The Art of Combat System Design: Action Adventure & Souls-like

A good combat system is systematic design, not just 'intuition'

"The impact feels weak."
"Why is the combat so frustrating?"
"I don't know what the problem is... but the game isn't fun."

The problem that most teams face when creating combat systems is
'not knowing what needs to be fixed' is the biggest obstacle.
The reason why combat doesn't improve even when you change screen effects, add visual effects, or refine animations...

The answer is that the satisfying feel of combat is created based on carefully designed systems rather than just intuitive sensation.

This course is a theory and example-focused lecture that helps you understand
impact feel, hit detection, timing, feedback, camera, resource systems, AI, patterns, boss battles
—all the elements that support action games and souls-like combat—as a 'systematic framework'.

In this course, you will learn these things

The Essence of Impact Feel: 4 Sensory Elements That Create Hand Feel

You'll understand how motion/sound/camera/effects are combined to create the 'right feel'.

Feedback Loop: A Systematic System That Immerses Players in Combat

Learn how to design the flow of feedback that leads from attack → reaction → reward.

Combat Camera: A Perspective That Simultaneously Controls Player Emotion and Difficulty

Understand how camera shake, zoom, and field of view affect combat tempo and difficulty.

Structure of Hit Detection: Fair Design of Hitboxes and Hurtboxes

Learn the design principles of hitboxes and hurtboxes that create clear and reliable hit detection.

Input Canceling and Input Buffering: Connection Techniques That Create Smooth Combat

Design input processing so that player controls flow naturally and continuously without interruption.

Frame-Based Combat: The Science of Timing That Creates Tempo and Rhythm

It covers the core of combat rhythm, including startup frames, active frames, and recovery frames.

Animation-Based Design: Alignment of Movement and Hit Detection

Learn the principles of designing so that visible actions and actual judgment timing align perfectly.

Sound/Vibration/UI: Sensory Feedback That Perfects the Feel

Learn how impact sounds, hitstop, vibration, and screen effects contribute to combat feel.

Resource System: Creating Strategy with Stamina and Gauges

How to limit player choices and make them think through stamina, cooldown, and gauge systems.

Resource Balancing: Matching the Ratio of Risk and Reward

Learn the criteria for adjusting resource consumption/recovery balance that determines the difficulty and tempo of combat.

Enemy AI Design: Creating Enemies That Players Can 'Read'

Learn the principles of enemy behavior that feel fair, including telegraphed actions, pattern structures, and sight/tracking logic.

Pattern & Difficulty Design: How to Structure Patterns that Create Combat Flow

Learn how to design combat density and difficulty through the composition, variation, and intersection of attack patterns.

Boss Battle Design: Creating Phase Structure and Learning Curves

You'll learn how to control tension and relief through boss health, patterns, and phase transitions.

This is recommended for people like this

• A planner who is overwhelmed about where to start when first taking on a combat system

• Solo/indie project game developers suffering from inability to achieve satisfying combat feel

• Action and Souls-like combat for beginner designers who want to learn through systematic principles rather than intuition

• Game system planners who are struggling because they don't know where to start getting stuck with enemy AI/pattern composition/difficulty design

• Artists struggling with the issue where effects/sound/UI/camera work separately and combat doesn't come together as one cohesive experience

After taking the course, you will change like this

• You'll be able to design combat systems logically and systematically rather than relying on intuition.

• You will gain judgment criteria to analyze and explain "why combat feels frustrating" in games under development.

• You can control all components of combat including hit feel/judgment/camera/timing/feedback.

• You will gain practical skills to directly improve and tune your own project performance.

• You can complete the entire combat design flow that extends to AI/pattern/boss battle design.

Features of this course

We cover the core principles that make up action combat within the overall flow.

Modern action games and souls-like combat are created through the organic integration of numerous elements including impact feel, hit detection, input processing, resource systems, AI, boss battles, and more. In this course, we organize all the core elements that make up combat into a single flow, teaching you how to systematically understand and design 'action game combat systems' that many game designers find challenging.

All lecture slides are provided as PDF files.

The slides used in the lecture are provided as PDF materials for review.
By utilizing these materials, you can take notes directly on the PDF for key concepts or print them out for note-taking,
and refer to them frequently when designing your own projects or portfolios.

Efficient learning is possible through clear explanations and compressed progression using AI voice.

Like my other lectures, this lecture was also recorded using AI voice. Since I used the latest AI model, it delivers the lecture content with accurate pronunciation and natural explanations that are on par with professional voice actors.

All lectures were recorded and edited using pre-prepared lecture scripts, and as a result, you will be able to experience the most compressed lectures with no wasted time, not even a second.

Additionally, thanks to AI's accurate pronunciation, nearly 100% accurate automatic subtitles are generated. Therefore, it has become possible to deliver improved lecture content to those who listen to classes with subtitles enabled.

And I've added slight variations to the AI voice tone for each lecture. Therefore, you can listen without getting bored, as it feels like each lecture is being explained by a different instructor.

Pre-enrollment Reference Information