Animation Speed & Dead Time

[KingHoot]

So I was mega hyped for the game after watching various streams, checked an RPS review while I was finishing up the game download and the major complaint seemed to be the amount of "dead time" that exists during battles. I figured the review was subjective and judging from previous reviews by the same guy I figured he was just exaggerating.

Booted up the game only to discover that, man, he was not. There is so much dead time in this game. After reading around this seems to be a fairly common complaint when it comes to what is otherwise a pretty good game.

This isn't about the pace of combat or the mechanics of the game. It's a TBS. I love TBS. This is about the animations and the amount of time the game forces you to just sit and watch with nothing to do. Even after turning off all of the cinematic cues (shoulder cam on moving, firing, etc) I still found myself just sitting wishing the game would catch up to me.

I mean, after firing why do I have to zoom in to an enemy Mech / wrecked Mech / destroyed vehicle and just watch it for 5 seconds, doing nothing? Why isn't there just a combat log to tell me quickly what happened without making me watch temporary pop-ups above an enemy to find out what happened after I fired? Why do I have to watch the same thing every time an enemy fires? Why is there a "Your Turn" punctuation screen and pause between my own Mechs that can act in the same phase? Why can't I just move a Mech and fire then move my other Mech and fire, watch the popups (in lieu of a combat log) from a distance then have the next turn begin immediately? Maybe by just a quick flash message instead of a pause, zoom out, display "Your Turn" screen type deal?

These are the things I'm on about and they become compounded when there are 8+ Mechs that need to act each round. Many of these issues could be solved by adding in a combat log and an option to just disable the far too long "Hey, look at this Mech for a few seconds every time something happens!" animation sequences.

Slow paced combat and clunky animations to emphasise the weight and tonnage of the Mechs is fine, this is the nature of the game, but making the player sit around watching something they don't need to sit and watch is not fine. It should be a case of "move, fire, turn resolves & combat log updates simultaneously, next turn starts". No slowdown. No pause. No sitting looking at a vehicle wreck or a slightly swaying Mech for 5 seconds every single time you fire a weapon.

Like if I want, I should be able to completely disable "zoom" on fire and just look at what's happening from a standard top down tactical view. This doesn't mean I want the animations to stop, I just want them to happen without the game doing the equivalent of grabbing me by the neck and going "WATCH THIS! NO, KEEP WATCHING, DON'T TURN AWAY YET, DON'T CLICK THAT BUTTON YET!".

Anyway, got to the point where I knew this was gonna niggle me to no end, so I refunded the game...BUT...I would re-buy it in a heartbeat if these issues were resolved and actions, rounds and turns flowed smoothly into each other without this forced dead time.

To any developers reading, do you have any plans to address these issues going forward?

P.S. I'm really conscious of some people not "getting it" when I talk about this. No, I'm not talking about the speed of the Mechs. No, I don't think Mechs should be flying around on wires like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Mech. No, I don't care that visual feedback for hits that don't shear off limbs is minimal. No, this isn't about attention span or not wanting to think about my moves. This is about not wanting to spend most of my gaming time waiting for a turn to resolve, watching animations finish and staring at a ruined Mech/vehicle after the turn is done. These seconds may not seem like much, but they add up incredibly fast and get old equally fast.

A link to the review : https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2018/04/24/battletech-review-pc/

 

[MacroNova]

I hope that if people don't agree with this opinion they will at least acknowledge its validity. I am enjoying the game quite a lot, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't appreciate a snappier experience when it comes to these animations.

 

[gruese]

I hope that if people don't agree with this opinion they will at least acknowledge its validity. I am enjoying the game quite a lot, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't appreciate a snappier experience when it comes to these animations.

Same. I've enjoyed the game so far, but it's a valid criticism.

 

[KingHoot]

Glad to see I wasn't alone in wishing for more fluidity and less waiting around

 

[King Travis]

My question is, as a developer and after playing a game like xcom (which obviously had influence on this game) how could you not notice this? What about playtesters? I dont understand. I hate how it pauses after you hit a mech and then it does other animations.

 

[Leone - Raid Leader]

To be fair, it's great the first few times. It just, you know, bogs down the otherwise fluid gameplay. For a few hours, yeah, sure, I could see it being not so noticable but after a string of missions it starts to really stand out. I mean, don't get me wrong, I still only plan on sleeping twice between launch and the weekend, but those late night gaming marathons are alot harder with the dead time built in. During the day or just after work, yeah, I can read or some such whilst gaming, but late into the night? Naw, for me I need the constant engagement with the game to keep me going, and those little extra pauses just make it that much harder.

~Leone.

 

[KingHoot]

Appreciate the comments. I really hope this particular issue doesn't go unnoticed by the developers (or the community at large) because it's something that will inevitably hurt more the longer it remains unchanged.

I mean for a lot of people right now they have that "new game hype" that kinda blots out a lot of niggles with a game you've really been looking forward to. I've had it happen to me before for sure, defended a game to the hilt, faults and all only to realise later that the criticisms I was reading were actually valid. I think I've just played that many TBS games over the years I feel it keenly when a game wastes time with animations and turn resolution.

 

[Abydos_1]

It gets old when experienced enough of it yes. My biggest beef however, regarding wasting time, is flight between planets. I would give half my arm for a fast forward button. As for combat cam, it should just be limited to kill-shots and head-shots, rest combat log would be fine.

 

[Namsera]

It hasn't really bothered me too much, but I can definitely see how people would get annoyed. At the very least, being able to fiddle around with menus or the HUD while animations played would help with the waiting. That way we could plan future moves. Just a thought.

 

[CarpeMortis]

I recall from the stream of @HBS_Eck vs @AldathPDX, that Eck had a speed multiplier dev tool of some sort turned on at the beginning... He turns it off almost immediately, but you can see it in action here.

 

[CatBug]

Yes, A 'Fast' mode or/and cut the [Mod Edit: Language] option is needed for sure. 40-50% is just fluff which i care jack crap about.

Bar that, I'm happy with the result

 

[AldathPDX]

I recall from the stream of @HBS_Eck vs @AldathPDX, that Eck had a speed multiplier dev tool of some sort turned on at the beginning... He turns it off almost immediately, but you can see it in action here.

Honestly, it's hard for me also to play without that "Speed" tool when I'm at home , I tend to use it a lot in my personal playthrough, although it breaks the immersion a little bit.

Currently, there's no slider to customize the 'Mech movement speed in the game, but you can customize (and disable) most of the animations with the sliders in the Gameplay Settings, which will considerably speed up your game.

 

[Eleihun]

I just saw the youtube match myself and I can guarantee this speed multiplier is why the speed issue was not picked up during QA. Everyone was using it. It's probably been ages since anyone internally had to play the 'actual' game without it, and then when they had to it felt relatively fresh as it wasn't slow ALL the time. I work in IT (ERP systems not games... mores the pity!) and internally when we test a final release it is 'just like production'. No shortcuts to make testing easier.

This to me is the biggest peeve. The matches just take WAY longer then they should.

I can even overlook not being able to skip the system jump cut scene - but this in match slowness is a massive drag.

Otherwise I'm really enjoying it!

 

[Jaidenhaze]

Honestly, it's hard for me also to play without that "Speed" tool when I'm at home , I tend to use it a lot in my personal playthrough, although it breaks the immersion a little bit.

Currently, there's no slider to customize the 'Mech movement speed in the game, but you can customize (and disable) most of the animations with the sliders in the Gameplay Settings, which will considerably speed up your game.

For future updates, we should be able to turn off all zoom-in-animations, make movement from non-discovered units that are moving instant and generally decrease downtime between animations for a smoother experience.

 

[Inquizitor]

I recall from the stream of @HBS_Eck vs @AldathPDX, that Eck had a speed multiplier dev tool of some sort turned on at the beginning... He turns it off almost immediately, but you can see it in action here.

What would really be nice is if they kept it as it is but the player has the option to press space to make the mech speed up like that so if i want to enjoy the scenery or whatnot I can but if I want those convoys to hurry the heck up I can do that too.

 

[praxisseizure]

LOL.. OP is very right. Pls give us the option to turn neck grabby camera off. I thought we could but it doesn't matter in practice.

 

[AldathPDX]

I just saw the youtube match myself and I can guarantee this speed multiplier is why the speed issue was not picked up during QA. Everyone was using it. It's probably been ages since anyone internally had to play the 'actual' game without it, and then when they had to it felt relatively fresh as it wasn't slow ALL the time. I work in IT (ERP systems not games... mores the pity!) and internally when we test a final release it is 'just like production'. No shortcuts to make testing easier.

This to me is the biggest peeve. The matches just take WAY longer then they should.

I can even overlook not being able to skip the system jump cut scene - but this in match slowness is a massive drag.

Otherwise I'm really enjoying it!

You're wrong there. Come on, man, you can't just assume that everyone is using a speed cheat while testing. As a general rule, we CANNOT use that while testing, we need to test features as a customer would unless we need to quickly reach a specific part of a mission and then deactivate it in order to test something else. And as I said in my previous message, I only use that while playing the game at home, in my PERSONAL playthrough.

Another thing: QA is not responsible for the design of the game. We can flag issues, report bugs and give design feedback, but it's up to the devs to analyze the risks of each fix and prioritize them. If you work in the IT field, you should also know that fixing one bug or adding a feature has risks and it can break multiple other features that worked perfectly.

I'd be all up for having a slider which would allow me to adjust the combat speed, but all in due time and after it has been properly tested. I'd guess the priority right now is to help everyone to (at least) be able to play the game. Then I'm sure the game will be continuously improved for everyone's enjoyment, and all of that will also be based on feedback like the one in this thread.

 

[KingHoot]

Honestly, it's hard for me also to play without that "Speed" tool when I'm at home , I tend to use it a lot in my personal playthrough, although it breaks the immersion a little bit.

Currently, there's no slider to customize the 'Mech movement speed in the game, but you can customize (and disable) most of the animations with the sliders in the Gameplay Settings, which will considerably speed up your game.

I don't think you've understood my post (although I realise you were more specifically responding to another poster but I don't want this thread to get derailed or turn into a "Well, how fast do you want a 75 ton Behemoth to move?" type of thread).

It's not the movement speed of the Mechs that bothers me. It's the fact that, even with all the animation sliders turned down to "Never", I still have to sit for 3-6 seconds just looking at a wreck / stationary Mech after my weapons have fired. I still need to wait 3 seconds for the game to zoom out and display the "Your Turn" overlay even when my Mechs can act consecutively within the same phase.

As I said, there is so much dead time where the player cannot act or even survey the battlefield thanks to a locked in set of zooms and camera focuses that cannot be disabled or sped up by the options that currently exist in the game.

P.S. Regarding the "dev speed up" thing you guys are talking about, you say that at home in your personal play-through you use the speed cheat but you didn't in testing. How people play at home is what a "test" is supposed to emulate so as far as I can see surely there should have been some feedback on the "dead time" between actions, etc given to the developers when their own testers prefer to play using a version of the game with a speed toggle.

 

[AldathPDX]

(...)
P.S. Regarding the "dev speed up" thing you guys are talking about, you say that at home in your personal play-through you use the speed cheat but you didn't in testing. How people play at home is what a "test" is supposed to emulate so as far as I can see surely there should have been some feedback on the "dead time" between actions, etc given to the developers when their own testers prefer to play using a version of the game with a speed toggle.

I'm not going to quote the rest of your message because I agree with you on that. Regarding this last point, however, my latest message pretty much covers it and I'd rather not have to repeat it, but here goes the short version:
- QA gives feedback
- QA doesn't design the game

Additionally: I pretty much do whatever I want in my free time. If I want to play a game at home with a cheat, I will. If I want to play another game in max difficulty & Iron Man mode although 90% of players would play in Normal, I will. My personal life at home has nothing to do with my work.

 

[KingHoot]

I'm not going to quote the rest of your message because I agree with you on that. Regarding this last point, however, my latest message pretty much covers it and I'd rather not have to repeat it, but here goes the short version:
- QA gives feedback
- QA doesn't design the game

Additionally: I pretty much do whatever I want in my free time. If I want to play a game at home with a cheat, I will. If I want to play another game in max difficulty & Iron Man mode although 90% of players would play in Normal, I will. My personal life at home has nothing to do with my work.

I get that, man. Wasn't suggesting otherwise And like everyone else what you do in your own time is no ones business but your own. I play XCOM2 on Ironman because I literally cannot play it any other way. I get mega bored if there is no real "risk" and can't make it past a couple missions.

I also get that all you can do as a tester is test and give feedback.

All I was saying was that it's telling that a game tester (not you in particular, as even one of the Dev's probably plays with the speed up thing enabled in his own time if that YouTube link is anything to go by) prefers to play with the game "sped up", and if one person does it's likely others with that option available to them do as well.

I understand that stability and getting the game to work for folks comes first, but hopefully something like that speed option, as well as the ability to disable ALL forced zoom-ins / pauses and the addition of a combat log will come somewhere down the line. With those additions I would have no reservations about re-purchasing the game.