Thursday, September 25, 2008

Start playing games with my head Episode: 2

I've played a lot of video games in my time, some are satisfying and some just aren't, so I’m trying to think from a developers point of view to try to find out what makes one of those really satisfying games so good. I will touch on this subject several more times in the future but today I’m going to look at personal player physics.
I can't stand a game with bad jump and fall dynamics, I’m sorry but the days of super jumps and double jumps are over, it was fun while it lasted. You may be thinking "what's the fun in having a four foot maximum jump height", but that's not what I had in mind at all, it would just be great if these rules applied.

A = 9.81 m/sec^2

Df = Do + Vo T + 1/2 A T^2

Vf = Vo + A T

Vf^2 - Vo^2 = 2A Df

I never said that Vo (Initial velocity) had to be realistic.
Imagine your character pushing off of the ground at an initial speed of 251mph turning the ground below him into a crater as he flies into the air along with his enemy, battling all the way up. Then, a full twelve seconds later you and your adversary land softly at the tip of a 2250ft tall building overlooking the carnage of what was your home town. You fight atop the building performing amazing acrobatic feats that would totally work I real life if you had limitless strength. Finally your adversary knocks you off of the building then jumps after you, you two battle during the decent until the screen starts shaking as you approach terminal velocity, you land on your feet and the pavement shatters beneath you and you are suddenly lost in a cloud of dust and debris. You throw up your sward arm just in time for your enemies landing, when the dust settles you find him impaled not only on your sward but on your arm, his corpse now resting around our elbow. Yeah Sweet!!!
As a rule, I think that sub consciously, man is more drawn to hyperrealism than surrealism, to the guy who defies gravity rather than the guy who simply lives with less of it. That's why Final Fantasy VII Advent Children was so much cooler than Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

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