Thread by @JordanAjlouni

My thread on Kingpin went well so I want to do another this week!

For four years I was a combat designer on Volition's Agents of Mayhem and lead designer on the AoM DLC.

This week I want to talk about my work on Hardtack and adding mechanical depth.
#GameDesign #CombatDesign

I want to jump into it but I also have a responsibility to set the stage. I'll compromise and link you to my last thread where I give a quick breakdown of AoM's mechanics and our approach to agent design.

https://twitter.com/JordanAjlouni/status/1360060848341983234?s=20

Hardtack is an ex US Navy sailor looking for revenge against LEGION after they destroyed his fleet and killed his crew.

Hardtack is equal parts silly and indomitable bruiser who bursts into combat yelling "Ahoy motherfuckers!" as he throws his harpoon.

Hardtack's story starts at the beginning of AoM even before I started on the team.

His concept was the flagship (heh, ship) for our tone and approach to agent design. The team was fond of him and his character was fundamentally merged with AoM and the team.

And I mean fundamentally.
Every time his name came up in any meeting big or small, it was tradition that someone else would yell "HARDTACK" in response.

His concepts were printed out and hung on our walls next to our game's pillars. He watched over us in every conference room.

Hardtack's core kit was pretty much done for me thanks to the clear concept:
-Tanky Bruiser
-Shotgun
-Harpoon of some sorts
Additionally, we wanted him in front of the player early meaning we wanted to give him a simple, approachable core to ease players into our game.

But things start to get tricky when you dissect "A harpoon of some sorts".
Conceptually, it's simple. Harpoons attach to the target and are tethered to the source so the source can pull the target towards them.

That is easy to understand and very, very hard to implement.

Our concept for this mechanic is front and center in AoM's announcement trailer:


The trailer was made before the gameplay design for the ability was finalized and there are two major points of friction with its implementation.
1. Rope Physics
2. "Pulling"

Rope physics are hard to get right and would take a long time to technically implement.

Additionally, the harpoon was the only thing in the game that would use ropes and it was a side ability, not a core mechanic. It simply wasn't worth it.

Second, was "pulling". Design wise, Hardtack yanking a target in range of his shotgun was a strong idea, but what is "yanking"? Do they ragdoll towards you, sliding on the ground? Do they fly through the air and land perfectly in front of the player? How do they get back up?

Though possible, both problems were tech heavy. We had a game to make and we couldn't blow our scope up on one ability (we instead blew our scope on Fortune's drone Glory)!

But, our game had teleporting! It was futuristic and easily implemented. So Hardtack's harpoon teleported.

Next it was time to figure out his mayhem ability which was tricky since his core kit was so solid. It was hard to add to without changing.

Additionally we wanted his mayhem ability to add depth so players still wanted to use him as they got better in the mid to late game.

The definition of mechanical depth always seemed hard to lock down but I've landed on a definition I'm happy with:

Depth comes from multi-faceted decisions that have different "right" answers depending on the context they are used in.

The instinctual way to add depth is to add massive complexity because if you add more angles and edge cases to your mechanic, it is more likely one will become "right" at times.

But often it's a "monkeys on typewriters" situation. You will add depth but at the cost of bloat.

Instead, I like to drizzle on utility. If something does damage but also staggers the target, sometimes you use the ability for burst damage, and other times you use an ability stagger your target.

Suddenly an ability isn't one dimensional!

Adding resource restriction across multiple abilities has a similar effect.
If you have enough mana to cast a high damage spell or to cast a medium damage spell twice, sometimes you cast the high damage spell for max damage or the medium spells so you can hit two targets.

Hardtack's Harpoon had decent depth. It...
1. Damaged the target
2. Staggered the target
3. Pulled the target right in front of Hardtack.

But the issue was #3 was so powerful, it usually was "right". (Also, it secretly turned Hardtack into one of our most "Sniper" characters).

To compensate, I went with the following for his mayhem ability:
-For one magazine, Hardtack fires remote detonation mines from his shotgun.
-Once all mines are fired, his gun returns to a shotgun.
-If the ability is triggered again, all active mines explode.

Each mine turns into a two part decision for the player that is easily understood:
1. What do I fire the mine at?
2. When do I detonate my mine(s)?

Also, the depth of the ability scaled when you unlocked more mines without adding complexity.

This created a bunch of different uses. You could...
-Pile on the mines on a single target for a ton of damage.
-One shot kill smaller enemies by firing mines and detonating them one at a time.
-Shoot the ground between enemies to maximize AoE.

-Fire mines at walls to control choke points.
-Surround yourself with mines to ambush a wave of swarming enemies.
-Lay mines where enemies were spawning in to kill a wave outright.

The best part was you could mix and match all strats on a mine by mine basis!

The ability was also approachable and easily understood... once the player figured out how to use it.

You see, it was the only ability in the game that required a second activation. And all the fun of the ability was lost if the player didn't realize that.

So we added on extra prompts while you use the ability. We also had very nice ability descriptions with video (if the player dug through the menus which is, honestly, unlikely, but that's a whole UX story and is another thread itself).

All in all, Hardtack was a success. His kit hit the way we wanted him to: Simple core with layered depth.

We found some clever work arounds to stay true to his concept and even found ways to push our combat's design via his Mayhem.

There's more to talk about like harpoon varieties, harpoon/mayhem combos, and UX iteration for his mayhem messaging. But, we'll save that for another day.
So many people made Hardtack happen and I'm proud of my AoM team. I miss you all.

"HARDTACK!"

Before I go, I want to give a shoutout to @lightbombmike. I can't remember if he animated everything Hardtack, but he and his excellent design sense pushed us to add more and more character into Hardtack's animations AND gameplay. Hardtack's 360 degree melee was his idea!

If you like these threads, make sure to follow my account. I'm planning on doing more Agents of Mayhem oral histories/design threads every 2 weeks!
Thanks for reading.

Also, if you like this thread, follow my indie game studio @oil_leak_games. We are a small Michigan indie studio that makes quirky pixel art games. Check us out!