Running backwards and sidestrafing ?

Do players expect to be able to run while moving backwards and sidestrafing ? That seems counter-intuitive to me, but Unity's built in first-person controller allows that.

 

If you're making a first person shooter? Absolutely. If you're making a slow paced survival horror game, maybe not. It all depends on what you're designing for.

 

I have never heard of a FPS that disables sidestep while backing.while sprinting yes,back no

 

In an FPS, players do not expect to be able to run while moving backwards. Players do expect to be able to run while side strafing though, which basically just results in running at an angle off center. Just imagine that you're face and gun are pointed at a slightly different direction than the way you are running. I use it all the time to look off to the side while I'm running.

 

If you're making a quake-like game, then yes. The player fully expects to run in any direction at the same speed, while looking in any other direction. They also expect to be able to jump while running and shooting. Advanced/expert players could expect to be able to rocket jump (and even plasma climb) as well..

If you're making a cover shooter like gears of wars, then you usually have a "dash forward" button to run towards cover and the character is not expected to be able to run at this speed in any direction other than forward. However, they are expected to have roguhly the same degree of mobility (meaning walking/moving left/right/forward/backward or in any direction) while on foot.

The other possible scenario is survival horror. This kind of game can have different movement speed based on your direction and slow turns. See Resident Evil 2, for example.

 

FPS, certainly. I expect full movement speed in every direction at all times. Even in non FPS games, I expect it.

If it helps you to conceptualize it, think of strafing as moving in a different direction to where you are facing. In real life you do it all the time. Its fairly easy to look from side to side or glance backwards while walking or running.

 

I definitely expect to be able to strafe while running backwards in any FPS style game. I realize that I would probably trip and hurt myself if I tried it in real life, but that is not the point. I view most FPS style games as arcade fun rather than ultra realistic sims, and I find running and strafing to be quite fun.

When making a game, developers have the choice to decide what the movement mechanics should be for each game. If somebody wanted to build a realistic movement simulator that did not allow running backwards while strafing, that is something that a developer could choose to do. The FPS movement control example with Unity can be modified or replaced with completely different code.

 

ZZZZ it's videogames... do you really need someone's permission to do something your way?

 

I missed the Run part sorry. Depends on realism factor. Our game is a realistic shooter and we do not let you run backwards. We disable sprint when ADS (Aiming down sights), we also add alot of weapon sway when running and gunning.

It all boils down to the realism factor, or the feel you want for the game. Like hippo says, do it your way. Here is a video showing our sprint / movement system, maybe it can give some ideas

 

Ander's song:

Spoiler

 

I was asking what the expected norm is because many people were complaining that the controls I was using weren't what they expected.