Disney Infinity 3.0

Platform: PS4, PS3, XBox One, XBox 360, WiiU, PC, Apple TV

Tools: Proprietary (avatar) - visual scripting tool, content creation and management tool, animation and ticker editing tools; Universal - Excel, Visio, Lua

Duration: 11 months

Team Size: Characters - 20 internal / 20 external; IN 3.0 Team - 350+

Role: Lead Designer - Character and Combat Mechanics

Metacritic/Gamerankings: 80

Disney Infinity 3.0 was a major learning experience for me. I directed an internal team and worked with Ninja Theory as they made improvements to the combat system in preparation for Star Wars coming to Disney Infinity. From these improvements my team developed 30+ new avatars utilizing a new combat philosophy and technology. This was an exciting and humbling development cycle working alongside a team with over 15 years’ experience in combat systems, many of whose games I had played and appreciated over the years.

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The dash is a new mechanic that's not only responsive and useful, but opens up new possibilities for expression.

In improving the combat in Disney Infinity 3.0 we focused on four major areas of improvement:

- Expression between combat mechanics

- Improved Kinesthetics

- Enemy functionality

- Ranged Combat Improvements

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The Launch and Gun mechanic facilitates interplay between melee and ranged mechanics.

To facilitate interplay between combat moves, we expanded our splits system (the system that allows the player to go from one attack into another) to allow smoother segues between mechanics; melee, ranged, force, special abilities, block, dodge, ground and air combos.

Some examples of how we facilitated expression are:

- By developing air combos along with the Launcher to give the player air play possibilities, rendering the enemy defenseless.

- Pause Combos were implemented as a means of giving the player options for more powerful attacks on the melee attack button.

- Force pull allowed the player to continue a combo string if performed at the right time.

As the lead, I felt that these improvements (and many others) not only contributed to a more robust combat system that was true to the core experience, but also gave the player more ways to play within combat.

“The improvements to the game’s combat are almost immediately noticeable. Attacking is faster and flows much more smoothly—button mashing for the younglings will still get results, but the added depth to the melee allows more skilled players to utilise more powerful and impressive-looking attacks. ”

— gamespot.com

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Ahsoka's attacks hit enemies multiple times with her dual sabers while staying both "weighty" with her footwork and responsive with tuning.

In regards to improved kinesthetics, animation and gameplay tuning philosophy changed a little to facilitate responsiveness and readability. Forward motion in an attack animation was prioritized along with footwork to sell weight. We developed a keener eye for time spent in animation after the button is pressed, and tuned splits timing to keep players feeling connected to their attacks.

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An enemy "popping out" from an attack forces the player to change strategies.

For enemy functionality, we improved AI with a host of defensive abilities like "Pop-Outs", "Super Armored" states, Weak Spots and the ability to utilize cover in ranged combat. This resulted in enemies that kept the player from spamming as much as they had in previous versions of Infinity, asking them to dodge, block, counter and perform launchers. This also allowed the designers to develop more tricks to defeating particular enemies.

“The stormtroopers with the anti-lightsabre batons from the film are included in the game and taking them down requires real thought about what you’re doing. For kids that makes this a great introduction to more complex games, as well as being a good way for Disney Infinity to distinguish itself from its rivals.”

— metro.co.uk

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Using Aim mode, players can hit weak spots on enemies.

Ranged Combat was improved with the addition of benefits for shooting Weak Spots, improved reactions and feedback, an Aim Mode that mimics core shooters, AI Cover, precision settings on ranged weapons and a Critical Shot system that allowed weapons to deal more damage and elicit different reactions.

Ultimately, my team succeeded in vastly improving the readability, kinesthetics, expression and enemy A.I. over Disney Infinity 2.0. Working with new developers including Ninja Theory challenged me as well as my team to evolve our combat philosophy. This has given us a more solid foundation from which to work moving forward.

“Disney Infinity 3.0 takes the skill tree concept introduced with 2.0 and expands it to give players choices that are more significant when promoting a character. This is most noticeable in combat which begins to feel like something yanked from a much more focused action title. That’s a boon to the new lightsaber combat in particular. Now enemies can be juggled, and a more robust combo system gives players the ability to switch up how they deal out damage mid attack.”

— polygon.com

Disney Infinity 3.0 Website

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Kelly Murphy