i am working on an online pvp game,where players control robots in space. the first thought i had when i started thinking about this game is that i wanted it to feel like it has fast action. like you move and attack fast. and well,so far i feel like i am failing when it comes to feeling the speed. yep,my fast game feels slow. i could increase the speed even more but the problem is that players can attack either in melee or ranged modes,and if players will move so fast i think it's going to be realy hard fighting in melee(not to mention the speed would probably make ranged combat easier). the camera is constantly behind the character. i dont get it,look at this game : this one gives you a feel of speed,and i am trying to make my game be like zone of the enders(where there like in my game,you can move to all directions). does anyone have any idea what could i do to make the game feel faster? edit : this is a video of my game, at first i move at normal speed,which feels very slow and most of the time players should be mooving at the normal speed. at some point i switch to "boost" speed which then feels a bit fast(i also increase the fov when boosting) and then it seems to feel a bit speedy. sure, i could increase the normal speed to be as fast as boost,but then it will relay be hard to melee fight other players. [Edited by - Bru on November 3, 2009 10:02:55 AM]

Move the camera closer to the avatar, and increase the FOV. But posting a gameplay video of your game (you know, the one you're looking for feedback on?) would be a good idea if you want less catchall advice.

Speed is relative. If there is nothing flying by close to the camera, it'll look slow. For examples, in racing games, it will look like you go faster if the camera is closer to the ground. Remember the movie "The Aviator", when he was looking for clouds? Same thing.

You could add a "space debris" or a "space gaz" effect to implement this. The trick is decades old, I think it was in x-wing/tie fighter.

i added a video. thanks for the tips.
sneftel,it seems like moving the camera closer to the character makes the character just look too big on the screen and doesn't seem to feel much faster.
steadtler. i am not exacly sure i understand you :(

Quote:

Original post by Bru it seems like moving the camera closer to the character makes the character just look too big on the screen and doesn't seem to feel much faster.

That's why you move the camera closer to the avatar and increase the FOV.

amm... it did seem to help a bit. i used pie/4 for the the fov,and now i use pie/2. but dont all games use a human fov(pie/4)? it does look like i am watching through a drunk man's eyes when i move the camera up and down now.

edit : heh,on second thought i think i like it this way. thanks a lot :)
got any other ideas which might help he game feel faster?

Its simple: if there is nothing close, you dont get a sense of speed. See those flashing lines in the video you sent, near the beginning? They are there to give a sense of speed, like if air is rushing by really fast. You can get the same effect by putting stationnary, fake objects (space debris) around the robot in your game.

Quote:

Original post by Bru but dont all games use a human fov(pie/4)?

The human horizontal FOV is only a little less than pi. But no, no they do not all use pi/4.

having trails of gas coming out the back of your avatar works too.

As well as what Steadtler said, you have no sense of scale. Until you get really close to those buildings you can't tell how big they actually are in relation to a person. Similarly for your rocks - they're just big textured lumps with no reference points.

You need to add visual cues to demonstrate the scale - adding more people would be a good example, since you'll instinctively 'know' how big a person is, seeing tiny people on the rocks or hanging out of the windows instantly lets you know how large the objects are themselves.