Adjustable character-speed

(.FROST.) #1

Last evening I’ve played a couple rounds of BRINK; it was nice. There’s still one server with a reasonable amount of players. But to the point; I still felt fresh, and good after a couple matches; like allways. I’ve never had any headache/feeling-sick issues with BRINK, so I was thinking, that somewhere between the character speed of a light BRINK-character and DB’s soldier is a margin, where my brain, somehow, can’t handle it anymore.

I had a lot of theories in the past, of what exactly causes this “me feeling bad after only a few matches of DB”, and now I’m quite convinced, that it has to do with a), the movement speed of the char and b), the way your char moves. And since I have the most issues with TF2, Borderlands and DB, I think the combination of a really high pace cobbled with a very “floaty” movement style can cause issues for some people. Extreme lighting effects and head-bob will, of course, multiply the negative effects, but aren’t the cause for those effects in the first place; I’m pretty sure about that now.

So my thinking was; b), the movement style, can’t, or shouldn’t, be changed individually(the way it allready is), but a), the max character speed should be adjustable with a slider, like the mouse-speed. Where 100% is the normal speed. Of course, one shouldn’t be able to go beyond that, but below that.

I don’t see where anyone would have a disadvantage, or an unfair gameplay advantage from such an option.

PS: I’ll come back to edit this post a bit later, but now it’s lunch-time.

(tokamak) #2

I think this would would only be a tacked on band-aid for a more integral problem which is sluggish player control.

(Mustang) #3

I think this would be better solved by allowing random character animations to be turned off, improved player movement control, less floatyness and you playing with a lower FOV rather than gimping yourself with a 20% movement speed penalty.

(.FROST.) #4

You are both right, especially with the character anims(or at least the camera shaking that’s cobbled with some of them), but since this is an alpha, it would be great to find out what exactly is causing problems and what doesn’t. I’d find such a slider, for adjusting the character speed, very cool in the release version, but it would be great enough to have it just for the alpha; just to exclude, or point out what causes un-pleasent side-effects and what doesn’t.
I’d really like to know if I’d be ok with, say, 75%-80% character speed. Ok, like in, playing 2-6hrs without any overly noticeable side-effects.

(acQu) #5

Probably the shakes in combination with the very tight maps in which you are automatically under constant and relentless pressure.

Brink, as far as i saw, had a little bit more open maps. So not so much pressure imo.

If you played W:ET (i am so sorry for mentioning that again lol :D) you will see that though the quick and seemingly fast movement you will be not exhausted that quick. Related to the maps i think it is that you have a very clear view and have more freedom of choice. Clear view in a sense that it is not that tight, little box with everything happening at almost one place, but happening is more spread out and also better perceivable.

I have that feeling of exhaustion as well by the way; maybe it is age in combination with too much RL pressure, deadlines, etc …

(rand0m) #6

Why on earth would you wanna be slower then everyone else in a fast paced FPS? Honestly…

(.FROST.) #7

I understand your reaction, and to be totally frank, I’ve expected far more of such replys. But then again; maybe most of you guys allready gave up on me and my weird ideas:wink:

No, but really, to answer your (rhetorical)question. Firstly, I’ve allready explained, why I’d be interested in such an option and secondly, I think you may have a wrong idea of how I thought this should work in the actual game.

-It’s not about reducing the character speed to 50%. Maybe reducing it to 96% would allready be enough to feel much more comfortable and let’s you play 2-3 times longer.

-reducing speed would, or should, only affect the “W”-key input, wich means strafe, jumping and going backwards would be the same as allways. As a result, you’d barely notice the speed reduction in close firefights, where it’s basically all about strafe, jumping and going backwards.

-playing at a slower pace is better, than not playing at all. I mean, I really love DB, but I’m also very hesitant to play it too much, since it can ruin my entire day, or at least the following 1-2 hours.

-we have mouse acceleration- and smoothing-sliders in so many games, even though 99,9% of the players switch them off entirely, but those are there for the 0,1% of people wich really groove on those settings; why not give people like me, who are kinda sensitive to visual inputs, the option to slightly reduce this very input?

-Ever heard of this saying? “slow is smooth, smooth is fast”; I know it’s kinda cheesy, but what’s good enough for the military can’t be too bad for us keybord jockeys.

(Kendle) #8

You can reduce your movement speed already, just lower your FOV. It’s an optical illusion of course, but the lower the FOV the slower you think you’re moving (in case you haven’t already realised this of course, just trying to help) :slight_smile:

(scre4m.) #9

… and I stopped reading exactly here. This not a sentence to start a post with.

(Dormamu) #10

Congratulation you have “Simulator sickness”
try this http://www.examiner.com/article/how-to-prevent-sickness-from-fps-games;
First of all. Have your eyes checked, you might need glasses.
Try not to move the point of view very often. Do not take the shortcuts, keep playing on the open road, stay back switch to Sniper.
Take it easy. Cut yourself from the speed of the game and play it at your own speed, don’t try to be first, finish first, relax and forget about the need to excel, try to have fun. If you get tired, close your eyes and enjoy the sounds :smiley:
Blink often, look at the sky. Do not stare at the screen.
Stock up on Ginger pills, Dramamine (about an hour before you begin playing) or other meds.

(.FROST.) #11

Ah, one of those witty replys. You must be the guy writting 95% of the YouTube comments.

(acQu) #12

[QUOTE=Dormamu;454385]Congratulation you have “Simulator sickness”
try this http://www.examiner.com/article/how-to-prevent-sickness-from-fps-games;
First of all. Have your eyes checked, you might need glasses.
Try not to move the point of view very often. Do not take the shortcuts, keep playing on the open road, stay back switch to Sniper.
Take it easy. Cut yourself from the speed of the game and play it at your own speed, don’t try to be first, finish first, relax and forget about the need to excel, try to have fun. If you get tired, close your eyes and enjoy the sounds :smiley:
Blink often, look at the sky. Do not stare at the screen.
Stock up on Ginger pills, Dramamine (about an hour before you begin playing) or other meds.[/QUOTE]

Interesting :smiley: I still don’t know if that article is totally serious, but some truth is in it for sure.

http://www.siggraph.org/education/materials/HyperVis/virtual.env/percept.iss/simulate.htm

I wonder if this also affects the bobbing stuff, because that is just highly mega annoying, i could throw out the PC, it annoys me to the fullest … i guess some cases do annoy me more than others, there seems to be a fine line when it gets annoying for me.

And i kinda predicted it :smiley: => http://forums.warchest.com/showthread.php/36540-A-recent-lack-of-activity?p=453103#post453103 Imo the sickness i get from these bobbing effects or motion blur are from same cause as other, more severe stuff, like lightning causing spasm or something. I am totally serious, that is the sad part :smiley:

(.FROST.) #13

[QUOTE=Dormamu;454385]Congratulation you have “Simulator sickness”
try this http://www.examiner.com/article/how-to-prevent-sickness-from-fps-games;
First of all. Have your eyes checked, you might need glasses.
Try not to move the point of view very often. Do not take the shortcuts, keep playing on the open road, stay back switch to Sniper.
Take it easy. Cut yourself from the speed of the game and play it at your own speed, don’t try to be first, finish first, relax and forget about the need to excel, try to have fun. If you get tired, close your eyes and enjoy the sounds :smiley:
Blink often, look at the sky. Do not stare at the screen.
Stock up on Ginger pills, Dramamine (about an hour before you begin playing) or other meds.[/QUOTE]

Lol, I have glasses since 2nd grade, and I’m well aware, that I have simulator sickness, but thanks :wink:

This thread is not about a diagnosis of myself, it’s about adjustable character speed, because of the issues/simulator sickness some guys may have.

There are basically five answers, or opinions I could think of, maybe more I don’t know.

From the devs:

-ah ok, nice idea
-not so good idea, especially, because it’d be very hard to implement it

From fellow testers

-whut, another options point? No thanks!
-whatever, I don’t care.
-yeah, that’d be great, I’d be really intersted in such an option

(.FROST.) #14

@Dormamu and acQu

I’ve allready started a thread about motion sickness a while ago

http://forums.warchest.com/showthread.php/33838-Motion-Sickness

But I thought this thread here should be more focused on a solution/solutions, than on finding out what’s “wrong” with oneself.

(Mustang) #15

“Turn off all other lights in the room.”

Wtf bad advice is this? This is sure to give you even more sickness/eyeache due to constant changing light levels in-game making your eyes need to constantly adjust pupil size. If anything, I get off my ass and turn the main room light on before gaming!

@.FROST.: I think you missed the main opinion, which is that we would rather fix the cause and keep a level playing field rather than disadvantaging those affected. Unless of cause you intend to use it just for testing purposes, in which case, why haven’t you commented on the FOV suggestions?

I also enjoy a relaxing game of Brink from time to time with friends/family.

(.FROST.) #16

[QUOTE=Mustang;454406]“Turn off all other lights in the room.”

Wtf bad advice is this? This is sure to give you even more sickness/eyeache due to constant changing light levels in-game making your eyes need to constantly adjust pupil size. If anything, I get off my ass and turn the main room light on before gaming!

I also enjoy a relaxing game of Brink from time to time with friends/family.[/QUOTE]

Nice to see we are on the same page here(with Brink and all).

PS:“Turn off the lights” is like the baddest advice ever, if you allready have problems with the above.

(.FROST.) #17

I tried playing with a lower FOV, but I think I can rather handle a wider FOV. I’m playing with 110° atm.

(Mustang) #18

It’s just that if you stick the FOV at 70 its equivalent to your eyes as moving 40% slower so this should allow you to test your theory.

(.FROST.) #19

Ah ok, I see, I’ll check that out tomorrow evening.

(iwound) #20

a fix for this is stick your head in the freezer compartment of your fridge for 30 secs just before you play.
you will no longer feel weird when you play.