LIGHTSABER COMBAT

By David Lawson (Grey Knight)
gryknght@hotmail.com

Introduction

This document was written to help the modelers, animators and coders involved in Star Wars - Call of the Force understand the mechanics of lightsaber combat. As such, it provides step-by-step instructions and illustrations to clearly illustrate the basics of combat with lightsabers. Those of you with these weapons at home should practice in front of a mirror, though I would strongly suggest you find a Master to whom you can apprentice (you might want to try the Dagobah System, though that was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….)
     All humor aside, these techniques are real. Using them with metal swords, toy lightsabers or even wooden swords can cause real injury. Please be careful…

In the original Star Wars movies, and the new trailers for Episode 1, lightsabers are used as if they were "katana" or samurai swords. The exception, of course, is Darth Maul's double-ended lightsaber that he uses like a "bo" or pole. George Lucas has said that we haven't really seen true lightsaber fights - so far he has shown us an old man, a half human cyborg and an untrained boy.
     Ironically, a lightsaber has no "edge" so is therefore capable of cutting at any angle or direction and would be just as effective on the upstroke...witness the stroke in which Vader removes Luke's hand in ESB. However, I guess Lucas could not find anyone skilled in the use of a lightsaber, so he turned to someone who knew how to use katana. This is not as silly as it sounds. Even though the lightsaber has no edge, applying a fighting technique as if it did would actually give more power to your blows. Nick Gillard, weapons choreographer for APM, says he has combined kendo, fencing, tennis and almost anything else to develop his ‘Jedi Style’ I suspect more Ken Jutsu than kendo, but I'm being pedantic...(kendo is the sport of Japanese sword fighting. A special, blunt bamboo sword is used and all strikes are centered on armor strong points to avoid seriously injuring participants. Ken Jutsu is the real martial art, uses a real katana and all strikes are intended to kill.)

The Lightsaber as a Weapon

There is much discussion amongst Star Wars fans about how a mass-less blade would be used (see http://www.synicon.com.au/sw/ls/sabres.htm)
     Observation of the movies leads some theorists to argue that there is more here than meets the eye. They argue that while the blade has no mass, the method of creating the blade generates a gyroscopic action. This would actually make the blade very difficult to move (ever tried waving a chainsaw about?) The result of a gyroscopic action is that a very slight movement would result in a wild swing plus the familiar hum as the field compensates. In order to control this the user must use a lot of their physical strength to control it.
     The blade also does not effortlessly cut through materials, but requires effort - different amounts for different materials. In other words, although the handle and blade are comparatively light in weight, you have to throw a lot of weight behind it in combat. Again, this is not unlike katana, which are remarkably light for such dangerous weapons.

Power - The Force

In oriental martial arts, all energy comes from your center of gravity, about 50mm (2 inches) below your navel centered inside your body. This is the point about which all energy moves. Unless you are moving, this point is almost still except when moving up or down. When you apply force you move this point down. In other words, all moves start by moving this point up then down as energy is expended.
     Most Japanese martial arts also make heavy use of the voice using a yell that accompanies all aggressive strike called "kiai." This loud shout causes the diaphragm to contract, forcing air out of the chest and adding structural strength to the body.
[DEVELOPERS NOTE: I don't recall hearing this from the Jedi seen so far in SW, but we might consider this as a technique used by the Dark Jedi… ]

Footwork 

If your feet pass each other they should move in little arcs, coming first in toward the other foot before arcing out to their final position. More often your feet will not pass each other, as the leading foot needs to stay in front for the combat system to remain effective, especially against another Jedi.
     Move the foot closest to your opponent into position first, then pull the other foot into position as fast as possible to avoid being off balance for too long. The feet should slide or skim the floor so that you are never really off balance. If the foot is lifted at all it is usually the heel that lifts leaving the toe to skim the surface. There are similar to silent stalking techniques used by Ninja and North American natives, where all movement is toe-to-heel rather than the usual heel-to-toe.
     An interesting note is that most samurai and apparently Jedi also, wore long flowing robes to conceal their footwork, as it gives away their next move.

The Grip

Most actions are taken with the lightsaber held in both hands, the lower, left hand does all the work while the right guides the blade. Interestingly enough, there is no left handed grip in Japanese martial arts. In fact, a left hander actually has a slight strength advantage with a slight loss of directional control with this grip. Vader switched his grip when fighting Kenobi in ANH, probably for cinematic reasons, but it could be that he wanted to gain a psychological advantage over his old Master, who would certainly be well familiar with his normal fighting techniques.
[DEVELOPERS NOTE: We might want to consider having some opponents be left handed with a reversed grip as this will throw off gamers who learn the "normal" stance and moves…]
     The proper grip is firm, yet relaxed until just before the moment of contact with your opponent's body. Then, the grip tightens, not unlike wringing water from a towel, as the wrists transmit the final snap of power into the blow in a kind of whipping action.

• Grip the base of the handle using your left hand with no part protruding below the smallest finger. The smallest finger grips most tightly, with grip decreasing in strength up to the index finger and thumb. The web of skin between thumb and forefinger does not touch the handle.
• Your right hand grips just below the guard. The strength of grip is similar to the left hand. Some martial artists have the right forefinger very loose, crooked almost as if it were on the trigger of a gun.
• Your hands should be about 2 finger widths apart. This is often where the switch is located on some lightsabers.
• Your left hand is the primary source of power. Your right hand guides the blade.

[DEVELOPERS NOTE: This means that the left hand leads all cuts. Imagine all actions taken only with the left hand doing all the work, then add the right hand to "guide" the blade. In the martial arts, students are often told to go through the actions holding their weapons only with their left hand. You can do everything except it is not accurate enough for combat.]

Moves

The following are based on a mix of Batto Jutsu, Kendo and Arnis. Batto Jutsu is a combat art using katana and was last used in combat by Japanese officers as recently as WWII. I used Kendo and Arnis as the basis for blocks, as you can block with bamboo swords and rattan stick, but a katana should never be used in that way. There are other Japanese sword arts, which may be of interest when animating the Dark Jedi, such as Iai Justsu, which is the art of cutting someone down as you draw your sword. While there is no sheath for a lightsaber to be drawn from, Kenobi executed a "quick draw" move in the cantina in ANH. I suggest that some of our Dark Jedi could energize their sabers with a stroke that could injure if you get too close to them.

Lightsabers have a long reach, and therefore start their blows from above the head. This is where the energy comes from. You have to be careful with blows coming from below as you may contact the ground, or yourself! In order to allow energy to flow easily, all moves must form flowing circular arcs. This means that Return to Ready Position will be a smooth arc from where you finished the previous move.

Each move assumes we start from the Hasso Ready Position, so they often move through another ready position before actually striking your opponent. In some cases these alternate ready positions could also act as blocks. In addition I end each description with "Return to Ready Position". In most cases this is simply moving of the hands back to Hasso but several will also require an adjustment in foot position. In others I mention returning to Hasso through another position, usually a block. In combat this will make some moves better than others, depending on which side your opponent is standing. Some strikes will also take longer to execute, which will make their use more dangerous.

I have also included the Japanese words for each position or move - maybe we should convert these words to a Star Wars language to add some flavor? The moves are demonstrated by Ben - my young apprentice (they always come in twos - a master and an apprentice...)

Basics

Salute

Lightsaber is off. Hold in both hands, right hand above left, and bring handle up vertical to the face as though you were going to kiss it. You see this from Obi-Wan Kenobi before Vader finishes him off in ANH.
[DEVELOPERS NOTE: Like Kenobi, Jedi may do this if fatally wounded, so this animation may be needed. It will also be used in the initiation ceremony on Thalkos.]

Ready Position - "Hasso "

This was Vader's favorite ready stance and appears to be so for the younger Kenobi and Jinn in APM images released to date. There are at least 5 alternative ready stances, but this one seems most dynamic and has real fighting benefits. Many serious martial artists use the same stance. It's not as "classic" as the Center Ready Position, but is considered more powerful as most other ready stances block your view of your opponent's feet.

1		2

Left foot is forward on centreline of the body with knee bent, right foot is back and slightly bent with feet flat on ground and heels about 3 foot lengths apart. Weight is balanced between both feet, hips are rotated to face forward. Lightsaber is held at shoulder level to the right side of your head just behind your ear with blade vertical, tilted slightly backward and slightly to the right. Shoulders are rotated slightly to your right and upper arms are horizontal.

Defensive Moves - Blocks

Block Up to Left

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Rotate hips to left and swing hands across body to place handle just below your face and slightly forward. Tip of lightsaber is almost fixed in space. Rotate hands, again with tip almost stationary, until handle is above head level with blade almost horizontal above your head. This will result in your shoulders dropping and both knees bending.
Note: Blade should not be horizontal, but sloping with tip higher than handle. Your lever action is greatest closer to the handle so you need to keep the tip up to allow you enough power to deflect the blow.
Return to Ready Position through Center Ready Position.

Block Up to Right

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Similar to previous move but the block goes to your right. This time your hips rotate to the right as your hands move to just above head height to the right of your body. The blade is again almost horizontal with the tip slightly elevated.
Return to Ready Position

Block Left

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Drop hands across your body to your left side at waist level rotating your hips strongly to the left just as you contact your opponent's blade. Blade is almost vertical with tip forward and handle slightly further out to your side.
Note: From the front the blade should just be to one side of your body.
Return to Ready Position through Block Right.

Block Right

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4

Swing hands across your body towards the left side then drop your hands to your right side at waist level. Rotate your hips strongly to the right just as you contact your opponent's blade. Blade is almost vertical with tip forward and handle slightly further out to your side.
Note: From the front the blade should just be to one side of your body.
Return to Ready Position.

Block Low Left

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Pull left foot back parallel to your right foot. Drop hands and swing blade out and down across your body to your left side at chest level whipping the blade and rotating your hips strongly to the left just as you contact your opponent's blade. Blade is almost vertical with tip forward and slightly further out to your side.
Return to Ready Position

Block Low Right

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4		5

Pull left foot back parallel to your right foot. Swing hands across your body towards the left side then across your body to your right side at chest level whipping the blade and rotating your hips strongly to the right just as you contact your opponent's blade. Blade is almost vertical with tip forward and slightly further out to your side.
Return to Ready Position

Aggressive Moves - Attacks

Chop - "Shin Choko-Giri"

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Left elbow lifts over head bringing upper arm almost vertical and bringing both hands to centerline of body behind head with blade horizontal. At the same time slide your left foot to your left and bring your right foot up then circle out to about 3 foot lengths apart, square to your opponent, arching you back and raising your power as you move. Swing down bending your knees and lowering your center of gravity to add power as you strike your opponent. Swing through until your elbows act as a brake on your stomach.
Note: the left hand is doing all the work here, your right hand is merely steering all the force from your left. This move is rarely used in combat, except for dispatching an injured opponent, as it leaves you wide open to attack.
Return to Ready Position by moving your left foot first then sliding your right foot back into position while holding you lightsaber in Center Ready Position.
[DEVELOPERS NOTE: This might be a move we should consider programming for inexperienced or lesser Dark Jedi]

Slice Left - "Kesa-Giri"

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Drop tip back and down, push hands to upper right of head and lift left elbow above your head with blade almost horizontal above your head. Step forward with right foot placing it on centerline, heels about 3 foot lengths apart. Swing lightsaber forward and downward at 45 degrees slicing across your opponent's body from shoulder to hip. Arms are fully extended and blade is almost horizontal at point of contact. Swing through and allow your elbows to act as brakes by hitting your body (this stops you hitting the ground or yourself.)
Return to Ready Position through Block Right.

Slice Right - "Kesa-Giri"

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4		5		6

Drop tip back and down swinging left arm up and across your face bringing your hands to the left side of your head with blade almost horizontal above your head. Bring right foot up almost touching your left foot then step forward with your left foot, heels about 3 foot lengths apart. Swing lightsaber forward and downward at 45 degrees slicing across your opponent's body from shoulder to hip. Arms are fully extended and blade is almost horizontal at point of contact. Swing through and allow your elbows to act as brakes by hitting your body.
Return to Ready Position

Swing Left - "Yoko-Giri"

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Rotate hips and shoulders to your right rotating your right foot, on its heel, out to your right side, perpendicular to your centerline. Swing tip back and down dropping hands down to your chest level with blade horizontal behind you. Shift most of your weight onto your right foot and swing your left foot to your rear so that both feet are about 3 foot lengths apart and square to your opponent. Swing the blade horizontally across your body like a baseball bat, leading with your left elbow as you slide your left foot to the left. As you make contact with your opponent's body shift your weight to your left foot and rotate your hips strongly to the left. Follow through but avoid going beyond your left shoulder. The right foot can pivot on the ball, but avoid lifting the heel - it means you've gone too far.
Return to Ready Position through Block Right.
[DEVELOPERS NOTE: We need to make the bounding box for a crouching player below the level of the swinging blade]

Right Swing

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Pull your left foot back in towards your right then slide it out to your left until it is about 3 foot lengths apart from your right foot. Rotate hips and shoulders to your left while dropping your lightsaber tip back and down swinging left arm up and across your face and your hands down to your chest level with blade horizontal behind you. Rotate hips and shoulders to your left rotating your left foot, on its heel, out to your left side, perpendicular to your centerline. Shift most of your weight onto your left foot and swing the blade horizontally across your body like a baseball bat, leading with your left hand. As you make contact with your opponent's body shift your weight to your right foot and rotate your hips strongly to the right. Follow through but avoid going beyond your right shoulder. The left foot can pivot on the ball, but avoid lifting the heel - it means you've gone too far.
Return to Ready Position
[DEVELOPERS NOTE: We need to make the bounding box for a crouching player below the level of the swinging blade]

Upper Cut Left - "Kiri - Age"

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Rotate hips and shoulders to your right rotating your right foot, on its heel, out to your right side, perpendicular to your centerline. Swing tip back and down dropping hands down to your side to point tip at ground, elbows almost locked a little like a golf swing. As the tip comes forward slide your left foot forward and move hips forward, rotating left and leaning into the blow as the blade swings up and across your opponent. Arms are fully extended at point of contact and hips rotate strongly to the left as you cut through your opponent's body from hip to shoulder and follow through. Blade ends up almost vertical with tip out to the left and arms fully extended.
Return to Ready Position through Block Right.

Upper Cut Right - "Kiri - Age"

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4		5		6

Pull left foot back beside your right foot, drop tip back and down swinging left arm up and across your face bringing your hands to the left side of your head with blade almost horizontal above your head. Rotate hips and shoulders to your left rotating your left foot, on its heel, out to your left side, perpendicular to your centerline. Swing tip around and down dropping hands down to your side to point tip at ground, elbows almost locked a little like a golf swing. As the tip comes forward slide your right foot forward and move hips forward, rotating right and leaning into the blow as the blade swings up and across your opponent. Arms are fully extended at point of contact and hips rotate strongly to the right as you cut through your opponent's body from hip to shoulder and follow through. Blade ends up almost vertical with tip out to the right and arms fully extended.
Return to Ready Position.

Thrust - "tsuki"

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Move your hands to the Center Ready Position. and thrust the blade into your opponent's chest bending the leading knee to drop your center of gravity. Lean forward into the thrust.
Note: This move is rarely used against a skilled opponent, as it is very easy to block and counter.
Return to Ready Position
[DEVELOPERS NOTE: This might be a move we should consider programming for inexperienced or lesser Dark Jedi]

Alternative Moves

Center Ready Position - "Chudan "

This was the older Kenobi's preferred ready position. Not surprising really, as it requires the least movement to react, especially with a blade that can cut in any direction. In other words, it's better for an older Jedi because it protects him by allowing a longer reaction time.

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     Left foot forward, right back, weight balanced between feet. Hips and shoulders are square to your opponent. The lightsaber is held in front of you, both hands centered on your body with your left hand is 4 inches in front of your navel. Both elbows are slightly bent. The tip of your lightsaber is at your opponent's throat.

Flash

Lightsaber twirling and other similar moves are overly flashy and indicative of the young Obi-Wan's recklessness. He will have a lot of close shaves as a result of this! 

DEVELOPERS NOTES

Many of these moves could be exaggerated to add something to their cinematic quality and recreate the stressful effects of combat, which tend to result in less than perfect posture. The downside is that the bounding box will get bigger which will make them easier to "hit". I recommend initially keeping the moves as close to the "classic" descriptions above. Once we have base animations in place we will know the extents of the model's bounding box and can use this as our limits for any exaggerated movements.

This means we should have 17 moves, not counting fancy tricks, 3 basic, 6 defensive and 8 attacking. These moves are required for all Jedi, including the player model and the lightsaber v_wep.

Note that many intermediate positions within each move are repetitive. I hope this reduces the animation time, as you may be able to reuse segments

In-Game Controls

With simplicity and ease of use in mind I have tied the various potential lightsaber moves into keys that fit naturally into the combat environment. There are no additional keys required for this over those already in the Q2 engine. All (CaRRaC?) that is needed is a switch that changes the following bindings when the lightsaber is ignited, perhaps this could be "L" (close to the keypad) to toggle the saber on or off…otherwise it simply toggles when the player selects it.

The following keys use the regular movement keys and the fire/crouch/jump keys. The benefit is this system can be used with keyboards, joysticks, gamepads and three button mice. I have used the Q2 config file bindings in the table below.

Note: When the player runs with the lightsaber they do not fight, so the run key has no effect. I know you can do this in other game systems, but this is not realistic - nor is it seen in the Star Wars movies. We may want to consider animating a fancy saber swing when the player runs and jumps such as the twirl from Obi-Wan as seen in the Trailer.

Other Notes

• I assume that we will program the lightsaber to block and deflect energy weapons. Will this be automatic as in Jedi Knight?
• When someone draws a lightsaber the NPC’s should back away. Except perhaps other Jedi NPCs.
• When a Jedi dies their body should disappear and their cloak and lightsaber fall to the floor.
• We should consider what happens when a lightsaber contacts scenery. We can set some blocks to take damage, but some should simply block the lightsaber. In this case we need to consider the height of scenery in areas where we know the player will have to use their lightsaber.
• Are we specific on where the lightsaber contacts other models? I know most of the more important models are multi-part. Clearly a lightsaber hit to most will sever that part of the model.
• How do we handle contact detection, especially between lightsabers, which will require a sound and possibly a flash?
• Will they work underwater?
• Can we change blocks or strikes mid-swing by pressing fire/crouch/jump again?

Conclusion

If you want to learn more about lightsabers, there is a good technical reference, linked through theforce.net at: http://www.synicon.com.au/sw/ls/sabres.htm

Copyright David Lawson and the SWTC project. March 31, 1999