Parkour Out 4 - a conversion of the landscape into a freerunning paradise, 2 weeks spent, 10+ hours of fun so far

[Fiddlestickz]

Greetings

 

 

It's time to present you my project i've been working on the past 2 weeks. I am a fan of parkour and freerunning both in games and in real life, so i thought i apply this on FO4 and see what comes out of it. Reference for this were all great free running games like mirror's edge, dying light and of course assassins creed. I have spent 2 weeks so far on this and playtested every track i created. With no further words i have prepared a 15 minutes raw impression video, which should make it clear what i am creating. Basically a game in a game.

 

What my 'mod' offers:

-- A Parkour simulator inside Fallout 4, so a game in a game.

-- It is just a savegame with a handful of required mods, so it's very easy to jump in and out

-- The edited areas are filled with additional, often hidden freerunning and climbing routes and other neat details. So exploration pays off.

-- 10+ hours of fun, if you embrace the concept.

-- 150+ collectible item along the way of the courses for you to discover

-- Nice Legendary Weapons which can be found throughout the parts i edited, in hard to reachi spots or hidden.

-- Maybe inspiration for YOU, maybe more people like this concept and create their own parks and share it on the nexus for people to bite their teeth out

-- Starlight Drive in has been converted into a parkour training park (will make own video about it)

http://s18.postimg.org/8iz0svf0o/park1.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

15 Minutes raw impression video, almost unedited:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIh2DRb8-pU&feature=youtu.be

 

 

 

 

CONCEPT:

I turn handpicked spots on the map and into freerunning heavens, with lots of routes to discover and alternative routes. I use the simple 'bat settle' command from

'Create a New Settlement Anywhere' by Helioglyph () which allows me to create any structure anywhere on the map, so i can slowly but steady add ramps to certain roofs, create breathtaking and challenging routes to the top of scyscrapers etc. It takes realitively low effort and the concept is something i have never seen in any bethesda games, so i am eager to see how you like it. Most places have been decorated instead of just slapped on, every pieces has been placed with a though behind it.

 

This whole concept could techincally be a new category 'Theme Park' on the Nexus, a savegame where the author creates a set of activities for people to complete. This could be a freerunning simulator like in my concept or a well designed combat arena on spectacle island. 'Theme Park' entires are like a game disc you throw in to experience something completely different.

 

This only requires a handful of mods:

Homemaker

Snap n' Build: Greenhouse (no all in one)

DDproductions selection: ramps, bridge, spiral staircase, bridge, letters(optional) and maybe elevators aswell

 

and your time, skill and patience

 

No coding required since it is just a savegame, everyone can create runner courses and share it, only limit is the imagination

 

 

 

 

 

Since i had a chance to really disect the movement system in my playtesting, i came to the conclusion that 1st person and 3rd person are entirely different movesets.

 

1st person

-more precice movement for straight jumps and you don't slide when you hit the ground when you crashland.

-curved jumps are near impossible

-mouse sensetivity gets reduced which makes it feel awkward when making turns while sprinting

 

 

3rd person (offset camera in standard settings)

- generally gives a much nicer feeling of speed, especially when freerunning, you see where you feet are and you can observe your characters animations,

- curved air jumps are a breeze

- If you keep moving after a crashlanding, the character slides forward further, unless you break with a simply jump upwards only

- Mouse senstiivty stay the same, so there is no awkwardsness when sprinting and turning.

- Switching to opposite direction doesn't happen instantly, the character turns towards the direction. On small spaces this often causes the character to slip off.

 

General movement observations:

If you sprint over a flat surface onto an docked angled platform the character floats for a split second making a jump impossible since you are 'in the air'

You have to be in motion first until, only then you can activate sprint

If you jump forward and release the movement key you drop straight down, no smooth deceleration, you just drop.

 

 

If you know Witcher 3, the devs added an option for a more arcardy movement, instead of the heavy turned movements.

This could also happen in FO4:

A few mods which could make the movement better:

 

1) Sprint priority: No matter what you do, if you press shift you sprint and cancel everything else

 

2) 3rd person slide animation removal. Like mentioned this appears to only happen in 3rd person. That means: You release sprintbutton you stop on the spot, even after a crashlanding

In my playtests this was rather mixed, sometimes it was a bit frustrating, but it adds a layer to the learning curve.

Additionall the turn animation could be removed, making left right direction changes instant.

 

 

 

Personally i tested all my creations for balance and fuctionality. I tested it in 3rd person: fov 80 90, the 3rd person view gives a much more challenging experience. 1st person is when you wanna take it slow, i invited my cousin to playtest and he chose to play it in first person, which was interesting to observ. After a long journey of 2.5 hours he cracked 'The Climb' and thus completed the intro.

 

 

 

STORY:

Yes i even thought up a plausible story for this. It is of course non canon, but could technically be canon. I took the concept of the matrix or the animus from the AC as reference. The center of attention is the memory Den, which plays with memories and also creates a kind of second reality. Our buddy Tinkertom made a discovery of a hidden codecell within the memory Den, a vault of secret knowledge which is accessible through a perfect simulated copy of the commonwealth after a few modifications to memory den 2.0. Now the surreal part: The runner tracks you see, are extensions of the code, and you have to run this 'code' in breathtaking manner to sync with it and help Tinkertom with the decryption, the faster you go, the more combo jumps you do, the better your decryption. He managed to create a hook program called 'Faith' which is applied to your persona, which allows you to run the courses and be safe from falldamage and have unlimited stamina (tgm).

 

CHAPTER 1 is 'THE CLIMB', which requires the player to go from the bottom of Mass Fusion all the way to the top, without cutting corners. It is a test of skill and patience. Once you reach the top you unlock the HQ, which acts as the intro section and now you are free to explore the tracks.

 

CHAPTER 2 is the discovery of the Starlight Freerun Park, a trainingcourse with routes from easy to difficult, most of your companions will wait there for you!

 

then comes the exploration, you will discover camps and strange mushroom farms, which is unclear what it's all about. Clear is that someone already was in Memory Den 2.0 and built a foothold.

 

 

This is all so far, it will be completed as the project goes on.

 

 

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This is a work of passion, i had lots of inspiration from Mirror's Edge and it's music, which kinda fused hundreds on ideas into my head. This is the result so far. But this is certainly not the end! The commonwealth is big and opportunities for freerunning tracks are everywhere. every hill, every rooftop, every skyscraper. I only occupied a small part of the map so far.

 

 

So that was it for now, i have lots of additional material planed and still lots and lots of ideas, but now i would love to hear your thoughts on this!

 

 

Thanks for Reading!

Edited January 23, 2016 by Fiddlestickz