1 / 54

Creating Satisfying Combat Experiences

Creating Satisfying Combat Experiences. At. Games. The Designer’s Dream. “ drop in and play” enemy behavior Less scripting and environment authoring Less predictability, more procedural surprise moments for the player. The Reality. Sadly, “drop in and play” is: Chaotic Incomprehensible

ori-rowland
Download Presentation

Creating Satisfying Combat Experiences

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Creating Satisfying Combat Experiences At Games

  2. The Designer’s Dream • “drop in and play” enemy behavior • Less scripting and environment authoring • Less predictability, more procedural surprise moments for the player

  3. The Reality Sadly, “drop in and play” is: • Chaotic • Incomprehensible • Frustrating

  4. Solutions • Establish a Front • Create Layered Setups • Understand Combat Focus • Functional Cover Placement • Attack in Waves • Good Flanking Practices • Know When to Re-Direct the Front • Use High Priority Targets • Good Ally Usage

  5. How did Insomniac Games arrive at these concepts?

  6. RCF: TOD and Resistance 2 • Tightly directed by Insomniac veterans • Design staff experienced in the franchises • R2 had very linear spaces

  7. RCF: A Crack In Time • Departures and promotions • Design staff noobs to the franchise • Less linear spaces

  8. Back to the basics …

  9. RCF: ACIT and Resistance 3 • Immediate and dramatic improvements • Solid core combat means fewer changes • More effort can be put into dramatics

  10. Hill 609 by Fletcher Martin

  11. Establishing a Front • Establish two distinct fronts • Use the architecture to help define fronts • Use cover placement to define fronts • Front lines determine flanking opportunities

  12. Enemy front? No Man’s Land? Player front? Example of a poorly established front

  13. A well-established front

  14. Layered Setups • = 2 distinct setups both requiring enemies to be present at the start • Keep layers clearly separated (combat distance) • Use vertical space

  15. Layered Setups • Player only truly engages the first layer – second layer is spectacle • On the last 1-2 foreground enemies, pull them back, move allies up, then allow second layer to engage • Player rushes the second combat-area = engage

  16. All on same level Needs Layering Tons of enemies No separation

  17. Well Layered

  18. Combat Focus • = where the player’s attention is – the anchor of the setup • It’s narrower than you think • Keep distinct – associate with geometry • Can have 2 – keep distinct – separate geographically

  19. Combat Focus • Keep cover positions pretty tight • Intro enemies into a tight “home” and keep them there • Intros route new enemies behind the combat focus • Player exit/goal behind the combat focus

  20. Exit off screen Intros from too far Enemies too spread out Poor Combat Focus Player’s FOV

  21. Better Combat Focus

  22. Cover Placement • Defining each setup should BEGIN with your cover placement • Use cover to define the front lines and combat focus • Be conscious of facing and shape of cover • Use cover to lure the player into their initial combat position • Use multiple cover positions to create player choice

  23. Cover Placement • Resist the urge to randomly scatter cover for realism • Ideal Combat Distance between player and enemy cover • Flanking cover = 1-2 pieces of good cover (rarely more) • 2+ cover positions for each shooter

  24. Poor cover placement Combat focus? Front lines? Initial combat pos? Player choice?

  25. Better cover placement

  26. Waves - Composition • Enemies over time is key – waves are the way to do this • First wave is the “gimmee” – it’s the second and subsequent waves that are the real combat • Each wave is *about* a single – and different – class of enemy

  27. Waves - Composition • Filler enemies OK – but NOT a homogenous mixture • Keep melee enemies and projectile enemies in separate waves • Pacing across waves – build up to a crescendo

  28. Waves - Intros • On last 1-2 enemies in current wave • Or on <40% health of single tougher enemy • Intro new waves through the current combat focus – then fan out

  29. Waves - Intros • Long intro paths, perpendicular to LOS • Stagger enemy spawns – temporally and spatially • Dropships – intro through combat focus and loop around battlefield

  30. Waves – pausing between • ONLY when there is a story reason to do so • Exposition should happen here • As well as your allies repositioning themselves • This is usually a rare moment, that precedes a new enemy intro or significant story event

  31. Poorly done waves Waves from afar? Toughest enemy first? Grunts in every wave?

  32. Improved waves

  33. Flanking • A solid combat focus and front lines allow for a flank • 1-2 good pieces of cover and a single path define a flank (more = messy) • Let the player get anchored before flanking (8s delay)

  34. Flanking • Must flank through the combat focus • Must call out the flanking maneuver really well • Dialog/foley • First shot miss behavior • Additional wave makes a good flank, BUT this is really Redirecting The Front

  35. Bad Flanking Flank from afar? Front lines? Clear flanking pos?

  36. Better Flanking

  37. Re-directing a front • You must establish a new front and combat focus • Do on new wave entry • Retreat remaining enemies to their new front

  38. Re-directing a front • Move allies up into their new front • Call out with dialog or significant event • Use the new combat focus to attract player to setup exit

  39. Needs redirecting Now what?

  40. Front Redirected

  41. High Priority Targets • Usually tougher enemies • Take prominent positions • Use the geography to highlight them • Separate physical space from filler enemies • Wave is “about” this high priority target

  42. Muddled priority Just another in the mix

  43. Improved Priority

  44. Tight environments • Hand script each enemy • Enemies generally take a single position and stick to it • Sometimes fine to just let the enemies run wild • example: coming upon two easy enemies in a room with no cover • these are usually quick surprise moments

  45. Can clump up Can wander off Looks dumb Poor tight environment work

  46. Good tight environment work

  47. Allies • hand scripted • go to specific cover points every time • in small encounters, stick to that cover point indefinitely • in larger encounters, can have a small home area

  48. Allies • keep allies and enemies separated • allies will define the front line and the player’s initial position • allies should run ahead of the player to the front line

  49. Poor ally usage Allies muddying the front Player ahead of allies Action off-screen

More Related