Full disclosure: I have zero experience in the operation of real world firearms. However, I have watched a lot of CQB tutorials on YouTube and played a little ARMA so I’m basically an expert on the subject.
In many of these videos I noticed that operators often switch their weapon to the opposite shoulder to minimize how much of their body is exposed as they wrap around certain corners or peek out of cover. They call this move a ‘shoulder transition’. Here is a really good demonstration of what I’m talking about from YouTuber Iron Infidel.
It’s such a slick maneuver that gets executed like second nature, and to a layperson like me it feels like this is a vital component of staying safe while holding an angle. More than that, it makes this navigation feel so much more dynamic and interesting as the operator constantly shifts their weapon’s position to cover their approach.
Despite the perfect combination of practical utility and cool factor, the shoulder transition is a move that even the most tactical first-person shooters rarely replicate. Why is that?
I felt like I was missing a trick so I did a little digging.
Viewmodel mirroring in Counter-Strike 2
I started my investigation with the familiar. I’ve been a fan of Counter-Strike for over two decades (yikes), and since the very beginning players have been able to mirror their weapon’s view model over to the left side of their screen. In Counter-Strike 2 they finally made this feature official with a proper name and configurable hotkey.
Unfortunately, Switch Viewmodel doesn’t really do the shoulder transition justice. It’s a snappy move, but it’s entirely cosmetic and has no effect beyond the local client. To everyone else in the game your stance (and more importantly your hitbox) is completely unchanged.
During a viewmodel switch the weapon and all of its animations are mirrored. As guns are rarely symmetrical, this creates a minor break from reality that firearm enthusiasts might struggle to accept.
In Counter-Strike projectiles originate from the camera’s position and not the muzzle of the equipped weapon, so the shoulder transition has zero impact on bullet trajectory.
It does the job!
Although it’s something of a half measure, I don’t want to come down too hard on the view model switch.
It’s clear the intention behind the mechanic is to give players the ability to quickly clear the left/right side of their screen to make it easier to scan for enemies. In this it’s wholly successful.
Moreover, the compromise in mirroring the view model is very likely how the feature was able to exist in the first place. It would have been super cost prohibitive to have to detail the reverse side of each weapon, as well as animate alternate versions of the reload, equip, inspect, and fire animation.
The Tarkov shoulder transition
I thought my search was going to start and end with Counter-Strike until I started asking around for alternatives.
It turns out I should have widened my net a little because it was quickly brought to my attention that Escape from Tarkov features a fully implemented shoulder transition with a realistically shifting stance, hitbox, and non-mirrored animations! Huzzah!
Here is a great breakdown by Airwingmarine that goes in-depth into the gameplay consequences of the mechanic.
Tarkov uses the second shoulder transition method identified by Iron Infidel, where the operator somewhat awkwardly shifts the butt of their weapon to the opposite shoulder without changing the position of their hands. It’s fast and effective, if not a little ungainly.
This is a great mechanic, and the best example of the shoulder transition I’ve been able to find, but without changing the positions of the hands the player is still left with an asymmetrically advantageous ability to peek around cover.
In my opinion this isn’t desirable and I think things could be taken that extra step further.
Animation recycling
One reason Tarkov uses the second method over the first is that it allows for the same suite of animations to be used for both weapon positions, with just some additive corrections to the character’s stance when using their supporting shoulder.
It’s a cost-effective way to get a whole new set of left-orientated animations without doubling up on workload.
The Shooter Sandbox implementation?
I believe the reason the shoulder transition isn’t a common feature in many tactical shooters is that it requires a significant amount of animation work for comparatively little payoff.
Despite this, I still maintain it has the potential to be a really interesting addition to mid-combat navigation/traversal, and if that means doubling up on animation work for my own Shooter Sandbox project then I’m willing to bite that bullet and see how far this idea can be pushed.
Ambidextrous characters in Shooter Sandbox 0.1.5
Like most real-life weapons, the guns in the Sandbox are not symmetrical. This means at minimum I’ll need to create twice the equip, reload, inspect, and fire animations, but with this baked into the design from the beginning I don’t anticipate this being much more of a burden. It’s a design problem, not an animation task.
I’m currently in the process of reworking these weapon handling animations, so it seems like a good time to experiment. I look forward to sharing the results with you in a future update!
I am very aware that I can only afford to play around like this because I have no real deadlines, and no manager breathing down my neck asking me to justify my time. That said, rolling the dice on interesting mechanics is exactly why I started the Sandbox project in the first place.
I hope to share my progress again soon.
Getting it right
I am painfully aware of my lack of actual firearm knowledge and experience.
Although I really enjoy the process of ‘gamifying’ these real-life drills and maneuvers, I want them to also be realistically accurate wherever possible.
If I am getting anything wrong with the handling/operation of these weapons, please let me know!
