Walking pace and running

Gameplay
#1

As name of topic suggest I would like to focus on walking/running.

In lot of games (no matter how lod or new ones) there is this thing that buggs me from when I ever started roleplaying in games.
It is walking pace. It is quite common to have default moving speed as “running”. Then there is slower: “walking” and quicker: “sprint”. Thing is that you cannot walk with NPC with default speed (running) so you have to walk, but that is problematic because for some reason your walking pace tends to be slower then of NPCs. So you either have to run along with some breakes or switching between runing and walking. This really ruins RP experience for me.

I would like to know how you guys feel about it and wheter you have similiar problems.

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Who came here for a console port?
#2

I suppose that’s why I like playing on a gamepad whenever possible; analogue sticks actually allow you to properly choose how fast you move, anywhere between walking and running. As for K+M, introducing several modifiers to your speed might be a good idea, kind of what Assassins creed did, just … With better controls, please :smiley:

#3

I know that feeling, mate! It’s so bloody annoying to run, walk, run then walk just to follow the NPC’s pace! The walking pace should be a general thing! Everyone walks at the same speed. Way easier that way :stuck_out_tongue:

#4

Good point. Yes this is quite common problem. As for me every character should move according to his skill and load. Otherwise you can’t chase some one and catch him or lose him. And with no temporary wounds there is no point of shooting him into his leg to slow him down :D.

And as for NPCs that are runnig with you, there are two aproaches. Either you have to adjust or game is shifting the character if you are too far. None of them is good but somehow I like the second more than the first one. What I would like to see when you are in a team is, that the group should walk/run/drive/sneak at the speed of the slowest one as most of the people would do in normal life. But when you for eg. double tap the forward key than you can move on your own maximum.

1 Like
#5

@ProkyBrambora
Yes, I know where you’re coming from, that’s really annoying.

Maybe it would be good to have some kind of ‘auto-following’ which synchronizes player and NPC speed. So, you can just stick to following and listening. Of course you should at all times be able to break out of this if you like. For example, aim at the NPC and press the designated key -> Auto Follow enabled. You can look around with the mouse and in case you want out of this just press one of your movement keys. So the player always has the option to use it or not.

But here’s another even more annoying annoyance related to movement where you don’t have the option to use it or leave it. Namely dumb movement restrictions. The use of such idiotic feature has grown more and more over the years. In older games you could run as you like everywhere. For example, Half-Life 2, the dialogue in Kleiner’s Lab. You can jump or run around as you please or just stand there and listen to what they are talking about. Ok, in this case you’re limited to this lab room but your movement isn’t.
Nowadays in many games it’s dumbed down. You are deprived of full control. In some places you can smash your sprint button as hard as you like. Won’t change a thing, you’re forced to walk in snail pace!
So, please, @Warhorse, don’t take this road. Let the player stay in control. The old school way.

#6

auto follow? is holding down forward key that hard?

just make player speed same as npc speed, give him a run, and also a sprint. this system basically hasn’t changed for a good reason. it never fails to work.

1 Like
#7

Eh, the issue with that is that player and the NPC will never take exactly the same road, so the same speed will always lead to you going a bit slower or a bit faster than the NPC, unless you choose precisely the same path. If I understand this correctly, OP doesn’t like the approach of tapping the forward button or constantly switching between walking and running as it’s
a) immersion-breaking
b) annoying

What I could see working is NPCs who expect to be followed or who are expected to follow you changing speed depending on how far from you they are - but as I said previously, when it comes to player movement, precision of gamepad is not achievable on M+K without being overly complicated.

#8

Did you even read what Proky said?

Here’s the gist of it: When NPC and player speed differ and you have to follow him or walk along with him it just sucks because you have to switch between walking and running constantly.

#9

not really, the only reason you overtake them is if you stop or start walking/running before or after he does. if you’re walking next to him, why would the terrain differ so much?

i have no problem following npcs in other games so i don’t see what the issue is here. sounds to me some people just don’t like the fact that you have to start and stop at the same time as npc.

and here’s a fact you overlook, i real life, people often do overtake one another. some people a little further behind, some people walk faster and have to stop a little while and wait for other to catch up.

warhorse cannot develop detailed little systems for every little preference or annoyance minority of people experience

btw, this is the issue he complains about. easily solved by making walk speed the same as npc walk speed.

#10

We don’t know about other player’s experience but in this thread it seems you are the minority. And what I described is not that difficult to do. Also, it’s just a suggestion.
No offence but all you do it seems is bashing through the forums. Didn’t stumble across something constructive on your part so far. But maybe I’m wrong then please show me.

#11

Auto-follow was in Assasins creed revelaions I thing and I was really glad for it because in previous creeds it was just the same problem I mentioned. But I dont thing that it is the feature that we want here.

@213 its realy hard to believe that someone did not ever had this problem.

Recentply I installed Mafia II and there is this exact thing.

#12

Yea i hated this when you are doing extremely long escort missions because all it does is make you angry and tired.

#13

I know one who once tried to go to work in only the right side of the road, and on the way home only the left side, on the exact same roads. The way home was 2-3 min. longer than the way to work, because of the turns. So terrain really makes a difference, even if it’s not up or down. By the way, the roads here in Denmark is typically 5-10 meters wide, if i remember correctly. (But my “distance sense” is not that great)

#14

I love Assassin’s Creed Revelation’s system where you could wander off but if u walked next to the person it locked onto them and allowed you to just listen to the conversation without switching from running to walking constantly. Also RDR’s simple pace matching by holding a button was helpful.

#15

Some thoughts:

Please don’t make your default pace too brisk. For my taste the walking was way too hasty in the gameplay video that was streamed in February. It takes me right out of the game.

Indeed it would seem best if your default pace were nice and calm, matching (or close to) that of NPCs. Relaxed background music, just simple string doodling, might help set this calm pace.

And perhaps it would be an idea to implement an automatic slight increase in pace when you fall behind an NPC so you can catch up without having to actually run.

Otherwise, has the mousewheel been assigned a function yet? Because I could see it as a great way to adjust pace. If it’s already assigned to something else, perhaps rolling it whilst holding down Shift or something could work.

#16

As long as characters (and the player) won’t hyperspeed instead of run (like in Skyrim without mods), I don’t mind the walking speed.

#17

  1. Players shouldn’t be able to run for a long time (especially when wearing armor and carrying around weapons/shields). There is a reason why people use horses you know… :wink:

  2. Walking and running speed should be realistic (average of a human walking is around 5 km/h without heavy load). Even with a lot of points in stamina and strenght or respective stats there should be limits to your abilites…

  3. The calculation of walking and running speed and time should integrate the material of the ground (e.g. deep mud). Also you should be be exhausted sooner when walking up a hill or a ladder or anything.

  4. Longer running should result in exhaustion which means that you probably won’t be able to fight very well for a certain time.

  5. I would vote for three distinct movement modes: walking, running and sprinting. You can walk as much as you want and always be ready to fight. Running slowly drains your stamina and the longer you run the more time you need to recover after stopping. In that time you have a malus on your fighting skills. Sprinting drains your stamina really fast and is only possible until your stamina is completely depleted. At that time you likely won’t be able to fight properly and you’ll have a big malus on fighting skills.

#18

I do like analog sticks for movement In casual games, but I’d rather have slightly block movement than having to aim with one. Somebody really needs to design something like the Razer Orbweaver but with a genuine analog stick instead of an 8 directional thumbstick.

#19

Play with keyboard and mouse. Problem solved. :stuck_out_tongue:

#20

I’m not particularly tall ~5’6", and can walk all day with an average pace of 6.5km, with a light load (rucksack, or day bag). This is in a hilly area, using generally unmade footpaths (albeit with defined alignments). I choose significantly hilly routes whenever possible too.

I consider 50km in a day to be well within my comfort zone, and could do further if pressed. Generally taller people would find it easier to sustain a higher pace. Over shorter distances I can manage around 7.2km/h (2m/s) though this is a limiting speed for me (can’t manage longer stride or faster cadence with a normal walking motion).

The additional energy of climbing is around 2x the net work involved at shallow slopes, increasing to around 5x the net work on very steep uphill slopes. For downhill walking, the relief in effort is never more than 2/3 the nominal effort of flat walking. The overall increase of effort for a steep circular route (i.e. ascent = descent) is seldom more than 10% over the same flat course. If there is interest I could supply the empirical formulae that I use for my own planning purposes. Generally work done in ‘flat’ walking is around 1 Cal per kg per mile, for a person of height around 5’6" ~ scaling inversely with height. There are published documents that indicate energy use in hill walking and running, which can be easily combined to give comprehensive work/effort analysis (I use for both planning and post-effort analysis).

Walking with load awkwardly held in arms is significantly slower, and additionally cannot be sustained as long as evenly loaded weight on shoulders or back. A Bindle is a comfortable way of carrying modest loads, and the staff could double as an aid in difficult terrain, or as an improvised weapon.

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