Dragon Age Combat Design

I was really inspired by the way Mike Laidlaw Lead Designer, describes the combat design of his game.

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• When we sat down to design DA, i think were were trying to modernize a classic.
• Baulder's Gate 2 has always been a reference for us.
• That game always made you feel like your mixing classes, abilities, smart play.
• So we decided to modernize that.
• Realistic Combat Fighting styles
• the weight of the sword,smashing into a body.
• All of this was Key to us.
• I think what we resulted in is something satisfying to the hardcore gamers
• Reference Material
• you have to look at classics Lord of the rings, 300, and even the best fight scenes you see in the Conan movies
• this was a brutal time to be in and we wanted to evoke that feeling
• What we wanted to achieve
• was the sense you can be both the general, as well as they Guy who was leading the charge.
• so we put several systems, including the tactic system where you can control the AI of your characters
• and of course just smart reactions on the way the enemy occurs.
• so you kinda have that moment to plan, were you see the enemy thinking, how to i plan out this grand strategy, to make these character do as much damage as they can.
• once you charge in there the battle is a swarming melee.
• you have to position your characters, the rouge hey can attack the enemy from behind. you have the warrior holding the front lines where the mages holding the back line, just kinda like raining death.
• its very in your face when you engage.
• so you always have that little moment of I know whats coming and here's my plan.

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• often what you want to do is deal with strategic impact of your equipment and the talents you have chosen, so you want to try and move your characters for massive effectiveness.
• all characters have a sense of whether their being flanked or whether if the enemy is directly behind them. you get direct bonuses to making those attacks from different type of arcs. even the sense of what weapon or what side you use id on can effect things like sweeping attacks, you can use walls or barriers that can protect you from on coming attacks, and things like elevation really play into the mechanics as well
• even what you were effects the tactics your going to employ in dragon age. the heaviest armor in game are going to protect you, but at at the same time they are going to slow you down. your going to be fatigue when your wearing them, you wont be able to pull of some of the special moves.
• finishing moves are to employ that the combat system has a momentum, finishing move is where you have an awesome moment where you see the sword goes through the enemy, or off comes his head. or possibly killing a really large creature by climbing on top of its head and jabbing your blade in.

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• and its not just about flash, as you ware your opponents down the game is dynamically adjusting the instances as this is happening, where we are essentially rewarding your combat dominance. when your opponents are worn down, the moral is starting to break and you are just crushing them on the battle field, you will notice that your characters are finishing them, with far more frequency. more hits come off, its pretty fantastic.
• designing combat is not just about the rules or couple of animations, its about the entire experience as far as I am concerned. when a player comes out of combat, what i really want is that sense of tension, and that feeling of wow look at what i just pulled off.
• I don't want to make a game where it feels as its soft balled, where yeah i just killed stuff again, No i want you to feel like you were rewarded for playing smart.
• One of the most exciting parts i think would be the war stories, the form Post the water coolers,
• people on the team are already talking about the ways they dealt with boss X. And that's pretty cool and very very rewarding. It feels that game the on that they played was for them.