Zealot888
04-01-2002, 08:07 AM
Raven please read all of this. I love your game, but I wish that the lightsaber control was better/smoother, so here’s an idea. The purpose of this idea is to create better looking lightsaber fights that are smoother, and more thought out. Rather then the get behind them and click click click fighting, with the occasional accident of locking. As of now the control and successful use of the lightsaber feels very random.
As it is, if you want to swing horizontally left you must hit strafe left and attack (mouse1). Why not have it so that a slight mouse movement left while pressing/holding attack swings your saber left? If you slightly move the mouse left or right with attack held down your character will swing left or right. If you move the mouse down with attack then it will vertically swing straight down. If you move the mouse diagonal down left or right, the saber will swing diagonally down left or right. If you move the mouse diagonally up L/R it will uppercut diagonally up L/R. If you move the mouse straight up, it will uppercut straight up.
The boundaries of the mouse directions:
Think of a 360º degree circle around the mouse from a birds eye view. “Up” can be considered any degrees from 342.5º to 22.5º, upper right would be 22.5º to 67.5º, right would be 67.5º to 112.5º, and so on. From a coder's perspective, this would be dealing with horizontal and vertical input ratios.
Attack mode:
Is when you have the attack key (mouse1) held down. It will only execute the attack movement only when something is in range, rather then when ever you click it. An example of this is the gauntlet for Quake3 as opposed to the axe in Quake. Why? Because real characters wouldn’t swing at a guy that’s 14 feet away, but we see this all the time and it looks bad. In the game you can’t tell if they’re close enough, so your character could do the guessing for you (auto attack), just as how you character auto deflects lasers. Also, if you hold down the attack, the enemy is in saber range, but you do not move the mouse, it will not swing until you give it a direction. Perhaps your saber offense skill will determine better range estimations. The disadvantage to having the attack key down so much is that you aren’t in block mode with it pressed down.
Block mode:
You character is by default in ‘block mode’ when the saber is in your hands and the attack key isn’t pressed. Another idea (perhaps it’s too much) is other than having the chance of blocking something that's based on your lightsaber defend skill is to allow players to manually heighten their chances of a block. When in block mode if your opponent swings horizontally left and you slightly move the mouse left (in block mode), your character will parry left, increasing your chances of a block. If the enemy strikes downward and you move the mouse up, he will block upwards. If you do not give a direction or you move the mouse too far in the opposite direction that the opponent attacks, he will get a hit. The higher your saber defense skill, the more amount of degrees you can be off to still get a high chance of a block.
The results:
If you keep the attack button down, then all you have to do is slightly move the mouse in the direction you want your character to swing. Light saber control would be outstanding as you could tell your character how to swing with your mouse rather than your keyboard, allowing you to remain in the same spot with only your torso and arms moving. As it is, people are running all over the place (some of them are just trying to swing left or right). With this mouse rather than key direction idea, you could stay relatively in the same spot and saber fight it out like we see in the movies. With the occasional moving forewords or backwards, like the fight between Luke and Vader in ROTJ. This wouldn't eliminate the need for jumping or crouch rolling, and it would get rid of a lot of the ugly, unrealistic, and excessive movement.
Please take this into consideration. Modders, if something like this isn’t implemented, here’s a good place to start. The lightsaber animation and appearance looks very nice, but honestly the saber fights could be so much more. Once again, GREAT game!
As it is, if you want to swing horizontally left you must hit strafe left and attack (mouse1). Why not have it so that a slight mouse movement left while pressing/holding attack swings your saber left? If you slightly move the mouse left or right with attack held down your character will swing left or right. If you move the mouse down with attack then it will vertically swing straight down. If you move the mouse diagonal down left or right, the saber will swing diagonally down left or right. If you move the mouse diagonally up L/R it will uppercut diagonally up L/R. If you move the mouse straight up, it will uppercut straight up.
The boundaries of the mouse directions:
Think of a 360º degree circle around the mouse from a birds eye view. “Up” can be considered any degrees from 342.5º to 22.5º, upper right would be 22.5º to 67.5º, right would be 67.5º to 112.5º, and so on. From a coder's perspective, this would be dealing with horizontal and vertical input ratios.
Attack mode:
Is when you have the attack key (mouse1) held down. It will only execute the attack movement only when something is in range, rather then when ever you click it. An example of this is the gauntlet for Quake3 as opposed to the axe in Quake. Why? Because real characters wouldn’t swing at a guy that’s 14 feet away, but we see this all the time and it looks bad. In the game you can’t tell if they’re close enough, so your character could do the guessing for you (auto attack), just as how you character auto deflects lasers. Also, if you hold down the attack, the enemy is in saber range, but you do not move the mouse, it will not swing until you give it a direction. Perhaps your saber offense skill will determine better range estimations. The disadvantage to having the attack key down so much is that you aren’t in block mode with it pressed down.
Block mode:
You character is by default in ‘block mode’ when the saber is in your hands and the attack key isn’t pressed. Another idea (perhaps it’s too much) is other than having the chance of blocking something that's based on your lightsaber defend skill is to allow players to manually heighten their chances of a block. When in block mode if your opponent swings horizontally left and you slightly move the mouse left (in block mode), your character will parry left, increasing your chances of a block. If the enemy strikes downward and you move the mouse up, he will block upwards. If you do not give a direction or you move the mouse too far in the opposite direction that the opponent attacks, he will get a hit. The higher your saber defense skill, the more amount of degrees you can be off to still get a high chance of a block.
The results:
If you keep the attack button down, then all you have to do is slightly move the mouse in the direction you want your character to swing. Light saber control would be outstanding as you could tell your character how to swing with your mouse rather than your keyboard, allowing you to remain in the same spot with only your torso and arms moving. As it is, people are running all over the place (some of them are just trying to swing left or right). With this mouse rather than key direction idea, you could stay relatively in the same spot and saber fight it out like we see in the movies. With the occasional moving forewords or backwards, like the fight between Luke and Vader in ROTJ. This wouldn't eliminate the need for jumping or crouch rolling, and it would get rid of a lot of the ugly, unrealistic, and excessive movement.
Please take this into consideration. Modders, if something like this isn’t implemented, here’s a good place to start. The lightsaber animation and appearance looks very nice, but honestly the saber fights could be so much more. Once again, GREAT game!