How do I make a first person platforming game feel fast paced?

A while ago I posted a gif of my game on reddit which received lots of feedback.
https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/hlp2yl/i_love_games_with_grappling_hooks_so_i_made_my_own/
One of the top comments mentioned my game momentum feels slow. I have since increased the player movement speed and gravity. The game now feels cramped and harder to control where it is easy to run into obstacles because of the higher speed. What game design tricks can I use to give a feeling of movement and quick reaction timing beyond just increasing the players movement speed?

 

Camera shake comes to mind.

 

camera shake, moition blur, camera distortion (chromatic aberration and lens distortion).

couple all of that with acceleration, and maybe tweak the physics so that you get a more noticeable acceleration. Think about the principles of animation: vary the tempo by using holds and ease in/out to get a more dynamic feeling action.

you can also use more small clutter objects/particles to give more sense of 3d space. Ever notice how in an empty scene you can't tell where your manipulator is? Same thing for player. If the only spacial reference is a couple blank walls its hard to have any sense of time/space.

I'd try to get the art to like 70% (at least for one level) before I went all out tweaking the controller, jjust because they will depend on one another to some degree.

 

It seems that I was focused on velocity that I forgot about acceleration. I think you are on to something when you mentioned acceleration. Take for example ghostrunner a 3d platformer. The run speed is fairly slow and consistent but the player has abilities to increases that speed for short bursts of time. The player has a frame of reference of what slow is and what fast is. Going fast all the time would seem slow because you don't have something to compare it to. Couple all that with a highly detailed environment and you have yourself a fast paced game.

 

yeah its all about contrast. everything is relative so as long as there is a stark contrast you can suggest anything you want regardless of the absolute values involved.

 

1) higher fov.

2) speed lines, blurred edges on the screen edge, camera shake, and other after effects.

3) extremely fast vaulting and ledge pull up animations (if you have them):

4) periodic slow mo to contrast the regular gameplay.

5) Good sound design. Whooshing wind, pitch shift sounds that move around the player, change the sounds of foot steps as you pick up speed, and a very pleasing jump sound.

 

I can agree with the comments about acceleration. When watching the video the character sort of felt a bit floaty, as if there wasn't enough contrast between the times when they would go at their fastest speed and slowest speed.
Another thing to mention is that when I look at the video, I get the feeling that a big part of the fun would come from chaining together swinging moves to gain momentum. I'm not sure if you have some sort of maximum speed at the moment, but if you're aiming for momentum to be a key part of the enjoyment, then it might help to either increase the maximum speed, or not have a limit to the speed at all.
Over all, I think that the game looks like it has a lot of potential and with some more polish, I think it could be really fun.

 

From your video I actually have no idea how fast the player is moving because there is nothing to give any sense of scale. Are your corridors there 5m wide, or 50m wide?

It could be that the player is moving very fast over huge distances. It could be that they're floating around short distances very slowly. I've no idea which, because my eyes can only guess at the distances involved here. The only hint of scale is the black rope thing. If that's the thickness of a normal rope then, yeah, I'm moving short distances very slowly.

So I'd look at putting some kind of scale reference in there. Anything of a known size that your eye can use to determine how big everything else is, and therefore how fast the player is moving. People are a good one, because our brains are very good at recognising person shapes and, based on proportions, working out roughly how big they probably are.

Simpler things to make could be houses with visible door / window shapes, trees, cars.

You could approach this by increasing the size of your levels. Make the corridors wider, longer and taller so that the increased speed still ends up with the same challenge factor. If you used to have obstacles 5m apart and tripled the speed, consider making them 15m apart now.

Big games do this kind of thing all the time. In Need for Speed style arcade racers, for instance, the driving is pretty darn easy compared to in more "serious" racing games even though the speeds are often higher. They do this in part by giving players wide roads with sweeping turns, as opposed to the tight, technical roads of a game such as Dirt: Rally which demand players have finesse and dexterity.

 

I agree. I just don't know how to make abstract level design into a physical location. I just don't really have even an idea of what setting my game takes place in. Which is probably something I should be working on and incorporate into my level design sooner rather than later.

One thing I'm worried about is motion sickness when adding wider fov, camera shake and blur. I feel like I have to very careful that I don't overdo it.

 

that can all be placeholder stuff too. Like toss in generic atmospheric particles, throw a bunch of cubes around - they dont have to represent anything right now but they'll still accomplish the goal of giving better snese of 3d space. just clutter in the corners, along the walls. It can all look like modern art nonsense but thats not the point.

i think one thing that people who dont have more natural artistic inclination can do to help them is to limit options. Like grab one of the synty low poly packs and just base the whole game from that - dont get into the trap of "well i got to have things a certain way" because that becomes a never ending loop.

Of course if you want a unique look and not a generic asset pack you can see if there is some artist who will help you.

But my main point is even right now you can still make progress artistically without the need for final art.

as far as finding a theme keep in mind most big popular and classic games make no sense whatsoever. I mean describe mario or sonic and its just zany nonsense. So you can just do whatever the hell you want. It doesnt have to be coherent.

 

I think you can keep the visuals abstract. In fact, I think you probably should, so that you can focus on how to keep the swinging mechanic fresh and fun without pesky realism getting in the way. You don't need realism to give a sense of scale.

Take a look at games like Grow Up for an example of low-poly, flat colour, abstract-ish art in an unrealistic environment which still does a great job of giving clear sense of scale and atmosphere.