So often, in video games, people dread any swimming sections, usually citing that controls are janky and hard to work with, even if the rest of the game is smooth and works well. So, I ask, why is it so difficult to design good swimming controls/levels?
In: Technology
Honestly I never feared swimming parts for the controls, it usually resulted from there being a timer before you drown.
It is a low priority item, the player rarely spends time being in water. Resources should be spend on higher priorities.
There is nothing inherently difficult about swimming mechanics
It’s a context switching problem. Computer games are an inherently unnatural way to use your body but you spend hours conditioning yourself to it. Then you hit the water level and everything changes, everything you’ve learnt is useless and in fact possibly counter productive.
Games lend themselves well to responsive movement. Swimming is inherently unresponsive due to humans not being very capable in the water. So it’s never going to feel particularly good.
There is a correlation between input and a sense of satisfaction. Nintendo know this best. When movement is done well buttons and thumbsticks should feel like they have a very real weight to them. You can achieve this with swimming, but it’s a lot harder and unless swimming is the primary focus of your game you’re unlikely to have the time to invest in it.
It also requires considerable knowledge of game feel, character locomotion, and various areas of expertise to pull off.
Someone hasn’t played the water level on the ninja turtles for NES. You are missing out…….anyway, games that focus on water, subnautica, sunkenland, stranded deep, the swimming mechanics are very good. It’s not really a priority, unless it’s a priority.
Hated the swimming parts in tomb raider 1. Could never get the hang of it…tho the swan dive from a great height was always satisfying
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