A proper sword fighting game
by Christhoper Taylor · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 11/26/2003 (9:20 pm) · 23 replies
I was looking forward to the Gladiator game = but then I found out its not based around the movies and it has monsters and magic and shit like that in it. Die by the sword had a strange interface and it also had monsters in it.
Why oh why aren't there proper sword fighting games - no monsters, just humans. Humans with swords and bows and those balls on chains.
There are several executions I can think of - one has you play the role of a soldier in a medival army and take up sword, bow or spear to fight off the hordes (almost like Dynasty Warriors, minus the almost-immortal heroes) or even a gladiatoral arena type thing. With the arena you're sort of stuck to one thing, but with the soldier one you could start off as a young guy and work your way up through the ranks, eventually leading part of the army (there would be a simple command system and a map of the battlefield - you could make them charge here, run there without engaging the enemy, spread out, stand together or line up).
Weapons could be knives, short swords (two of them, maybe), shields, broad swords, long bows, maces, spears and so forth. You would also carry spikes - in real life they would drop these things to stop enemy horses - the horse would step on them and it would fall over in pain and probably crush the rider.
The game would be third person, allowing you to ride horses, spin around and other things - the interface would be akin to Jedi Outcast in some ways, with different "stances" but no jumping or anything like that.
My basic idea is this - at the start you're working in your parents farm when some enemy horses come - you, your father and brothers take up arms (peasents had this tool for digging with a curved bit on the end - this curved bit would go around the neck of an enemy horseman and pull him from his mount, you have one of these) and have to fight off the small group of enemies.
You and one brother survive and you join the army - at the start you're a basic footman. Shit armour, a cheap sword and a little wooden shield.
Now, more to the interface, the WASD remains the same so I won't bother talking about that. Lets talk about attacking - a button on the keyboard changes stance (fast or strong or medium - with bows this effects how fast you shoot and how far the arrow goes).
Left click swings the sword in a basic fashion - double tap left (for example) and click and you'll spin. Tap left, right, left (purely as an example guys) and he'll spin the sword in front of him to ward off incoming blows. Move to the left and he'll swing to the left, and visa versa. Middle click and forwards is lunge (if the enemy is not facing you you will drive the blade into his back), middle click and backwards is a back stab and middle click while standing over an enemy (not dead, but getting up) will drive the blade into him. The rest of the attacks are fairly logical.
Now, defence is as simple as possible - right click brings up the shield (if you have one) or does a parry (depends on the presence of a shield, nature of the weapon you have and what sort of attack they're using. Face the incoming blow and thats all there is to it. You can also swap your weapon from that of a fallen enemy.
Why oh why aren't there proper sword fighting games - no monsters, just humans. Humans with swords and bows and those balls on chains.
There are several executions I can think of - one has you play the role of a soldier in a medival army and take up sword, bow or spear to fight off the hordes (almost like Dynasty Warriors, minus the almost-immortal heroes) or even a gladiatoral arena type thing. With the arena you're sort of stuck to one thing, but with the soldier one you could start off as a young guy and work your way up through the ranks, eventually leading part of the army (there would be a simple command system and a map of the battlefield - you could make them charge here, run there without engaging the enemy, spread out, stand together or line up).
Weapons could be knives, short swords (two of them, maybe), shields, broad swords, long bows, maces, spears and so forth. You would also carry spikes - in real life they would drop these things to stop enemy horses - the horse would step on them and it would fall over in pain and probably crush the rider.
The game would be third person, allowing you to ride horses, spin around and other things - the interface would be akin to Jedi Outcast in some ways, with different "stances" but no jumping or anything like that.
My basic idea is this - at the start you're working in your parents farm when some enemy horses come - you, your father and brothers take up arms (peasents had this tool for digging with a curved bit on the end - this curved bit would go around the neck of an enemy horseman and pull him from his mount, you have one of these) and have to fight off the small group of enemies.
You and one brother survive and you join the army - at the start you're a basic footman. Shit armour, a cheap sword and a little wooden shield.
Now, more to the interface, the WASD remains the same so I won't bother talking about that. Lets talk about attacking - a button on the keyboard changes stance (fast or strong or medium - with bows this effects how fast you shoot and how far the arrow goes).
Left click swings the sword in a basic fashion - double tap left (for example) and click and you'll spin. Tap left, right, left (purely as an example guys) and he'll spin the sword in front of him to ward off incoming blows. Move to the left and he'll swing to the left, and visa versa. Middle click and forwards is lunge (if the enemy is not facing you you will drive the blade into his back), middle click and backwards is a back stab and middle click while standing over an enemy (not dead, but getting up) will drive the blade into him. The rest of the attacks are fairly logical.
Now, defence is as simple as possible - right click brings up the shield (if you have one) or does a parry (depends on the presence of a shield, nature of the weapon you have and what sort of attack they're using. Face the incoming blow and thats all there is to it. You can also swap your weapon from that of a fallen enemy.
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#22
Blocking works the same way as stabbing.
02/26/2004 (11:52 am)
I'd like a first-person sword game. You walk up to a guy, enter combat, and the mouse controls the sword. Left click is slash, right click is stab. Both at once is block. So you move your mouse in the direction you want to stab, then click, or, move it to the top of the line you want to slash on, then hold down left click and move it quickly towards the end of the line you want to slash on.Blocking works the same way as stabbing.
#23
back on track tho, IMO the animation would be overwhelming and kind of unrealistic from a single player perspective. For some reason arms always look stupid extending into the screen in FPSs. 3rd person sword fighting with a really deep combat system would be cool.
02/27/2004 (5:11 pm)
A sword fighting game would be sick. Everytime I play Soul Cailber 2 I wish that it had levels like bushido blade where I could run from fight to fight and ambush people along the way.back on track tho, IMO the animation would be overwhelming and kind of unrealistic from a single player perspective. For some reason arms always look stupid extending into the screen in FPSs. 3rd person sword fighting with a really deep combat system would be cool.
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