Aztez – A Game of Conquest and Brutality
26Dec/126

Links To Great Articles RE: Combat

This is a list of the highly influential articles on game combat that I've collected and sat upon over the years. I should not have been sitting on these for so long! Please dive in and enjoy. If you have anything that you feel should be in this list, please let me know and I'll add it. :)

  • Very in-depth article about enemy behavior by Tom Smith, a creative director at THQ.
  • Incredible overview of the animation principles at work in Capcom's Darkstalkers.
  • Really fun behind-the-scenes vignette on God Of War 3 from some of its key design guys.
  • Video interview about combat intent in God Of War 3's development with combat lead Adam Puhl. I've had some email exchanges with Adam and he's a rad dude who knows his stuff.
  • Higher level discussion about combat from Jason McDonald, combat designer on God Of War: Ascension.
  • Interesting animation-centric discussion on proper sword movement.

Mike Birkhead is a designer at Insomniac games and he loves talking about combat design! His key articles:

Eric Williams is a former lead combat designer on God Of War, and has all kinds of amazing insight. His key articles:

Derek Daniels is another former God Of War combat designer, and also has a lot of great writing to eat up. His key articles:

 

  • Ken

    This came out recently, it was pretty cool to see how wrong our instinctive grips/ergonomics are.
    http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/183412/art_of_war_animating_realistic_.php

  • Bogdan

    These resources are amazing! I will cherish them forever! Thank you guys :)

  • Chris Wagar

    I’m reading through the God of War ones and holy shit are they uninspired.

  • David Osorio

    Love your entries. Very, very useful. I am mad about combat design; I want to specialized on it. You are great, guys. I am craving for playing Aztez!

  • David Osorio

    Mike Birkhead’s articles are gone. No clue about if there are posted in other site, right? Do you keep in local by any chance? Cheers!