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[Octrii]

I'm not talking God-Tier powerful or endgame power or anything like that, I mean making all the attacks (in a beat-em-up style game) feel like they're actually hitting the enemy and causing damage.  I've noticed that melee combat in games like Skyrim and Oblivion feels really boring (at least to me) after a while since your weapon pretty much just slides over the enemy's skin, spits out some blood, and sometimes triggers a pre-scripted staggering animation if you do a power attack.  Then there are satisfying games like SSB where your attacks launch people into the atmosphere, shake the screen, pause for a split second when you make contact, launch particles, and perform various other neat effects.  I'm just looking for suggestions like these on how to make attacks feel really impacting, since that seems to be one of the major factors of whether or not combat is "fun" to many people.

[LDuncan]

I kind of hate to link to this article, because it's one of Tim Rogers' incredibly long novels that could have been written in 300 words or less, but if you can wade through the nonsense about Whoppers and pachinko and all the fluffy filler language, I kind of have to agree with his notion of "sticky friction." A lot of it you've already mentioned--that slight pause when an impact is made can really make a ton of difference. Animate things so they seem to have a real weight to them--i.e., someone smashing a giant sword into the ground is not going to be able to easily yank that sword right back up, no matter how strong they are, because they have to overcome momentum and air resistance and stuff like that.

Anyway, here's the novelarticle: http://kotaku.com/5558166/in-praise-of-sticky-friction

[JMickle]

All the satisfaction of hits or other impacts is in the animation and sound. There are plenty of different ways to go about it, though, and combining elements really gives it a proper sense of power.

Impact Sounds
Making sure the sound effect sounds powerful enough is essential. You (or your sound guy) should test out plenty of different sounds to make sure you have one that really has punch. Don't just open up SFXR and click explosion. I could go into more detail about how to make sure the sound is good but it'll get pretty technical as isn't entirely necessary if you have one that /feels/ right.

Character Animation
A snappy animation, and big obvious movements will really increase the satisfaction of hits. Make sure both the character and the enemy death animations are done well (post in the workshop for good critique!)

Screen Effects/Particles
Another idea, though these should be used in moderation in smaller cases like attacks, are some whole-screen effects like flashing white, or shaking the screen. Particles are good for localized effects, and ones that last a very short time but have striking colour (like 100% white) will really give you a good blast. Other things in this are are flashing the sprites pure white or another colour, resizing the sprites according to the direction of impact, or even slowing the framerate down for a ridiculous impact (see Hyper Princess Pitch for an example of this done to perfection)

Research
Don't forget to analyse work you think does it well! Let's look at SSB, since you mentioned it. Here's just a random video I found



Now the first few strikes between the players are pretty small hits, but they flash a big circle sprite, with a spiky explosion-like thing in the middle, both really light colours. Also, there is a very short grunt from the attacker and a short but loud hit sound. Then later, (about :30), Star Fox falls off the screen, which is much more significant compared to the blows that have been dealt so far. You can easily tell this from the slight screen shake that happens (watch for it), and the huge blast of light that comes from the general area. There is also a longer noise as this happens. :33 to about :43 is very interesting because you see a series of attacks from Star Fox which occasionally hit, and occasionally are blocked. When an attack is blocked, it /doesn't/ feel satisfying, so we should definitely take a good look at what is changed between the two different effects. When the attack is successful, there is a little spiky particle, Cpt Falcon turns white for a frame, and there is a little explosion noise (this is a weak attack). When it is unsuccessful, there is only a very dull noise, Cpt Falcon does NOT change colour, and there is a big red (not white) circle that appears instead. Notice the circle is round, like a bubble or other soft thing, whilst the particle before was spiky and bright solid white. Great stuff!

Ok, so I kinda rambled on a whole while longer than I meant to, but I hope you gain some insight from this! I won't go through the rest of the video, but there are still a lot of great things to learn from it! (look at when a character hits a wall! ..ok ok i'll stop)

Also, while you're at it, take a look at some skyrim and oblivion videos and ask yourself why they feel unsatisfying. It's a great exercise!

(after watching a couple of videos I really agree that it's not perfect by a long shot. Magic use feels shallow and hits don't have a huge amount of power in them. There are a few bits that are done well, though)

[Ludorverr]

Dark Souls has great feeling backstabs and parry attacks, the sound the attack makes is most important. I especially like the sound of the baseball bat from SSB.

The one problem I personally had with the backstabs in dark souls is if you do them all game long for 70 hours, I thought it got slightly repetitive because the animation lasts just a tiny bit too long.

Leaving visible damage is good too, letting the player know his attack hit. But if it was up to me every single game would allow you to slice off limbs and heads.

[Octrii]

Thanks, this is just what I was looking for.  Funnily enough I never actually thought of WATCHING a video of ssb.

[ntdb]

I'll echo what JMickle said about sound and animation. Sound is of the UTMOST importance for making any action feel weighty to the player. Furthermore, that split-second of preperation before and recovery after an action in both the animation and the controls emphasizes the force behind a strong attack.

I was playing Jamestown this morning and I love the perceived impact of a large unit being destroyed. The particle effects make a difference here but once again I feel the most significant element is the sound effect.

[McMutton]

 As mentioned, the little pause helps, too. In DMC4, the stronger the attack, the longer the pause before you actually go flying.

[Dragonmaw]

In animation, you want to ease your character in. A perfect example of this can be seen in the Erhardt Devlog.

This first one is John's



And this second one is a rework by one of the forumgoers:



If you notice, the second one has a lot more impact to it. This is due to two factors. One, there is a slow build-up at the beginning, comparatively. There are 2-3 frames for the pullback, then 2 frames for the entire swing, then an immediate stop followed by the bob. The pullback effect gives the impression that the attack is purposeful and that the character is building their strength. The relatively short interpolation for the actual attack conveys intense speed, especially when combined with the speed lines. The sudden stop also conveys strength, while the bob gives it both a nice punctuation and indicates that the character is in control of the sword. Overall, it's a strong animation that carries a lot of strength, and it's because it gives different weight to different actions. The beginning should always be (relatively) slow, the attack proper should be fast, and the end should be sudden.

[ink.inc]

 

very shame

[Manuel Magalhães]

No need to be. We are here to learn, and in terms of sprinting your character is well done.

[JMickle]

Watch videos of God of War with the sound of- it STILL looks powerful. Some excellent work there.

[zoombapup]

few things here:

the point of impact should ideally move first and then the rest of the body should follow along in a delayed chain, so basically the limbs move after the point of impact (lets use the  case of a body hit).

It does depend if you're animating limbs and such, or if you're just playing sprites as hit rections. Then the timing for the hit is a big issue. Notice how the speed of animations in SSB really sells the force of the attack. Timing is a big part of it, plus anticipating the attack if you have time (turn head before doing roundhouse kick etc).

Follow through with line of motion really helps too. So for instance if I do a pushing kick/punch, then the enemy should actually move a bit in the direction even if it blocks. If not blocked, then ideally you follow the line of motion either with stagger or something more "ko'd" like.

As you already know, sound at impact, plus for things like SSB they do a full screen background flash image too (where it blocks the background render and draws something flashy instead, centered on the point of impact).

Basically, there's a ton of things, but you just have to feel the line of motion and the force of impact and get the timing right as the keys I think. Its pretty traditional animation issues when you come down to it, coupled with the traditional game style tight feedback loop.

[Derek]

Always good to study Capcom for beat 'em up and fighting game aesthetics:

http://www.zweifuss.ca/



- Attack animations where the limb feels like it's "snapping", like people mentioned (basically have a slower wind-up and ending, with only a few frames for the main motion)



- motion blur on the snap



- cool flashy effects on impact (a lot of times the Japanese games will not only display an effect at the point of impact, but also on the other side of the body, to show that the hit is extra powerful)

- pause at point of impact (possibly flash opponent's sprite white)

- nice meaty, sweaty impact sounds (slapping a raw steak against a hard surface, etc.)

- nice big grunt sound from your opponent



- deformation of opponent's body in the direction of the attack (Honda's getting dragon punched by an invisible Gouken in this screenshot) (also notice the crap flying out the top of his head, where the punch would go if it went through him)



- depends on how cartoony you want to go, but no matter what, deformation of the fist/foot/forehead or whatever is being used to attack with also helps



One other thing - people made a fuss about how goofy the character's hands and feet were in SF4, but it makes the attacks seem much more readable and powerful in motion. Just looking at Ryu you know that he's interested in punching and kicking stuff. It's worth considering the design of the characters themselves... I would always exaggerate a little bit, even in a "realistic" game. Try to get away with stuff you couldn't get away with in real life.

[JasonPickering]

I have to agree with what Derek says. Study as much as you can. Also Be careful how much anticipation you put in though. You want the animations to still fee responsive. I would also say adding extra stuff to the character to help with follow through and secondary motion to help reinforce the motion is a good idea.

check out

. the Attacks actually start with the sword half way through the action but the glowing sword arc helps the player complete the arc in their mind.

Also If you use Google Chrome grab a Youtube downloader extension. it allows you to download youtube videos in a ton of different formats. find youtube videos of games you like with really great combat. god of war, dark souls, Kingdom of Amalour: Reckoning. Download them in a quicktime format usually mp4. this will allow you to frame by frame them and really helps you breakdown the different frames, but more importantly the poses used. 2D sprite Sheets are also a great resource.

If you need any other help feel free to PM me. I spend about 80% of my day doing game animation. so I am always up to help someone in need.

[the_dannobot]

Watch videos of God of War with the sound of- it STILL looks powerful. Some excellent work there.

Yes, the combat designers of God of War are all pretty sharp dudes.  You should read their blogs and follow them on teh twitters:
http://pushing-buttons.blogspot.com/
http://new-challenger.blogspot.com/
http://8bitpixels.blogspot.com/

Derek Daniels in particular has an excellent series of blog posts:
http://lowfierce.blogspot.com/2006/05/why-some-games-feel-better-than-others.html
http://lowfierce.blogspot.com/2006/10/damage-presentation.html
http://lowfierce.blogspot.com/2006/06/why-some-games-feel-better-than-others.html
http://lowfierce.blogspot.com/2007/03/why-some-games-feel-better-than-others.html
http://lowfierce.blogspot.com/2007/08/feel-of-games-part-4-posing.html


Also, regarding Derek's post above, here is a whole article about how awesome Darksiders is, and why:
http://art-eater.com/2010/07/test-1-darkstalkers/

And random link dump of awesome articles you should browse:

recent article about Darksiders 2: (notice the part about how most of the combat designers in the industry know each other)
https://haydndalton.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/spotlight-interview-ben-cureton-combat-designer/

some character design principles:
http://www.bulletpattern.com/2009/09/tko-designing-fighting-game-part-2.html

article explaining how cancelling works in combat games:
http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2008/02/combat_canceled_god_of_war_act.php#more

Video explaining King of Fighters, why it is awesome and you should play it:




article about making combat "crunchy", super old but totally awesome:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2290/improving_the_combat_impact_of_.php

whew, that's a lot of reading!  If anyone has articles I've missed, please share!

Cheers!

[AdamM]

Even if you disregard sound, particles, animation (sort of), etc. I think it's very possible to portray impact by taking control away for a second. I know that sounds a little bit sketchy, but just have the animation end with a pause for a few frames and don't let the player move the character until that time passes. The enemy can be sent flying or something to prevent it from spamming you. If there are other enemies around you can have your character be invincible for a split second or just work around the fact that the player is probably gonna get hit once in a while. Or you could always have a block or something that is available regardless.

[iffi]

Even if you disregard sound, particles, animation (sort of), etc. I think it's very possible to portray impact by taking control away for a second. I know that sounds a little bit sketchy, but just have the animation end with a pause for a few frames and don't let the player move the character until that time passes. The enemy can be sent flying or something to prevent it from spamming you. If there are other enemies around you can have your character be invincible for a split second or just work around the fact that the player is probably gonna get hit once in a while. Or you could always have a block or something that is available regardless.

You'd have to be careful not to make the attacks feel too slow or downright clunky if you do this, though. At most you'd want to do it just to the most powerful/"slowest" moves, and even then you need to make sure the non-interaction period looks like a legitimate recovery rather than frames of doing nothing.
See the article linked in the previous post on canceling in God of War (I'll link it again here) - sometimes allowing the player to string together moves uninterrupted helps make the attacks, or at least the player, feel more powerful.

[AdamM]

Yeah, fair point. Some kind of recovery/follow through would definitely enhance it.

[AshfordPride]

  It feels like moving your hand through air, then through water, than through air again.  There's a rising and falling action to successful attack that creates a noticeable pause at the middle of a successful hit that you notice every time. 

[Azure Lazuline]

If you're going for a REALLY powerful attack, having it affect the entire screen in some way (however small) is good. Screen shaking is the obvious one, or some sort of radial blur. One of my most powerful-feeling attacks is Typhoon, which is a flying uppercut. When it hits, the screen pauses for a few frames (and shakes afterward), there's a flash of light, the screen blurs away from the point of impact, there's a fireball explosion, and there's a sharp sound effect. I have a picture of it here but that doesn't really show much - the emphasis is on all of that happening very quickly, and then the enemy flies across the stage, hits a wall, and explodes. It also breaks through the ceiling if there's one above you, so it really feels like nothing can stop you when you have it.

Even though it's actually not the best weapon, it FEELS like it, just because of that giant impact. It's similar to what was being said about Smash Bros before.

Special note also goes to Mega Man Zero (and ZX), where killing an enemy with the beam saber slices them in half, and killing an enemy with a charged buster shot causes their limbs to fly off. Even the bosses.