Inspiration Highlight: Hyde SB
I am honored to share with you some art I have recently discovered by a San Fransisco artist that goes by the alias Hyde SB. What's incredibly interesting about a specific series of images they have created is that there is this strange hybridization of Mesoamerican and Oriental imagery running them. In the image I have posted here you see what appears to be an indigenous Mexican face emerging from within a dragon of some kind. And while dragons like this were far more prevalent in Oriental artwork, it is presented in these images in a very Mesoamerican way. I realize I might be totally off base here, but it doesn't really matter because personally, it definitely invokes Aztec warrior imagery, who were purported to stuff their heads inside the heads of more intimidating creatures as a warfare aesthetic. In any case, it's incredibly inspiring.
You can check out more of it here. If you find a better gallery hook me up!
Conservative Texture File Usage
I though I'd elaborate on a good point that Matthew brought up in the comments section of my "Creating Structures In Aztez" post. When referring to to the way I created one single texture and then used it on many different objects he said:
"It should probably also be noted how fantastic this approach is from a technical standpoint as it cuts the number of textures being used down completely."
This was intentional on my part, and for good reason. Whenever the game engine loads up an environment it has to "dig up" all these different assets out of the games files and then display them: 3d models, materials, textures, animations, etc. The basic idea here is that the less assets there are to dig up the quicker loading is going to be and the smaller your games overall file size will be (in software development, the overall size of a collection of files is sometimes called a "footprint"). Allow me to visually elaborate why this is so efficient in the context of Aztez.
Now before you understand how awesome this is, you must first understand the nature of materials. A material is a set of instructions that are used to tell the game engine how exactly to display that texture in the game once it's on the object. Under the hood they they are really just text; like I said, they're simply a set of instructions. Because of this, they have no substantial footprint as they merely "reference" the texture files they use. This means that you can have 100 different materials all creating completely different visuals with only one texture file. Obviously, they are crucial tools in 3d.
In this case here you can see here that one single material is employing one single texture but it is still being applied to a whole bunch of different objects. There are only three example objects in this image but in reality many more objects use that exact material, and I'm using this very same same technique with other materials across many other different objects. Thus far, we are only using a tiny handful of texture files to create our environments and characters, but even when we are done we will still be using a significantly fewer amount of textures than your average 3d game.
What Is Aztlan?
When most Americans and Europeans use the word "Aztec" they are referring to the predominant group of indigenous people that occupied central Mexico in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. Well it turns out this is actually an unusual misnomer. The group commonly referred to as the Aztecs was actually comprised of three different tribes: the Mexica (who occupied Tenochtitlan), the Acolhuas (who occupied Texcoco) and the Tepanecs (who occupied Tlacopan). Often times this is referred to as the "Triple Alliance". The main unifying factor between all of the ethnic groups of the time and area, both inside and outside of the Triple Alliance, were that they all spoke the Nahuatl language.
Nahuatl legends say that 7 tribes (Mexica, Xochimilca, Tlahuica, Acolhua, Tlaxcalan, Tepaneca, and Chalca) all originated in a location far to the north of the Mexican plateau in which the bulk of Aztec civilization existed on. This was Aztlan. Some describe it as a paradise, and others as a series of eternally dark caves. But the point of the story is that those 7 groups all ended up in central Mexico after emmigrating from Aztlan. The problem is that modern historians don't really know for sure what it was like, or where it was, or if it was even a real place or not. There simply aren't enough surviving/consistent records from that period in time to corroborate the legends of Aztlan. What we do know for sure is that the word "Aztec" is actually a Nahuatl word for "People from Aztlan". So it's not entirely incorrect to refer to members of those 7 groups as Aztecs, but it all fairness it is not what they called themselves.
It would be fun to incorporate Aztlan into the game in some form because of its legendary and ambiguous nature. From a creative standpoint, it's an opportunity to mix the Aztec aesthetic into something completely different, since know one knows WHERE this place was. It could be against an ocean, in the desert, on top of mountains, deep under ground, in the frozen norths, etc. It really could be anything. 
Why All The Sacrifice?
A fundamental belief in Aztec culture was that the sun moved through the sky on a divine engine powered by blood. Many of the gods in their mythos fought and killed each other to keep the sun moving and the Aztec people felt the need to contribute to this by following suit and providing their own blood. This is why human sacrifice was so incredibly important to them; spilling massive amounts of blood on a regular basis was their way of maintaining the benefits derived from the sun. This core belief affected many facets of Aztec life:
- To make a sacrifice was an honor. This is why priests held positions of such power. As the ones doing the sacrificing, they were interfacing directly with the sun.
- To provide a captive that could be sacrificed was an honor. This is why Aztec warfare was so ritualized and important and it's also why warriors held positions of such power. They were providing a significant amount of warm bodies.
- To BE sacrificed was an honor. It's as simple as that. If you cared about yourself, your family, your agricultural society, and the world, you were proud to give your blood to the sun.
This will play out in Aztez with specific mechanics that are in place simply so the player can perform a dynamic sacrifice in the middle of combat. Because of the critical importance of blood in sheer amount, it's not only going to be the currency of the game (money), but a representation of your own vitality (health), and the measurement of success on a per fight basis (score). As you saw in the weapon effects demo, there will be no shortage of blood in the game! The fun and the challenge will be in managing it.
Behind The Scenes: Marketplace
It's always been amazing to me how different an in-game environment looks behind the scenes than it does in tightly controlled game play. As scene builders (and I have happily constructed more environments in my life as a game developer than I can count) we have technical restrictions and we have to make the most out of what we've got. So the most sensible approach is to scrutinize the relative beauty of the scene from the viewpoint of the player, since ultimately that's all that matters. And this works! But as you soon as you pull the camera back, you get a totally different story and that's what I want to show you with the Marketplace environment. Remember - this environment is a proof of concept and is definitely going to change as the project continues. But these ideas ring true regardless.
You can see that there is nothing outside of the large walls to the left and right because there simply doesn't need to be. There are also no details in the ground space in front of the pyramids because that area will go completely unnoticed during actual gameplay.
The lack of any life on these platforms becomes really apparent when they become the center of attention. I realize you will most likely notice this as you play since they're not terrifically far away from the play area, so these parts will get some much needed love before this gets into anyone's hands.
That last shot is just to show you a very remote angle you'll never see in the game, because it's angles like this that really show off the inevitable errors in the world! There is no detail on the underside of that bridge object (because again, there simply doesn't need to be) and the water is just a gray plane. The ripples you see in the game are actually particle emitters that are attached to the flowers and canoes at completely different point in the construction process. Furthermore, most of the structural objects have texture seams and they're very apparent down here. I'm showing you these things because they don't really concern me. Like I said before, I have a responsibility to make sure that what you actually have to stare at is at maximum sexiness and I have no intention of letting you down.
Inspiration Highlight: Xolo Sacred Dance
As far as I can tell, Xolo Sacred Dance is a San Francisco based performance troupe; unfortunately there isn't a whole lot of information about the group on the internet. Luckily, a photographer name Tristan Savatier immortalized them in photographs during a Dia De Los Muertos performance in San Francisco back in 2007. It's only too perfect that his photos were taken in high-contrast black and white.
You can check out the rest of his Xolo Sacred Dance gallery here.
It's important to keep in mind that most of what the world (outside of Mexico) understands about the Aztecs came from the Spanish conquistadors, who viewed their entire civilization as a conquest. And while it's good that they went through the effort of recording what they learned about the indigenous people, there is an enormous difference between recording something for the sake of scientific posterity and celebrating it. Performance groups like this make me happy because clearly they are operating from a position of respect and awe and love. I just feel like it's important to have both when trying to understand older civilizations.
Aztec Weaponry
I'd like to show off to you what kind of weapons you'll see in Aztez and also to tell you a little bit about them since they're all based heavily on actual Aztec weapons. The Aztecs were so war-centric and ritualized that every instance of weapons like these were created with care, maintained, and either passed onto new warriors or alternatively - buried with their renowned owners. Bear in mind that the Aztecs were far more concerned with injuring enemies than they were for outright slaughter; an injured enemy can be captured and sacrificed. More on sacrifice later!
1. The sling, "tematlatl". Used to propel small rocks and tightly packed balls of clay at incredibly high speeds. More than capable of breaking bone but not particularly effective from far away.
2. The dart, or "tlacochtli". Throwing spear that was thrown by hand, but also propelled with a mechanism called the "atlatl". Much more effective at longer ranges than the sling but much more cumbersome.
3. The shield, or "chimalli". Large defensive object made of wood or maize cane. Often decorated to signify rank and prestige.
4. The obsidian blade, or "macuahuitl". Large wooden sword that was laced with razor sharp obsidian stones in either side. The most legendary of the Aztec weapons and the very symbol of the elite warrior ranks.
5. The spear, or "tepoztopilli". Long wooden pole with sharpened obsidian at the end.
6. The scythe. I realize this one is a little bit of a stretch as Aztecs warriors are not purported to have used these formally, but I'm taking the liberty here because scythes are rad. And besides, there is no reason to believe that in the entirety of the agricultural Aztec's history no one ever picked up a scythe and used it as a weapon. C'mon.
7. The stone club, or "quauhololli". An elongated weapon with a stone sphere at the end that was used to do the kind of things one does with clubs.
8. The knife, or "itztli. Made from obsidian, flint, or quartz. Warriors used knifes as sidearms and priests used knifes as sacrificial aids.
I'm going to go ahead and get it out of the way now; the only hand-to-hand weapon you will use in Aztez is the obsidian blade. You will have a shield, and I'm planning on giving you the ability to use the sling, but that's about it. As much as I would love to provide combat mechanics for multiple types of weapons, it's ultimately a matter of animation production. I'm the only artist on the project and I feel that creating animations for one deep weapon system is better for the game than creating animations for multiple shallow weapon systems. The rest of the weapons are for enemies only, I'm afraid. But the good news is that there will be multiple variants of the obsidian blade you can find and equip so you're not always looking at the same tired weapon.
Inspiration Highlight: Inka Bola
Inka Bola is a super fun animation produced by some Frenchies from Frenchland (more specifically, from the Gobelins art school). It's an interesting mish-mash of Aztec, Mayan, and Incan aesthetics (i.e. "The Big Three") and it has a lot of style and really great use of color. I'm not trying to be silly when I say "The Big Three" because most media (not including educational material) that employ these aesthetics tend to pick and choose from the three groups. I'm certainly not against this design philosophy since all of the indigenous civilizations of the Americas have a lot to offer, I just think the distinction should be made between pure and...less pure. In any case, please enjoy thing delightful animation!
Inka Bola by Gobelins from Kreatif360 on Vimeo.
Influential Beat-Em-Ups
My three favorite beat-em-ups of all time are Aliens Vs Predator by Capcom, Devil May Cry 4 by Capcom, and Bayonetta by Platinum Games. They all did a handful of wonderful things that I have every intention of piping into the Aztez experience.
Aliens Vs. Predator is a 1994 arcade game built on Capcom's seminal CPS2 hardware. It is a sidescrolling 2d game with movement on the z axis. It gave you four characters with distinct attacks and abilities: the two Predators had their signature shoulder cannons and spear-like weapons and the two human characters had guns and used their hands and feet to fight. AVP was really great because it enforced upon the player a really satisfying mix up. Naturally, you're going to spend a lot of your time mashing on the weapon attack buttons but you could very easily interrupt your close combat madness with ranged attacks and then jump right back into the melee. It was all about crowd control. No one enemy was particularly powerful, and it was your responsibility to keep the masses away from you (and whatever friends you might be playing with) at all times. The best part of AVP were its secret techniques (secret in that they weren't exposed on the cabinet's instructional artwork and therefore you had to discover them on your own) that you could utilize if you so desired. None of them were especially difficult to perform, which made the skill ceiling deceptively low.
Devil May Cry 4 was made in 2008 for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. My favorite of the three games on this list, DMC4 introduced the much-loathed character Nero (which I find utterly ridiculous...I'm fairly certain the negative response to the character is simply a manifestation of people's tendency to be conservative for conservative's sake). Nero's toolset is astounding. There are no positions in space in which he is not effective and there is no spatial configuration of enemies he cannot manage. He possesses different tiers of abilities which all explore different facets of the classic trademark - difficulty for power. Furthermore, there are two systems the game provides the player with that enhances the fundamental combat with extra bang, and amazingly the two systems stack! Doing this feels awesome and it looks fantastic to boot. Unfortunately, one of these systems is INCREDIBLY difficult to employ and only the most committed players will get to experience the magnificence of high level DMC4 combat. For completely understandable reasons, most players do not have access to the true greatness of the game.
Bayonetta was made in 2009 for the Xbox 360 and the PS3. As much as I love the aesthetics of the game experience, what's really remarkable about Bayonetta is just how smooth and amazing every single hit in every single combo feels. Attacks comes out fast, they hit hard, they look great, and every transition is masterfully animated and smoothly connects all combos together into a river of violent, hot, satisfying butter. The single best thing Bayonetta did is bring the power down into the hands of the lower level players by infusing all of the fundamental attacks with super exciting visual elements. While the skill ceiling is not quite as high as DMC4's, it's still pretty high up there (as of this writing the game has only been out for little over a month, and much of the combat is still undiscovered and unexploited). Yet despite this, most players are going to feel extremely powerful regardless of whether or not they actually experienced the higher level combat. The icing on the cake is the fact that the toolset in Bayonetta is the most robust of any beat-em-up to date. There are so many ways to express yourself across so many different weapons and so many different abilities that you can't possible see it all in a single play session. Creativity is the key here, but only if you choose; you can very easily get through the game mashing on one of the attack buttons with one single weapon, provided you know how to dodge.
What I want to do with the Aztez is put an amazing combat system into the hands of the players that distills the most impactful but also the most accessible attributes of these games' different combat systems:
- Very robust set of mechanics that provide a fun mix-up of melee and distance combat. No mechanic unlockables! It will all be available in its entirety from the start.
- Incredible sensation of power with concentrated visual charm. Will push the very limits of combat effects.
- Crowds of fun and simple enemies to control. Easy, free flowing mass destruction will provide a distinct sense of dominance.
- A high skill ceiling for those who are interested, but with very satisfying combat extant at the lower levels.
- Lots of fun quirks and weird mechanics to discover. Lots of strange loopholes to exploit and rules to break.
- Fun and accessible secondary systems in place to enhance the combat and expand the creative landscape.
I can tell you right now that the danger I am faced with is making it too inaccessible the way DMC4 is - simply by being the kind of gamer/designer I am; I'm just such a huge fan of high skill ceilings. But I realize it's a very solitary existence and I don't want to cultivate that kind of elitism. I believe there is a very delicate relationship between advanced technique and overall mechanic-friendliness and I'm tasking myself with finding the middle ground so that EVERYONE can feel awesome playing Aztez.
Impact Effects
It is incredibly important to the combat sensation in an action game that it feels really amazing when you hit something else with your weapon. Aztez is no exception. Typically, a specific combination of visual cues is used to communicate successful impact and I have created a piece of Unity content that showcases the different effects Aztez will use. You can press z to perform an attack to see it in action, but you can also push keys 1 through 0 to view the individual effects. This isn't a real attack using our combat code, it's just a hacked together demo, which is why it looks ridiculous when you mash on the z button.
Here is a breakdown of the individual effects:
1. Attack animation. Has a few frames of anticipation before throwing all of the upper body weight into a hefty attack. I find with attacks like this that the harder you swing the character's weight around the more brutal the attack will look.
2. Hit animation. The part of the character's body that gets hit must be quickly and painfully jacked around in order to feel good. There is some silly exaggeration in the way the poor character's head gets whipped around that helps drive the pain home. Also, I find it helps a lot (especially in games with lots of enemies on the screen) to flash the enemy a solid color very quickly to reinforce to the player exactly whom they have struck.
3. Sword Swing. The widely utilized and easy method of communicating fast weapon movement. A large, animated shape indicates the movement of the weapon. In recent years this effect has been done with polygon "ribbons", but in Aztez I am using the traditional method of hand drawn frames. Typically this shape is based on the general shape and size of the weapon in use, but sometimes it's done with a thinner trail that emerges from the tip of the weapon. When this effect is done well using proper animation principles, it will singlehandedly provide most of the charm of attacks.
4. Sword Dust. This effect is much more subtle, but it emphasizes the motion of the attack. It mostly resembles a layer of dust being thrown off the blade, hence the name. You can see this being put to great use in Diablo 3, which has AMAZING effects all around and has been a source of great inspiration. If you want to scrutinize some of them for yourself, go to their movie section and download the gameplay trailer. You can use Quicktime or VLC to scrub through frame by frame and see for yourself what kind of techniques they employ (you special effect aficionados should be doing this all the time anyway).
5. Successful Impact Effect. An abstract effect used to communicate that something has successfully struck something else. Very popular in beat-em-ups and fighting games alike, weapon-based or otherwise. This effect occurs at the point in space that the weapon connects with the target.
6. Sword Slash. Used to indicate that a blade of some kind has made contact with a body. This effect does not typically occur at the point in space that the weapon connects with like the Impact Effect does, but instead occurs in the general area. The most important aspect of this effect is the "direction" in which it occurs; it should be aligned to the angle at which the weapon struck the target. In this demo it's only occurring horizontally since the attack motion is so horizontal, but in the actual game it will occur much more dynamically because of the natural attack variety in combos.
7. Blood Explosion. There are actually two different things going on this effect: tiny blobs that retain their circular shape and tiny motion-stretched blobs. The way a thick liquid like this spews out of a point is very distinct; there should be enough stickyness and viscosity to be clumpy but the motion must break it apart realistically. I still feel like this isn't quite there yet and it will definitely get refined down the road.
8. Blood Splatters. This effect is very simple; I'm simply creating a few flat sprites in slightly randomized locations. There are two different pieces of art for the sake of variety: one very misty sprite and one that more resembles a pool of blood.
9. Ground Dust. Not terrifically realistic, but adds to the sense of impact and motion. I'm simply using this effect to imply that the attack was so brutal and hard that it blasted some dust off the ground the way a helicopter would.
10. Camera Shake. Pretty self-explanatory. A good camera shake contributes hugely to the feeling of power if done right. It might be a little strong in this particular case, but bear with me as I push these effects as far as I can.
Of course these will improve over time and may change entirely. I'm aware of the fact that some of this might not hold up when there are lots of enemies on the screen getting the shit beat out of them and I might have to rework some of the effects so they stand out or don't distract the player. But the proof of concept you see here was successful in that we know we can make something feel brutal and awesome.
Aztez is being made by Ben Ruiz and Matthew Wegner. Unsurprisingly, they are both incredibly violent.
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