[POLL] HOW DO YOU LIKE TO RUN IN ARPGS?

Poll

Which of these running controls is the most practical for you? - Results

Hold button to run
8
44%
Hold button to run
1
5%
Hold button to walk
3
16%
Hold button to walk
0
0%
Tap button to initiate running, stop when direction is released
0
0%
Tap button to initiate running, stop when direction is released or stamina is depleted
2
11%
Tap button to toggle between run or walk
1
5%
Tap button to toggle between run or walk, automatically switch to walk when stamina is depleted
1
5%
Tap direction then hold direction to run (like Terranigma and Illusion of Gaia)
0
0%
Tap direction then hold direction to run (like Terranigma and Illusion of Gaia)
1
5%
Always run, walking disable
1
5%
Other, describe it !
0
0%

Posts

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They are many ways you can implement running in ARPGs, some more practical than other. Share your running experience!
SunflowerGames
The most beautiful user on RMN!
13323

If your using a stamina meter then pressing a button to run would make the most sense. If you don't have a meter then I assume the player wants to move as quickly as possible all the time.
pianotm
The TM is for Totally Magical.
32347
I just straight up prefer to run. If there's a control setting that sets run as the default where you don't have to press a button, I use it. Totes impatient.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Double-tapping... I've come to not like it. Particularly if the control method is with a controller. I'm slightly more okay with it on a keyboard, though.

However, if a game is to have a stamina bar for running/sprinting, I would probably prefer a button-press to run/sprint rather than it being handled automatically.

Without a stamina bar, I guess it depends on the game, itself? If there is literally no situation where running/sprinting is disadvantageous, sure, give me the option to run/sprint automatically. If the game has situations where it's better to walk, but running can still be useful, if dangerous (stealth-based situations?), sure, activate running/sprinting via button-press.
I like the option where running is the default, but pressing a button slows you to a walk (for navigating tricky areas, for example). But it also depends on the stamina mechanic.

In my experience, stamina meters have gone the way of 'eating/hunger' in RPGs - it was just a hassle that no one enjoyed. Roleplaying games have dropped that mechanic as a result.
Sooz
They told me I was mad when I said I was going to create a spidertable. Who’s laughing now!!!
5354
Stamina meters are crap. If you want to keep the player from running, design an area to make running unhelpful. Otherwise, you're forcing someone who wants to quickly get to new content to wait for no good reason. Also it makes the PC look like a couch potato because they get winded after a short sprint.

Generally, I prefer just always on running. It's rare that I care to go slower in any action game; I wanna keep up the pace! I can see any of the options working with the right game design, though I feel the simpler options (tap to switch, hold to run/walk) are better than the more fiddly ones, which are likely to end in frustration when a player screws the pressing up, whether through rushed hammering or just plain old lack of ability. Simpler interfaces are usually a better plan, since they encourage the player to focus on the action, rather than "Wait, shit, how do I do that again?"
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
If sometimes having faster movement is a mechanic in your game then make it more interesting. The pegasus boots in Link to the Past, dashing and air-dashing in Mega Man X, goron rolling in Majora's Mask, the movement abilities in Diablo 3 like Teleport and Vault, and warp-strikes in Final Fantasy 15 all have a wide variety of meaningful interactions with environments, enemies, and your other abilities. If that's not what you're doing then why are you adding multiple movement speeds?

If moving at different speeds only affects one thing in your game like pressure spikes, and doesn't really interact with the all of the rest of the gameplay as a whole, then it's not interesting and you're doing it wrong. Get rid of the pointless alternate speed options and just use whatever movement speed fits your game best.
InfectionFiles
the world ends in whatever my makerscore currently is
4622
Didn't know polls could be this big!

I don't mind stamina bars in a gameplay sense, if it adds more strategy. Basically what LockeZ wrote.
I like games where running (or perhaps sprinting) is useful, but confers some disadvantage, like the pegasus boots in LttP. You can't turn while sprinting, so you can't just default to max speed at all times. The move speed should be reasonably high to start, and then sprinting should be contextual; good for straight lines or before a long jump, not useful in winding passages or in crowds of NPCs, or near edges and pits.

Ideally, though, your challenge areas (dungeons or temples or whatever) should be built with your movement in mind. If you are always running, then you need to give some leeway for the player to not fall to their death. If you've got a button, then the ledges can be more narrow, since the player knows they can just move a bit slower for safety's sake. Stamina meters are gross, though, unless you really need to limit stamina for some reason. Breath of the Wild needed to limit stamina so you couldn't climb everywhere or fly everywhere right off the bat, but why does sprinting in that game drain stamina so fast? It's practically useless, as a result!

Regardless of how logical it is, I like feeling like I have control over my movement, even if it doesn't necessarily make sense from a game design viewpoint.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
I've never seen or heard from anyone who likes "hold button to run," I've only ever heard people complain about it. Are these vote results just from one troll using VPNs to try to mess up your game?
Sooz
They told me I was mad when I said I was going to create a spidertable. Who’s laughing now!!!
5354
There's nothing particularly wrong with "hold button to run," especially if there are parts of the game where slowing down is important, meaning you don't want the player to fumble their way into running (or walking) accidentally.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
Uh, the other 99% of the game where you want to move as fast as possible is when it's bad.
Honestly, I like auto-run on and walking only being a thing when it's needed in the game.

There's a lot of games out there that offer the option of hold or toggle walk, but with no reason for walking to be used instead of running. In fact, I think there's only been one or two games I've ever played where you actually needed to walk at some points instead of run. The one that pops into my head straight off the bat is Breath of Fire 4, where there's a segment of having to walk in order to sneak past guards/step lightly on cracked ground. If you ran the guards were alerted to your presence/the ground broke beneath your feet and you had to start over.

So unless your game utilises walking over running for a system or the like, it's better not to have the option and just stick with the faster choice.

Just a little point - I love Witcher 3 so far but I really wish running was the default instead of walking. Especially in town, where it feels so much slower. I don't hate-with-a-passion hold-to-run systems, but I'd much prefer hold-to-walk.


If we're talking RM games, I have a saying - AUTODASH ALWAYS ON. Because fuck slow(er) walking speeds when you can run. I HATE having to hold down the shift key in Ace games just to move at a faster pace. It hurts my little finger.


Design your game to allow the least inconvenience for the player when it comes to key pressing. Think about it. Having to hold down shift all the time is a fucking pain. Please - auto-run default, hold-to-walk if you need a walking option, because I guarantee no-one is going to walk more than run when given the choice.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
Hmm, we're talking about action RPGs, so it is different. But I think mostly the difference is that if you're going to have different movement speeds, they need to actually affect the action.

If the only reason you have multiple movement speeds in your game is because normal movement is too slow for exploring the open world, but fast movement is too fast for combat, then I suggest adding vehicles or horses to your game instead. This serves a similar purpose to fast travel - letting the player skip the action when going through an area that doesn't have any - but lets you keep your open world concept and have the player feel like they're still actually traversing the area. World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy 14 and the 3D games in the Zelda series all do this, and it works more or less flawlessly.
I think a lot of people are thinking about Zelda or Zelda-esque adventure/action RPGs as they answer this poll. Like I said, as long as the walk speed is suitably fast there's no real problem with having a hold-to-run button, since the speed increase can often be ludicrous and impractical for precision movement.

In an RM-style non-action RPG, a hold to run button is dumb as dirt. Hold to walk is much better, for those times when you keep running past that one-tile path you're trying to wedge yourself into. There is such a thing as a too-fast move speed; I can remember playing older games, especially mounted on vehicles, where everything but the lightest feather touch would cause you to move two tiles, causing annoying overshoots.

So yeah, I think the consensus that is beginning to form is:
Traditional RPGs; move quickly, hold button to slow down.
Action RPGs; move reasonably quickly, hold button to go very fast.

The key here is never make the player move too slowly, outside of stealth sections, I guess? Like, the Witcher's default walk wouldn't be so bad except that 3rd person CRPGs tend to make the walk speed terribly slow.

Insurgency, an FPS game, does sprinting rather well. You have unlimited sprint, but while sprinting you can't fire (der), you can barely turn (no fast corners), you make more and more noise the longer you sprint (breathing gets louder) and you take longer to ready yourself for firing afterward. This means that sprinting is useful for getting to a fight and traversing empty ground, but it still has a lot of use in combat, since its used to move from cover to cover or across fields of fire. It's all about the dang context!
InfectionFiles
the world ends in whatever my makerscore currently is
4622
I was thinking Diablo 2, if that matters. Because you run normally but have a stamina bar but can set to walk speed to regain stamina. Even the walk speed isn't slow, really. Which feels like a good way to do it. Unless you don't like having stamina depleted, but it never seems annoying (at least to me)
The Stamina bar was annoying in Diablo 2, and didn't serve much purpose, and it was only ever an issue in the early going (before your stamina reserves built up enough for stamina to not really matter).

They dropped that in Diablo 3 for good reason, and introduced skills specific to movement that also synergized well with other skills.
InfectionFiles
the world ends in whatever my makerscore currently is
4622
I don't know, it's never bothered me. I like it, but then again I eat up stamina/hunger/thrist crap so

edit: And I really don't like D3. The gameplay itself is fine but I never adjusted to the graphics. It lost all its Diabloey feel. But that's besides the point of the topic
author=InfectionFiles
I don't know, it's never bothered me. I like it, but then again I eat up stamina/hunger/thrist crap so

edit: And I really don't like D3. The gameplay itself is fine but I never adjusted to the graphics. It lost all its Diabloey feel. But that's besides the point of the topic

Try turning off the in-game music and playing Diablo 1 (or Diablo 2) OST in the background instead. Remarkably, the game's atmosphere improves tenfold.

The itemization is still garbage, but it is no longer a stinking cesspool, and the skill system is an action game's skill system and not an RPG's skill system, but it too has improved, and Diablo 3's greatest strength - its combat - is still strong. The game is such that I actually like it now, versus when it came out. I abandoned the game until Reaper of Souls came out and the Auction House was removed. I will continue to play it until such a time that my wife would be willing to try out another arpg, such as Grim Dawn.
InfectionFiles
the world ends in whatever my makerscore currently is
4622
I'll have to try that. Thanks!

And really, I like the gameplay and all the nice additions but I still have a hard time these days going back. Ive been LANing Diablo 2 recently so I'm sure I'm clouded.
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