SG ammo indicator
JAmazon
Join Date: 2009-02-21 Member: 66503Members
<div class="IPBDescription">lol @ us</div>This might be too complicated to be effective, but just hear me out. What if instead of the flip screen we go back to just the indicator lights. Now the problem with this as stated, is that there's no indication of the remaining ammo. Perhaps we can use color to indicate this.
- blue lights -> more than 6 shells in reserve
- yellow lights -> between 0 and 6 shells in reserve
- red lights -> no shells in reserve
or some other variation. The raw idea is to use colored lights to indicate ammo reserves.
- blue lights -> more than 6 shells in reserve
- yellow lights -> between 0 and 6 shells in reserve
- red lights -> no shells in reserve
or some other variation. The raw idea is to use colored lights to indicate ammo reserves.
Comments
this would force players to pay less attention to whats happening around them and help them focus on exactly how many shots they have left before they have to switch to the pistol.
this would force players to pay less attention to whats happening around them and help them focus on exactly how many shots they have left before they have to switch to the pistol.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
thats how it works in real life and people manage to stay situationally aware
QFT.
Although I do think that the weapons HUD, at least on the shotty, should be static (i.e. it doesn't pop up) but instead the HUD display is always up but turned off until the weapon is ready, afterwhich an OMGKEWL cinematic plays on the weapon hud (like, hologram projectors aligning themselves or something) revealing the ammo count.
That's what the nifty holographical HUD on your helmet is for. Connected to the suit and ammo satchels it gets all the information it needs from them and displays it accurately IN YO FACE!.
So remaining bullets/shells should be handled and displayed on weapons and total ammo displayed on helmet HUD. That way it stays intuitive and less cluttered.
Currently all of the other weapons therefore have screens showing current ammo and reserve ammo. It would not make sense to go back to adding reserve ammo onto the HUD just for the shotgun.
--Cory
But I agree, it is a pretty valid concern, which I think I share with you. It looks like the models need some kind of revamp to be capable of showing secondary ammo, or the display will have to use very tiny text.
On the back end of the grenade launcher attachment there is a screen which shows stacked grenade symbols representing how much reserve grenades you have. And there is no counter necessary to show your current grenade ammo, as you can only have one shot loaded at a time.
--Cory
You are aware that there is a shotgun video right? :O
The screen somewhat flips into position, however the hinge on that thing feels as if it couldn't handle the repeated recoil the shotgun's going to have. I think it's a minor detail and not worth wasting time over, however I can understand how people with a better knowledge of weaponry than me can be annoyed.
I can't wait to see the grenade attachment. I don't think having multiple screens on the weapon is that much of a good idea, both immersion-wise and gameplay wise. I can definitely see LED counters as a good alternative because I suppose that if it's a single-shot grenade, a marine isn't going to carry 30 of them.
While this is absolutely true, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess that UWE are going to iterate almost all of their (main) art assets at least once more before final release. So if its gonna be iterated anyways, might as well fix the small details :D
I find it more disgusting that the weapon is not closing itself as hammering on a metal object to shut it close all day long will cause you pain you cant imagine.
I had to do something similar for 8 hours when I had a try out day at a "slaver hut" (renting our personal), and boy I thought my hand would fall off - a little bit more pain and i wouldve cut it off myself.
The animation is that way to convey a more visceral, bad ass kind feeling, and to make it feel more like being in the heat of battle. Of course the gun would be designed to close when lightly pushed, or when a button was pressed, or on its own. But having the view model hands reach up and softly and carefully press downward just doesn't have the same fun factor to it. Same reason why games and movies have characters and view model animations aggressively slamming fresh clips into their guns, or shooting with 2 guns at the same time.
And the nice thing is, since it's just a game, you aren't going to get a sore hand from playing NS2, unless you are gripping the mouse too tightly and playing for hours and hours on end. Which hopefully you will be when it comes out : )
<!--quoteo(post=1774323:date=Jun 11 2010, 01:24 AM:name=Cereal_KillR)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Cereal_KillR @ Jun 11 2010, 01:24 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1774323"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I can't wait to see the grenade attachment.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You might be able to find it on the forums. When the engine test came out someone found the grenade launcher attachment in the model viewer and took some screenshots of it and posted it.
--Cory
Currently all of the other weapons therefore have screens showing current ammo and reserve ammo. It would not make sense to go back to adding reserve ammo onto the HUD just for the shotgun.
--Cory<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Still since your ammo displays on the view models are swf files it's relatively easy for you to change the information they display and thus the reserve ammo could be removed from all the other weapons and display that on the Helmet hud as well as when you change weapons.
I'm sorry but even if you'd have some elaborate communication between weapon/suit/helmet it still feels more logical and intuitive to me to have the individual weapons keep track of and display their respective clip status, whereas all reserve ammo information being displayed in lower right corner of the screen/HUD.
To still maintain a less cluttered main HUD you could have this reserve ammo HUD entity be context sensitve so when it's not critical for you to know how much reserve ammo you have left the entity is hidden from the HUD. And a few variables can set it off to pop up on the HUD again in a neat emergin fade-in animation, such variables and parameters could be:
1. You're within a certain radius of an Armory structure. (it lights up and remains visible for as long as you are within the radius)
2. You have reached a certain value of remaining ammo thus indicating (blinking red or some such) that it would be wise for you to find yourself an armory.
3. You have just reloaded (it lights up, then fades away again)
4. You change you're weapon (New weapon symbol with remaining reserve ammo for that weapon lights up, then fades away again)
5. Perhaps if more HUD entities are made similar to hide when not needed a certain key could be pressed to display all hidden info (lights up for as long as key is held, then fades away)
i for one like the on gun screens, i think they are kinda neat looking and a little different than normal. i dont think they will slow down gameplay at all and add another little interesting feature to the game.
Could work for lmg too.
I know that, but how often do those "badasses" <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BottomlessMagazines" target="_blank">need to reload [TV Tropes: Bottomless Magazines]</a> in such movies anyway? Even if they do, its so seldom that it isnt the same - in the average game, you will reload at least once every 2~3 Minutes, probably more often. Now extend that to an hour of playing (not over one game of course) and the badassness wears off.
Get a small pipe and hit it with your fist like 30 times while its sitting on a table. It <b>will</b> hurt.
Also, as the Shotgun is my favorite kind of weapon (because of the close combat capability), I will continue to cringe every time I notice the character beating it.
Suggestion to alleviate the magic fingers AND my problem: Add another armorpiece to the hand that mainly dispenses cartridges for the gun but also shields the hand against the impact shock.
Of course, I understand context-sensitive animations would be way too much work for extra fluff like that. :)
I like the idea of flicking the gun to close it as a second animation though.
I wanted to suggest exactly that, but I noticed that the center of gravity and the axis of rotation of the loader won't really work out that way.
Maybe hitting the front end of the barrel from below...
I bet you'll stop noticing it within 10 minutes of playing.
<!--quoteo(post=0:date=:name=Cruor)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Cruor)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->maybe you could have 2-3 seperate animations for the reloading, these would be played randomely<sic><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Unless I'm crazy, there already are at least 2 animations for reloading. One he closes it with open palm and one with closed fist.
Marines eat non kosher food, guess the Jewish players get screwed over too.
Anyway, confusion to blue-yellow-red colours is rare, even moreso than colour blind people.
But hey, we should also make the game only require a mouse, since one armed people will be at a disadvantage. Hell I know a guy with no hands, so we shouldn't have any interface at all. That way no one gets 'screwed over'.