# Walking Design

I was tasked with designing and developing a way for the players to walk in our experience.

## Research into existing systems

My first step in designing a movement system for our game was looking into the systems of other games. I researched various systems in other VR games ([Skyrim](https://youtu.be/TznIBmvKvXs), [Half-Life: Alyx](https://youtu.be/u9Nj1lYyQmI), [VR Chat](https://store.steampowered.com/app/438100/VRChat/), Golf It! (from playing it), etc.)  and noted them down. Afterward, I decided if they were a potential solution for our project and if they were I slightly adjusted them and wrote them down.

After I noted down several ideas I picked out the best ones and worked them out into a walk options design document:

{% embed url="https://docs.google.com/document/d/10DsVoLQdcCCbiKZyd-eJ9EJSNwNeFAtQQMmDPZka1jE/edit#heading=h.v88fcwnn6ue2" %}

After I made the walk options document I asked my team for feedback on the options. We chose option 1, afterward I slightly adjusted the design. I also slightly iterated on the design while I was writing the code for it. You can read more about that in [Walking Development](../xr-development/walking-development).



## Sprint 4 - Iterating on the walking



In previous sprints and during this sprint I got feedback from various sources that asked me to change the walking mechanic in various ways. I got this feedback from peers, teachers and my teammates. Some of the feedback conflicted with each other so I had to carefully think about what users actually wanted.

Some of the requested changes:

·         I want to walk without buttons

·         I want to walk while holding buttons

·         I want to alternate my steps, because it feels more natural

·         I want to be able to use both my legs at the same time to move forwards if I feel like it

·         I want to be able to move backwards

·         I move backwards on accident, could you remove it?

·         I move to slow

·         The motions I have to make to be able to move are too big

·         The motion the player needs to make doesn’t look like how someone normally walks

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Of these requested changes I had to figure out what users actually wanted, while still keeping it in scope and fitting to our environment. Because I was unsure of what would feel right I decided to prototype several of these changes.

I made 4 main prototypes with various variations within each of them:

·         Vertical movement walking where I have a slight interval where I ignore movement of the opposite velocity (so people don’t move backwards on accident).

·         Vertical movement where the player constantly moves when moving the controllers.

·         Horizontal movement walking.

·         Vertical movement walking without holding or repressing buttons, where I switch between standing still and walking by entering/exiting a walking state when the player presses a button.

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After having tested each of these systems internally and some bigger changes externally I settled on the walking method where you press a button to enter walking mode, and after that you can move your arms normally along your body to move forward.
