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Critique of Consumable Slow-Motion in SFD

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RickAvory
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Critique of Consumable Slow-Motion in SFD

Post by RickAvory » Sat Dec 26, 2020 10:32 pm

The implementation of activatable Slow-Motion has created unintended consequences following the release of Superfighters Deluxe. This is a feature that made a lot more sense in the flash game, but its addition into the Superfighters Deluxe does not work nearly as well.

Why it made sense in the Flash Version
In the flash version, you are for the most part playing against bots. These are mere ones and zeros who do not feel the effects of Slow Motion, only the player who activated it feels it. This makes a lot more sense when you are fighting bots.

In the flash game you are capable of locally playing with another player, however this is limited to just one player. Slow Motion makes a lot more sense when you are in combat with just you and your opponent. Only you and the person you are directly fighting against will feel the effects of this slomo. Even when bots are utilized, and you are utilizing slomo to fight a bot as opposed to the player, it makes sense as 2 random players completely separated from the fighting will not feel the effects of the slomo.

Slowmotion in the Flash game is by no means perfect either, and some of the same effects in Superfighters Deluxe can also be witnessed in the original Superfighters, but to a far lesser degree.

Issues Spawned by Slowmotion in Superfighters Deluxe
As briefly mentioned above, due to a game holding up to 8 players, when Slow Motion is activated, there will be individuals feeling the effects of the slow motion, but receiving none of the benefits from it. Thus, two random players fighting one another will be forced to slow down for an entire 5 or 10 seconds for no real reason. Superfighters is a fast paced game, and randomly slowing down the game for an entire 5 seconds, not just for the direct advantage over your opponent, but for EVERYONE in server goes against the entire nature of the game (People might disagree with me here, but although never explicitly mentioned, Superfighters is known for its fast paced gameplay always having to move quickly and think on your feet).

One thing that I think is wonderful about this game is that no matter the situation you are never predetermined to fail. This is present with any weapon such as bazookas, grenade launchers, snipers chainsaws etc. The same is present with Slow Motion however, this is an item that gives such a significant speed and reaction advantage to whoever uses it, that when used one can easily lay down a 3-4 hit melee combo with minimal risk, or block bullets etc. This forces the opponent to just run away waiting for the slomo timer to run out or just using your own to override their use of the slowmo. It leaves you effectively powerless for the entirety of the 5-10 seconds if the player is good enough. In no situation should an opponent be powerless. With a bazooka or Grenade launcher you can dodge and weave, with a chainsaw you can throw and drop, but with a slowmo all you can do is run and hide waiting for it to end.

Hence, not only are you / your opponent left essentially POWERLESS, but it completely disrupts the faced paced nature of the game and effects ALL individuals in the game regardless if they are engaging the individual that activated it.

The reason I believe Slow-motion has received such little criticism is due the following. Slow Motion is a very useful tool. It is something you need to be good at and educated in in order to utilize properly. It is often seen as something you have to tame and master as opposed to something like a bazooka that gives instantaneous carnage regardless of skill level. This agency players have differentiates it from something like Street Sweepers, because as opposed to having a robot do your bidding for the player, the player has autonomy over what they are doing. It is a lot easier to accept the latter despite the fact that slow motion can be just as bad, if not worse than Street Sweepers.

Cinematic SlowMotion
It is important to differentiate cinematic Slow Motion from consumable Slow Motion. We will define cinematic slow motion as slow motion that occurs as a result of an event happening in game, such as a barrel exploding or the match ending. Cinematic slow motion is relevant to the "action movie" like chaos that the game is advertised to have. Although it admittedly DOES slow down the game play, slow downs in game play are not inherently a bad thing. It allows for players to bask in the chaos it fits with the aesthetics of the game. Although one can argue chaotic things can occur when activating the slow motion, this is not a prerequisite to activating it. There is no real rhyme or reason why the environment has become slow motion it hasn't captured anything.

Not only this, Consumable slow mo's are longer than Cinematic Slow Mo's. Consumable slow motions can last up to 10 seconds which is far longer than the average cinematic slow motion. Even a short 5 second slow mo is longer than the cinematic slowmotion. Seconds in this game can make or break a match. Even having 1 or 2 extra seconds of slow motion can leave a sour taste in ones mouth.



I am by no means suggesting that slow motion should be removed. I Merely want to start a discussion as to why Slow-Motion is a poor feature and hopefully convince individuals that this is the case so the adequate scripts can be made and utilized in Hosted servers.
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Post by KliPeH » Sun Dec 27, 2020 12:12 am

RickAvory wrote:
Sat Dec 26, 2020 10:32 pm
As briefly mentioned above, due to a game holding up to 8 players, when Slow Motion is activated, there will be individuals feeling the effects of the slow motion, but receiving none of the benefits from it. Thus, two random players fighting one another will be forced to slow down for an entire 5 or 10 seconds for no real reason. Superfighters is a fast paced game, and randomly slowing down the game for an entire 5 seconds, not just for the direct advantage over your opponent, but for EVERYONE in server goes against the entire nature of the game [...]
This is precisely why I disable Slow-mo in my games. On the rare occasion that I do play on a different server I deliberately activate Slow-mo as soon as I get it just to piss everyone off. I might wait for someone to activate theirs first, then activate mine back to back just to fuck with the other players. It’s such a sudden shift from fast-paced gameplay to a mind-numbing halt I don’t even consider the benefits when disabling it; you lose so much control and momentum when under the effects of someone’s Slow-mo it’s outright painful to play.
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Post by RickAvory » Sun Dec 27, 2020 12:18 am

KliPeH wrote:
Sun Dec 27, 2020 12:12 am
RickAvory wrote:
Sat Dec 26, 2020 10:32 pm
As briefly mentioned above, due to a game holding up to 8 players, when Slow Motion is activated, there will be individuals feeling the effects of the slow motion, but receiving none of the benefits from it. Thus, two random players fighting one another will be forced to slow down for an entire 5 or 10 seconds for no real reason. Superfighters is a fast paced game, and randomly slowing down the game for an entire 5 seconds, not just for the direct advantage over your opponent, but for EVERYONE in server goes against the entire nature of the game [...]
This is precisely why I disable Slow-mo in my games. On the rare occasion that I do play on a different server I deliberately activate Slow-mo as soon as I get it just to piss the other players off. It’s such a sudden shift from the fast-paced nature of the game to a mind-numbingly slow one I won’t even consider the benefits; you lose so much control and momentum when under the effects of someone else’s Slow-mo it’s outright painful.
Could you provide me with the script that allows me to disable it?
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Post by KliPeH » Thu Jan 21, 2021 12:35 pm

RickAvory wrote:
Sun Dec 27, 2020 12:18 am
Could you provide me with the script that allows me to disable it?
Hey, I managed to find a backup of my scripts. I've removed my previous post so this is going to look like a bump.
The script removes both Slow-mo variants and also the Speed/Strength Boost powerups. If you want to keep the latter, delete lines 13 and 14.
https://mega.nz/file/Do8jWArb#uS1Y8-86l ... TR9CGRmdh4

Cheers!
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Post by Gurt » Sat Jan 30, 2021 10:31 am

We had a lot more ideas how the slow-motion would work differently from SF to give you various benifits. But we just kept encounter technical difficulties so it kinda ended up as a cinematic slow-motion like in SF. One of the few things that actually works is your own bullets traveling somewhat faster during your own slow-motion.
The speed boots is a rest from old ideas for slow-motion that didn't work out but worked as a separate item.
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