Hi Dark, To be honest I think it has to do less with the audio representation then the fact that most blind game developers are not mathematically astute enough to use true vector mathematics and physics which is required for realistic analog movement. I obviously am only guessing here, but it seems when I play Super Liam etc that the game character only moves one unit or space making it easy to calculate it, but is unrealistic since in analog movement systems a character might be able to very from 0.1 to 1.0 in speed when walking. Therefore requiring some more complex calculations when moving in the game world.
For example, you pointed out in a prior post that the character should speed up when walking or running. Therefore in that case if a game developer wants the maximum speed to be 1.0 they need to set that as a maximum value, but increment the player's speed from 0.1 to 1.0 over the course of a few frames rather than starting out with 1.0 as the starting speed. If the game developer wants to add a bit of physics that can and will effect the characters movement speed too which is something we don't often see in audio games. Something else that does not often get addressed is simple resistance. What I mean by that depending on the type of surface or terrain the gamer is walking through can and will drastically effect their speed. Obviously walking through tall grass would slow his/her progress through the game, and the maximum rate at which a gamer can move per frame would be less than on a surface like concrete. A lot of analog games take things like amount of resistance into account, but many audio games don't. they move at the same speed regardless of walking through grass, walking through sand, or on a concrete floor. In short, I don't think the problem is so much to do with audio so much as the lack of the programmer's awareness of how to design a proportional movement system based on vector mathematics, take resistance and other factors into account, and add a bit of physics for realism. Instead of that what we often see is movement systems based on very very very basic mathematics which are imho just not that realistic. Cheers! On 5/26/14, dark <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi jeremy. > > Again both fatigue in movement and uncertainty in amount moved are mechanics > > that would work extremely well in some games, indeed I can see how in > interceptor that will make for an interesting battle element, but not really > > for action games to replicate mainstream mechanics, because the point of the > > analogue movement in a game like Mario is that the player Could! move as > he/she wants if his/her grasp of the mechanics was up to the task. > > Actually the reason I mention this movement mechanic in so much detail is > that there is absolutely no earthly reason why it could not be replicated in > > audio. Even if you couldn't show as much detail with respect to ledge > configurations and vertical movements, there is no reason why the horizontal > > movement of the characterand indeed what jumps you do need to make could not > > have this analogue quality. A game like Q9 or superliam would be much harder > > and much more addictive, sinse you could not just instantly stop and line > yourself up with an oncoming enemy, or jump precisely over one pit, indeed > many simple atari 2600 or Nes games like pit fall had such rock hard > difficulty precisely for this reason, sinse the player needed to master and > > become experienced in the use of the game mechanics much as you'd need to > learn to play a musical instrument or a sport before they could be any good > > at the game. > > The other reason I am explaining this is because manifestly, if people have > > not played graphical games, this is something people will not know, and it > might not be clear why there is so much of a major difference between say > marrio and Q9 or original Montizuma's revenge and the Usa remake. > > Thinking about this I do wonder if part of the issue is the audio > representation itself. After all in a graphical game it is necessary to have > > an actual, measurable distance between the player and a given object and > thus need to calculate how long it takes the player to get there and what > scrolling the screen needs to do, where as in audio sinse most audio games > always show things from the player's perspective exclusively the way the > game shows the distance to the player and the actual speed of distance > traveled are the same thing. > > I don't know if I'm explaining this very well, but imagine Jim's monopoly > game vs having a physical tactile board in front of you. On the tactile > board you can at the same time know the player's position and easily count > the number of squares around the board by having one hand on where the > player is and the other checking the squares, in Jim's monopoly however at > any time you just get the clomp clomp of your peace moving and are told what > > square you get to (let's forget about using the board review feature for > now). > > That difference in information is the type of difference in the view between > > audio and graphical games, indeed Packman vs packman talks is very much this > > way. > > Now if you imagine instead of having predefined squares you just have a > smooth board to slide your peace around, where as in the audio game you > press the arrows and get a movement sound. Well on the physical board the > speed of your hand moving the peace relative to the overview will give you a > > clear impression of the movement speed involved and at any give time you > know say how far the distance between your peace and the corner of the board > > is, where as in the audio game, sinse you don't get a complete view of the > hole board you can't relate your speed to object movement. > > > I hope some of this analogy about views makes some degree of sense. > > if not, well suffice it to say that I think there is a reason more analogue > > movement mechanics got missed in audio games, however there is nothing > stopping them being put into a game in the future, after all it's no > different from creating a racing game or a vehicle based game like gma tank > > commander. > > Beware the grue! > > Dark. > > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to > [email protected]. > You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at > http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > All messages are archived and can be searched and read at > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, > please send E-mail to [email protected]. > --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
