Control Design Question

I want to make a game with telekinesis powers, lift objects, throw, etc, but how would you control it all? I imagine when you left click on an object you can freely move it around like dragging and dropping an icon, but the icon will move on 2 axis only, how to get it to move on the 3rd axis as well? What control scheme would you come up with?

 

Ever heard of a game called Psy-Ops: the Mindgate Conspiracy? It was one of the first (if not outright the first) game to use havok, and monkeyed around with weird ass controls to do telekinesis.

 

Intuitively positioning things in 3D with a 2D mouse is a very tricky and interesting problem. I took a stab at it for this ragdoll demo: http://LuminaryApps.com/temp/RagdollTest/RagdollTest.html. Basically as you move further up the screen, we move up, but we also move back in depth. Maybe something like that will work for you?

 

I'm assuming it's real time & not turn based? & 1st person not 3rd?

3rd person turn based I'd suggest something like what was done in the X-com reboot for chucking grenades etc as it let you move the target point around & up or down.

 

Do you need to move and use telekenesis at the same time? If not, you could toggle between movement and telekenesis mode where your movement controls would also move the object. e.g. If you move using WASD, hold shift then WASD now control the object you're holding, W pushes and S pulls.

Garrys Mod uses the scroll wheel on the mouse to push and pull objects you're holding so that's another option.

 

If it's an action game, I think I would perfer an array of abilities that work in a tight and responsive way. One power does a forcefull blast. Another yanks people and items to you then maybe blast them back like the grav gun. Maybe throw in a badger-slash like Tetsuo does in the nursery in Akira.

But the idea of doing some floaty movement with crates while people shoot at me makes me cringe a little.

If it's a puzzle game, then floaty is okay.

 

Elder Scrolls Oblivion had telekinesis and Garry's Mod too, i cannot remember what exactly they did but i believe they were both like this:

-activate telekinesis with the corresponding button grabing it exactly at the aimposition of the player (raycast to object, impact point = point where you apply forces)
-As long as you hold the activation button you can drag the object via mouselook
-the distance (3rd axis) is contolled via mousewheel, with snapping points increasing with distance (like 1,2,4,7,10 m...)
-also you can move around with the grabbed object staying in its place relative to you

I would implement this using only forces and maybe PID-control the force if linear force has a bad aimpoint following behaviour, but remember to clamp your forces in any case.

 

This demo don't work for me

 

In what sense? Do you get an error, or you don't have the Unity web plug-in installed, or what?

 

When the wizard pops up and I say install, run then finish nothing comes on, it just brings up the desktop and nothing happens?

 

Hmm, that's odd. Well I don't know how much effort you want to put into it just to see my little demo, but on the other hand, the web player is the standard way we share demos & tests (and sometimes full games) around here. So you might want to get it working. Here are Unity's webplayer troubleshooting tips.

 

It seems as if when I push up the character goes away from me and up in the air at the same time, it looks like a duality feature to it, particularly when it is at the edge of the floor most furthest from me.

Or in another way the characters moves along the x and z axis just fine, the farther away it gets it seem to have a y axis movement to it all of a sudden.

 

It's not all of a sudden, it's smooth, but yes, that's basically it. When you push up on screen, the object moves in both Y and Z.