ESF - New Melee System Overview *video* news - Earth's Special Forces Mod for Half-Life

Over the years one of the most heavily debated topics within the development team has been the melee system. This system alone has required hours upon hours of discussion, design, redesign, re-redesign, re-re-redesign, re-re-re-redesign... you get the picture. Let's just say it's the reason that beer is now available on team meeting's menu. All of that aside, I am happy to announce that we have finally found a winner!

There were a few realizations made during the last round of the design process that have had a huge impact on the new system.

1. Players really enjoy simple melee
2. Melee is more about out maneuvering opponents than just mashing buttons
3. There needs to be a way to do complex moves in a simple way
4. ESF's mascot Phil the three headed emu will hurt us if the system fails

As a result, new moves have been implemented that retain the feel of simple melee, but offer players a way to string attacks together to form combinations.

Simple Melee: Mouse button 1
This light damage attack is similar to its beta counterpart with the exception that the knockback distance has been modified to allow average players to perform multiple melee hits more easily.

Combo Melee: Mouse button 2
A more damaging charged based melee attack that delivers several blows to an opponent. Holding a direction will send the opponent flying in that direction after the combo finishes. This is very handy for planning out the attack in the chain or for knocking opponents into objects that are to the left or right of the player.

Quick Throw: Mouse button 1+2
This attack is based on the beta throw, but with a twist. The ability for opponents to resist being thrown has been removed. Getting caught by this attack may result in your attacker repeating "who's your daddy?" over and over.

Grab and Smash: Mouse button 1+2 with turbo on
This vicious attack will remind players of that one time they had to stay the night in jail. It allows one player to grab another during swoop and drag them around. What the attacking player does from there is up to them. A couple suggestions are:

1. Forcefully fly the opponent around the map while giving them a scenic tour
2. Kindly smash their head into the ground and/or adjacent walls

...But, you said something about doing complex moves in a simple way?

In order to allow for the greatest flexibility and ease of use a framework was created where players earn bonus points through different actions, such as damaging an opponent, and spend those points on special moves.

Bonus System: Bonus button (C by default)
Bonus points may be applied to blocking, beams, and melee. Within each area there are three levels of bonuses; the higher the tier, the higher the cost and the more devastating the bonus. But that's really a discussion for another day. All you need to know for now is that once a melee bonus has been activated it's only active for a limited amount of time. It is crucial to setup your bonus attack using simple melee, combo melee, and throwing.

SSJ3 Goku - tier 3 melee bonus