The last few months of the alpha have introduced some radical experimental gameplay changes. In this blog post, I'll talk about why these changes were introduced in general and share details about the reasoning behind one particular set of changes.
Prototype Changes
The changes introduced during the last few months were labeled as “prototype changes”. This means that they were meant to be experimental and temporary. They were implemented with placeholder graphics, animations, and sound and lacking any form of polish. The idea of “prototyping” is to test something with the least amount of effort possible. If it works, you properly re-develop the feature with the desired quality. If it sucks, you don't lose much.
This approach allows for experimentation. And that was also the main driving factor behind introducing these changes. A lot of testers mentioned, that the game felt pretty solid before the prototype changes, but we wanted to see what else would be possible. To see if below the surface of the Due Process our testers and we enjoy lies an even better game.
Why now?
We found the project at a state in the development process where we had the time to spare for such experimentation. Such times are exceedingly rare and are to be taken advantage of.
Most of our engineers were fully involved in the network refactor (which I will talk more about in the next blog post), which would not be ready for any polish work for months. Vincent, our game designer, was thus free, so it seemed natural for him to work on something he can implement himself, without slowing down the progress of the refactor.
Second, experimenting like this in a live environment, when the game will be available to the general public, would be problematic. Radical changes to a game usually don't go over well with people who have paid money for it. This means we might not get a chance like this ever again.
So the time felt right, and Vince got to work.
Healing
Let's talk about the most controversial set of changes. The concept of healing was introduced in a few different forms:
Med-kits
How do they work?
The defenders got some med-kits, which go in one of your two utility slots, like barbed wire or molotovs. To activate them, you need to hold down your mouse button while a bar fills up. If you keep going until the bar is filled completely, you instantly recover a good chunk of HP. While using the med-kit, you cannot move and a sound will play, so the attackers now, you are in a vulnerable position.
Alternatively, you can use a med-kit to heal a teammate in a similar fashion.
What is the intent?
Med-kits promote a defender play-style we want to see:
Surprise the attackers when they enter the building. Deal some damage or even get a pick. Then fall back and prepare the second line of defense. Being able to heal after the initial engagement is a huge incentive to not overdo it and risk dying during the first firefight.
A good example of the desired gameplay. You can also see another prototype change in this video: A more consistent smoke effect.
Additionally, med-kits promote team-play and are valuable for the attackers to steal. Two things we want to see in the game.
What did we learn?
What we learned from testing is, that it is very important to correctly balance the number of med-kits, the number of uses per kit, and the amount of HP healed per charge. Because when those values were off they’d produce a lot of cheese moments, and the game got worse for it. When the balance is just right, however, med-kits push the game in a direction where defenders can be rewarded for a bit of aggression.
Attacker Healing
How does it work?
The attacker’s high-tech armor got some built-in healing mechanics. They started out as an automatic effect:
When you stopped taking damage for a few seconds, an automatic healing-over-time effect would start. It would not heal you to full, however. You could only be healed up to 100 HP (out of 150 max HP). A later iteration added an additional limit: You could not heal more than 200 HP total per round. The last iteration changes the effect from an automatism to an active ability. You press and hold Q to heal, which forces you to not move, similar to med-kits. It is also limited to one use per round.
What is the intent?
The main thing we tried to solve with this mechanic is the following pain point:
When only one or two attackers with low HP are left vs three or more defenders (or similar situations) the attackers used to have a really hard time to clutch and secure a victory. The defenders have the positional advantage, and attackers just need the extra health to make up for it. If they go down after a single shot, it becomes very unlikely for them to take a room against superior numbers. This is not a problem in it of itself, but it leads to the attackers not even trying. They just hide outside and secure their weapons and equipment. The result is up to a minute of waiting. The round is practically over, but the game does not recognize it until the bomb explodes.
Giving the attackers a way to heal after they got hurt at the start of a round, gives them a fighting chance and incentivizes them to go for the clutch victory.
What problems did arise?
This mechanic was not well-received by the testers and for good reason. It introduces a few big problems:
First, it changes the pace of the game. Attackers used to play with a “play fast and hit hard” mentality. This worked well and was fun. With a built-in heal, this changes. Now attackers are encouraged to play more carefully. Trade a bit of damage and fall back, so they can heal up again. While this is something we want for the defenders, this feels wrong for the attackers. If both sides play careful, the game just gets very slow. And this ultimately goes against the idea of Due Process being a game about brash, decisive, dynamic entry.
This clip is from a test where the attacker healing was disabled (even though you can still see the UI element). It showcases the kind of aggressive gameplay we want to see.
Second, fighting attackers becomes very unrewarding. If attackers can just heal up after an engagement, you really have to go for the kill or you did not achieve anything. This feels bad and also undermined one of the design goals stated above: It promotes defenders to go all-in instead of dealing some damage and then falling back.
What are the alternatives?
Here are a few other ideas we had but did not try out (yet):
Instead of being a built-in heal, attackers could just get a more powerful version of the defender med-kit. This makes bringing a heal a trade-off since you have to sacrifice one of your two utility slots for it. It would become an intentional decision, which is good. The disadvantage is that it’s unlikely that the remaining player required to clutch a victory would have the med-pack on them.
Alternatively, the attackers could have a duffel bag filled with healing equipment. They could drop it outside the building to act as a fallback-point. This would shift the trade-off to be more about time instead of inventory space.
Or what about a heal-gun? It would go in the secondary weapon slot and therefore be a huge trade-off in that regard. Unfortunately, the players most likely to pick a heal-gun to play a supporting role also tend to choose shotguns as a primary weapon, so this would deprive them of any way to engage at range.
Instead, we could take a completely different approach and make the game more “athletic”. By improving the evasive capability of attackers by adding lean or maybe even crouch slide, they have a better chance at applying a bit of finesse to clutch the round. This could have a severe impact on the importance of planning, though, which is presently in a good place.
Another more indirect approach we think is most promising is the getaway car. Right now, when the bomb explodes, the defenders magically survive and keep their equipment. Of course, that makes no sense. Instead, they would have to reach an escape vehicle before they are blown to bits in order to save their gear. This gives the defenders a great “get to the choppa!" moment and creates tension in the round when it often needs it most. When the attackers have clearly lost, the roles reverse: the defenders have to rush to a specific point on the map, and the attackers have the positional advantage (they may even exploit the defender’s urge to run early for a ninja defuse!). Unfortunately, this does not work at all for the last round before a side swap or the end of the match, since there is no incentive to secure equipment for the next round.
What are your thoughts?
We want to hear your thoughts on this topic. Do you have ideas or additional feedback? Feel free to discuss them below or join the Discord channel #healing-discussion (read-only for non-testers).
Until next time,
th_pion