I think the problem with the walking is due to the foot rotation and leg angles, they are developed for walking on flat surfaces, the feet remain at a constant rotation. to climb up a slope you have to change your rotation of your foot or you'll just stub your toe, it's pretty simple really, when the foot is trailing it goes roughly vertical, swings forward changing to an angle of around 50 degrees. plus the angle of the leg is another factor, the only way you can fix this problem is measuring the distance of how far the ground is and procedurally edit the height of the knee joint. the foot rotation could be added as an extra variable to the walkpaths, and there would have to be a variable for waist line, or the height that the knee joint will try to stay at, +/- the walkpath offsets.

This.
We need a better walk system, a system where you don't have to make 4 seperate sprites.
Maybe a system where you should make the upper leg and the lower leg.
That'd be sweet.

That would cripple most actors, as the joint would not support their weight. Now crabs, maybe...

What are you talking about? I'm not annoyed, just plain confused.

The leg is a solid object, correct? It is animated to simulate joint movement, correct? As it is, flaws in the walking part of the engine can already make an actor trip over right? So, the extra joint would just make the leg fold up if you tried to walk. And it wouldn't help with limbpaths either.

I wonder if we'll ever be able to use animated GIFs as the background, and animations for turning either way or the side-to-side motion for walkers...

@Flammable
All the graphics applied to actor legs are fakes, yes. Data would have to rework the way actors move if he replicated joints in legs and arms (caveat below), so really the current movement system wouldn't apply.

However, he might be able to rework the way legs are displayed rather than move, nullifying my above statement. If it were doable to have the game calculate the angle at which pieces should be displayed according to how compressed the leg is (much like how it is now, but with multiple images at different angles), then he could keep the current walk system and have the new joint system.

Put that picture in your head, though: it would look like total ♥♥♥♥. Too paper puppet-looking.

I don't care what it looks like, I want walking to be a viable option rather than just 'easy way to die'.

Well, I'd think you would use the existing animation system, as in numbered frames.

True, but theoretically the same should go for the current leg and arm system: if worst comes to worst the spriters will work around it.

actually, with the current system the legs almost always look good, with two sections the legs would look seamy at times. im fine with how they work now (even if its a ♥♥♥♥♥ to sprite >_>) but its just how slow everything is. its currently like youre being attacked by badass-looking grandmas, minus the walking frame. and its infuriating when the enemy are feebly hobbling along your corridors and you cant move fast enough to catch them. the only positive thing about that situation is how comical a chase is at walking speed.
so, i think running is pretty necessary. i dont mean sprinting (though that would be cool, for some actors), just moving at a feasible pace for combat. would it be possible for you to relay that to data, numgun?

Hey I have a good idea for a spoiler that won't spoil that much!
Can you compare the vanilla size of B22 with the vanilla size of B23? I'm talking about megabytes.
I'd like to know this.

Seconded!

Fiftybilliongigabytes.