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Pre Launch: Game Mechanics
From Hellgatewiki.com
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This article contains information that is old, or outdated, but saved for future reference, and a historical overview of Hellgate: London through the course of development of the game. These articles are NOT meant to be updated any further. You can find more articles from before launch here. |
This page coves what we know about character movement, game controls and hotkeys, damage types, taking and dealing damage, POV, and more. This info will be expanded upon and sorted into individual pages over time.
Contents |
Controls and Hotkeys
"1. You can use WASD and the mouse to move and aim like any FPS.
2. It is possible to pivot the camera up very high right now. It's not so high to make it clearly overhead, but it's situated far higher than a typical third-person shooter.
3. There's an on-screen cursor that can be activated -- this frees the mouse up from looking, so you can just click things on-screen without turning around in circles like a moron.
4. There's a button that makes your character continuously move in whatever direction you're facing.
Basically, Hellgate is a game that should fit just about any control style preference. It's very adaptable. I expect the final will include even more control considerations I am currently unaware of."
--Ivan Sulic, February 2006
In addition to the options Ivan mentions, there are easy-to-set and use hotkeys, a fully-customizable keyboard layout, three quick switch weapon configurations, and more. See our Character page for all the details.
Hotbar
The image below shows your primary means of viewing and interfacing with your character in Hellgate: London. The red sphere is your health, and your shields may display as a yellow circle around the red. The blue sphere is your power (mana) and your defenses may display as a yellow circle around it. The top row of seven tool icons are seldom-seen in screenshots, and those are the master game controls; the sort of thing you access by hitting the Esc key. Options, global talk, etc. The lower bar is one that you'll always have open, and it contains your hotkeys and other skill controls.
Starting at the left, just beside the health sphere, is what this character has set to the left click. Fire pistol, in this case. On the far right is the right click, swing sword in this case.
Next to fire pistol, the slightly larger skill icon is the Shift key, the context sensitive control. This is a skill the game suggests you use based on the situation you find yourself in, and hitting the shift key will trigger it. On the far right, beside the swing sword right mouse setting, is an empty space. The context sensitive Control icon would appear there if the game were suggesting that this character use a med kit, or drink a power restore potion or antidote, etc.
In between those context sensitive icons is the basic 12-space hotbar. The default buttons for this menu are found on the top row of the keyboard. 1234567890-=. Skills and other actions are dragged into this hot bar, and can then be used with a click of the appropriate key. In the #1 slot this character has a stack of health injectors. #2 is an unknown skill, #3 is Slam, a level one Blademaster skill, #4 is fire both weapons at once, #5 is fire right gun, and #6 is recall device (town portal). The 7890--= slots are not in use since no skills or other actions have yet been dragged into them.
Interface Wheel
As you can see, there are seven spots for icons/options to appear (6 around the wheel and the center spot). Only the icons that are available at that moment appear, which is why there are two empty spots in this example shot.
1. Identify item. Only possible on an unidentified item, and requires you to have an ID rune. (They're just like identify scrolls, and can be purchased or found.)
2. Break Down item. A new addition to the game, this lets a character Break Down an item into base component(s), to save and use in one of the newly-added crafting recipes. It takes a lot of items to make new ones -- during testing in mid-May 2007 single weapons were yielding 1 unit of scrap metal, and the cheapest recipes required 50 units of that, plus a few other raw materials as well.
3. Trash item. Easy enough. This one causes the item to drop from your inventory to the ground, and sometimes vanish instantly, depending on what it is.
4. Sell item. One click selling. You must have engaged an NPC merchant before this option will appear. Becomes one click buying when you're browsing through an NPC's merchandise..
5. Examine item. This opens the item up in the center of the screen and lets you see its full stats and what's socketed in it, as well as visually inspect it by clicking and dragging to see it from all angles.
It's not known what the other slots do. Trade item, to put an item into the trade window once that interface is open, seems one likely option.
The Interface Wheel was a brand new addition to the game as of community day in May 2007, and while most players liked the idea, it took some getting used to. Like so much else about Hellgate: London it will be interesting to see how this idea goes over once lots of new people are playing during the alpha and beta tests.
Context Sensitive
The control one is easier to understand, so we'll discuss it first. It's quite simple; if your character is low on health, the control key will activate a med kit. If you're low on mana, a mana recharge potion will show. If you're poisoned, cure potion will show. And so on. Assuming you have the potion in your inventory, you can just hit the Control key to use it. The game automatically selects which one you need, and prioritizes them appropriately. You can still set any of these potions to hotkeys, or open your inventory and click them to drink them; the Control context sensitive is just a convenience.
The Shift context sensitive works the same way, but with skills. You must select skills to add to the list, and once you have done so (by clicking a button on the skill in your skill menu) the game will suggest you use it if it's an appropriate time to do so. The most often suggested skill is Dash, a universal skill all characters possess. It simply makes you run really fast for a few seconds, and is helpful to cover cleared areas or open spaces or even to rush through town. The most interesting aspects of the Shift context sensitive are the skills.
All active skills can be added to this option (passive skills, auras, summoning skills, and so forth can not). Active skills are ones you can use in combat; things like Rapid Fire, Whirlwind, or Firestorm. Every skill has a different priority (set by the designers) and if the game thinks this is a good time to use that skill, and you've added it to the Shift menu, it will show up in that space, and with a click of the shift key you can activate it. The whole concept is just a way to let players use multiple skills with a single button, and the Hellgate Team, the only people who have played the game enough to evaluate it at this point, swear by the control.
Different skills have different priorities, and the game is evidently quite smart about using them. I spoke with Tyler Thompson about this issue, and he talked about how well the shift context stuff worked with his Evoker. He told me that he usually sets three attack spells to context, and that the game almost always pops up the one that's best to use at any given time. The skill that works best over a distance will show up when he's targeting something far away, then switch to the medium range when the targets are closer, and finally the short range spell when they were really nearby. All without Tyler having to touch a hotkey.
--Flux, Mega Community Day Report, May 2007.
Keep in mind that skills must be manually added to the list to be selected, and that all skills can be put on hotkeys as well. You could set 2 or 3 or 10 skills to be suggested, and if you don't like how the game is prioritizing them, you could remove any or all of them.
1st and 3rd Person POV
The ability to lift your view up into an overhead, "3rd person" mode separates Hellgate: London from the FPS titles it superficially resembles. Flagship initially intended the 3rd person to only kick in when you wielded a melee weapon, since it was too hard to control melee fighting from 1st person mode. The fans liked 3rd person so much that they've since made it a full time option, one you can use while firing a gun or swinging a sword. 1st person is recommended when you're in gun mode though, since your accuracy is much better; especially when it comes to firing at high-flying targets you couldn't even see in the 3rd person view.
To paraphrase Bill Roper from a PC Gamer audio interview:
We have more 3rd person now than in the earlier development, since originally we had 1st for shooting and 3rd for melee. However, after e3 2005 we saw how many players liked having 3rd person view for shooting, so we left it in as an option at all times.
In keeping with the user-friendly controls in Hellgate: London, changing the viewpoint couldn't be easier.
"As you zoom out (currently bound to the mousewheel by default) the camera automatically pivots slightly to give you a better vantage point." --Ivan Sulic, February 2006
Zooming in and out with the POV wheel will be strategically important too, because you can use the 3rd person mode to see over trucks and low walls and other things that block your view in 1st person mode. There are even design benefits to having 1st as well as 3rd person viewpoints.
"The first-person perspective allows us to create different environments in feel as well as look," says Roper. While they loved the game they created at Blizzard, it just didn't provide some of the atmosphere that they were hoping for. One level in particular Roper mentioned was the Maggot Lair. In that 3/4 view, it just didn't provide the claustrophobic punch that could have made it perfect. They're hoping that allowing players to look through their character's eyes will provide them with more opportunities to frighten and wow them with new things that pop up around every corner.
--IGN Preview, April 26, 2005
A more recent and comprehensive first hand play report came in late May, 2007.
As for 1st vs. 3rd person, the Marksman is playable in both. The only hard rule about POV in Hellgate: London has been that you can not go into 1st person while using a melee weapon; and yet the recent Hunter Gameplay movie showed a hunter using the weed whacker in 1st person. That might be a one weapon exception though, since it's not swung, but held straight out in front of the character. In any event, I experimented with the POV during my play time with the Guardian, and could not enter 1st person while using a sword/shield. You can scroll the view right down behind your head, or move it far up above, and you can also change the angle of view quite a bit. You can even move the camera all around using the vanity cam option, which is how the Flagship guys take all of those shots that appear to be watching the action from the side or from the monster's point of view. It's hard to aim like that, of course.
Aiming a gun is more natural in 1st person, but it can be done in 3rd as well. You still see the aiming reticle while in 3rd person, and you have to use it to know where your shots are going to go. Throwing grenades is a bit tougher, since you need to throw them up with an arc to clear obstacles. It can be done, it just takes a bit of guesstimation and practice to get used to it, compared to the almost instant ease of throwing them in 1st person view. In earlier builds it was impossible to aim up at flying targets while in 3rd person mode, but this has been adjusted. You need to lower your angle of view a bit, but you can shoot flyers while in 3rd person. Third person view is helpful to let you see what's around you; especially when demons like fellbores pop up right behind or to the side. I generally preferred 1st while using guns, since that's what I'm used to from FPS games, but that's just a personal choice and it might change with more play time.
--Flux, Mega Community Day Report, May 2007 (Forum registration required to read full report.)
The Character Window
Crafting, Augmenting, and Unsocketing
See the Town Machines page for full details on those machines/functions, and info on the stash as well.
Dealing Damage
If you want to succeed in Hellgate: London, you'll need to kill more often than you get killed. You'll find this holds true in real life as well, but that's another issue. Fortunately, your character has the potential to kill quite a few demons, especially if you control him/her properly, and pick some good equipment. Now get cracking.
Combat is at the core of Hellgate: London and there are countless ways to go about killing demons. Characters can dual wield, mixing and matching swords with guns of all types, or go with a sword and shield, or even two swords at once. All characters have three weapon slots, and can immediately switch between them, going from a big gun to a sword or a pair of pistols, as the situation changes. Other characters use magic, robot traps, or demonic minions to fight for them. There are also major differences between ranged and melee combat, and basic attacks and special skill attacks. See the Combat page for full details.
Healing
One of the big issues the Flagship team is wrestling with now is how they're going to handle healing and potions in Hellgate: London. They want to keep the game from being too easy, while keeping the playing pace brisk. How to balance the two? There will not be much (if any) leech from weapons in Hellgate: London. Some skills may increase health regeneration rate or allow for life steal, but the Hellgate Team doesn't want to repeat their mistakes from Diablo II, when most players had enough life leech to never really feel threatened by death, except in rare and exceptional circumstances. They also want to keep the action moving, and want the game to be challenging, but not so hard that players are forced to constantly return to town for healing.
Max explains that right now they're all trying to figure out how to deal with potions.
"It's been a 10-year struggle since we used them in Diablo. We want to avoid people hoarding potions and hammering the hotkey in battle." Suddenly, players get this huge influx of health and mana. How do you even that out? Right now, med packs are available for field use. Today, though, the team toys with power-ups -- glowing colored balls in familiar red and blue. Fallen foes leave behind an essence that you can walk over to get a quick boost.
--CGW Magazine Preview, May 2006.
"As long as we don't have the guys stand around auto-regenerating health, I'm fine," says Erich. That would bring the action to a slow pace -- exactly what they don't want.
"Well, we want to give them some health, but we want them to keep moving," Glenn adds. "Maybe extra health packs?" They'll try dropping more packs and bigger, cooler balls tomorrow.
How much healing packs will help is subject to further change, of course, but here's the info listed on one in a gameplay movie from E3 2005.
Medical Kit
Health regen: 10
Restores 300 health over 30 seconds.
In our early play testing, there were always far more med packs available than players needed. It's hard to judge actual game balance from the nerfed monsters encountered in game show demo builds, though.
Game Physics and Character Movement
(Also see Monster Physics.) Your character will move around Hellgate: London much like in any 3D game of its type. You use the mouse to aim, the WASD keys to walk in the four principle directions, and you can also jump, look up or down, and so on. An April 2007 1up.com preview discussed the evolution of the game controls.
Going in, one of the basic elements for the design was to use a 3D engine, and Roper even described the initial concept that he and Dave Brevik worked up as Diablo meets Half-Life. But the key was that it was Diablo meets Half-Life, and not the other way around. Reconciling control schemes and the whole combined experience of what you see on the screen and how you play the game posed one of the first, and ultimately toughest, challenges to development. Where Diablo could essentially be played entirely with the mouse by clicking in the environment, that proved too unwieldy a control set for 3D space. After much experimentation with alternatives, the traditional WASD key controls for movement won out. That solution worked not because it made the game a shooter, but because, as in other games, it's the most natural way of moving your character in a 3D game.
Hellgate: London isn't a Tomb Raider style of game, so there's no climbing walls, or swimming, or sliding down ropes (at least not as far as we know), but you can walk most everywhere you see, you can jump over obstacles and up onto vantage points, and you can even fly?
"We've already implemented jumping over obstacles and fighting enemies on different levels. We have both hovering and flying characters in the game, for example, as well as the ability for characters to get on top of some debris and shoot down at unfortunate demons."
--Bill Roper, Fansite Interview, September 3, 2005
Jumping and flying won't be the usual ways to travel, of course. You'll mostly be walking, and while Hellgate: London isn't a tactical shooter with one hit kills, you'll want to play with some sense and avoid attacks, when possible. Taking cover behind obstacles is just common sense, as is moving side to side to avoid incoming monster fire, retreating from huge packs of enemies, and so forth.
Hellgate: London does have collision detection. You cannot bull through enemies as if you were a ghost, nor can you slide through obstructions. But, once an enemy dies, it can be walked through just like every other game out there. Hellgate: London wouldn't be playable otherwise, as high as the monster corpses can be piled during fierce combat.
"As for the world layout / design, we aren't dividing Hellgate: London into the strict confines of Acts as you saw in Diablo. We intend to have players travel back and forth between areas, evolving them as our story progresses. As for travel between the areas, we like to get players into the action as quickly as possible as opposed to forcing them to run long distances or take mass transit. We have a few different ways we allow players to get around the world very quickly, including the ability to instantly Recall to the last station they visited, or to quickly travel between any stations they have previously visited."
--Bill Roper, Fansite Interview, November 18, 2005
There's going to be easy movement around the game too, within reason.
"We are most definitely implementing a waypoint-style system. We don't intend our game to be about running long distances to get to where you want to be. We'll have a quick means of return to the Underground station you were last at (the Recall spell) and once you've visited an Underground station, it is added to your transit listing. This means you can hit a transit point and jump between any stations you've been to quite easily. The biggest change from the Diablo way of doing things is that we don't have the 2-way travel of the Town Portal. This changes the strategy that players will use, making a rapid escape possible, but you then just can't pop back and forth to abuse your safety."
--Bill Roper, Fansite Interview, January 2, 2006
Objects in Hellgate: London aren't all moveable. This is not a Tomb Raider sliding block puzzle, it's an action RPG, so while various bulletholes on the walls type of graphics will be enabled once they get to the polishing stage of the game, don't expect to shoot holes through buildings and run inside them, or blow cars right off the road.
Q. Can you destroy objects? Like blowing up a telephone booth?
A. "Nope. Just objects that are obviously destructible, like barrels and boxes and crates and stuff."
--Ivan Sulic, March 2006
Special Skill Movement
"Obviously the pre-rendered cinematics are the idealized movie version of the game, but we are hoping to have some movement skills that look pretty cool. We won't be doing anything as intense as bullet-time (almost impossible to really accomplish in a multiplayer game) but we will give certain characters different fun ways to move in and out of combat."
In addition to skills that have your character dashing or leaping or spinning into combat, every character has access to the Sprint skill, which makes you run very quickly for a few seconds, and is helpful in covering cleared out areas.
"We have skills that initiate special attacks (melee ones, too), but it's not like you have to perform a combination of moves to trigger these specials. If you do continuously attack by clicking wildly, your character will appear like he's pulling off advanced combos, but it's not like you're actively doing anything special. You're just hitting and he's animating accordingly."
--Ivan Sulic, April 2006
