{"id":683,"date":"2011-03-17T14:43:15","date_gmt":"2011-03-17T18:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oztalay.com\/matt\/?p=683"},"modified":"2012-01-19T11:48:49","modified_gmt":"2012-01-19T16:48:49","slug":"crafting-satisfying-combat-experiences-at-insomniac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.oztalay.com\/matt\/crafting-satisfying-combat-experiences-at-insomniac\/","title":{"rendered":"GDC 2011 Notes &#8211; Crafting Satisfying Combat Experiences at Insomniac"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Steps for a basic combat experience &#8211;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Establish a front<\/li>\n<li>Layer setup<\/li>\n<li>Establish a combat focus<\/li>\n<li>Useful and clear cover<\/li>\n<li>Send enemies in waves<\/li>\n<li>Have a clear flanking route<\/li>\n<li>Re-direct the front<\/li>\n<li>Effectively use high-priority targets<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Give players an immediate read of the space<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>Front -&gt; Needs a No Man\u2019s Land<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Sides from enemy and ally<\/li>\n<li>Use architecture to establish<\/li>\n<li>Establish with effective cover placement<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Layered Setup<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>2 Distinct setups that require enemies to be present at the start<\/li>\n<li>Divide enemies into deal combat distance<\/li>\n<li>Use verticality when layering setups<\/li>\n<li>Nerf the second layer, the player focuses on first layer, but needs the 2nd on screen to give noise and urgency<\/li>\n<li>Regroup 1st w\/ 2nd when 1st layer nearly depleted<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Combat Focus<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Where is the player\u2019s attention?<\/li>\n<li>Associate focus with architecture -&gt; what\u2019s unique about the area?<\/li>\n<li>Tight cover<\/li>\n<li>Intro enemies in tight space and keep them there<\/li>\n<li>Player\u2019s goal is behind combat focus, it lets them see their goal<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Cover Placement<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Start with cover placement, don\u2019t wait until the end of your LD process<\/li>\n<li>Shape of cover is important, needs to be elongated, flat, and facing the enemy<\/li>\n<li>Rectangles &gt; squares<\/li>\n<li>Lure player around space with cover<\/li>\n<li>Have multiple cover locations<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t scatter randomly<\/li>\n<li>Be conscious of your ideal combat distance -&gt; make in-editor helper objects to give you strict distances<\/li>\n<li>Need 1-2 pieces of flanking cover<\/li>\n<li>2+ pieces of cover per shooter<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Waves<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bring in enemies over time<\/li>\n<li>1st wave is the Gimme wave<\/li>\n<li>Each wave should be unique and focus on one type of enemies<\/li>\n<li>Filler dudes are okay, but make sure the wave isn\u2019t homogenous<\/li>\n<li>Separate melee and ranged waves<\/li>\n<li>Pace to a crescendo<\/li>\n<li>Intro new waves on the last 1-2 enemies or when Big Baddy at &lt;40% health<\/li>\n<li>Bring new waves in through the current combat focus<\/li>\n<li>Long intro paths are cool, must be perpendicular to player\u2019s line of sight<\/li>\n<li>Stagger spawns in time and space to give good pacing to wave intros<\/li>\n<li>Only pause waves for story moments and exposition<\/li>\n<li>Lulls are boring -&gt; player might turn around and then stuff happens behind them<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Flanking<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Solid focus and frontline is good<\/li>\n<li>Have a single path to define where enemies will flank player from<\/li>\n<li>Wait at least 8 seconds to bring in flankers, let player get actioned<\/li>\n<li>1st Shot Miss -&gt; let player see that shot cross the screen so they know where it came from<\/li>\n<li>This is to announce the flanking group of 1 &#8211; 2 guys<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Redirect the Front<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You can move your front around on the entry of a new wave<\/li>\n<li>Retreat the remainder of the 1st wave to establish the new front<\/li>\n<li>ANNOUNCE that you\u2019re moving the front<\/li>\n<li>Use this to attract the player\u2019s attention to the exit\/goal<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>High Priority Targets<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Focus of a wave<\/li>\n<li>Tougher than usually<\/li>\n<li>Highlight entrance with geometry<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>In Tight Environments<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Hand-script enemy behavior<\/li>\n<li>Give them a single position to stick to<\/li>\n<li>Chance for quick surprises<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>No surprise for writer, no surprise for reader -&gt; Do something unexpected<\/p>\n<p>Dropships\/Enemy  spawning vehicles should travel all the way around  the battlefield  before dropping enemies in, this lets the player see  where they\u2019ll enter  from, and gives them a chance to knock out a big  baddy<\/p>\n<p>This all establishes BASE rules for combat encounters<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Steps for a basic combat experience &#8211; Establish a front Layer setup Establish a combat focus Useful and clear cover Send enemies in waves Have a clear flanking route Re-direct the front Effectively use high-priority targets Give players an immediate read of the space<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[193,72,180,192,83,182],"class_list":["post-683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essays-and-opinions","tag-combat-experiences","tag-gdc","tag-gdc-2011","tag-insomniac","tag-level-design","tag-notes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.oztalay.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.oztalay.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.oztalay.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.oztalay.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.oztalay.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=683"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.oztalay.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":923,"href":"http:\/\/www.oztalay.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683\/revisions\/923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.oztalay.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.oztalay.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.oztalay.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}