Enhancing Fall Damage: Leg Injuries & Treatments

[ZedsDeadBaby 2287]

The fall damage system in the game is rather rudimentary at this point. The check on collision with a surface seems to be roughly as simple as:

 

if ( player.distanceFell > engine.safeDistance ) {

  player.setHealth( -1 );

}

 

I think we all agree it could use some refining. Most of us who have spent more than a few hours in the Standalone have had at least one "wtf moment" where we fall what seems like a short distance assuming we're going to take off running fine and free, only to see "You Are Dead" and wonder what happened. It's almost comical to imagine in some cases - jumping off the edge of someone porch only to collapse in a crumpled lifeless heap in the yard.

 

So, what can be done to make the fall damage system more robust, authentic and interesting without necessarily going overboard with details? I think there should be a scale of injuries ranging from simple to severe, each resulting from falls at various heights and each requiring their own levels of treatment in order to heal.

 

It's a system that seems complex at first glance, but I think it is entirely within reason given the current functionality. It's really just a matter of knowing how far the player has fallen, and applying a different injury type.

 

Level of Injury

 

Bruise

The simplest foot injury possible. This will reduce run speed by a small amount and will require a short time to heal on its own (maybe 15-30 minutes in game).

 

Sprain

A more severe injury, but still relatively mundane. Run speed will be reduced by a slightly greater amount, and a moderate amount of time will be required for healing (30-60 minutes). Pain noises my involuntarily eminate and cause instability; prevent this with painkillers.

 

Simple Fracture

The bone is broken. The player will be unable to stand until a splint is applied. Thereafter, run speed will be severely reduced for a time and the player may occasionally fall; pain noises will often eminate; prevent them with painkillers or morphine. Healing will take time (1-2 hours).

 

Compound Fracture

The bone is broken in multiple locations. This may cause bleeding which will require bandages. The player will be unable to stand even after a splint is applied. 1-2 hours of initial healing will be needed, during which time loud pain noises are common and can only be lessened with morphine. After the initial healing phase, the injury behaves as a simple fracture (splint still needed, run speed reduced, additional healing time needed).

 

Comminuted Fracture

You have shattered your bone. There was a time when surgery and pins may have helped you walk again, but that time is in the past now. You are incapicitated permanently, and will remain in constant pain and require regular morphine injections (or perhaps there's another, simpler way out).

 

Fall Height Scaling

 

In order to apply these different types of injuries, fall height will be tracked. Each injury type has an inreasing degree of likelihood depending on how far you have fallen. Short falls will result in either no injury or a Bruise or Sprain. Moderate falls start to incorporate a chance for Simple Fractures. Longer falls will very likely result in Simple Fracture and may eventually cause Compound Fractures or Comminuted Fratures.

 

Of course, falls from unsafe heights still have a chance to kill you, with very long falls still assuring death.

 

Supporting Mechanics

 

Carrying, Lying, Bedrest

All healing is accelerated if the player does not put weight on their foot. Players should be able to carry their friends in order to accelerate injury healing. If players could rest in bed at a house or hospital, healing should accelerate even faster. I love the idea of standing guard at a house or hospital while my friend is inside recovering from an injury.

 

Gunshots Can Hit Bones

Simple, Compound and Comminuted Fractures are all possible as a result of gunshot wounds to the legs. Larger caliber rounds cause greater injuries.

 

Suicide by Firearm, Poison Ingestion, Morphine Overdose

Players who have suffered Comminuted Fractures should have the option to end their lives in a variety of ways. Players very dedicated to maximizing survival might ask their friends to carry them around as long as possible, but players who are alone or who do not wish to burden their allies in this way should be able to end their life.

 

[ZedsDeadBaby 2287]

Oh, and:

 

Injury Modifiers

 

Stepping slowly off a drop or edge should be considered a "careful drop." In this case the player is assumed to land upright and to execute a "safe landing" tactic by bowing the knees and absorbing the energy of the fall with tendons and ligaments. This should severely reduce the odds of injury.

 

Conversely, sprinting off a drop or walking off at an angle or backwards fall should be considered an "unsafe drop." The player is out of control, off balance and much less likely to execute a safe landing. Chances of injury should be greatly increased.

 

Players carrying an excess of gear in their packs should have an increased chance of leg injury.

 

Players with existing injuries have very high odds of making the injury more severe by falling again before the injury has fully healed.

 

Players who have suffered multiple injuries throughout their lives should have an increased chance of injury due to weakened bones.

Edited February 4, 2014 by ZedsDeadBaby

[- Karma - 75]

I think the system does need to be fleshed out some, but I think you've taken it a little too far.  I do like how you've categorized the wounds based on severity, but in sticking with the nature of how this game lets us know we're hurt what about something like this?

 

"I feel a throbbing pain." - the player has a severe sprain or simple fracture in an out of the way place, such as hand/wrist, jaw, etc (if damage to individual body parts is able to be tracked in the future that is).  This would represent the damage taken from a minor fall, maybe one or two hits from a lighter blunt weapon or zombie.  The damage would apply straight to health and shock.  Treatment: morphine, painkillers, or improvised splint or better.

 

"I think something is broken." - the player has a severe sprain or simple fracture in a more serious spot, such as a foot/ankle, any other joint, ribs, but not a major weight supporting bone.  This would mostly represent the damage taken from a good melee scrap, a more serious fall (maybe up to one story?), and likely also having a tactical vest eat a few bullets.  Again the damage would apply straight to health and shock, but would be a higher value thus triggering the second and more serious statement.  Depending if the specific body part can be tracked, effects such as reduced movement speed and/or aim penalties would not be out of the question if easily accomplished.  Treatment: morphine or painkillers, and an improvised splint or better.

 

"Something is definitely broken." - the player has a fracture or even compound fracture in a serious spot, such as leg, arm, back, etc.  This would represent a serious injury taken either in a melee fight, getting shot but surviving, or a dangerous fall.  In regards to the fall, this would be one only survivable if you could eat the damage by having more health - e.g. the fall is going to do roughly 2000 damage straight to health, you need to have more than that to survive it.  It would not be out of the question for your character to go unconscious from the fall if the shock was high enough.  Again, consequences such as movement speed and/or aim penalties make sense.  Treatment: morphine, and an proper splint (possibly vitamins to help with healing).

 

"I can hardly move, I need help." - the player has suffered multiple fractures or multiple compound fractures.  This would represent multiple serious injuries sustained either in a melee, multiple gunshot wounds yet surviving, or a fall that should have killed you.  Again, this should really only be accomplished if you had protective gear on and were at full health.  In a fall, unconsciousness should be a guarantee in this case or if not bleeding then - likely not both, otherwise the player would not likely survive unless helped (could be the point however).  Consequences should be extremely limited movement, such as limited to crawl only.  Treatment: morphine, and an proper splint (possibly vitamins to help with healing), and likely blood replacement.

 

That is how I would do it at any rate.  And as with the other Status', I suppose a system could be developed for upgraded the severity in the case a player was not immediately able to treat the wound.  For example "I think something is broken." could become "Something is definitely broken." if the player had to travel some distance in order to find the materials to make a splint.

[BootYourFace 22]

Excellent.

[Hethwill_Khan 233]

Overly complicated in my opinion.

 

First they BUG must be fixed - you break your leg, you relog and fracture is gone.

 

After that is fixed then the devs  can look forward to localized fracture, but specifying that much might make the game suffer even if I understand the reasons this is a case where realism and game cannot meet. Credibility can be compromised with localized simple fracture - if it is broken it is broken.

[ZedsDeadBaby 2287]

in sticking with the nature of how this game lets us know we're hurt what about something like this?

 

Your character's behavior will be the prime factor in figuring out how bad your injury is. If you put on a splint and still can't walk, you know it's worse than a simple fracture. I think this mirrors reality somewhat, because without an X-RAY you can't actually tell a lot about the severity of an internal injury from the outside.

 

 

Credibility can be compromised with localized simple fracture - if it is broken it is broken.

 

I'm just not sure I agree. The same could be said of the complexity of the hunger/thirst system. rocket could have gone with a simple "you're either hungry or you're not" system, but instead he spent the time to basically model a system of digestion, energy transfer, virtual stomachs that can get full, vomiting, etc. With so much specificity and granularity when it comes to how hungry I am, I don't see why we wouldn't expect the same level of detail when it comes to degree of injury.

 

To me the current system just seems simple to the point of feeling inauthentic. Broke your leg? No problem, tie an old dirty stick on it and you're healthy as a horse!

Edited February 5, 2014 by ZedsDeadBaby

[- Karma - 75]

Your character's behavior will be the prime factor in figuring out how bad your injury is. If you put on a splint and still can't walk, you know it's worse than a simple fracture. I think this mirrors reality somewhat, because without an X-RAY you can't actually tell a lot about the severity of an internal injury from the outside.

 

I'm just not sure I agree. The same could be said of the complexity of the hunger/thirst system. rocket could have gone with a simple "you're either hungry or you're not" system, but instead he spent the time to basically model a system of digestion, energy transfer, virtual stomachs that can get full, vomiting, etc. With so much specificity and granularity when it comes to how hungry I am, I don't see why we wouldn't expect the same level of detail when it comes to degree of injury.

 

To me the current system just seems simple to the point of feeling inauthentic. Broke your leg? No problem, tie an old dirty stick on it and you're healthy as a horse!

 

I definitely see your point, and don't disagree.  Lately when it comes to suggestions I've been doing my best to offer alternatives that could be easily implemented within the contexts of what the design already is or what is possible.

 

I have three series of questions for you regarding the more serious of the fractures:

 

1.  You say that a player should be able to heal "naturally" with bed rest and other player aid.  What would the time table be on healing fractures?  Realistically, even if we take into account the game's accelerated body clock (being that you need to eat frequently, several times an hour depending on the quantity per sitting) healing a broken bone would take hours. 

 

2. Will the healing still occur in your system even if even the player has not achieved the Healthy Status?  If so, should healing always occur so players don't feel like the system is imbalanced (and then at what point are we getting away from the original system?)  If not, how can a player realistically ever expect to heal a serious break without a lot of help?

 

3.  If the setting was real life, I would hazard a guess that the more serious breaks such as possibly a Compound Fracture and most assuredly a Communited Fracture would almost certainly lead to death.  I'm not a medical expert by any stretch of the imagination so correct if I'm wrong: I thought that a serious break could run the risk of infections and even blood poisoning?  If these breaks are that serious, should the result not merely be death since the relative chance of curing the problem is so slim in a post-apocalyptic setting?  And if that is the case should we even go that far with this realism?

 

I'm totally with you that the system should be expanded.  Consider me playing Devil's Advocate here for the sake of generating a really good idea; I'm definitely not taking a dump on your idea, trying to collaborate :)