Sloclap has revealed that Sifu's fight choreographer, Benjamin Colussi, is a Pak Mei kung fu master and that the game has over 160 moves.
Colussi's involvement in the game was revealed through a new behind the scenes look at Sifu, which details the motion capture and choreography process. The five-minute video reveals how Colussi helped make the combat look authentic.
The video details Colussi's history with Pak Mei and how he originally went to learn in France before travelling to China and discovering Pak Mei. For those who don't know, Pak Mei is a form of Chinese martial arts that is often characterised as focusing on "powerful close-range hand strikes". Colussi explains that the martial arts you typically see in movies aren't how people fight at all.
Jordan Layani, creative director at Sloclap, said that the idea was to have the "expertise of Benjamin" and the studio's knowledge of combat design as a best of both worlds situation. Colussi's own moves are used in the game, which can be seen in both melee combat and with weapons such as the baseball bat, machete, and staff.
Animation director Kevin Roger says that the team took the motion capture data and then add real impacts to the animations since the actors weren't allowed to actually hit each other. Colussi says that some of the moves were changed specifically for the game, with one example being when the team was working on a stabbing finisher and Colussi decided to end it with a neck slice instead of the stab.
It wasn't just about looking cool though, as Sloclap also wanted to respect Chinese culture and show the player the life of a kung fu master. Colussi didn't just motion capture and choreograph the moves, but he also acted as a consultant for many of the things you see in Sifu.
Kevin Roger said, "There are, I don't know, maybe 160 moves for the main character. Each move was designed for a particular situation. It needs to be effective, it needs to be credible, and it needs to be beautiful. The player can just rush and evade, but he can also kill all of them with style. That idea is the heart of Sifu."