Spiral Knights - Are knights only able to walk? We need more movement!

Are knights only able to walk? We need more movement!

23 replies [Last post]

Tue, 03/06/2012 - 12:03

Blue-Phaze

We can't climb ladders. We don't have towers. Heck, we don't even see bridges overlapping our own path, everything is just a flat, even floor with just some unleveled parts here and there. Ok, ok... we have stairways but that's beside the point. The game is stronger than ever, especially now, with the recent mission patch, which is the biggest they've launched so far (That I know of), so why not adding content to actual gameplay?
I just think the Clockworks are getting a bit boring and need something else, something more realistic, something a bit more complex, but not exactly difficult. Tunnels to crawl through, tightropes to balance on, cliffs to jump from, descents to slide down, vines to swing to somewhere else (Like Indiana Jones), holes to leap over, maybe even water to swim on... the possibilities are endless, really.
I'm not asking for a revamp on the whole way of playing, I love the simplicity of it, I'm just asking for small sections where we could see other kinds of structures and perform those actions, which, in my opinion, would be awesome to watch.
I really hope this gets a dev's attention; The game needs much more dynamicity.

(Please note that even though I used Pokemon screenies, I'm not trying to compare these games in any way)

Tue, 03/06/2012 - 12:10

Armyunit

I would love to see things

I would love to see things like this, especially bridges crossing over walkways.
I'm not so sure about the tightropes though..

Tue, 03/06/2012 - 12:31

Serell

+1 Your idea = Awesomesauce

+1
Your idea = Awesomesauce

Tue, 03/06/2012 - 13:36

Amaki

Not sure ...

It's not that I'm automatically opposed to the idea. Having missions set in more complex environments would definitely make the game more fun, which is more or less the point. The problem is that I'm not certain how it could be implemented without radical changes to the game's controls and structure. For example, how would these techniques work considering the camera is virtually always at a constant top-down angle? If you're under a bridge and a Wolver pops out, how are you going to fight it?

On further though, a possible implementation would be to have these not strictly as movement options, but as set animations resulting from activating (right-clicking) objects. There's a few games I can think of where characters were able to go through tunnels with one command, instead of having the player guide their movement through. Ladders, tightropes, and chasms could work this way.

The other note I'd want to point out is that some movement options are going to be less useful due to the nature of the knights (when you're wearing powered armor, you don't so much swim through water as walk along the bottom) while others would come up that wouldn't be accessible to ordinary people. I'm glad you brought this up in any case.

Tue, 03/06/2012 - 13:44

Thimol

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yes I would like an assassin's creed mode in SK

Tue, 03/06/2012 - 14:20

Blue-Phaze

@Amaki "...set animations

@Amaki
"...set animations resulting from activating (right-clicking) objects."
Yes, that's the point, like I said, I love the gameplay's simplicity and I wouldn't make any radical changes to it. I should have made that clearer in the OP, sry for that.

"...considering the camera is virtually always at a constant top-down angle?"
Many games adopt a system in which any object between the character and the camera becomes transparent/invisible and that's not even close to what you can call a radical change. I assume that OOO would have ease on doing something similar to prevent that issue.

"less useful due to the nature of the knights"
Yeah, that water bit was just an example; I understand swimming with electronical devices wouldn't make sense.

"while others would come up that wouldn't be accessible to ordinary people."
What kinds of ordinary people? XD

@Thimol
I've never played any Assassin's Creed game, I'm sorry if it looks any similar to them. I hope you got the point I'm trying to make here, Thimol. (whether than thinking it's an "Assassin's Creed mode")

Tue, 03/06/2012 - 16:30

Amaki

In response ...

I've seen the transparency solution before. It works, as long as there's nothing else (like a teammate) on it.

People who aren't knights. What kind of ordinary person picks up a statue twice their size and carries it around like it was nothing?

Tue, 03/06/2012 - 16:34

Uuni

I'd love to see shallow water

I'd love to see shallow water pools in swamp-like maps

Maybe more complex puzzles as well

Tue, 03/06/2012 - 16:55

Baodur

@Uuni

YES!! I would love to see shallow water pulls as well! I would love to play an arena level that is styled with a sandy floor and shallow water where nothing can be caught on fire! They should really add new enemies that are more cretaceous on water levels, maybe add a water type, however they already have ice. I would like to beat up some crawling star fish and have to attack giant sea turtles! (I know this has little to do with the topic but it is relevant to the swimming :P) I would really enjoy a large patch adding new types to fit in the "Super effective/weak to" circle/triangle.

Also I think complex puzzles like pushing blocks around and setting statues in a correct order to get to treasure boxes would be EPIC! I love the idea of having to do some old fashioned Zelda Light Temple puzzles!~♥

On topic:

I like the swimming idea! Also, I do think swinging over alligators (With a vine) and going through Indiana Jones' moves would be epic. Although I think Tarzan did the vine thing, Indiana Jones had a lasso. The bridge thing with transparency is great, Amaki said that that would make an issue if a teammate was standing on it. I think it would be fine because there are usually party buttons every little while, and if you can't get up to the bridge overhead unless you press it, you won't have the issue, because no one can be left behind. :P

Tue, 03/06/2012 - 17:37

Valorai

+100!

I love this idea! You are so right.... Everything is so flat! I would like all of this!

Tue, 03/06/2012 - 19:44

#10

Nixk

Yeah elevated walkways or

Yeah elevated walkways or levels and shallow puddles will add A lot of depth and make the artistic style pop so much more. Can yo imagine walking up high on a pathway over a pack of wolvers? And they could also make it fit the clockworks, like having small lifts up and down to elevated areas. And the camera could be an issue, but if they did this they could have the upper area fade, like someone else said. I think ffcc did this on their newer releases. Well, lots of games do that transparent thing =P

Tue, 03/06/2012 - 19:44

#11

Nixk

Yeah elevated walkways or

Tue, 03/06/2012 - 19:53

#12

Thimol

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No, no, it's just bad humor. I saw "climb" and "tower" and I couldn't help but think EZIO! OVER HERE! (that part didn't have much towers, but w/e lolz). I'd love to see bridges, but I don't know how ladders would contribute to or disrupt the flow of the game.

Tue, 03/06/2012 - 20:54

#13

Thexenicsniper

weightless gravitation

or should i say
JUMPING
JUMPING!!!
thats whats missing the most! JUMPING

Tue, 03/06/2012 - 20:56

#14

Iron-Volvametal

Why can't we walk Normally like at the Start Up Screen?

Tue, 03/06/2012 - 20:57

#15

Thexenicsniper

@Baudur

@Baudur
water damage...
good idea! i approve!
water is strong against slimes and constructs
water is weak to fiends and gremlins
water is nuetral to undead
would that not fit in the game?

Wed, 03/07/2012 - 05:37

#16

Aureate

Processing Thoughts of You Always

@Baudur & Thexenicsniper: No.

Adding another damage type is going to cause things to become unnecessarily complicated.
You forgot to include the Beast family. Or are they immune?
Also, I fail to see your logic as to why water should be weak versus fiends.

Having water that slows down movement (causes Stun) and may cause Shock due to suit malfunction, sure. But not a whole new damage type of its own.

Wed, 03/07/2012 - 05:39

#17

Arquebus

Not so fun the dozenth time...

It'd certainly be fun the first couple of times I pressed a button and watched my guy scurry up a ladder, but as a regular feature, having to wait, without control of my character, for the game to finish moving me somewhere would be agonizing.

Do you run Roarmulus or Vanaduke often? How about very often? Do you find yourself wishing that you could skip their intros, even though they're only a few seconds long? I hardly think that the thing this game needs to have more dynamic "play" is more moments when you're not even playing.

On the other hand, wading around in shallow puddles sounds marvelous. +1 to splooshing about in waders!

Wed, 03/07/2012 - 09:54

#18

Blue-Phaze

@Arquebus

You have a nice point, I do think Roarmulus' intro is boring, but it's freakin 15 seconds long; watching your character doing simple actions wouldn't take more than 2 (how long does it take to leap over a hole?). Maybe using vines and tightropes would take a bit more time, like 4 seconds, but still, if anyone is annoyed by not playing for a couple of seconds, they surely have addiction problems...
And even if it is a problem, not all of them must be watch-only; swimming, crawling and climbing, for instance, are slower actions an could be controlable in some way.
If I were to divide them between watch/control, they would be something like this:

Watch
Cliffs to jump from;
Descents to slide down;
Vines to swing;
Holes to leap over.

Control
Tunnels to crawl through;
Tightropes to balance on;
Ladders/walls to climb up or down;
Water to swim.

Controlling actions open room for lots of discussion, for sure. How would players control them?
btw, if more actions are suggest, I might make a real list.

Thu, 03/08/2012 - 13:12

#19

Blue-Phaze

*A-CHOOO*

Oops, sry, I think I just bumped this.

Thu, 03/08/2012 - 13:46

#20

Tsubasa-No-Me

Umm...

A major thing to notice... i think that the game is coded to make it almost impossible to have overlapping areas on the same floor. Just look at the minimap.

But Elevators? Chasms? that kind of thing? Puddles? Heck yeah!

:3 ~Tsu

Thu, 03/08/2012 - 14:38

#21

Blue-Phaze

I thought about that too, but

I thought about that too, but it runs on Java... A good programmer would know how to go around that.
The minimaps would only need some more editing work, after all, they're just images.

Thu, 03/08/2012 - 14:46

#22

Severage

@Arquebus:

Just throwing this out there, you can skip Vanaduke's intro by pressing Esc.

~Sev

Thu, 03/08/2012 - 19:34

#23

Hexzyle

@Severage

Your whole team must do it though in order to start the battle sooner.

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Are knights only able to walk? We need more movement!