you read the play reference, and halving and rounding numbers makes it harder for children who could otherwise totally play the game.
That doesn’t mean you should rework it. But I’ll be glad to see how you would make a new game on a similar topic now that you’ve evolved.
Thanks again for your thoughtful comments! Glad you picked up my game and feel free to come up with new rules and cards as you like.
I'm still trying to become a better game designer and will definitely be down to make something similar again in the future!