I have searched and cannot find a topic about climbing. Please forgive if its been covered elsewhere.
Lets be clear, I do not want to climb trees. Although with some sort of climbing spikes equipped… it could be a fun addition when scouting.
The climbing issues I find are;
A few steeply angled ladders can sort of be climbed by running up them and kind of hopping. You’re lucky if you can do it at all, let alone the first time. The ladders that are set up like this seem to be hacks by the level builders using the geometry of the ladder as a crude ramp. So they are not really climbable at all.
You can get onto some houses and building structures by parkour on fences and rocks. Usually only if there is some secret loot. They are not functionally a choice that the player can make to try to get on top of a structure to hide or attack from.
Trying to get up cliffs and steep terrain is implemented poorly.
Currently the default is that the player is always running around with something in their hands. Usually this is a gun, so we will call it a “shooting” mode. However the same logic applies to carrying binoculars or a landmine. The hands are “occupied”.
As such, having the hands always “occupied” makes the concept of climbing with hands a little hard to implement. I think its time to consider how a “climbing” mode could be implemented without trashing immersion.
I think the first thing is to implement an option to “holster” or “shoulder” your weapon/stuff in hand. This could be integrated into the rest of the gameplay by increasing movement or sprint speed or something similar.
Giving the player control over this allows for smooth transition between “shooting” mode and other modes. (such as climbing) Once the players hands are free, it should be possible to then climb or scale cliffs or trees if you wish, without breaking immersion.
If you are mid-climb up something and try to equip or un-holster a large weapon… then physics should take over and you are either in a stable position or you fall. It would be interesting to be able to use a single handed item such as binoculars or a pistol without falling. I don’t think the option to try to pull out a two handed item should be disabled because… choices and consequences.
The climbing mode would then allow the player to try to climb cliffs and rocks that are currently un-scalable, but with some chance of falling or sliding back. Ladders should be pretty straight forward. Currently they are mostly visual props but being able to climb up onto building, shipping containers and structures, sheds would add additional dimensions to the game.
If you are climbing a cliff, it would be useful to try to traverse sideways as well as move up or down. As this is simple terrain surface the idea should not be too hard to implement. I don’t think this idea is valid for trying to climb buildings or structures. Usually the only thing you want to do with a structure is get onto its roof so it would only need a simple climb up or climb down mechanic. Trying to break into windows or climb around a building on a ledge is a bit too much for this game. Leave that to James bond or a Hitman game.
This would remove the need to contrive all the scaffolding and other “ramps” that are needed to implement climbing at the moment in some areas. Adding walls with trellises, maintenance ladders etc are all cliches in games but they would work with the current immersion model. If needed they could be “highlighted” to show they are climbable or it could be discoverable simply by trying to climb everything that looks likely.
Climbing equipment like tree spikes, grapple lines and climbing axes might make for useful gear that “enabled” some of these modes. Once you have tree spikes, its a simple idea to want to implement a tree platform. This could be a useful part of ambushes or as a sniping hide or as part of the base building ideas. A climbing axe would also make for a nice melee weapon… just saying.
Anyway, just some thoughts on climbing. I think this would fill out the climbing mechanics that seem meaningful within this game.
Anyone else have some thoughts?