COMMUNITY - FORUMS - GENERAL DISCUSSION
How important is the parkour system to you?

I just thought i'd bring this up as an open discussion, because it kind of came out of left field to me when I saw it being prominently displayed in the most recent demo.

When I first heard about CoE and began reading about all the potential it had as a sandbox; the wars, the exploration, the wildlife, the expansion of great nations and the politics between the them... I just didn't envision parkour being that big a part of the game.

It seemed to be the premier mechanic on display when we looked at the most recent demo of Silver Run, which, to me, was surprising.

I don't know anything about coding, so I have no great intuition on how much has gone into the parkour system, but at face value it looks quite sophisticated. I guess I didn't expect it to be such a highlight of the game, and now I feel like i've been missing Q&As and Dev Journals that were hyping it up all along.

I am curious as to the community's overall interest in parkour in CoE.

Going forward, is this something you all are excited to have fleshed out? Was this a game mechanic you were eagerly anticipating in CoE and hope gets expounded upon, even if it meant other things might take a backseat to it?

4/21/2017 1:34:57 PM #31

I'm interested in it for sure - I want to have an adventurer character that's as agilic as a Ninja , scaling mountains , rooftops and fences to seek for treasure , find shortcuts to beat other people to certain places or to simply gather info !

I can't wait :)


4/21/2017 2:24:39 PM #32

It was sweet, but I want the cake, not just some frosting.

Is it just parkour for parkour's sake?...Then i'm not that interested. I hope it was just to grab attention at PAX and they move on to more important things.

If it's a starting point for fluid character animations and realistic movement/combat with an interactive environment?...Then it is a great start and keep up the good work. Can't wait to see the finished product.

Now back to the kitchen with you. Keep baking!!!


We Are The Many... We Are The One... We Are THE WAERD !!!

4/21/2017 5:11:01 PM #33

I'm hoping that the Parkour system won't require that all the ledges that are accessible to be used with the system, to look like they are covered in a layer of bird droppings. I get it from a tutorial scenario perspective, but at the same time if that's what people see in the demo/tutorial then people will expect to see it in the world at large when CoE comes out.

Hopefully as you develop the system, you will come up with "Parkour vision" or something based on your skill level, or some other method of denoting where you can climb.


4/21/2017 5:18:06 PM #34

as long as the game doesn't devolve into combat being determined by which side has the most Cirque de Soleil acrobatic performers, i'm fine with it

i'd like to see parkour as a skill rather than everybody being able to leap over buildings etc, but that's just my take on it


4/21/2017 5:18:58 PM #35

It's quite important to me for a few perhaps off-kilter reasons, but I didn't actually realise that until I noticed this thread and decided to have a look.

One of the big pulls for the game for me is PvP, another is dungeon building. Parkour is relative to both, because it gives us an idea of how movement and spatial interaction will be. If combat works seamlessly with parkour, dextrous combat will be absolutely incredible. If jumping and general acrobatics hold to the same logic and gravity system as that displayed in Silver Run, you could in theory set up combat arenas devoted entirely to aerial combat, with fighters making passes at each other through the air while navigating, changing direction/elevation and seeking advantage through the use of poles and other props. Fighters could use walls, roof decor (read: chandeliers), furniture... even the ground-elevation level itself to gain an advantage in general combat. If you can do a knee-slide under a table and combo into an upward push to throw it at your opponent, or combo into a spin-slash with a heavier weapon to break the legs in order to disrupt the footing of anyone on it, to give an example... the whole system would allow a degree of freedom, choice, and room to improvise in combat that has literally never been seen before in a game of this sort.

That's just looking at a couple of very basic mechanic examples that would not require finicky coding for specific circumstances, but simply setting up general rules and manouvres and letting physics take care of the rest. With those sorts of mechanics, combat takes on the dynamic, hectic pace that is characteristic of great combat motion picture experiences and makes the fighting feel real, or better.

That's just PvP. For dungeon construction, you have a whole arena of possibility ranging from mildly dramatic to purely ridiculous. Log/piston traps designed to cripple would have the secondary, hilarious effect of propelling someone at high speed through the air; death drops could be designed in such a way that a dextrous enough character can wall-run the way down to the ground to avoid damage, taking advantage of concealed footholds to slow their descent enough to not die. Players could use traps and moving dungeon parts as props to grab and jump from - a swinging axe over a narrow bridge might be a shortcut to the top of the wall it stops at, for example, or a means to gain the speed you need to leap the last of the distance to the next bridge across.

There's a lot of possibility if they take that route. Too much to delve into, really. Even if not, simple parkour enables a great degree of freedom in movement and gives us a rough idea of the level of gravity in the game, which in turn means people can start planning their builds and combat styles accordingly. We might see combat styles less like Dark Souls and more like stuff like RWBY if the combat pacing and spacing is factored in by the pledgers who're looking to create martial arts.


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4/21/2017 8:24:59 PM #36

As someone who messes around in Wurm Online, I can say from a personal perspective that even jumping you do miss when it's gone. It's not something I ever look for in games, but when it's there it's got potential for adding a lot more fun, be it exploration, building, hiding things, fighting etc.

So for me, I'll have to give SBS credit. I've seen the parkour demo, and I'm loving the possibilities.

For those planning to embrace deviant skills, you more than any should be lapping up the potential of this one, but I think it's got great fun potential for all of us and adds a bit more depth that's lacking in many MMOs..


4/21/2017 8:28:53 PM #37

One of my favorite things to do in MMOs is wander off to the nearest mountain and see how far the devs will let me climb. I love trying to find spots in the geometry where I can keep going up... looking for that really great view, finding those little bits the design team added that most players never see, etc.

But it bugs me that climbing in most games is really just jumping. It looks funny at times, and it's frustrating when you can't get onto a ledge just slightly higher than waist level above you because you can't use your hands and arms at all.

So I am looking forward to the parkour system for that reason alone - improving my mountain climbing/exploring experience, and making me feel like I've really solved the puzzle of a mountain when I get to the top.


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4/21/2017 8:32:52 PM #38

I think it is great, and probably key for a lot of the movement "outdoors" type of stuff that we are going to be able to do.

I wonder if once they realized that they were going to allow us to manipulate our environment (scaling walls, mountains, etc) then they needed something like this as a mechanic.


4/21/2017 10:23:50 PM #39

Not important at all. I'll use it if it's there, I enjoy some games that feature it prominently. But I think it's quite likely to feel contrived and gamey in that you can do impossible things in certain places where it's allowed and can't do relatively easy things in other places.

Also it's one of those things that in an RPG only characters with highly developed abilities should be able to do well, but it takes a lot of development time so everyone will be able to do it.


4/21/2017 10:32:33 PM #40

It just adds another dimension to the game. Thieves and assassins and perhaps spelunker types will no doubt make tremendous use of the feature.


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4/22/2017 3:02:52 AM #41

Posted By Dleatherus at 1:18 PM - Fri Apr 21 2017

as long as the game doesn't devolve into combat being determined by which side has the most Cirque de Soleil acrobatic performers, i'm fine with it

i'd like to see parkour as a skill rather than everybody being able to leap over buildings etc, but that's just my take on it

Dick Grayson would take offense to that :)


4/22/2017 6:32:00 AM #42

I don't care much for combat, but I like parkour for it's practical uses.

Lost in a forest? Climb a tall tree to get your bearings and easily be able to navigate around the trunk for those hard to reach branches.

Harvesting your (fill in the blank fruit) tree? Now you can actually move out from the center to get those hard to reach pieces that grew away from the trunk. But watch out! If that branch isn't sturdy enough, it suddenly sucks to be you.

Working in a library and the ladder breaks/falls/gets pulled away? Well you can catch onto the shelves and climb down the hard way...



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4/22/2017 5:57:46 PM #43

Posted By ziggyspots at 4:32 PM - Sat Apr 22 2017

Working in a library and the ladder breaks/falls/gets pulled away? Well you can catch onto the shelves and climb down the hard way...

With books falling like rain and a toppling monolith of a shelf coming down on top of you? :P


To touch Divinity, one must be prepared to brave Reality.

4/22/2017 7:40:35 PM #44

Depends on how the parkour will work. i would say its all depends on the person and his character.

if a group is hunting a guy, he can clime up somewhere and camp it and kill anyone trying to get up with bow and arrow.

or for an night raid, they can climd the walls and open the gate so the others can get in.

all in all i would say 90% will probably never use this skill at all unless needed or fun. wile the rest will be using it daily to explore and kill stuff.


What goes up must come down. Make something idiot-proof, and they will build a better idiot. If a plan is stupid, and it works, it isn't stupid.

4/23/2017 3:23:50 AM #45

This was probably said but I'll say it anyway.

It's very important for an immersive world.