First Person Platforming

[Yahtzee Croshaw]

First Person Platforming

There's a time and a place to jump around. Most first person shooters aren't it.

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[Mahoshonen]

Intersting that Yahtzee again mentions bullet hell games in EP, considering he hasn't reviewed one. I can see why he hasn't-they tend to be niche games rather than big releases. Still, I can only imagine what Yahtzee would have to say about the Touhou series.

 

[Alakaizer]

I've found that the Metroid Prime series are pretty good first-person platformers. I think of them as platformers, because more of the point of the game is maneuvering through the world, whereas the enemies are just stuff to clear out of each room before you do so. I think that's the reason I have no problem playing the Prime trilogy, even though I suck at FPSs.

 

[Somebloke]

Taking things for granted?
Learn the true complexities of physics and coordination with the mighty QWOP:

http://www.foddy.net/Athletics.html

:9

 

[MasterOfHisOwnDomain]

I find it difficult to even know my positioning when in some third-person games (a fact that the swinging blades in Dark Souls like to continue reminding me of), so if I was ever asked to perform precision platforming in a first-person game, I would politely decline.

 

[guitarsniper]

I never had a problem with missing stuff when I played Mirror's Edge. Maybe it's a PC thing, I dunno. It does seem like it might be harder to do that kind of precision platforming using a thumbstick to look around.

 

[Alcaste]

I found Quantum Conundrum to be just fine from a first person perspective... And going into third person would sort of lessen the impact of a few certain moments in the game.

 

[ColdBlooded]

what about holding down a button so that you auto jump over a ledge and also the character can grab and climb ledges? Would that help?

 

[Cerrax]

I absolutely loved Mirror's Edge, though I think it had more to do with how connected your body felt with the character rather than the gameplay. There are so many little details in the way the camera moves and the movements of the hands and feet that really make you feel like you're piloting a person and not a floating head. If you bash open a door, your head tilts to the side a little bit as you wind up, and then as you smash your shoulder against the door, your vision shakes abruptly. I could almost feel myself smashing that door open. Things like that are so much more immersive than say Skyrim, where opening a door is like watching a ghost butler lazily swing a styrofoam board open.

 

[disappointed]

First Person Platforming needs different controls - namely a "jump when I run out of floor" button and a "jump to the place I'm looking at" button.

 

[Squilookle]

what about holding down a button so that you auto jump over a ledge and also the character can grab and climb ledges? Would that help?

Probably. I reckon that having a visible shadow underneath is the single most important thing to ease 1st person platforming- even moreso than being able to see your own body. Sure it doesn't help the perspective problems of guessing a platform's exact distance from you... but it's a start.

 

[Something Amyss]

I never had a problem with missing stuff when I played Mirror's Edge. Maybe it's a PC thing, I dunno. It does seem like it might be harder to do that kind of precision platforming using a thumbstick to look around.

People have said it about the console version, too. "I can do it" does not equate to "the mechanic is fine." I've played through a bunch of broken games in my life, and that does not make them okay. Of course, it's fun to blame those filthy console gaming peasants.

 

[WhiteLung]

Little off topic and maybe I missed the joke but...

"You wouldn't turn the act of breathing into a quick time event."

 

[RandV80]

I've found that the Metroid Prime series are pretty good first-person platformers. I think of them as platformers, because more of the point of the game is maneuvering through the world, whereas the enemies are just stuff to clear out of each room before you do so. I think that's the reason I have no problem playing the Prime trilogy, even though I suck at FPSs.

Yeah I was going to mention Metroid Prime. I haven't played Mirrors Edge to see how it works there nor have I played Quantum Conundrum to see how apparently difficult it is, but in Metroid Prime the solved the first person platforming problem by simply tilting your perspective downward when you jump so you can see where you're landing. It probably also helps that you move a little slower than your typical FPS, and I don't know if the platforming is ever as difficult as Quantum but it certainly isn't as punishing. Regardless though this is a FPS series where platforming is part of the game and does actually work.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

It works and its bloody fun, Yahtzee man you are getting old.

 

[him over there]

I've found that the Metroid Prime series are pretty good first-person platformers. I think of them as platformers, because more of the point of the game is maneuvering through the world, whereas the enemies are just stuff to clear out of each room before you do so. I think that's the reason I have no problem playing the Prime trilogy, even though I suck at FPSs.

Yeah I was going to mention Metroid Prime. I haven't played Mirrors Edge to see how it works there nor have I played Quantum Conundrum to see how apparently difficult it is, but in Metroid Prime the solved the first person platforming problem by simply tilting your perspective downward when you jump so you can see where you're landing. It probably also helps that you move a little slower than your typical FPS, and I don't know if the platforming is ever as difficult as Quantum but it certainly isn't as punishing. Regardless though this is a FPS series where platforming is part of the game and does actually work.

It's also important that Metroid Prime has a heightened sense of spatial awareness because they sometimes take you out of the first person, mostly for morph balling. It also helps that the platforms are relatively wide and often account for a bit of a margin of error. Most of the platforms are the same space apart as what you can jump.

 

[Dondonalien44]

Little off topic and maybe I missed the joke but...

"You wouldn't turn the act of breathing into a quick time event."

That is exactly what I thought of when he said that
Also, I think that's the way I'm going to explain Portal's mechanics to the uninitiated from now on: "It's a first person shooter, and you're the bullet."

Platforming depends on a sense of awareness of one's position and full confidence in the ability to move. Unless they perfect virtual reality soon, let's leave the jumping to the dashing rogues and furry creatures

 

[shiajun]

Haven't played Mirror's Edge, but I finished Quantum Conundrum last night. I found it quite satisfying. Indeed, there's several places where the first person perspective works against the precision jumping necessary. I didn't find any of this too conflicting until the reverse gravity puzzles where I kept boucing off the ceiling and falling to my death because I could not gauge how near I was to it and keep my eyes on the path I needed at the same time. I also got fried by lasers a couple of times because I didn't get that the bottom of my character box was not yet over them. Still, it's nowhere near as bad Yahtzee makes it sound, although the reverse gravity puzzles were hardest to me because of the other detail, the ambiguity of how the physics works.

In any case, I agree that first person platforming has always felt a little off to me, compared to PoP or Tomb Raider, or Rayman, or Sonic, or.... etc, where you can see where the character IS, which is the whole point of platforming. A strange mixture happens in Amnesia, where the first persons perspective is crucial to the atmosphere for fear and the smooth interaction with the objects on screen (great engine, I insist) yet in some situations (few and far between) the perspective makes jumping from one place to another, or climbing, rather cumbersome.

Oh, and Yahtzee, your friend trying to infiltrate the building in DX:HR by jumping and failing totally didn't get the point of the game. I remember about 3 different ways to get into that building, if it's the place I'm thinking of. Only one required jumping.

 

[Scrustle]

The topic of first-person platforming seems to be coming up more and more over time, yet no-one is making games with it.