Hell to Raze Dev Blog
This Dev Blog is a 10 part written series analyzing 4 different hack and slash game titles for the purpose of making our senior capstone project Hell to Raze better. I focused mostly on my two design disciplines, Combat and Level, but occasionally take note of other design features such as sound and feedback. I found this exercise very helpful for our game and I hope this enlightens you on my thought processes.
BotW: Exploration
Hello, and thanks for reading the first Dev Blog post for our game Hell to Raze. If you aren’t familiar with our current project Hell to Raze, it is a top-down hack and slash platformer that focuses on a grapple for combat and navigation. I decided to make this blog to break down core elements of other successful games to learn and incorporate these elements into our current project so that we can strive for a better game. I have chosen to focus on games I have never played or haven’t played in a long time for these analyses. This was in an attempt to look at these games with fresh eyes so that the analysis didn’t get bogged down from previous experiences and expectations. For these first couple of posts I take a look at Legend of Zelda: Breath of the wild; trying to learn specifically on their level and puzzle design.
At first, I wasn’t too impressed with the design of the shrines in Breath of the Wild. They felt quick and short, unlike other dungeons in previous Zelda games. But after a few hours of gameplay, I realized that this was an intentional design. The shrines weren’t meant to be main dungeons the player went on, but rather small side quests to promote exploration and broke the player out of the straightforward and somewhat mundane path of the main quest. Not only was this a good way to incorporate experience and “level” boosts for the player, but it also changed the pace of the game to make it feel fresh for longer.
Hell to Raze falls into a rut that could be fixed with a sort of exploration element like this. We were able to make levels very quickly with a tool from one of our Tech Artists, which it turns out has become a blessing and a curse. Since it is very easy to create levels we’ve actually made our levels quite lengthy without realizing it. Coming from this length, the levels feel very rinse and repeat. Kill the enemies on this island, move to the next, then kill the enemies on that island then move to the next. It’s great for the first part of the level but then it starts to feel grindy and our players tend to start speed-running the levels.
We’ve come up with a preliminary way to promote exploration by adding in “lore objectives.” So as our players progress through the level, they might find an interactable object that will give them background knowledge of the story and the world. We believe that by giving the players a short snippet into the Hell to Raze universe, that will break up the grind of hacking through every enemy and revitalize the players’ intent and curiosity of the story. This would push the player to explore the level to find other lore objectives and carry them deeper into the story of Hell to Raze.
BotW: Shrine Puzzles
Thanks for coming back to part II of our analysis for Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Hell to Raze is coming along but there are still some great elements of Breath of the Wild that we could grasp and learn from. Specifically today I wanted to talk more about the puzzles found within the shrines. The shrines are a sort of mini dungeon that are spread out around the open world of Hyrule that promote exploration; take a look at post I for more on that.
One thing I noticed with these shrines was that the puzzles weren’t completely linear. At first glance, it was obvious I had to get from point A to point D and the answer of “how” was right in front of me; but Nintendo forces the player to go through points B and C first which were smaller puzzles in themselves. So now we didn’t have a simple one step puzzle but a three step puzzle which expanded the gameplay and made it more interactive for the player. The fun and difficulty in these puzzles came from the “how” for points B and C.
To expand on this more, one particular shrine showed that there was a locked door and we had to open it in some way. The way to open the door was obvious from an earlier puzzle where we have to get a ball into a mechanism to open the door; point A to D. But the ball was trapped in a tilt maze so the player would have to use the motion controls to roll the ball through the maze without having it fall off the edge; point B. Finally, once the ball was at the end of the maze the player couldn’t simply let the ball out of the maze onto the next walkway, but had to sort of flick the ball off the maze and land it onto the walkway ahead where the mechanism was, point C.
After playing Breath of the Wild, I realized that most of the puzzles within Hell to Raze were only one step. Hit this switch to let down a grapple point, move a pillar on top of a marker to open the gate. Given our constraints and our current scope of the game I’m worried we won’t be able to adjust and add this complexity to our puzzles. But by adding even some simple complexity, maybe just one more step, it would make these puzzles feel more alive and not so mundane.
BotW: Combat
This week we are going to talk about Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild one last time (at least for now), discussing it’s combat system and how it is relevant for the Hack and Slash project we at Hellhound Studios are working on. Our project Hell to Raze is a Hack and Slash and while previous installments of Legend of Zelda have felt like it fits this genre, I don’t believe Breath of the Wild fits this description.
Some big descriptors for a Hack and Slash are quick and constant button mashing, combos, and multiple enemies attacking the player. BotW doesn’t really have any of these elements and I would argue that BotW plays more like a Dark Souls genre. The enemies hit hard, and the player has to manage weapon durability and health items, which forces the player to pick their fights wisely and not fight everything they see. Especially with the open map concept and allowing the player to explore into higher-level regions, this sounds more like a Dark Souls combat system.
There’s nothing wrong with Dark Souls combat; I personally really enjoy it. But it doesn’t fit the aesthetic and direction we want Hell to Raze to take. Something I do think we can take away from Breath of the Wilds combat is their enemy AI. What is very interesting, and seen in a lot of other games too, is that if multiple enemies are in combat with the player, they will surround the player at a distance and only attack one or two at a time. They don’t all come and attack from one direction, but rather flank the player once they engage with one enemy. This drags out the combat in a good way. It makes the fights longer and more enjoyable because the player isn’t just killing multiple enemies with 3 swings of the sword. It also places the player in a vulnerable position once they engage an enemy because now a second enemy from the pack will come from the flank to attack.
When looking at Breath of the Wilds Combat, there are some do's and don’ts for Hell to Raze. We don’t want to make the enemies too tough and overwhelming to the point that we become Dark Souls. This was actually a problem we had in our Alpha build. We also should implement a way to make our AI move like enemies do in a lot of games, including BotW. Having the enemies spread out and flank the player will push the player to use the grapple more often and lead to a more intense, but enjoyable, battle scenario.
DmC: Music and Feedback
To help with our project Hell to Raze these next couple posts will be analyzing DmC: Devil may Cry by Ninja Theory. The combat in DmC feels very solid and a lot of its mechanics are similar to our game, mainly the grapple mechanic is used similarly in and out of combat. This week we will focus on something that is usually not top of mind, but is very useful for combat encounters and noticeable from the start of DmC: The Music.
The very first thing I noticed when entering combat in DmC was that the music suddenly changed and really hyped me up as a player. The combat is very fast paced, which isn’t quite what we want for Hell to Raze, but the intensity of the music amps the player up and sets them up for the fast paced action. The intensity of the music energizes the player and causes them to become laser focused in the combat and combo system. Hell to Raze seems to have a minor issue in this department. We currently have the same song playing throughout the whole level, so there’s no change to pump the player up. It’s a constant medium paced soundtrack that we need to amp up in certain areas and situations.
Along with the music, the controller vibrations with each hit, sends a wave of satisfaction to the player that keeps them going and reenergizes the player through combat. The combat in DmC might feel a little clunky when switching between weapon types, due to animation cutting, but DmC does a good job of hiding it by keeping the player focused on switching up their combos and feeling like a badass with the music. The stimulus from the music and controller vibrations positively reinforce the player to keep hitting everything they can, as fast as they can. This makes the combat feel so enjoyable and keeps the player invested into the game for longer.
For Hell to Raze, we will need to keep a closer eye at our soundtrack to make our battle scenarios feel more crisp and enjoyable. We’ve already begun working camera shake feedback from hits but with our game being controller support only at the moment, we should also look into vibration feedback to provide that extra layer of satisfaction to the player.
DmC: Encounters
For this second post on DmC: Devil may Cry, I wanted to take a dive into why the combat is required to progress through the level and what that means in relation to level design and gameplay. This required combat does a couple of things for DmC, but mainly it sets up pacing.
By having each combat scenario be strictly battle, instead of being open for exploration, the player becomes fully focused and invested into the fighting and combo system. This makes the combat scenario more fun because you cannot continue forward until everything is defeated so you instead focus on the complex combos and intensity of dodging and slashing demons. Apart from that reason, these required combat scenarios also help to break up the monotony of just running through the level.
Currently Hell to Raze has a minor issue where a lot of people end up just running past everything and unknowingly speedrun the level. Especially because it’s unknown to the player, this makes the game feel boring and lackluster since all the player does is jump from one island to the next without fighting. If we follow the direction of DmC, and make at least some of the combat encounters required, it should break up this monotony of swinging around without fighting.
At the same level though, we don’t want to discredit speedrunning. Speedrunning might be a fun element of our game that players really enjoy, but we definitely don’t want that to be the focus of Hell to Raze. We are hoping to bring an interesting and fun narrative alongside a hack and slash environment. By speedrunning, the player loses both of those. A concern that has been brought up though, is if we make every encounter required, the game will feel unnecessarily long and drawn out. So we will need to find a strategic way to place the required combat encounters so that they help set up the pacing but also not burden the player with constant forced battle.
DmC: Grapple
For our project Hell to Raze, this last post analyzing DmC: Devil may Cry is going to focus on its grapple mechanic during its combat and platforming sections. This grapple is what really makes Hell to Raze stand out since only a few games have something similar, and DmC does a great job with it.
What was nice to notice was that the grapple in DmC during combat felt very similar to Hell to Raze, which tells us that we did something right. Being able to grapple up to an aerial enemy and hack them with our sword felt similar in both games, adding flavor to the hack and slash combat. Being able to pull enemies away or quickly grappling towards a target breaks the space of other enemies in the scene. What I did notice was that the enemies didn’t immediately chase after the player in DmC when these quick grapples occurred which not only made them feel more alive, but also allows the player time to dish out damage and be rewarded for the decision to grapple. Currently Hell to Raze has pretty simple and limited AI that immediately chases the players’ location once aggroed. It would be nice to expand that AI to give this minor reward.
The grapple also felt very smooth in DmC during the platforming segments. The player slightly hovers at the end of each grapple to show the location of the next grapple point. This felt crisp mainly because the camera is in third person and freely moveable by the player; so this helps the player know where the next location to grapple is. For Hell to Raze, we wouldn’t need to implement something like this with our fixed top down camera, but it is important that each grapple point is noticeable and viewable while in the air. We’ve also added in a glide functionality to help slow down the player in air and add better maneuverability for landing. We did things a little differently but still reached the same conclusion of aiding the player while in the middle of these platform segments.
It was refreshing to see that our core mechanic of grappling during combat and platforming felt similar to DmC. It really showed that we are on the right track and that this core mechanic feels solid. Everyday our game is improving and we are coming to the end of production but we still have a lot of polish work to do. It’s a relief to see we don’t need to add grappling to our list of polishing.
The Force Unleashed: Combat Problems
For our project Hell to Raze, this last post analyzing DmC: Devil may Cry is going to focus on its grapple mechanic during its combat and platforming sections. This grapple is what really makes Hell to Raze stand out since only a few games have something similar, and DmC does a great job with it.
What was nice to notice was that the grapple in DmC during combat felt very similar to Hell to Raze, which tells us that we did something right. Being able to grapple up to an aerial enemy and hack them with our sword felt similar in both games, adding flavor to the hack and slash combat. Being able to pull enemies away or quickly grappling towards a target breaks the space of other enemies in the scene. What I did notice was that the enemies didn’t immediately chase after the player in DmC when these quick grapples occurred which not only made them feel more alive, but also allows the player time to dish out damage and be rewarded for the decision to grapple. Currently Hell to Raze has pretty simple and limited AI that immediately chases the players’ location once aggroed. It would be nice to expand that AI to give this minor reward.
The grapple also felt very smooth in DmC during the platforming segments. The player slightly hovers at the end of each grapple to show the location of the next grapple point. This felt crisp mainly because the camera is in third person and freely moveable by the player; so this helps the player know where the next location to grapple is. For Hell to Raze, we wouldn’t need to implement something like this with our fixed top down camera, but it is important that each grapple point is noticeable and viewable while in the air. We’ve also added in a glide functionality to help slow down the player in air and add better maneuverability for landing. We did things a little differently but still reached the same conclusion of aiding the player while in the middle of these platform segments.
It was refreshing to see that our core mechanic of grappling during combat and platforming felt similar to DmC. It really showed that we are on the right track and that this core mechanic feels solid. Everyday our game is improving and we are coming to the end of production but we still have a lot of polish work to do. It’s a relief to see we don’t need to add grappling to our list of polishing.
The Force Unleashed: Ability Progression
In Part II of this analysis for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed I wanted to praise it since Part I was more talking about the issues it had. Something I noticed was really well done in The Force Unleashed was its level design associated with ability escalation. The levels followed a traditional format of giving something new to play with, and iterating on it.
At the start of almost each level, the player is given a new ability and the level associated with it is actually catered to this newfound power. When you first get the lightsaber throw, you notice that most of the enemies are flying and hard to reach. They are easy to defeat with a quick lightsaber throw. There is also a bonus objective oriented around using the throw ability to cut chains off the sarlacc. This shows a progression of iteration and use for the ability. At first use, the player is taught use it plainly at someone right in front of them. But as the level progresses, it opens up more and better opportunities to use this ability.
This ability progression is also shown in the boss fights. One of the first bosses is very quick and deflects almost all of the players saber attacks. But by using the new ability from the level, force lightning, you are able to stun him and get a few saber swings in afterwards. It honestly turned this fight from unbeatable to very achievable.
Hell to Raze does this, not with its special attacks, but through the puzzles. The first level is very much focused on getting the basics of grappling and combat and falling blocks; progressively becoming more combined and difficult. The second level introduces a new puzzle where the player must hit a switch to lower a grapple point and this ends up being a core mechanic for the boss fight. And again we see this in our last level where the player uses a circus cannon throughout the level and is again a core mechanic in the boss fight.
This is a core element of level design shown through many games, most notably Mario. It encourages learning and games are fundamentally fun because we are constantly learning from them. What is the best strategy to defeat this boss (The Force Unleashed), how can I solve this puzzle (God of War), can I take this fight in my solo lane (League of Legends). By giving the player baby steps, they are slowly learning the potential of this new ability and able to iterate on it to use it in a more versatile sense. As Level Designer and Boss Designer for Hell to Raze, I’ve focused on this design pattern and have strived to make this happen throughout our levels so that the player feels this sense of learning to prepare them for the boss battle at the end.
FF7 Remake: Combat
The new rage right now is Final Fantasy 7 Remake. I’m a sucker for RPGs so of course I picked it up and there are a few things I definitely wanted to talk about that I think will improve future projects and possibly help as we close out Hell to Raze in the next couple weeks.
Firstly, I want to focus on the combat system. If you haven’t seen it for yourself, go watch some quick gameplay right now because it is mind blowing. The original FF7 was turn-based and was more strategic and slower paced. With the sensation of hack and slashes and third person RPGs, its not surprising Square Enix wanted to head this same route like their Kingdom Hearts series. But what’s amazing about FF7 Remake is that they somehow found a way to marry the two vastly different combat systems; and it feels perfect!
Each enemy shows their next attack like in the original turn based system, which allows the player to dodge any incoming attack or block it in the new real time system. This is the first nod to the pairing. Also the player is rewarded an ATB segment after attacking an enemy or hitting its weakness. This ATB segment is then used when the player enters “Tactical Mode” to do special abilities. This “Tactical Mode” slows down the game immensely and essentially turns the combat back into a turn-based system where the player can strategize on what ability from their long list they want to use. After the ability is chosen, the combat goes back to its real time system for more hacking and dodging.
At first it sounds odd to slow down the fast paced action to almost a complete stop, but it really works and the cinematography around the players actions and abilities really emphasize the power and strength coming from these different attacks and abilities. I don’t think this is anything Hell to Raze should implement but it’s interesting to see how unique this combat is and feels. It shows that as developers, we need to continue to think outside the box to bring our players new and unique experiences.
It’s extremely difficult to do, and as a newly graduated developer I still have a lot to learn before I think I could pull off anything crazy like marrying turn-based with real time. But the point of game development is to try new things and bring joy to the players. The fun that comes from development is creating new experiences that awe the player and seeing their reactions to what you’ve created. I can’t wait to join the industry and start working my way toward something amazing like this.
FF7 Remake: NPC World Building
In Part II of my analysis for Final Fantasy 7 Remake, I wanted to talk about the environment and NPCs bringing the world of Midgar to life. From the very beginning, the art really emphasizes how big the city of Midgar is. As you look up you see a giant plate that houses the rich and you feel how tiny you are in this world of Final Fantasy. The narrative wants you to feel this way as a player because you are playing as a small group of eco-terrorists trying to take down a power company that owns almost everything in the city. But along with the artwork, the NPCs truly carry the weight of each plate that makes up Midgar.
As you walk by people in town, not only do you hear them talking very clearly, but the game actually posts their dialogue on screen so you can slowdown and read what they are talking about. Their side dialogue talks about the power company Shinra and your eco-terrorist group Avalanche and everything that is happening within the narrative. They talk about the recent explosions and destruction happening within the city. These side conversations aren’t meant to be concentrated on, but they bring this world to life. As the player walks down the street, they hear the repercussions of their actions and can empathize with the common people in the slums.
This is a great way to build the narrative and bring the world alive in a game. Many other games actually rely solely on this more passive storytelling to convey their story, such as Bloodborne and Dark Souls. This passive storytelling builds up the narrative without forcing it upon the player and making the game become more movie rather than game. We’ve implemented something similar in Hell to Raze that is built and just needs to be placed throughout our levels.
As mentioned in a previous post, we wanted to promote exploration and this was done by placing “Lost Souls” that will reward the player with narrative and backstory to the world of Hell to Raze. We are hoping that as well as promoting exploration; this will round out our narrative so it doesn’t feel flat. These “Lost Souls” will give more character to each boss and each level of hell the player goes through: Limbo, Wrath, and Greed.
This passive storytelling is a key design element when it comes to narrative within games. Players have the luxury of personally moving through the environment rather than watching it go by like in a movie. This luxury comes at a cost for developers because we need to keep each bit interesting and entertaining and we need to keep the world alive through each moment. By utilizing this narrative element, we can keep the player immersed into our games for longer.