Hello Everyone, I hope you're doing well. I'm new to the forum, and I'm currently trying to develop a boxing simulation game on Unity, but I’d like to give you some context before diving into my development issues.
There are two boxing games that really marked me when I was younger. First, we have:
Fight Night Champion by EA Mobile, released in 2011 (I’ll show you a demo in a moment) :
This game is, for me and many others, the greatest boxing game ever made for mobile, even to this day. Its greatness lay in the physics and swipe-based punching system, free of clunky, poorly placed on-screen buttons. Thanks to this intuitive strike system, and a wide variety of combat-relevant animations, this game offered true immersion, your heart would race with every exchange. Sadly, it was missing a few features, likely due to the time it was released, such as online multiplayer or friend matches.
Even though this game has been removed from app stores for over 10 years now, there are still people holding onto the faint hope that EA Mobile will one day bring it back, even without an update. Under the few remaining gameplay videos online, you’ll still find people pleading into the void for a way to redownload it, as if a miracle could still happen. But it’s over!
The second game that made an impact on me was UFC 2 :
Once again, the physics were simply the best across all fighting games on console, and it is still considered by many fans of combat simulation to be the best UFC title ever made, far ahead of all the others. The ability to perform precise strike combinations that could lead to a KO, paired with simple, but incredibly effective KO animations and slight ragdoll effects, provided a massive dopamine hit. Unfortunately, the community still regrets the closure of its online servers in early 2023.
For years, I searched for a mobile boxing game that could live up to Fight Night Champion by EA Mobile, which came out 15 years ago, but none have ever satisfied me, nor the boxing game community as a whole. Every 3 months for the past 10 years, I’ve gone on the App Store, downloaded every boxing or fighting game available, hoping some developer pulled off a miracle, but I always end up deleting them within 2 minutes. These companies seem to release new games on a whim, hoping to make a quick buck (which I can understand), but that leads to compromise, neither real simulation fighting nor fantasy combat, just a mix of those that gave nothing. The games lack flavor and as a result, achieve neither profit nor memorability.
A few days ago, I decided to try creating my own boxing game using Unity, Mixamo, and AI. I’m slowly making progress. I’ve humbly tried to understand the limits of current game development tools, and let me tell you, they are more than enough to create a boxing game that would thrill fighters around the world.
You might ask, why a mobile game and not console ?
The goal is to make online boxing matches feel like online chess matches on Chess.com.
You choose how many rounds to play, whether the time is real or accelerated, and during your toilet break at work, you fight the match of your life, against both the toilet and a stranger on the other side of the world. You leave that bathroom break with stars in your eyes, and the only thing you’re looking forward to is clocking out to get back in the ring.
I compare it to Chess.com not only because of the quick-match feature, but because you could become a ranked machine, climbing into the global top 100 with an ELO-based system. This encourages progression and ensures you face opponents at your level, without taking a humiliating beating that would turn you off the game. I believe the success of a boxing game lies entirely in its physics: the way punches are thrown, staying true to academic boxing and not going off into fantasy, the impacts, and the ability to perform realistic, yet complex combos through an intuitive swipe system.
Here are all the moves of the game:
Lead Arm :
Jab to the head, Jab to the body, Lead hook to the body, Lead hook to the head, Lead uppercut to the body, Lead uppercut to the head
Rear Arm :
Straight to the head, Straight to the body, Hook to the head, Hook to the body, Uppercut to the head, Uppercut to the body
Body Moves :
Dodge by being able to move the upper body freely,
Put your head guard
Put your body guard
The subtlety lies in the fact that every punch animation must be cancelable by the player’s last input, allowing some moves to be used as feints before punch
Here are a few sample videos that I think combined represent the Game that Boxing community want :
1/ Physically simulated robots, AI Fight For : - Impact rendering, player proportions and body mechanic, camera work, and clear visibility of hits -The ragdoll and free movement of the body, although it should be toned down, is very interesting. It allows for realistic imbalance or stunning KOs when a player takes a significant punch Youtube.com
2/ UFC 2 for : - Precise striking combos and hand movement - Impact animation and KO animations - Sound design Youtube.com
3/ Fight Night Champion by EA Mobile : Remember, this game is 15 years old! Impact and KO animations were already impressive at the time. - This video contains the secret sauce of a successful boxing game, the move tutorial : Youtube.com
Now you’ll say, “Passion is great, but what about economic reality ? »
It’s simple, and even without diving into monetization strategies for this game, there’s a real market here. Just look at UFC 5, despite disappointing many franchise fans (just like UFC3 and UFC4), it still sold millions of copies thanks to the global rise of MMA. Or in the niche of pure boxing : the console versions of Fight Night Champion have also sold millions with each release.
But there’s no reference for online mobile boxing, because players simply don’t connect with what’s currently offered, likely because developers are managed by people who don’t know boxing and have no intention of creating a game that will become #1 on mobile boxing game.
As I said earlier, I wanted to investigate if the absence of a landmark mobile boxing game was due to technical limitations in today’s gaming development tools, and I’m now certain it’s not, it’s an anomaly, and this game is just waiting to be built !
So I’m trying to create it myself, with little experience, to understand what can and cannot be done so I don’t become delusional. And I now know it’s possible, but my lack of time and technical skill won’t allow me to fully realize the precise gameplay vision. What I have in mind isn’t even that complex considering what independent devs manage to create today.
So if by any chance one of you has ever thought about developing a boxing game or would like to help with this project, don’t hesitate to reach out, I’d love to chat with each of you and create THE Mobile Boxing Game.