SMART seems like a good system. Fluid movement and animation, quick movements around environments, and just general simplicity. But I think this may be too smart.

In the dev diaries and pre-release movies, they keep saying SMART button. This seems like people will be leaping all over the map firing away, while all they do is click and mash their SMART button (whatever that may be.) I think that having some skill in doing the parkour would be a good addition. That way, making movement not spammable and rewarding skilled players with more short-cuts and control points for their team. This also makes bugs and other light-body types a more skilled class than it looks to be right now.

I think that this also warrants more reason for a demo, before I put down $50+ on a pre-order or at release order.

That's my two-cents and could be completely wrong but does anyone agree?

then go to Gamestop and put down 5$.

On topic: The devs have stated that doing the moves manually (using sprint, duck, and jump buttons) will make your character move noticeably faster and smoother, on the other hand if you mess up the timing on that vault then you might lose all your momentum (or something like that). So yes, you can hit the SMART button to freerun around the map, but master it manually and you'll move faster.

I read that instead of using SMART skilled players will eventually use the manual buttons because it is more accurate and faster allowing for those precious seconds. Although, the point of the game is to be able to get around fairly quickly with little skill to compensate for the skill difference between new players and much more experienced players. SMART is not something that will be used 100% of the time either because in videos of gameplay once the player reaches the main focus of the battle he stops using SMART and focuses on pushing the opposing team back while Skilled players on the other hand will be able to use SMART while shooting and completing objectives very effectively. This is mostly for the mediums and lights because who are soldiers or operatives, everyone else will usual settle down in the heat of battle and concentrate on their individual class roles.

I don't really have an opinion on SMART being too easy since manual "trick jumps" and short cuts in other games usually have a minor learning curve to overcome and SMART will just eliminate your "WTF I MAED DAT JUMP DIZ GAMEZ BROK3NZ!!!" moments , but I can GUARANTEE that the system isn't going to make you hate this game.



This post was totally productive...

The smart button is the same as the sprint button, and I believe is mapped to the...what was it, the left trigger or left button? I can't remember now...
But the controls are customizable anyway, so you can move it wherever you want. But yeah, you just hold down sprint/SMART and you automatically go up and over or under everything in your way.

Shooting while SMARTing around gives you a nice accuracy decrease too, so I don't expect to see too many people jumping all over the place while in the middle of a firefight. Maybe some sliding, but hopefully that isn't spammed too much.

Like it was said you can do it manually, but to take out the easy of the SMART would leave the newer players to the mercy of the players who have mastered the manual ways.

The mechanics of the smart button are, when held down, it will make your character sprint, as well as go over or under any obstacles in your way, if possible. Where the manual part comes in, is if you are planning to climb over something, and you jump just before you get to it, there's less distance for your character to pull himself up, as well as having momentum in your favor. This will result in a faster climb. However, if you mess up the timing of the jump, and end up trying to climb up at the end of the jump, the momentum will be against you, and make it take longer to climb.

The reason they made SMART so easy is that they didn't want the movement to be primarily skill based. Skill and experience help you move a bit faster, but a new player will be able to get around just fine. The other reason is that it takes the players focus away from moving, so more thought can be put into thinking about playing the game. Instead of dodging obstacles and timing jumps and whatnot, you are moving to where you want while thinking of objectives and strategies, evaluating where your team is, and keeping an eye out for the enemy.

The devs have said many times that its not an auto-pilot, you have to navigate the map still, not just tell the game where you want to go and wait to get there. They have also said its not canned animations, so you can still look around, shoot, or cancel whatever you are doing at any time.

Also note that you can manually do the jumps and tricks. With the right timing, you will move faster and better than with the SMART button which results in tricks you can't perform by just holding that button.

most has been said i see, about the button, i think it was the left bumper or something. not a clue what the left bumper is since i'm a pc-gamer, but i also heard that's the usual button for sprinting

That is exactly what I was hoping for. And I'm glad to see it. I'll probably use manual right off the bat because anything requiring the L or R buttons is bad with the track pads.
Thanks for the quick answers too guys :3

The devs have stated repeatedly that SMART isn't an auto-pilot, and as above, have outright stated that manually using the jump, crouch and sprint keys will tend to yield the same or better results. If nothing else everyone should be using SMART at first to kind of gauge how well the parkour aspects of the game function and what the SMART algorithms actually recognize as interactable geometry.

As with most of the design decisions in BRINK, SMART is there to bring rookies and veterans a little closer in terms of skill and capability as to keep the game challenging and fresh. It's still an FPS though, so it's still going to need alot of skill and coordination to truly excel.

So yeah, non-issue.

The way I understand it, there isn't really a 'true" manual, its more of a manually assisted kinda deal. That's because the SMART button IS the sprint button, so you are holding it down no matter what. True, a skilled player will jump before he climbs anything, but the game will still need the smart to run up to it and pull you over.

Well see, it's just there to help. To help you move across the map or get to interesting locations. You do it slower unless you do it manually, which seems like it would take some skill to get right.

Afaik, while using SMART/Sprint you will automaticly climb over obstacles. But to slide underneath one, you'll have to use SMART/Sprint + Crouch. Also, to jump onto a platform, you'll have to use SMART/Sprint + Jump.

I believe that's incorrect. In the freedom of movement trailer the guy said nothing about needing to crouch or jump. Just pointing camera up and down.

http://www.brinkthegame.com/media/videos/?id=1

Ex: 'You look down as you use your smart button to indicate to the game you can slide under something'.

I saw that video when it came out. However, that's quite some time ago and I could play the demo already, in which this did not work.

Perhaps the game does make a difference between standard obstacles and special ones (like the Security Sensor in the video), though. But to slide, I had to use the crouch-button. And if I wanted to climb onto something which was neither requiring me to jump off an edge or walk against a wall, SMART wouldn't automaticly make me jump onto something.

Demo of what?

It is a shooter, i dont want to have to worry about hitting 5 buttons and certain times, just to get over a railing to escape enemy fire.
yeah, light and move fast and and jump high and what not, but this is a shooter, and they arent able to take as much damage as the other body types, so i dont feel like the lights have too much of an advantage

Of BRINK.

Please let us know if/when that occurs.

PS Smart is fine.

Most likely he played it at PAX/E3.

The expo-demo, yes.



Also: Where have those destructable-environment-discussions gone? I came to think that, as SMART means Smooth Movement Across Random Terrain, you should be able to move across any kind of obstacle, even if it's a wall which was not destroyed in a pre-defined way. So destructable terrain could add some tactical depth, allowing you to block known routes and create new ones.

However, of course, this could/would interfere with the mission-design of some levels.

Like you said, the movement would appear to be fluid and "Smooth", the tactics would be chaos. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I don't think its what SD has planned for the game.

Comparison time!

SMART Button Auto is like the Parkour button in [Prototype]. Automatically jumps over things and climbs walls.

Crouch/Jump + Sprint is like the Parkour in Mirror's Edge. Jumping and crouching is context sensitive and does the right thing, but you manually press the buttons.


So, based off my ideal model (Not confirmed, I'm probably wrong), the manual controls will just be a matter of pressing the button at the right time to activate the climbing. However, manual should climb and slide faster.

[Repeating, this is my idea of what it is, not the official one.]

doesn't work.
watch the "dawn of smart" vid and you'll hear that seperate items have actions bound to them, sliding under, crawling over. what can be wallhopped on, what can't be. humans are still involved as they still have to bind the actions to the items, and that's the reason why destructible environment won't work yet