Climbing, Crawling and Sliding

[ifoz]

Traversing mountains and caves when you don't have enough blocks to pillar up is rather annoying.
This is where climbing and the climbing pick come in!

 

Through the use of a special type of item, the climbing pick, the player would be able to scale 2 tall walls with ease, and 3 tall walls with a few seconds delay.

Climbing picks also allow the player to negate some fall damage if they can grab onto a wall and slide down it with the pick, with each tier reducing fall damage by a better percentage.

Copper: -15% fall damage

Bronze: -20% fall damage

Iron: -30% fall damage

Steel: -50% fall damage

This would offer a potential way to save yourself from falling if you can react fast enough and there is a flat wall nearby, much like the old wall sliding bug.

 

Also, crawling!

As they say about crawling drifters, 'if you can't beat them, join them!'

Crawling would allow you to move through 1-block gaps by pressing crouch twice to enter into crawling mode.

This would just make traversal of caves that little bit easier.

 

 

 

These were just some ideas I had that I thought could be cool to see implemented into the game.

What does everyone else think?

 

[Maelstrom]

Ladders do the same thing and already exist in game.

[ifoz]

13 hours ago, Maelstrom said:

Ladders do the same thing and already exist in game.

This is true, but in my mind the climbing pick would be faster to use as it would be held in a hand and would not require being placed, and would be a much more instinctive way to clutch a fall than having to quickly place a ladder on a wall as you fall and then clutch on it. With the amount of vertical holes in the ground that VS' current world gen has, I think that this could be a very useful ability.
But yes, ladders do indeed exist for this type of task too, this was just an idea for an alternative way to traverse the world.

Edited February 10, 2024 by ifoz

[Ogi Teh yeti]

Main thing is I would very much like to crawl, always a good feature. So many times, caves have those tight 1 block tall openings into another cave section. Crawling into it, even if slowly (or not) would be a very cave diver feel I imagine, plus it means you don't need to dig the path open.

[ifoz]

10 hours ago, Ogi Teh yeti said:

Main thing is I would very much like to crawl, always a good feature. So many times, caves have those tight 1 block tall openings into another cave section. Crawling into it, even if slowly (or not) would be a very cave diver feel I imagine, plus it means you don't need to dig the path open.

Yeah, I've been exploring a lot of caves lately, and it led me to the idea of crawling as I was tired of having to awkwardly mine through 1-tall gaps.
I thought it would also make caving feel even more tense and claustrophobic than it already is.
Thanks for the feedback!!

[Chickon_20]

On 2/11/2024 at 9:24 AM, ifoz said:

Yeah, I've been exploring a lot of caves lately, and it led me to the idea of crawling as I was tired of having to awkwardly mine through 1-tall gaps.
I thought it would also make caving feel even more tense and claustrophobic than it already is.
Thanks for the feedback!!

This would also help keeping the caves from collapsing.

[lil]

On 2/9/2024 at 12:09 AM, ifoz said:

Climbing picks also allow the player to negate some fall damage if they can grab onto a wall and slide down it with the pick, with each tier reducing fall damage by a better percentage.

Copper: -15% fall damage

Bronze: -20% fall damage

Iron: -30% fall damage

Steel: -50% fall damage

This would offer a potential way to save yourself from falling if you can react fast enough and there is a flat wall nearby, much like the old wall sliding bug.

 

I love all these ideas, but maybe make it more durability based, the difference in tools? The idea of managing to not only pull the pick out, but also reach the wall in time feels like its more often useful for a planned fall, where rope ladders (or just ladders) are useful. Maybe instead have them all reduce damage by even more, but below iron have it really shred the durability as it hits so many rocks/solid objects with your full weight falling.

[ifoz]

On 2/19/2024 at 12:57 AM, lil said:

I love all these ideas, but maybe make it more durability based, the difference in tools? The idea of managing to not only pull the pick out, but also reach the wall in time feels like its more often useful for a planned fall, where rope ladders (or just ladders) are useful. Maybe instead have them all reduce damage by even more, but below iron have it really shred the durability as it hits so many rocks/solid objects with your full weight falling.

I think the durability shredding is a cool idea!
I do realise now that having to pull out the pick and then grab a wall would make it quite hectic in the heat of the moment.
What if the picks also had 'passive' uses like shields? So the fall damage reduced would be less, but still noticeable even if the pick wasn't in your hand, and instead in your hotbar? Or perhaps the picks could be a thing you generally carry around in your offhand while exploring, offering a way to save yourself at the cost of an offhand slot and a 20% hunger increase?
Just some other ideas I had after reading your comment, thanks for the feedback!!

Edited February 21, 2024 by ifoz

[Dra6o0n]

Climbing on its own is a interesting mechanic for multiple use cases... Like ledge grabbing and descent of a cliff without breaking your legs.

Also it's not like it's realistic to be placing ladders everywhere you go in a rush, like when being chased or whatnot, climbing would help out in a pinch, or forms of it such as climbing a ledge.

[Chickon_20]

Idea:

Ur able to climb most of the things with ease, but at the cost of humger. To help urself out, I can use climbing picks to reduce the amount of hunger it takes u to climb. There should also be a penality for using them on soft terrain and not using them on hard terrain.

[lil]

On 2/20/2024 at 8:45 PM, ifoz said:

What if the picks also had 'passive' uses like shields? So the fall damage reduced would be less, but still noticeable even if the pick wasn't in your hand, and instead in your hotbar? Or perhaps the picks could be a thing you generally carry around in your offhand while exploring, offering a way to save yourself at the cost of an offhand slot and a 20% hunger increase?
Just some other ideas I had after reading your comment, thanks for the feedback!!

I love this idea! Having it be an offhand tool would make it a good tradeoff for some fall damage reduction, would make it work almost like an early glider in the general fall damage prevention, and gives some differences on how you use torches/lanterns if you want to use it in a cave. I wonder how it would be justified in lore and such if it was a passive hotbar item, maybe if it included climbing clips, etc.?

[Leonixar]

I would also like the ability to crawl between blocks where the height is just right for one block. MC used to have an awesome mode for climbing, handcrawling and crawling, but then they stopped developing it further and it fell into oblivion. The ability to crawl was added in MC, but you have to carry some sort of item to do so to force the character to lie down on the ground. I think that thing is a trap door. Anyway, I got sidetracked, it's just that since we can crouch or sit on the ground, it would certainly be logical to be able to lie down on the ground and crawl as well.

I would also like to add one more request. In games, it's common to be able to toggle sprinting and crouching. Only switching sprinting has been added to the game, but not crouching... o.o
About two years ago I had an accident that permanently partially damaged the functioning of my left hand. I've learned to live with it, work with it, even learned a new way to use the keyboard in games, but I'm now permanently limited in the number of possible keys I can press at once. Would it please be possible to add an option that even crouching will be toggleable and one won't have to hold a button to do so?

Thank you to the developers in advance for adding this option, thank you for us disabled and left-handed players. ^.^

[Dra6o0n]

On 1/3/2025 at 10:49 AM, Leonixar said:

I would also like the ability to crawl between blocks where the height is just right for one block. MC used to have an awesome mode for climbing, handcrawling and crawling, but then they stopped developing it further and it fell into oblivion. The ability to crawl was added in MC, but you have to carry some sort of item to do so to force the character to lie down on the ground. I think that thing is a trap door. Anyway, I got sidetracked, it's just that since we can crouch or sit on the ground, it would certainly be logical to be able to lie down on the ground and crawl as well.

I would also like to add one more request. In games, it's common to be able to toggle sprinting and crouching. Only switching sprinting has been added to the game, but not crouching... o.o
About two years ago I had an accident that permanently partially damaged the functioning of my left hand. I've learned to live with it, work with it, even learned a new way to use the keyboard in games, but I'm now permanently limited in the number of possible keys I can press at once. Would it please be possible to add an option that even crouching will be toggleable and one won't have to hold a button to do so?

Thank you to the developers in advance for adding this option, thank you for us disabled and left-handed players. ^.^

Something like a Azeron Cyborg maybe, but amazon isn't selling any as it's unavailable lol.

It's like a claw based gaming controller for your left hand with a joystick and multiple inputs to bind and use.

Edited January 11, 2025 by Dra6o0n

[LadyWYT]

https://mods.vintagestory.at/show/mod/17225

This mod looks like it's aiming to be the Vintage version of the old Smart Moving mod from the other block game. Worth trying out/keeping an eye on for those who'd like that kind of option in gameplay.

[Shotai]

On 2/9/2024 at 8:13 PM, ifoz said:

This is true, but in my mind the climbing pick would be faster to use as it would be held in a hand and would not require being placed, and would be a much more instinctive way to clutch a fall than having to quickly place a ladder on a wall as you fall and then clutch on it. With the amount of vertical holes in the ground that VS' current world gen has, I think that this could be a very useful ability.
But yes, ladders do indeed exist for this type of task too, this was just an idea for an alternative way to traverse the world.

Necro time!

I'd say that ladders do not offer a solution to everything that a climbing pick can do. For example, some servers do not want ladders on every inch of a mountain that you wanted to climb. Using the climbing pick would other climbing gear would not just be unique but it would also be a way to conserve resources and make sure that some hooligan isn't running around putting up hundreds of ladders if they wanted to visit somewhere particularly verticle.

In the case of my own needs, I am looking for ladder replacements on my upcoming cover such as the climbing tool; as the preservation of natural landscape would be a goal of mine. Ladders everywhere would be quite annoying in that regard. I would however, say that climbing should not have reduced fall damage. If you fall, you fall. Gravity doesn't care if you fall 10 feet with a grip or if you fall 10 feet; the position in which you fall and the speed matters more. It's always on your feet and speed should already be reduced when falling with the climbing pick.

IMHO, the game would bring in a lot of attention if it addressed some of the gameplay elements associated with Peak and introduced it to the game for that very reason. Being able to put some rope down, manage your 'grit' to know when to take a break and more would be an amazing gameplay element. If the game brought a similar amount of attention to little slices of the game like climbing in that way as it did for the endless cycle of smash trash off iron, shape iron, repeat; it would attract not just the folk that like that relaxing cycle but also people who see a giant ass mountain and say: holy shit, I know what I want to do this winter.

[Krougal]

Who needs ladders and picks when you've got a bucket of water

Seriously though, it would be a nice option.

[Shotai]

38 minutes ago, Krougal said:

Who needs ladders and picks when you've got a bucket of water

Seriously though, it would be a nice option.

Who needs a sword when you can make a knife!

Edited August 8, 2025 by Shotai
Blargh

[Murklak]

I've been wanting to make a post about this because there is so much steep verticality in this game including sheer cliffs and overhangs. My idea was to add a stamina gauge that gets larger with better nutrition but the ideas here may be more in line with the style of the game. Whatever the case, the difficulty of terrain traversal should be balanced with better movement options.

[Thorfinn]

That's one option, @Murklak. Another is just to choose a different route. If you are paying attention, it's not that hard to maintain a constant sprint, though it does mean you go around badlands rather than through them. In 1.21, it seems even easier. The terrain is quite a bit more forgiving. Even if you have gravity on dirt.

[Apocalypse_Andy]

I like both ideas of climbing spikes and the ability to crawl.  Perhaps the block height you can climb could also be based on material, copper/bronze for 2 blocks, iron/steel for 3 with both using durability of the spikes.  Excellent suggestions ifoz.

[ifoz]

Crawling would be really nice for some environmental stuff - I've been building a ruin lately that includes a segment where the player is intended to 'crawl' through a sewer pipe, and I had to make it 1.5 blocks tall instead of something like 1 so they could fit.

[Entaris]

pitons and mountable rope