An Experiment in Game Feel

Locomotion

Walking in games can be tricky, especially regarding game feel. Many games built on Unreal Engine share similar movement mechanics, which can hinder player engagement. To enhance the experience, i aimed to explore what other games do well and where they falter, believing that unique movement styles would better showcase the details of my project.

Escape From Tarkov

Bodycam

Modern Warfare 2

Within each of these examples, they all comprise the characters head swaying slightly side to side, an effect that’s became so normal to our every day lives that we hardly notice the 3-4 cm height difference anymore. Despite how integrated this effect is without the Pendulum style of walking players would feel incredibly thrown off. By integrating this, players can easier focus on the intended experience. Focusing on aspects of polish like this allows consumers to immers themselves further within the simulated space.

Original Animations

Procedural Animations

Weapon Sway/Mesh Lag

Muzzle Flash + Bullet Ejection

Comparing muzzle flashes and visual effects in Modern Warfare to real life shows how exaggerated they are. Even though I’m aiming for a realistic military sim, these theatrical elements are still important. Steve Swink compares playing a game to having a conversation with a computer, especially when it comes to real-time controls and how a game feels.

I believe think these dramatic flashes, flames, and smoke help make that “conversation” clearer. Players can tell they’ve fired in many ways, sound, visuals, UI, but exaggeration ensures there’s no confusion. It also improves accessibility, allowing more players to understand the same feedback.

With this in mind, I’ve chosen to embrace exaggerated muzzle flashes, while still grounding them in extreme real-world references for some realism

IRL Bullet Ejection

Modern Warfare 2
Bullet Ejection + Muzzle Flash

IRL Muzzle Flash

Muzzle Flash Dissection

What i learned

This project taught me that small details like animation timing, camera movement, and visual feedback can have a huge impact on how a game feels, even when the underlying mechanics are simple. It also helped me understand that realism is not always the goalm exaggeration is often necessary to clearly communicate actions to the player.

Most importantly, I learned to think about player feedback as a system made up of multiple elements working together, rather than treating animation, VFX, and sound as separate features.