Grappling Hooks: What Might We See?

Flying Around at the Speed of Sound

Let's get one thing out of the way before we continue; it's a Grappling Hook.  There will be statements saying "Grapple Hook" and "Grapnel Hook" and various other instances of the English language eating away at itself.  A Grapnel is used in water, and a Grapple Hook simply incorrect English ("A wrestle mat" vs. "A wrestling mat").

Also all the video links in this post will (or should!) open a new window in your browser.  Be sure to check the volume settings when they come up, as these are from the era of bombastic industrial metal tracks as background music.  What once was Sonic Mayhem and Front Line Assembly has turned into a cluster of wub-wubs and bass drops.

Now that we have that out of the way; holy shit Grappling Hook.

Ropes, Wires, Hooks, and Utility Belts

The very concept of a Grappling Hook is fantastic, especially in a game such as Warframe.  Attaching yourself to something and zipping around the map is one of the dreams which many first-person shooter  and third-person shooter players have.  We can blame it on Bionic Commando and The Legend of Zelda.

But what kind of Grappling Hook will we get?  And in what form will it interact with the physics of Warframe?

The Classic Grappling Hook

The original hook used in Ye Olden Days of FPS gaming, this is the one which paved the way for all others.  The properties of the Classic Grappling Hook are simple:

• Attach to a physical object
• Retain/inherit full inertia
• Pivot in a spherical area

As this video demonstrates (from the original Quake using one of the first three-dimensional examples of the Grappling Hook) the effect of the hook in spatial movement is substantial.  The implimentation of such a function in a game removes the Z-axis limitations which a majority of players are comfortable with.  As illustrated in this sequence of events, the player doesn't even reach the floor as they traverse a corner.  The location in question is a perfect choke and a prime location to gib a target with a shotgun blast, a railgun shot, or simply send them off-course with a direct or indirect rocket impact.

Removing the requirement for a player to be grounded for most of the match and moving through very specific zones of a hallway removed the expected locations which enemy players could reliably focus their aim.  Applying the same effect to enemy line-of-sight in Warframe (guards rarely look at the ceiling) is a fantastic way to create a faster method of stealth play which many players would feel more comfortable using.

The Physics Grappling Hook

Differing from the Classic Grappling Hook, this hook has properties which allowed it to be used for different methods of travel beyond slingshotting across a map:

• Attach to a physical object
• Retain/inherit limited inertia
• Reel the user towards the attachment point
• Decrease power of third function as user inertia changes

As we can see in this video, limited inertia and the various changes in the function of the hook offer a smoother and more natural functions.  If we were to compare the two hooks thus far (the Physics and the Classic), the Classic Hook would be a static iron bar which possesses no collision and swings the user along a pivot; the Physics Hook is a rope which quickly tugs the user towards the attachment point as it reels in and then slows the reeling process as time passes.

The Physics Hook does a great deal to open the possibilities for use, with limitations against exploiting.  The gravity- and inertia-controlled functions of the Physics Hook on the user ensure that objects in the world are still barriers, and that the user cannot ignore collision with surfaces while attempting to traverse the terrain.

The Inertia Grappling Hook

Anyone familiar with the Lithium Mod from the days of Quake 2 will understand the function of the Inertia Grappling Hook.  Another good title for this hook is the Zipline Hook, due to the function which inertia does not exibit as the user moves:

• Attach to a physical object
• Reset inertia
• Propel the user towards the attachment point
• Continue to propel the user towards the attachment point along a straight line

As a very loud video from Quake 2 helps illustrate, the Inertia Hook has no solid connection between the user and the attachment point.  The function of the Inertia Hook is to instead allow either brief periods of acceleration, or inter-spaced periods of acceleration and free fall   The method used to move with the Lithium Mod hook was to "skip" through the air by briefly attaching to a point and propelling yourself towards it, only to detach and sail through the air.  Repeating this allowed the user to continue to sail through the air, often while gaining momentum.

This is by far the hardest Grappling Hook cited thus far to balance around, and can cause numerous technical issues.  Desync from the host/server, exploiting movement speed to pass through objects, and out-ranging all but hitscan attacks are just some of the risks with implementing the Inertia Hook.

The Ninja Rope

We've saved the best for last, and it may be the best-known Grappling Hook from two completely different games:

• Attach to a physical object
• Inherit inertia
• Set maximum distance which user can move from attachment point
• Align user along maximum distance from attachment point when attempting to exceed maximum distance from attachment point

Explaining the Ninja Rope is hard. It involves Pi. Videos are the only way to really allow a user to better understand the effects, so instead of illustrating the various uses of the Ninja Rope we will look at where it has been best used.

Unreal Tournament: 2004 used a Ninja Rope as a Mutator (effectively a Mod), and the effect was profound.  As can be seen in the video, the ultra-balanced Facing Worlds Capture The Flag map was rendered a joke in the face of such a tool.

Worms Armageddon has one of the more memorable modern-gaming instances of the Ninja Rope.  Some of the things which you can do with it blow my mind even today.

Garry's Mod has a good implementation of the Ninja Rope as well, with a very Spider-Man feel to the controls.

Warframes Grappling Hook

So what will we get?  From the brief demo which Digital Extremes gave us, I'm not so sure we're going to see any of the above.  The closest example to take from above would be the Inertia Hook, without the ability to inherit inertia or disengage the hook before reaching the attachment point.  It is one of the simplest hooks to add, and ensures the hook isn't sued to exploit movement and trivialize Void content.

With any luck, we will see one of the more utility belt-like functions of the Grappling Hook in Warframe.  Upon reaching the attachment point of the Grappling Hook, the user is anchored in place and is unable to move until they manually disengage the Grappling Hook.  Be it through the use of the action key, jumping, or automatically after a brief period of time.

But just seeing a Grappling Hook in Warframe will be enough for me.  However it ends up working, the game will be made all-the-better for its inclusion.