We are RoadKill - Movement

Introduction:

This is a breakdown of the progress of the movement system, as-well as what's next. This document will mainly be text, along images taken from a design document to present what I am doing, as this system has the most work to be done before I am happy with it, due to its importance to gameplay. 

General movement:

The main methods of movement within the game are: running, sprinting, jumping, crouching, sliding. and diving. Each of these movements can be done with or without a weapon. 

The player is only able to sprint while moving forwards, you can not sprint while moving side-to-side or backwards. You are also unable to sprint while aiming, however this may change during development, as i feel like it could impact momentum and the player's enjoyment of the game.

As wrote about in the previous blog post, weapon's impact the player's movement speed. 

By equipping a weapon your movement is slowed slightly, aiming your weapon slows your movement down even more. However, the changes are fairly small, and will be finetuned to make sure that it does not slow down the momentum of gameplay.

I aim for the movement in the game to feel responsive and impactful, allowing player's to enjoy traversing the levels in the game.

Jumping:

Not many changes have been done to jumping, aside from the planned addition of diving. However, that will be talked about more in its own section below.

Jumping has mainly been tweaked in its animation's, such as landing, and falling.

Some planned changes are to have the player be able to crouch midair, similar to counterstrike, allowing the player to get on higher platforms that they may have not been able to reach before. More changes may come in the future as-well, with the ability to grab onto platforms, however, this will depend on the levels I design, and I may not implement the ability to grab as it could affect momentum if done incorrectly, I want the player to feel fast and powerful, and I feel like having an animation of grabbing a ledge and pulling themselves up will slow down the momentum, potentially affecting the player's enjoyment in the level.

Jumping does have an internal option to add the ability to move the player midair, instead of relying on momentum, however it is toggled off automatically, as it doesn't fit the vision I have for the game, however, I do plan on having it being a feature the player can choose to have on if they wish. The two different jumping styles are showcased in this block post [link] if you wish to see them in action.

Sliding:

Sliding has yet to be implemented, mainly due to not having made the animation yet. However, the structure, input, and functions are all implemented, so all that's required are the animations.

Sliding works by sprinting and pressing the crouch button. This will allow the player to slide. The player can still aim, reload, and switch weapons while sliding.

Sliding length is not determined by momentum, but by set values. This may change in the future, but it depends on how the sliding feels once implemented.

Sliding does not slow the player down, unlike crouching, you slide at the same speed as the sprint speed.

The aim of sliding is to have the player a method of dodging gun-fire, while not slowing the gameplay by making the player duck and hide behind cover.

Diving:

Diving is something I decided to add fairly recently, I had thought about implementing it since the beginning, but wasn't sure about it, however, I decided that it would be a fun implementation, and add to the gameplay, while also increasing the cool-factor, the options I have in level design, and, the flow of gameplay. 

Diving will only be possible while sprinting, and will be done through jumping + crouching while sprinting.

Diving will not keep the player's movement speed until they land, which will slow the player down. This could change depending on testing during the project showcase, through development, and feedback from players in the demo, if it hasn't been changed beforehand. 

The player will be able to shoot while diving, giving a max-Payne gun-fu esque feeling to the gun play. The player will be less-likely to be hit while diving as well, allowing them an ability to dodge incoming fire, and feeling cool while doing so.

If the player is aiming while diving, I may add the ability to slow-down time, either as toggle-able during gameplay, or within a setting's menu, however, that depends on quite a lot of things, such as difficulty, how the guns will work, and testing. I worry that having the ability to slow-down time while diving may make players abuse the diving mechanic, effect the flow of gameplay, or make the game way too easy. However, to get around that, it would be possible to link the ability to slow-down time to certain difficulties, or have achievements be disabled if you use the slow-down ability. Overall, a final decision has not been made about the time-slow effect, and more consideration will be put into it, as-well as testing in gameplay.

When landing, if the player held crouch through the dive the player will begin crouching, however, if the player pressed crouch and let-go once diving, the player will be running /sprinting again once landing. This allows player's more control over their movement and what they want to do, so if they wanted to dive behind cover they could, or if they wanted to dive between a gap and continue running they also could.

Crouching:

Crouching is the same as mentioned in the previous dev-logs. Nothing has changed.

Crouching can be done while: sprinting, running, holding a weapon, and aiming.

Crouching slows the player down, while decreasing the area of the player vulnerable, allowing the player to take cover, or dodge incoming fire.

The only task in-regards to crouching is implementing the animation, and testing the speed.

Crouching will be used to hide-behind cover, go through gap's/vents, and potentially utilized if I implement a stealth system in the game, which isn't currently planned, but something I like the idea of being in the game, but only for very specific missions or areas.

Aiming changes:

I'm planning on adding a new aiming method that will be utilized with movement. The player will be granted the ability to aim freely from their movement direction. This will be done via the press/holding of a button, such as LALT. 

By aiming with LALT, the player will be able to look independently of the direction of travel, within a set range, such as 160 degrees. This will allow the player to spring straight, while turning and shooting enemies, without straying from their path, preventing the player's getting caught on objects, running somewhere they don't want to, while progressing the level.

I hope this will improve the momentum of the levels, and increase the flow of the game, while making the gameplay more enjoyable and responsive.

Future development:

Currently, all that's mentioned in this post is to be developed. Idea's such as climbing, grabbing, and vehicles, are possible future implementations, but have no solid plan or guarantee. 

The main thing I must work on at the moment are the animations for the movement's, as-well as testing variables regarding speed, jump height, slide length, and dive length. Movement will constantly be tweaked, balanced and improved upon during development, to ensure it is as fun and responsive as possible. In a fast-paced FPS, the last thing you want is clunky unresponsive movement, so I will try my best to make the movement as good as possible.

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#4.3 Camera [N/A]