I was responsible for all design decisions made on Crossfire: Legion between August 3rd 2021 and June 19th 2023. This project was in development for a long time prior to my arrival. This resulted in me having to make many revisions to pre-existing systems and mechanics to bring everything up to par for the game’s release. This section will cover new features and tasks that I drafted from start to finish. Each of these features required the full approval of our publisher Smilegate.

Pre Alpha Feedback

You can read about the pre-alpha feedback from the following article:
Steam Community :: Crossfire: Legion

Check Point System 

I was responsible for deciding when the game should be saved on a level-by-level basis. 

Balance pass 

Keeping a competitive gameplay experience in mind, I oversaw the balancing of the game mechanics. In total, I accomplished three rounds of rebalancing with our 70 unit roster. You can find our patch notes on the Crossfire: Legion steam page. 

Unit Design 

Scout

Role: Recon, Assassination

Description:

• Light Scouting Infantry with enhanced cybernetic optics that grant greater vision radius. Act as the forward scout for New Horizon to gather enemy intel. 

Weapons: Rail Rifle – Long range high precision riffle that can hit ground and air targets

Abilities:

• Signal Flare – The unit fire a high tech flare that grant the player a large area of visibility. Signal flare only last 15 seconds before the affect fizzles.
• Overwatch – Become immobile but increase ROF and dmg by 1.5x

Good Vs: Decent vs other Infantry and air units

Weak Vs: Anti Infantry

Synergies: Grant vision to upper terrain and provide support to longer range units.

Final Product

Cobra

Role: Damage Infantry

Description:
The “Cobra” is highly trained marksman. Trained as a game-hunter, the “Cobra” is able to hit a target from great distances. Even if the first hit isn’t a kill shot, the “Cobra” has Tracker-Tag arrows that reveal a unit on the minimap once hit, allowing the “Cobra” or other reinforcements to engage. The “Cobra” is great for taking down single target infantry, but if a group of units attacks, several arrows can be launched simultaneously, dealing damage in an AoE.

Abilities:

Weapons: Laser/Scope Compound bow – Can target ground and air

• Multi-Shot (Active / Target Position) 
  The “Cobra” fires a barrage of arrows in an area dealing  AOE damage.
• Tracker-Tag (Passive / On Hit)
   All arrows have built in trackers and will reveal an enemy unit on the map for a duration after they have been hit
• Ghostkit (Passive / Self Target)
  Upon remaining out of combat for a duration, this unit will camouflage, becoming mostly undetectable. If in range of enemy, this unit becomes semi-visible but cannot be targeted. “Ghostkit” Deactivates when this unit moves or attacks.

Good Vs: Single-file, A-moved infantry, Large groups of infantry (multi-shot)

Weak Vs: Vehicles, tanks, long range siege aircraft &Anti-infantry weaponry

Synergies: This unit is great for spotting infantry and keeping track of high value units. The passive Tracker-Tag ability will allow long range units to keep attacking the unit even if you don’t have sight of them.

Final Product

Cobra

Role: Support Infantry

Description:

Mechanical engineer that repairs vehicles, Forward Turrets and buildings by default. Has an ability to increase the durability of friendly vehicles and structures. 

Abilities:

Over Repair – Targeted ability with toggle-able auto cast closest damage vehicle/building

• Can repair damage Vehicles and Buildings. Can also extend the duration of Forward Turrets

Defensive Network Armour *Passive ability

• Can apply Defensive Network Amour on building and turrets with out logistic building nearby.  

Good Vs: Friendly Vehicles and Structures

Weak Vs: All combat unit when not escorted by friendly units

Synergies: Works well as support unit for base defence

Roster Revisions

I increased the unit selection from nine to ten slots. We had one commander slot and three slots for each unit type: category, infantry, vehicle/tank, and air.

However, unlike the vehicle/tanks units, Infantry and Air rosters lacked enough units to fill their 3rd slot. So, I opened that slot to all unused available units from the same unit type being selected.

So for example, if the player likes T1 infantry rather than the T2 option, they can now use that 3rd infantry slot to round out their roster. Same thing with the air units. Previously, you had a tough time deciding between the Falcon/Prion/Wasp. Now players will be able to have at least 2 of the available air units for their 3rd unit type slot.

Faction Specific abilities 

You can read more about the implementation here. The following is an quick design breakdown of the goals for each change. 

Black List Faction abilities 

The goal of these designs was to encourage hit and run tactics which tie into the insurgency theme of the faction.

• Passive chance for critical damage (recycled the sniper trooper ability)
• Passive speed boost while you’re out of combat 

Global Risk Faction abilities 

To represent the military strength and endurance of this faction, I created a game mechanic to depict their durability.

• Designed an  Armor Value mechanic to endow additional durability onto Global Risk tanks and vehicles

New Horizon Faction abilities 

To improve the utility of this faction, we decided to modify how the shield mechanic works. This shield is unique to the New Horizon faction.

• Shields block status effects when absorbing damage

Game mode revisions

I was responsible for revising rules across all game modes. The following are examples of two revisions I was responsible for. 

Battlelines power ups

We added a menu that would give players a variety of power ups. The automated nature of Battlelines would often result in stagnation. Since players cannot provide orders to units in this game mode, we provided players with a way to buff/debuff  units on the field.

Brawl revisions 

This game mode was in an incomplete state when I was assigned to work on it. The following is a demonstration of how I evaluate and revise design features. 

For additional context, you can read about the game mode here:
Crossfire: Legion – DevBlog 30: New Game Modes – Steam News (steampowered.com)

Design issues

• Limiting player selection to a single slot diminishes the strategic options players can make during a game
• By the time the 9th slot has been reached, games become flat and predictable due to both players being forced to use their Tier 3 air units exclusively
• Since players don’t see what units their opponents are bringing to the table, situations can arise where the player’s selected slot could not damage the choice their opponent made for the same slot.

Solution

• Allow players to toggle which units are being spawned through the core base.

Overview

We redesigned the Brawl mode’s algorithm to allow the player to choose which units should be spawned. This system recycles the current system that toggles between the units used. It would allow the player to choose any slot that has been unlocked up until that point. For example, if the game is currently at slot 5, the player will be able to select a unit from slot 1,2,3,4, or 5.

Flowchart