We all know this right? you're walking next to an NPC and the game only offers you two choices of walking speed
Too fast and too slow, so you're constantly switching between what feels like cheetah and snail mode
This might seem like nitpicking, but this is actually something which has been bothering me for years to be honest
There are so many games especially third
But also a lot of first-person games that completely screw up what I call social
Walking speed and this can be a very annoying immersion breaker
Especially in games like Skyrim that try everything to Inmerse the player in its world to give him the feeling that the game's reality is
Cohesive and feels real something like this can pull you right out of it carefully established immersion
You cancel a dragons and save all of tamriel on your own
But you aren't able to walk at the same pace as the other inhabitants of the world you live in
Really?
It makes your character feel like a jigsaw piece that just won't fit in even worse in a situation like this
Where the focus lies on the narrative instead of action the player gets distracted from?
Completely paying attention by having to move in this awkward stop and go traffic like movement
But why why do so many games screw this up?
It doesn't seem like such a big deal, right?
Now there are of course a few reasons and even a few excuses why this happens in so many games?
First of all the core Gameplay of Most 3D games is action
so the movement Scheme is crafted around the most Central aspect of the game the combat and
action games generally tend to make the player move way faster than in real life even in shooters that
Emphasize a more realistic type of combat like counter-strike for example the players run at what in real life would be something around 20 miles
Per hour and we're used to these ridiculous speeds because games are after all just an approximation of reality
and designers always have to sacrifice a certain degree of realism for a more compelling experience and
When a game adds an optional slower walking pace it is often also something that is directly
Soon into the combat mechanics as this slower speed often makes the player character stealthier and here
We're back to balancing the core gameplay if a stealthy type of movement is too fast it can make the player
Overpowered and the overall challenge, too easy
Non-Player characters on the other hand mostly tend more towards
Realistic movement speeds because when you actually see a character move at these ridiculous speeds becomes way more apparent that something doesn't feel right
If they walk too slow it becomes an ordeal to accompany them as it would take forever to get to the destination
So NPCs, generally tend to walk somewhere in between those two extremes
Which makes us end up with this?
But solutions to this problem can be so simple especially when it's a first-person game
there is no reason in the world to not offer the player a
Social walking speed option a button that enables him to catch up with a person he's accompanying
It's something that only few persons will even notice when it's there
But that at least subconsciously can put a lot of people off when it's not
retta at redemption for example actually
Shows, how well this can work when you ride or walk next to a person you can just hold the key down and Mr.
Marcin will stay right next to that person if he's behind he'll catch up if he's in front
he'll slow down until their speed matches the player doesn't have to worry about speed anymore and can focus entirely on the conversation and
Some developers like quantic dream's go even further by using character movement as a narrative device
Just take a look at how ethan in heavy rain walks in this scene at home on a sunny afternoon with his kids
Compared to this where Jason gets lost in the mall
We don't even have to know the plot to instantly feel the current mood of the protagonists
we know instinctively that ethan is very agitated and on the edge just by observing his posture and body language and
The way he moves fits his surroundings because when people run in public
They don't just sprint like in most games
It would look completely awkward in public and feel unnatural and out of place. It looks more like this
Carefully accelerating to a slow jog or a power walk and because of this attention to detail
Ethan seems like he's a part of this world which makes the whole situation all the more believable, and yeah
The Merci it just feels right when you compare that to this you instantly see the difference, right?
It's subtle but it's an extremely effective way to increase the cohesiveness of the presented realities
this is of course additional effort for team especially in third person games where a completely new set of
Animations and transitions has to be created implemented and balanced for every new type of Movement, and this is a considerable extra workload
Especially when the game is on a small budget where developers have to deliver a minimum viable product
It's completely understandable to leave those extra details out
But when a game has a budget of 80 million dollars like Skyrim and immersing the player is one of the main goals this is
unforgivable at least in my opinion
But since we were talking about small teams that is actually the beauty of Indie game design isn't it?
Since Indie developers have to cut corners to keep the project scale realistic and manageable for a team with limited resources
It forces them to approach those restraints in a clever and inventive way, so instead of simply leaving nice details
That would add to the overall experience out mostly
There's a more clever way to work around those problems and that even reduces the workload, but that is a topic for another episode
so as always
Thanks for watching keep on playing and I'll see you next time on
Runner oh