THQ's Homefront 2/MP Abilities

Document Status: Red [Overview doc that includes details the HF1 system. Requires a more detailed look at how the same system should work in HF2]
==Goals==
*To analyse both the ability system and player abilities in Homefront 1
*To propose updates for Homefront 2
==HF1 Analysis==
*Homefront 1 featured two types of player abilities (perks): Infantry Abilities and Vehicle Abilities
*Abilities in each category have a point cost linked to their effectiveness (signposted by colour):
 
File:HMP2.png
*Players have a maximum of 4 Points (upgraded to 5 at rank 25) to spend on equipping Infantry Abilities, and 3 Points (upgraded to 4 at rank 50) to spend on equipping Vehicle Abilities as part of their loadout
*As part of the ‘Armory’ players have separate Infantry and Vehicle loadouts (6 of the former and 5 of the latter, one for each vehicle type)
*Infantry Abilities are set within the Infantry loadouts while Vehicle Abilities are defined as part of the Vehicle loadouts
 
File:HMP3.png
===HF1 Infantry Abilities===
 
File:HMP4.png
File:HMP5.png
File:HMP6.png
File:HMP7.png
===HF1 Vehicle Abilities===
 
File:HMP8.png
File:HMP9.png
==HF2 Design Notes==
=== Ability System Notes ===
*The HF1 point system seems like a good way of differentiating those found in other games
*Some issues with the HF1 design:
**It isn’t easy to switch abilities quickly before spawning as you have to work out what you can afford and how much you can spend
**The names used for a number of the abilities don’t really seem to fit with the nature of the game (e.g. “Drone-Be-Gone”)
**Having a minimum of 7 classes to customise (an infantry class and one for each vehicle type) is too much
**Some of the abilities were overpowered (e.g. faster health regeneration and auto vehicle repair)
**Unlocking of abilities felt very abstract as it was simply tied to player rank (reach rank 10 and you can suddenly customise a Humvee vehicle loadout etc)
**Giving the player an additional Ability purchase token at rank 25 means better players can equip a better set of modules, giving them a potentially unfair advantage over less experienced players
*In HF1 a number is used to communicate the ability points available to spend:
**Visually the same system could be better represented (and simpler to understand) by a grid as in this mock-up (right), where ability icons are sized according to their cost and players can visibly see how much they can equip
*In place of dedicated vehicle classes for Homefront 2 a simpler system may be to roll the vehicle abilities into the standard infantry classes instead
**Within each class players could set both their infantry and vehicle abilities, reducing the total class count by at least 5 (depending on the number of vehicle classes to feature in HF2)
**Battlefield 3 and COD: World at War both use this approach
*Instead of items becoming available at set ranks it would be more interesting to link unlocking into the use of related objects, eg if the player earns x amount of XP in a Humvee they begin to unlock Humvee abilities
*Potentially the player could be given the option of trading something against additional ability slots (eg, no secondary weapon = extra ability slot)
===New Infantry Ability Ideas===
*Ideas for new Infantry Abilities in Homefront 2:
**Class-specific abilities (faster healing speed from medikits, increased ammo regeneration, increased damage from drones, longer breath hold for sniper etc)
**See the facing direction of nearby enemies on the radar
**Increased movement and sprinting speed
**Increased revival wait timer
**Enemy explosives outlined in the world
=== New Vehicle Ability Ideas ===
*Ideas for new Vehicle Abilities in Homefront 2:
**Automatic flares (but increased recharge time)
**Double fire (but slower reload)
**Increased belt size on secondary machine guns