Development Patch #4 — Swimming, Water Physics & Traversal
This development update covers the new swimming and water systems, followed by the latest work on vaulting and falling ledge catches.
Swimming System
A complete swimming system is now being integrated into Hare House:
Added surface and underwater swimming.
Added slow, normal, and fast swimming speeds.
Holding sprint gradually transitions the player from a normal swim into a faster freestyle swim.
Added diving and rising transitions.
Improved directional movement so the character turns toward the direction they are swimming.
Improved transitions when entering and leaving water.
Added support for different water depths, from smaller flooded areas to deeper pools.
Continued work on keeping the character mesh and collision capsule properly aligned with the water surface.
Water Physics and Buoyancy
Water now affects more than the player:
Physics objects can float using the new buoyancy system.
Objects can react differently depending on their weight and buoyancy settings.
Ragdolls entering water can sink instead of remaining unnaturally suspended at the surface.
The system is being designed for puddles, fountains, pools, flooded rooms, and other bodies of water.
Water volumes can be resized and adjusted for different environments.
Sound effects, splashes, stamina, and underwater oxygen will be added during later development passes.
Expanded Vaulting System
The traversal system has been expanded with separate slow, fast, and high-vault behavior.
Slow Vaults
Slow vaults remain available for controlled movement over smaller obstacles.
Separate left- and right-sided animations are supported.
Their detection and settings are isolated from the other vault types.
Fast Vaults
Fast vaults use their own detection and tuning.
They are intended for approaching smaller obstacles at higher movement speeds.
Their settings are separated from slow and high vaults so adjustments no longer interfere with one another.
2-Meter High Vault
The high-wall vault has received a major activation overhaul:
It can activate while walking, jogging, sprinting, or standing extremely close to a wall.
Players should no longer need to repeatedly press jump while searching for a precise activation distance.
New checks determine whether an obstacle should be vaulted or treated as a climb-only surface.
Landing-space checks help prevent the player from vaulting into another wall or an unsafe area.
The high-vault system now operates independently from slow and fast vaults.
High-vault activation is now working reliably. The current focus is aligning the animation correctly with different wall heights so the character follows the obstacle naturally without rising too far above it.
Falling Ledge Catch
Work has also begun on a falling ledge-catch system:
The player can detect and catch certain ledges while falling.
Added separate detection and adjustment settings specifically for falling catches.
Added hand-placement support to keep the character’s hands connected to the detected edge.
Improved character positioning to reduce floating and wall clipping.
Falling catches are separated from the regular vault systems.
Further animation, hand-placement, and body-alignment improvements are still in progress.
Traversal System Separation
Slow vaults, fast vaults, high vaults, and falling catches now use separate systems and adjustable values. This allows each action to be improved without unintentionally changing how the others activate or behave.
What’s Next?
The next development passes will focus on:
Matching the 2-meter vault animation precisely to detected wall heights.
Improving the character’s movement path over high obstacles.
Refining third-person animation presentation. (Game is FP but its good to have them look good at all angles and perspectives)
Further polishing falling-catch hand and body alignment.
Adding water sound effects, splashes, stamina, and oxygen.
Testing traversal and swimming across more environments and movement speeds.
These systems are still being actively tested and refined, but they represent a major step toward making exploration and movement throughout Hare House feel more physical, responsive, and immersive.
Thank you for following the development of Hare House!