Falling and hitting the ground

[Kyraal]

How should we handle this?

Haven't seen a discussion about this yet, and at 4:15 in the morning at work my mind is going in all sorts of directions all at once.

I had a brainfart, which smelled something along the lines of this: When landing after having fallen beyond a certain distance (within a limit), you go into a crouch when hitting the ground, roll once before getting up on your feet, ready to fight.

I feel reluctant to the idea of jumping off a 4 story tower and recover like you had just hopped off your bed onto your carpet floor.

I'm not sure how messy this could potentially get, but it's worth a discussion at the very least :)

So again: when you hit the ground from a somewhat great height, you go into a crouch, roll once across the ground (this is commonly what one would do to avoid serious damage) at which time the world literally spins around accordingly, and then an instant later you are up on your feet, ready to fight.

[abathur]

Would be interesting to have some options here. I like the gameplay promoted in PS damage handling--I think it's fun. I just think it could use some more justification in-game. (Sliding down hills on your side/back instead of magically running down superfast upright.) I like the idea of a fall and roll. Maybe even force the gun into a one hand hold as you brace for landing once you've fallen a certain distance without touching any ground. (instead of forcing 3rd person we just completely blow your aim or make the weapon unfirable as you roll into the landing.)

Perhaps higher landings could result in more rolls, though it might be interesting to have a parachute system like BF2. Hitting the key again detatches the parachute. Large falls require the parachute, maybe falls up to 20-30m are survivable by rolling out but anything above that requires the parachute.

Of course, that opens another fun question. If we have parachutes, can we have skydiving physics/functionality for infantry?

[Aftiel]

I should concept sketch the idea I have for a "parachute" in this game.

[NasyVealisanoob]

eww bf2 parachutes.

Those fuckers regularly get me killed jumping off two story buildings cus its high enough to instagib you but if you dont do it just right you dont have enough time to let your chute open.

I dont know the best way to handle jumping from high places, but Im tired of people with more armor taking less fall dammage then lighter armored classes. If you have more armor you weigh more so you should hit the gound with more energy causing more bodly harm. Light armor classes are supose to be more manuverable so they should be able to survive a jump from a higher position then a heavily armored soldier.

Its not the most important thing in the world, I just think it would be cool to have it the other way around for once.

[Cl2v2r]

Just use the landing stuff from Final Fantasy (the movie that is). An extremely dense/heavy gas, fired at the ground when falling. When it hits, you have a cushioning effect, but you can't really fire out of it/do anything for a couple of seconds.

[YourBestIsMyWorst]

I actually like the way Planetside does it. Even from tall heights, there's no instagib type damage penalty. I kind of like it that you can jump off towers, walls, ramparts, etc, without a massive penalty.

I've been killed many times by people falling off towers or walls to attack the people below. But those people usually don't last very long anyway. They might nail one or two people, but then everybody else guns them down. If you're alone, then it could be a problem, but if you're alone then you're at the mercy of anybody higher up than you anyways.

I dunno, I like the way falling is handled in Planetside. I think it adds to gameplay, not detracts from it.

[UGoBoy]

Could parachutes (or equivalents) in this game at least be a piece of equipment? It's somewhere beyond retarded that every grunt in BF2 has a parachute shoved in their underwear somewhere.

[Aftiel]

Meh if so I think it should be a seperate inventory space that you could potentially put something else in if you knew you weren't going to do any high jumping shit. Ala it's be a "center back" slot that could be used for a chute or *other stuff*

[Mug]

Meh if so I think it should be a seperate inventory space that you could potentially put something else in if you knew you weren't going to do any high jumping shit. Ala it's be a "center back" slot that could be used for a chute or *other stuff*

I was thinking of something like this, along the lines of the Shield Gun in unreal tournament. Something that takes some skill to use, and if timed right would absorb some falling damage.
Another idea would be some sort of energy pack, a la tribes. Exept this pack wouldn't allow you to fly vertically; it would slow your descent, and allow you to move farther horizontally. Kind of like a glider, but without all those polygons.

[FlamingPotato-J]

Just use the landing stuff from Final Fantasy (the movie that is).* An extremely dense/heavy gas, fired at the ground when falling. When it hits, you have a cushioning effect, but you can't really fire out of it/do anything for a couple of seconds.


I second this just on the coolness factor.

[Secant]

crouch and roll* not just from vertical velocity; but from any ground contact @ velocity greater than a certain #; aka gettin smacked by a vehicle. I'd be willing to work on the physics for that one ;P

[Cogburn]

Impact damage already incurs ragdolls =p

[Aftiel]

Impact damage already incurs ragdolls =p


Yeah but a standard ragdoll from "bailing" from something/jumping from a high wall would look ghey prbly. Whereas a neato roll would be teh win!

[YourBestIsMyWorst]

Don't get too hung up on the coolness factor of how something like jumping, bailing, etc, "looks". Need to concentrate on the gameplay impacts. Function > form.

Landing could look like shit, but if it's functional and promotes good gameplay and tactics, then it works.

Unlike Planetside's bailing animation where you hit 3rd person upon landing (unless you juke your aircraft sideways before bailing), which I think they wanted to look cool, but in my opinion takes away from gameplay.

Imagine all those times you jumped off a tower, walkway, etc, to get somebody beneath you. If you had some ability-hindering animation every time you did it, chances are you wouldn't do it very much cause it would hinder you too much.

Also, things like this only look cool the first few times people see them. The rest of the time, they won't even get noticed for the visual effect, only the hindrance on gameplay if that's what they are.

Something could be unexciting visually, but still promote good gameplay. Just because it's cool looking doesn't mean it's "right" or that people will like it.

[Kyraal]

My initial post wasn't about making it look cool. Of course this is a nice bonus, but I was talking about the gameplay.

I know the issue of realism is very sensitive to some people on this board, so I'll be as careful as I can when addressing things. The reason i suggested a crouch-and-roll when hitting the ground from a high-ish altitude, is for gameplay purposes. To get away from being able to drop 40 feet / 12 meters without any aid, just as easy as you stepped down a street sidewalk, and immediately begin to blast people to oblivion.

Of course, I realise this is exactly what some people want, and I can respect that, but I'm having a hard time enjoying this gameplay aspect in PlanetSide, and I find it hard imagining I'll enjoy it very much in Versus.

Besides, I'm not talking about this happening when dropping from low altitudes, but when you drop from an altitude that in real life would surely break your legs. Don't worry, I'm not suicidal enough to promote that approach on these forums.. ;)

[Aftiel]

^^ What he said.

[Mug]

Falling damage should go straight to health. That is all.

[gamermvp]

Why not make recover periods after a fall. The higher the fall the more time to recover.

this could be simulated as a huge CoF raise or you can't move or shoot your weapon for some time.

Add on some health damage on to it also.

So if you fall/jump of a wall of somesort then you land and damage is taken and the camera shakes a little bit and after that your CoF slowly recover (the higher the fall the slower the recovory).

Or if you fall you have a chance of droping a weapon you have in your hands (not holstered)
then you have to take the time to pick it up or pull out another one.

[reekard]

i like the crouch/roll idea, but what if when jumping off of a high place you actually do break something. You're health is lowered a bit, and you have a *slightly* slower movement speed for a little bit or until you get medical attention. I also think heavier armors should take more damage from falling, and maybe lighter armors are able to roll out of a jump from a higher altitude than heavier armors, because of their increased mobility