This is an incredibly important question will the

This is an incredibly important question: Will the game have a run button? One thing about the Oracle games that mildly annoyed me was the slow walking speed. Also, love following your updates. Always exciting to see what you’ve been working on!

Thanks for following along for so long. :)

So this IS an important question, because slow movement can get really annoying–even excruciating–in games. Just keep in mind that this certainly isn’t final! As of the current design, there is no run button planned. There are a couple reasons for this.

First of all, Tav already moves faster than Link did in the Oracle games (there’s an old GIF that makes him look incredibly slow, but it’s deceiving… that was just a crappy GIF). In addition, you actually have some mobility while attacking, where you didn’t in the GameBoy Zeldas.

The second reason delves a bit deeper into game design. Namely, if you add a run button in a game you either 1) have people always pressing the button constantly, or 2) give them a reason to not push the button. #2 is better design because… well, if you go with #1, why not just have the player auto-run instead?

So if we want to give players a reason to not run, there’s stamina management, which I like for certain games (like Dark Souls). But this is an extra element that adds to the scope of your game. I wouldn’t want just a stamina bar for running, but if I put attacks or whatever else on that bar, I’m completely changing the dynamic of the game.

Another way to “not run” would be to make it not sneaky, or have areas where you have to be careful not to run into spikes or off a ledge or something. This is fine, but you wouldn’t want to do this everywhere because it’d be annoying. :P

One final thought (and I’d probably go with this and the previous reason if I did put a run button in) is to make it hard to change direction while running. I like this one because if you have a straightaway, you can just book it. If you have to navigate around in a more mazelike area, you wouldn’t want to run. This is kind of how the Pegasus Boots work in A Link to the Past and the Pegasus Seeds in Oracle of Ages.

Whiiiiich brings me to the other current reason I’m not putting in a run button: there will likely be a “dash” item like the Pegasus Boots! I’m still working on the details of this, but you’ll likely see more once I get around to my inventory series (in the ~fuuuuture~).

AND I have a roll button planned… :D

But anyway, the current solve is pretty much just that you move faster than you did in the Oracles! And I’ll make sure to get feedback from alpha/beta testers on whether they like the movement speed and update accordingly. Have no fear–I’ll be listening to you guys.

Thanks for the question! :)