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Session Name: Honoring the Blade: Lethality and Combat Balance in 'Ghost of Tsushima'
Speaker(s): Theodore Fishman
Company Name(s): Sucker Punch Productions
Track / Format: Design

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Overview: A flash of steel, a few quick slashes and the enemy is dead; this is the fantasy of how a Samurai fights. Lethal, precise, fast but how does that translate into gameplay and combat balance? Honoring this fantasy, most importantly lethality of the blade, was a major challenge in making Ghost of Tsushima's combat. nnWhile assassinations and standoffs nailed it, applying lethality to standard combat was more difficult. This talk will go over the multitude of attempts to try to solve this problem. Additionally, it will provide a behind the scenes look at the data-driven approach to game balance and design details of how it all came together.

Game Developers Conference 2021

Theodore Fishman

Sucker Punch Productions

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Design

Design