Gameplay Animations & Suggestions

Hey devs, i'm a big fan of the game, I'm just posting some suggestions focusing on just animations tied to gameplay with some pros and cons (some).

As a tactical shooter this game lacks some details in animation that pertains to gameplay. I believe Rainbow Six Siege is in the right track when it comes to current gen shooters and animations. Even BF5 copied some of it's idea. I think the biggest thing that's holding back shooters is their animations. The genre is so limited to what the players can do and how players can interact with the environment. There are a lot of indie tactical shooters still in development (your competition) that are exploring ideas to expand how players play FPS.

here are some ideas that can be added to Insurgency Sandstorm that could be added, hopefully, without remaking the animation system. maybe.. note that I'm not asking to BF5 or COD-fy the game at all, some of my suggestions are based on Insurgency's gameplay.

Gunplay

  • Left-click should behave as a trigger finger.
    • Player should be able to shoot while vaulting over short barriers with horrible accuracy but lethal at close range. More like a self defense when caught off guard.
    • Players should be able to shoot the gun, especially full auto, while the animation transitions from hipfire to ADS. Accuracy should adjust accordingly. There are many situations where I was caught clicking left and right mouse button and my gun never fires.
  • Holding ADS button (or right-click) changes the gun handling to a "hip-aim" (See PUBG). While Hip-aiming, the player movement is set to ADS speed. Accuracy is between hip-fire and ADS.
  • If hip-aim is a thing, Players are able to blind fire around corners while in lean position.
  • Holding F for opening doors should open the door slowly
    • While holding a grenade (holding the left-click) and Pressing F on the door will make the player open the door, toss the nade into the room then close the door.
  • Add First-Person Animations
  • Improve bipod behavior. Currently it feels really sticky.
  • Shorten the delay between switching from grenade launcher and rifle.

Movement Suggestions

  • Rainbow Six Siege does this and BFV copied. Prone position on a corner should change the player's animation into laying down instead of half the body is through a wall or the ever so awkward being push off the wall because you're prone-blocked.
  • Add dive prone (While sprinting press Prone key). Balance can be achieved by limiting player's offensive capabilities (delay the time when player can shoot) This move is purely defensive.
  • Current lean mechanic is confusing and needs a redesign. I get how it's should behave but when you stop strafing, player pops out more, which is horrible. My Suggestion:
    • Pressing the lean button again should make the player lean further. Example: Pressing E player will lean right, players can move freely while lean position. Pressing (or holding) E again while in the current state Players will lean even further or "pop-out of cover"
    • Shift or Sprint breaks the state or pressing the Q (lean left) should break both state and player will lean left, press Q again player leans further left.
  • Players should be able to lean while prone
  • Player should vault faster when sprinting, animations will use both hands so going back to my suggestions on gunplay, players can't shoot while sprint vaulting.
  • Player should be able to "sprint" crawl. Players are unable to shoot but could move cover to cover faster while prone.
  • Crouch-Jump should be a thing, currently it seems like an exploited glitch.

Environment

  • Please add some environmental markers on places that can be vaulted over. There are terrains that are not so obvious.
  • Add markers on the map to indicate that these places are out of bounds.

I apologize for the long post. I feel like these animations, if implemented correctly, should help modernize the gameplay. It might add some layers of complexity but as a tactical shooter where 3 shots can take you out, it could help players old and new peak corners safely, and navigate the environment smoothly. Hopefully some of these animations won't force you guys to overhaul everything from IK to FK.. 😃

Nice post Jimmy. I thought I would add that you can shoot while vaulting. There's an achievement you can get for killing while doing it. Also, switching between grenade launcher and rifle is painfully slow. I've died so many times while trying to switch back to rifle. Its super clunky.

@mlb7 I didn’t try it in this test but I have never been able to shoot while vaulting? So unless they changed it very recently it does not work for me. I have seen people do it and have been killed by people doing it even though during the animation their gun is not pointed at me because they are vaulting but nonetheless they manage to kill me. Regardless once again this has never worked for me and I spent a little time trying to see if I could get it to work and could not...

@mlb7 oh snap, you can! huh, never tried it or at least I thought I did .

@planetcanada @JimmyWu I didn't think you could either. I was looking at the achievement and saw it in there. I started trying to do it and sure enough I popped a guy while vaulting a couple weeks ago and got the achievement.

@jimmywu Just a couple things I thought I'd mention.

Not big on the whole third-person-aim mechanic (or aimed hipfire) in PUBG and other games, but I can understand some kind of blind-fire mechanic around corners using a similar setup. You can actually blind-fire hipfire around a corner when leaning right, at least.

There is a way to "peek" doors. While aiming down sights, you can use a door with F to open the door just a bit (maybe 20-25 degrees). It can also be done with a primed grenade in the same fashion.

Bipods needs some kind of rework for sure. The inability to aim down is a big issue.

Dive to prone seems kinda... not Insurgency lmao. Some kind of prone-transition against walls would be nice, though.

Leaning in Insurgency has always been designed so that you only get the most benefit from a lean while standing still. Granted, the animation could use a bit more smoothing as it's almost like Source-levels of jagged.

IMO, vaulting speed should just be increased across the board. It's useful, but too damn slow.

Leaning while prone? Maybe. I'd love it if you could actually roll over while prone using the lean keys lmao. Sprint-crawling seems strange because you can't fire your weapon while crawling already.

Crouch-jumping does have some downsides (i.e. it hits stamina harder) but it is kind of exploit-y in a way. It's existed since the CTA, so I assume the design is intentional, but I know what you mean.

last edited by MarksmanMax

DUDE! awsome ideas, but i think u are mistaking the game with other one CALLED "ARMA 3"
does are really good ideas dont misunderstand me, but remember this is an arcade fps shooter with some "realistic" elements, no a simulator, it has to be easy to anyone to play (like a CoD, or a BF)... but when talking about little things like animations and the "trigger finger" im totally agreed with u.

REGARDS,

Dive prone should definitely be a thing Ive made several posts about that now. Just because basically no matter what it’s always possible to hit the dirt pretty damn fast even if that meant hurting yourself a little as you did. I’ve said in every post I’ve made on the matter that I’m not talking some huge Hollywood cinematic dive spanning 10 feet but rather just a simple maybe 2 foot forward dive just to get to the ground quickly in a pinch if you hit the prone button while holding the sprint button and forward. Normal prone would be left as is.

I agree with pretty much everything except hip-aim, prone dive and peeking.

Hip-aim just doesn’t fit the speed of the game I feel. You either hipfire or ads. That said, I agree entirely the hipfire-to-ADS needs tweaking. I’ve mentioned this numerous times. It doesn’t feel smooth all the time.

Prone dive feels cheap honestly. Maybe it can work, but I feel it would be abused a lot, even with the stamina hit and stun. Just diving into cover may not work well. Sliding makes more sense, and it’s heavily nerfed compared to Source. It’s just about where it needs to be. Rarely useful, most times not.

I honestly don’t want pixel peeking in Sandstorm. I’ve had my bitter taste in Rainbow Six Siege and it’s a big reason why I don’t play that game anymore, and never really picked it up. Aggressive (offensive) peeking should be countered easily; frag, smoke, shoot your way in. Defensive peeking is still risky due to how much of yourself you have to put out there + the recoil is more messy to compensate. It can be tweaked to be a little better, but not to the point where you can quickly move and peek like in R6S

@mr-rain Funny I find it that people are against a small prone dive for different reasons. I don’t think It’s the slightest cheap just look at it this way sometimes it can be downright painful to get your guy to prone and has gotten me killed many times. Out of all the things you are able to do in this game while being shot (not only at but literally taking bullets) laying on the ground is not one of them? Common now... Anyways fine no movement forwards im not trying to make this the next slide I just want it to be a little more reliable and effective to hit the goddamn dirt just like you would be able to you know like in real life? Lol. Would like to see anyone slide 7 feet on pavement on their knees...

Yeah I prefer the baseball slide a lot more than the rock n roll slide.

I did have issues going prone in Source a lot more than in Sandstorm. I actually have the reverse problem now where if I spam my key to go prone mid-animation and my soldier beings doing push ups.

That being said I do agree with the suggested animation fixes so that you aren’t prone blocked or entirely unable to go prone in tighter spaces.
That alone should be enough to hit the dirt more effectively than now.

@mr-rain said in Gameplay Animations & Suggestions:

Yeah I prefer the baseball slide a lot more than the rock n roll slide.

I did have issues going prone in Source a lot more than in Sandstorm. I actually have the reverse problem now where if I spam my key to go prone mid-animation and my soldier beings doing push ups.

That being said I do agree with the suggested animation fixes so that you aren’t prone blocked or entirely unable to go prone in tighter spaces.
That alone should be enough to hit the dirt more effectively than now.

Prone-blocking happens because players' feet and legs would stick out of the building, and ofc could be shot... Prone-blocking needs to be there or some heavy work on player-collision (while they fix the RPG hitbox) would need to happen.

@reason3d said in Gameplay Animations & Suggestions:

@mr-rain said in Gameplay Animations & Suggestions:

Yeah I prefer the baseball slide a lot more than the rock n roll slide.

I did have issues going prone in Source a lot more than in Sandstorm. I actually have the reverse problem now where if I spam my key to go prone mid-animation and my soldier beings doing push ups.

That being said I do agree with the suggested animation fixes so that you aren’t prone blocked or entirely unable to go prone in tighter spaces.
That alone should be enough to hit the dirt more effectively than now.

Prone-blocking happens because players' feet and legs would stick out of the building, and ofc could be shot... Prone-blocking needs to be there or some heavy work on player-collision (while they fix the RPG hitbox) would need to happen.

Ah, I thought the game already had prone blocking. I know Source had it to some degree.

Thanks for the feedbacks guys

yea my aim was to suggest an update or to modernize the gameplay for Insurgency.

  • As to the pixel accuracy like Rainbow Six Siege. I feel that right now, Insurgency is more so that especially with the bipod MGs with 2x or 4x. Having a revamped Peek-mechanic should help players look around corners first before running into a MG nest.

  • As for the Arcade vs Realism. I agree that Insurgency is not a mil-sim like ARMA or Squad but It does occupy that space between arcade and hardcore. The animations suggested above i think should help players who like to think and check corners more than the players who run through smoke guns blazing.

last edited by JimmyWu