My RAGDOLL game .. control feedback

Sorry for posting another topic but I could do with some feedback on the control scheme as I plan to us this as a base. I think it works quite well but I'm kinda used to it.

CONTROLS

LM = Left Mouse
RM = Charge Magnet
MouseWheel = ZoomIn/Out
SPACE Explosion
Q/W/E/A/D to select Limbs as alternative to mouse

JUMPING
Magnet must be charged and cursor within 60 degrees of north and a certain distance away from robot. The cursor will radiate when a jump is possible. You can't jump using a hand which is holding something.

WALKING
Pick up feet with LM and move them or grab hand and pull ( must be within 30 degrees to horizontal ).

WEAPONS ( Uzi's , Shotgun , Mace , Stick )
To fire RM over the weapon nosel

THROW ( Box / Bottle )
Move hand to object LM and hold to move, release to throw.

GRAB ( Weapons / Rope )
Move hand to object LM and object. To jump for rope first select a hand .. makes it easier.

RELEASE ( Weapons / Rope )
Single click LM on Limb holding object.

POSING
If at lest 1 foot is on ground, hands will remember where you positioned them.

DRINKING
Pick up bottle and move to mouth.

CHARGE usage

If 0 feet on ground costs charge to move limb
If 1 foot on ground costs charge to move foot on ground
If 2 feet on ground no charge to move limb

A quick screenshot of me firing 2 uzies, again, apologies for the graphics but they will improve!!



The file .. less than 1 meg. Please tell me what you think?

http://www.steviegoodwin.plus.com/RagDoll.zip

Looks fun.

Groovy :)

So did you find it intuitive enough to control?

I found the controls very awkward. There seems to be too many operations for each button. Also I kept selecting feet when I wanted to pick up weapons and other things like that. I'm afraid I don't really see how you can improve it though - having direct control over multiple objects means you're going to have a tough time whatever system you end up with.

Technically it's very cool though :)

I too find it tricky and confusing to control everything.
Bouncers old demo where you 'grab and throw' things around got it right but I don't know how you would mix such a method in with your demo. The whole 'charge magnet' bit I just can't get along with. Some ideas though:


Treat him just like you would with a real ragdoll. For example, grabbing his hand (pointer over hand then LMB held down) and moving around should drag him all over the place.

To attach him to a rope:
- Grab hand and pull it until over the end of the rope. Release LMB. Robots hand should attach.
Now, grabbing his feet, pulling down, then letting go should make him 'twang' like the demo does using the charge method.

To pick up an oject:
- Do the same as the above idea or, pick up the object and drop it over his hand to attach.

I love being able to attach the robot to the dangling ropes. Great fun. The bit I dislike is how he seems to stick to the floor. I keep screaming, "Get off the floor!"

Super demo.

The idea is not to throw the thing about .. to do it in a more controlled manner so I'm not aiming for a complete ragdoll simulations.



I see you're point .. maybe change it so that if no feet are on the ground but attached to a rope then the feet don't stick and you can move the limbs without any charge. Hmm. that may work better ... thanks for taking the time to look at this!

I love it, it has a really nice feel (Benders great!) although as others have said can be a little hard to control at times. Keep working on it though it has potential. Just out of interest I assume this is 2D in 3D using Blitz3D and a sprite lib? If so which one do you use?

Jason.

Thanks QuickSilva.

I'm using my own 2d in 3d lib. Haven't even tried any of the others tbh .. they probably wouldn't integrate well with the physics engine though.

This is coming along nicely, Stevie. I agree that the controls need to be made easier somehow - especially for when this turns into a proper game and not just a demo.

I did notice that the green boxes look a bit odd when seen against the true 3D platforms. They appear totally flat. Just look a bit odd to me but I'm not sure what you can do about that. :)

You've got a great ragdoll engine going on there, though. Can't wait to play this when it's a game. ;)

Take a look at how Ragdoll Kungfu does this!
You can download it here:
http://ragdollkungfu.beasts.org/



CHI POWER! CHI POWER!

Movement would be alot easier if you did it Rag-Doll Kung Fu style (check the trailers on the homepage Jero posted above), other then that, only trouble I had was wielding long weapons (robot always held it upside down for me), and swinging from rope to rope. (hard as hell to swing with a rope in each arm, then detach rope from one arm while having that same arm grab for another rope)

Also for some reason I want to shake the mouse around to drop object from current selected limb......been playing too much Black&White2 I suppose.

Either way, very nice job on this, love the added keys to select specified limb, allows much quicker movement then manually selecting the desired piece then moving it, also, any idea of when there'll be some combat involved in a future demo? Sword fights would be kickass with this setup.

Why not record the impulses needed for walking etc, then feed them into the ragdoll with slight varience? that way you can run/walk about yet still trip over objects etc.

Neural nets are supposed to be really good at doing that.

I can simulate walking by applying forces as you suggest which is what I'll have to do for the AI characters. I'll have a look at neural nets but it may be overcomplicating things.

Cool, it's a bit hard to control but fun!