Currently pallet cleansing with: Mario Kart 8 DLC

Hey Designer,

Welcome to issue #4 of Signposted!

In this issue we’ll be discussing Boltgun and how the chainsword mechanics make it a compliment to the game’s ranged combat.

In the best of series, we’re looking at some answers to level design questions you’ve always wanted to ask. We’ll be chatting with Tim Cain, a director on Outer Worlds as well as one of the creators of Fallout, regarding his thoughts on durability mechanics. Then we’ll finish up with an interview with the Night School Studio founders. Where they discuss how their design has evolved over the years since Oxenfree. It’s a spiritual successor to the podcast episode in the Signposted welcome letter.

Last but not least, the results of last week’s community poll are in, console wars have been decided! For a while PS5 and PC were neck and neck, but a flood of votes came in at the 11th hour for mobile as the superior gaming platform! With 50% of the vote, mobile came out on top, with a tie for second between PC and PS5. Thank you everyone for participating! In this issue’s poll we’ll try to predict the fate of Unity.

Let’s get started!

Bi-Weekly Analysis

Mini Mechanic Microscope: Boltgun - The Chainsword

By Scott Fine

A frequent mistake in shooters is making melee or ranged too powerful so the player only engages with one, typically ranged. But Boltgun promotes the player bouncing back and forth, each having their place, and neither becoming the dominant strategy.

Let’s dive into how the chainsword in Boltgun works. As per usual, after the link to the full article is a quick breakdown of the most important points.

Quick Takeaway:

• The chainsword is a combat and movement tool

• Chainsword UI and Controls

  • All chainsword functionality is triggered via a single button

  • When pressed it revs the chainsword

    • This slows down time temporarily

    • It also highlights enemies which are within lunging range and roughly in front of the player

      • Players can turn while time is slowed to highlight a different enemy thus selecting a different target

  

  • Upon releasing the button they will lunge closing the distance and slicing the enemy

• Expanding on the Functionality

  • There are two primary ways to use the chainsword

    • Rev the chainsword, and lunge into melee range at the target

    • Continuous melee attack - After making contact with the enemy, players can mash the chainsword button over and over again to continuously chainsaw an enemy to do damage beyond the initial strike

      • Tougher enemies can break out and push the player back, allowing said enemy to retreat or press their own attack

      • This is useful because it breaks up the chainsawing by preventing the player from lunging without a second thought at every enemy they encounter, requiring them to think about which ones would be better to shoot from afar.

• How the chainsword impacts the primary gameplay

  • Combat

    • Great for chaff enemies

    • Allows player to save ammo

    • Allows player to lock up more powerful enemies temporarily

      • This helps keep the player alive from their shots

  • In combination with guns

    • Dedicated button and unlimited ammo allows the player to bounce back and forth between guns and chainsword

    • Allows player to soften up enemy then finish them off up close

  • Movement

    • Lunge closes the gap quickly

    • Without lunge the chainsword would not be useful as the player would need to be right next to an enemy to use it

    • With lunge + locking up enemies it keeps enemies from shooting the player, thus the player lives longer

    • Also creates shortcuts as players can clear larger chasms or reach higher platforms with enemies on it

      • Since it can only be used on enemies, it becomes easy for designers to control where the player can get the extra distance to

      • This little mechanic allows the player to feel clever and rewarded

The Best of Game Design

The Best of Written

Design lessons from the procedural puzzle pieces of Remnant II

By Bryant Francis

This is an interesting piece from Game Developer where they interview the creative director of Remnant 2, David Adams. He discusses procedural generation of the game, thus creating an infinitely repayable experience. He also walks through some of the design challenges the team faced as a result. While procedural generation is difficult to pull off, they seem to have done just that sitting currently at an 80 on Metacritic.

Guide for Creating Hybrid-Casual Games That Succeed - Udonis

By Andrea Knezovic

Hybrid-Casual games are all the rage in the mobile space. But making one is not quite as simple as it sounds. In this article Andrea walks through the choices designers must face while making a Hybrid-Casual game. If you’re interested in making your own, or understanding the challenges you’ll face, this is a great read.

Bonus Article: Answers to the level design questions you’ve always wanted to ask

By Vasiliy Skobelev

This issues’ bonus content almost became the top pick. But technically it isn’t one article, it’s a series of them! This is the final article in Vasiliy’s, the Lead Level Design at MY.GAMES, series on level design. It’s an in depth series and I highly recommend anyone interested in or looking to sharpen their chops take a read. And don’t worry, all the previous ones are linked to in the beginning of this article.

Issue #4 Community Question

The Best of Video

🏆Issue #4 Scott’s Top Pick!🏆- Durability Mechanics

By Timothy Cain

Tim Cain is one of the developers responsible for the Fallout series, as well as a Director of Outer Worlds. He is arguably one of the top game developers of all time. When he’s not creating memorable experiences, he is making daily game developer videos. In this one he very quickly breaks down durability systems and discusses their purpose in modern games. It’s riddled with systems logic and is a great watch.

Why Do We STILL Hate Tutorials?

By Adam Millard

Adam Millard breaks down why tutorials in modern games don’t work. He analyzes the different ways we learn in games and discusses when it is appropriate to use each of them. It’s a great analysis of tutorials and will be helping me to better teach my players going forward.

The Best of Audio

Creating Complex Conversation Systems in Oxenfree II: Lost Signals

By Xalavier Nelson Jr

In the Signposted welcome email there is a link to a Game Developer podcast discussing Oxenfree and the narrative systems behind it. Years later, we’re getting a spiritual successor to that podcast episode thanks to Xalavier and the AIAS team. This podcast is even better if you listened to the one in the welcome letter first, but is still pack filled with interesting knowledge if you haven’t.

And that’s it for Signposted #4. Thanks for reading!

Scott

If you find a typo in the newsletter, please reply to shame me into improving my editing skills.