As we all known, combat is a popular and main component of a video game player’s moves and activities
In a video game, combat is more or less about violent
The simple truth is many video games are violent
Look at this picture, firstly, you should understand that video games are about action, and action can go two way, one non-violent category, and another is violent, actions like hitting, shooting, stabbing, killing.
A large number of video games don’t rely on violence, however, violent games attract more attention.
you can be very powerful, have magic weapon, do whatever you want, something you cannot do in reality, release your stress. immediate feedback letting you trust yourself that you are the person who can save the world
Violence is popular in a game not only because it is interesting, it offers a player the quickest positive response feedback loop. but because it is also one of the easiest interactions to program for. Other human interactions like conversation, romance, comedy and manipulation are hard to recreate in games, but game players tend to buy the same types of games over and over again. A story which is better with violence.If you want to create a good narrative, you need to create conflict, and violence is a really easy way to create conflict.
Combat moves for you character.
since we already know the function of violence in a game, we need to think about how violence included in a combat.
Firstly, as a game designer, imagine what kind of character that you want to create.
Is your charter acrobatic? jumpy? stealthy or brutal?
The player does an action-shooting, sees the immediate result, enemy is killed, which grants a reward like experience, money, power-up.This elegant feedback loop allows for quick and frequent player-to-world interaction.
Game publishers find those styles of play are harder to sell. generally put violent elect in their game
each of them will have a uniquely different combat style, because they have uniquely different personalities. The personality will determine the cobalt style, and ask yourself, what genre is your game? what kind of gameplay experiences do you want? that will determine the weapon for your characters.
Anyway, give your character a signature weapon, that will help quickly define their personality to the players. Your character’s weapon is going to dictate how they fight.
The more original, the better
Here are some examples about the weapon,
In a combat, a weapon like a GUN, you should think about the various difference between theses guns, form their range, speed to the strength. How they among ?? A series questions related to gun.
Maybe a grenade, you should consider a Grenade always carry the risk of having it accidentally go off if held for too long, or even bounce back at the player. After you throw it away, following the fire, smoke, it also can be used as fire signal, or damage ice-themed enemies, burn a rope. We should respect and learn from the reality to open our mind.
Poison also can be a weapon, keep in mind that poison should have visual associated,
Always have an antidote. if poison is uncommon, make the antidote more common, there is no worse feeling in a video game than making the player feel like death is inevitable.
Melee
Attacks can be delivered from four different elevations to give combat variety.Standing, low, high, and aerial. While you don’t have to use all four of these elevations in your game, you will have to make each of these elevations have their own set of attacks as they make the player deal with combat in different ways.
Don’t forget maybe players can use anything, always strive to enable the player, even when you’re disabling them. If a weapon is upgradable, make sure the effects are seen on the weapon,
Tips, study real world fighting styles,
Carefully design your combat environments to use this to the player’s advantage and disadvantage, swing his giant axe around filled with unbreakable stone pillars may let he risk rebounding off and give the skeletons a chance to attack
LETS FIGHT!
in combat, the attack used totally depends on the player’s distance to the target. Knowing what your character’s combat range is going to be makes a huge difference in how the player approaches combat during gameplay.
Close:A Mario game is almost exclusively close/medium range combat, Mario must come into close contact with enemies in order to defeat them
Medium
Long range
Area effects:Sometimes you just need to blow up everything, when activated, should destroy everything on screen save the player. If there are destructible items, they should blow up too
Four ranges of combat
You don’t have to use all four of these elevations in your game, just use them appropriately
Speaking of rewards, use particle system and visual effects to make attacks feel more dynamic and rewarding
Attack- matrix: An attack matrix like the one above is useful to track important information about combat moves, should include the following data, feel free to add as many columns as you might need your attack matrix to accommodate degrees of defensive items, moves and so on. Use this to track combat moves and compare and contrast values for maximum variety,each attack should be distinct and usable in a specific combat situation
If you want your combat animations to feel smooth, then you must strive to have your game run at 60 frames per second. due to decreased response time, delay and less lag.
Lock-on System
Look cool
A strike without a reaction animation from the enemy doesn’t feel like the player has hit anything, if you can’t afford to have the enemy have reaction animations (due to memory limitations) at least have effects and sound effects that indicate that a successful hit has landed. powerful sound effects make attacks feel more rewarding. Maybe a vocal reaction like a big “oof”
Exaggerate the impact of a powerful hit to heighten the feeling of strength of the attack and increase drama
MOVE
The goal in a real-life fight is NOT to get hit, so allow player moves for quicker or more powerful attacks.
GUARD
As a designer, you need to decide whether your shield is breakable or not, so there is a lot of details for a combat in a game, attack, move, guard, what type of aiming method, how does the player aim? what happens when a shot misses a target? what is corresponding visual effects?
ESRB: entertainment software rating board
ESRB reviews and provides rating for game content.
1,Neighbors From Hell Compilation
2,Dollar Dash
3,Plants vs Zombies Garden
4,Rise of Incarnates
5,Saint Row
When designing violence in games you should realize that it’s all about context. The more violent activities the player does themselves, the higher the rating.
Since it is more realistic, it’s easier to lose yourself in the game
————————————————————————————————————
A good combat system requires much thought and work from the development team in order to get it right.
When designing violence in games you should realize that it’s all about context. The more violent activities the player does, the higher the rating. realistic weapon, how frequently does the player perform the violent at?
lock-on be used in order to engage in effective combat, an experience that tends to be watered down. Games with total control over the character’s movements are important,
target enemies