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ve behind cover to heal about halfway through the game enemies start appearing with body armor and shotguns these shotguns are one hit kills at close range and the body armor prevents the player from having enough time to defeat the enemy if they re too close suddenly the player s entire combat strategy is invalidated getting up close is suicidal it would be okay if their combat strategy was simply challenged and close range became more dangerous the player could take some risks and learn the right strategies for each situation but a one hit kill isn t challenging or dangerous it s suicidal and frustrating the player can t even attempt the close range strategy anymore because there s no margin for error if they let these enemies pull the trigger once they have to restart the entire battle the game can t seem to decide does it want the player to move forward and engage the enemy at action hero close range or hide at a distance at take carefully aimed shots the entire combat system seems to encourage the former then it blows drake s head off with a shotgun if the player actually attempts it so the game progresses a bit further the player learns to remain behind distant cover carefully lining up their shots then the player encounters enemies with rocket propelled grenades and other explosives who are an accurate one hit kill at long range now carefully lining up your shots behind cover is invalidated as a strategy now getting close is suicide hiding at range is suicide and running around out of cover is always suicide what is the player supposed to do get frustrated and angry at the frequent cheap kills and restarts most likely solution enemies with the potential to kill the player in one hit should call attention to themselves as priority targets and should never be heavily armored enemies with instant kill weapons should be lightly armored and dressed in light colors for enemies with shotguns bands of bright red shotgun shells should alert the player to the weapon they re carrying the player should be able to identify them as potentially deadly targets and prioritize them appropriately the player will still get killed by them if they get too close a point blank shot from a shotgun isn t survivable but at least they ll feel like the death is their fault for not prioritizing that enemy and eliminating them before advancing rather than the game just being unfair if i were running a well funded private army i d definitely put my shotgun users in heavy armor so they d be able to survive long enough to get close to their target and use their shotguns effectively but i m not a russian psychopath i m a game designer and it s okay for my shotgunners to die like punks if it s more fun for the player solution enemies with instant kill explosives should be lousy shots and have limited ammunition ranged explosive attacks have a role in the game they should shake up the player knock them out of cover and force them to prioritize on defeating the enemies with explosives first they should not be a real threat to kill the player unless the player is already wounded nathan drake is an action hero and action heroes thrive on diving away from explosions or getting knocked to the ground with no real damage enemies with explosive weapons should be terrible shots they should be able to hit near drake injuring him behind cover but it should be nearly impossible for them to score a direct hit and kill the drake instantly there are a few enemies near the end of the game which are particularly bad about this if the player doesn t stay in motion constantly they ll be hit right between the eyes by an overpowered explosive these fights also feature enemies which can quickly kill drake if he s not behind cover which is a frustrating combination hide and die or move and die lower their accuracy significantly so that drake can at least take a moment to hide behind a pillar and recover the game s health mechanic rewards hiding and catching your breath turning that into a death sentence is unfair additionally enemies with explosives should have limited ammunition drake can only carry two rpg shots why can an enemy with an rpg fire shot after shot after they ve fired two or three times have the enemy switch to a pistol or close combat weapon and move forward to engage drake at close range categories game design tags action adventure combat explosives naughty dog one hit kills ps3 uncharted 2 borderlands march 24 2010 bfiggins leave a comment problem once players are a few levels apart they can t effectively play together anymore borderlands offers a lot of ways to play single player drop in multiplayer and local splitscreen and you can take one character and level them up in any mode starting a new game and playing with a friend works great but if one player plays more than another the fun starts to break down once the players are more than 4 5 levels apart one of them is going to feel useless one option is for the lower level player to host the game but then the gameplay is trivial for a higher level player because their enemies don t pose a challenge they ll rack up tons of kills but feel bored doing it or the higher level player can host the game this is even worse the lower level player will die in just two or three hits and their weapons will be unable to damage the foes they meet it s not just that they re weak they re essentially not even playing the game anymore the players could agree to only play with each other and make sure they keep their levels equal but the ability to carry one character from single player to local multiplayer to online is one of the best features of borderlands and it s not fair to expect the players to abandon that feature solution equalize the characters levels but offer the high level players the high level rewards they deserve when multiple players connect the lowest level character automatically sets the difficulty for the game all of the enemies the group fights will be scaled to the lowest level member the higher level characters take a penalty to their health shields damage and skill effectiveness to bring them in line with a character of that level the characters keep their skills levels and weapons they re just not as effective the twist is the higher level players continue to receive higher level rewards if a level 45 player is playing with a level 20 character and kills a level 20 enemy they receive xp as if they had killed a level 45 enemy this may sound like a huge bonus but remember with the level lowering defeating a level 20 enemy should be as difficult for this player as defeating a level 45 enemy would normally be xp is really a reward for the player not the character so they should receive a reward that makes the time they spend playing worthwhile loot is a bit more complicated since every player usually sees the same items rather than changing the loot drops create a new way for high level players to use low level items place a new vending machine in various cities around the world players can sell items to these vending machines but they won t receive money instead they ll receive loot tickets the number of tickets is based on the difference between the item s level and the player s level and the player can t receive tickets for an item that s within 5 levels of their own or a higher level than themselves these tickets can then be traded in with these vending machines when checking this vending machine every player sees a unique inventory screen customized for their character the machines show a broad selection of weapons and items that are appropriate to the character s level and class as well as an option to just give the player a random level appropriate loot item they can trade their loot tickets for these items in this way the player has a reason to play with lower level characters and pick up low level items the game still has challenge and they can meaningfully cooperate with their teammates instead of overpowering them they can continue to advance their characters at a meaningful rate and transform the low level items into stuff they can actually use categories game design tags 2k action borderlands coop fps gearbox level rpg red faction guerrilla march 21 2010 bfiggins leave a comment problem conflicts self escalate and self perpetuate here s a situation you re heading towards an objective and you pass by one of the edf supply crates that you re supposed to destroy you saunter over and take a swing at it with your sledgehammer a trooper across the street sees you destroying their property and starts firing as you take cover a car pulls up and several guerillas jump out to assist you they kill the trooper more troopers show up they kill more pretty soon the edf is at red alert there s apcs climbing over each other and gunships sniping you from above and there s no hope of actually reaching your objective all because you decided to take a swing at an optional target it s even worse if you start shooting back the edf has an unending supply of troops and as soon as you shoot one of them they all seem to know where you are this means that despite the game s title guerrilla tactics don t work if you want to hit and run the only place you can run to is your safehouse a minute or two away and it s likely that the edf will respawn by the time you get back it s not entirely uncommon in open world games since destroying cops rightfully tends to attract the attention of more cops however red faction guerrilla has two design choices that aggravate the problem first if the area supports you guerrillas will arrive and fight with you during combat that s really cool except that there s no way to let the red faction know when to knock it off and disengage second there s no pay n spray from the gta series or equivalent to allow the player to escape pursuit or lose their alert level they can retreat to a safehouse but there are only a handful of those scattered across the entire game world solution 1 add disengage logic to guerrilla ai with a few tweaks to their ai the guerrillas can be helpful to an escaping player rather than dragging them into further conflicts first we need a way to identify when the player is attempting to evade instead of fight it doesn t need to be a very complicated system though just keep a hidden numerical variable to track the player s attitude once per second 1 if the player doesn t fire a weapon 1 if they don t cause any damage 1 if they re sprinting 1 if they don t take any damage 3 if no enemy units have line of sight 3 if the player fires a weapon 5 if they cause damage 1 if they take damage 50 every time the alert level increases if the number gets to 50 or above the player is considered to be evading rather than fighting if they take actions to lower their number again their status can change back to fighting if the player is evading their guerrilla allies attempt to help them escape they stop trying to kill the edf and start laying down suppressive fire moving away from the battlefield and looking for vehicles to escape in as they disengage the edf assumes they ve won the conflict and the alert level drops rapidly if the player is evading and on foot running away from the conflict they will get a radio message that a prepared vehicle is being sent for them shortly thereafter a vehicle will pull up nearby if the player takes this vehicle and avoids any illegal behavior for a short while their alert level will drop the vehicle is nondescript radar camouflaged a diplomatic vehicle any explanation is just as good as another this pull up and leave a vehicle behavior already exists in the game so the only change that needs to be made is causing the vehicle to affect the player s alert level solution 2 create stealth abilities the player can purchase and use another way to allow the player to escape is to give them more control over escaping from a conflict in red faction guerrilla the player has an npc ally samanya who offers them weapon and item upgrades in exchange for salvage currency as an armor upgrade sam will offer stealth upgrades to the player s heavy martian coat the player would activate these abilities by holding down the crouch button l3 on ps3 and the abilities would last until they draw a weapon or take damage they can use their stealth as much as they want although high tech stealth solutions have a cooldown time before they can be used again red faction guerrilla is still an action game not stealth action so the player shouldn t be able to rely on stealth for offense too often at the beginning of the game all the player can do is turn up their collar hide their weapon and try to look nonchalant even this can be helpful for disappearing into a crowd 1 4 way through the game samanya offers the player a quick change coat which can rapidly be turned inside out or otherwise modified to appear as a different style of clothing 1 2 way through the game the player can purchase automatic camouflage similar to old snake in metal gear solid 4 if they crouch and move slowly their coat will automatically change color to match the closest surface this makes long range attackers especially gunships much less likely to notice and attack the player and allows the player to attempt evasion even with no civilians nearby 3 4 way through the game true invisibility becomes available the invisibility cloak only lasts for a few seconds and has a recharge time but it allows the player to move to a different hiding spot climb in a vehicle unnoticed or slip past an edf blockade none of these items offer a perfect escape from a conflict but they all allow a player to have more control over their attempt to escape they ll also promote more guerrilla tactics where a player can strike at the edf then disappear into the crowd without being drawn into an extended conflict categories game design tags action ai evasion npc red faction guerrilla stealth thq volition brütal legend march 20 2010 bfiggins leave a comment problem difficulty curve based on optional exploration the single player mode of brütal legend features a number of scripted storyline battles interspersed with periods of activity where the player can roam around the game world earning upgrades and finding hidden statues to increase their life and power hidden solos also give the player new abilities that can turn the tide of battle however the player is not required to explore and may move on to the next story mission at any time the game s difficulty is based on the assumption that the player has explored and earned some upgrades so moving on too quickly can throw the player in over their head causing the storyline missions to become difficult and frustrating this problem is compounded by the story of brütal legend it s excellent engaging and well written as a player i found myself much more interested in advancing the main plotline than spending time improving my character solution npcs judge the player s strength and offer a...