Capcom has been creating fighting games for roughly 30 years.

At GDC 2017, Street Fighter V art director Toshiyuki Kamei spoke at length about how that history has shaped the company's approach to art directing fighting games -- and how fighting games are, in turn, deeply shaped by their art style.

According to Kamei, Capcom has artistic techniques that can only be learned from documents and mentors within the company. This kind of preservation is important for making a fighting game more visual and understandable, and Kamei believes its a key reason why Capcom fighting games have maintained quality throughout the years.

Even if you don't have strong feelings about Capcom's games, Kamei's session was well worth because he walked through many techniques used in the art creation of fighting games like Street Fighter, showing in detail how the art design has played a role in the overall game structure. 

If you missed it earlier this year, good news: you can now watch it (completely free!) on the official GDC YouTube channel.

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its new YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC, GDC Europe, and GDC Next already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.

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