GDC 2011 Notes – Crafting Satisfying Combat Experiences at Insomniac

Steps for a basic combat experience –

1. Establish a front
2. Layer setup
3. Establish a combat focus
4. Useful and clear cover
5. Send enemies in waves
6. Have a clear flanking route
7. Re-direct the front
8. Effectively use high-priority targets

Give players an immediate read of the space

Front -> Needs a No Man’s Land

• Sides from enemy and ally
• Use architecture to establish
• Establish with effective cover placement

 

Layered Setup

• 2 Distinct setups that require enemies to be present at the start
• Divide enemies into deal combat distance
• Use verticality when layering setups
• Nerf the second layer, the player focuses on first layer, but needs the 2nd on screen to give noise and urgency
• Regroup 1st w/ 2nd when 1st layer nearly depleted

Combat Focus

• Where is the player’s attention?
• Associate focus with architecture -> what’s unique about the area?
• Tight cover
• Intro enemies in tight space and keep them there
• Player’s goal is behind combat focus, it lets them see their goal

Cover Placement

• Start with cover placement, don’t wait until the end of your LD process
• Shape of cover is important, needs to be elongated, flat, and facing the enemy
• Rectangles > squares
• Lure player around space with cover
• Have multiple cover locations
• Don’t scatter randomly
• Be conscious of your ideal combat distance -> make in-editor helper objects to give you strict distances
• Need 1-2 pieces of flanking cover
• 2+ pieces of cover per shooter

Waves

• Bring in enemies over time
• 1st wave is the Gimme wave
• Each wave should be unique and focus on one type of enemies
• Filler dudes are okay, but make sure the wave isn’t homogenous
• Separate melee and ranged waves
• Pace to a crescendo
• Intro new waves on the last 1-2 enemies or when Big Baddy at <40% health
• Bring new waves in through the current combat focus
• Long intro paths are cool, must be perpendicular to player’s line of sight
• Stagger spawns in time and space to give good pacing to wave intros
• Only pause waves for story moments and exposition
• Lulls are boring -> player might turn around and then stuff happens behind them

Flanking

• Solid focus and frontline is good
• Have a single path to define where enemies will flank player from
• Wait at least 8 seconds to bring in flankers, let player get actioned
• 1st Shot Miss -> let player see that shot cross the screen so they know where it came from
• This is to announce the flanking group of 1 – 2 guys

Redirect the Front

• You can move your front around on the entry of a new wave
• Retreat the remainder of the 1st wave to establish the new front
• ANNOUNCE that you’re moving the front
• Use this to attract the player’s attention to the exit/goal

High Priority Targets

• Focus of a wave
• Tougher than usually
• Highlight entrance with geometry

In Tight Environments

• Hand-script enemy behavior
• Give them a single position to stick to
• Chance for quick surprises

 

No surprise for writer, no surprise for reader -> Do something unexpected

Dropships/Enemy spawning vehicles should travel all the way around the battlefield before dropping enemies in, this lets the player see where they’ll enter from, and gives them a chance to knock out a big baddy

This all establishes BASE rules for combat encounters