Underwater swimming animation
KwisatzHaderach
Join Date: 2012-02-06 Member: 143872Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Supporter
Join Date: 2012-02-06 Member: 143872Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Supporter
... any chance that it will get taken out of the game? I know that it helps with giving some visual feedback (breaststroking hands in the players FOV) to show the player is actually on the move, but from a diver's perspective it is very silly. No diver would propell him/herself like that underwater. Especially not when they have fins. Quite the contrary actually: you try to move your arms as little as possible to conserve oxygen and only use your lower body for locomotion. I find that animation very distracting and out of place.
I've also noticed that the oxygen level seems to drain rather batched than progressively. I assume this is to indicate the diver's increased oxygen consumption while inhaling? In my opinion the effect is a little too strong. Again: a diver's breath should be calm and controlled. Atm it feels more like my avater was hyperventilating 8~P
Btw: does oxygen drain faster the deeper you go? I've only dived deeper than 50 m a few times but it always felt like oxygen-levels were falling rapidly once going that deep...
Fantastic achievement so far btw
I've also noticed that the oxygen level seems to drain rather batched than progressively. I assume this is to indicate the diver's increased oxygen consumption while inhaling? In my opinion the effect is a little too strong. Again: a diver's breath should be calm and controlled. Atm it feels more like my avater was hyperventilating 8~P
Btw: does oxygen drain faster the deeper you go? I've only dived deeper than 50 m a few times but it always felt like oxygen-levels were falling rapidly once going that deep...
Fantastic achievement so far btw
Comments
O2 consumption however is continuing to be tweaked based around what works the best for gameplay. And yes, I believe it is intended to drain faster at deeper areas that have more pressure.
Even though this seems to be a topic of little communal interest, I would welcome if you could elaborate on the reasons as to why you are hanging on to the current view model swim animation.
There are a number of reasons, all of which are quality or future-driven. For instance, using full-body animations from the start allows much easier Oculus Rift integration or multiplayer integration*.
*Rift and multiplayer used an an example, may or may not ever be put in SN.
The fact that no diver would propel themselves forward in that way is trumped by the gameplay benefits, for exactly the reasons you stated. The animations adds quite a bit of visual interest, and provide a lot of feedback to the player regarding direction of movement and speed. In an underwater game players expect and want to feel like they are swimming, not just floating magically through the air, and we can only convey that sensation through the body parts that are most visible.
Also it's great to see the corelation between depth and oxygen consumption.
Currently I do not feel like swimming yet to be honest. It still feels a bit shooterish. Stopping too fast, head bobbing too rapidly while idling in one spot, not enough driftyness, turns are very rapid as well which is immersion breaking. But that'll probably be tuned and the experience is very neat already so far.
As for the arms they do not add much to the gameplay for me. And I'm not a diver.
In fact I am getting annoyed by them already and I don't even want to imagine what it'll look like with VR glasses on. Body pieces constantly blocking my view and pulling me out of the game, since my real arms do not move at all. It's one of the VR do not's.
You can read on the best practice experiences provided by oculus here: http://static.oculus.com/sdk-downloads/documents/Oculus_Best_Practices_Guide.pdf
I'd suggest and wish for adding a "ragdolling" option where arms just floaty behind if the avatar swims. Shouldn't be so hard to rig that animation (doesn't have to be for SEA but it should really be considered later on)
Also I'd vote for slower head bobbing. These accelerations will not go well with VR later on and aren't realistic either.
There are options to increase the visuals that way, you could work the way a lot of divers do and swim hands clasped in front - and of course it has to change when you have the flash-light.
Another option would be to have the gauges on the wrist rather in a HUD so you have to look at your wrist to see the data - this would also tie in with the current additions to the Rift to enable the sensing of hand motion.
The constant motion of the hands though is a distraction from the beautiful environment you are creating.
For instance when the player starts out in game he can't swim well, has untrained lungs etc., consumes more air in new biomes or around freshly discovered life forms (fear raising pulse).
As you continue the ingame avatar should calm down more as he get's to know all the life and biomes. He should also learn to swim and manage air better.
At the same time the player in front of the pc will get used to the controls and could definately adapt to a playstyle with efficient swimming and fins, hiding the arms.
Ironically what I'm mostly get confused by are "6dof" controls in descents and ascents. No arms there to help you. But that is NEAT - because it represents what really happens in real life as well (and SN makes it easy as the player will always "auto balance" e.g. never can end up with the head down)
Some of the suggestions in this thread are quite good ideas. like the gauge on the wrist or the hands clasped in front swimming.
James, grab the anti-depressants, it's gaming time?!
It's always nice to have options, though.
That's exactly my point: we should stop asking for realism. Games are for unrealistic fun, real world is for unfun realism. As long as we can keep that distinction, games will keep being entertainment instead of chore. And yes, that dark/exotic matter topic is - in my personal opinion - a prime example of pointless nitpicking about realism in a game about pretty fish.