Assassin's creed

For this post I'm going to be taking a closer look into a combat system. Specificity the sword fighting system in Assassins Creed 2. Before I start it's important to note that within the game the player has the ability to equip many different swords, these have different statistical modifiers but the same animations.

In reality a lot of these swords would have completely different systems, from arming sword to cutlass and sabre. Meaning to break down the combat, we have to assume the designer took inspiration from all of these systems, regardless of what the player may be wielding at the given time.

For this I will reference a video containing a large amount of the games combat. This video was not created by me, but can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWFNiYyHrl4

I choose this video as it shows a large uninterrupted section of combat showcasing various techniques and animations within the game.

Lets start by by going through out basics and seeing if they apply:

Binding:
This is a tough one, at any point an attack is blocked by an opponent, we clearly see the blade bounce off it. Even when the blades make contact edge to edge. However sometimes a grinding sound is played, along with the production of sparks, which could be considered a representation of the blades binding.

Blades never become interlocked for an extended duration, except during certain finishers and counters, where binding is used to manoeuvre the opponents weapon, to open them up for an attack. This is a very good example of how binding is often used within HEMA.

Multiple Opponents:
The games combat system clearly doesn't even attempt this one, throughout each clip you can clearly see the player surrounded by multiple opponents, who then wait to attack one at a time. In later games two will occasionally attack at the same time, yet slightly staggered so the player can counter both. In reality, all opponents would simply descend upon a surrounded opponent. Even if they had eyes in the back of their head.

Footwork:
The character stands in a strong stance with their knees bent and about a shoulders width apart. Retreating and advancing with passing steps and gather steps as a real fighter might. The problem comes during attacks and counters, where the character spins constantly turning their back on the opponent they are engaged in for no reason. Exaggerated attacks also mean the character leaves them selves unnecessary exposed, normally with his sword behind him and his head leaning forward. Retreating or dodging an attack is done with a simple rapid gather step or passing step as a real fighter might. The character also changes their height in accordance to where they intend to hit, ducking low to take advantage of low openings while making themselves harder to hit.

A plan...

A plan is in the works, of great magnitude, it's been delayed due to a knee injury I sustained.

In short, I'm going to be taking fight scenes sections from video games, normally just small moved lists and trying them out for real. First in a short drill to see if they work, and then if possible in a full on spar with an uncooperative opponent. These will be recorded and where impossibilities arise I will work together with a HEMA expert to work out what would have been a more logical solution, Unfortunately all this has been delayed until I can walk properly, but hey, something to look forward to.

The next game I'm currently looking through is Assassins Creed 2, I noticed some of the counters seemed the same as those in historical manuals, so I'm going to be taking a very detailed look at how the combat system works frame by frame. As well as seeing if it adheres to the basics defined in the last blog post.

The Basics

Sword fighting have some very basic rules that might not always be obvious to someone who hasn't used them. It's vitally important to take these into account when creating combat animation or designing combat systems for games. Some weapons or systems may brake these rules, but they will always be the exception for 90% of all systems these rules will be accurate.
I will be using these rules to check a sword fighting system has at least the basic concepts of HEMA down before moving on to more detailed and precise techniques and implementations.
These are in no particular order.

Binding:
When two sharp swords meet sharp to sharp, they stick, and bite into each other. You'll see this on any blade that's been used in battle, nicks and dents caused by other blades biting into them. In HEMA we normally fight with blunt steel swords or synthetic nylon weapons. Though the nylons don't seem to have any bite on them without applying a huge amount of force, even the blunt steel swords do, with enough force to stop either blade bouncing off each other. Doing this with two sharp blades is far more extreme however, blades become interlocked deeply and become difficult to pull apart, meaning an attempted volley of heavy fast blows can be hindering and stopped completely by the blades suddenly sticking together.

Drawing a bow:
Bows especially long bows and war bows are designed to be drawn and loosed in a single motion. It is extremely hard and detrimental to aim to have someone hold a bow at full draw if the bow doesn't have an in-fitted way of taking the strain off the archer like modern sports bows do. Aiming is there-for normally done prior to drawing the bow.

Multiple opponents:
When fighting multiple opponents being surrounded is a death sentence. Sword strikes land quickly and the time it takes to hear and register that a hit is incoming, turn ones body to face behind them and raise the sword to intercept, is far longer then the time to throw a cut. This means facing opponents or at least stopping opponents getting behind you is extremely important. Being surrounded is almost always a death sentence.

Footwork:
It is extremely important to maintain a solid stance while fighting. I will go into this in greater detail later, but in short, a solid stance means staying in a position with both feet on the floor forming a stable platform from which one can throw solid strikes and move in multiple directions. Spinning around, jumping in the air, or making large prolonged kicking motions will render ones weapon less effective and normally end with serious injury and falling over.

Total War: Rome 2

While Rome 1 is arguably a more historically accurate game, focusing on more current games will allow a better representation of how historical accuracy and HEMA principles can be applied to current industry.

Rome 2 lifts so much directly from history that it would be impossible to lift all of it. The advantage being the game is set in a historic era, yet the mechanics don't demand a perfect adherence to historical events. This in tern can carry over to the gameplay mechanics, initially cultures may be represented accurately, but as the player changes events it's more then acceptable and understandable that things differ slightly from history.

Rome 2 doesn't simply include historical facts and accuracies for the sake of it. It gains a lot in the process, from strong character designs and a richness of world that would normally be far beyond the scope of any writing team, to mechanics and player strategy that make design decisions easy and far easier for the player to understand. Using what the player already knows about the world to save from having to tell them everything about the world.

Michael Simpson the studio director who worked on Rome Total War 2 stated that it was far more important to get authenticity over accuracy. By this he means that while dates, times, minor details may be important for historians, they may bog down a game, stating that fun should win out of strict dogmatic adherence to history books. This to me makes perfect sense, but it's a hard line to draw, as for some, a strict adherence to history books would be fun for them to discover.

Rome 2 also happens to be a great example of converting historical facts to gameplay. Cultural traits being turned into combat bonuses and statistical changes. One example being the fact a race was known for warmongering and giving them a +1 in combat and a bonus while at war with other cultures. This alone is a great guideline to use, changing historical facts into gameplay statistics is an extremely important process in getting history into a game and representing it well, while still adding fun mechanics and filling out the game.


Articles used:
http://www.pcgamesn.com/totalwar/placing-authenticity-over-accuracy-total-war-rome-ii
http://start2continue.com/blog/2013/6/7/from-totally-wrong-to-totally-right
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiyS5ogYXZw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8yl09GcI48
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqwZUTaNJTM

Why apply HEMA to games?

Why create realistic historical combat in games?

For those with a love of history it is obvious why any creator of a representation of historical combat within video games should make an effort to at least investigate the real thing. Spreading false facts and notions have plagued historians and so easy seep into our culture, replacing discussions of the truth with easily referenced false information.

Yet even without a love of history, or for whom representing history is not enough reason to warrant investing resources, there is still so much more to gain. My hope in this research is to prove that not only is it better for historical accuracy and teaching players but also innately makes for more interesting animations that read better and clearer. I'm hoping to prove that actual historical military tactics combine to make diverse gameplay, that history has done the act of balancing unit types and tactics for us. That historical accuracy can speed up development and provide answers rather then slow it down and provide problems.

This research will be put into a form to make it easy customizable and augmentable to enable it to be used with a variety of different games and genres. Examples will be shown and tested where necessary and research will be summed up into colonised points that are easy to take in, with a more detailed explanation following them. Though large amounts of this format and strategy may change depending on what comes to light during initial research.

My research is starting with existing games that have used history as a basses for their gameplay systems rather then just their subject matter. Looking at where they decided to deviate from this and why to ensure I can provide more then just tips on doing what has already been done and also to see why they choose to take a historically accurate route. It will be scenery to look at a fair few examples and different approaches to this, from large scale RTS games to one on one fighting games.

Medival Knights

Video games movies and the media often misrepresent the power and mobility of a knight in armour, from common rumours about the complete inability to move properly, to mechanics that allow blades seemingly to go straight through the breast plate without a problem. Here is a video that does a really good job of disproving some of those myths and showing what a real armoured spa might look like. I did not make or have any influence on this video. Le Figaro. (2011). Le combat en armure au XVe siècle. [Online Video]. 26/09/2011. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hlIUrd7d1Q. [Accessed: 04/10/2014].