Combat in Zenith

Andy Ramen
Zenith MMO
Published in
2 min readApr 27, 2019

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Hi, I’m Andy — for the past few months we’ve been messing around with some mechanics for our gameplay prototype for a VR MMORPG.

We wanted to create something that was simpler to learn because current gen VR games are too hard to master. Many VR gameplay mechanics are exhausting — Noodle sword fighting and slashing can tire me out after only a bit of time.

First thing is that we really wanted to capture the feeling of a skill rotation from traditional MMORPGs. Another thing we wanted was physical immersion that wouldn’t tire you out. We wanted skill to matter more than your athletics. In addition, we wanted damage output between top skill players and bottom skill players to be leveled out. We were definitely inspired by Beat Saber to make the game skill and timing based.

Abilities are activated using left hand and dual hand gestures. Basic attacks are done using the right hand, slashing in the direction of the bright red indicators. The brighter the red lines glow when you slash with your light saber, the more damage you do. Timing is everything. Can you see all the different abilities in the rotation?

We’ll have a prototype video to show you soon!

In the meantime, sign up to help us stress test in a few months

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