Ever since the Wii's controller was revealed, we have been envisioning fantastic and enthralling sword fights being attached to our favourite franchises. Many of us are particularly excited by the potential for the next Legend of Zelda. The idea of us...
Unfortunately the cold harsh reality is much less exciting. In this space I will explain to you three obstacles that make it impossible for the Wii to host your wildest sword fighting fantasies.
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What is that?
A very important limitation to remember about the Wii remote is that it only knows its own position in the world, not the position of your entire body. It contains an accelerometer to allow it to translate three things important for sword fights: which way is up, what direction the remote is moving and at what speed. There are no sensors attached to the waist, elbow or head that allow it to detect movements of these other areas of your body.
How does it affect games?
If you were to duck, dodge, shift your balance or even face another direction there is no reliable way of translating any of these movements into the game. For example Wii Bowling can be played facing away from the TV, but how do you think that ability fairs with determining which opponent you are swinging a weapon at? Current games rely on the infrared sensor to determine that, not possible if you are holding the remote like a sword (with the sensor facing the roof). Much more critical to game play though, the remote cannot detect how far off the ground it is. Lets say an on screen opponent attacks towards your face, you may hold your sword up to deflect the attack, but the game cannot interpret the controller is being held at eye level. For all it knows you could be defending your chest or torso. The same goes for the height of your own attacks.
How to solve it?
This problem can easily be overcome by changing the game to interpret a mixture of gesture and full motion based commands as opposed to only full motion. Developers could also assume the player is performing the right manoeuvre for their current situation (defending the right area of their body no matter where the player is actually defending). Also, the nun-chuck and its thumbstick can be used in combination with the remote for a large amount of gestures and directional inputs to make up for the lack of full body movement. It is not very immersive though.
What is that?
The most exciting part of any lightsaber or longsword duel is when two of them clash together and sparks fly. If you are fighting a virtual avatar though, you have no real objects to clash up against!
How does this affect games?
In addition to the loss of some exciting power struggles between clashed blades, there is a major issue when the player and their character lose synchronisation. Lets say you take a large swing at your enemy and the enemy defends themself with a shield or weapon. Your swing may continue far beyond the swing of your character because your characters attack was cut short by the enemy’s defence. Now your arm is in a position the on screen characters isn’t. The result is a situation where you are now performing an action that cannot be displayed on screen because your character is stuck in a position you are not. So the end experience will involve the player constantly compensating by shifting their arms to where they are needed according to the game, and I do mean constantly. How often are your attacks denied in current video games? This type of situation can arise in many additional forms too, such as the character hitting nearby objects which block their swing or the player getting confused over character movements in poorly designed or animated games and not even realising their actions are out of sync at all.
How to solve it?
Implement a game play mechanic that issues penalties to the player if their real world motions do not match what is happening on screen. For example, damaging the players health or score for every second that their remote position does not match the position of the on screen item. If the player is not forced to assume the same position as their character the player could continue to perform moves that are impossible for the game character, essentially ruining the player’s control over the game. Another solution is to simply drop the simulation concept entirely and use basic controls like we have already seen in current titles.
What is that?
This is probably the least worrying obstacle for gamers and developers, as it is easily overcome and most players wouldn’t want their real strength measured anyway. Regardless, the inbuilt accelerometer only detects speed and acceleration, not how much strength is in your arm and that means less realism.
How does this affect games?
Games have no way to know what actions might override others, making power struggles nothing more than role playing opportunities. Defending blows will become as easy as pie, holding the control with just two of your fingers would be enough to defend against a blow that in reality would make your weapon fly from your grip. It also means abilities such as knocking down your opponent or knocking items out of their hands are all left up to methods other than the exciting, immersive ones. Inexperienced players may also become frustrated and confused as to why their powerful swings are translating into weak ones in game.
How to solve it?
A number of different attributes can be used to emulate character strength in place of actual strength, the most obvious selection would be to use the speed of the swing. Other possibilities include utilising RPG like statistics or developers could simply assume the player is always attacking at a constant strength.
All three of these obstacles paint a very clear image for sword fighting with the Wii remote. Some of it is counter to the views of many gamers who have not thoroughly thought through the limitations of the console. It is best to get the negative out of the way now though, rather than spending an entire generation thinking the developers of the world are incapable of fulfilling potential for the Wii remote, which frankly doesn’t exist.
Sword fighting is more than possible with Nintendo’s new controller so do not be discouraged. I just hope the world has a very realistic view of what to expect this generation. The huge amount of excitement around this idea will guarantee us plenty of glorious sword related moments on the Wii. Just keep a level head and expect only what is possible from the developers, it will keep you from being disappointed release after release. The sad truth is we are least another generation from the awesome sword fights we all crave.
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