Slowing down in caves and indoors?

[Leeanda]

Does anyone know why we start walking slower when indoors or especially in caves?   The bear cave at miners folly in particular ,even running unburdened in there  is  like running through treacle...  

[conanjaguar]

@Leeanda

Hmmm… I hadn’t noticed that,

[Leeanda]

Just now, conanjaguar said:

@Leeanda

Hmmm… I hadn’t noticed that,

It's not often it stands out ,but as I said that bear cave in ash is the most noticable..  your speed is almost cut in half..

I just find it a really strange thing to add to the game.

[A Lamp]

This slowness is in every indoors area.

It is mostly noticeable through caves and it is annoying.

[Leeanda]

I just wish I knew the reason behind it?  

[Sgt Socks]

I've noticed it a lot too. Does make one a mite irritated at times. It's like someone slakes the ground in old maple syrup.

[Guest jeffpeng]

I just know it's been around forever. But there is a rationale behind that .... I think:

The speed at which you traverse the game world is an important factor in how large you perceive it. Now inside a confined location such as a house, which is also a high resolution design opposed to the low resolution landscape, you don't want players to rush through them too quickly. On the other hand you don't want players to feel walking the miles outside to feel like drag (I mean ... more than it already is).

Now developers are lazy people. I know that for a fact since I know few people that are more lazy than I am when it comes to doing my actually assigned work (I get hyper productive every time I do something I am not technically paid for, like inventing a new asynchronous data exchange protocol for the third time this year - but I digress) . So a decision was made, probably quite early in development, to walk faster outside (or slower indoors). This is achieved in the following way, I believe:

The game tracks several indoor and outdoor "states", but there must be a flag somewhere that is dependent on whether or not the area, which likely is a coordinate box, is flagged indoors for purposes of temperature, temperature digression (or rather immunity from it) and if cureables actually curing. (Item decay depends on the scene  being generally outside or inside, cabin fever depends on .... black magic. No idea.) And it is this flag that is checked against every time the game updates to determine how far we have walked since the last frame. This is why when you cross the magic barrier most caves have, which separate the cold front from the warm back, you suddenly walk slower.

Now for the same reason we probably walk faster outside walking this slow inside feels so much like a drag if the inside location is sufficiently spacious. And by now there are a few rather spacious interiors in the game, just think of some on the transition caves. It probably would be good to amend that mechanic, but on the other hand I get why that would mean a tremendous amount of work.

And some smart person once told me that low hanging fruit is low hanging fruit, and not all fish are to be fried equal.

[Sgt Socks]

@jeffpeng

Well there's my learning for today! Thank you. It's good to know there's actually a reason for it, I'll be less grumpy about it now.

2 minutes ago, jeffpeng said:

(I get hyper productive every time I do something I am not technically paid for, like inventing a new asynchronous data exchange protocol for the third time this year - but I digress) 

Oh those asynchronous data exchange protocols do it for me too. Seriously, I have no idea what you just said 😄

[Leeanda]

12 minutes ago, jeffpeng said:

I just know it's been around forever. But there is a rationale behind that .... I think:

The speed at which you traverse the game world is an important factor in how large you perceive it. Now inside a confined location such as a house, which is also a high resolution design opposed to the low resolution landscape, you don't want players to rush through them too quickly. On the other hand you don't want players to feel walking the miles outside to feel like drag (I mean ... more than it already is).

Now developers are lazy people. I know that for a fact since I know few people that are more lazy than I am when it comes to doing my actually assigned work (I get hyper productive every time I do something I am not technically paid for, like inventing a new asynchronous data exchange protocol for the third time this year - but I digress) . So a decision was made, probably quite early in development, to walk faster outside (or slower indoors). This is achieved in the following way, I believe:

The game tracks several indoor and outdoor "states", but there must be a flag somewhere that is dependent on whether or not the area, which likely is a coordinate box, is flagged indoors for purposes of temperature, temperature digression (or rather immunity from it) and if cureables actually curing. (Item decay depends on the scene  being generally outside or inside, cabin fever depends on .... black magic. No idea.) And it is this flag that is checked against every time the game updates to determine how far we have walked since the last frame. This is why when you cross the magic barrier most caves have, which separate the cold front from the warm back, you suddenly walk slower.

Now for the same reason we probably walk faster outside walking this slow inside feels so much like a drag if the inside location is sufficiently spacious. And by now there are a few rather spacious interiors in the game, just think of some on the transition caves. It probably would be good to amend that mechanic, but on the other hand I get why that would mean a tremendous amount of work.

And some smart person once told me that low hanging fruit is low hanging fruit, and not all fish are to be fried equal.

That does make sense.i suppose. Still curious why it's so much worse at ash though. 

[Guest jeffpeng]

32 minutes ago, Leeanda said:

That does make sense.i suppose. Still curious why it's so much worse at ash though. 

I'd wager it isn't. But since that cave is very much spacious, in all three dimensions, and it also has very wide openings .... it feels that way much more than it otherwise would. But I might be totally wrong and actually there is sticky bear "stuff" on the ground that doesn't get rendered for "artistic reasons".

[Leeanda]

Just now, jeffpeng said:

I'd wager it isn't. But since that cave is very much spacious, in all three dimensions, and it also has very wide openings .... it feels that way much more than it otherwise would. But I might be totally wrong and actually there is sticky bear "stuff" on the ground that doesn't get rendered for "artistic reasons".

Lol.. that conjures up some very weird images..     but it really does feel like you're battling against a blizzard sometimes.  

It is also the only cave where I've never seen the bear actually sleeping in it . Maybe he really is a messy bear.

[Sgt Socks]

6 hours ago, jeffpeng said:

 I might be totally wrong and actually there is sticky bear "stuff" on the ground that doesn't get rendered for "artistic reasons".

Oh great. Sticky bear "stuff". What an image! Thankfully I am rarely at that bear spot, I'd need new boots each time 😳