Combos

Sets of actions that trigger additional effects than those that occur due to the individual actions.

Examples

Fighting games such those in the Tekken series and Street Fighter series have only a few basic actions but by heavy use of Combos each character in the game can have the number of possible actions increased by an order of magnitude. The first of these Combos (in Street Fighter II) was due to programming feature but left in as a hidden possibility.

The height of jumps many of the games in the Super Mario series since Super Mario 64 can be extended considerably by pressing the jump button twice, resulting in a double jump. This maneuver is founded in several other games, e.g. as a special ability for the Scout class in the second installment in the Team Fortress series. Rocket Jumping is a similar technique based on jumping while shooting rockets at the floor below oneself, and was an emergent feature in the Quake game.

To receive the Doctor achievement in Assassin's Creed 2 players have to first poisoned a non-player character and then successfully performing an air assault on the same character.

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Using the pattern

The original use of Combos in video games included a requirement of Timing, but the pattern can be used more generalized.

Goal Achievements

Interruptible Actions Analysis Paralysis Extended Actions Units Team Combos Bejeweled Heterogeneous Game Element Ownership Multiplayer Games Evolving Rule Sets Capture Collaborative Actions

Movement double jumps

Combat

Combos are a sequence of actions that due to the order or configuration they are performed in trigger additional effects. The sequence of actions perform to create the effect can be seen as an action in itself, although more complex than ordinary actions and possibly interruptible even when the actions it consists of are not.

Using the pattern

The design of Combos includes deciding if they should provide additional effects or simply modify the already existing effects, how complex they should be to perform and if their execution can be affected by others. Combos can simply modify the original Rewards and Penalties or introduce new Rewards and Penalties. Combos are often used to provide Privileged Abilities, either as an additional Reward or as a way to provide Orthogonal Unit Differentiation, and are especially common in Combat activities in Real-Time Games. The complexity of performing Combos can be used to set the Right Level of Complexity, for example by requiring Rhythm-Based Actions, in the game and can provide a Smooth Learning Curves as players can have the possibility to choose between performing simple actions or more difficult Combos. As with any Extended Actions, Combos offer the possibility of being Interruptible Actions independently of whether the actions they consists of are interruptible. In the case of Combos that are complex or interruptible, motivation for performing them can be given by providing Geometric Rewards for Investments in addition to any Privileged Abilities.

In games with complex Combos, or games where players are encouraged to find the Combos by Experimenting, it is common to indicate when a player has started to perform a combo and provide additional feedback for each of the individual actions that has been performed. This can be done by Illusionary Rewards within the game world or by Progress Indicators providing Extra-Game Information.

All forms of Collaborative Actions are forms of Combos.

Geometric Progression

As some of the examples mentioned show, Combos can happen accidentally from a design perspective, but from the players' perspective this is more likely to be perceive as Emergent Gameplay and as a consequence this can be introduced into games to make Combos more likely to appear.

Consequences

Combos are Extended Actions that require Timing to be successfully executed. Being able to perform a Combo can be a goal in itself as it is a Configuration of actions. Games where players know that Combos exist but are not provided with instructions on how to do them encourage players to do Experimenting. In these games, knowing how to perform the Combos is Strategic Knowledge and can be shared as Extra-Game Actions.

Player Balance

Relations

Can Be Instantiated By

Emergent Gameplay, Team Combos

History

A revised version of the pattern in the original collection in the book Patterns in Game Design.