FRACTURED BLADE

MY GOALS

Create a smooth and fluid combat experience
Manageable combat amidst hordes of enemies
Make the player feel powerful
Encourage player creativity

Thoughts and Design Challenges at the bottom of the page

Demo Video

Mechanics

Dragging Attacks

The player can perform different attacks to combo the enemies. When hit, the enemies are slightly dragged in front of the player making it easier to combo them.

Sword Throw

Enemies hit by the sword throw are dragged by it until they hit a wall.
The player can teleport to the sword at any point which allow them to perform different actions depending on when they teleport to it.

Dodge

The player can dodge at almost any moment allowing them to be aggressive knowing that they cancel their current attacks and react to the incoming threats.

Last Second Dodge

A last second dodge will slow-down time allowing the player to perform a unique counter attack rewarding them for their timing. I added a slow-down to give better positive feedback to the player and to give them more time to aim their counter attack.

Arts of War

Players can equip different Arts of War to change their attack combo until they get hit or they complete the combo. It allows the player to choose a weapon that fits their style or to help with certain difficult encounters.

Smooth Transitions

The player can perform most of their attacks in any order at any point allowing for a smooth transition between the different actions and letting the player be creative with their combos.

Enemy & AI Design

Manageable Crowds

To keep the combat manageable, only 3 enemies can attack the player at the same time. Every other enemies is standing back further enough so the player does not consider them a threat.

Attack Types

Enemies can perform a weak attack which can be interrupted if they get hit and a stronger attack which can't be interrutped and forces the player to dodge, preventing the player from only attacking. Each attack type is easily identifiable by a light on the enemy's weapon.

Enemy Agressivity

The enemies have a chance to attack the player everytime they move depending on if another enemy is currently attacking. If no enemies have attacked the player in the last 4 seconds, the closest enemy will be forced to attack the player.

Stronger Enemy

Unique Attacks

This enemy has a lot more range than the regular enemies and can perform multiple hits in a row forcing the player to understand their pattern in order to dodge multiple attacks.

Armor

These enemies have an armor which prevents them from being staggered so the player can't combo them to death. The only way to stagger them is to throw your sword at them. The armor can be broken once they get below 40% health which is indicated on their health bar. Allowing the player to break the armor gives them something to work towards, a goal.

Execution

Once the player broke the armor and threw their sword at the enemy, they can teleport to it and an execution cutscene will trigger which will instantly kill them.

THOUGHTS &
DESIGN CHALLENGES

Weapon Choice

I knew I needed a large weapon since I wanted to be able to hit multiple enemies at the same time. From there, I had a wide variety of options. I ended up choosing the Greatsword since I felt like it brought a better feeling of power to the player.

Even though it did a worst job at hitting multiple enemies than let's say a Spear or a Halberd, I valued the feeling of power more than being able to hit in a slightly wider area.

Choice of Animations

Choosing the right animations for my attacks was a small challenge. I had to make sure that most of the animations were fit for wide attacks but make it so the combo finishers were Flashy.
To do so I made the last attacks :

Deal a lot more damage than the rest
Have a really cool looking animation
Feel satisfying to hit using VFXs

That way it creates some sort of goal for the player to work towards while fighting.

Aggressivity vs Fear

Finally, the biggest challenge of this project and one I have always struggled with, encouraging the player to be aggressive without being scared. To achieve this, I had to allow the player to dodge at almost any moments during their actions. Doing so allows the player to attack the enemies without fear knowing that they can react to any incoming threats by dodging.

That was still not enough to have the player be aggressive, I had to make the enemies' attacks really noticable and reactable. The way I did that was by adding a clear VFX starting during the enemies' wind up time, allowing the player to clearly see the incoming threats. I also added arrows pointing towards the enemies behind the player, and made them change color when they're attacking them.

FRACTURED BLADE

MY GOALS

Create a smooth and fluid combat experience

Manageable combat amidst hordes of enemies

Make the player feel powerful

Encourage player creativity

Thoughts and Design Challenges at the bottom of the page

Demo Video

Mechanics

Dragging Attacks

The player can perform different attacks to combo the enemies. When hit, the enemies are slightly dragged in front of the player making it easier to combo them.

Sword Throw

Enemies hit by the sword throw are dragged by it until they hit a wall. The player can teleport to the sword at any point which allow them to perform different actions depending on when they teleport to it.

Dodge

The player can dodge at almost any moment allowing them to be aggressive knowing that they cancel their current attacks and react to the incoming threats.

Last Second Dodge

A last second dodge will slow-down time allowing the player to perform a unique counter attack rewarding them for their timing. I added a slow-down to give better positive feedback to the player and to give them more time to aim their counter attack.

Arts of War

Players can equip different Arts of War to change their attack combo until they get hit or they complete the combo. It allows the player to choose a weapon that fits their style or to help with certain difficult encounters.

Smooth Transitions

The player can perform most of their attacks in any order at any point allowing for a smooth transition between the different actions and letting the player be creative with their combos.

Enemy & AI Design

Manageable Crowds

To keep the combat manageable, only 3 enemies can attack the player at the same time. Every other enemies is standing back further enough so the player does not consider them a threat.

Attack Types

Enemies can perform a weak attack which can be interrupted if they get hit and a stronger attack which can't be interrutped and forces the player to dodge, preventing the player from only attacking. Each attack type is easily identifiable by a light on the enemy's weapon.

Enemy Agressivity

The enemies have a chance to attack the player everytime they move depending on if another enemy is currently attacking. If no enemies have attacked the player in the last 4 seconds, the closest enemy will be forced to attack the player.

Stronger Enemy

Unique Attacks

This enemy has a lot more range than the regular enemies and can perform multiple hits in a row forcing the player to understand their pattern in order to dodge multiple attacks.

Armor

Execution

Once the player broke the armor and threw their sword at the enemy, they can teleport to it and an execution cutscene will trigger which will instantly kill them.

THOUGHTS & DESIGN CHALLENGES

Weapon Choice

Choice of Animations

Choosing the right animations for my attacks was a small challenge. I had to make sure that most of the animations were fit for wide attacks but make it so the combo finishers were Flashy. To do so I made the last attacks :

​

Deal a lot more damage than the rest

Have a really cool looking animation

Feel satisfying to hit using VFXs

​​

That way it creates some sort of goal for the player to work towards while fighting.

Aggressivity vs Fear

Enemies hit by the sword throw are dragged by it until they hit a wall.
The player can teleport to the sword at any point which allow them to perform different actions depending on when they teleport to it.

THOUGHTS &
DESIGN CHALLENGES

Choosing the right animations for my attacks was a small challenge. I had to make sure that most of the animations were fit for wide attacks but make it so the combo finishers were Flashy.
To do so I made the last attacks :