OK Poll Time - Movement/Camera Controls

[danielravennest]

Since it seems to be a popular topic of discussion, I thought it would be fun and educational (for the AR staff) to have a poll on the movement and camera controls. You can choose up to 5 options

[TakuanDaikon]

By now I've already implemented most of the functionality listed in the poll via custom camera entities, or at least the parts I'm interested in. I'd be interested in seeing a lot of that functionality be built into the client so that it can be standardized, but even if that doesn't happen City Devs can still provide that for their users.

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[tnahinu]

Danniel, first of all, you ROCK!
Thanks for doing this poll, this has definitely inspired me to start making some other polls in the forum!

[glennsanders]

Daniel, thanks for creating this poll. This is perfect feedback, and gives me ammunition for talking with the other directors here at ARI about improving the camera movement and controls.

In case some members haven't discovered it yet, the arrow keys and WASD keys do work if you click your avatar first.

See our brief tutorial with cool videos for more details about Blue Mars: http://www.bluemars.com/tutorials/

[Zetsumeii]

Lets hope this helps push development in a good direction, ive got my own project on the way that should help as well.

[Idtei]

I am not good with technical speak so most of the poll coices were beyond me to be honest.

I like the way SL works with the option to use my camera (alt+contrl + click) to look way round a sim and do things independently of my avatar. I still want to be able to SEE my avatar when camming round and not be a ship as in Venice and the waterfall.

I build a lot in SL and feel freedom of movement. The arrow keys are how I move as well. I do not use WSAD keys they are too far to the left of my keyboard. But I am on a laptop and do not use a game controller.

My input is probably not very useful but I thought I would say it anyway as it might have some relevance.

Idtei

[Lana]

I felt the options about the destination cone were kind of limited.
I would like the cone, what it looks like (and whether it appears or not), and what it sounds like (if it makes any sound) to all have more user options.
"More, more, more please." Maybe I should make it my signature.

[Andrew]

I never really use the WASD much, I'm more an arrow keys guy but I find the BM arrow keys far too clunky. For most other games I'll keep one finger on the up button to walk forwards and use the left and right arrows constantly to fine tune my direction but pressing the left or right arrows in BM seems to do an instant 1/8th turn so unless I walk in a straight line I end up snaking around. I know that's due to the way I'm used to using the keys but I'd really like the left and right turn to be far more subtle as it is in most other games, so much so that you can keep your finger on them and turn smoothly and slowly as you walk without suddenly doing a 180.

Oh yeah. One other thing: Blue Mars, yes. Blue Cone, NO! Get rid. Please.

[Ripley]

Greetings all !

I've been exploring Blue Mars for a month or two now, learning the ropes and and more recently trying my hand at the development tools. There are worlds of things to learn here, so bear with me.

Basic avatar movement is the first impression a user has upon entering... how easy or hard it might be to navigate. I suspect that the individual user's background comes into play here. My own is largely FPS. Because of that, my expectation upon entering a virtual world or game is that WASD will move my avatar, the camera will follow my movements in 1st or 3rd person and left mouse clicking will allow me to interact with the environment.

The blue cone tends to moves my av when I'm really trying to interact with an object. In the greeting area, for example, when I click on one of the City Boards from a distance, the cone often ends up beneath or behind and unless I click elsewhere to intervene, I walk right into it or behind it. I get stuck on simple objects and have to keep moving my camera behind my av to navigate free.

I know there are people who prefer movement via the arrow keys, mouse clicking on the ground or clickable arrows on the screen. But for me, if social interaction via text messaging in-game is to play a major role, having one hand always on or near the 'home' keys makes it much easier to chat.

My vote: WASD or arrow keys as the default movement, with the camera following - and no cone at all. The user could pan, just as now, but the default view would be in the direction of travel. And a user defined option to use the movement cone. For running, I'd prefer a hot key or even a double click on the forward key.

[CrypticAsian]

Personally, I don't like the camera views/movement. My first few days, I had no idea that there was more to explore behind me, because the camera view constantly faced forward. It would be ideal if the camera followed and turned with the avatar so that whichever way it was facing, you would see what it saw. The beep and cone can be quite annoying after a while, so an option to turn it off would be nice. If transparent/grey crosshairs were used or something to show you've "locked in" to a loation/area to head towards, then perhaps the cone wouldn't be necessary..?