Clear visual/audio cues
TremanN
Join Date: 2002-11-13 Member: 8471Members
Join Date: 2002-11-13 Member: 8471Members
<div class="IPBDescription">for upgrades..</div>The design document has the philosophy that everything in the game should have clear audio/visual cues for players. At the moment, there is no way to tell what upgrades marines/aliens have. Is this being worked on?
Some examples:
Hitting a carapace skulk should have a different hit sound or have chunks of 'armor' flying off it.
Regeneration, silence, and camouflage have cues.
An armor 1/2/3 marine can shoulder pads some extra armor on their backs etc.
A weapon 1/2/3 marine can have a slightly different hue to their gun.
This isn't a big deal but it would be neato.
Some examples:
Hitting a carapace skulk should have a different hit sound or have chunks of 'armor' flying off it.
Regeneration, silence, and camouflage have cues.
An armor 1/2/3 marine can shoulder pads some extra armor on their backs etc.
A weapon 1/2/3 marine can have a slightly different hue to their gun.
This isn't a big deal but it would be neato.
Comments
I understand that if an alien or marine has more armour, that armour will be visible and easy to spot. The weapon upgrades are maybe a little more complicated, but guns could be modified to deal more damage, which would also be visible.
However, if you parasite a marine, then run up and bite him twice, and he doesn't die, its on you to know that he has armour upgrades. When you are dying faster than you expect from fewer bullets, you should know the marines have weapon upgrades, and if the skulks you're killing are taking more bullets, you should know they have carapace.
If you don't have the combat presence and awareness to notice these things, then maybe you don't deserve to know?
These arguments all work fine for Skulks, but there's to much variation in the game to just hope players *figure it out*. You shouldn't have to give away your position by parasiting a Marine to figure out what armor he has.
These arguments all work fine for Skulks, but there's to much variation in the game to just hope players *figure it out*. You shouldn't have to give away your position by parasiting a Marine to figure out what armor he has.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
That's from the point of view that information should be free, which is the common approach in first person shooters. Its not a common approach in real time strategy games though. Then its a case of spending resources to get information. I guess it just depends which one you want more of in the game.
I don't understand how you separate these things. You make strategic and intelligent choices BECAUSE you see that your opponent is spec'd a certain way. If I see chunks of armor flying off of a skulk, I know that my LMG is going to be less effective because they have carapace. Next time I'll buy a shotgun or counter with weapons 1. If I see a marine has lvl2 armor, maybe I want to hang back and parasite a few more times before engaging.
NS2 is an FPS first. Many more players are experiencing a FPS than an RTS.
Yes but it becomes a question of where do you stop? At what point do you stop making strategical information more available to the player. Ok I shoot at a skulk and I judge, from the number of times I hit him, that he probably has carapace. Now when I shoot the skulk, if he has carapace, some form of particle effect or model animation visibly shows me he has carapace. Now the skulk simply has a sprite above his head telling me that he has carapace. Now, whenever the alien team researches the carapace upgrade, the marine team is notified.
Those are obviously exaggerated cases, but I think it gets the point across. There's some point where you have to stop, maybe we haven't reached it yet, maybe we have.
<!--quoteo(post=1929791:date=Apr 26 2012, 12:23 AM:name=Techercizer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Techercizer @ Apr 26 2012, 12:23 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1929791"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->NS2 is an FPS first. Many more players are experiencing a FPS than an RTS.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
There's more to a genre than the perspective from which you view the game world. Even as a marine or alien on the ground, I would like to think I'm embracing more RTS elements than FPS.
It does not get your point across. The point is to stop when a player gets an audio/visual cue from another players upgrades.