VR Titan Combat Part 2 - Combat

Basic Attacks and UX – In line with the same goal of mantaining symetry, both robotic hands contain the same offence. Below is the proposed list of attacks and control scheme :

Trigger : Enemy projectile fire. All attacks are projectile based. This decision is also inline with mantaining a slower combat pace. Hitscan weapons are typically used only in low time to kill, fast mobility shooters.

A/X button : Change projectile type. Player has two projectile types. Each are intended for different purposes and exercise different skills. New weapons in each category can be discovered and equipped through the course of the game.

1. Laser Bolts
• Pulling the trigger emits a continuous rapid stream of laser bolt like attacks.
• High Frequency, Low Damage attack.
• Intended to attack fast moving, high HP targets or distributed low HP targets.
• Skill involved is continually reorienting cursor to ensure optimal number of bolts are landing on targets.
• Easier to use against “bullet sponge” slow moving, high HP targets or clustered low HP targets.
• These types of targets can be used to give players a break from high intensity challenges, i.e., a dip in the interest curve.
2. Charged Missile
• Pulling the trigger shoots a missile. Holding the trigger and releasing launches a more powerful missile.
• Low Frequency, High Damage attack.
• Intended to attack medium paced, high HP targets.
• Skill involved is watching the enemy and identifying right time to release.

B/Y Button – With the slightly slower paced combat and emphasis on higher time to kill opponents, it is likely that players will spend several minutes in a battle arena. Therefore, an attack type that alters the space might be useful. For example, consider an explosive mine detonator. The player uses the B or Y button to launch a mine. She then needs to shoot the mine to detonate it. Detonation causes damage within a certain radius and leaves it in a permanent state of fire. This fire could be friendly fire or cause damage to the player.

Encounter Design

Optimal Weapon Configuration - Both weapons can potentially be equipped simulatenously, i.e., one on each hand or the same weapon can be equipped on either. Encounters can be designed with the intension of having players decipher the optimal sequence of configurations.

This concept when combined with 1v2 or 1v3 battles where the ‘n’ NPCs on the board demand a different optimal configuration could result in some interesting player mental models. Players must now map each NPC’s state to an optimal weapon configuration and change their loadouts when they encounter each NPC.

Setting up Flank – Players can use a combination of attacks to flank opponents.

Special Attack – The player also has one high damage, high cool down time attack. This attack is a hitscan core blast.

The player executes this attack by pulling both triggers and bringing his controllers together. Once the core is triggered, player must keep both triggers held to keep the core blast active. She may move her hands to reorient the laser core blast. However, the core will move slower than her hand, i.e., there is not a 1:1 mapping between player hand movement and blast trajectory. This is to prevent the attack from becoming overpowered.

Defense – Each hand has a shield that covers a portion of the player. The shield is sufficiently small that the player will need to reorient the shield to block attacks from different directions.

The player accesses the shield using the grip button. The player may not attack and defend from a single hand simultaneously. The shield also degenerates as it blocks incoming attacks. It regenerates automatically when it is inactive. Once a shield “breaks” it may not be used for a brief amount of time. This potentially creates some interesting physical posturing to continue blocking and attacking simultaneously from both hands.

Special Defence – Mirroring special attack is special defence, which is a mode where the player is enveloped in an invincible shield for a brief amount of time. The player may not however, trigger core blast when in special defence mode. Special defence is triggered by holding down both grips simultaneously.