introduction
Players take the initiative to start a battle in the game, for various reasons, such as brushing equipment, brushing experience, advancing the process, and so on. This article will strip away these elements and only discuss the experience that the combat system itself brings to the player.
It is conceivable that even if elements such as battle rewards are removed, the combat experience of traditional action games such as Devil May Cry and Ninja Dragon is still attractive enough to drive players to play over and over again. The reason why the attraction can be generated is that the experience of the combat system itself satisfies some of the player's psychological needs. Summarizing the psychological needs of these players, they can be divided into three basic types of needs: violence, self-identification and control.
These three basic needs are introduced, analyzed, and given examples of designs for existing action games.
First, violence
Violence is an instinctive human need, a subconscious desire for destruction and attack. But in an orderly society, human aggression and destructive desire are suppressed by various rules. Therefore, in modern society, video games have become a channel to vent such instincts. The various designs in action games can well meet people's psychological needs for violence. (Whether violent elements in video games have their side effects remains to be debated.)
Related designs:
Strike Sense Refers to the feedback when a player's attack hits a target. The game reinforces the player's perception of the fact of "attacking the other person" through sight and sound. For example, the physical reaction of the characters in Street Fighter when they are hit, sound effects, visual effects, and so on.
Destruction of the creature's limbs: Destroy the creature's limbs to bring about a visual impact and ultimately satisfy the player's psychological needs. For example, the amputation and execution of "Ninja Dragon"; the "Heart and Lungs" of "God of War".
Second, self-identification
Self-identification, that is, the player's sense of identity with himself, can also be a sense of accomplishment. In action games, players often gain self-identification after overcoming difficulties and getting feedback on success. It's like in Ninja Dragon, after a player breaks through a difficult battle point, or after playing a gorgeous set of stops in Devil May Cry, the feeling of "I'm so strong" is generated.
Action game combat systems often reinforce this feeling by enhancing the feeling of "difficulty" and enhancing the "feedback" of both design methods.
Designs that enhance the feeling of "difficulty":
Increased realistic difficulty: In action game combat systems, there are various difficulties such as increasing the strength of enemies (designing monsters with strong blood attacks and high moves), increasing the difficulty of operations (designing complex eye-to-eye segments, reducing invincible frames for dodging), and so on. Players will gain "self-identification" when overcoming such real difficulties, but overcoming such difficulties also requires players to practice and think about them.
Increase false difficulty: The second idea is to increase the feeling of "difficulty" given to the player. The reason why it is a "difficult feeling" is that its real difficulty has not risen, but through the vision, hearing, scenes, words, etc., the "false difficulty". For example, those huge and oppressive bosses in games such as "God of War" and "Witch". Older, more experienced players tend to be able to see through false difficulties. It is difficult for such players to gain self-identification in a mowing game like "True Three Kingdoms", while younger players can get an extraordinary sense of achievement and identity in the roles they operate.
Enhanced feedback design:
This design reinforces the feedback players get when they overcome difficulties. In Devil May Cry, if a player performs well in battle, the battle evaluation will continue to rise, giving the player feedback visually and audibly. In Angel Hunter Witch, players are rewarded with "Witch Time" when they accurately dodge enemy attacks. The sense of blow can also enhance the player's sense of self-identity by reinforcing the player's feeling that "I successfully hit the other side".
Third, the desire to control
The desire to control is the human desire to eliminate the unknown and control everything. In games with construction elements, it will be reflected in the player's meticulous and orderly arrangement of each building; in games with exploration elements, it will be reflected in the player's inseparability for each dark corner, and it will be uncomfortable without lighting up every shadow of the map. In the combat system of action games, the desire for control is reflected in the player's full control of his own character and the player's control of the enemy, and the accompanying feeling is the sense of control or operation.
Design to enhance the sense of control over your character:
The accused character can quickly perform the player's input: for example, in most action games, the character's movements are short, which is to be able to quickly react to the player's current input (front shake short) and subsequent input (back shake short). (Mario reacts quickly to player input, but in the form of a change in action, not a quick change in character speed.)
The accused character can accurately perform the player's "inner input": the reason why "inner input" is used here is because the player is sometimes unable to accurately reflect his inner thoughts through the operation of the hand, that is, it may be improper or mishandled. The game needs to better satisfy the player's desire for control by identifying these misoperations and realizing the player's real ideas. For example, in Ninja Dragon, falcons automatically face the most likely target around them when attacking.
Enhance the sense of control through the actions of the controlled character. For example, the various flexible displacements in "Devil May Cry" can give the player a strong sense of control; in "Angel Hunting Witch", Beyonita's actions are exaggerated and tense, and can also bring the player a strong sense of control. (Handsome actions can also bring players "self-recognition")
Designed to enhance the sense of control over enemies:
Players can control enemy status, displacement, and more. This can be well reflected in the floating concatenation of Devil May Cry. In the series, the player character can force the enemy to move as he wants through a variety of skills, and completely control the enemy.
epilogue
The above is a brief analysis of the three basic psychological needs of the player that the combat system of an action game can meet, and lists some of the means to achieve these needs in the game. This article is just my thinking about the action to the combat system, there must be various inaccuracies and incompleteness, but I still hope that through the above analysis, I can provide designers with the angle and idea of analyzing and designing the action to the combat system.