What are some interesting enemy design layers that are slowly introduced to the player in Hollow Knight? Enemies need to provide increased challenge over the course of a game but also be digestible/fair to learn. Let’s look at early to mid game enemies. #gamedev #combatdesign 🧵





FORESHADOWING - The thoughtful placement & introduction of an enemy can be used to indirectly train the player for a much harder fight later. In general, boss fights requires the player to deal with intense boss abilities/patterns where learning is often done through dying. 1/2

How do humanoid bosses in Sekiro remain predictable yet provide increasing challenge over the course of a boss fight? Let’s look at arguably one of the more difficult humanoid boss fights - Genichiro Ashina. #gamedesign #combatdesign 🧵 PLAYSTYLE - The player can influence the predictability of the fight with an aggressive playstyle with a mix of attack pressure and parry mastery. Passive or evasive playstyle invokes Ashina to perform arguably harder and a wider array of attacks to deal with. 1/3

How does the Default controller layout of a 3rd person melee combat game influence gameplay? Console games need to strike a balance between intuitive inputs & supporting a wide array of mechanics. Let’s examine some melee games’ controller layouts. #gamedesign #combatdesign GOD OF WAR (2018) - God of War employs a controller layout similar to most First Person Shooters in order to make Axe throwing intuitive and accessible to a larger number of players. Holding L2 brings up a reticle to indicate the Axe is ready to be aimed.1/5

What does the act of getting hit convey about the melee combat system? How the player controls/reacts when taking damage contributes to the combat difficulty. Let’s look at two different 3rd person melee combat games, Sekiro and Devil May Cry 5. #gamedesign #combatdesign 🧵 Generally, in melee combat games, taking damage disables the player’s input for a small amount of time and becomes vulnerable to follow up attacks. If the player gets hit consecutively without being able to escape (dodge/block) this is usually referred to as STUN LOCKED. 1/4

What are some design elements that make a challenging boss in Sekiro? Overall, Sekiro bosses skew hard compared to other action games so each boss needs to provide unique challenges. Let’s look at one of the middle difficulty bosses - the Guardian Ape. #gamedesign #combatdesign ARMOR - Hit armor is an attribute that allows the enemy to absorb hits without taking hit reactions or having their current action become interrupted. This provides a risk / reward element in which the player must learn when each attack will hit. 1/3

- PART 2 - #gamedesign #combatdesign Game freeze can also be used as NEGATIVE reinforcement. In Hollow Knight, the game freezes every time the player takes damage. In Bayonetta, the game freezes when she takes damage but only when the she’s past a certain health threshold. 4/6 The CONTEXT of how freeze is used makes sense for the rules of these respective games. Bayonetta is harder to hit and has more health so taking damage isn’t frequent; conversely, Knight’s health is an important resource that needs to be managed against casting spells. 5/6

How do 3rd person melee combat games communicate GAME and HIT feel? Combat design is one part rules/goals and one part FEEDBACK. Let’s examine some popular techniques that enhance moment-to-moment interactions. #gamedesign #combatdesign 🧵 - PART 1 - ANIMATION - In 3rd person melee games, animation readability is the FOUNDATION for game/hit feel. Properties like sound/vfx/etc enhance the animation. Attacks are authored with gameplay CONSTRAINTS (hit timing/attack distance) that focuses the construction of the animation. 1/10

What are some techniques melee combat games use to add DEPTH to player actions? Depth = “doing more with less.” Deep mechanics gives the player more possibilities to explore/master. Let’s examine some popular techniques for adding mechanical depth. #gamedesign #combatdesign 🧵 INPUT DEPTH - Input depth requires the player to manipulate button inputs in various ways. A single button input can be pressed/held/released and each of these input types can have timing variance (fast, slow, delay, long) to create a wide array of input timing/feel/intent. 1/10

How do Valkyries in God of War share moves/behaviors, yet offer unique challenges? The combination of altering attack roles/properties/composition forces the player to RELEARN the familiar. Let’s compare the behaviors between Gunnr, Kara and Geirdriful. #gamedesign #combatdesign MOVESET BREADTH - Gunnr has 2 standalone attacks whose ROLE is to ENCOURAGE parry (yellow FX); their anticipation window/attack speed are similar to allow for consistent parry timing. The air version encourages players to Axe Throw. 1/2

How do melee combat systems REINFORCE the fantasy of the player character? These gameplay systems are designed around a set of INTERCONNECTED rules that nudge players towards a certain playstyle or action. Let’s compare some popular melee action games. #combatdesign #gamedesign Sekiro replaced the global stamina system from Souls game and implemented a Posture/guard meter. This discourages the player from being PASSIVE; however, the addition of the Parry mechanic allows the player to COUNTERACT this limitation via skill and mastery of each enemy. 1/5

How do Hollow Knight enemies provide meaningful challenge with minimal behavior? Each enemy builds on the ones before it, introducing small TWEAKS. These INCREMENTAL changes forces the player to be deliberate. Let’s look at EARLY GAME enemies. #gamedesign #combatdesign 🧵 VARIANTS - Husk Wanderer and Husk Hornhead are perfect examples of NUMBER-BASED variants. Their base behavior is EXACTLY the same except for 3 variables: charge speed/distance and hit collision reach. 1/5

How do you realize the fantasy of being Spider-Man while creating approachable combat for the mass market? The player’s core mechanics need to have a LOW BARRIER of entry AND make you feel like a SUPERHERO. Let’s look at Spider-Man’s combat system. #gamedesign #combatdesign🧵 FANTASY - The EXPECTATION of how Spider-Man should FEEL in combat is ingrained in players' minds before they even play the game. Combat mechanics need to showcase Spider-Man’s LORE of Strength, Speed, Agility, Reflex, Balance, Healing properties.

God of War enemies must keep the player ENGAGED over 20+ hours. The first enemy, Draugr, serves an important ROLE (punching bag). Subsequent enemies need to VARY their roles and STRESS TEST the player’s toolkit. Let’s look at some “mid-game” enemies. #gamedesign #combatdesign 🧵 HARD LOCKS - This enemy category ELIMINATES at least one of the player’s tools. The player is FORCED to ENGAGE with another player mechanic. In this video, the Hel-Reaver causes basic axe attacks to bounce off. The player must switch to Barehanded stance to inflict damage. 1/4

What makes a combo feel POWERFUL? Most melee action games have a series of related attacks the player can STRING together. Combos usually have a FINITE number of moves until they END. Let’s look at Kratos’s barehanded combo in God of War #gamedesign #combatdesign 🧵 CADENCE - Combos are a TOOL the player uses to make PROGRESS on an enemy. The cadence/tempo of a combo gives the player a sense of progression and anticipation towards a satisfying climax or FINISHER. "Even" or linear feeling combos tend to be less exciting. 1/2

Enemies exist to encourage/discourage various strategies (and to make the player feel smart among other reasons). Sekiro is largely built around parrying (and stealth). Let’s examine the EARLY GAME enemies and what they try to INVOKE from the player. #gamedesign #combatdesign GRUNT - This enemy is helpless once he starts blocking Wolf’s attacks and will be Posture broken in a few hits. His only STRENGTH is taking advantage of a PASSIVE player. Once you block his opener, he’s hyper aggressive forcing the player to evade to mitigate Posture break. 1/2

What’s the purpose of a boss? Depends on the game, but usually bosses serve as a skill test, provide a sense of mastery, a set piece or a genuinely hard challenge. But, secretly, some are the ILLUSION of challenge. Let’s look at God of War’s first boss. #gamedesign #combatdesign BLOCKABLE ATTACKS - Every attack from an enemy this large should be unblockable, right? Ironically, having attacks with different properties (blockable vs unblockable), regardless of enemy size, allows the player to engage with their entire toolset. 1/3

How do you make a player character feel powerful in a 3rd person melee combat game? Many factors determine this such as enemy design and progression. But it all starts with the player’s basic toolkit. Let’s look at some of Kratos’ moves and the invisible aspects. #combatdesign 🧵 EXAGGERATED HIT COLLISION - All of Kratos’ attacks feel EXTREMELY powerful in their own way. The Heavy Attack has the ability to hit multiple targets even if the actual Axe doesn’t make contact. The player receives a "bonus" for successfully hitting a single target. 1/3

Melee combat design is the art of creating rules that determine when/how a player or enemy are allowed to hit each other. The inclusion of key rules determines the player’s technical burden. Let’s compare God of War/ Sekiro who have similar mechanics. #gamedesign #combatdesign 🧵 ATTACK TARGETING - Generally, the player has to control 2 axes (player facing and camera facing) during intense reaction-based gameplay. Eliminating the need to use the Left Stick to aim towards a target greatly reduces the chances of an attack missing. 1/4

What makes an easy (or hard) melee enemy? It depends on the combat game, but there are common enemy characteristics found in most melee games. Reverse engineering games is an exercise every game designer should do. Let’s look at the FIRST enemy in God of War. #gamedesign 🧵 The Draugr is the first enemy you fight and, unsurprisingly, it’s not much of a threat on its own. Its ROLE is to be a “punching bag.” On a side note, another fun game design exercise is to read up on your favorite game wiki and design additional content on paper.

Sometimes it's a good exercise to compile a list of game elements to help focus a design. Here's a list of some forgiving melee combat properties for a single player 3rd person game. Of course, many factors will determine fun factor, challenge and mastery. /thread #gamedev Basic attack effective against most enemies
Immediate cancel all actions with block, dodge, super attack
Omni-directional block
Generous parry window with no startup frames
Generous attack translation / reach
Generous Dodge invulnerability frames with no startup frames