Beautiful game but vehicle physics feel a bit bland.

[Ozzuneoj]

So, I know the game is in Early Access, but are there plans to make the physics and interactions with the world more... interesting? Everything feels so stiff. The vehicles have a decent feel to them, they feel like they have weight, and the steering works quite well, but when you run into something you just kind of stop. A silly ragdoll-type open world game with vehicles that just kind of go where you want and stop immediately if something is in the way... just feels lacking.

To compare to another similar game, Totally Reliable Delivery Service seems to have much more "exciting" crashes, collisions and interactions in general. Sadly, that game's controls and many other gameplay issues make it feel extremely clunky, so I can't call it a better game by any means. A combination of the two games, with the good controls of Wobbly Life and the more exciting physics and interactions in TRDS would make for a much more interesting game.

I'm glad the game is so well received (Overwhelmingly Positive), but I'm not seeing much appeal for me at the moment. I bought it mostly out of frustration with the sloppiness of TRDS, hoping that my daughter and I would be able to play this instead, but romping around the Wobbly Life world just seems bland. Doing jobs works far better than TRDS (go figure) but much of the fun is taken out of the open world aspect because nothing seems to happen if you do something crazy. Jumping a motorcycle off a cliff just results in the motorcycle landing on the ground (you don't fall off... it doesn't bounce or flip over...). Flying crazily around corners with a car and smacking into things just... makes the car stop. I found big round bombs, rolled one right in the middle of a few parked cars and when it blew up... literally nothing even moved. There was just a sound and a smoke effect.

I have high hopes for this, because it seems like the devs are super active and give lots of updates with more content (without charging for it as DLC), but the fundamentals of the game have to be fun and exciting for any of that to matter, and the physics are near the top of the list of important features for an open world ragdoll game with vehicles.

Please take this as constructive criticism, not as complaining. This is a super high quality game... way above average for EA. I just want it to be more fun and interesting! :)

Also, small gripe, but can we get a more predictable respawn system when falling into water? It seems to just place you randomly. Often times you end up where you were several minutes ago, rather than somewhere near where you entered the water... I don't get the logic with this. Probably gets a little annoying when trying to do jobs I would think.

[tommohawkaction]

Thank you so much for this, honestly this helps us to progress to make the game better for when we come out of Early Access.

The vehicle crashing, you are totally right. I'll have a look at that and see what I can do.
As for everything else you are also correct, we need to make these improvements.

I'll see what I can do

Thanks for helping us make the game better

All the best,
Tom

[Tingle Man]

I thinks it's fine.

[pearce64]

Originally posted by tommohawkaction:

Thank you so much for this, honestly this helps us to progress to make the game better for when we come out of Early Access.

The vehicle crashing, you are totally right. I'll have a look at that and see what I can do.
As for everything else you are also correct, we need to make these improvements.

I'll see what I can do

Thanks for helping us make the game better

All the best,
Tom

The vehicle crashing isn't a problem, it adds to the game

[pearce64]

For a very cheap game it's excellent value for money.

[pearce64]

Originally posted by Ozzuneoj:

Totally Reliable Delivery Service seems to have much more "exciting" crashes, collisions and interactions in general

I own both games and to be honest I much prefer Wobbly Life. Totally Reliable Service is much harder to get into and the controls feel they are not finished.

[online.gracer]

Originally posted by pearce64:

Originally posted by Ozzuneoj:

Totally Reliable Delivery Service seems to have much more "exciting" crashes, collisions and interactions in general

I own both games and to be honest I much prefer Wobbly Life. Totally Reliable Service is much harder to get into and the controls feel they are not finished.

yes i think its fine myself

[Ozzuneoj]

Originally posted by pearce64:

Originally posted by Ozzuneoj:

Totally Reliable Delivery Service seems to have much more "exciting" crashes, collisions and interactions in general

I own both games and to be honest I much prefer Wobbly Life. Totally Reliable Service is much harder to get into and the controls feel they are not finished.

As I said right after what you quoted, I feel exactly the same way. The controls in TRDS are very frustrating and it's hard to get things to work properly... but that is more of a gameplay balancing thing. They have done little to fix these problems in a year. There are lots of games with physics systems that balance playability, realism and excitement so that everyone can enjoy the game. It seems like TRDS goes very far one way to make it crazy but playability suffers significantly. Wobbly Life seems to go very much the opposite direction, as explained earlier. It's quite playable, it just isn't very exciting to do much of anything with the physics.

Another game that has a very good balance of vehicle physics is Teardown, though that is much more toward the realistic side (and far more resource heavy).

Originally posted by tommohawkaction:

Thank you so much for this, honestly this helps us to progress to make the game better for when we come out of Early Access.

The vehicle crashing, you are totally right. I'll have a look at that and see what I can do.
As for everything else you are also correct, we need to make these improvements.

I'll see what I can do

Thanks for helping us make the game better

All the best,
Tom

Thank you for the reply! I really appreciate it.

I see some others have said they don't think it needs changed, and I respect that. It's up to you as the developer to determine whether it's worth your time or not. I honestly think if you were to enhance the physics in a way that maintains playability and accessibility while also making it more exciting, people would just like it more. There's no reason the current gameplay has to suffer by adding more detailed physics.

It seems like some of the negative reviews for the game lean toward it being boring or there not being anything to do once you've done jobs. By making the game world itself exciting to play with (through the physics engine), you add a lot to the replayability, especially for multiplayer. This could be an answer to many of those negatives.

Just some ideas.... It seems like the monster truck gives much crazier physics interactions overall (based on videos I've seen), so I'm wondering if the way the vehicles are designed individually is what is causing it. The cars have such tiny tires and are so close to the ground, they can't really go anywhere vertically. Does the game simulate any kind of suspension for the cars? That could be part of it too, along with having objects transfer energy into each other more realistically (a heavy thing bumping a light thing can make it move an awful lot). Enhanced sound effects could help tremendously too. I would also like to see more movement of the player's body when driving\riding\crashing... especially on the motorcycles. If you want to maintain the forgiving feeling of the physics (not having to worry about flying off your motorcycle during a crash) you could simply have the legs\butt come free from the seat so the rider flaps around a bit. Would make it much more entertaining to watch. :)

For what it's worth, the description of the game is this:
"Wobbly Life is a lively open world physics based sandbox."
And the picture shows crazy stuff happening with a car flying through the air.
Physics... specifically vehicle physics... are a big deal for a game with this description! :)

Thank you for your time!

[pearce64]

Originally posted by Ozzuneoj:

Originally posted by pearce64:

I own both games and to be honest I much prefer Wobbly Life. Totally Reliable Service is much harder to get into and the controls feel they are not finished.

As I said right after what you quoted, I feel exactly the same way. The controls in TRDS are very frustrating and it's hard to get things to work properly... but that is more of a gameplay balancing thing. They have done little to fix these problems in a year. There are lots of games with physics systems that balance playability, realism and excitement so that everyone can enjoy the game. It seems like TRDS goes very far one way to make it crazy but playability suffers significantly. Wobbly Life seems to go very much the opposite direction, as explained earlier. It's quite playable, it just isn't very exciting to do much of anything with the physics.

Another game that has a very good balance of vehicle physics is Teardown, though that is much more toward the realistic side (and far more resource heavy).

Originally posted by tommohawkaction:

Thank you so much for this, honestly this helps us to progress to make the game better for when we come out of Early Access.

The vehicle crashing, you are totally right. I'll have a look at that and see what I can do.
As for everything else you are also correct, we need to make these improvements.

I'll see what I can do

Thanks for helping us make the game better

All the best,
Tom

Thank you for the reply! I really appreciate it.

I see some others have said they don't think it needs changed, and I respect that. It's up to you as the developer to determine whether it's worth your time or not. I honestly think if you were to enhance the physics in a way that maintains playability and accessibility while also making it more exciting, people would just like it more. There's no reason the current gameplay has to suffer by adding more detailed physics.

It seems like some of the negative reviews for the game lean toward it being boring or there not being anything to do once you've done jobs. By making the game world itself exciting to play with (through the physics engine), you add a lot to the replayability, especially for multiplayer. This could be an answer to many of those negatives.

Just some ideas.... It seems like the monster truck gives much crazier physics interactions overall (based on videos I've seen), so I'm wondering if the way the vehicles are designed individually is what is causing it. The cars have such tiny tires and are so close to the ground, they can't really go anywhere vertically. Does the game simulate any kind of suspension for the cars? That could be part of it too, along with having objects transfer energy into each other more realistically (a heavy thing bumping a light thing can make it move an awful lot). Enhanced sound effects could help tremendously too. I would also like to see more movement of the player's body when driving\riding\crashing... especially on the motorcycles. If you want to maintain the forgiving feeling of the physics (not having to worry about flying off your motorcycle during a crash) you could simply have the legs\butt come free from the seat so the rider flaps around a bit. Would make it much more entertaining to watch. :)

For what it's worth, the description of the game is this:
"Wobbly Life is a lively open world physics based sandbox."
And the picture shows crazy stuff happening with a car flying through the air.
Physics... specifically vehicle physics... are a big deal for a game with this description! :)

Thank you for your time!

I agree there is scope to utilise the game physics, but the balance has to be carefully considered. Otherwise it will shift the game towards games like carmageddon/GTA

However it is true that the Thumbnail in Steam leans more to crazy things happening....showing a wobbly Life Character hanging off a plane, being hit by a car Flying over a bridge.

I think there is plenty of variety in missions (paper boy round) is one good example but more is welcomed in this style.....

Maybe as a suggestion, what about if parts of the vehicle fell off after bumping, and you have to use money to repair them cars in a garage?

Maybe some of the other ideas that have been posted in the forums need to be considered such as as Fire brigade Rescue, Mountain Rescue, Police Chase?

All good ideas to take the excellent game forward.....

[Ozzuneoj]

Originally posted by pearce64:

Originally posted by Ozzuneoj:

As I said right after what you quoted, I feel exactly the same way. The controls in TRDS are very frustrating and it's hard to get things to work properly... but that is more of a gameplay balancing thing. They have done little to fix these problems in a year. There are lots of games with physics systems that balance playability, realism and excitement so that everyone can enjoy the game. It seems like TRDS goes very far one way to make it crazy but playability suffers significantly. Wobbly Life seems to go very much the opposite direction, as explained earlier. It's quite playable, it just isn't very exciting to do much of anything with the physics.

Another game that has a very good balance of vehicle physics is Teardown, though that is much more toward the realistic side (and far more resource heavy).



Thank you for the reply! I really appreciate it.

I see some others have said they don't think it needs changed, and I respect that. It's up to you as the developer to determine whether it's worth your time or not. I honestly think if you were to enhance the physics in a way that maintains playability and accessibility while also making it more exciting, people would just like it more. There's no reason the current gameplay has to suffer by adding more detailed physics.

It seems like some of the negative reviews for the game lean toward it being boring or there not being anything to do once you've done jobs. By making the game world itself exciting to play with (through the physics engine), you add a lot to the replayability, especially for multiplayer. This could be an answer to many of those negatives.

Just some ideas.... It seems like the monster truck gives much crazier physics interactions overall (based on videos I've seen), so I'm wondering if the way the vehicles are designed individually is what is causing it. The cars have such tiny tires and are so close to the ground, they can't really go anywhere vertically. Does the game simulate any kind of suspension for the cars? That could be part of it too, along with having objects transfer energy into each other more realistically (a heavy thing bumping a light thing can make it move an awful lot). Enhanced sound effects could help tremendously too. I would also like to see more movement of the player's body when driving\riding\crashing... especially on the motorcycles. If you want to maintain the forgiving feeling of the physics (not having to worry about flying off your motorcycle during a crash) you could simply have the legs\butt come free from the seat so the rider flaps around a bit. Would make it much more entertaining to watch. :)

For what it's worth, the description of the game is this:
"Wobbly Life is a lively open world physics based sandbox."
And the picture shows crazy stuff happening with a car flying through the air.
Physics... specifically vehicle physics... are a big deal for a game with this description! :)

Thank you for your time!

I agree there is scope to utilise the game physics, but the balance has to be carefully considered. Otherwise it will shift the game towards games like carmageddon/GTA

However it is true that the Thumbnail in Steam leans more to crazy things happening....showing a wobbly Life Character hanging off a plane, being hit by a car Flying over a bridge.

I think there is plenty of variety in missions (paper boy round) is one good example but more is welcomed in this style.....

Maybe as a suggestion, what about if parts of the vehicle fell off after bumping, and you have to use money to repair them cars in a garage?

Maybe some of the other ideas that have been posted in the forums need to be considered such as as Fire brigade Rescue, Mountain Rescue, Police Chase?

All good ideas to take the excellent game forward.....

I agree completely. It needs to be a careful balance.

I like your suggestions!

[Ozzuneoj]

Small update. I finally got to play some split screen with my daughter and she loves the game! Still feel like the physics interactions could be a bit more exciting, but exploring the world and doing jobs is definitely fun. It was a "new" game tonight, but I think it will keep her (our) interest for a while. :)

She was laughing hysterically while flipping around the swing... especially when I got in the way and she sent me through the air. :D

The accessibility of the game for younger players is certainly nice. I also love the way the secret presents are handled per-player on local, so that one person doesn't horde all the bonus money.

She was struggling with the camera a bit (we mainly play games with a mouse+keyboard or touch screen), but she was doing much better after an hour or so. Would be nice to have a screen to adjust the sensitivity for gamepad and mouse separately for split screen play, as well as to see or adjust the gamepad controls... but I'm sure those are coming.

Thanks for the fun game! I will definitely be looking forward to future updates. I love seeing games like this progress. :)

[Willis69R]

I think some of the vehicles need to have tighter handling but other than that the current vehicle system is good.

[Imufur]

I like the current one, some physics games tend to make vehicles too jumpy and that makes transporting stuff too difficult