Sensation of shooting in shooters

For a long time, I have been wondering what people have in mind when they say that in one or another shooter interesting and wonderful, boring and dull, excellent and realistic, crooked and terrible or fantastic and masterpiece shooting? How they determine the quality of infantry mechanics? They have a special scheme in their heads or they feel it at some subconscious level? And what, take me an ostrich, means the phrase: “Shooting is felt at the fingertips”? To understand this difficult issue, I decided to reflect on where such a vague concept is taken as a feeling of game shooting.

Human feelings and sensations are a rather multifaceted and foggy side of our life, specifically and accurately to talk about which is probably almost impossible. Due to such features, it is clear to highlight the elements that form these very feelings, and their structure is also quite complicated and, perhaps, even an impossible task. For this reason, this article does not claim to be truth: it is a hodgepodge from personal reasoning and information found on the Internet.

Meet on a dressing

In most cases, visual design is the first thing that a gamer who has barely joined the game world meets. It is on him that the responsibility for the first impression of this world falls on him. For this reason, the creation of the right graphic style is one of the most important aspects in the development of the game. One of the faces of this aspect is the design of weapons.

At its core, the creation of a weapon model is not too different from creating a character model. Artists also have to invent the background of the weapon, give it uniqueness, make sure that it fit into the game world, etc.p. After the work done, the finished gun can also be unique and recognizable as the main character! Due to this similarity, to describe the steps that play the game weapons, it makes no sense to me. This process was remarkably described in the articles “Anatomy of Games. Beginning “and” Anatomy of games. Asset model “.

Just don’t say that you haven’t remembered the game yet.

But why is the visual component so important for weapons? Why is there as much effort on it as on a full -fledged character? Having thought over these issues, I came to the conclusion that one of the meanings of its static manifestation is quite simple – maintaining the atmosphere and style of the game. But simple – does not mean not enough! It is dangerous to lose the player’s belief in realism (and even more dangerous into reality) of what is happening, because, having lost it once, she most likely will not be able to return it.

It seems to me that it is necessary to share the concepts of realistic and real.

Realistic – corresponding to our idea of ​​reality.
Real – satisfying the laws of the world.

(Definitions were given by me, so they may not coincide with yours, and you can offer your own options in the comments).

This means that what we know about the world is realistic, but does not have to be real. I will give an example from personal experience. When I first saw how in the rollers Metal Gear Solid V Snape launches people into the air through balloons, it seemed to me strange. “Having talked heart to heart” with Google, I found out that such a system exists in reality and is called Fulton’s rescue system, but until that moment these balloons seemed strange and ridiculous to me. From this it follows that the ideas about reality are formed from personal ideas.

Also, the design of weapons and its elements can not only play the atmosphere, supporting it, but is also a full -fledged element for transmitting the mood conceived by the author. For example, cartridges for Chickengun from Redneck Rampage There were real chicken, which fit into the crazy atmosphere of the game and was a means for transmitting the aesthetics trash. IN Postal the cat was used instead of a silencer, and a dubstep Saints Row 4 forced people to dance frantically. Weapon design in Prey, By the way, I combined both mechanical elements and biotic, so that the authors managed to convey a foreigner of what is happening.

In addition, the design of weapons, unlike the design of the game as a whole, allows you to convey a more specific thought, for example, the idea that the device in your hands is a tool of pain and horror, a means of killing life. Or maybe a way of protection, salvation and preservation? Or just a bright and cheerful toy, carrying joy and pleasure?

Similarly, the external design can give the player tips regarding the capabilities of weapons. For example, playing on the usual thinking that everything is powerful – a big, and the most sure way to kill an indestructible creature is to shoot it from the rocket (and then fly to the sunset by helicopter).

Who would have thought that enormous power was hidden in this little one.

However, a harmonious design will not help if the weapons have problems with animation. And this person, among other things, is very important in the formation of a sense of shooting. It allows you to display the power of the gun and transfer the energy from the shot (driving the barrel due to the return), form faith in what is happening, tell about the state of weapons (jamming, long reloading, small amounts of cartridges) and it is even possible to reveal the character traits or the state of the character (trembling of the hero’s hands, light stroking the cannon barrel in moments of calm). Hmm … usually in games there is an animation that shows actions performed With weapons, But there is no animation that shows actions The weapon itself. I wonder if there is a shooter in which the weapon is really animated?

Uti-off, what a cute scorpioner.

In my memory, on a similar question, it pops up Prey. In creation Human Head Studio There are almost no outwardly familiar types of firearms. Each of them contains both mechanical parts and alien bioelements. The rifle is enveloped by constantly swaying tentacles, and when a sniper sight is turned on, a small eye is separated from it and attaches to the character’s eye. The machine gun is a torn hand of one of the bosses, on which, with convenience, settling, a huge scorpion flies, letting out the lightning between his oxes and pulling his tail from boredom. The plasmoth is peacefully sparkling with plasma flasks loaded into it, and grenades and mines briskly twitch their three arthilized paws. Feel some foreign devilry? That’s the same.

Fluff-fluff, pif-puff and fuck-b-bah

A person perceives the world around himself through various senses. Of course, a large share of perception of information occurs through vision, but the hearing does not lag behind it in importance. It follows that the work of a sound engineer, sound engineer and all other people associated with sound recording is very valuable, because the sounds of shots are quite important for creating reliability and realism part of the game. In the gameplay of the shooter, such shots are constantly used.

One of the simple ways to get the desired sound is to find it in the sound library. In such storage facilities, the sounds of everything in a row are collected, starting from the crunch of broken cucumbers and ending with a roar of the male ivorypotama during the annual ears cleaning season. Of course, in free libraries you will not hear such exotic sounds, but in paid ones – it may well be. But there comes a time when standard elements are not enough to implement a particular idea, and then, if there is time and means, the developers are sent to the sound recording.

The Recordist Sound Library was used to create such famous shooters as Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Battlefield 4, Duke Nukem Forever.

In Western terminology there is a term Foli (Foley), meaning the process of living sound effects that will be added to the post-production period to improve sound quality for films, television, as well as for radio and video games. The term is also applicable to determine special sound recording studios where this voice acting passes.

Tells the member of the developer team https://genierichescasino.co.uk/ Red Dead Redemption Jeffrey Whither (Jeffrey Whitcher):

“When it comes to weapons, you should always guarantee players the best sound. As foli effects, we recorded a lot of manipulations with real weapons-snatching from a holster, reloading, shots, etc.D. However, the players would never like the literal approach to choosing weapons timbres. When the player takes up the weapon, he wants to feel the energy in the shot. Therefore, the sound of weapons in the game consists not only of one sound effect;This is always the connection of several multi -layer elements “.

Company East Games To record the sounds of weapons in your game Survarium Rented two landfills. The first was used to record the sound of weapons in the room, and the second in open spaces. Sound recording was made at various distances so that the player could determine the distance to the source of the shot and, starting from this, think through his actions. As mentioned above, the sound of a weapon is not a single sound, so the developers used various microphones: the bass, an echo from the shot, the sound of the shutter, the power of the muzzle brake (compensator designer designed to reduce the removal of the trunk) were separately written). All this was done in order to create a believable and atmospheric “voice” of weapons.

To create an atmosphere of the apocalypse in the Survarium game, the developers shot at the upset piano, beat and chopped them. And in the end – burned!

After recording, the sounds were processed in a special system, and as a result, each individual shot consisted of seven simultaneously playing layers, each of which included thirty separate sounds. This led to the fact that the chance to hear in the game two identical sounds in a row was minimized.

There are many definitions of the term interface, but inherently they come down to the following:
Interface – mechanism for the interaction of two systems. In our case – games and player.

The sounds of weapons are important not only for the formation of the player of faith in what is happening;They are also used as an interface, allow the player to receive various kinds of information about what is happening around him with their help. For example, with the help of sounds, the weapon can tell you that the cartridges have ended, some part has broken, warn about the imminent overheating. Correct work with the distance, volume and, let’s say, by the individuality of shots for different types of weapons allows you to determine the location of the shooter, the type of his weapon and evaluate the danger that the meeting with him carries.

Fundamental mechanics

How playing mechanics affects the feeling of shooting? First of all, even the most minimalistic rifle mechanics gives the player the opportunity to move the object “bullet” to the “target” object without moving the “shooter” object. In other words, it is the mechanic who creates the basis of game shooting. Drawing ideas from our real world, rifle mechanics are trying to match it more (limited ammunition, reloading, a sight from the shoulder, a blow to the butt, hide and seek behind shelters), becoming more diverse both in terms of possible actions and in terms of the number of options (methods of movement and types of cartridges, a change of weapons). Thanks to this, the game shooting, like the movements of the hero, become more understandable to the player (for they are familiar to him), and the variability of the gameplay appears. At this moment, one mechanics ends and the other begins.

Playing with rifle parameters, the developer can turn a drive shooter into a harsh survival with one wave of a hand, reducing, for example, the maximum number of cartridges in the hero’s inventory, the speed of reloading his weapons and, say, only a weak pistol. A storm of sensations from shooting depends on the rather simple manipulation with the characteristics. Just three cartridges in the clip were a mere trifle, and now they have become the last means for existence. Whether the shooting itself changed? No. You still move the mouse, press the buttons, look at the same animation, listen to the same sounds, but the significance of these things has increased significantly.

If you rephrase a bit, then in the first part of our “mechanical” thoughts we talked about pure mechanics, and in the second we started a conversation about the superstructure over the basic rules of shooting. Both parts are important, but one is important for obtaining shooting itself, and the other for transmitting sensations.

In the apple!

Do we need a gamepad without a console? Book without words and pictures? Game without gameplay? Shooting without a target? It seems to me – no. A gamepad without a console becomes either a trash or an element of decor;A book without words and pictures is useless in essence;The game without gameplay turns into cinema;And shooting without target loses its meaning. I think you already understood where I am getting. Now we will talk about the objects on which fire is conducted. In this conversation, we will not be interested in all aspects of game opponents. We will dwell only on those things that play a role in forming a feeling of shooting.

In Darkwatch skeletons, it was possible to shoot hands. Having lost the attacking limbs, bone walkers died from hopelessness.

Let’s remember the first F.E.A.P.. The player clearly showed the player that the enemy’s injuries were brought precisely by the specific actions of the player. Когда он простреливал оперативнику руку, она теряла дееспособность. If you released a charge of buckshot in the stomach, then the armed ill -wisher took shape in half. When he got into the leg, the enemy, as if knit, fell to the floor or began to jump on a healthy leg, continuing to shoot back. And, of course, we must not forget about the great and mighty headshot, which, due to the features of the structure of the majority of the creatures around us, is one of the most effective ways to send a living (and not very) creature to the other world.

If such a system of active pain points in F.E.A.P. had an entertaining character rather, then in several games of the series Resident Evil (4th, 5th, 6th parts) her tactical role was more tangible. To a greater extent, such an interaction with the enemy carried the goal of stunning it, to make it incompetent for a while, in order to deliver one powerful hand -to -hand blow or their combination at this moment. Also, the player could bring down the weapon thrown into it, knock it out of the hands of enemies, and in the case of dynamite – to blow up a dangerous toy right in the hands of ill -wishers. The use of this system allowed to solidly save cartridges, made a large share of diversity in the game mechanics and made it possible to “play” with its victim.

But there are also reverse examples. In recent Wolfenstein: The New Order A huge robot got up on the way of the brave soldier Blazhkovich. This walking tin can withstand strokes with stability appropriate for such an steady mechanism. Neither bullets, nor grenades, nor energy charges could squeeze out a single disapproving sound out of its rusty throat. What is the sound there! On the protective shell of an armored soldier, even one scratch did not appear for the whole battle! I’m not talking about the absence of animization of hits. Zero reaction puts in a stupor – you do not understand whether you are doing the right thing when shooting it. Maybe he needs to be beaten with a secret weapon? Perhaps somewhere there is a vulnerable place on it? What if this tin does not need to be killed at all, but you just need to slip past her? No, gentlemen, you just need to shoot for a long time and stubbornly in the hope that you are doing everything right.

To divide opponents in the Dead Space series was a vital activity. Shots to the case almost did not bring the desired effect.

By clicking on the trigger, we expect not only the fact that the gun in our hands will make a thunderous sound and will release the N-TOURS of bullets into the light, but also that some share of these same bullets will fall into the target, and the goal, outraged by such an impudent crossing of the boundaries of its personal space, will react. Its reaction can be quite diverse, starting from a decrease in a strip of health to a plausible separation of parts of the body, but it is very desirable that such a reaction is. In addition to obtaining a fairly important information about the physical condition of the enemy (that is, about the possibility of revenging on us in a particularly cruel amount), such visualization allows the player to see the results of his actions. In some cases, this can show the enemy a more lively, vulnerable creature, causing, for example, empathy, sympathy in the player;In others, he will shoot opponents with a more diverse occupation, bring some tactical elements to it;thirdly – will give more pleasure from seeing the results of his actions.

Cannons of avid gamers

What has always been in the cool guys in games? Brutal look, fast car or motorcycle, cool girl and, of course, a steep gun. And if Gamer doubts his brutality, he does not have enough money for a cool car, he only dreams of a girl, then how his good developers can please him so that he can be at least a little like that cool guy from Telik? Well, of course, a gun! He would also not refuse a car, girl and a pinch of gaze, but a little good.

Seeburg Ray-O-Lite is the first rifle slot machine.

Why are such manipulators needed? If we talk about arcade machines, on which they first appeared, then one of the reasons is visibility in circulation. We all at least with one eye saw how they shoot from a gun, therefore, going up in some cinema to the “duck hunt”, we will quickly understand how to play it. And for the slot machine, which we may see for the first time, the small threshold of entry is very important. The second reason applies both to slot machines and video games-rapprochement with the game. “Maximum immersion in the game!” – it seems that they say in commercials. To some extent, this really works. Body position, return from the shot, reloading, pressing the trigger – all this allows the player to move like a character behind a monitor.

To recharge the PlayStation Sharpshooter, you need to either twit the shutter in the front of the weapon or press the button located on the lower part of the front handle.

But this acts only to a certain degree. Take, for example, reloading from PlayStation Sharpshooter. When you hit the button on the bottom of the handle, as if driving a new clip to the store, the character on the screen does not do the same. There may be much more movements in his animation than, sorry, you have. And the duration of this animation can be much larger. Because of this, at least I have a dissonance that again puts the wall between the player and his avatar, returning us from the concept of embodiment to the concept of management.

The very “sensations on the fingertips”

Most gaming works try to convey to the viewer the condition in which the screen hero is now, to make a player and character as a whole or at least strive for such unity. But a person in front of the monitor sits in a warm and cozy room on a soft and comfortable sofa, and the screen character makes things very far from such calm and comfort. The question is how to convey a sufficient share of the hero’s sensations to the player?

Of course, you can use all these things. But you need it?

Partially this task can take control. It is clear that its main idea is the transfer of our teams to the character, but through the hero’s reaction to these commands a rather good layer of sensations can be formed. For example, picking up a large gun in his hands, the screen fighter begins to move languidly, not respond to the jump button, slowly aim, etc.p. Thanks to a similar reaction of the character, it becomes difficult for the player to play the same way as the hero at that moment is hard to shoot. You can also recall such a game trick, quite popular earlier (now rarely caught my eye), as a sharp change in direction. A second ago, your hero easily and at ease trampled the gaming landscapes, but, for example, after the bite of the snake, his mind was illuminated by clouding, and his legs began to fail. As a result, we have two coordination disorders: one in front of the screen, the other – for.

In addition to the character himself, the weapon itself can also react to the player’s teams. Suppose the mouse-trigger shooter of the sofa troops clamped the gashter and hopes that all the bullets will fly to the target. And it will be very disappointed when it is encountered with dedication and scatter. The barrel of the gun will fly into the sky, the bullets will scatter who and only their small share will hit the target. Why is this done? Firstly, the return and scatter brings additional difficulties to handling weapons, which makes the player be more attention to his actions. Secondly, these elements are the distinctive features of each weapon, allowing the player to get used to a certain type of weapons. Thirdly, this is another of those things that the games borrowed from our reality.

Quite often in shooters there is such a gameplay element as a mechanical sight. When using it, the gun is, as it were, is brought to the character’s eyes, so that the player can use the fly or aiming the weapon himself. In this shooting mode, recoil and scatter usually decrease, and the feeling that we look at the game world with the eyes of the character are intensified. Also, the sound of a weapon can change: it can become more clear and loud, emphasizing the proximity of the firearms.

In Call of Juarez Gunslinger, the shaking of the camera varies when firing from the thigh and in aiming mode.

But here you have an example of a rather interesting approach to management. IN Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood When playing for Thomas, there were moments, so to speak, with atmospheric management. The action of the game took place in the second half of the 19th century in the Wild West, and Thomas, like any cool man of that time, was able to famously treat the revolver. When a special firing mode is turned on, a small change in the usual shooting control took place: holding the right trigger, the player had to quickly move the right stick down, imitating the trigger of the trigger of the real revolver. Agree, interesting and authentic implementation.

Do not forget about a thing created specifically for a tactile conversation with the game. In 1997, Nintendo embodied the idea of ​​vibration giving in a removable device called Rumbler Pak. The idea was developed from Sony in Dual ANALOG, and then in Dual Shock, and now it is used almost everywhere. Thanks to the vibration giving ways, gamers playing shooters could feel the power of the shot of their weapons and the blows inflicted by the character by bullets of the opponents (we are still talking about the feeling of shooting, you have not forgotten?).

3rd Space vest allows you to feel game damage on your own skin.

However, due to the abundance of shots in the shooters to constant vibration, it seems to me, you get used to quite quickly and the sensations of shooting are greatly smoothed out. I think that such implementation should be approached more gently and carefully, filigree using it only in certain elements of the game. For example, c Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater The gamepad began to vibrate sharply when your character was discovered, forcing the player to experience a strong shock. Due to not too abundant shooting in The Evil Within Feedback acted well on the nerves of the players. She also helped when opening locks in Thief 4 And The Order 1886, Slowing the vibration of the gamepad, when the master key got into the right position.

Speaking of vibration, I want to mention such an unusual thing as Gametrix Jetseat. It is a special cape for a chair with six built -in vibromotors. Thanks to them, the player can feel the direction of the impact, the operation of the machine engine at various speeds, collisions for obstacles, etc.p. Such elements allow not only to plunge into the game more strongly, but also to receive a larger amount of information about what is happening on the screen.

Read more about Gametrix Jetseat You can read here and see here.

The end

Dear reader, reaching these lines, you have not yet turned into a dry old man with weak eyes and gray remnants of hair on the head? And since my stupid hope usually kills everyone and lives to the final credits, I will try to draw a short conclusion about the work done.

The feeling of shooting consists of many elements, each of which contains several more smaller, but no less significant details. With the help of appearance, the artist supports the atmosphere and conveys the mood, shows the features of weapons and indicates the possibilities of its use. Animation gives life both the “bloodletting machine” itself and the hero who directs this “machine”. It allows you to feel the reaction of objects of the game world to the player’s actions.

Sound, in turn, also contributes to immersion, characterizes the distinctive details of the weapon and serves as an additional interface that allows you to better interact with the game.

Shooting mechanics is that gives rise to shooting itself. Without it, there would be no shooting and at all. In addition, she establishes the rules by which shooting will be carried out.

Management is a way to transfer the player’s desires a hero, but can also serve for a response. Slow movement, inversion of direction, vibration giving and much more perfectly suitable for the gamer could feel the game “on the tips of the fingers”.

Lastly, it is worth remembering that gamepads may have a different look in order to even more immerse the player into what is happening on the screen.

Afterword

Before starting work on the article, I did not know anything about the concept of “feeling of shooting”, did not think about the influence of sound and mechanics on it and did not understand the words of journalists about this sensation. I had no idea how the reviewers evaluate this game parameter, what criteria are taken as the basis and how they work with them. Alien head, really, is a dark forest. Now, ending the spelling of this text, I can say with a greater degree of confidence that I still don’t understand how the assessment algorithm for some people works. But at the same time, highlighting the elements, in my opinion, forming this sensation, I managed to find my criteria to assess the feeling of shooting in shooters. I hope that all these thoughts described have left a pleasant aftertaste.

I want to thank my mother-papa, aunt-woman, as well as a cat Tamaru, who woke me up at night. Hmm … I think I forgot someone. Ah, yes! I express thanks to these Internet accounts Anu8is, Alamonall, Andrey Rudny, Helcril (there is no dude to SG, which does not cancel his contribution).