Upgrade Visuals
naggy
Join Date: 2005-03-22 Member: 46068Members
Join Date: 2005-03-22 Member: 46068Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Taking NS2 to the next level.</div>Hey guys.. I'm not sure if this idea has been posted already, or if something similar has already been thought of, but here goes anyways.
Ever since I've played NS (since release) I've always wondered why the Kharaa looked alike, <b>regardless</b> of their upgrades..
It's always stuck in the back of my mind, and I'm sure it always will.
Don't you think that by 'upgrading', one would lead to more than just kinetic changes? A big problem I faced in the original NS was the fact that you didn't know when the opposing team had specific upgrades (exception given to upgrades already with visuals, such as Heavy Armour/Jet Pack/Life form evolutions, Cloaking, etc) until you were either dead, on on the verge of death. Not only would this change add more aesthetics to an already beautiful game, but it would also add that extra bit of strategy, as by visualizing the opponent would reveal which upgrades they do, or do not have.
Some examples for the Kharaa could be as such (depending on which of these upgrades are still in NS2, but this is just an idea based from my experience),<ul><li> Focus gives larger, deadlier claws/jaws/appendages.</li><li> Silence gives some form of sound insulated looking appendages (eg. Fur/Fluff on wings for Lerks.)</li><li> Celerity gives a sleeker looking design.</li><li> Carapace gives.. Carapace (more bulkier, rigid looking cartilage/skin)</li><li> Regeneration gives rapidly shedding skin draping from the aliens.</li></ul>This could also be put into effect on Marine upgrades as well.<ul><li> Weapon upgrades make the weapons look more advanced (from simple to complex, lv0 > lv3)</li><li> Armour upgrades give more protective, wide scale coverage of the marine. (same as above)</li><li> Motion Tracking gives the marine an extra eyepiece or visor</li><li> Catalyst gives the marine a red tinge when activated (as if to emphasize rage/adrenaline.)</li></ul>The list goes on.
With these new changes to the upgrades and their visuals, there would be some minor complications though. For example, how would multiple upgrades work together? The answer lies in two forms of upgrade visuals. The first is a set position on the model which is <i>directly</i> manipulated and changed depending on which upgrade is in mind (Carapace, Silence, Weapon/Armour Upgrades, etc.) Think of them simply as the equivalent of different weapon models for the Kharaa (eg. Marines have different weapons with different models, aliens have different upgrades with different models). The second is a sort of visual which would affect the model as a <i>whole</i> as apposed to a designated area of the model (Cloaking, Regeneration, Catalyst, etc.) This form of designation could easily work with the mix and match process of upgrading, as everyone has their own likings and dis likings.
To explain how this would work, I'll use a Lerk as an example.
Say if I have a Lerk, and I take the Celerity upgrade. The wings could become sleek and aero-dynamic. Celerity would only visually affect the wings of the Lerk, nothing more (doing this ties up the problems for multiple upgrades of the same chamber for the combat gametype.) If I then wanted to upgrade Carapace, the Lerk's back and skin covering the spine could possibly become jagged and spiked (or hardened over like rock.) If I then wanted to upgrade say, Cloaking, the visual would effect the whole model (as cloaking does.)
IMO, these changes could give NS2 that extra bit of 'oomph', as sometimes its the smaller things that make the overall product/experience that much better. The only concern I have with this idea is the fact that some upgrades might be overlooked when it comes to visuals (for example the upgraded skulk would have to stand out and be easily distinguishable compared to the default/vanilla/un-upgraded skulks.)
I personally would really like to see changes like this in NS2, as the original NS had the potential to implement this idea, but sadly missed out on this opportunity all together.
Feedback welcomed, I'll gladly answer and queries.
Thanks for reading.
Ever since I've played NS (since release) I've always wondered why the Kharaa looked alike, <b>regardless</b> of their upgrades..
It's always stuck in the back of my mind, and I'm sure it always will.
Don't you think that by 'upgrading', one would lead to more than just kinetic changes? A big problem I faced in the original NS was the fact that you didn't know when the opposing team had specific upgrades (exception given to upgrades already with visuals, such as Heavy Armour/Jet Pack/Life form evolutions, Cloaking, etc) until you were either dead, on on the verge of death. Not only would this change add more aesthetics to an already beautiful game, but it would also add that extra bit of strategy, as by visualizing the opponent would reveal which upgrades they do, or do not have.
Some examples for the Kharaa could be as such (depending on which of these upgrades are still in NS2, but this is just an idea based from my experience),<ul><li> Focus gives larger, deadlier claws/jaws/appendages.</li><li> Silence gives some form of sound insulated looking appendages (eg. Fur/Fluff on wings for Lerks.)</li><li> Celerity gives a sleeker looking design.</li><li> Carapace gives.. Carapace (more bulkier, rigid looking cartilage/skin)</li><li> Regeneration gives rapidly shedding skin draping from the aliens.</li></ul>This could also be put into effect on Marine upgrades as well.<ul><li> Weapon upgrades make the weapons look more advanced (from simple to complex, lv0 > lv3)</li><li> Armour upgrades give more protective, wide scale coverage of the marine. (same as above)</li><li> Motion Tracking gives the marine an extra eyepiece or visor</li><li> Catalyst gives the marine a red tinge when activated (as if to emphasize rage/adrenaline.)</li></ul>The list goes on.
With these new changes to the upgrades and their visuals, there would be some minor complications though. For example, how would multiple upgrades work together? The answer lies in two forms of upgrade visuals. The first is a set position on the model which is <i>directly</i> manipulated and changed depending on which upgrade is in mind (Carapace, Silence, Weapon/Armour Upgrades, etc.) Think of them simply as the equivalent of different weapon models for the Kharaa (eg. Marines have different weapons with different models, aliens have different upgrades with different models). The second is a sort of visual which would affect the model as a <i>whole</i> as apposed to a designated area of the model (Cloaking, Regeneration, Catalyst, etc.) This form of designation could easily work with the mix and match process of upgrading, as everyone has their own likings and dis likings.
To explain how this would work, I'll use a Lerk as an example.
Say if I have a Lerk, and I take the Celerity upgrade. The wings could become sleek and aero-dynamic. Celerity would only visually affect the wings of the Lerk, nothing more (doing this ties up the problems for multiple upgrades of the same chamber for the combat gametype.) If I then wanted to upgrade Carapace, the Lerk's back and skin covering the spine could possibly become jagged and spiked (or hardened over like rock.) If I then wanted to upgrade say, Cloaking, the visual would effect the whole model (as cloaking does.)
IMO, these changes could give NS2 that extra bit of 'oomph', as sometimes its the smaller things that make the overall product/experience that much better. The only concern I have with this idea is the fact that some upgrades might be overlooked when it comes to visuals (for example the upgraded skulk would have to stand out and be easily distinguishable compared to the default/vanilla/un-upgraded skulks.)
I personally would really like to see changes like this in NS2, as the original NS had the potential to implement this idea, but sadly missed out on this opportunity all together.
Feedback welcomed, I'll gladly answer and queries.
Thanks for reading.
Comments
any ways i am all form this but i would like to to go even futher dynamicly, go play second life and randomly generate are character a few times, now picture that as a sulk, lenght of feet claw teeth placement of eye's, every time yo uspawn random sulk, but say you get carapace the carapace slider slide to full carapace and the sulks body adjusts comeing out of the egg as nesacery.
you start getting heaps of kills conscutively in one life your sulk over all size bar beings to slide up per kill.
you ant killing ###### and camping your sulk over all size / skinny ness bar begins to drop.
being random with dice rolls some constraints would need tobe put in to stop people from initaly rolling the bigest mean est looking sulk ever. you want said sulk with said random stats to take a upgrade and acctuly have it effect slider.
hum perhaps ill mess around in maya and make a video of this.
till then i support this idea, jsut it needs to be heapsly dynamic.
this could easly be done with mutiple layers of psd textures, or textures
you upgrade carapace, not only does your sulks shape change but the opacity on the top layer carapace goes up to 100%.
hehe maya i love props.
As for textures, and all that other stuff, I'm clueless. What I was thinking for things such as Regen was sorta like.. sprite effects.. For example, take WoW's use of sprites on weapon enchants like Savagery with the dripping blood.. That use of animation could easily be obtained and put to use for NS2 (at least I think.)
and yes, it would be pretty nifty if possible and not too taxing.
and why the heck cant you write Skulk?
Reading what you wrote, I'd think there would be more strategy involved if players had to communicate and calculate the other teams upgrades.
This concept was thought up as more of a realism thing. As I've said before, Marines get different models for guns.. Why can't aliens get different models for upgrades? It's only fair, right? I'm not suggesting that we have something <i>totally</i> out there for the different upgrades (even though it might sound like it in my original post), but just things here and there that make it more believable. Take Celerity for example.. Don't you think if something became significantly faster it would have to change its physical appearance in some way? It's kinda stupid having the same model to represent <i>every</i> species give or take evolutionary/technological upgrades.
The second painted skeleton does the normal animations, just your skulk now looks nasty.
There happy I said it. It didnt feel quite as good as you thought did it.
Now point a shot gun at it and watch it QQ.
I was acctuly mid makeing a demo of how this works in maya when it crashed *Gag