SOCOM: Tactical Strike
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SOCOM: Tactical Strike: a SEAL crouched by a parked car in a sunlit town square, with the four-man team's status panel on the right
Role Game Designer
Studio Slant Six Games
Period Aug 2006 – April 2012
Released Nov 2007
Platform PSP

SOCOM: Tactical Strike

Real-time tactical strategy shooter game

I scripted semi-linear missions with multiple strategies, and designed the different enemy types.

01What I owned

  • Multiple level scenarios, each with assault and stealth ways through
  • Scripted semi-linear missions with multiple strategies
  • Designed strategic scenarios to be implemented in game
  • Designed different enemy types to keep players on their toes

02How it played

Tactical Strike was a real-time tactics game where you controlled a team of 4 Navy SEALs through various levels.

Two SEALs at the corner of a dusty town with the Attack menu open, listing Attack Target, Field of Fire, Suppression Fire, Stealth Kill, Fire at Will and Hold Fire
The Attack menu.

Pictured here is one of the levels I worked on, showing some of the attack options, which you could either execute immediately or queue up to have all your SEALs perform orders all at once.

Sony released the game for PSP on November 6, 2007, with nine main non-linear missions and 18 instant action missions. The game was nominated in the Strategy category of the 2009 British Academy Video Games Awards.

03Level scenarios

The design of levels required multiple assault and stealth ways to navigate through them, allowing players to discover their own preferred ways to play. I was responsible for multiple level scenarios and discovering creative ways to use different tactics.

Night-vision view of the four SEALs stacked at a doorway inside a building, with a waypoint marker labelled Charlie
A night-vision approach inside a building.

04Enemy types

In addition I was responsible for designing different enemy types to keep players on their toes. Some enemies would charge, some would hide and melee, some would move into a preferred range moving only from cover point to cover point, while others would look to always flank the player.

FIG. 1Base enemy types Type Movement, from above 01 Charge 02 Hide and melee 03 Cover to cover Moves into a preferred range, only from cover point to cover point 04 Flank the player Always looks to flank the player To keep players on their toes enemyplayercover I believe other enemy types were variations of these. FIG. 1Base enemy types Charge Hide and melee Cover to cover Moves into a preferred range, only from cover point to cover point Flank the player Always looks to flank the player To keep players on their toes enemyplayercover I believe other enemy types were variations of these.
The four base enemy types.
Two SEALs behind a low stone wall in a jungle, targeting two enemies 22.8 metres away with the Attack Target prompt
Targeting enemies from cover in a jungle level.

I believe other enemy types were variations of these base types.

05What I learned

Across my years on SOCOM, a big part of my work was using level design tools to build out encounter spaces that supported multiple approaches, giving players genuine agency rather than forcing a single solution. On the SOCOM series, I designed core combat mechanics and AI that pushed players to vary their strategies.

Skills Applied

Real-Time Tactics Enemy AI Design Level Design Mission Scripting PSP Development