Hey, I’m extremely excited to try out the alpha test tomorrow! One question though: I remember watching a video of a test several months ago, and noticed it was teleportation movement. That’s fine, but as someone who has their VR legs, are there going to be other options of locomotion available?
(Also, have you guys on the dev team tried out the Freedom Locomotion demo on Steam? It’s a dream come true for nearly any VR game.)
This is covered in the Getting Started guide – if it’s your first time playing I recommend taking time to read it before the test starts if you can. The relevant section:
In addition to the Teleportation locomotion, you can turn on Trackpad locomotion in your Player Menu, under Settings. Once this is active, you use the trackpad (on the Vive) or the thumbstick (on the Rift) of your teleportation hand to move around. Just touch the pad/stick toward the top to move forward or bottom to go backward. The farther from the middle you touch, the faster you go. You will travel in whatever direction your controller is facing. Note that once you are in combat, you can only Teleport, and Trackpad locomotion will resume once combat ends.
Thanks for the link, I’ll be sure to read up on that.
I was wondering about the combat movement being limited to teleportation. Is there a particular reason for that?
I can see the current limitation giving teleporters quite an advantage in PVP combat, whereas sliders are put in a “fight or die” situation in any type of combat with little to no chance of escape.
In addition to addressing the above issues, allowing sliding movement during combat (albeit at a slower speed similar to teleportation) would make dodging incoming damage much easier. Unfortunately, I don’t have a large enough room to allow me take advantage of room scale to run laps avoiding damage.
I think a really nice middleground would be something like this: http://store.steampowered.com/app/584170/
I know I mentioned it already in the OP, but I think this is a good way to handle movement that allows natural locomotion while allowing you to do stuff like dodge, or chase after people in PvP and it not feeling too strange.
This topic has already been pretty thoroughly discussed so I’m not going to re-hash it.
There’s a blog post here where we explain our reasoning behind the locomotion systems in the game: https://blog.orbusvr.com/balancing-teleportation-and-touchpad-locomotion/
And it’s been previously discussed on the forums as well. In particular I would point you to this response which pretty much sums up my thoughts on the matter: Better Locomotion
But generally speaking, strategic positioning and teleporting are key parts of the combat design. So it’s not that “sliding locomotion players are stuck” once combat starts, it’s that once combat starts the combat is designed around teleportation to dodge AoE areas, strategically position yourself on the battlefield, etc.
As I said in that post nothing is set in stone right now, but since I made that post after the last Stress Test, and we haven’t done any additional testing since then (that is until tomorrow), my position hasn’t changed.
EDIT: Also just to clarify since I was thinking about it and I guess I never specifically mentioned it, the intention is that you use the sliding locomotion in-between combat and use the teleportation during combat. You don’t have to toggle back and forth between them in the menu or anything, teleporting still works fine even after you turn on the sliding locomotion, it’s just an additional method, it doesn’t replace teleportation.
I have yet to see anything that leaves everyone happy with movement in VR, so in an mmo at this point in the game - my opinion is that keeping it consistent and balanced is by far the most important aspect.
Personally I don’t get sick so I like sliding, but I do like the dodging mechanics in combat so I’m pretty happy with the way things are set up right now.
It’s very difficult to please everyone. One of the biggest reasons for that, which also ironically applies to me, is that we all have our preferred way of doing things. I’ve always preferred sliding over teleporting, but that is most likely because most of the games I’ve played are non-VR (and thus do not use teleporting) and also because I’m fortunate enough not to suffer from motion sickness. The best way to resolve that (personal preference, not lack of motion sensitivity) is to give the movement mechanics a real go and try to get used to them.
I appreciate and support having multiple locomotion options. I respect that some people absolutely want to use the slide to move, but I do find it a little frustrating when it’s implied that players who get motion sick from non-teleport movement just need to “push through” or “get their VR legs”. I promise you that I’ve tried to get over my motion sickness issues since the Oculus DK1 arrived in countless ways in countless apps for countless hours, and all it’s done is make me even more susceptible to it. I absolutely love VR, but I need teleport to function.
My comment about “getting used to” a particular form of motion wasn’t in reference to motion sickness. It was referring to my only personal preference to sliding over teleportation and how I should spend more time using teleportation so I can see and experience the more positive aspects of it.
I completely agree with you. I am grateful to Riley and Robert for adding slide movement as an option. I certainly wouldn’t dream of taking the teleport option away from other people. Fortunately though, that isn’t on the cards just as it shouldn’t be. I find it frustrating when developers only provide for one form of locomotion (usually teleportation). I understand that developers may not want to spend time and effort to create two different methods of accomplishing the same thing which is why I appreciate even more the inclusion of both methods in Orbus.
I don’t suffer from motion sickness in general, but I have had the odd few moment of queasiness when some unexpected movement occurs and my subconscious reacts. To each their own and as long as you enjoy yourself, who cares what other people think?
The one thing I’ve found to help this in Orbus (and I note, just because this works for me no guarantee it will work for you) is to make small walking motions on the spot. Just move your weight from foot to foot, sway slightly and change the direction ever so slightly to match. It’s by no means perfect, but for me this simulates real movement a lot closer than just sliding and massively reduces the motion sickness I get.
i am more of a Locomotion man. not a fan of teleporting. i wonder if there are any plans to keep locomotion going in combat.
Locomotion isn’t currently possible in combat. There’s always a chance it may change in the future, but I recommend reading Riley’s earlier post as well as the links he provides for further info.
One thing I would like to have if possible in regards to locomotion is the ability to have both slide and teleport always on and I can use whatever is more helpful for traversing the terrain at that particular time without having to toggle it in the menu. For example teleportation on slopes is horrible but sliding is fine. would be nice to just be able to teleport at will when I have sliding turned on. It can stay teleport only in combat just think being able to do both out of combat would make life easier for exploration and slopes in particular.
If you set up locomotion to slide, you can still teleport to prevent people not being able to move in combat. If you use the touch controllers, press and hold the the A button.
Haha yeah admino is right, it already is that way.
Hey zelse! I was heldor, and I just recognized you!
Oh hey heldor lol
Fancy seeing you on the forums.
I like the current locomotion setup but would love side to side movement and also in combat slide.
thanks for letting me know this I had no clue >.<
On a related note… I kept seeing people in my party with attached teleport arcs while sliding around. I’m pretty sure it was always Oculus users. I think there may also have been people outside my party. Not sure if they were just holding the TP button, but it seemed like they would not have been.