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[Peace Soft]

Thanks for responding!

Now imagine the vs mode: The mechanical depth arises from the level geometry, which is not static, but a consequence of previous actions. The level geometry affects the frequency of incoming crates, and the possibility space and the difficulty of moving around within the level. For example, a player who can manage incoming crates at high frequencies well might try to stack up a high crate building to make life harder for the other player, while the other player might try to destroy it as quickly as possible to stay safe. A mechanical property here is that the building can neither be built nor destroyed instantly, it is a gradual process. So previously accumulated actions have corresponding physical repercussions with a weight to them, because they cannot be undone instantly or in a matter of few seconds (but they can still be undone and reverted to initial conditions within the same round (because the building can get completely destroyed), which is actually desirable). (However, deadly instant traps can be formed during the process, but it is an equal advantage/disadvantage for both of the players.)

This is the part that i'm still not getting, cause it seems to me like "can manage" is where the entire wedge goes in, you know? The wedge being the player's ability to use the definite but arbitrary characteristics of the interface and game space to manipulate it towards a win. How does my guy jump, how do the blocks fall, how do you do the shungoku satsu, how do you do the shungoku satsu OS throw frame trap. There's a lot more visual clarity and a slower more granular rhythm in Jumponaut than Street Fighter but is that more depth, or am I not getting your point. In the trailer when the one player has used the tactic you describe and the other dude is quailing in the corner it looks sooooo much like a SFIV corner trap, except maybe i could figure out how to escape it without buying a book with tables of frame data in it

[J-Snake]

How does my guy jump, how do the blocks fall, how do you do the shungoku satsu, how do you do the shungoku satsu OS throw frame trap.

Here are two distinct points mixed up as one. I guess this is where the confusion comes from. You have to separate mechanical depth from mind game depth. "How does my guy jump" is a question that can only apply to the mind game as the mechanical properties of the jump remain the same (no mechanical depth here as long as the crate stack doesn't get close to the ceiling, rather a corner case which can be ignored). "How do the blocks fall" however is also a question of mechanical depth as the spawn frequency is a function of level geometry and player position. And level geometry is a result of mechanical progression. As an approximation for very little mechanical depth just imagine a fighter like Tekken in an open arena (we ignore walls as they don't add that much to mechanical depth in usual fighters). The difficulty of moving/acting around (contrary to Jumponaut's case) is only dependent on the behavior of your opponent (means the depth of the mind game), but not a consequence of any mechanical progression (because there is not much mechanical depth). If the opponent is aggressive and hard to predict, then you will have a hard time to perform any move.

(Now I am not saying Jumponaut is more interesting to play. It is not. Jumponaut has a mechanical depth component but it lacks variety to fuel more elaborate mind games. The primary purpose of the minimalist game is to practice rhythm and platforming skills in single player, while you have options to pursue several challenging platforming strategies which reward you with an appropriate score. The vs mode is left as an option because there are few people out there who might have fun just wrestling with each other.)