By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Sony - Killzone 3's Game Director Talks About KZ3's Controls

From Killzone.com:

Killzone 2 vs. Killzone 3 - Controls
Jul 15, 2010 - by Victor Zuylen
Category: Features
 
One of the most characteristic qualities of Killzone 2 was its control scheme, which underscored the weighty feel of the game's first-person animations. It was also Killzone 2's most divisive quality: some players loved the sense of realism it provided, while others believed it impacted the responsiveness too much.

For Killzone 3, Guerrilla's developers are aiming to keep the unique sense of weight in the game while ramping up the accuracy and responsiveness of the controls. We talked to Game Director Mathijs de Jonge to get a better idea of the considerations involved with the redesign.

"Our first priority when we started working on the controls for Killzone 3 was to listen closely to Killzone 2's players - what they liked, what they disliked, and how they felt things could be improved," Mathijs says. "Accuracy and responsiveness consistently came up as the top issues. At the same time, a lot of players were saying they loved the weighty feel."

When the team went back to the drawing board, they began by exhaustively analyzing every aspect of the underlying system, taking into consideration factors like input lag, acceleration and dead zone [the amount of movement on the analog stick required to produce a reaction in the game –Ed.] and how each affected the overall gameplay. Their findings were used to make improvements to the accuracy and responsiveness of the controls.

That might sound contradictory, but one doesn't have to preclude the other. "For the most part, the unique sense of weight in Killzone 2 comes directly from the first-person animations, not from the control scheme," Mathijs explains. "The speed of movement and the way the camera bobs up and down are consistent with the view of a person carrying around heavy equipment."

The results so far have been very encouraging. "Right now it's still a work in progress," Mathijs says, "but we're definitely getting there. We’ve recalibrated the dead zone to be more responsive and significantly reduced the input lag, resulting in far better accuracy. Best of all, we've managed to retain that sense of weight that set Killzone 2 apart from other shooters. I can't wait for people to try it out."

This fits with Sam Bishop's description of the controls from his preview back in May:

For starters, the controls this time around are far more responsive in every way. Turning, firing, all of it has been made far closer to what one would expect from a modern shooter, and has done much to quell the complaints we had about the game the last time out. We'll have to fire up our post-patch copy of Killzone 2 to compare things, but suffice it to say there's still a sense of weight to everything. Sev doesn't sprint across an ice field with the agility of gazelle, he plods, with heavy footsteps that crunch into the hardpack beneath him.

Sounds like they're heading in a very good direction.



Around the Network

Man I sure hope they have a beta for this game and since I have PSN I better be in it.  GG looks like they will get the controls right this time around.



*Al Bundy's My Hero*

 

*Al Bundy For President*

Waiting On GT7!!!

 PSN ID: Acidfacekiller

Sounds promising. I liked KZ2 control, hopefully it will be even better this time around.



 

i always felt the controls were holding me back in killzone 2, you'd be dead by time you get the scope up... i dont want a COD clone here just make them a bit quicker



KZ 2 controls were good for me... but like everything in life... improvements can be made and i think GG is in the right track, keeping what makes KZ unique and improving it to become his usage better for a larger group of gamers...



Proudest Platinums - BF: Bad Company, Killzone 2 , Battlefield 3 and GTA4

Around the Network

The only problem with killzone 2s controls was the precision aimming. How it was slow entering and exiting precision aimming and how if you tryed to straffe left or right to avoid bullets being fired at you the crosshairs would jump and aimming back at the person was slow again.

In games like COD and BFBC you can run around an entire map entering  precision aimming really fast popping people you run into around corners  and then continue running and repeating. Its mostly about the Rambo type run and gun. In KZ2 by the time you enter precision aimming after running into someone around a corner your dead because it takes to much time. Thats the real problem people had with the controlls. As much as I loved the differant controlls KZ2 had they really held back the games sales.

KZ2 is easily greater than any FPS I have ever played but if they don't make the controlls noob friendly its not going to be a big hit. Just think of it. The reason why so man people love COD is because you can be shit at that game one minute and then get a 20 kill streak the next minute. In KZ2 your either good at it or shit at it. Most people don't like games they are crap at.

I'm glad they are addressing the controlls but I hope they address them properly for all the casuals so that the game really gets its deserved shine.



Sweet! I loved the weighty feel.



Oh well the controls were hard, but i just switched them to Cod like style, otherwise, very fun online. Nice to see KZ3 will be better.



 

   PROUD MEMBER OF THE PLAYSTATION 3 : RPG FAN CLUB

 

i just want split screen nothing else.



I live for the burn...and the sting of pleasure...
I live for the sword, the steel, and the gun...

- Wasteland - The Mission.

Sounds like we're getting the best of both worlds, fast responsive controls with a realistic weighty feel. ^_^
Though I hope they also change the way we utilize weapons.
Quick and agile with a handgun, slow and sluggish with a rocket launcher.

Another thing I think KZ3 needs, mission variations. Allow us to do more in the game, it doesn't have to be as varied as raining death from above with an AC-130 to climbing a mountain with only pick-axes, but give us game changing situations... I would also like to be able to crawl.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------                         iclim4 - "The Friends Thread changed my life!" (Pervert Alert!)                                            Tags?