Wolfire Games Forums

Count Roland wrote:I do recall that they said at some point "climbing will be like in assassin's creed only more fluid and dynamic" or something along those lines. as well as the fact that if you look back a few alphas they mention a grab button to climb stuff.

I'm sorry, for us losers that have never played Assassin's Creed(meaning me), how does the climbing work?

Basically a wall/building consists of many protrusions, including ledges, windowsills, and blocks sticking out. Altair (the character you control) grabs and hangs from these in various (and rather interesting and believable) ways depending on where different kinds of blocks are. For example, he can hang from the top part of a window and plant his feet on the windowsill, or just hang from a ledge with his feet dangling if there is nothing to plant them on. There may be good youtube videos of the climbing in action...

EDIT: found one

That's not the highest point in the game though, just in that city.

EDIT2: another example (random ownage at the end =/)

In terms of movement and fluid navigation, Assassin's Creed wins hands down. I played the entire game, and I didn't see any sign of pre-made animations and everything felt extremely natural.

If there's going to be a climbing engine, it definitely needs to take some cues from this game.

in the moves and adaptability of climbing to various layouts Assassin's creed was definitely awesome.

However, you can tell that it still used hard coded animation and only slightly modified it: the moves were very much repetitive and you could jut tell 'ok, that's the reach animation, that's the jump animation' etc.
Sure you can argue that it was realistic in the sense of getting from one resting pose to another, but with truly dynamic animation it could could be smoother, and a little less repetitive in the timing.

What I'm concerned about is how the game would determine what you can and can't grab. How would it find those ledges and stuff jutting out unless you specifically put those in (like in Assassin's Creed)

jo-shadow wrote:in the moves and adaptability of climbing to various layouts Assassin's creed was definitely awesome.

However, you can tell that it still used hard coded animation and only slightly modified it: the moves were very much repetitive and you could jut tell 'ok, that's the reach animation, that's the jump animation' etc.
Sure you can argue that it was realistic in the sense of getting from one resting pose to another, but with truly dynamic animation it could could be smoother, and a little less repetitive in the timing.

Even though it's coded, it doesn't look bad. I mean, I haven't played it so I shouldn't judge it, just from looking at the videos. On that train of thought, thanks for the links, Ozymandias.

TheBigCheese wrote:...and I didn't see any sign of pre-made animations...

What...?

That game contains a crapload of pre-made climbing animations. I can't imagine what you were smoking to not have noticed any of them.

Zhukov wrote: What...?

That game contains a crapload of pre-made climbing animations. I can't imagine what you were smoking to not have noticed any of them.

I was talking about the climbing mostly, the climbing animations are not hard coded, its a series of points that use the IK engine to determine where the arms go.

The combat looks like it has some hard coded ones, but not the climbing.

I believe either David or Jeff mentioned before that there would be a climbing system like Assassin's Creed, but even more fluid.

Well, since we barely have basic movement in then we'll have to wait for all the awesome stuff to see how that all works out =)

marmorek wrote:I believe either David or Jeff mentioned before that there would be a climbing system like Assassin's Creed, but even more fluid.

I cannot help but wonder if they were joking when/if they said that.

Zhukov wrote:

marmorek wrote:I believe either David or Jeff mentioned before that there would be a climbing system like Assassin's Creed, but even more fluid.

I cannot help but wonder if they were joking when/if they said that.

why? what makes you think they might have been joking about it?

jo-shadow wrote:What makes you think they might have been joking about it?

Weeeell... Assassin's Creed, despite its flaws, had an excellent climbing and movement system. So coming out with "we are going to make a climbing system that surpasses the one in AC" is prettymuch the same as declaring "we are going to make one of the best climbing systems ever created, if not the best".

Ambition is all well and good, but, well... suffice to say, it shall come as a pleasant surprised if the Wolfire guys conjure up something anywhere near the standard of Assassin's Creed.

I am not a True Believer, just a customer.

Zhukov wrote:

jo-shadow wrote:What makes you think they might have been joking about it?

Weeeell... Assassin's Creed, despite its flaws, had an excellent climbing and movement system. So saying "we are going to make a climbing system that surpasses the one in AC" is prettymuch the same as saying "we are going to make one of the best climbing systems ever created, if not the best".

Ambition is all well and good, but, well... suffice to say, it shall come as a pleasant surprised if the Wolfire guys conjure up something anywhere near the standard of Assassin's Creed.

I am not a True Believer, just a customer.

It didn't seem like a joke at the time.