Hang Ability Drop Control?

[jasontuttle]

Hi Justin,

I'm trying to setup the hang ability on my character and I'm finding the movements very difficult to control. I'm developing for mobile, and I have the left hand side of my iPhone's screen set up as a joystick style movement control (via Control Freak 2). I can get my character to jump up and hang, shimmy left and right, transfer up to a ledge above, as well as pull up and and stand. What I can't seem to do is get my character to transfer down to a ledge below. No matter what I try, the downward swipe motion (vertical swipes are mapped to the vertical axis) causes the character to drop, every time. Not sure what's going on, but I was wondering how you setup/tested the hang ability with mobile controls. Do you have any tips on making it work well?

Also, if I can't get downward transfers to work well with touch controls, I was wondering if there was a way to disable dropping from a hang entirely. I have my character setup so that he can break out of a hang by jumping, and I'm fine with that. I don't really need him to be able to drop via a downward swipe. Is there any way to disable dropping from a hang entirely, leaving jump as the only escape option?

Thanks!

 

[jasontuttle]

Hi Justin,

I've spent the afternoon working on this again, and it seems like the Minimum/Maximum Start Offsets are what's causing my problem. Unfortunately, I'm finding the documentation a bit unclear. I really don't understand how these values work. Also, looking at the Nolan character in the demo scene I see 2 states that seem to adjust these values when the character is hanging and airborne.

Would it be possible for you to elaborate a little further on how best to work with these values? Maybe do a quick YouTube video walking us through the setup and parameters?

Also, is there any way to get the hang debug lines to draw when the character is not transferring up or down. The way they seem to work now is that they flash for just an instant before the character moves making it very difficult to see where they line up relative to the hang points.

Any help here would be greatly appreciated. The hang ability is very cool, but it seems quite hard to setup/debug.

Thanks!!

 

[Justin]

The sensitivity is likely the cause - the character will drop whenever the raw input vector is less than 0. I'll add a sensitivity option so you can increase the magnitude of this value.

I don't really need him to be able to drop via a downward swipe. Is there any way to disable dropping from a hang entirely, leaving jump as the only escape option?

Yes, you can disable drop with the Allowed Movements enum.

I've spent the afternoon working on this again, and it seems like the Minimum/Maximum Start Offsets are what's causing my problem. Unfortunately, I'm finding the documentation a bit unclear. I really don't understand how these values work. Also, looking at the Nolan character in the demo scene I see 2 states that seem to adjust these values when the character is hanging and airborne.

The offsets relate to how the ability can start - once the ability is started they have no effect.

 

[jasontuttle]

The sensitivity is likely the cause - the character will drop whenever the raw input vector is less than 0. I'll add a sensitivity option so you can increase the magnitude of this value.

A sensitivity option would be great! Thanks!!

The offsets relate to how the ability can start - once the ability is started they have no effect.

I was hoping the offsets would help solve my transfer down problem. My character transfers smoothly and cleanly in the up direction, and pulls up to a standing position, as well. What doesn't seem to work is transferring down. Does that make sense? Is there a setting I'm missing somewhere? If the character can transfer up between a series of successive ledges vertically, what might prevent him from transferring back down through the same series of ledges?

Again, any help here would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Justin]

Is there any way to do that?

There currently is not, but I'll add it to the next update.

What doesn't seem to work is transferring down. Does that make sense? Is there a setting I'm missing somewhere? If the character can transfer up between a series of successive ledges vertically, what might prevent him from transferring back down through the same series of ledges?

Could it be root motion related? The actual movement is done with root motion.

 

[jasontuttle]

Could it be root motion related? The actual movement is done with root motion.

I'll take a look at root motion. Thanks!

 

[jasontuttle]

Just saw an update was available for the Agility Pack. Downloading now...

This update includes the following:

• Added DropToStart as an Allowed Hang Movement. This will require you to update Hang.AllowedMovements if you want to allow the character to drop to stop.
• Hang can specify a sensitivity for switching states

Thanks Justin!!