First off, Welcome. Second being a stealth,sci-fi,first person game, how is movement handled? Are we in a crouching stance through most of the game, hiding behind crates, or are we sliding along a wall and climbing into airducts or both? Since their seems to be combat in the game based on a Game Informer picture featuring Corvo weilding a blade at a enemy is it similiar to the Elder Scrolls series or more along the lines of something entirely diffrent? I look forward to responses and insight.

in Thief there were three movement speeds - jogging, walking, and creeping. how fast you moved, your stance while moving (standing or crouched) and the material of the surface you were walking on (stone, tile, carpet, grass, whatever) determined how much sound you made, and therefore how easy to detect you were.

with the anolog controls of gamepads, having different movement speeds isn't as big an issue as it is with keyboards, but Thief managed to do it fantastically by having two different forward movement keys (jogging and walking), and a modifying key for walking which made you creep.

assuming the stealth system is like Thief (and god damnit i hope it's like Thief and not some contrived [censored] diceroll HURR IM AN RPG system) then i HOPE movement will work similarly. i really hope it's not just RUN OR WALK FORWARD AND CROUCH TO SNEAK like so many games since.

it's very much first-person and Arkane doesn't seem big on the whole CINEMATIC THIRD-PERSON thing so there's not going to be a cover system like the new Deus Ex. stealth will likely be dependent on how obscured by objects you are and i'm hoping very much also dependent on how lit up you are.

combat, i assume, will be probably more similar to Dark Messiah than anything. i don't remember if Dark Messiah had any specific assassination moves for stealth kills but i imagine it did.

The one and only stealth skill in Dark Messiah is from behind, instant kill with dagger in the neck. Really powerful - but only works if you not seen by the enemy before.
I think the movement will be a little bit more complex than in Dark Messiah, not just run, walk or crouch (sneak).

There have been words on agile mantling/edge/gripping and climbing towers, etc - so I suspect we should see a considerably more advanced movement system. I'd imagine something between the Thief/System Shock 2 mantling system and the Brink/Mirror's edge fluidity. A compromise - though I would be overjoyed to have some truly fluid acrobatic abilities available, perhaps optionally through our whalebone charms or other means of upgrade.

The whole game will be seen from a 1st person view: it seems very unlikely right now the camera will ever switch to 3rd person for any reason. You can expect this to become kind of a standard to all Arkane games.

I to hope for a movement system smiliar to this. Especially in combat. As seen in the Picture it looks like he is pistol buttting you so it would be awsome to stab him, flip over his head, grab the pistol and shoot the other enemies.

I like this decision very much, FarCry 2 and Dark Messiah does the same - gives you a more "to be in the thick of things - feeling".



Ehhhh, more games in the pipe?

A standard I respect. I see first person as the future of gaming - or rather the path that leads to it. We won't truly achieve a greater level of immersion until wider/wraparound/eyewear based screens become mainstream, but in the meantime the most involving, absorbing, convincing game experiences are those that keep you firmly within the protagonist's head.

Thinking about it though, I actually feel almost as immersed in isometric RPGs as I do in first person games - but third person distances me considerably. Perhaps because isometric/diagonal topdown angles tend to be the way we imaginatively envision scenarios in the third person.

I really like the idea of the entire game taking place in 1st person (seems like no one has had the balls to do this with stealth game in a long, long time) but PLEASE include a 'lean' function. It's a vital feature for 1st person stealthing, and it gets left out of most games.

Already in!

what about leaning FORWARD? so you can look over railings of balconies to the ground below?

I also liked the solution used in Splinter Cell, where the mouse-wheel allowed you to change the movement speed through by 5 or 6 different ones.

Never say no.

I truthfully hope you guys will - some day - make a very advanced 3rd person melee combat game. Not just some simple hack'n'slay.

i could dig this a lot.

Awesome, thanks for responding. This game really sounds like you guys are doing all the right things...the kinds of things that usually make me all nostalgic for a certain 90's developer from Boston.

Damn I'm so excited for this game, stealth gaming is so underrepresented this gen.
It's by far my favorite genre

On the Topic of movement here are things that I would like to see from a Stealth FPM (First Person Melee)

Stealth:

Lean- Around corners,over railing to look below and since mantling is in the game, to look above.

Walking,Crouching,Prone,Jump- Walking should be a normaal pace not bringing attention to yourself when not doing a mission but causes you to be heard louder, Crouching brings attention to you when not on a mission but significantly silents your footsteps, Prone should only be available when about to go under something

Sliding- When sliding you can go under tables and under railings. When sliding under railings it would be awsome to flip into a mantling position but from a FP perspective camera angles might seem weird

LAZY VAULT- This is a big one when playing the Assassin Creed series i found it increasingly annoying how i simply couldnt lazy vault over something instead of standing on t and then jumping off. So please Arkane include this.

Combat:

Parry- When parrying it should give you a second to quickly choose a power because when parrying in fencing the attacker cant recoil in a split second leaving an open window of time

Counter-Attack- After a parry or a block if you hit the attack button you unleash a counter-attack

Block- Whe ntimes right a block should stop any attack

Simple sword attack- Standard sword attacks that are somewhat slow in striking speed but do average damage

Note- Arkane in Melee combat is it going to be realisticly one hut with a sword kill or are we going to have to hit an enemy multiple times? Does this incorparate into Gunplay as well?

Gun attack- since it is an FP game aiming should be key in gun play and not solely based on pointing the player at an enemy and firing with an auto lock on

Stealth kill- Stealth kills should be silent and give the player time to move/drag the body away form a enemyies sight after the kill.

I cant say much about Powers with the little details we have so that is how i think the game is going/Should be any comments or information on why and why not these would work is accepted.

I'd rather not have to bind that many keys. The amount of context-based actions that would be required to make all that work without a jillion awkward key-binds would be enormous....and since you didn't even mention the powers, I guess I won't point out that those need even MORE keys!

I think just having a left/right lean function is fine, the problem of looking over railing can be solved with smart level design. I also don't think a prone stance is really necessary (seems like clutter) unless they've got a really smart implementation for it. In fact, it could actually be problematic in a stealth game, where it's often important to be able to go from hiding in the shadows to running like hell in the blink of an eye if you're discovered. Even a tiny "let me stand up" animation that only lasts 1.5 seconds could quickly become infuriating.

I like all your sword combat ideas. I think companies like Arkane have proven that melee combat can be intuitive, deep, and satisfying all at the same time, so I'm sure the sword play will be great.

I didn't even think of keys when righting that my mistake.hmmm well it seems that tehir could be a sneak option like when crouched when hugging a wall and pressing the sneak button you hug the wall and when you get to a corner you are allowed to peek,, over railings could just be aiming the camera downand moving forward. If you read the post carefully istated no prone stance unless to get under tables and such. Would it be so hard to program a system that when you it the run button while crouch you move at a brisker pace while crouched and slowly rise into a run? just an idea
Thanx for your insight

Except for a few details, it sounds like you'll be very happy with what we're going to come up with!

Your responses are appreciated, Sarakyel. As are their contents =]

Thats in the game? Let me just say i am very impressed.

The one major design flaw in Assassin's Creed. I agree. Especially, considering that it's such an easy move.

I think we wouldn't need 3 things here.

Either you block/parry, which negates all damage but suspends both you and your opponent, or you counter, which negates damage partly and allows you to initiate a counteraction.

A parry in fencing is basically bashing your oppenets foil to the side leaving them open thus the quick option to choose a power. a Block would stop the oppenets blade and puch them back while a counterattack stops damage from happening and allows you to initiate a counteraction

it's an FPS game... You can look straight up, why do you need to lean to do that?
Unless you mean leaning back to get a better view, which is useless.

FPS-First person stealth? we need a new one to confuzing with FPS-first person shooter. Your getting ir wrong i know you can look up but when mantling to peer over and see if theri are guards without being spotted.