Hello Rejects!
My name is Daniel, and I’m a Programmer and Designer at Fatshark. This blog covers parts of our journey in creating enemies for Darktide. Over the years, I’ve gathered many clips and screenshots and wanted to share some of the early development stages and explain our thought processes. Keep in mind that many of these clips and screenshots feature temporary assets (sorry artists!) since they were created early in the project to test gameplay mechanics. For Darktide, the Combat team used a very iterative approach. We identified the most important features to include, made functional prototypes, tested them in co-op, found problems, and made adjustments to improve the feel. We repeated this process many times. Our core goals for Darktide combat were replayability and co-op. We believe these are best achieved with highly polished moment-to-moment combat and unique (and sometimes funny) scenarios to experience with friends or random players.Roamer Enemies (Normal and Elite Enemies)
To help decide what types of enemies we wanted in Darktide, we first created a combat prototype in Vermintide 2. We did this because we wanted Darktide to have similar combat to Vermintide, and it was easier to test concepts since Darktide had very few assets (models, animations, sounds, effects, etc.) at that point. Our main objectives for the combat prototype were to evaluate: [olist]- Melee/Fighters:[list]
- Rush into melee, forcing players to kill them quickly or switch to melee combat.
- Prefer to stay close to players (8-12 meters) and use fast-firing or hard-hitting weapons.
- Stay at a distance, use cover, and take potshots at players. They are generally more defensive and force players to engage with them.
Horde Enemies
An important element in all -tide games is the Horde enemies. They are designed to be numerous, varied, and fun to kill in masses. For Darktide, our main Horde enemies are humanoids, with two variants: Poxwalkers and the Newly Infected. Here’s a clip of the first implementation of Poxwalkers (with non-functional ragdoll physics): https://youtu.be/3HZL4rwNOVY We wanted our horde enemies to vault over cover since levels would be filled with covers, and we wanted hordes to feel like a wave rather than individual enemies. Here’s a clip of one of the first implementations of cover vaulting: https://youtu.be/Xw3bBsf7uCg Another aspect we wanted to improve with the hordes in Darktide is their navigation avoidance at longer distances. Avoidance means enemies try to avoid walking the same path as others. This is more noticeable in our games at longer distances due to the slot system spreading out enemies when they get close. Here’s a before/after clip of improved avoidance for Poxwalkers: https://youtu.be/oHmswSJzw2ASpecialist Enemies
Specialist enemies in Darktide (and Vermintide) can be categorized into two groups:- Disablers:[list]
- These enemies try to disable one player, forcing others to respond. Examples include Pox Hound and Scab Trapper.
- These enemies use mechanics to force players to split up or create chaos to disorient them. Examples include Bombers, Poxburster, Flamers, Snipers, and Mutants.
Pox Hound:
The first special we added was the Pox hound. We chose the Pox hound because we knew that we needed a fast moving disabler enemy, and it was similar in frame/pose to the Gutter Runner from Vermintide, meaning we could build similar gameplay and be sure that it would work. First step was to make it pounce on the players. Then, it needed animations and logic to handle its faster speed. We added turning animations (blended animations to simulate momentum etc.), running staggers (staggers that continue forward instead of stop) to help with this. Finally, we polished some of the landing and turning animations. The hound has had some issues with becoming a rocket dog, which was related to how we calculated the trajectories for the pounce, but that has mostly been fixed as of now!Mutant:
One of the new Specialists in the -tide series is the Mutant, inspired by the Left 4 Dead charger. We designed it to be more of a scrambler than a disabler. Its role is to charge a player, grab them, deal damage, and then throw them unpredictably to create chaos. We found it needed more health to fulfill its role, making it tankier than usual specialists and a target for high-damage weapons. Here’s a clip of the first prototypes, using a Chaos Ogryn model and temporary animations to test the mechanics. Once we had the Mutant model, we experimented with its animations. We realized that getting charged constantly got too tiring, so we added pauses after he threw a player, and an extra long opening when players succeeded with dodging. https://youtu.be/ZMyj86_ZWW8 The animations, sounds, and visual effects were polished later to create the final version of the Mutant we have today.Poxburster:
Another specialist that got added was the Poxburster. We wanted the Poxburster to be a simple Scrambler that explodes when close or on death. Initially, it was supposed to be solely a high priority ranged target that didn’t have any counterplay when it entered melee range. Starting off, we put a barrel on a Poxwalker and made it explode when close. Later, we added model/animations/vfx/sfx. We realized that players got annoyed by it in close quarters however, so we experimented with ways to deal with it in melee. In the end, we added the “fuse” followed by a window to stagger it in order for a well timed push/dodge backwards to avoid all damage. This turned out to be a fun alternative to kill it. https://youtu.be/tJkZqOSIQyQConclusion
In conclusion, creating enemies for Darktide has been a detailed and iterative process aimed at making the gameplay exciting and varied. From early tests in Vermintide 2 to the final versions in Darktide, we continuously tested and improved on features. Our focus was on making both melee and ranged combat fun and challenging. We developed different types of enemies, from hordes that swarm and overwhelm to roamers that add variety and strategy. Specialist enemies further add strategy, requiring players to quickly decide which threats to focus on first. Our goal was to build a co-op experience that players will want to return to again and again. Thanks for reading!
