I think tgakick.com and the return of Sierra games is more realistic. Pledge today
Neal Stephenson wants to revolutionize sword fighting video games
111–120 of 188 posts
Re: Neal Stephenson wants to revolutionize sword fighting video games
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
It will also have to drastically downplay the importance of footwork. In a real swordfight, where to put your feet is nearly as important as where to put the sword.
This is why I don't like games talking about how 'realistic' they will be. Firstly, because anything that runs on a standard computer will be far from reality anyway, and secondly because often users don't actually want reality (eg. most FPSs have far from realistic walking speeds - for good reason. Also stylised graphics etc.). That said, the concept of different styles of swordplay is great - and having more 'reali…
Don't get bogged down in the pedantry of realism. When 'realism' is mentioned in gaming, it really means 'realism that assists immersion'. You'll occasionally see articles about balancing realism versus gameplay - if something is real enough to turn you off the game (like boredom from slow movement speed), then it's reducing your immersion.
Re: Neal Stephenson wants to revolutionize sword fighting video games
#113Biggest 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.
Next biggest problem is that, in reality, Medieval duels rarely lasted more than a minute before one side was fatally injured. Not nearly long enough for a video game.
A minute is a long time for a single fight in a video game.
Re: Neal Stephenson wants to revolutionize sword fighting video games
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
Of course fencing, especially at the higher levels, is much more a sport than a form of combat. I'm only intimately familiar with saber, but there the rules play a very important role. Having the right of way changes everything, and a lot of blade contact is about getting the right of way rather than actually preventing your opponent from doing something. If you have the right of way, you don't care about being hit a…
Parrying only works with heavy, slow weapons. The unfortunate reality is that with a light, fast weapon, you do not have the time or reaction speed to actually parry. "Parrying" doesn't really happen. Getting the f * away with your feet is the only option. So yes I suppose it does matter what you mean by "real swordfighting." If you mean standing there decked out in 50lbs++ of metal armor with a giant sword & shield,…
I get the feeling that a swordfighting game as described in the article is going to pander more towards "be a medieval knight/brigand/samurai" than "be an Enlightenment dandy/fop"
Re: Neal Stephenson wants to revolutionize sword fighting video games
#115When the Wii appeared, sword games was the first thing that came to my mind, but I don't there have been too many of them on the Wii. I was also hoping we'd see some martial arts fighting (or training) games for the Kinect by now, although the Kinect needs to dramatically increase its accuracy for that.
Yes, that came to everyone's mind. But what was the big title game involving a sword for Wii? Zelda Twilight Princess.
Originally designed for the Gamecube, it was ported to Wii with few changes. Basically, you wave the Wiimote left and right to simulate button 'A' and poke it forward to simulate a different button combination from the conventional Gamecube controller.
Having been a big fan of the game on Gamecube, I didn't like the Wii version very much. Most of the time your sword is used to cut grass or break pottery or something else mundane, so it felt like a lot of waving around just for show. Maybe even a little bit like having a TV remote with loose batteries that you have to shake a bit to get it to work.
Years ago I practiced a little martial arts and took 3 or 4 classes dedicated to practice swords. What I can relate from that is that picking up a sword-like object and waving it around purposefully for an hour is going to use muscles that you are not used to using. Even someone in good shape is going to feel it the next day.
This sounds like good fun exercise, but it seems like the market for a video game you can play from the couch will always be much larger than for a game that presents a realistic physical challenge.
Wii and Kinect games may provide interesting counterexamples; we should look up the sales stats for physical vs. sedentary games.
Re: Neal Stephenson wants to revolutionize sword fighting video games
#116Biggest 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.
Given that the project is called "Clang!", they'll probably want to incorporate that!
Re: Neal Stephenson wants to revolutionize sword fighting video games
#117Biggest 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.
It will also have to drastically downplay the importance of footwork. In a real swordfight, where to put your feet is nearly as important as where to put the sword.
If it were a real [sword] fight most couldn't play. It's a game. Certain allowances have to made for ease of use.
I mean, do you really think COD is "real combat"?
Re: Neal Stephenson wants to revolutionize sword fighting video games
#118Biggest 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.
Most shooters don't bother making you deal with recoil either though, or the weight of the gun.
But in shooters, opposing weapons don't regularly make physical contact with each other. In sword fighting, that's a necessity.
Re: Neal Stephenson wants to revolutionize sword fighting video games
#119Why is it named clang? So very very confusing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clang
Presumably it's an allusion to the sound of swords clashing. I bet most people haven't heard of the other Clang (C lang, really)
Re: Neal Stephenson wants to revolutionize sword fighting video games
#120I'm surprised there was no mention of the Mount and Blade[1] series, which took a serious look at this sort of combat through the use of contextual mouse movements for parries and attacks. I wonder if he's unaware of the franchise, or just didn't feel the need to mention it. I'm also not convinced that today's odometry based controllers will give you high enough fidelity to model swords convincingly. Any sort of wiim…
Skyward Sword has some pretty nice swordplay, and it uses the Wii Motion Plus attachment to get more accurate movement data. If you just waggle you'll get killed easy.