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Neal Stephenson wants to revolutionize sword fighting video games

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Re: Neal Stephenson wants to revolutionize sword fighting video games

#141

Post by Simucal »

arethuza wrote: post #67
dfc wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the average video gamer is significantly less fit than the average medieval soldier. I am curious if this is just speculation or if you have evidence for this statement? At first it seems reasonable but I am not so confident after you factor in modern medicine and advances in nutrition/diet and discount for stereotyping.

I can recommend the book "The Time-traveller's Guide to Medieval England" - it mentions the amount of military training that both knights and commoners were expected to perform. Basically a knight was trained from a very early age to fight - no way would an average 21st century male be able to compete in skill or strength. Even for commeners they were still often legally required to spend a significant amount of time…

Thanks for the book suggestion, I just purchased it. I had been looking to read a book about Medieval times but hadn't taken the time to find out what one to read. The reviews look promising.

Re: Neal Stephenson wants to revolutionize sword fighting video games

#142

Post by jeffool »

antipax wrote: post #6

Biggest problem with these games (I've found, anyway) is that your sword controller cannot magically stop in mid air when your virtual sword hits another sword or a wall or whatever. It really ruins the immersion.

I agree. A robotic arm (even a weighted stand with a hard plastic arm and thin plastic sword) seems pretty much required to get realistic sword fighting in. A good camera on the base that keeps an eye of where the "sword" is could do a reasonable job of keeping it from hitting most things, yeah?

And I think people wouldn't have a problem with it. They made room for the entire Rock Band ensemble. Just make it fold flat-ish to stow under a couch or in a closet.

Re: Neal Stephenson wants to revolutionize sword fighting video games

#144

Post by ncarlson »

Camillo wrote: post #126
vidarh wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are tons of things I would like to do, that I could afford to do, but that I still won't do if I have to bear the whole financial risk myself. I'm sure that's true for a lot of people.

If I had to bear your financial risk, I would expect a return: if I'm an investor give me shares, if I'm loaning you money give me interest. Why do I not deserve the same rewards as any other investor? I find the entire proposition offensive.

The reward is a successful project. Would you chip in $50 bucks to help someone build some interesting widget that otherwise wouldn't get built?

Re: Neal Stephenson wants to revolutionize sword fighting video games

#146

Post by pavedwalden »

trevelyan wrote: post #10

I don't mind putting a bit of cash towards projects where those involved really don't have the resources to pull it off otherwise, but does Neal Stephenson really not have enough cash to bootstrap this himself?

Sounds like they're not looking to bootstrap a business that would produce a return on investment. Instead of making a commercially viable game, they're talking about founding a platform and cultivating a market for sword fighting games.

Re: Neal Stephenson wants to revolutionize sword fighting video games

#147

Post by binarycrusader »

psykotic wrote: post #5

Anyone remember Die by the Sword? Admittedly it was more sword flailing than sword fighting, but it's the only game I've played that had a semblance of direct control. It was also the first game to use IK for everything from sword fighting to rope swinging and ladder climbing. Even nowadays it's rare to see IK used in games for anything except relatively minor pose fix-ups (blending canned poses offers better control…

Indeed; incredibly difficult to master keyboard controls though. For those interested, gog.com sells it still:

  http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/die_by_the_sword_expansion

Re: Neal Stephenson wants to revolutionize sword fighting video games

#150

Post by [deleted] »

acgourley wrote: post #17
antipax wrote: post #6

Biggest problem with these games (I've found, anyway) is that your sword controller cannot magically stop in mid air when your virtual sword hits another sword or a wall or whatever. It really ruins the immersion.

Yep, that and the controller has no weight. To make a realistic game you would then need to make the character have a max swing agility (slow than the player) and also give the character a stamina bar. Anyway that's not to say you can't have fun sword fighting motion games. It just means you can't approximate reality 1:1 in all dimensions. But you can still approximate reality if you just accept the control dimension…

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