How would you define “Fluid” movement?

Now, there’s been plenty of discussion on the physics and most importantly, the Thok. Something I’ve seen come up often is how “fluid” an ability is. Now, for example, this could be in the case of the Thok, where some people say it’s clunky, and others say it’s the most fluid ability. That’s the problem though, How would you define fluid? Even better, how would you define fluid movement? It comes up plenty and I really wanna hear your opinions on this.

In my personal opinion, Fluid movement is the ability to translate fast reactions into consistent and improvised movement. For example, precisely memorizing actions in locations and initiating them with exact inputs, although impressive, isn’t fluid.

So, what are your thoughts on this?

Charonik08 said:

How would you define fluid? Even better, how would you define fluid movement?

Click to expand...

To me, when it comes to videogames, I would define fluid movement as how easy a character is to control, when you play the game and it doesn't feel like the movement of the character is against your favor. Anything that makes the character more difficult to control, makes the movement less fluid.

That being said, there obviously can't be something that's 100% fluid, otherwise there wouldn't be any challenge to the game, but there can be a balance between how fluid the movement is, and how challenging it is.

The levels and the game in general should be designed around the kind of fluid movement you want the player to have.

In SRB2's case, I think there certainly is a case to be made that some of the levels are designed in a way that require very precise inputs and timing in some areas, and while some people find this fun, some less skilled players do not, specially considering the amount of retries some sections of a level might take them, assuming they're using Sonic for instance, since you can't really cheat sections of the level with him.

So it all comes down to game design decisions really, and what you're aiming your game to be like, and wether you want the player to be able to make those very precise inputs or not.

in my opinion fluid movement is when the simple act of moving around and performing actions one after another feels good and natural enough that I don't feel the need to constantly slow down and double-check things around me.
To me, this translates into- for example- Mario Odyssey, where when you get accustomed to the controls, performing multiple, complex actions or many minor actions comes naturally to the point I find myself doing them almost on instinct, and enjoying the feeling of pulling said actions off- not precisely or perfectly, but the mere fact that I feel so used to it that I don't even question "Can I make this", is when I feel movement is fluid.
In terms of level design however, I personally find fluid movement is best described as when you can get from point A to B in a level without ever slowing down or halting, purely by naturally playing and learning the ropes, rather than having to master the controls. If I, knowing the level and controls, can get around these tight turns, jumps, and enemy patterns without questioning how I can keep my speed consistent through it all, without being a pro at the game, that's fluid movement.

My opinion of how to describe fluid is a control that simple and easy to master

This is the kind of question that usually I would write up a long reply to in my endeavor to capture my viewpoint on the matter as precisely as possible. However, in this case that won't be necessary, because I think it's a simple enough question that I can keep it short and simple.

It's in the name: "Fluid" controls are controls that are intuitive enough to you that you can easily enter a flow state in, rather than having to fight against them to get anything done.

Fluid moment to me means every action has to connect to each other without breaking the flow of movement of gameplay.

Something that is not clunky.

I agree with pretty much everything ManuelRome said; level design can heavily dictate how fluid a character feels to play.
Even if you theoretically designed "perfectly fluid" controls, level/map design can hinder that fluidity easily. That being said, the thok being "clunky" doesn't make much sense to me. It can be a heavily risky move in a lot of scenarios, but if used properly it's by far one of the most powerful and useful abilities in the game.
If anything, the thok fits Sonic's design perfectly as it compliments his core traits of being a difficult character to master, but highly effective in the right hands.