How the Battle System Works
Learn how TextFight's AI evaluates battles and determines winners.
Battle System Overview
TextFight's battle system is powered by advanced AI models that evaluate fighter descriptions, generate dynamic narratives, and determine battle outcomes. Every fight is unique because the AI creates a fresh story each time two fighters meet, even if the same fighters battle each other multiple times. This ensures that battles never feel repetitive or predetermined.
When you initiate a battle, the matchmaking system finds an opponent with a similar ELO rating. Your fighter description, name, and any evolved traits are sent to the AI along with the opponent's information. The AI then generates a multi-step battle narrative that weighs both fighters according to specific judging criteria before declaring a winner.
The entire process takes just seconds, making TextFight a true "snack gaming" experience. You can complete a full battle during a coffee break, between classes, or while waiting for a bus. Despite the quick turnaround, each battle produces a substantial and entertaining narrative that captures the unique interaction between the two fighters.
AI Judging Criteria
The AI evaluates each fighter across four weighted categories. Comedy carries the highest weight at 30%, reflecting TextFight's philosophy that humor and fun should drive the game. Fighters that make the AI laugh, whether through absurd concepts, clever wordplay, or situational comedy, have a structural advantage in every fight.
Specificity accounts for 25% of the evaluation. This measures how detailed and concrete a fighter description is. "A knight who fights with a rubber chicken" is specific. "A powerful warrior" is not. The AI rewards descriptions that paint a clear picture and give it rich material to work with when generating the battle narrative.
Creativity also carries 25% of the weight and evaluates originality. Fighters that surprise the AI with unexpected combinations, novel concepts, or fresh takes on familiar tropes score highly here. Copying common fictional characters or using generic fantasy concepts will cost you points in this category. The remaining 20% goes to narrative potential, which measures how interesting the fighter would be in a story.
How Narratives Are Generated
Each battle narrative is a unique story generated by the AI in real time. The narrative follows a multi-step structure that builds tension, introduces conflict between the two fighters, and resolves with a final outcome. These narratives typically include dramatic moments, fighter-specific references, and often unexpected twists that emerge from the interaction between the two descriptions.
The AI draws heavily on the details in each fighter description when crafting the narrative. If your fighter is described as a "retired librarian who weaponizes overdue book fines," the narrative will incorporate those specific elements. This is another reason why specific descriptions outperform vague ones: they give the AI more material to create an engaging story.
Battle narratives in TextFight are generated with a high creativity setting, which means the AI takes creative liberties with how fighters interact. The temperature is set to 0.9, encouraging varied and surprising outputs while maintaining internal consistency. No two battles between the same fighters will produce identical narratives.
How Fighter Descriptions Influence Outcomes
Your fighter description is the single most important factor in determining battle outcomes. The AI does not have a hidden power level system or predetermined fighter rankings. Every battle is evaluated fresh based on how each fighter's description stacks up against the judging criteria. This means a well-crafted newcomer can absolutely defeat a high-ranked veteran.
Traits also influence outcomes, with higher-tier traits carrying more weight. However, traits amplify what is already in the description rather than replacing it. A fighter with three Gold-tier traits but a lazy description will still lose to a fighter with no traits but a brilliantly creative concept. The description is always the foundation.
It is important to understand that the AI evaluates fighters holistically. It does not just count adjectives or look for specific keywords. It understands context, humor, irony, and narrative potential. Writing naturally and creatively will always outperform trying to game the system with keyword stuffing or formulaic descriptions.
Fair Matchmaking
TextFight uses ELO-based matchmaking to pair fighters with similarly rated opponents. This ensures that new players are not immediately thrown against the highest-ranked fighters on the leaderboard. As your rating stabilizes after your first 20 battles, you will consistently face opponents close to your skill level.
The matchmaking system is designed to produce competitive battles where either fighter has a realistic chance of winning. Lopsided matchups are less fun for everyone, so the system prioritizes rating proximity when finding opponents. This means most of your battles will be close, tense affairs rather than guaranteed wins or hopeless losses.
Position bias, where being listed first or second might give an advantage, is something the TextFight team actively works to eliminate. The AI evaluation system is designed to assess each fighter independently before comparing them, reducing any systematic advantage from presentation order.
Understanding Battle Results
After each battle, you receive a complete results screen showing the battle narrative, the outcome, your ELO change, and any traits discovered. The narrative is worth reading carefully because it often reveals what the AI found most compelling about each fighter. Winning and losing battles both provide valuable information about what works.
Your ELO change depends on the relative ratings of both fighters. Beating a higher-rated opponent earns more points than beating a lower-rated one, and losing to a lower-rated opponent costs more points than losing to a higher-rated one. This is standard ELO behavior and ensures that upsets are rewarded while protecting against rating inflation.
Battle results also contribute to your fighter's trait evolution progress. Wins advance your traits toward the next tier, and trait discoveries grant a small ELO bonus. Over time, your battle history builds a comprehensive picture of your fighter's journey through the arena, from their first nervous fight to their evolution into a seasoned competitor.