Level Up.pdf

400 Quatloos on the Newcomer! 251
You can really pull out all of the stops if you use a cinematic fi nishing move
where the action slows or freezes and the camera pans around the action.
These finishes are frequently seen in fighting games like the Soul Calibur and
Street Fighter titles, but they ’ ve crept into other action games since they just
look so darn cool! This is because of this very important thing:
PEOPLE WANT TO PLAY GAMES THAT MAKE THEM LOOK COOL
And nothing makes a player look cooler than a QTE. Just look at the Mighty
Bedbug in action below. You have to admit that pressing button prompts to
create a choreographed combat sequence makes the battle look spectacular.
Case in point: Batman ’ s combat in Batman: Arkham Asylum relies on QTEs
to choreograph combat moves rather than leaving the player to flounder
around on their own. Why? Because Batman is a badass. He ’ d never miss a
punch. Why should the player? The result? When the player successfully
does an attack using a QTE, the player feels like an expert of combat — just
like Batman.
While QTEs have been around since Dragon ’ s Lair, they can be found in
some of the most recent action games. They are combat- oriented
minigames that are activated within combat when an enemy or boss has
reached a certain level of health. The player has to press a certain button or
complete a certain move (like waggle a motion controller or analog stick)
within a very short window of time. If the player is successful, they are
rewarded with an animation of the hero performing an elaborate attack on
an enemy. Most QTEs require several button presses for the player to reach
the end of the sequence, which ends in the death of the enemy or boss.
Here are some tips when designing QTEs:
• Reserve QTEs only for the most bombastic and elaborate attacks. Since
control during QTEs is limited, ask yourself “ is this something the player
can do instead? ” You can always use single button QTEs like those
found in Darksiders or Batman: Arkham Asylum as finishing moves.