Atmospheric Territories extension now live
McGlaspie
www.team156.com Join Date: 2010-07-26 Member: 73044Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, Squad Five Gold, Reinforced - Onos, WC 2013 - Gold, Subnautica Playtester
www.team156.com Join Date: 2010-07-26 Member: 73044Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, Squad Five Gold, Reinforced - Onos, WC 2013 - Gold, Subnautica Playtester
Greetings all,
As any trello-savvy goers have noticed, I've had the Experimental Lighting card assigned to me and in the 'Doing' for a while now. Well, that work is completed to the point we're comfortable with enabling it as an Extension. Atmospheric Territories is now live. In hopes of answering some of the obvious questions, I've posted here. It is worth mentioning, this has been active on quite a few servers for several days now. And almost all feedback I've received has been very positive.
This extension aims to revise all environment lighting associated with power nodes. In addition to eliminating the red lighting, it takes things a few steps further.
The lighting for each location is now more dynamic and changes based on which team controls it (based on the number of built structures). Lighting now changes even when power nodes are Unsocketed. As aliens encroach into the map and spread infestation, the lighting for those areas will slowly "bleed" off until it is much darker than normal. The designed intent is to make the Territorial-Boundaries very clear and distinct, increasing the atmospheric qualities of NS2 and making it easier / more obvious for Rookies to realize they're in hostile territory. This effect creates clear delineations between Marine and Alien controlled territory.
Each location in a map now has its occupancy tracked. That is to say, all built and alive structures in a Location count towards a team's occupancy of said location. When alien's occupy a Location their presence has a diminishing effect on lighting, thus it becomes darker. And the opposite is true of Marines.
There are some minor additional particle FX but they are quite subtle and are affected by user settings (low/high). Proceed with caution Marines, grab an adventure-buddy and turn those flashlights on, you’ll want to use them. I'm quite looking forward to any and all constructive feedback (post any cool picture too!)
As any trello-savvy goers have noticed, I've had the Experimental Lighting card assigned to me and in the 'Doing' for a while now. Well, that work is completed to the point we're comfortable with enabling it as an Extension. Atmospheric Territories is now live. In hopes of answering some of the obvious questions, I've posted here. It is worth mentioning, this has been active on quite a few servers for several days now. And almost all feedback I've received has been very positive.
This extension aims to revise all environment lighting associated with power nodes. In addition to eliminating the red lighting, it takes things a few steps further.
The lighting for each location is now more dynamic and changes based on which team controls it (based on the number of built structures). Lighting now changes even when power nodes are Unsocketed. As aliens encroach into the map and spread infestation, the lighting for those areas will slowly "bleed" off until it is much darker than normal. The designed intent is to make the Territorial-Boundaries very clear and distinct, increasing the atmospheric qualities of NS2 and making it easier / more obvious for Rookies to realize they're in hostile territory. This effect creates clear delineations between Marine and Alien controlled territory.
Each location in a map now has its occupancy tracked. That is to say, all built and alive structures in a Location count towards a team's occupancy of said location. When alien's occupy a Location their presence has a diminishing effect on lighting, thus it becomes darker. And the opposite is true of Marines.
There are some minor additional particle FX but they are quite subtle and are affected by user settings (low/high). Proceed with caution Marines, grab an adventure-buddy and turn those flashlights on, you’ll want to use them. I'm quite looking forward to any and all constructive feedback (post any cool picture too!)
Comments
EDIT: just tested. Marines are tipped off by presence of shaded structures cause the room gets a tiny bit darker.
It doesn't.
The shade works as intended, cloaking the structures and lighting in the entire room / location remains unaffected.
Alright hate is harsh, it's pretty cool. But still
Also look at this one cyst which is basically in flight control. This needs to be removed for comp play.
My only suggestion is that the Darkest point of an unpowered room shouldn't be quite so dark, it feels like it's darker than a room that had power but lost it.
As far as advantages go, each team now has a "home field advantage," with brighter lights on marine territory, and darker moods wherever infestation is, engagements (which really aren't affected a whole lot), handle slightly more in favor of the defenders.
Aliens already have crags, shades, shifts, bone walls, whips, and ruptures on their "home field advantage" now limited sight for marines is added.
i got u
For the people with lighting set to low and low lights set to "on" in NS2+ the impact on the game is barely noticeable, and i'm sure Dragon will disable the extension in comp mod to ensure balanced play. So please, unless you have constructive criticism... stop.
Personally, I think this is a great step forward and hope this kind of thing continues to happen... it shows UWE is actually trying to make a difference to the game and I welcome changes like this with open arms.
Cant wait to try!
Better yet, use the gamma settings in game.
edit: if you'd rather not tire your eyes out quickly with the even brighter bright colors, get a benq for the black equalizer.
+5 Retention Points!
Edit: For the competitive gamers that are probably complaining in this thread (I didn't read most of it) just adjust your Gamma to 1.3+ and you should still be able to retain your massive advantage over the casuals. Right click your desktop and press Graphics Properties. Fix't.
I wonder why you are so sure this is strictly an Alien buff. Lowering the light when structures like a gorge tunnel are built in an area could alert skilled marines about the presence much more quickly.
And even if it did give one team an advantage this can be balanced out again. Taking some risks regarding balance is exactly the way the team has to go with the current stale meta.
Having played with it, tested it and seen it evolve, i must say i really really like it now.
Its much clearer now when you are in alien territory for example. The mood of the maps is clearly different in both parts, which is a great thing, not only visually but also to help players. There is a dark room? Kill everything in it.
Sure, it might some tweaking, specially for certain maps. But the feature has constantly been evolving and i would say in its current state its great. Wider testing will probably reveal some aspects to tweak, but its a great addition to the game.
As a side note.. I do hope with all my heart that the comp scene does NOT change this. Keep it with these new lights.
I mean they are complaining about wanting new stuff and freshening stuff up almost daily. USE the change already.
If this skews the balance well.. they have been 'fixing' balance in the mod for a long time, might as well balance for this new lightning.
Does the bio 9 ability contaminate have any effect on the lighting?
Would like an off button in graphics settings to revert it back to the old style for competitive play.
Edit: Since mendasp won't do it for ns2+, I have to ask here. He's too busy working on the next episode of DME. #5k+
To be honest, I prefer this to the awful red lights. You couldn't see ANYTHING with the super plain lighting with zero contrast of the red lighting.