Edjamakated Posted November 20, 2006 Posted November 20, 2006 Hi guys, I don't know if you remember me, but I was that dude from back in the day who always use to post long descriptions regarding game control and controllers. Not to be an arrogant prick, but my last controller prediction regarded the actual Wii controller, where I suggested the controller be split in half and have motor and pointer functions. I drew a picture of it and it resembled the controller almost exactly, despite some aesthetic differences (you can find the article at IGN here). Anyway, I think I have figured out the best FPS control possible for the Wii. Read on to see how some minor changes could change how we play FPS's forever. It is only a matter of time before a new game revolutionizes FPS's and shows developers how to make the damn thing like Mario 64's effect on platformers. Though I have never played any of the Wii FPS's (Red Steel, Call of Duty 3, FarCry), it seems like they got alot of things right and alot of things wrong. Basically, all Nintendo has to do with MP3 is fix what those games got wrong and instead get everything right. But how? Should they use a big-bounding box like Red Steel? Should they make a small one like Call of Duty? Should they just make it like a PC FPS and have pixel perfect accuracy? I recall reading an article (I'm not sure where it came from) that explained how using a tall yet very skinny rectangle as a bounding box would improve turning while keeping the versetility of aiming above and below the center of the screen. This is brilliant, yet will not result in the tightest controls. You see, the single biggest issue so far has arguably been turning. No matter how skinny the rectangle, it's going to feel disorienting having a barrier that you cannot see, and eventually you will notice yourself going past your target to simply center your target. That's why I suggest something like this instead. Besides having a very small zone within the middle (to counter-act shakiness), turning starts immediately if you point left or right. Naturally, the farther you point to either side the faster you spin. This will make turning a breeze, yet retain the strengths of pointing. Now let's say you are following a player moving from the left of the screen to the right. Since turning doesn't require you to go through a bounding box, you can track their movements at a greater precision than ever before. Also, since the bounding box goes up at an upwards angle, this gives you a triangle of slowly rotating verticle movement. This allows you to precisely move your aim up to their head without ever changing how fast your aim is spinning horizontally. Now that is great and all, but you must admit that Red Steel's control scheme looks very effecient when it comes to aiming at things that are on-screen. The ability to quickly point at multiple targets while not messing with the camera seems to be more immersive as well as more effecient. And the easier it is to aim at something, the harder, more challenging, and ultimately more fun you can make the game. So what to do now? Comprimise. Why not use both a skinny and big bounding box for when appropriate? When running around normally, let the bounding box resemble the one above. However, include a toggle button. When this button is held (the "Z" button), the bounding box will take up the entire screen. The player can now point to anywhere on the screen without the camera moving. And after the player releases the button, the camera will quickly center on what they were currently pointing at. These two "modes" of control will work seamlessly together, and bring about a new way to imagine FPS's. For example -------------------------- Imagine running down a tight corridor full of turns, wasting flying and crawling enemies along the way. At the end of the corridor lies a mechanical monstrosity with 4 targets located on its chest. This is where you'll want to hold the toggle button. It slowly approaches and forces you to walk backwards down the corridor. The targets are its only weak points and to defeat it you must shoot the water pipes that run along the wall and force it to reveal one of the targets to you. You must shoot the first target, then shoot the next target that randomly appears before the opportunity ends and the mechanical beast regains control (it ends within less than a second). After you hit all four, it becomes stunned and allows you to get close enough to throw a mine on one of the targets (by flicking your wrist like a frisbee) and blow the damn thing up. After a few series of that, you finally kill it. All the while you'll have to strafe left and right and avoid gunfire. After you've played like this for awhile, you'll start noticing something. You can literally make the camera jump quickly in any direction by holding "Z" then moving your aim to a spot you would like to center on, and then releasing "Z". If theres mulitple enemies around what you had just centered on, you can quickly hold "Z" again and blast them all away. Or, if you see someone running on the outskirts of the TV, you can hold "Z" and accurately place your aim to his head, take a shot while you let the camera auto-recenter (it won't *$ up your aim), and then hold "Z" again and take another pop after its centered. Combine this technique to the already versitile bounding box, and you would have precision unlike any other. So what do you think? Yay, Nay? P.S. Zooming with curtain guns is activated by sliding the remote forward. Aiming is still exactly the same. P.S.S. This would make for the most intense multiplayer battles, due to true skill becoming a factor. Also, add in a Licence to Kill mode to whatever game uses this control first, and you have bond reincarnated. A sick FPS for the Wii would literally make millions of Xbox fans buy the Wii.
Nintendork Posted November 20, 2006 Posted November 20, 2006 All I can say is well done, with the swamp of predictions of touch screens and headsets you did a pretty good job.
solitanze Posted November 20, 2006 Posted November 20, 2006 These sorts of ideas need to be heard by developers. Grapevine [unofficial word of mouth], do your stuff.
Nintenchris Posted November 20, 2006 Posted November 20, 2006 If you can come up with something like that... it makes me wonder why none of the developers have thought of it themselfs?
Edjamakated Posted November 20, 2006 Author Posted November 20, 2006 How well does this article read? Are there some points you guys don't understand? It seems you guys got everything I wanted you to get out of it, but still if your not sure how something would work, tell me and I'll explain it further.
flameboy Posted November 20, 2006 Posted November 20, 2006 hmmm yeah does make sense, if I sit and read what you've written, its acutally how I imagined it would work originally when the wiimote was shown off, but it just hasn't.
Din Posted November 20, 2006 Posted November 20, 2006 Well hopefully, given time, developers will actually get FPS games to work on Wii. Now I can't say that games like Red Steel don't work because I've never played it but looking at the reviews it seems like they haven't got the control scheme right. It's a dissapointment as I thought that Wii would be perfect for FPS games. I like your idea and it sounds like it would work. I hope that Metroid will nail the controls.
Hellfire Posted November 20, 2006 Posted November 20, 2006 Well, as far as I know COD3 and MP3 work well, so that's fine with me.
DCK Posted November 20, 2006 Posted November 20, 2006 I don't think this will work that well; you have to consider Wii games have to allow you to turn up and down as well (the Wiimote adds much more level to shooters that way) and the neutral zone in the middle is way too tiny for sniping as you have to go dead centre for precision. Developers need more time experiment with the shape of the bounding box but I think your box is too focused on eliminating existing problems, and you're forgetting it creates new ones.
Kurtle Squad Posted November 20, 2006 Posted November 20, 2006 Develpopers just need a lil time is all, it's just the whole having good turning & aiming thing that they seem to be having a problem with.
steggy Posted November 22, 2006 Posted November 22, 2006 The only problem I can see with your control method revolves around the letting go of the "aim" button. If you press this aim button and point at say the top left of the screen and let go of the button. You've essentially re-centred where your aiming to be the top left, which could be a bit counter-intuitive. Especially in the heat of battle you end up doing this a few times and your not pointing at sensor bar any more. I have a couple of ideas, one I thought of a couple of weeks back the other just now while reading your post. 1. Use the Nunchuck for all movement and looking Either use the tilt for starfeing or looking and the analog stick for the other. So the stick can be used to look left ,right ,up and down and tilting the nunchuck can control strafeing, or vise versa. This frees up your other hand to aim at the whole screen all of the time. You can have some sort of deadzone on the tilt to allow some slight movements if need be. Circle starfeing would be as easy as tilting in one direction and moving the stick in the other. 2. Point where you want to aim (not thought this through that much so go easy ) When you move the cursor on screen you automatically start to look in that direction. So if you see a guy off to the right you aim at him and start shooting, the view starts to pan round to centre the dude on the screen. Keeping your aim on him all the time. The further to the sides of the screen you aim the faster the panning of the view becomes. This way still has a similar problem to your idea, but it may not seem as counter-intuitive as your not pressing a button. What do you guys think?
Edjamakated Posted November 22, 2006 Author Posted November 22, 2006 The only problem I can see with your control method revolves around the letting go of the "aim" button. If you press this aim button and point at say the top left of the screen and let go of the button. You've essentially re-centred where your aiming to be the top left, which could be a bit counter-intuitive. Especially in the heat of battle you end up doing this a few times and your not pointing at sensor bar any more. Your right, I never thought about it that way. Hmm....this is quite a predicament. As for your idea to make the nunchuck tilt and such, it's not possible. The nunchuck only senses motion. It's like the Sixaxis, in that you have to contantly move it for it to know what the hell you want to do.
AshMat Posted November 22, 2006 Posted November 22, 2006 Great explanation. It looks like a really good method too. well done
steggy Posted November 24, 2006 Posted November 24, 2006 Your right, I never thought about it that way. Hmm....this is quite a predicament. As for your idea to make the nunchuck tilt and such, it's not possible. The nunchuck only senses motion. It's like the Sixaxis, in that you have to contantly move it for it to know what the hell you want to do. The only way around it would be to not re-centre the cursor after letting go of the "Aim" button, this may of course mean that screen starts scrolling after you let go of the button. Dosn't marvel use the tilt on the nunchuck to alter the camera?
Recommended Posts