The number one piece of helpful feedback I hear really talented encounter designers give to new encounter designers is “Use less unit types at once.”
This piece of advice was given to me very early in my career and was very formative. Here are some reasons why.
1. You want your AI lineup to have specific strengths and weaknesses.
Most AI are good at some things, but bad at others. So, there is a temptation to use lots of unit types in order to create a lineup where you’ve covered up any potential AI shortcomings.
Don’t do this.
By creating an AI lineup with obvious shortcomings, the player now gets to play around these.
They get to be the paper to your rock. This allows players to be smart and show their power.
2. It’s easier to read.
Lots of unit types at once mean lots of different types of VFX/Animations/Abilities going off.
The more visual/audio noise that is going on, the harder it is for players to understand what the hell is actually happening.
3. Less is more when it comes to variety.
Imagine making a unit lineup is like mixing colors. A few colors mixed could make: Purple or Orange or Pink.
Lots of colors mixed just make brown.
Variety is your game having lots of encounter colors, not just brown brown brown.
4. It’s easier to pick out what’s important.
Lots of times you have a unit or a subset of units that is critical for the player.
It’s much easier to understand which units are important if the lineup is : [Bears/Racoons]
compared to
[Bears/Racoons/Lemurs/Giraffes/Moose]
5. Now you can grab the attention of the player.
By using a small subset of units, you can now create big moments by changing what’s on screen.
These are the memories. The guitar hero solos. The moment you were fighting Lions/Tigers then a bunch of raptors come out of the woods
This advice isn’t revolutionary. It’s not some specific developer’s secret sauce. I’m sure you can find this on a slide in like 8 different GDC talks.
But if you don’t have access to those resources or just needed a reminder, I hope this feedback helps you like it helped me!
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