10.25.07
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee
Movement.
A few days ago I was reading this moderately interesting post on Damion Schubert’s blog when a link sent me to another blog, to this entry about movement in Crackdown. In this entry, Craig Perko has some pretty positive things to say about the most fundamental features in Crackdown, and how it actually becomes more fun to move as you progress through the game. I thought this sounded pretty interesting, so I bought the game.
I played it for a few hours last night, and I have to agree with Craig that movement in this game is pretty elaborate and well tuned. The thing is, it’s basically the centerpiece of the game. I guess I misunderstood Craig’s entry a little, because I thought he was saying that the basic feel and implementation of the game’s movement was just very responsive and satisfying, but as it turns out, the entire game has been designed around the idea of movement.
As you may know, Crackdown pits you as a futuristic supercop in a metropolis that can best be described as a “wretched hive of scum and villainy”. It’s structured pretty much like Grand Theft Auto, just with less arbitrary minigames (though there are some rather entertaining races in car or on foot) and with superpowers. This seems to be one of the things Craig praises - free movement. That’s true, it’s absolutely true - but it’s also not at all what I thought he meant. You spend a lot of time just moving through the city in Crackdown, and the rhythm, speed, and patterns of that movement is really great. In fact the game design in that aspect is so great that I can’t even be arsed to drive anywhere; I run, jump, and climb across rooptops and through alleys.
And it changes, as Craig says. The skill system in Crackdown is pleasingly simple, effective, and responsive, and as your Athletics or Driving skills improve, your options and your fun in moving clearly improves as well. But that’s the thing - it’s unfair to compare the movement in Crackdown to other games, because in Crackdown the movement is the game. Even when you’re in a battle, your movement options and skills are hugely important. The reward for your progression through the game is better and more advanced movement. You can’t really compare most of Crackdown’s movement to other games because most other games are about other things than moving. Bioshock is about the tactics, exploration, and character progression, for example. For Bioshock to have as detailed movement options as Crackdown would’ve demanded completely different priorities during development, I think.
In other words, Craig is right, but not in the way I thought he meant. And I still have a really hard time defining what makes movement in games fun - why moving in Half-Life 2 or F.E.A.R. feels so right but in Deus Ex or SWAT 4 feels so wrong. Surely it’s not just about the speed…?
Craig said,
October 25, 2007 at 14:36
I used Crackdown because it is, aside from Katamari Damacy, THE most extreme example I could find. Even Sonic the Hedgehog has less to say about movement. So, yeah, I picked a game which was absurdly motion-based.
I don’t mean that all games need to be based around motion. I simply meant that games with really great movement tend to be the ones you hear about, while the ones with bad movement tend to vanish. The same principles can be used to make motion good without actually making the whole game about motion. For example, Zelda and recent Castlevania games have awfully solid movement even though fun movement is not the big focus of the games.
(Also, it could be argued that the same principles can be used to alter entirely unrelated elements such as leveling, as recent Final Fantasy games show.)
Anyway, hope you don’t mind me commenting.
Jonas said,
October 25, 2007 at 16:56
Hey Craig, thanks for your comment! I understand what you mean now that I’ve played Crackdown, but when I came to your blog I was expecting a certain discussion, so I suppose I read my expectations into your post, so to speak. Now I know what you wanted to say with your post, and I agree completely. And I certainly don’t regret buying Crackdown, because it is indeed a unique example of very elaborate movement.
If you have time, would you mind just quickly summarizing what you’re referring to with regard to Final Fantasy (as I haven’t played any of them, embarrassingly)?
And do you happen to know of anybody who’s discussed how to implement good movement in games? I’ve had a hard time figuring out what makes motion feel good, but to my great concern, all the games I can think of with good movement are rather fast-paced (with the possible exception of the Splinter Cell games). Do you think speed is the primary factor in making good motion?
Craig said,
October 26, 2007 at 14:29
In the recent Final Fantasy games, the leveling system is actually a LEVEL. How you moved across it changed what powers you got. Here is a picture.
I don’t think speed is the primary factor. I think commitment is the primary factor. Commitment requires the player to choose a path for most of their “known information” about a level. So if you’re playing something where you can see a long way in advance, your commitment has to be really long. If you’re moving split-second speed, you only have to commit for a moment before what you know about the level is completely out of date.
(I wrote a long essay on this a long time ago, but I should re-write it soon…)
In essence, it’s easier to make fast games have juicy movement. But there are actually a wide variety of games with beautiful movement that are slow. Robo-Rally is my favorite and clearest example. A lot of building games such as Sim City and Alpha Centauri have “movement” in that you are actually leaving your permanent mark on the level. It’s very slow, but all about commitment as you cannot “take back” a move very easily. Marble Madness and similar games can be fast, but it’s more about wrangling with inertia. Portal is all about movement, and it’s usually very slow.
When it comes to first-person games, the player can see a considerable distance. That means that in order to make movement fun you either have to move quite fast or commit for a very long time. Portal beat it by raising movement speed to infinity in certain situations.
I hope this is clearer.
Jonas said,
October 26, 2007 at 15:59
Thanks a lot, you’ve certainly giving me food for thought
Meanwhile, I am trying to upgrade my Driving skill in Crackdown. It’s really hard, because I keep running down pedestrians by mistake.