Spectator mode and commentating
Dogface
Join Date: 2012-11-05 Member: 167225Members
Join Date: 2012-11-05 Member: 167225Members
<div class="IPBDescription">A few notes</div><b>TL;DR:</b> <i>In spectator mode, please enable the mouse-pointer in chasecam and freelook modes, and let us lock on to a particular player. Also, some other stuff.</i>
Hi! I love the heck out of NS2 and I'm so glad that UWE stuck with it through all the hard times. I think it makes for an awesome spectator sport/e-sport - the spectator mode is really well-done and slick with a lot of useful information presented clearly. I'd love to use it to do some commentated casts, and spread the word about NS2!
However, during my test runs I've noticed a couple of problems that can make it somewhat tricky to follow the action and keep things focussed. Firstly, 'commander' view is the only one with an active mouse pointer. This means if you want to use the interface to move to a particular player/hive/etc, you have to cycle through the viewmodes to get there, which breaks flow. Secondly, the camera-focus tends to jump around between players when changing modes or when the focussed player dies. This makes it harder to watch fights in chasecam mode, which is the most cinematic one!
In light of this I have a few requests which I hope should mostly be quite easy to implement and would make commentating easier and better-looking.
The first two are simple but would have a big effect:
* When pulling up the map (default C) in chasecam mode or freelook, make the mouse pointer active, same as in commander mode, so we can move to players or map locations using the interface. Alternatively/additionally, have a shortcut (M2/M3? LCtrl?) to activate the pointer without the map. This would make it easier and smoother to decide where you want to be looking.
* Double-clicking on a player's name in the tabs on the right and left should lock the camera to that player, the same as if you hold down click on their name. The lock should remain on that player as you cycle through camera modes. When a player dies, the camera-lock should move to either the player that killed them, or the nearest player, rather than jumping to whoever's at the top of the list (or however it works right now). This would keep the focus of the action on one fight/place, until you deliberately decide to go somewhere else. Also, the camera should stick with them until a second or two after dying. At the moment it changes instantly, so it's not clear that the player was just killed.
Here are some more ideas that may or may not be quite simple:
* Clicking on/near a player (their model, not their name in the sidebar) in comm view and/or the C-map should lock the camera to them same as double-clicking their name in the side-tabs.
* In freelook mode, looking at someone and left-clicking should switch to a chasecam following them.
* Likewise in chasecam, left-clicking to change player should ideally switch to whichever non-focussed player the camera is currently looking at.
* Zoom in and out using the scroll wheel (ideally in all modes, but especially chasecam).
* Add a first person camera mode.
* Hear the voice-comms of the team whose player you're currently following (toggleable).
* Bind camera modes to F-keys, so we don't have to cycle through different modes to get to the one we want.
* In the side-tabs, highlight the players who are currently visible on-screen, and/or the ones who are currently fighting.
* A shortcut to jump to the most recently-wounded player (or the one who most recently inflicted damage?), like space when playing comm normally, would be great.
And lastly a few vaguer ideas:
* If it's necessary to add a way to break camera-lock on a player, it could either be with a particular shortcut, or by switching to commander view and mousing to the edge of the screen to move the camera around.
* Bind players to number keys? (i.e. pressing 3 to zoom to the 3rd player in the list, maybe holding shift to select alien players?) Maybe assign particular players to numbers the same as force groups?
* A shortcut to toggle intertia/momentum on the camera (especially the freelook cam, and maybe chasecam) so it moves in a smoother, more cinematic manner.
* A shortcut to toggle whether the camera clips through walls in chasecam mode.
* An 'overview' mode with a view of the whole map, and an iconic/symbolized representation of creep spread, buildings, player locations and status etc would be great. This could be done either by adding this information to the C-map (easier), or possibly making it a toggleable part of commander view, where the camera zooms all the way back to show the whole map and adds an overlay (looks better).
On a related note, and I know this wouldn't be simple to implement, but a simpler way to record/playback demos would make it easy to make some amazing videos and/or in-depth, non-live commentary, especially with a few basic editing tools (I'm thinking of the TF2 demo recorder).
Anyway, thanks for making such a fantastic game, I see myself playing it for months and years to come. :) Whether or not this stuff is implemented I'll try and get some casts out there ASAP.
Hi! I love the heck out of NS2 and I'm so glad that UWE stuck with it through all the hard times. I think it makes for an awesome spectator sport/e-sport - the spectator mode is really well-done and slick with a lot of useful information presented clearly. I'd love to use it to do some commentated casts, and spread the word about NS2!
However, during my test runs I've noticed a couple of problems that can make it somewhat tricky to follow the action and keep things focussed. Firstly, 'commander' view is the only one with an active mouse pointer. This means if you want to use the interface to move to a particular player/hive/etc, you have to cycle through the viewmodes to get there, which breaks flow. Secondly, the camera-focus tends to jump around between players when changing modes or when the focussed player dies. This makes it harder to watch fights in chasecam mode, which is the most cinematic one!
In light of this I have a few requests which I hope should mostly be quite easy to implement and would make commentating easier and better-looking.
The first two are simple but would have a big effect:
* When pulling up the map (default C) in chasecam mode or freelook, make the mouse pointer active, same as in commander mode, so we can move to players or map locations using the interface. Alternatively/additionally, have a shortcut (M2/M3? LCtrl?) to activate the pointer without the map. This would make it easier and smoother to decide where you want to be looking.
* Double-clicking on a player's name in the tabs on the right and left should lock the camera to that player, the same as if you hold down click on their name. The lock should remain on that player as you cycle through camera modes. When a player dies, the camera-lock should move to either the player that killed them, or the nearest player, rather than jumping to whoever's at the top of the list (or however it works right now). This would keep the focus of the action on one fight/place, until you deliberately decide to go somewhere else. Also, the camera should stick with them until a second or two after dying. At the moment it changes instantly, so it's not clear that the player was just killed.
Here are some more ideas that may or may not be quite simple:
* Clicking on/near a player (their model, not their name in the sidebar) in comm view and/or the C-map should lock the camera to them same as double-clicking their name in the side-tabs.
* In freelook mode, looking at someone and left-clicking should switch to a chasecam following them.
* Likewise in chasecam, left-clicking to change player should ideally switch to whichever non-focussed player the camera is currently looking at.
* Zoom in and out using the scroll wheel (ideally in all modes, but especially chasecam).
* Add a first person camera mode.
* Hear the voice-comms of the team whose player you're currently following (toggleable).
* Bind camera modes to F-keys, so we don't have to cycle through different modes to get to the one we want.
* In the side-tabs, highlight the players who are currently visible on-screen, and/or the ones who are currently fighting.
* A shortcut to jump to the most recently-wounded player (or the one who most recently inflicted damage?), like space when playing comm normally, would be great.
And lastly a few vaguer ideas:
* If it's necessary to add a way to break camera-lock on a player, it could either be with a particular shortcut, or by switching to commander view and mousing to the edge of the screen to move the camera around.
* Bind players to number keys? (i.e. pressing 3 to zoom to the 3rd player in the list, maybe holding shift to select alien players?) Maybe assign particular players to numbers the same as force groups?
* A shortcut to toggle intertia/momentum on the camera (especially the freelook cam, and maybe chasecam) so it moves in a smoother, more cinematic manner.
* A shortcut to toggle whether the camera clips through walls in chasecam mode.
* An 'overview' mode with a view of the whole map, and an iconic/symbolized representation of creep spread, buildings, player locations and status etc would be great. This could be done either by adding this information to the C-map (easier), or possibly making it a toggleable part of commander view, where the camera zooms all the way back to show the whole map and adds an overlay (looks better).
On a related note, and I know this wouldn't be simple to implement, but a simpler way to record/playback demos would make it easy to make some amazing videos and/or in-depth, non-live commentary, especially with a few basic editing tools (I'm thinking of the TF2 demo recorder).
Anyway, thanks for making such a fantastic game, I see myself playing it for months and years to come. :) Whether or not this stuff is implemented I'll try and get some casts out there ASAP.