Player Movement
While moving around in the game by physically moving in the real world feels immersive and natural, it quickly becomes tiresome having to bend and lean to view the level. It is also slow which is why a different method of movement was needed.
I first experimented with fixed points around the level as grip points for the player to grab and move around the level. However, these could not be seen through the level without littering the screen and were difficult to grab in a hurry, resulting in frustration.
Therefore I removed the grip points and let the player just pressure the controller to fix the hand to the current location. This allows for quick and reliable movement while still keeping the level clean.
Character Movement
Since the character the player controls is completely separated from the camera view,
it became difficult to predict which direction the character would actually run in following a joystick input.
To make the character movement more predictable the game checks what direction the player is currently facing, and considers that to be forward for the character.
Moving the joystick up will always make the character run away from the camera.
With this change implemented, moving the character were no longer a thought exercise and instead immedietely became effortless.