Restricted Sprint?

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I don't think so. Not only is encumbrance and fatigue one of the most annoying features in games (it has absolutely no place in games - if I want to feel encumbered I'll go run a marathon while carrying a washing machine), it makes literally no sense within the horror idiom. The human body is capable of almost anything in times of intense fear - if you're running away from a monster you simply are not going to stop sprinting and suddenly start walking because of a want for energy. It's possible to completely wear out your muscles (to the point where you will be permanently injured) but the body certainly prefers that to dying - so you keep going for as long as physically possible.

I agree, most of the time it's more annoying than immersive. It might be interesting though, I think, to have a similar approach for encumberance as we already have for the insanity mechanic:

I read in an interview, that when it was first implemented, going insane had real gameplay repercussions (like decreased walking speed or something like that). However, Frictional felt that this was more annoying than anything else, so they reduced it to an almost purely atmospheric feature.

I think this could also work for fatigue. Like, say, you're running away and you start hearing your characters heartbeat become faster and louder at some point, you hear his breath become ragged or maybe other sounds get muffled and you get that ringing in your ears you sometimes get when you're close to collapsing. The point being to make the player feel like he won't be able to go on for much longer without actually enforcing it. It could add another layer of tension to chase sequences without being frustrating and risking more frequent player death.

[Diz]

Restricted sprinting? If done right, sure. I do not think having an invisible sprint meter would be too beneficial. It worked nicely in The Dark Descent, I feel. It lets you not potentially think about a game mechanic limiting you, which did increase immersion for me, and one does not always think about or feel fatigue if terrified, which you might very well be throughout all of the game. =)

The Dark Descent did have some limitations for sprinting. First of all, in the start of the game, "sprinting" would almost make no difference than walking due to your condition. Whenever there is a monster in the near, sprinting will make noise, and, if one is in the near, quite often have a gatherer notice your presence or at the very least go into a more thorough and intensive search mode. This is why I actually was very careful with the sprinting function, and I very rarely used it in scary or new places. Finally, I am pretty sure that being hurt in the game would, at least occasionally, temporarily slow you down or temporarily weaken your ability to sprint. There may have been some sort of sanity thing too, but it has been a while since I played the game.

In A Machine For Pigs, I do not mind if the sprinting function was paralyzed for a few seconds when quickly spotting or staring at a monster, as long as the monster itself is slow. As in you freezing up in fear and barely being able to move. I could dig that. However, when I think about it, something like that would not be needed as I am pretty sure I will freeze up and do little to nothing on my own, then insinctively bursting off as fast as I can, placing as many continents as possible between us.

[jiersk]

I would love restricted sprint. But it has to be done right. I think that when the character gets chased by a monster he should get an adreneline rush. So he can sprint longer than normal, until he has lost the monster or something (because when you are fleeing in pure terror you can like keep running until your body really collapses), but afterwards has to recover a little longer.

[Gharren]

[quote='Hirnwirbel' pid='206574' dateline='1362745974']
[quote] I don't think so. Not only is encumbrance and fatigue one of the most annoying features in games (it has absolutely no place in games - if I want to feel encumbered I'll go run a marathon while carrying a washing machine), it makes literally no sense within the horror idiom. The human body is capable of almost anything in times of intense fear - if you're running away from a monster you simply are not going to stop sprinting and suddenly start walking because of a want for energy.[/quote]
Maybe there should be some kind of "adrenaline mode" which deactivates any restrictions, e.g. if the player is chased by a monster. Maybe with increased running speed, but negative effects when this mode ends.

[jiersk]

[quote='Hirnwirbel' pid='206574' dateline='1362745974']

I don't think so. Not only is encumbrance and fatigue one of the most annoying features in games (it has absolutely no place in games - if I want to feel encumbered I'll go run a marathon while carrying a washing machine), it makes literally no sense within the horror idiom. The human body is capable of almost anything in times of intense fear - if you're running away from a monster you simply are not going to stop sprinting and suddenly start walking because of a want for energy.

Maybe there should be some kind of "adrenaline mode" which deactivates any restrictions, e.g. if the player is chased by a monster. Maybe with increased running speed, but negative effects when this mode ends.

I agree 100%

[7heDubz]

[quote='Hirnwirbel' pid='206574' dateline='1362745974']

I don't think so. Not only is encumbrance and fatigue one of the most annoying features in games (it has absolutely no place in games - if I want to feel encumbered I'll go run a marathon while carrying a washing machine), it makes literally no sense within the horror idiom. The human body is capable of almost anything in times of intense fear - if you're running away from a monster you simply are not going to stop sprinting and suddenly start walking because of a want for energy.

Maybe there should be some kind of "adrenaline mode" which deactivates any restrictions, e.g. if the player is chased by a monster. Maybe with increased running speed, but negative effects when this mode ends.

I agree 100%

However now, because its negative effects, it should be player activated, not jst activated when a monster comes near.

[Gharren]

[quote='Hirnwirbel' pid='206574' dateline='1362745974']

I don't think so. Not only is encumbrance and fatigue one of the most annoying features in games (it has absolutely no place in games - if I want to feel encumbered I'll go run a marathon while carrying a washing machine), it makes literally no sense within the horror idiom. The human body is capable of almost anything in times of intense fear - if you're running away from a monster you simply are not going to stop sprinting and suddenly start walking because of a want for energy.

Maybe there should be some kind of "adrenaline mode" which deactivates any restrictions, e.g. if the player is chased by a monster. Maybe with increased running speed, but negative effects when this mode ends.

I agree 100%

However now, because its negative effects, it should be player activated, not jst activated when a monster comes near.

I don't know, a player activated adrenaline mode would kinda miss it's point, wouldn't it?
You can't activate and deactivate panic as you want. Maybe there is a way to combine it with the player's sanity level.

[PutraenusAlivius]

[quote='Hirnwirbel' pid='206574' dateline='1362745974']

I don't think so. Not only is encumbrance and fatigue one of the most annoying features in games (it has absolutely no place in games - if I want to feel encumbered I'll go run a marathon while carrying a washing machine), it makes literally no sense within the horror idiom. The human body is capable of almost anything in times of intense fear - if you're running away from a monster you simply are not going to stop sprinting and suddenly start walking because of a want for energy.

Maybe there should be some kind of "adrenaline mode" which deactivates any restrictions, e.g. if the player is chased by a monster. Maybe with increased running speed, but negative effects when this mode ends.

I agree 100%

However now, because its negative effects, it should be player activated, not jst activated when a monster comes near.

I don't know, a player activated adrenaline mode would kinda miss it's point, wouldn't it?
You can't activate and deactivate panic as you want. Maybe there is a way to combine it with the player's sanity level.

Yeah, maybe the last two stages of your sanity will engage panic mode.

[felixmole]

Restricted sprinting? Well, this correlates the opinion here that sprinting gives a false impression of safety.

I remember that at the begining of my encounters, as I would run back to a safe place, I felt like I wasn't running fast enough. I had this feeling only during encounters. So this restriction doesn't seem very relevant, the most important thing is to make you feel helpless, which was the case here for me.

However the "insanity" system should be reworked a bit. I like the idea of - for example - slightly bobrolling your screen (like there is at the very begining of TDD), having an irregular speed, etc. as you lose sanity. Something noticeable so that players get to use their lantern a bit more often

[PutraenusAlivius]

Restricted sprinting? Well, this correlates the opinion here that sprinting gives a false impression of safety.

I remember that at the begining of my encounters, as I would run back to a safe place, I felt like I wasn't running fast enough. I had this feeling only during encounters. So this restriction doesn't seem very relevant, the most important thing is to make you feel helpless, which was the case here for me.

However the "insanity" system should be reworked a bit. I like the idea of - for example - slightly bobrolling your screen (like there is at the very begining of TDD), having an irregular speed, etc. as you lose sanity. Something noticeable so that players keep get to use their lantern a bit more often

Maybe have some shadows to past at low sanity? Meanwhile, what a nice font, eh? Now look at signature.