Musings on weapon design for an FPS game. Part 1 "Choosing a weapon system"
Triptych is a narrative-driven FPS game, inspired by Half Life, Bioshock series, as well as classic shooters like Quake 2 and Heretic.
I still remember first installing Heretic and being in awe when I got one of the early weapons - Gauntlets of Necromancy. Hitting enemies with green lightning from my hands just felt awesome, and something I had never experienced before. It felt powerful, even if the weapon itself wasn't - you'd need to upgrade to move forward in the game.
I fully understand that a good plot is not enough for a shooter game to be good. Triptych needs its shooting mechanics to be awesome too. Thus, I embarked on a quest to create an enjoyable shooting mechanic for the game.
I used my own experience as a gamer, feedback from fellow gamers, reviews by critics like TotalBiscuit and several GDC talks and publications for the sake of this research, as well as other sources.
Mind it, everything in this dev diary is work in progress and a subject to change based on how it works out on practice.
So let's see how the weapon system affects the overall gaming experience.
Old school PC shooters would not limit the amount of weapons the player was allowed to carry; providing a variety of weapons each filling a slot usually assigned to the numbers on the keyboard, from mechanical standpoint they would act as unlocks. Once the player had "acquired", or "unlocked" the specific weapon, they would need to stock up on ammo to use the said weapon. The ammo was provided in the form of pick-ups and drops - pick-ups were scattered throughout the level, while drops occurred when an enemy, often wielding the same type of weapon, was killed.
Ammo pick-ups, especially those of more powerful weapons, were sometimes hidden in special secret locations that required the player to go off the beaten path to find them.
This model, often called ammo scavenging, rewarded both exploration and combat and complemented the maze-like level design of classic shooter games.
So, to sum it up, here's the classic FPS model:
This allowed a for a wider variety of weapons throughout the game, as well as better options for a controlled progression of weapon power.
But not attaching a player to a specific arsenal of weapons - making them swap weapons on the fly - made scavenging obsolete, least you were stuck with stockpiles of ammo you couldn't use as you wouldn't have the weapon needed for it. Ammo pick-ups and drops were replaced with weapon pick-ups and drops, as well as ammo refills at specific points throughout the level. This favored the linear corridor-based and open-world level design of later shooter games and allowed for a tighter pacing.
While in older games you were essentially solving a maze, usually at your own pace, in newer games you were having a more cinematic, controlled experience. The player would move from checkpoint to checkpoint, where a certain event or encounter would happen. This also led to changes in the save system: in older games, you had a quicksave function, which was swapped for a checkpoint autosave function.
Summing up the modern system, we have this:
I'm not afraid to say that this choice aimed at making the games better suited for consoles and attracting the casual player-base on one side; and to provide a more focused, controlled experience on the other.
Still, I wanted Triptych to be about player freedom and choice, so I went with the old-school weapon system, albeit with a twist.
Triptych will have 8 weapon classes, represented by slots:
I still remember first installing Heretic and being in awe when I got one of the early weapons - Gauntlets of Necromancy. Hitting enemies with green lightning from my hands just felt awesome, and something I had never experienced before. It felt powerful, even if the weapon itself wasn't - you'd need to upgrade to move forward in the game.
I fully understand that a good plot is not enough for a shooter game to be good. Triptych needs its shooting mechanics to be awesome too. Thus, I embarked on a quest to create an enjoyable shooting mechanic for the game.
I used my own experience as a gamer, feedback from fellow gamers, reviews by critics like TotalBiscuit and several GDC talks and publications for the sake of this research, as well as other sources.
Mind it, everything in this dev diary is work in progress and a subject to change based on how it works out on practice.
So let's see how the weapon system affects the overall gaming experience.
Old school PC shooters would not limit the amount of weapons the player was allowed to carry; providing a variety of weapons each filling a slot usually assigned to the numbers on the keyboard, from mechanical standpoint they would act as unlocks. Once the player had "acquired", or "unlocked" the specific weapon, they would need to stock up on ammo to use the said weapon. The ammo was provided in the form of pick-ups and drops - pick-ups were scattered throughout the level, while drops occurred when an enemy, often wielding the same type of weapon, was killed.
Ammo pick-ups, especially those of more powerful weapons, were sometimes hidden in special secret locations that required the player to go off the beaten path to find them.
This model, often called ammo scavenging, rewarded both exploration and combat and complemented the maze-like level design of classic shooter games.
So, to sum it up, here's the classic FPS model:
- Works well with maze-like level design
- Rewards combat and exploration
- Favors choice, but limits variety throughout the game
This allowed a for a wider variety of weapons throughout the game, as well as better options for a controlled progression of weapon power.
But not attaching a player to a specific arsenal of weapons - making them swap weapons on the fly - made scavenging obsolete, least you were stuck with stockpiles of ammo you couldn't use as you wouldn't have the weapon needed for it. Ammo pick-ups and drops were replaced with weapon pick-ups and drops, as well as ammo refills at specific points throughout the level. This favored the linear corridor-based and open-world level design of later shooter games and allowed for a tighter pacing.
While in older games you were essentially solving a maze, usually at your own pace, in newer games you were having a more cinematic, controlled experience. The player would move from checkpoint to checkpoint, where a certain event or encounter would happen. This also led to changes in the save system: in older games, you had a quicksave function, which was swapped for a checkpoint autosave function.
Summing up the modern system, we have this:
- Works well with linear corridor-based and open-world level design
- Rewards combat and moving through checkpoints
- Favors variety, but limits choice
I'm not afraid to say that this choice aimed at making the games better suited for consoles and attracting the casual player-base on one side; and to provide a more focused, controlled experience on the other.
Still, I wanted Triptych to be about player freedom and choice, so I went with the old-school weapon system, albeit with a twist.
Triptych will have 8 weapon classes, represented by slots:
[1] Melee
[2] Pistol
[3] Shotgun
[2] Pistol
[3] Shotgun
[4] Assault Rifle
[5] Sniper Rifle
[6] Rocket Launcher
[7] Explosives
[8] Heavy Weapon
Unlike many other games, these slots are not tiered - instead providing a very different play style for each weapon class, each more suited for different enemy types. Also, the player is provided with several weapons of each class - providing even more gameplay variety.
Melee will require the player to get up close and personal with the enemy and kill them at a specific pace to make use of the Willpower mechanic - more on that in another article.
Pistols are high-powered single-shot weapons that allow for wider customization options. The Revolver allows you to fire in single or double action modes, the trigger can be adjusted (shoot faster-higher chance of failed shots vs shoot slower-less failed shots), and can be dual-wielded. The Pistol allows mods like laser sight, silencer, etc. These weapons also have different damage, recoil, spread, clip size, reload speed and other characteristics - making them not tiers of the same weapon, but a different experience altogether.
Shotguns allow to deal high damage on short to medium distance in a cone - good to deal with swarms of enemies. Here we have a choice of Double Barrel, Pump-Action and Sawed-Off shotguns.
Assault rifles are accurate only in short, controlled bursts, better suited for firefights with groups of ranged enemies at medium to long distances. They are fast, with high spread, large clips.
Sniper rifles are best to take out dangerous enemies at a long distance. I'm even planning to include a sniper-on-sniper segment in the second chapter of the game - but let's not spoil it, right?
Rocket launchers are what you would expect of them - devastating firepower with self-harm potential, good for stronger opponents and big groups, as well as enemies in cover.
At some point I thought of including ammo variations for different weapons - standard, hollow-point, incendiary and armor-piercing - but that would make ammo and weapon management too messy and complex. What worked well for an open-world role-playing game like Fallout New Vegas would not work for a dedicated FPS game like Triptych.
This choice of weapon system allows me to go with a more maze-like level design for Triptych as opposed to the modern school of linear corridor-based level design. The player would be forced to explore the level, find secret locations and hoard ammo to be able to progress through the game.
This would also mean that if the player makes poor choices, they might be faced with a situation when they are unable to progress because they lack the firepower needed. Tough luck, eh?
Unlike many other games, these slots are not tiered - instead providing a very different play style for each weapon class, each more suited for different enemy types. Also, the player is provided with several weapons of each class - providing even more gameplay variety.
Melee will require the player to get up close and personal with the enemy and kill them at a specific pace to make use of the Willpower mechanic - more on that in another article.
Pistols are high-powered single-shot weapons that allow for wider customization options. The Revolver allows you to fire in single or double action modes, the trigger can be adjusted (shoot faster-higher chance of failed shots vs shoot slower-less failed shots), and can be dual-wielded. The Pistol allows mods like laser sight, silencer, etc. These weapons also have different damage, recoil, spread, clip size, reload speed and other characteristics - making them not tiers of the same weapon, but a different experience altogether.
Shotguns allow to deal high damage on short to medium distance in a cone - good to deal with swarms of enemies. Here we have a choice of Double Barrel, Pump-Action and Sawed-Off shotguns.
Assault rifles are accurate only in short, controlled bursts, better suited for firefights with groups of ranged enemies at medium to long distances. They are fast, with high spread, large clips.
Sniper rifles are best to take out dangerous enemies at a long distance. I'm even planning to include a sniper-on-sniper segment in the second chapter of the game - but let's not spoil it, right?
Rocket launchers are what you would expect of them - devastating firepower with self-harm potential, good for stronger opponents and big groups, as well as enemies in cover.
At some point I thought of including ammo variations for different weapons - standard, hollow-point, incendiary and armor-piercing - but that would make ammo and weapon management too messy and complex. What worked well for an open-world role-playing game like Fallout New Vegas would not work for a dedicated FPS game like Triptych.
This choice of weapon system allows me to go with a more maze-like level design for Triptych as opposed to the modern school of linear corridor-based level design. The player would be forced to explore the level, find secret locations and hoard ammo to be able to progress through the game.
This would also mean that if the player makes poor choices, they might be faced with a situation when they are unable to progress because they lack the firepower needed. Tough luck, eh?
The solution to this is the freedom of player movement via level design. The player should be allowed to avoid routine combat, being forced into confrontation only at key points. And, well, a more interesting boss fight design than just a huge bullet sponge running around and ruining your day.
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