diff --git a/AGRARIAN_DEVELOPMENT_ROADMAP.md b/AGRARIAN_DEVELOPMENT_ROADMAP.md index 0d62653..00d55ec 100644 --- a/AGRARIAN_DEVELOPMENT_ROADMAP.md +++ b/AGRARIAN_DEVELOPMENT_ROADMAP.md @@ -372,7 +372,7 @@ Target deliverable: A small group can join a server, spawn into one biome, gathe - [x] Implement first/third-person camera toggle. - [x] Implement movement. - [x] Implement sprinting. -- [ ] Define real-world baseline walking speed. +- [x] Define real-world baseline walking speed. Decision: baseline adult walking speed is `1.4 m/s` (`140 Unreal units/s`), with MVP tuning allowance up to about `1.6 m/s` for brisk walking. Movement speed does not scale with the `4 real hours = 1 in-game day` calendar. - [ ] Define real-world baseline running speed. - [ ] Connect movement speed to age, condition, strength, endurance, hunger, thirst, injury, carried weight, and terrain. - [ ] Implement crouching if needed. @@ -1465,4 +1465,4 @@ Earliest incomplete foundation items: Immediate next item: -- [ ] Define real-world baseline walking speed. +- [ ] Define real-world baseline running speed. diff --git a/Docs/MovementAndTimeScaleBaseline.md b/Docs/MovementAndTimeScaleBaseline.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c159fcf --- /dev/null +++ b/Docs/MovementAndTimeScaleBaseline.md @@ -0,0 +1,90 @@ +# Movement And Time Scale Baseline + +Date: 2026-05-15 + +## Decision + +Agrarian should keep physical movement close to real-world human pace. The MVP +calendar can remain compressed at `4 real hours = 1 in-game day`, but walking, +running, swimming, climbing, animal movement, and vehicles should be measured in +real distance per real second. + +Do not multiply player movement speed by the calendar time scale. + +## Why + +The world is built around real terrain and real distances. If a tile is 1 km by +1 km, the player should experience that kilometer as a real distance, not as a +distance that changes when the calendar scale changes. + +Calendar compression is for crop growth, weather passage, day/night rhythm, +sleep, hunger pressure, and long-term life simulation. Movement speed is for +the feel of a body moving through terrain. + +If we scale movement with the day length, travel will stop feeling grounded. +Players will cross valleys, fields, roads, and forests at speeds that do not +match what they see on screen. + +## MVP Baseline Walking Speed + +Baseline adult walking speed: + +- `1.4 meters per second` +- `140 Unreal units per second` +- about `5.0 kilometers per hour` +- about `12 minutes` to walk across a flat 1 km tile edge-to-edge + +MVP tuning allowance: + +- The default playable walking speed may be tuned up to about + `1.6 meters per second` if the first playable build feels too sluggish. +- That tuning should still be treated as a brisk real walk, not a hidden travel + multiplier. +- Terrain, injury, hunger, thirst, carried weight, weather, age, and endurance + can reduce this baseline later. + +## Relationship To The 4-Hour Day + +With a 4-hour day, one in-game hour lasts 10 real minutes. If a player walks for +10 real minutes, the world clock advances about one in-game hour. + +That is acceptable for the MVP. It creates survival pressure without making the +player physically move at unrealistic speed. + +The tradeoff is that long travel consumes meaningful daylight. That is a design +feature for Agrarian, because planning, shelter, food, water, roads, mounts, +boats, vehicles, and eventually settlements should matter. + +## What We Should Not Do + +- Do not make walking 4x faster to compensate for a compressed day. +- Do not make early-game walking feel like jogging. +- Do not solve long-distance travel by hiding scale changes in character speed. +- Do not make one real day equal one game day for the MVP just to make walking + math feel cleaner. + +## How To Keep The Game From Dragging + +Use systems that make sense in the world: + +- Start the MVP in a dense 1 km Ground Zero tile with meaningful nearby goals. +- Keep early tasks local so the player is not walking across empty space. +- Let paths, roads, tools, backpacks, carts, mounts, boats, and vehicles improve + travel over time. +- Use sleep/rest, shelter, storage, and camp placement so time pressure becomes + part of strategy. +- Tune hunger, thirst, weather exposure, and stamina around real seconds and the + 4-hour day instead of inflating movement speed. + +## Open Follow-Up + +The next roadmap item should define baseline running speed. That pass should +replace the current temporary sprint tuning with a realistic run/sprint model +that separates: + +- normal walking; +- brisk walking; +- sustainable jogging/running; +- short sprinting; +- stamina cost and recovery; +- injury/load/terrain modifiers.