[TIPS] Balancing enemies attacks

O Ilusionista

O Ilusionista

Captain 100K
Hey guys, I have a tip to share.
Obviously, I am not the owner of the truth nor is it a law written in stone, but it is another tip that we can follow (I try to follow it myself) that is present in fighting games.

This is something common in some OpenBOR games: enemies (specially bosses) are too fast, too strong and have a very quick recovery time.
But try to remind this triad - POWER, SPEED, RECOVERY.
OWfx2uh.png


You can always have 2 of them, but not all 3. At least not for the first boss. The later bosses could be a bit loose on it, but try to be fair.

We could make it harder and include RANGE on it, as you can't have a LONG RANGE move, with high DAMAGE, high SPEED and quick RECOVERY TIME.

Extra tips:
- If an enemy has a very fast attack, with very fast recovery, make it do a small damage and give the attacker a low life setting.
- You can have "Glass cannon" enemies - enemies with does strong attacks, but are very weak and will die with few hits or even with just one hit.
- If you have an enemy which has a very fast long range move (or with a screen covering attack), give it a low health, so it will die with one hit.
- Big enemies with high attack and health, could be slower to attack and walk - and have a bigger recovery time after the attacks
- You can have unblockable attacks, but they need to have any sort of warning first - a blink, a sound, an animation, a big starting time, etc. For example, I give my bosses a unbloackable riseattack, but they will try to use it only if you stay close to them when they are lying down and the recover time is big in most of times.
 
Thanks for the advices. I agree that enemies should be fairly hard in the sake of enjoyability. ^^
When you talk about recovery, do you mean MP recovery? Or a parameter that delays a simple and second attack after a first one? If so, what is this parameter? I think it exists but I couldn't find it in the manual.
 
Nice tip, I totally agree. This graph will be very useful to explains the difference between some opposite characters (Ex: strong/slow > fast/weak).
 
Interesting post Ilu :)

16-bit Fighter said:
When you talk about recovery, do you mean MP recovery? Or a parameter that delays a simple and second attack after a first one?
Click to expand...

I believe it means attack recovery or delay after/before the actual attack. Ababdee runs in place before charging forward, is an example for long delay before the attack. 
 
Thanks buddies.

16-bit Fighter said:
Thanks for the advices. I agree that enemies should be fairly hard in the sake of enjoyability. ^^
When you talk about recovery, do you mean MP recovery? Or a parameter that delays a simple and second attack after a first one? If so, what is this parameter? I think it exists but I couldn't find it in the manual.
Click to expand...

No, I am talking about the recovery from the movement itself. Let me use some mugen images, since its easier to make gifs.

Take a look at this attack
TBtPSW3.gif

- Its fast
- it has a very quick recovery time

So you would need to balance it with giving it a low damage.
This is one example that happens on a lot of OpenBOR games, specially on bosses. They are fast, furious and does big damage.

Now take a look at this version
NPrG3oF.gif


- The start time is even faster (the frames before the attack, with delay 2), but there is a longer pause when his leg reaches the final position (delay 12), and them all the frames after it uses delay 6, while I've duplicate some frames to make the move more smooth and the recovery longer.

See the difference? The second could give more damage, even being faster, but the attack will left the attack wide open to counter attacks if missed.

Now the first animation with all frames with delay 3, but with those extra frames
uEIa4qv.gif


Notice that the move is smoother and you have more time to react if he is attacking you and misses?

Comparing the 3
TBtPSW3.gif
uEIa4qv.gif
NPrG3oF.gif

Its the same animation, just playing with the delay and adding the same frames I already used before.

This version has a shake as a start time, to it will "telegraph" (WOW THAT IS OLD), will give a warning about the move
aXyjbwM.gif


This is a trick capcom uses on some games and we can cheat by simply shifting the axis 1 pixel more (or less), use the normal axis, repeat as many times you want.
f7zhTpY.gif


In other words: give the frame where the attack happens a bigger delay, then make the frames after it to have a bigger delay from the starting ones.
So if your frame delays are 3, 12 (attack), make the others something like 6 or 8.

The same thing can be used for frames where the characters lands after a jump.
Its all about balance.
 
No, I am talking about the recovery from the movement itself. Let me use some mugen images, since its easier to make gifs
Click to expand...
Hmm, now I understand better. This graph is really very good and the "recovery" can also work for other sittuations, like the "mp" recharge rate. For example, a character that has high speed and low power, can do special moves more times.

Depending on the game mechanic, both speed+recovery can be mixed as an unique "speed" attribute. Because the player can maybe look for the total time each animation has (from the first to the last frame) until it is finished, and allows a new move to be made.

For games that use "magic" attributes, the recharge time can grow according to the spell damage. In RPG games, magicians are overall slower, weaker but have a high mana recovery rate, on the other hand powerful Warriors even if they have a few basic spells, the mana recovery can be very slow.
 
I just want to thank you for taking time making this kind of tutorials, this is very useful.
I especially like the keyframe video and will search for more studies like this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYCjmVhiLaM
 
Problem I'm having is getting the a.i to avoid run attacks. Like in double dragon reloaded,  all you have to do to win the game is run and kick and the a.i gets destroyed over and over.

 
thanks O Illusionista. This is very useful for me since in my game my bosses were very difficult to beat. That graph really helps me to understand how to balance the enemy's attacks  ;)
 
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