Fall Damage in Doom

[BlueFireZ88]

How do you feel about fall damage in Doom versus Heretic/Hexen?

[Medricel]

Well, I've always been accustomed to the fact that Doomguy has springs for legs, but beyond maps designed for damage-less long falls, it just seems odd to jump off of skyscrapers and land with a light 'oof'. For Heretic, the same concept applies. At least with Hexen, you make a blood-crater at the end of a long fall.

[NeuralStunner]

Falling damage is inherently ludicrous.

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Now, damage from high-velocity impact with the ground, that makes a lot of sense.

[Nightfall]

I myself am fine in WADs using falling damage as long as they make it clear in some form that it's enabled.

[PlayerLin]

Falling damage is inherently ludicrous.

---

Now, damage from high-velocity impact with the ground, that makes a lot of sense.

Do they have any differences at all?

Physics law is IMBA!

Falling damage is annoying but it should sure make sense when Doomguy isn't Chell in Portal.
EDIT : Ok, maybe Doomguy has some equipments to help him to prevent get hurt from any of falling damage at all...

[BlueFireZ88]

Maybe the boots are shock resistant?

[Blue Shadow]

If you're applying the falling damage in custom maps that are built with falling damage in mind, then it's fine. But, if you're applying it in a gameplay mod that you expect people to play vanilla maps with, then you'd better leave it out, since these maps weren't designed, in the first place, to take falling damage into account.

[BlueFireZ88]

^Basically what he said.^

[FDARI]

Did NeuralStunner just suggest that it ought to be called "Landing damage" (or something equally apt)? Personally I actually prefer the Strife formula (which was not proposed for this discussion). I guess I want a good reason to stay on my platform. (You can get pretty badly hurt.)

And yes: Maps where you're supposed to drop from a skyscraper better not punish you for it; the design needs to be coherent.

[Medricel]

"Landing damage" (or something equally apt)?

I like the sound of the term "Impact Damage" but it could be misconstrued to mean impact with anything (objects, walls, etc).

And yes: Maps where you're supposed to drop from a skyscraper better not punish you for it; the design needs to be coherent.

"You didn't land in teh 64x64 pool of water at teh bottom so u die!!!"

[Gez]

Did NeuralStunner just suggest that it ought to be called "Landing damage" (or something equally apt)? Personally I actually prefer the Strife formula (which was not proposed for this discussion). I guess I want a good reason to stay on my platform. (You can get pretty badly hurt.)

For reference: [wiki]falling damage[/wiki]. I prefer Hexen's method because it has a minimum kill speed. (If you hit the ground slower than this speed, even if you're already badly hurt, you won't die.)

And yes: Maps where you're supposed to drop from a skyscraper better not punish you for it; the design needs to be coherent.

Whenever I see a point like this, I remember Duke Nukem 3D E1L1, where you actually are supposed to drop from a skyscraper -- on top a medikit.

[NeuralStunner]

If you're applying the falling damage in custom maps that are built with falling damage in mind, then it's fine. But, if you're applying it in a gameplay mod that you expect people to play vanilla maps with, then you'd better leave it out, since these maps weren't designed, in the first place, to take falling damage into account.

Personally I've never seen a situation in vanilla DooM 1/2 where you need to fall a long distance. Megawads could be very different, of course... I think it's kind of weird to deliberately exploit the lack of splatterification in your levels, at least in something that leans a little more toward realism. (I.E. Not platformers.)

[Rangaisia]

Personally, I find that fall damage is the one "realistic" feature I can live without. It's very rare for it to add anything but frustration to the game, especially in first person games with wonky "ladder physics". It's also annoying to drop down from what would intuitively seem like a safe distance and still break your legs. Doom was fine without any fall damage, and so was Lost Planet and Bionic Commando 2009. I guess fall damage is basically okay if the game/mod is supposed to very realistic or if there is way for the player to manually prevent taking falling damage (parachute, glider, jet pack, pogo stick etc.) but otherwise it seems like a pointless feature to add. So yeah, the Doom method wins.

[FDARI]

If you hit the ground slower than this speed, even if you're already badly hurt, you won't die.

Ok, I prefer the Hexen solution now, although I'm not sure how I feel about the minimum kill speed.