Swordplay game

[daemonicky]

Hi. I am going to make a swordplay game. I dont want to make too much mistakes so I will post my decisions and ask for help if I need something.

And I will post my prototypes, so others can learn.

1st decision - have sword as separate entity
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A) I know Quake knight monster has simplistic traceline test whether he hist enemy. It is simple and I guess it works.
B) I want to make sword as separate entity not as usual model glued to character like weaponst and move it at will (it can then have more physics which might be nice).

2nd decision - movement of a sword
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I thought about copying something from Dark Messiah (Arx Fatalis had almost the same movements), Thief and Die By The Sword. I want to try to make trajectory and then test whether sword hits something. I will see how will work on some sparing partners (entities) ...

3rd movement description
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I want to make it easy for me to write it. And possibly for my girlfriend. How to best describe movement from Quake C so it is easy to grasp for a human? I thought about having axis angle, but axis might be problem. So I looked at wiki. There are basically three :
A) cartesian (distance, distance, distance) ........ no thanks
B) cylindrical (angle, distance, distance) ........ it seems reasonably readable for human
C) spehrical (angle, angle, distance) ......... maybe
So I am going to stick with B or C.

I know I could make it in some 3D studio. Hmm ... maybe I will. Or i could make a tool in quake or use Die By The Sword Tool ... I will see...

Questions
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Is it correct to call one cartesian coordinate radius instead of distance?
Does anyone have experience with making swordplay game?
Did someone make some swordplay game and posted insights?
Is there any paper about game swordplays?

[siska.robert]

Do you know fight system in Mount & Blade series? I think it's the best melee controls ever!

Btw: Kudos for making sword game! I was trying make medieval mod too (I even made sword and bow...), but lost passion later.

[frag.machine]

If you're mentioning Diablo, you're meaning a 3rd person view. I remember the sword combat system in Oblivion being a bit clunky, but it was interesting because was in first person.

[daemonicky]

Progress : First version : http://pastebin.com/MfgpMM6D

Mount & Blade series

Thanks. I will check it out.

Btw: Kudos for making sword game! I was trying make medieval mod too (I even made sword and bow...), but lost passion later.

Thank You. Is source available somewhere? I would like to see how you approached it and maybe get inspired. Tomorrow I have an exam, but I will try to do sword swinging by eitheir moving sword forward/back or rotating it (and will make cylindrical coordinates convertor to make it easier to write) after it.

If you're mentioning Diablo, you're meaning a 3rd person view.

Yes 3rd person, but just clicking.

Oblivion had similar to the Dark Messiah/Arx Fatalis one.

[siska.robert]

Is source available somewhere? I would like to see how you approached it and maybe get inspired. Tomorrow I have an exam, but I will try to do sword swinging by eitheir moving sword forward/back or rotating it (and will make cylindrical coordinates convertor to make it easier to write) after it.

Well, I got it on my computer in another city, so you'd have to wait to weekend :)

But there isn't really much worth checking out - no fighting system, just animations. But you could use MDLs I made, since I abandoned the project.

Oh, and since my character was Elf, he could climb the arrows stuck in the wall :)

[daemonicky]

... so you'd have to wait to weekend ... just animations. But you could use MDLs I made, since I abandoned the project. ... Oh, and since my character was Elf, he could climb the arrows stuck in the wall

Thank you very much.

I am making it with my girlfriend. She makes story and characters. They are cat-like creatures so they are similar to Elves.

Jumping on arrows sounds cool, it is just like some jumping on these wall mines which have this laser which checks whether to explode mine or not ... I dont know, we dont have much playable content (besides that demo) to say it would work good. But it is true, elves could do such a thing they were lighweight. They could theoreticaly make arrow ladders during battle .

[siska.robert]

But it is true, elves could do such a thing they were lighweight. They could theoreticaly make arrow ladders during battle :-) .

That was exactly my idea ;) Arrow ladders for reaching high places...