Aniallator
Member
Equally vital to quality content are quality gameplay mechanics. How smooth gameplay feels to the player has a huge impact on the player's experience. Arma is an example of a game that has abrupt and jagged-feeling gameplay mechanics that result in an overall unpleasant feel. Implementing mechanics, like transitioning between stances, to be flowing and smooth is of more importance than many game developers seem to realize.
1. Transitioning up from stances (prone to crouch, prone to standing, and crouch to standing) needs to feel somewhat slow and clunky, however transitioning down from stances (standing to crouch, standing to prone, and crouch to prone) needs to feel very fast; somewhat less so when going to crouch, but more so when going to prone, so you're more or less letting yourself fall. It annoys me to no end in some FPS games where going prone is a slow and tedious process, often enough resulting in your death because you didn't drop fast enough. When getting up to any stance from prone, it'd be awesome to have your character push himself off the ground with on hand, or something.
2. Most games implement jumping as an abrupt upward movement; that's okay, however I found jumping has been implemented best and most realistically in Interstellar Marines, where for a half second after pressing spacebar before your character actually jumps, you bend down a tiny bit to simulate propelling yourself for the jump, as you would IRL. IRL, you can't just move vertically upward without bending down first to be able to propel yourself.
3. Transitioning between speeds (running and walking) needs to feel smooth, not abrupt and jagged.
4. Leaning, on top of the need to be implemented realistically like I've mentioned previously, needs to be possible regardless of what you have equipped; grenade, gun, physical map, whatever. Many games unfortunately implement leaning as something that can only be conducted when equipped on a gun.
5. Initiating an action while running is a mechanic too many games fail to implement well. For example, in many games, if you were to hold shift to start running while you're already reloading, the reloading process would be cut off and you'd start running. Or, if you were to press R while running, nothing would happen. Other games make it halfway, where starting to hold down shift while you're reloading results in you walking and conducting the reload, but the flow is gone because you don't start running after you've finished reloading. In TW, initiating any action (like changing your equipment/weapon, pulling out your physical map, reloading, et cetera) while already running (or holding shift to start running while conducting an action) needs to result in you slowing to a walk to conduct the action. Once the action has been completed (you've put your physical map away, or reloading has been completed, or whatever), you'd start running again, if you're still holding shift (you need to be able to hold shift while the action is being conducted and not have anything happen, to be able to immediately begin running when the action has completed). The same of course goes for when firing your weapon, however I think you should be able to pull the pin on a grenade and cook a grenade while running.
1. Transitioning up from stances (prone to crouch, prone to standing, and crouch to standing) needs to feel somewhat slow and clunky, however transitioning down from stances (standing to crouch, standing to prone, and crouch to prone) needs to feel very fast; somewhat less so when going to crouch, but more so when going to prone, so you're more or less letting yourself fall. It annoys me to no end in some FPS games where going prone is a slow and tedious process, often enough resulting in your death because you didn't drop fast enough. When getting up to any stance from prone, it'd be awesome to have your character push himself off the ground with on hand, or something.
2. Most games implement jumping as an abrupt upward movement; that's okay, however I found jumping has been implemented best and most realistically in Interstellar Marines, where for a half second after pressing spacebar before your character actually jumps, you bend down a tiny bit to simulate propelling yourself for the jump, as you would IRL. IRL, you can't just move vertically upward without bending down first to be able to propel yourself.
3. Transitioning between speeds (running and walking) needs to feel smooth, not abrupt and jagged.
4. Leaning, on top of the need to be implemented realistically like I've mentioned previously, needs to be possible regardless of what you have equipped; grenade, gun, physical map, whatever. Many games unfortunately implement leaning as something that can only be conducted when equipped on a gun.
5. Initiating an action while running is a mechanic too many games fail to implement well. For example, in many games, if you were to hold shift to start running while you're already reloading, the reloading process would be cut off and you'd start running. Or, if you were to press R while running, nothing would happen. Other games make it halfway, where starting to hold down shift while you're reloading results in you walking and conducting the reload, but the flow is gone because you don't start running after you've finished reloading. In TW, initiating any action (like changing your equipment/weapon, pulling out your physical map, reloading, et cetera) while already running (or holding shift to start running while conducting an action) needs to result in you slowing to a walk to conduct the action. Once the action has been completed (you've put your physical map away, or reloading has been completed, or whatever), you'd start running again, if you're still holding shift (you need to be able to hold shift while the action is being conducted and not have anything happen, to be able to immediately begin running when the action has completed). The same of course goes for when firing your weapon, however I think you should be able to pull the pin on a grenade and cook a grenade while running.
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