The fight for accessibility in Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite

In a recent interview with VG247, Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite producer Mike Evans and associate producer Peter Rosas spoke about how they're striving to make the game more accessible. 

More than anything, accessibility is a see-sawing balancing act. After all, it's important the game speaks to those hardcore players who want to learn the intricate strengths of weaknesses of each characters, as well as the more casual brawlers who really just want to see their favourite superheroes punch each other in the head. 

"It was a definite design decision to make sure it was more accessible. Now, the thing is that… you don't want to put too many of these [help systems] in because you don't want to have players completely depend on them, right?" explains Rosas. 

"For us, it's really important for new players to experience how the combat system feels, to be able to perform a combo -- to perform an air combo, too. Those kind of things make you feel good. You can think 'oh, I'm beginning to understand the game, and the speed, and what my character can do.'"

It's about laying down a subtle curriculum, then. Subconsciously teaching players how to feel the difference between characters and their respective move-sets, while making sure all of those lessons are inherently satisfying. 

"Just using a simple combo with Hulk versus using it with [Mega Man] X, you see that you have to push the square button, light punch, at different speeds. That already gives you an indication that the characters work a little differently," he continues.. 

"It's the same thing with the hyper combo -- you're just seeing a big, flashy action really quickly. We felt like by putting those two things in and also the universal combo string, there's things there for new players to get familiar not only with their character but with the battle system. That should be enough for them to say 'I'm having fun now, I want to transition' or 'I'm having fun now, let it be.'"

You can find out more about the design of Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite by checking out the full interview over on VG247.