Don’t worry… It’s not quite what you think.
‘Noobifying’ the controls would definitely make the vehicles less cool for advanced players - that’s not what we’ve done. As an example, if you take the ideal controls for a flying vehicle, the keyboard is used for yaw (turn), because it’s far more useful to have analogue control (the mouse) over roll (banking/strafing). This is counter-intuitive for a first-person shooter player because they are used to using the keyboard for strafing (the result of roll), and turning with their mouse. Nevertheless, we’ve stuck with analogue control for roll because in time, a player will make a much better pilot with these controls. The alternative (making the controls exactly the same as controlling a player) would make a player a much worse pilot in the long run. It would also ‘nerf’ the controls for more advanced players. There are examples of flying vehicles with these controls in other games (such as UT) which I think prove this point. They are easier to control (input wise) but have far less potential for advanced moves.
However, the new feature I’ve talked of recently is a form of digital stabilisation for ground and flying vehicles. It doesn’t change the control scheme at all - this is important because a player progressing to the advanced system, doesn’t have to learn new controls, but it does make basic control of vehicles (with advanced physics) easier, with some disadvantages.
Taking the flying vehicles as an example again, the stabilisation reduces sensitivity on the mouse during take-off (so you don’t roll over and crash killing all your passengers), and stabilizes the air-craft (returning it to level) from rolls where you’ve lost control. These has made the flying vehicles easier to fly from A to B, but (much like an auto-pilot) doesn’t assist in dog fights, or strafe runs - quite the oposite in fact… A player with the stabilisation turned off, has complete control over the vehicle without interference. Assuming they are a good pilot, this instability becomes a real plus to pulling-off cool moves. I think I demonstrated this at the i30 presentation.
It’s also true of the ground vehicles… The stabilisation solves problems like the on/off nature of the keyboard causing full steering lock if you leave the ground while turning - for a new player, the system assumes that because they are pressing their left-turn key, they simply want to head left… Imagine a rope pulling you in the direction want to travel, regardless of how much the vehicle is fish-tailing. But for advanced players this is something you’ll want to take advantage of. I did donuts in the Truck as an example, because the stabilization doesn’t interfere with my steering. Turning it off means I get instability that I can take advantage of. This is really useful for sudden changes in direction in combat, and various other moves.
The end result is that the controls and physics aren’t nerf’d for all players, but that newbies can turn on a mode that stops them killing all their team-mates in accidents.
I hope that all makes sense!
Paul ‘Locki’ Wedgwood
Owner/Lead Game Designer
Splash Damage Ltd
