Dreamscaper: Killer Combat on an Indie Budget

In this GDC 2022 session, Afterburner Studios’ Ian Cofino walks through the process of creating a satisfying combat system on a small, indie team—focusing on the design, feel and workflow needed to achieve success.

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[drmofasa]

if you're reading the comments to decide whether to watch/listen to this presentation (like I do), then rest assured, it's a great talk!

[me]

1:27 Gameplay example
2:54 Establish Strong Pillars
5:58 Player Options - Depth vs Complexity, Working on pillars, Scope
12:26 Layered Systems (important for iteration & scope)
13:36 Hit Reactions & Enemy States
20:28 Feel
41:45 Keys to success (the most important section)
50:53 Key Takeaways
52:14 Q&A

[bloogalooga]

This was a great talk and I appreciate how in-depth each portion was even though a lot was covered. I like that they kept a player-focused approach in relation to their core pillars and allowed their pillars to come second to the player experience. The result was great feeling combat that left the player in complete control of each situation.

[Sephern]

I'm so glad I found this talk. Definitely a great watch, and though it's geared around indies it certainly is going on my list of recommended GDC talks. I just watched the God of War combat design talks from GDC 2019 and comparing and contrasting. If you're looking for more combat design GDC talks, I highly recommend "Evolving Combat in 'God of War' for a New Perspective."

[SuperDutchrutter]

Awesome talk, a lot of useful tidbits in here for indie devs. Thanks!

[blaster_pro]

Amazing talk! By far the best talk about game feel.... thanks for that!

[rohamsajjadi]

This is a great talk and I highly recommend to see it (just be ready for the noise).

[djebil]

His loud swallowing triggered me but the talk is great. Gotta try out the game too

[afrayedknot]

This is great advice. As an indie developer this has given me so many good ideas. Thanks!

[tolulopemojid]

I just love any game were there is actually hit reaction on enemies

[smokeback]

awesome wish more game devs with released games shared such information as its very helpful to game devs growth

[harrywilliams]

Amazing talk!!! Can't believe this content is free

[ifvictorthen]

Happy to hear about strong feedbacks. I wonder about vr games performance constraints and visual fidelity.

[CBSuper]

Really good talk, great info. That mic tho.

[moocowp]

Excellent talk, really useful for what I'm working on :)

[Mawal]

Great talk. I loved Dreamscape but the worst thing about it is waking up into the real world, wish you could just play and replay the roguelike without having to do stuff outside the dream

[ragnar]

He swallows water like he's trying to swallow a whole truck

[whendricso]

Quick! Someone get this man some water, he's dying up there!

[lorenfulghum]

This is all solid stuff. I figured most of this out by analyzing Elden Ring's combat in detail, and I think they did the same thing.

[swisspunker]

seems like a nice guy and a good talk. I will say he should definitely work on his involuntary mouth sounds, its a little off putting to listen to. Im sure he has heard it before and maybe there is nothing he can do about it, if so i'm sorry for bringing it up.