I am in process of designing a combat mechanic for my first-person(melee/shooter) game, one that’s goal is to encourage the player to maintain a continuous combat engagement to “chain” combat encounters from one enemy to the next. Rewards (currency) are granted at the end of each engagement with enemies and multiplied depending on how many hits / how long the player has remained in combat. (See GIF below of simple scoring concept, not final form, inspired by games like DMC).
Ultimately, the idea is that the combat will allow the player to close in or distance themselves from enemies using dash or evade like abilities (which would reset any style/combination that has been earned). There will often be multiple enemies available to engage/attack, and the general layout of the levels will allow/require the player to utilize the dash/evade movements and not be inhibited their functionality (unless the player attempts to evade/dash through a wall/mesh).
When the player is performing combos in melee the combo meter will fill faster, and though the ranged abilities are slower/don’t build up combos as fast, they serve as a way to maintain your combo level while repositioning or re-engaging, and if an enemy is finished with a ranged attack (in some undetermined grand fashion), they will earn a large combo boost. This will serve as a system designed to encourage and reward in-your-face combat, while not punishing ranged combat.
My question at this point is, should I design it so that the players abilities are tied to their relevant distance to their primary / locked on target (i.e. when in melee range, abilities swap to melee, when at ranged abilities toggle to guns/spells)? Or should I allow the player to retain the choice of type engagement and toggle at their discretion (thus, allowing ranged weaponry use at melee range)?
Does ability automation (to this degree) take away from the player experience? Or instead does the player experience become enhanced by their ability to weave combinations of attacks while worrying less about the other details (i.e. their equipped weapon)?
I am looking to garner some deeper insight than I have been able to scrounge up in my own research (potentially with some convincing examples or anecdotes), and I greatly appreciate anyone that takes the time to share their experience.
