allshort17
Smash Ace
Link to original post: [drupal=5345]Smash revival part 17: Movement based reading (Buy Blink)[/drupal]
Hey. I'm back from a long break. I could tell you my excuses on why I couldn't be on every week, but I realized something in my break, I don't want to make this blog every week. So, I won't. This doesn't mean I'm stopping. It only means that there is no set day anymore that I will make a blog. Also, I don't want to post this on nintendoworlds.com anymore, only on Aib and Smashboards. I don't feel like I'm getting enough care there since the two blogs I have there have an average of 36 views even though they've been on there for at least month. However, I do not discourage going there. It's where I got my start on the idea of competitive smash and I would love to see growth there. Next, I will not be telling you want blog I will do next anymore. I'm just going to do the blog I feel like doing. Lastly, I will not go get any people to help me do this blog. If you want to help I will never turn you down. However, don't expect me to ask anyone to do an interview anymore. It will only happen if someone comes to me.
Now that I've got that out of the way, we can get to the topic on-hand which I feel is a great one. But, be warned, this is an advanced concept (not an AT though.) If you are newer to the game please do not try to think about this too much because for this to work, you must have a good amount of experience. The basis of the idea, though, comes from a book named Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. It's about why and how we make split second decisions, which is literally all we do playing smash. Blink absolutely amazing and I suggest it to anyone who wants to play competitive smash, new or veteran.
After getting past a little more than halfway in the book, I realized I need to make my reading quicker if I wanted it to be more effective. So, I watch a few replays on my Wii and only analyzed the first 5 seconds of the match. Surprisingly, what happened in that 5 seconds showed a pattern that carried on through the match. But, I noticed another pattern. They usually made the same movements in the same situations. So, I broke the movements down into 4 main characteristics that I like to call movement based reading.
*Any movement forward means you are on the offensive- If you do something that moves you forward, you want to get a hit. Things like walking, running, and jumping forward are obvious. But, if Ike, for example, used Quick Draw (his Sideb) and moved forward, that is an aggressive action. Also, things that are usually seen as defensive, such as rolling, if done forward are actually done with offensive intent.
*Any movement backward means you are on the defensive- If you purposefully move backwards, your mindset is now to protect yourself. Again, walking, running, and jumping are obvious. However, things like rolling are more common here. If you attack while moving backwards, the intent of that attack was not to get a hit, but to protect yourself (there is a big difference in that.)
The next two need a little context. They are about how fast you move. The speed at which you move is relative to the character. Even though all of Ganondorf's movements may seem so to a Sonic player, to the Ganondorf player Ganondorf's running is faster than his walking. So, running is fast to him or her. Jumping is weird. Since it is a (kinda) constant speed horizontally, it's based on how far you go. For example, I know Dedede's short hop can go from one end of a battlefield platform to the other. So, if I go the full distance, that is fast. But, if I only cover half of the platform length in one short hop, that is slow. Also, fastfalling or not can also be fast or slow. Even though Falco naturally falls fast, if he doesn't use his fastfall, that is a slow moment. If he does use it, then it is fast.
* If you make a slow movement, you are thinking reactively- In this mindset, you are now waiting for your opponent to make an action before you make your's. Things like walking are slow.
*If you make a fast movement, you are thinking preemptively- Now, you will start (or try to start) your action before your opponent starts theirs. Running is fast, but things like Pikachu's Quick Attack (UpB) are also fast because they are faster than most other options.
I didn't really no how to classify standing still. I came to the conclusion that standing still is a neutral state in which you are completely reactive. You are not on the offensive or defensive, you just want to see what your opponent does so you can make your next plan. Even if you make an action, like shielding or attacking, you are just trying to see how your opponent will react to that action.
If you think about these 5 things, reading becomes a lot more simple and effective. Most players when they try to read they look at the moves a player is doing. If you see someone if bairing a lot, you will pick an option to beat their bair. However, looking at their moves only tells you what they do. So, if they do something else you will most be surprised by it. With looking at their movement, it tells you why they do something. You may not know the exact action they will choose, but the option you choose will cover more possibilities. So, you are more likely to choose correctly.
Things like mix-ups do still apply. Now, instead of just doing a different move, a player has to have a completely different mindset to throw you off. This is also more subconscious than picking move, so it will be harder for players to change without prior knowledge. This method, though, eliminates the unnecessary things that cloud our judgement. No more having to thing about what move a player chooses when they run at you, or worrying about which option a player chooses when on the ground. The only other thing you have to think about is when their movement changes. Range is usually the biggest change, as a player will have different movement patterns at long, mid, and close distances. Other things, such as percent difference, stock difference, and time can make changes. Their are also more complex changes which are harder to spot. For example, I watched replays of a Falco player and I thought he played very defensive. It wasn't until he got a a CG where his style changed to a completely offensive style.
One mistake most players do is thing about what option, or even worse, why to choose an option. I was talking with a friend a few days ago about this mindset and he said he was trained to think about why you got hit. I told him he doesn't need to. Even if you can't put your actions into conscious words, your subconscious already knows why you did it. So instead of wasting time searching through the trash heap which is your mind, focus on your opponent and let your hands do what they want. If you want to change something you do, don't change it in a serious match, but in friendlies.
Also, new players tend to get overloaded because they look at too much and don't know when do stop. Look at things in a time period of 5 seconds or less. You don't get confused this way because people can only make a few movements in 5 seconds. Quick movements count too. If someone jumps forward and then moves backward, those are two different movements. The player is first aggressive, then defensive, in that split second. Also, if someone dashes then walks, they are preemptive then reactionary.
I know this is a hard concept to understand, so if you would like to talk about it then contact me. I will gladly talk with you over PM's, Skype, AIM, or what ever you prefer. If you do understand, tell me your experiences with it. Who did you use it against? Did it work? Did you see something new that I didn't cover? Let's talk somehow because I love discussing these things!
It's great to be back!
Hey. I'm back from a long break. I could tell you my excuses on why I couldn't be on every week, but I realized something in my break, I don't want to make this blog every week. So, I won't. This doesn't mean I'm stopping. It only means that there is no set day anymore that I will make a blog. Also, I don't want to post this on nintendoworlds.com anymore, only on Aib and Smashboards. I don't feel like I'm getting enough care there since the two blogs I have there have an average of 36 views even though they've been on there for at least month. However, I do not discourage going there. It's where I got my start on the idea of competitive smash and I would love to see growth there. Next, I will not be telling you want blog I will do next anymore. I'm just going to do the blog I feel like doing. Lastly, I will not go get any people to help me do this blog. If you want to help I will never turn you down. However, don't expect me to ask anyone to do an interview anymore. It will only happen if someone comes to me.
Now that I've got that out of the way, we can get to the topic on-hand which I feel is a great one. But, be warned, this is an advanced concept (not an AT though.) If you are newer to the game please do not try to think about this too much because for this to work, you must have a good amount of experience. The basis of the idea, though, comes from a book named Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. It's about why and how we make split second decisions, which is literally all we do playing smash. Blink absolutely amazing and I suggest it to anyone who wants to play competitive smash, new or veteran.
After getting past a little more than halfway in the book, I realized I need to make my reading quicker if I wanted it to be more effective. So, I watch a few replays on my Wii and only analyzed the first 5 seconds of the match. Surprisingly, what happened in that 5 seconds showed a pattern that carried on through the match. But, I noticed another pattern. They usually made the same movements in the same situations. So, I broke the movements down into 4 main characteristics that I like to call movement based reading.
*Any movement forward means you are on the offensive- If you do something that moves you forward, you want to get a hit. Things like walking, running, and jumping forward are obvious. But, if Ike, for example, used Quick Draw (his Sideb) and moved forward, that is an aggressive action. Also, things that are usually seen as defensive, such as rolling, if done forward are actually done with offensive intent.
*Any movement backward means you are on the defensive- If you purposefully move backwards, your mindset is now to protect yourself. Again, walking, running, and jumping are obvious. However, things like rolling are more common here. If you attack while moving backwards, the intent of that attack was not to get a hit, but to protect yourself (there is a big difference in that.)
The next two need a little context. They are about how fast you move. The speed at which you move is relative to the character. Even though all of Ganondorf's movements may seem so to a Sonic player, to the Ganondorf player Ganondorf's running is faster than his walking. So, running is fast to him or her. Jumping is weird. Since it is a (kinda) constant speed horizontally, it's based on how far you go. For example, I know Dedede's short hop can go from one end of a battlefield platform to the other. So, if I go the full distance, that is fast. But, if I only cover half of the platform length in one short hop, that is slow. Also, fastfalling or not can also be fast or slow. Even though Falco naturally falls fast, if he doesn't use his fastfall, that is a slow moment. If he does use it, then it is fast.
* If you make a slow movement, you are thinking reactively- In this mindset, you are now waiting for your opponent to make an action before you make your's. Things like walking are slow.
*If you make a fast movement, you are thinking preemptively- Now, you will start (or try to start) your action before your opponent starts theirs. Running is fast, but things like Pikachu's Quick Attack (UpB) are also fast because they are faster than most other options.
I didn't really no how to classify standing still. I came to the conclusion that standing still is a neutral state in which you are completely reactive. You are not on the offensive or defensive, you just want to see what your opponent does so you can make your next plan. Even if you make an action, like shielding or attacking, you are just trying to see how your opponent will react to that action.
If you think about these 5 things, reading becomes a lot more simple and effective. Most players when they try to read they look at the moves a player is doing. If you see someone if bairing a lot, you will pick an option to beat their bair. However, looking at their moves only tells you what they do. So, if they do something else you will most be surprised by it. With looking at their movement, it tells you why they do something. You may not know the exact action they will choose, but the option you choose will cover more possibilities. So, you are more likely to choose correctly.
Things like mix-ups do still apply. Now, instead of just doing a different move, a player has to have a completely different mindset to throw you off. This is also more subconscious than picking move, so it will be harder for players to change without prior knowledge. This method, though, eliminates the unnecessary things that cloud our judgement. No more having to thing about what move a player chooses when they run at you, or worrying about which option a player chooses when on the ground. The only other thing you have to think about is when their movement changes. Range is usually the biggest change, as a player will have different movement patterns at long, mid, and close distances. Other things, such as percent difference, stock difference, and time can make changes. Their are also more complex changes which are harder to spot. For example, I watched replays of a Falco player and I thought he played very defensive. It wasn't until he got a a CG where his style changed to a completely offensive style.
One mistake most players do is thing about what option, or even worse, why to choose an option. I was talking with a friend a few days ago about this mindset and he said he was trained to think about why you got hit. I told him he doesn't need to. Even if you can't put your actions into conscious words, your subconscious already knows why you did it. So instead of wasting time searching through the trash heap which is your mind, focus on your opponent and let your hands do what they want. If you want to change something you do, don't change it in a serious match, but in friendlies.
Also, new players tend to get overloaded because they look at too much and don't know when do stop. Look at things in a time period of 5 seconds or less. You don't get confused this way because people can only make a few movements in 5 seconds. Quick movements count too. If someone jumps forward and then moves backward, those are two different movements. The player is first aggressive, then defensive, in that split second. Also, if someone dashes then walks, they are preemptive then reactionary.
I know this is a hard concept to understand, so if you would like to talk about it then contact me. I will gladly talk with you over PM's, Skype, AIM, or what ever you prefer. If you do understand, tell me your experiences with it. Who did you use it against? Did it work? Did you see something new that I didn't cover? Let's talk somehow because I love discussing these things!
It's great to be back!