Posted: Thu Sep 1 2022 (Updated: Sun Apr 02 2023)
To Autohop or Not: A Comparison Within Arena Shooters
Virtually all general first-person games have a control for jumping. The player presses a button (standard default: space key) then the character jumps. In some cases, the character may jump continuously as the button is held and until the button is released. Within arena shooters, this is called “autohopping”.
Autohopping is unconventional to arena shooters. For example, autohopping is present in Xonotic but absent in Reflex Arena and the Quake series. In the latter case, the player must press and release for jumps. In general online discussions, the presence of an autohop setting can be lambasted by users as “casualization”, to dilute the effort or skill involved in playing the game for cheap appeal to a poorly defined target audience. Such video game discussions can inspire online arguments that leave the modern observer, the players from modern competitive shooters who mainly need to hold W/A/S/D, in the dark about the significance.
“What’s the big deal?”
“Is constantly pressing the space key that integral to the design and challenge of arena FPS?”
Certainly, tapping is more effort than holding down a key. But how does this relate to the fundamental design of arena shooter games beyond a quality of life feature? Foreword: it has little to do with accelerating the player character.1
Meet “the double jump” from Quake. It is not in the spotlight nearly as much as “the rocket jump”, but the double jump has significant influence in the design of Quake maps. Mind that double jumping in Quake is not the same as double jumping in a platformer game (Sonic the Hedgehog jumps in mid-air), and the double jump is only relevant to the games that have it.
In Quake, a double jump can occur after the player jumps. The
character rises, and the character’s foot meets a brush (map
geometry) allowing a second jump to reach taller heights. This is
important for a match as it enables the player to reach items or
power-ups without sacrificing health with a rocket jump. However, a
player may decide whether to execute a double jump or fail to
perform it entirely. Therefore, to represent these outcomes, each
jump must be manually executed. Double jumps unlock advantageous
routes in CPMA and Reflex Arena. Double jump related obstacles are
prominent in the Quake 3 defrag map bull-runner. But
again, double jumps are only relevant to games that have them.
To revisit a game with autohop, Xonotic officially does not have
double jumps.2 By default, the jump tricks
intended for Quake physics within map ports from Quake do not work
in Xonotic. The equivalent to a double jump in Xonotic is a ramp
jump. Depending on angle, approach, and momentum, the player
character will follow an incline surface into the air to reach
taller heights. For example, a ramp jump can be used to access the
Mega Health on fuse and the Mega Armor on
opium. Therefore, the timing and manual execution of
jumps is irrelevant to the demonstration of map knowledge and skill
in Xonotic.
So yes, autohopping can impact the design of a map. The antagonism toward autohopping is better understood as disapproval to proposed changes to an existing game. Autohop may affect the decade(s) long legacy of custom maps and the work of mappers. Many of which may no longer be around. But it is important to remember that although video games may share a genre, an engine, and possibly a set of maps, the features and mechanics between games are not similarly significant.
In Quake engine, jumping negates deceleration to friction by avoiding contact with the ground. The player obtains a set amount of speed by pressing W/A/S/D and accelerates by strafing.↩︎
Double jumping can be enabled as a server side configuration. This is in place on Xonotic defrag servers for compatibility with Quake 3 defrag maps. But it is disabled for most other modes.↩︎
