thanks for all of the replies boys. the game is still very far from comletion and control is not really my biggest concern yet; but i did want to get a feel (pardon the pun) for what other people thought. lots of good ideas here. i guess it will really come down to trying the controls out in the game.

thanks again for the suggestions, and feel free to add any more that you may have...



<(o)>

I touched it and the end of my finger went white, so i clicked on it instead.

CJ

You should read R.A. Salvatore''s Forgotten Realms novels, the Icewind Dale trilogy and the Dark Elf trilogy. The main character wields two scimitars, and the hand-to-hand combat scenes are superb, and very detailed.

I think 3rd person floating cams suck. They look good, sure. But they totally kill any real grip you might have on the battle.

The one possibility is to do it 2d-like, from the sides (prince of persia) or 1st person/ or fixed over the head/shoulder. The first one has the advantage that you can implement a lot of great looking moves and that you can give the player accurate distance information,
the 2nd one that it gives a realistic feel and that you could aim at specific areas with your mouse (maybe).

THe problem is that with the 2d thingy the fight becomes linear, so sidestepping or attacking left/right becomes a problem.
The 1st person thing does not give any range information....


if you want to know about fighting with swords and stuff take up fencing, it´s the closest you´ll get to the real thing. AND you get to know a lot on the technical side of armed combat (What you can and can´t do, what´s good and what´s not and how you can defend yourself).

I´m sorry that missed the interface question a bit....

I wouldn´t go for each arm seperately, it just makes things more complicated. 3 attacks (fast,medium,heavy) high/low and a block button should do the trick (nothing new but enough i guess).

If you do any 3d thing you´ll have to use the mouse. The sidestep thing is great, but for close up combat not really necessary. I´d make it something like a quick dodge to the left/right, not so much a step. Aiming or hitting with the mouse is bound to be tricky, as you can´t do fast and accurate movements with the mouse. But the click and hold idea seems good...

Ummm...no!

If you want to learn about fighting with weapons, get a friend and make some nice padded swords. Then beat the !@#$% out each other.

I fence, and love it, but it is very different from this sort of thing. Trust me, this is what I've been spending my summer vacation so far doing!

-M

P.S. I'm assuming we're talking about traditional swordfighting. If you want to make a fencing game, learn to fence.

P.P.S If you learn to fence, learn Sabre!

Saráth evenü, cán el-sayü liné!

Edited by - Matrix14 on June 19, 2000 7:45:24 PM

i am not interesting in making a button smashing street fighter-esque game. i want a great deal of stradegy and depth in the fights, not just who can go through the combos the fastest.

as far as the view goes i want a somewhat fixed 3d camera, with a almost iso view, like half over the shoulder, half side view, not too high up. the camera will move in and out depending on the distance between the fighters, and the camera will rotate as the player moves around the arena (side to side).

although taking up fencing is one thing i would like to do, i dont really have the time to do so. is there any other kind of sport that more closely simulates an almost gladiatorial combat or sword fighting style? there are probably some little groups all over, but does anyone know of an actual sport or two? if nothing else it may be helpful just to go watch.

thanks again for the help thus far...

<(o)>

Do you have an SCA branch nearby? If so, they do some serious beating the crap out of each other, and incorporate a number of styles. Supposedly the mega-combat of the War of the Roses (I think that''s the title) is spectacular.

That''ll get some good weapon-based battles, anyhoo. My other advice is just to make friends with someone about to gain a belt in a martial art. The sparring can become pretty intense, especially since the candidate has to fight someone with a higher rank.

mikey

Actually, the styles that most fantasy settings would consider appropriate predate fencing by quite a bit, don''t they? Much more brutal, hacking, battlefield kind of sword fights. Still, you make a good point, when I want to get ideas for a combat interface, I go play with sticks with my friends. Hell, sometimes I do that anyway...

Then I ask my friend Will, or another martial artist, about how fighting really works. He always has something to contribute. But what I said about obligitory attack arcs is absolutely true.

I think i could might have an idea here.You should look at the combat system for Zelda 64 on the N64.The one great thing about the combat system was the lock on Z trigger.The Z trigger lock on was perfect for close combat,when link locked on to a target he would circle strafe and allways face the enemy.Also by using a combanation of the shild,rolls,jumps,quick sidesteps and diffrent types of sword blows quite a bit of stratagy was possible.This could work well if a combination of the mouse and keyboard was used.Lets say the number pad was used to control the characters movement.The arrow keys 4,6,8 and 2 make you move Left right,forword,and back 1(end) and 3(Pgdn) could be used as a quick side steps or Run and walk keys.The + key could make the character jump and the Enter key could make you duck,by pressing the 5 button on the key pad it could make you lock on to the other character changing left and right to left,right strafe.Now lets say the mouse could be used for attacking,Left button for left arm and the right button for the right arm(like you''ve mentioned before)and maybe by moving the mouse in diffrent directions and the speed its moved at diffrent kinds of blows or attacks will happen.For example lets say the character was holding a sword in one hand(left)and a shild in the other,by pressing the left button without moving the mouse a virtical swing will happen,by moving the mouse to the left or right and pressing the left button will make the character do a horizontal side swipe,by moving the mouse forward and pressing left buttons could do a forward jab.By pressing and holding the right button and moving the mouse around the shild could be moved around for protection.If a two handed wepon was used,like a spear pressing the left mouse button could do a front stab with the pointy end and pressing the right button could do a jab with the butt end of the spear and by holding down both buttons the weapon could be used to block attacks.Well anyway maybe this could give you a few ideas.