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Improving the Combat 'Impact' of Action Games 3. Special Effects Particles Adding spewing blood or large exaggerated particles improve the impact feel. 2D particles sometimes signify the direction of the attack as in Capcom' s Devil May Cry 2 (Figure 14). In some games simply swinging the sword causes dirt particles to lift off the ground.
In KUF:TC, rapid multiple attacks appear as separate impacts because of the flashing particle effects for each impact. Koei' s Dynasty Warriors series relies heavily on particle effects. Every attack and especially the special moves cause small fireworks (Figure 15) in the game.
Hit lighting Temporarily altering the lighting of the target being hit is one of the best ways to show an impact. In Sammy Studio's Berserk the monsters being chopped into pieces are highlighted as in Figure 16.
In Soul Caliber 2, a light from the point of impact is applied to both the attacker and target (Figure 17).
Hit lighting also works with multiple targets as shown in Figure 18 of KUF:TC. Directional hit lights originate from the attacker and point toward each of the individual targets. Since the number of lights applied does not increase, there is little performance penalty other than the small overhead of keeping track of the different directions.
White or Black Screen In Ninja Gaiden certain kicks during combo and the sliding kick causes the screen to flash white (Figure 19). In Dynasty Warriors, before a special move the screen becomes black except for the main character and particles. In both cases the screen effect indicates impact or impending impact caused by a non staple attack move.
Trail Effects Virtually all sword fighting games have trail effects. With quick attack animations, even at 60 fps, it can be hard to tell where the sword has gone through. In reality the sword movement is continuous, but in a game it is composed of discrete frames of different sword positions. The quicker the motion is, the more disjointed the frames become. A trail connects these frames and lasts longer than attack frames to show the full effect area of the attack. Trails vary from simple colored-trails (Soul Caliber), to particle effects trails (Regnier of KUF:TC), to distortion effect trails (Ninja Gaiden, Figure 1). 4. Game Controller Rumble Various game hardware have different motors to create rumble effects. Modern console controllers have two motors; one for large pulses and one for smaller rumbles. Combining the two at different speeds and durations creates widely different effects. Ninja Gaiden provides an excellent example of this. Hitting the ground with a large sword generates a strong but short thump. Scraping a sword against a wall causes an irregular rumble with both motors. Sliding on the ground generates a different rumble representing friction. Rumbles change depending on whether an opponent is hit or missed. Perhaps because of porting to multiple platforms in including the PC, a counter example for good use of motors is LOTR: ROTK. Most motions cause a similar monotonous rumble. In Figure 20, sticking the sword into the ground causes a lengthy rumble of even intensity although the impact is a single thrust. Again, being a platform exclusive title, can make it easier to implement controller rumble effects, such as Ninja Gaiden for the Xbox.
5. Sound effects Sound effects contribute tremendously to improving impact feel. Mute the sound while playing Capcom' s samurai action game Onimusha: Warlords and you might even say it feels a bit flat. However, turn the volume up and once you hear the samurai sword slashing through flesh the attack animation may suddenly seems more painful. There are several components to the sound effects. On the attacker' s side there is a sword swinging "whoosh" sound and a grunting "hee-yap" sound. The victim provides the damage scream. Then there is an impact sound depending on the weapon and the surface or armor that the impact occurs on.
In FPS shooting games where guns are the main weapon, opponents are usually far away so sound effects are more important. In Quake 3 2D sound effects (irrelevant of the listener' s position) indicate when a bullet or rocket hits an opponent even when the opponent is not visible on screen. Some players have said that for games with only 3D impact sounds, such as Unreal Tournament 2004, it can be difficult to tell if a shot hit the opponent. Fortunately for sword fighting games, the opponents are usually nearby so sound effects can be heard quite well whether they are 2D or 3D. Conclusion In sword fighting action games, to make the combat exciting, the impact feel of it must be good enough to compel the player to continue hacking and slashing at the opponents for hours and hours of gameplay. One of the common patterns in many of the games is to make the attack motions as quick as possible. Then to help the player see how the incredibly fast attack is done, several techniques are employed. First is to maintain the highest possible frame rate (60 fps for some). Then manipulate the camera to make the quick attack look heavy and powerful. Add particles and weapon trails to show where and what is being hit. Finally use the controller motors and sound effects to give tactile and auditory feed back of the impact.
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