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RE-INVENTING DRAGON BALL GAMES' 17 YEAR LONG APPROACH TO COMBAT FOR DRAGON BALL DEMON BREAKER

Written September 2nd 2021

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The biggest challenge of working on Dragon Ball Demon Breaker was re-inventing the franchise's 17 year long approach to combat in games. The officially licensed Dragon Ball games were focused on hand to hand combat, and were designed mainly as arena fighters.

 

During the team's discussion on the project's gameplay, I managed to list 3 goal oriented questions that served my team our plan to re-invent combat for the franchise.

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  1. What are our primary 3 combat pillars? (Identify)

  2. How are such pillars executed in gameplay? (Implement)

  3. How do we associate, innovate and implement character action mechanics to fit into the Dragon Ball universe to give the fandom a soft introduction to a brand new gameplay system? (Research and iterate)

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Through rapid prototyping, we were able to formulate our primary pillars. Dragon Ball focuses on environment destruction, speed, and high-octane action. Our pillars would use familiar gameplay mechanics from the sixth generation Dragon Ball console games, with a combination of 3 primary character action elements that served a new approach to the franchise's gameplay formula.

3 PRIMARY CHARACTER ACTION ELEMENTS​

 

Simply put, these 3 primary character action elements are also vital components to making a general combat system. For our case, we're referencing how these elements work in the games which inspire our combat: Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry 3, and Bayonetta.

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  1. Enemy Spacing: When playing character action games, understanding the space between you and the enemy proves to be advantageous and engaging. This is highly dependent on the variety of enemies designed and presented throughout the game. [The anxiety of facing enemies in Ninja Gaiden]
     

  2. Timing: Risking yourself will provide you with a reward that will prove to be advantageous in a different department of the character’s attributes. Be it speed, and combat accuracy. [Window timing of Witchtime from Bayonetta leads to additive depth]
     

  3. Combat Variety: Freely allowing and encouraging players to learn, develop and adapt their skills by providing depth, and emergent gameplay. [Devil May Cry 3's Scoring and Combat systems]


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Dragon Ball FighterZ stays true to Dragon Ball's combat pillars as a traditional fighter.

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Here is Dragon Ball Demon Breaker after considering the 3 character action elements combined with Dragon Ball's combat pillars.

COMBINING PILLARS WITH CHARACTER ACTION ELEMENTS
 

By strictly focusing on the three primary combat pillars for Dragon Ball Demon Breaker:
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  • We emphasize the use of environmental destruction, allowing players to feel like they're enforcing the player fantasy by smashing their enemies into large structures, as any Dragon Ball character would.

  • The exaggerated visual cues in combat detail the significance the player's actions, giving a sense of high-octane action.

  • Finally the speed at which the action is executed is heightened, aiding the excitement to combat.


These pillars are accompanied by the primary character action elements:

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  • Players measure their distance from their enemy to gauge possible moves.

  • Players time their ability to smash them away putting themselves at risk.

  • Players approach the enemy's allies with the intent to practice their combat for the sake of improvement. 

YouTuber SLOPlays  discusses the game's combat after his experience playtesting.

BADER ALQAHTANI

COMBAT DESIGNER / ENEMY DESIGNER

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