Combat Recall

Controller Rumble Controller Rumble is one of those tricks that literally every game uses. But I think due to its prevalence, when it is done particularly well, it tends to go unnoticed - almost like a secret ingredient. Especially when it comes to combat, a good controller rumble is often the difference between something feeling impactful or not. For example, the controller rumble used in Destiny for gun fire and projectile impacts has always felt extremely satisfying to me. There's something about the frequency and intensity that matches well with the tracer fire, muzzle flash, and impact particles - it feels extremely tight. Another implementation that I recall standing out was the Batmobile in Arkham Knight. I remember there being quite a bit of subtly and nuance to how it was used - slight directionally-appropriate triggering on skid turns, impacts, boosting, etc. For God of War, thanks to the infinite patience and effort of George Mawle and Phil Wilkins ,...

Reaction Animations Reaction Animations -- It's probably safe to say that how an enemy responds to being hit is equally as important to making an attack feel satisfying as the attack itself. Reaction animations are also, sadly, one of the more overlooked features in games. Agnostic of genre, reaction animations are also important not just for feel but also serve a very functional purpose, that when lacking, can severely impact the quality of a combat system. Fighting Game Inspiration At least for the titles I've worked on, and from what I can gather referencing and researching other action titles, a lot of hit reactions are inspired by old school fighting games. Because stun time  is such an important characteristic to how fighting games played, it's been essential for the genre to refine and polish hit reactions. As far back as Street Fighter II for example, you can see a breakdown of several types of hit reactions that still remain present in modern action g...