Game feel tuning with an AI pair: numbers you can test
From the OpenDrama Create Wiki
Game feel is the half-second between a button press and the player believing it. AI coding models write movement that works but feels wrong: full speed in one frame, a camera welded to the player or dragging behind on a per-frame lerp, hits that land with no weight. All of it is fixable, but not by asking the model to "make it feel better". This page gives starting values you can test (acceleration and stop times, coyote time, input buffers, camera damping, hit-stop, screen shake) and a way of working where every change is one to three numbers you can measure.
When to use it
Use it once the game is playable and the rules are right, but playing it feels off. It won't fix broken rules (if a level can't be finished, go back to spec-first game building) and it won't rescue a loop that isn't fun: feel makes a good loop feel good, it can't make a bad one worth playing.
The core idea fits on one line: feel is a set of numbers in seconds, and almost every word a playtester uses maps to one or two of them. Talk to the model in those terms and it stops guessing. The usual complaints about AI-built prototypes come down to a few patterns, each with a clear cause:
| What the player says | What is usually behind it |
|---|---|
| Floaty | the jump takes too long to peak, and the fall is as slow as the rise |
| Slippery | the character keeps sliding after the stick is let go |
| "I pressed jump!" | no grace window at ledge edges or just before landing |
| Weak hits | nothing pauses, shakes or sounds on the frame of impact |
Each one can be measured and has a first value to change; the full translation sits with the settings table further down.
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See also
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