One thing I am really distressed about FPS is that your character cannot trip or be knocked down. A missle right to the chest will make your character "jump back" ten feet or so, but he won''t fall on his butt, he''ll land right on his feet and continue the battle. He can run backwards up the stairs without looking. Now, I know that people don''t want to be accidently trip, but I think falling over can be an important game design trick. Games like double dragon for NES implement falling over in a way that is very interesting, and adds a slight strategy to it. (You have hit points, but if you don''t get knocked down, you don''t die, no matter how many HP you''ve lost) My question is, does anyone think falling over is important to a FPS, and secondly, and more important, how does the player control themselves if he''s flat on his back? Or on his stomach?

I have a system like this in my first-person shooter/RPG hybrid I''m creating. If done properly, there is only realism and challenge added to the game and nothing detracted. In my system the character just falls flat on their back (or in some instances, ragdoll takes effect) for a few seconds, and the player doesn''t control the character while they''re down. I don''t think it''s an IMPORTANT feature (ex. Why would Serious Sam need it?), but it can only add to the polish and evolution of games in this genre.

Although I do agree Falling over can be annoying, I disagree that it may not add anything to the game, besides realism...

Bushido Blade, my favorite fighting game, people are wounded, and lose the ability to walk.

I believe in Serious Sam, you cannot fall over, but if someone shoots you in the leg, you limp. That does add alittle bit of stradegy to the game, because you can shoot an enemy in the leg, and have enough time to duck for cover, or run away.

I think by making your guys just get up adds realism, but in an Paper RPG, you can attack from the ground, which may improve some things while hurting others.

heh, maybe I just have to think of the limited application where falling over is important to a game...Think think think....

I''ve always thought that falling over would be cool. Character''s in first person shooters have some kind of ridiculous super balance that allows them to get hit by rockets and fall off of buildings and still stay on their feet. I think doing to fighting game style falling, where you land on the ground or trip up for a few seconds after taking a lot of damage of being knocked off balance, would be cool. I think it should be be a quick temporary thing though, with no special controls from rolling around on your back or anything like that.

quote: Original post by dede
I believe in Serious Sam, you cannot fall over, but if someone shoots you in the leg, you limp. That does add alittle bit of stradegy to the game, because you can shoot an enemy in the leg, and have enough time to duck for cover, or run away.

Sorry, but Serious Sam,... and strategy,......... now *that''s* funny!

In Jedi Knight II, you can get pushed or pulled over by an opponent''s force powers. If you''re in first-person mode, this is represented by rotating your viewpoint around the z axis a short way. You''ll automatically pick yourself up fairly quickly, but you can''t attack or defend until then.

i think metroid prime is onto something with realistic control in a fps. for instance when enemys charge at you and hit then your hand goes in front of your face. this kind of animation technique gives alot more realism to you being samus aran. it could be extended into an animation sequence of you falling on the ground. on the ground you could have a few different buttons that do a couple different get up moves. some maybe even dealing with melee combat.
why do fps allways have to deal with just projectiles? if i were out shooting guys i''d so put my foot up their ass. thats another thing that bothers me is the use of ass kicking isn''t in fps enough now a days

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why do fps allways have to deal with just projectiles? if i were out shooting guys i''d so put my foot up their ass. thats another thing that bothers me is the use of ass kicking isn''t in fps enough now a days

You don''t know how disappointed I was that you cannot kick someone in Return to Castle Wolfenstien. Its like street fighter and talking. Alive, they don''t feel anything, but after their dead, you can kick them all you want, and have blood splatter everywhere.

After sneaking up on someone, I so just wanted to kick them off a ledge, but the game didn''t allow me to do that ;(.

On a side note, one thing the original doom promised, was the ablility to fall over, sadly, that never happened. We''re behind in both areas! I will think about including the ability to punch in my "designed" FPS. A quick punch to the face to prevent innocents from talking is a good idea. Or punching a guy out and taking him hostage...

I''ve always thought it''s ridiculous that in every FPS your character has the balance to not only walk on ledges that are microscopically wide, but to jump around and run at full speed firing your weapons on them too, and in some cases even making using said ledges a critical part of the level design!

Not getting knocked down I somehow find more acceptable than the above, if only because for gameplay purposes it''s a lot more engaging to let the player have mobility all the time and be able to dodge attacks than to have a system that results in a lot of cheap, unavoidable hits.

The third situation I don''t see modeled is surfaces that are uneven or dangerous to fall onto. For example, nobody long-jumps down stairs in real life unless they REALLY have to or they''re fools, because it''s likely they''ll twist a leg or worse trying to land with both feet gripping steps(see Porrasturvat for a closer look at how stairs are dangerous). And people can''t just start running the moment they hit loosely-packed sand or piles of garbage because it''s too elastic - they have to scrabble a bit and get a grip before they can try to walk again, and it''s slow going even then.

Certainly it''s possible to do all of these, and this would help make the game world far more realistic with little new actual technology behind it.

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thought it''s ridiculous that in every FPS your character has the balance to not only walk on ledges that are microscopically wide

I like ledges as long as the design works. Such as points in Doom, where you cannot just rush to the door, because the ledge is too narrow. Or Some parts in Castle Wolfenstien, where walking along an edge brings about secret levels. And what would lord of the rings be like without the cool bridge near the end

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system that results in a lot of cheap, unavoidable hits.

The system itself doesn''t have to result in cheap, unavoidable hits. Tripping accidently sucks, and shouldn''t be a part of the game(unless you trip running backwards). However, Knocking your opponent over/blackwards has lots of advantages. It would encourage a slower, less arcady feel, but then, there is a whole section of gamers that cannot handle the quick action of most FPS. So having a combat engine where you can knock enemies over may slow things down enough for those people to enjoy it.

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uneven / dangerous floors

Of course, if you don''t have #1, #3 wouldn''t make much sense, you''d just slow down, kinda like what happens if you got shot in the leg. I don''t think for a FPS, it would add very much realism, unless your FPS had a lot of sneaking around, or running away. It would be enjoyable to slide down a mud hill in a FPS, at least from a design standpoint

Tenchu 2 had a cricket floor, they exist and are cool, where the floor would creak loudly if steped on.