alien flashlight
Racer1
Join Date: 2002-11-22 Member: 9615Members
Join Date: 2002-11-22 Member: 9615Members
Comments
What? you destroy nodes for strategical advantage, not for the eerie lighting.
I think it should really just be that aliens always have a relatively good ambient light that marines can't see, make an ambient light and maybe a point light and centre them on the alien player view, make them be superceded by any other light source, then make them invisible to all other players, should solve the alien vision problems in a cool and natural looking way.
<!--quoteo(post=1809231:date=Nov 23 2010, 03:56 PM:name=Twiggeh)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Twiggeh @ Nov 23 2010, 03:56 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1809231"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->What? you destroy nodes for strategical advantage, not for the eerie lighting.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
And also because aliens are supposed to benefit from the darkness, they still do, because marines are covered in glowy bits and work at range where it's hard to see in the dark.
And part of that strategic advantage is being able to more easily see the marines than they can see you.
This.
Aliens should always have night-vision. While Rines will have flashlights and researchable night-vision?
:D
<img src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1579090/imagehost/screen1.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1579090/imagehost/screen2.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
You can change colour, intensity, and range to suit, but a low level light which picks up the shadows and brightens them in a sort of flat way would be good. It should probably be toggleable now that I think about it so that aliens can see what the level would look like to the marines (and know where to hide as a result) but this sort of vision would allow aliens operation in complete darkness.
If they are to give aliens night vision I suggest this to add some more strategic value to the lighting of the game:
take away the marines flashlight and implement flares instead. alien night vision should slowly drain energy for balance. if night vision is being used in a well lit area (or when a flare is used) it would cause the alien's vision to go blurry. this way aliens have an advantage but arn't in total control in dark areas, and would need to properly use stealth to remain undetected.
The flashlight is for navigation as much as it is for finding marines.
If NS2 ends up fullbright like most all of the maps in NS1 I may /wrists. Properly balancing light with flashlights, nightvision (IF APPLICABLE) and increased visibility for aliens in the dark is far more exciting to me personally.
...or, at least make it manual. This "automatic" flashlight crap is really annoying, especially when you're in a borderline "dark" area and it flips on and off a million times a second, playing that clikclikclikclikclikclikclikclikclikclikclikclikclikclikclik
Looking back, I really don't like the way those solutions were executed in ZPS. Basically, "Zombo Vision" had a few major downsides that caused it do to more harm than good to the over all experience of playing as a Zombie, and I can easily see the situation being replicated in NS2 with the Kharaa. It really isn't easy to engineer a night vision that maintains the atmosphere and immersion. The worst part is that if it is implemented poorly, you're indirectly forcing players to put up with it because you're placed at a disadvantage without it. Even the alien flashlight in NS1 felt like it needed to be on all of the time, because it gave such a huge advantage. This awkward implementation method needs to be abandoned, or drastically improved to meet NS2's standards.
Personally, I think the best way to approach the matter would be by integrating the "alien flashlight" into the regular vision in a way so it only activated when needed, and remained disabled otherwise. Something subtle and effective, but unobtrusive so it doesn't destroy the mood. IE, Marines illuminating slightly when they walk into an extremely dark area, but returning to normal in the light. (Admittedly, that solution wouldn't be too good either, I'm just using it as an example.) This is much easier said than done. <i>And I'm picky, with high standards for the games I like to play.</i>
I'm anxious to see how this hurdle is handled in NS2.
You might find it more atmospheric, but I always jack up the brightness in multiplayer games if it seems too dark to see things properly, even if it makes the game a little uglier. I'd expect a lot of other players to do the same.
Also, I thought I remembered a tweet/blog update about how they wanted to make sure the maps were well lit, but maybe they thought otherwise once they implemented the power nodes.
<!--quoteo(post=1809335:date=Nov 23 2010, 02:00 PM:name=Deadzone)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Deadzone @ Nov 23 2010, 02:00 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1809335"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->How to turn alien flashlight on? I want to know how to shut the darn marine flashlight OFF!
...or, at least make it manual. This "automatic" flashlight crap is really annoying, especially when you're in a borderline "dark" area and it flips on and off a million times a second, playing that clikclikclikclikclikclikclikclikclikclikclikclikclikclikclik<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Whenever they get around to making the flashlight a bindable key instead of forcing it to be F... I use esdf so it's extremely annoying. I didn't even realize the flashlight was togglable at first and thought it was some feature that the light would occasionally flicker on the gun.
I would rather have something else, either some kind of glowing a la NS1 (but maybe not a direct port) or some other method of identifying targets and making navigation easier.
That was always a problem in NS1. Vents had to be fairly well lit so you could navigate them easily, but dark so you didn't have a profile while poking out of it. mmmm red/orange lighting.
You could have something like that, but make it so it doesn't hinder the distance you can see at. Just illuminates at your current position to see better at short to medium range. In return, maybe add obnoxiously frightening glowing eyes when it is active.
yeh the old one actually helped me see marines in the bright light to its like HIT THE GLOWY THING because i always lost my marine when i bit him once he seemed to bounce over me all the time
would balance out with damage 1 2 3 armor 1 2 3 site/sensory 1 2 3
could also amplify sound, which was the best way to track marines in ns1
would balance out with damage 1 2 3 armor 1 2 3 site/sensory 1 2 3
could also amplify sound, which was the best way to track marines in ns1<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Loved the 'glowey' sound from the IP, and then the tell tale boots 'clonking' around on the metal floors.
Bliss to a Skulks ear :P
<img src="http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/7145/1257760269ir2jpg.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
Something like that...
The Kharaa eyes would see beyond the spectrum of light we do, so they can navigate with very low amounts of light present and their colour perception would be something rather different than ours.
Might not even have to make it toggleable this way, as they'd still more or less see shadows to help them hide.
I also liked the AvP2 solution. Lifeforms light up in regular vision with different colour auras (their scent, essentially)... but in 'nightvision' their vision only extends short distances and lifeforms no longer light up, but in turn they can navigate in complete pitch black darkness, with no light sources present at all.
<img src="http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/4707/fishbowllarge.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
no kidding? I'm not sure whether I should be more surprised that it's just F making my flashlight go nuts, or that someone besides me prefers ESDF :P
Yeah nightvision or thermalvision something else.
Damn what happens when a man have flamethrower while an alien has a thermalvision.
A Crimsonworld ?