COMPANION COMMANDS
Direct player orders to AI teammates — move there, attack that, hold position, use your special — layering squad tactics onto real-time play without full control-switching.
- SOLO-DEV COST MEDIUM
- TIMING REAL-TIME
- COMMON IN SHOOTER · ACTION-RPG · TACTICS · OPEN-WORLD
Star Wars: Republic Commando remains the touchstone: context-sensitive one-button orders (snipe from that ledge, slice that terminal, form up) made commanding a squad feel as fluid as firing a rifle. Fallout 4 offers a simpler companion grammar — point-to-move, contextual interactions, distance preferences — that keeps a single companion useful without demanding management. Designers use command systems to give players tactical authorship over AI behavior at moments that matter (defaults handle the routine; commands handle the plan), to make companions feel like tools of the player's intent rather than independent chaos, and to create squad-level puzzles: positions to assign, abilities to sequence, crossfires to arrange. The command interface is the real design problem — every order must be issuable mid-combat without menus stealing the moment. Key decisions: command granularity (a few contextual verbs beat an RTS panel in an action game), whether commands are suggestions the AI may override for self-preservation or absolute orders, and feedback — acknowledgment barks and clear execution are what make players trust the system enough to keep using it. Pitfall: commands the AI executes badly; one ignored or bungled order teaches players to stop commanding, and the feature silently dies in the first hour.
SEEN IN
- STAR WARS: REPUBLIC COMMANDO
- FALLOUT 4