Invisible walls

[tomascokis]

Elephants. I wanna see some concept art for that

[Hazel-roo]

Elephants. I wanna see some concept art for that

Do we really want republicans in such a non-conservative game...?

[Johannes]

Elephants? Are we forgetting the whale men already? D: Whale men are mammals too!

[Wilbefast]

Okay, I got an idea.

It's essentially a variation on the invisible wall. When the player gets within a certain distance of the wall, Turner starts to lose speed. The closer they get, the slower he goes. Eventually, just before he 'hits' the wall, he comes to a stop. If at any point the player choses to turn around then Turner will return to his normal speed.

The gradual decrease in speed as they go forward contrasted with the rapid increase if they turn back will make it clear to the player what is required of them. Also, simply not being able to move further is easier on the suspension of disbelief then running up against an actual wall and it maintains the illusion of a larger world. If you wanted to make the point even clearer you could have Turner give verbal warning messages as suggested above. Perhaps one message when he starts to slow down and a more severe one when he comes to a stop.

So... is my idea not truly elegant?

Very elegant more or less what I meant by "Monty Python" (as in the Holy Grail) - you have the illusion of running but in fact you're not moving - in other words, an invisible wall, but Turner doesn't play the "I'm leaning against a wall" animation, he just runs on the spot with getting any further from the center of the level.

Obviously some sort of indications is needed to show the player which way they should be going, be it a landmark setpiece they can move towards, or an arrow, or a map that actually includes "the outskirts". In the same way wind direction was difficult to gage in Lugaru, even if you knew the signs - the easiest way around this would be to give everyone capes or something. This might seem a bit convuluted though - queue "Planet of the Capes"

Jeff has a point - I'm sure everyone here would rather they put their time into more important issues. Something simple and elegant as the above should suffice nicely.

exit;

[Kalram]

I'm no developper, but I think that a part of tokage's idea shouldn't be too hard / long to implement :
Let's say that we go with the invisible wall method.
It's frustrating to run and get to stop because of an invisible wall, but it's possible to make it more natural, by showing Turner's thoughts like : "Where am I going ?", "Damn, I think I'm getting lost, I thnk I should go back"... (see tokage's post)
You would get these messages shown on screen when you start to get too far from the center, and once Turner gets to the wall, he would say something like : "Ok, this leads to nowhere, I'll go back now" and here could come the automatic U-Turn. I don't think we absolutely need this, but if it doesn't take too much time to code it could be good to get the player to face the center of interest of the map.

In a few words, it would require :
-invisible wall
- showing messages on screen depending on the distance from the center of interest of the map
- automatic U-turn toward the center

As I understood, you already planned the invisible wall, and since you did it in Lugaru, you certainly know a method to show a message when the player reach a give place. Only that would testify of a great sense of details in my opinion

[tomascokis]

No automatic u-turn.

[Wilbefast]

No automatic u-turn.

Agreed: no loss of player control, nothing automatic - I hate the word as I hate hell, all Montagues and thee - have at thee coward! (they fight).

[Johannes]

No automatic u-turn.

Agreed: no loss of player control, nothing automatic - I hate the word as I hate hell, all Montagues and thee - have at thee coward! (they fight).

*seconded, both the point, and the quote *

[Zhukov]

but Turner doesn't play the "I'm leaning against a wall" animation, he just runs on the spot with getting any further from the center of the level.

That wasn't quite what I had in mind. You are describing prettymuch exactly what happens in Lugaru (which I didn't mind, but a lot of other folks seem to have issues with it).

When I said Turner "comes to a stop" I meant that he doesn't respond at all to any movement command that would bring him into contact with the wall. No "I'm leaning against a wall animation", no running on the spot, nothing.

Obviously some sort of indications is needed to show the player which way they should be going

That is the purpose of the gradual loss of speed (when players approach the wall) coupled with the rapid normalization (when they move away from it). Hopefully it would be clear that the fast direction is the one in which they "should" be moving.

[Wilbefast]

I don't think control should ever be taken away from the player - nothing is more annoying than a player character suddenly deciding he doesn't want to follow the players direction anymore.

[Glabbit]

No automatic u-turn.

Agreed: no loss of player control, nothing automatic - I hate the word as I hate hell, all Montagues and thee - have at thee coward! (they fight).

You're a Capulet? D=

[Zhukov]

I don't think control should ever be taken away from the player - nothing is more annoying than a player character suddenly deciding he doesn't want to follow the players direction anymore.

Umm... is that a response to my post, or one of the others?

[wormguy]

Okay, I got an idea.

It's essentially a variation on the invisible wall. When the player gets within a certain distance of the wall, Turner starts to lose speed. The closer they get, the slower he goes. Eventually, just before he 'hits' the wall, he comes to a stop. If at any point the player choses to turn around then Turner will return to his normal speed.

The gradual decrease in speed as they go forward contrasted with the rapid increase if they turn back will make it clear to the player what is required of them. Also, simply not being able to move further is easier on the suspension of disbelief then running up against an actual wall and it maintains the illusion of a larger world. If you wanted to make the point even clearer you could have Turner give verbal warning messages as suggested above. Perhaps one message when he starts to slow down and a more severe one when he comes to a stop.

So... is my idea not truly elegant?

How about this: have the weather elements obstruct progress. So, in a snowy level, the wind blows harder and the snow and fog get thicker until you can't move. Or in a desert level, you show signs of suffering from the heat.

[marmorek]

How about this: have the weather elements obstruct progress. So, in a snowy level, the wind blows harder and the snow and fog get thicker until you can't move. Or in a desert level, you show signs of suffering from the heat.

That's actually not a bad idea, but I don't know what you'd do with a grassy level and nice weather.

[StrangezThingez]

There should be some form of ambush waiting on the edges of the map that rip you to shreds or something. For example, if it's a map where you must fight warriors from a certain faction, you will be slain by archers from the same faction if you stray too far from the map.

Or to make it more generic, you can be swept up by a giant falcon and eaten. Or a hand from the skies just comes and slap you to death.