Game Immersion and Walk/Run Toggle

[Jawgo]

Colony Ship is a game I have personally been waiting years for, after spending 500+ hours playing its predecessor and one of my all-time favorite games: The Age of Decadence. Everything about that first game was utterly enchanting to me, and walking around in the rotting carcass of a once spectacularly fantastical world of science-magic has been one of my favorite experiences in storytelling, in any medium. So when I say I've been waiting for Colony Ship, understand that I wish to convey how desperate I have been to once again fully immerse myself in a beautifully dreadful and thought provoking dystopian setting.

But despite that desperation, when the game first released in Early Access, and unlike with Age of Decadence, I managed to convince myself that it would be worth it to wait and purchase the game at full price once completed and fully released. Such was my faith in Iron Tower and their ability to deliver another masterwork of a game. I managed to hold out for a year and a half, until this weekend I saw that the game was 20% off and I'd been feeling particularly desperate for something good to throw myself into; I caved and finally bought it.

I spent a full hour gleefully exploring the character creation screen, customizing the look of my character, reading the tooltip for each stat, skill and feat, and making my best educated guesses for how to make my first build based on what I knew from playing Age of Decadence. I was already jazzed and hadn't even actually started playing the game yet. I clicked the Start button, spent another 10 minutes carefully reading all the intro background stuff and choosing responses that will help inform my character's in-game attitudes and beliefs, becoming more and more immersed in the setting I'm about to wake up into. Finally, the game starts with my character waking up in a tiny tin apartment; the art looks amazing, and the initial dialogue describing what it's like to wake up on The Ship is grim and interesting, and I'm excited to take my first steps out and cautiously explore this dark and unforgiving world of metal and grease I've been born into...

But instead of walking out of my apartment, my character jerks forward, awkwardly attempting to lean into a full sprint to move two squares toward the door. I try to click again, one square ahead this time, and again he jerks forward trying to start sprinting and then suddenly stopping cause his destination is only one square away... immediately, I feel my stomach drop and I'm concerned, cause my immersion is being disrupted. Don't panic, I tell myself; if clicking a short distance away doesn't automatically make the character walk, then there must be a walk/run toggle. I go into the Options menu and search for it under game controls... can't find it. I hop on Google... and learn that the game has no such toggle, and simply does not feature any option or animation for walking.

I tried to ignore it. I played for 45 minutes, trying to focus on everything else the game had to offer, trying not to obsess over how awkward it looks every time my character needed to move just one or two or three squares away to talk to the next nearby NPC, watching him jerk forward into an attempt to run full speed to move only a couple of feet. After 45 minutes, I couldn't ignore it anymore. I have an anal retentive and obsessive compulsive personality, and I could not get past the fact that this Role Playing Game is missing such a basic immersive feature like walking. In Age of Decadence, I cautiously explored every new area by walking through it; it builds tension and suspense, and also just feels more realistic to walk through an area when you aren't in immediate danger. It contributes so much to immersion that I am at a complete loss as to why Iron Tower would choose to not implement it in their game that is supposed to be all about immersion.

I understand that some players may read this and think this opinion is invalid and irrelevant, because who in their right mind wants to waste time slowly walking through the game instead of moving quickly from one interaction to the next, whether it's a dialogue, environmental or combat interaction. And to that I say, that is a valid way to feel about how you wish to play the game. And if the game had been designed such that there was no option to run at all, and all you could do was walk everywhere, I would be angry on your behalf, because it would be crazy in a Role Playing Game to not have the simple option of being able to run and move about a large world more quickly, especially after it's already been explored before. But understand that the way you would feel if you couldn't run in this game, is the way I feel about not being able to walk in it.

It feels to me like... like if Iron Tower made this game and thought, "you know what, players are so short on attention span and only care about seeing numbers change in simulated combat, and seeing their stat numbers increase after combat, that we aren't even gonna bother to give the player character a human-looking body or animations; instead, the player character will just be a floating cube, dashing around the map, shooting smaller cube bullets at enemies, because immersion doesn't matter, only rushing from one interaction to the next does." That would be insane, and clearly Iron Tower would never do that because immersion DOES matter to them in their story and experience-driven games. Which is why it baffles me that they would choose not to include a walk/run toggle and walking animation. For me, it almost breaks the immersion as much as if the main character were just a floating cube.

As a result, I ended up refunding the game. This game that I have been waiting years and years for, that has occupied my #1 spot on my Steam wishlist from the first day it was possible to add it. I realize that as a developer reading this, you may feel angry that all the work you have done to create what seems like a really amazing game ends up boiling down to being judged solely on one seemingly innocuous feature. I get that that's messed up, because I do still have faith that otherwise, you have created another incredible game. But I just can't look past the lack of a walking feature. Your last game had it; hell, just import that same old, stiff walking animation from Age of Decadence into Colony Ship, I would accept that if it would be too much of a strain on developmental assets to create a new walking animation. As it stands though, I just can't do without it.

So what is the actual point of this absurdly long rant about something that probably most players don't care is missing from the game? Well I guess the point was to express how important this missing feature is to me, and to ask the All Mighty Devs, who created one of my favorite games of all time, if they would reconsider implementing a walking feature into this one as well. Because if they would be willing to at least consider it, and indicate that it may be something they implement later on when more important developmental priorities are met, then I would turn right around and repurchase the game, even at a higher price point later on, and hold out hope for a walk/run toggle to be implemented down the line.

[Vince]

Originally posted by Jawgo:

I realize that as a developer reading this, you may feel angry that all the work you have done to create what seems like a really amazing game ends up boiling down to being judged solely on one seemingly innocuous feature.

No, not an angry. Sad that someone who really liked our first game couldn't enjoy Colony Ship, but there isn't much we can do about it at the moment or perhaps ever.

Your last game had it; hell, just import that same old, stiff walking animation from Age of Decadence into Colony Ship...

Unfortunately, that's not how it works.

Which is why it baffles me that they would choose not to include a walk/run toggle and walking animation. For me, it almost breaks the immersion as much as if the main character were just a floating cube.

Our animator passed away in the middle of development. The emotional impact of losing a friend we worked with for 14 years aside, it meant that we had a pile of unfinished work that had to be 'deciphered' and finished. We managed to find another animator to continue, but some plans had to be scrapped, others put on hold.

...if they would reconsider implementing a walking feature into this one as well.

It's not about considering or reconsidering something. It's about having very limited resources and being forced to compromise in order to survive and continue.

Obviously, if we could wave a magic wand and add a walking/running toggle, we would do it in a heartbeat. It's not the kind of thing that any developer would be adamantly against.

Unfortunately, we don't have such a wand and thus I can't promise you anything at this point . If I have to guess, I'd say 'most likely', but most likely isn't a promise as it can easily turn into 'sorry, didn't have time/resources' and I don't want to lie to you to make another sale.

[Jawgo]

Oh man... I am so very sorry to hear that Vince. That is absolutely terrible, and my heart goes out to all of you for losing a friend and coworker. I never even considered the possibility that something like this might be the reason why this feature was missing, and I feel like a proper A-hole crashing into this forum and opening up a painful wound for you all.

Thank you though, for sharing this information with us. For me and for anyone else who might have cared about this missing (and now very trivial-feeling) game feature, this news changes the perspective on it entirely. And as for my support via game purchase, you have it. Knowing that you would like to implement the feature if possible is good enough, and is really all I was hoping for. I, like many of us out here, do want to see you guys survive and thrive.

Good luck with the remainder of the game development. And thank you again, for having taken the time to read through my absurdly long and possibly too heavy handed post. Also for addressing parts of it with difficult-to-share insight into the adversity your team has had to face.

[madh]

Dear Jawgo, you'd be missing an incredible title if you can't get past the walking gripe. I'm not trying to invalidate your opinion, quite the contrary, I get it and have felt similarly about flaws in other games, but Colony Ship is damn near a masterpiece.

[BaneofMills]

I agree, the game as a whole is worth having to deal with an aggressive movement animation. Try not to focus on where your character is, but where he is going.

[Stroller]

I'll be brief; I (unfortunately) feel exactly the same as the OP. I thought about whether I should make this known here, because the lack of this option has a sad background and it has already been said that it will probably stay that way. But fact is, I can't enjoy the atmosphere and the game like this. I am sorry.

[Vince]

Your feedback and preferences are noted, we'll look into it when we have time (when the content is done). I can't promise anything at this point but if we can add such a toggle without it becoming a major project, we will.

[Stroller]

Originally posted by Vince:

Your feedback and preferences are noted, we'll look into it when we have time (when the content is done). I can't promise anything at this point but if we can add such a toggle without it becoming a major project, we will.

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my feedback. I am aware that I could use the teleport feature more often, or that I just try to ignore it. Maybe I'll be able to do that when I start the game again when it's finished. But either way - I won't be asking for a refund because I think that even if I won't be able to play the game because of such a 'banality', there should be more games like this. Unfortunately, this type of game has become rarer and rarer in recent years. For the time being, however, I'll stick with AoD, which is a great game btw. - gives me this 'Ultima- vibes' of sorts, which is really, really great :)

[Stroller]

Originally posted by Vince:

Your feedback and preferences are noted, we'll look into it when we have time (when the content is done). I can't promise anything at this point but if we can add such a toggle without it becoming a major project, we will.

Hi, now that you have a release date, what about the 'walk/run' issue? Have you been able to address this?

[Vince]

We didn't have time to do it yet as the focus is still on the remaining content. We'll definitely look into it the moment the content is done.

[Wrath of Dagon]

I can't enjoy the game unless I can have my party wearing chaps only. It ruins my immersion.

[Stroller]

Originally posted by Vince:

We didn't have time to do it yet as the focus is still on the remaining content. We'll definitely look into it the moment the content is done.

Thx for answering

[Okamoto]

Hey Vince, this thread gave me an idea.

Instead of fixing the running/walking animation(which doesn't need any fixing, really) or adding a toogle after release, you should add a perk like this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zXNcX06oZE

I'd buy half a dozen more copies of the game and gift it to my friends if you did it(I'd pay you a million dollars if I was rich, but since I'm poor, that's the best I can offer).

[TotallyNotEvilBean]

The characters should instantly teleport to cursor at all times also there should be constantly flashing lights to cause epileptic seizures in users who play the game.

[Elhoim]

Alright, that's enough.