What's the most effective way to make use of a keyboard / mouse setup in complex sword fighting? For example, I want to be able to facilitate the fluid use of a three-foot zweihander by a human knight, the ability to use a spatha and shield effectively, and precision in fighting with daggers and polearms. The same goes for the elves' daikatanas, tantos, and so on. My first idea is to have a "free-form" button, such as CTRL, that allows the player to move the sword with the mouse, press a separate button for the type of action activated by a left click, and a right click for the use of a shield or two-hand sword block. Is this the way to go?

There is an old game called "Die by the Sword" that used a system very similiar... I think it's still in my box 'o' games in my closet (note to go dig that out later)...

That game had a few neat things about it, which might give you some ideas. First off, sword manuevers could be saved as "macros" so you could make moves with the freeform and then assign them to a button... (it was in options.. hit space, do the attack, hit space again.. save if you like, redo if not... etc...)

Also, there were quite a few "pre-made" attacks and combos so that people just picking up the game could play it like your regular hack and slash type game... thus appealing to two different crowds...

Thinking back (I havn't played this game in years) I believe they used reverse kinematic system with the arm with the mouse moving a point on a hemisphere in front of the player... thus it would just try to get your sword extended to that point the best it could... It was sorta akward and clumsy, but the macro system made it kinda neat...

I was planning something more advanced than Die By The Sword. The players, while in Freeform, would lose Stamina with each major movement of the weapon. When a player runs out of Stamina, his movements would be far slower and less effective than normal. Outside of Freeform, movement would not be encumbered by stamina loss -- but the player is far more vulnerable to enemy Freeform attacks.

I get the feeling that we had a thread almost exactly like this a few months ago...

There are several good games out there that answer this.

One is the original "Theif" game.

Another is the recent game "Mount and Blade"

I wont really go into why, but check both of those out and you wont be disappointed.

A thread like this did just happen. I think it died a week ago :D

I’ve always wanted to play a game where one used nothing but mouse control to move the weapon.

The player would learn what mouse movements equated to what swings of the weapon and over time one could become a real master at it if the control was tight enough.

For example, I’d move my mouse from 3 o clock to 6 o clock and my sword would sweep down and cut out my opponents legs.
From 6 o clock straight to 12 o clock and I would jab into his chest.
From 4 o clock straight to 10 o clock and my sword would come up in a similar manner to parry an attack.
R Click would bring up my shield.
WASD to move.
You’d lock onto a target/man and always face him. 2 or 3 opponents? Hot key 1,2,3 to switch the lock between them.

I don’t know if any other games have used this before. I don’t play to many with swords ;)

Edit...HEY! im from Rochester! how's Syracuse!?

Bushido Blade was a remarkable sword fighting game. Hit a leg and someone can only stumble. Hit about anywhere else and they die. The same goes for you. You stay at a distance, run around each other until you see the perfect moment to strike. Quite a remarkable game where you would quickly play 30 matches in a row.

RE spectre1890
Have you used sword? If not try it. Probably one of better method is right click on the screen and choosing from menu a next attempt.

The last post in the old thread was just yesterday...
I suggest you read that first, spectre1890.

It's cool that so many people are interested in this. I've thought of most of the ideas explained here too.

And, I keep saying this, but try Ragdoll Masters! It has a very interesting control scheme.

1.Have activation of a swing bound to the left mouse button

2.Secondly have your shield/block binded to your right mouse button.

3.Display your different possible swings as icons on the bottom part of the screen horizontally. now bind the mouse wheel as a toggle to cycle through your swing abilities. you can also use either E or Q for this also

4. use W,A,S,D as primary movement keys and if you game has dodge moves bind the Space bar to be your primary dodge. Players can also use E & Q for jump and open/activate buttons

This is what i would do for fast action combat sword