Introduction
With each Studio Insider, members of the Star Wars™: The Old
Republic™ development team take you behind the scenes to give you an
inside look at the work that goes in to making the game. This week,
Principal Lead Animator Mark How discusses the work that goes in to
creating the animations for combat in Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Combat Animation in The Old Republic
Hi. My name is Mark How and I am the Principal Lead Animator at
BioWare Austin. Many ideas have been dreamt up since the inception of
this extraordinary game and the animation team has been hard at work
since the very beginning. While we see each project as a challenge, we
have a lot of fun imagining all sorts of unique, action-packed scenarios
that can play out in The Old Republic. Of course, the main purpose of
animation is to produce characters that adhere to the basic laws of
physics, but good animation also ties into many other facets of game
design. Today, I’ll tell you about our experiences and techniques that
go in to our creating the animations that compliment the exciting and
visceral combat in The Old Republic!
We start out like any other game that has big ideas for combat: at
first we thought about the classic battle between Jedi and Sith. When
you picture these powerful Force users meeting, you think of how they
Force Leap into battle! You think of their Lightsabers clashing, and how
they use the Force to push and pull each other around the battlefield.
We wanted to be able to replicate this sense of action and exhilaration
in the way we capture the combat animations. We wanted to show Force
Lightning exploding from your fingertips and have your character show
their raw mastery of the Force by hurling large objects at your enemies.
We also had many ideas about ranged combat; about ducking behind cover
and blasting your way through a pack of enemy troops. Knowing that many
of you who will play the game are going to be playing as non-Force
users, we wanted to capture that feeling as well.
Lightsaber Clashing
One of the most iconic images in the Star Wars™ universe is
the Lightsaber. Making the Lightsaber come to life in The Old Republic
requires a collection of all the correct elements falling into place at
the same time through visual effects, sound design and animation. Our
challenge was to make the iconic Lightsaber battles from the movies come
to life within the design confines of an MMO. We worked closely with
the combat programmers and designers to ensure that the combat visuals
do not detract from the gameplay experience. A key aspect we learned
early in development was that players do not enjoy having character
control taken away from them because of an action or animation.
Similarly, we realized that any action a player takes in the game needs
to be visually represented in a way that is consistent with the player’s
expectations. Combining these two things, it was particularly
challenging to develop animations that allowed for visually appealing
combat while still allowing the players complete control over their
characters.
Once we knew what our rules were for combat, the programmers and
animators were able to create a Lightsaber clashing system that could
predict the volleys of weapons fire and other attacks being thrown at
the player from all directions, and have the player dynamically react to
‘block’ these attacks. Not only that, but we were able to keep this
system active while players were deflecting directed attacks, engaged in
melee combat or even running. Players may not even realize all the
factors that are coming into play to visually represent the combat
experience, but we believe it’s critical for making the player really
feel fully engaged in the fight. Without these dynamics, the players
would wind up locked in certain animations when they go to engage in a
“Stock strike” or “Project,” and then the combat would really be failing
to capture the feel of Star Wars; it would give the player the impression that they are watching the action rather than taking part in it for themselves.
We’ve iterated on the mechanics for a long time, and I think the
Lightsaber combat system that the programmers and animators ultimately
devised has really gone beyond expectations. Even in a battle scene with
multiple players and multiple targets, each Lightsaber wielder can be
seen attacking opponents with varied tactics while deflecting, parrying
or dodging the attacks of the other enemies. It gives the whole
experience a really dynamic, visceral feel, making the player feel like
they’re taking part in an intense battle where their character has the
heroic qualities expected of a Star Wars icon.
Combat Cover
“How could Han Solo possibly compete directly with Darth Vader?”
This was one of the situations our designers found themselves
thinking about when balancing the character classes. Though armed with
many brilliant blaster attacks, tactical abilities and cheap tricks, one
of the most challenging tasks for the entire team was in designing a
cover system that was useful to the player while keeping them feeling
like they were part of the action. Some might argue that you don’t even
need a cover system in an MMO, but the benefits provided to the classes
and the overall visual dynamic of the combat system is incredible.
This all comes back to the expectation that the player has. If you were
a Smuggler in the Star Wars universe and there was a crate
available for you to roll behind to deflect enemy fire, wouldn't you
want to do that? Of course you would. The cover element has provided a
tactical way for the Smuggler and Imperial Agent classes to be
competitive against their Force wielding and gadget-toting opponents.
Deciding we were going to create a cover system was one thing; creating
it was something else. It took many hours of research, play-acting and
experimentation to nail down the animations for ducking into, rolling
into, or just dodging into cover. As you can imagine, with the variety
of places where these characters can take cover in the game, that
created an additional layer of complexity which had to be addressed. In
the end however, cover looks, feels and functions like the real thing,
and we think it bring an entirely new dynamic to ranged combat in the
MMO genre.
Here we see a breakdown of the Imperial Agent rolling into cover behind a barrier.
Once it was established that melee-based player characters wouldn’t
be locked into doing certain animations, we wanted to make sure that
ranged classes worked the same way. The unique challenge with the
ranged classes was that we wanted them to always keep their blasters
pointed at their target until they were damaged, downed, or until the
player chose to manually change targets. This needed to be true while
standing still as well as when the player was moving. In an MMO, players
don’t usually stand still and fight mobs of static NPCs. Consider PVP:
as smart as NPC AI can be, it cannot compare to the intelligence, skill
and intuitive reactions of a real human player. This means that when
two human players duel each other, they can adeptly circle one another
and jump to get in and out of range. They can’t be stuck in long, static
animations when they attack. We had to work closely with the
programmers to devise an aiming system that could account for numerous
gameplay possibilities. I think what we achieved allows players to play
the way they want and does not lock them into a combat system that only
obeys a limited set of rules. As pretty as it could look, who wants to
play a game where you run and then have to stop each time you want to
fire your blaster? "Not I," says the Smuggler.
For The Old Republic, we are committed to giving you a great combat
experience through aesthetic movement, strong character and great
design. These elements come together thanks to the efforts of many
different departments that are all working hard and working together to
reach a common goal. Our combat has unique concepts that set it apart
from other MMOs and help deliver another BioWare-quality Star Wars™
experience that we hope fans will find incredibly enjoyable and will
want to continue as they progress in their stories and create new
experiences of their own.
We'll see you online!
Community Q&A
With each Studio Insider a member of the development team takes the
time to answer some of the questions that are put forward by the
community. The next Community Q&A will center on the many aspects of
socialization in
Star Wars: The Old Republic. If you have a burning question, ask us via our
Forums or on
Facebook.
Make sure to get your questions in no later than September 30th if you
want it to be considered for the next Community Q&A.
Today, Principal Lead PvP Designer Gabe Amatangelo answers a few of
your questions about Player-vs-Player Combat in The Old Republic.
Q: How important is the PvP community to BioWare? – Kryptorchid
A: Very important. The Old Republic’s PvP
developers are avid gamers and active, long-time members of the MMO PvP
community. We hold preservation and growth of the The Old Republic PvP
community near and dear to our hearts.
Q: Will there be any kind of arena system? If so, which brackets will it support? - Inquiescent
A: ‘Arena System’ has come to mean two different
things depending on the context: Single Elimination PvP game mode and
Ranking/Tournament Systems. Whether or not we add that game mode to The
Old Republic’s current lineup (domination, assault and bombing run) is
TBD. However, one of the top things on our list for post launch is a
rated Warzone system where players can form teams, earn team ratings,
earn individual ratings, as well as participate in tournaments, etc.
Q: Are there any plans for non-combat forms of PvP, such as Pazaak or Swoop Racing? - RizzoRatchet
A: We are considering, testing and/or developing
several things like that. We’ll let you know as soon as we are sure
about what we’re going to add.
Q: Will we see a “Criminal” or “Bounty” mechanic so that we
can persistently hunt down and torment those who hinder our progression?
– Gryffin
A: Haha. Nice way of phrasing ‘how do you guys plan
to deal with griefers!’ We are currently testing and iterating on a
system to ensure player progression cannot be blocked by griefers on a
PvP server, while still allowing for the thrill of spontaneous open
world PvP conflicts.
Q: Will there be safe zones on PvP servers outside of faction-specific planets? – Zepplin
A: There are very few, but some do exist. For example, the promenade on the neutral planet of Nar’Shadda is a sanctuary.
Q: What incentives will there be for players to focus on
targets outside of the typical “gank the healer” strategy; and how will
factors such as burst damage, crowd control and “PvP tanking” play a
role in accomplishing this? – Marsobot
A: Winning will be the incentive. Attacking the
healer will be the right decision sometimes, but not always. A key
contributor in ensuring this is the tanks’ Guard and Taunt abilities.
Guard will redirect half of the damage through the Tank’s mitigation and
avoidance. A taunted target will deliver less damage to everyone but
the tauntee. Players will be able to easily visualize which Tanks are
guarding and taunting, who their targets are, and when damage is
deflected through clear animations and effects. This adds to the
dynamics of a skirmish as players of varying skill levels can easily
react to and be on their toes about who the real targets of opportunity
are and when. Additionally, Tanks will be recognized and rewarded for
how much damage they deflect in this fashion on Warzone scoreboards.
We have a fairly large health pool to burst damage potential ratio.
This allows for burst damage to be useful when the time is right, while
not letting it dictate the outcome of all skirmishes.
And as far as crowd control goes, there is ‘Resolve.’ Every time a
player is crowd controlled they build up Resolve, which is pictured as a
bar over the characters head (below the health bar). Once a player’s
Resolve Bar is full it changes colors and starts to decay over time,
during this they are immune to crowd control. The visual element helps
with PvP accessibility, and tuning the Resolve values allows us to
achieve a fun tempo ensuring crowd control as its place but isn’t the
end all be all of PvP.
Q: Since it has been clearly stated that there will not be
dual specs for characters in the game, can you explain your philosophy
behind the skill trees and how you are taking into account players that
want to be able to play PvP and PvE content on the same character? -
illumineart
A: Dual Speccing is something we want to add soon
after launch. Also, features like Guard, PvP Taunt, Resolve, etc. work
to narrow the gap between PvP and PvE specialized skills (i.e. a +Block
skill would be helpful in both PvE and PvP).
Q: Are waiting queues cross-server and, if so, also cross-language? - Kisskill
A: No. We believe that fostering rivalries and
memorable encounters with recognizable players are important in building
a good PvP community on a server. We suspect cross-server queuing
compromises these key tenets. Additionally, systems like bolster and
same faction vs same faction Warzones (like Hutball) help matches pop
frequently and regularly.
That being said we will be keeping a close eye on the communities and re-examine the system as necessary.
Q: Are there rewards for PvP, such as Titles, Badges, Grades, etc.? – Xenthor
A: Yes. Players will earn currency for PvP Gear,
Valor Ranks, titles and other privileges through PvP accomplishments,
such as winning Warzone matches, claiming Open World PvP objectives,
finding hidden caches in PvP areas, etc.
Q: How will the Bolster system work? – Kelremar
A: If after a time the Warzone matchmaking system
has not found a match of players of the same level range, then it will
start up a ‘bolstered match’ where players of varying levels will have
their stats bolstered to within 20% of each other. Therefore, player
skill disparity withstanding, the lowest level player will be 80% as
effective as the highest level player in the match.
Thanks for checking out this month’s Studio Insider. We hope you
enjoyed taking a look at what goes into creating animations in The Old
Republic, as well as our Q&A on PvP. We know you have a lot of
questions, so we’ve opened new Community Q&A threads in the
forums and on
Facebook
which center on the topic of socializing in The Old Republic. Post
your questions before September 30th and they may get answered in our
next Studio Insider!
