about the red emergency lights
Deadzone
Join Date: 2003-07-03 Member: 17911Members, Reinforced - Shadow
Join Date: 2003-07-03 Member: 17911Members, Reinforced - Shadow
Does anyone else feel that the emergency lights come on too quickly, or are too bright?
I'd love to see the pitch-black last a few seconds longer, to allow that "oh ######" moment to sink in. For me, it takes a second before I really start worrying how many aliens are in the room now, and to feel that thrill of being in the dark. Then, right before I can enjoy the tension, boom, I can see again. It's kind of a buzzkill, to be honest. :( I want to have that moment of only having my flashlight, straining my ears, listening for the slightest sounds of footsteps, blinks, wing flaps.... chuckles, etc.
If we can't have the pitch black last longer, I'd like to see the lights pulse. I don't want to make them just "darker," since it really can be hard to see a still alien in the current red light. However, I can easily see a moving alien. If the current level was the brightest point in a pulse, it could be amazing. It would also allow for more daring moves to be made by skulks, making their move in the brief moments of darkness.
I'd love to see the pitch-black last a few seconds longer, to allow that "oh ######" moment to sink in. For me, it takes a second before I really start worrying how many aliens are in the room now, and to feel that thrill of being in the dark. Then, right before I can enjoy the tension, boom, I can see again. It's kind of a buzzkill, to be honest. :( I want to have that moment of only having my flashlight, straining my ears, listening for the slightest sounds of footsteps, blinks, wing flaps.... chuckles, etc.
If we can't have the pitch black last longer, I'd like to see the lights pulse. I don't want to make them just "darker," since it really can be hard to see a still alien in the current red light. However, I can easily see a moving alien. If the current level was the brightest point in a pulse, it could be amazing. It would also allow for more daring moves to be made by skulks, making their move in the brief moments of darkness.
Comments
I like the idea the emergency red lights flicker off every now and then though.
Having said that, tried-and-true multiplayer fps games don't have RTS-style commanders and completely asymmetric teams...
I like the darkness, and the emergency lights just aren't good.
- Slightly reduce the brightness of the lights, when the power node is badly damaged (the light is currently too bright during the "cycling" period)
- Lengthen the blackout period to approximately 5 seconds (1-2 sec longer).
- Limit the area fully lit by red backup lighting to about 75% of the room (mainly in the centre), so aliens have more shadows to hide in.
Since aliens have glowing eyes and body parts, and marines have their bright flashlights, spotting aliens (that are directly in front) shouldn't be too difficult. But marines' peripheral awareness (where the flashlight doesn't shine) will be reduced.
These changes will encourage the marines to move more cautiously in un-powered rooms, and provide aliens with a larger tactical advantage.
At the moment I find the flashlight quite useless, because it does not create effective shadows - and white to dark values (contrast) help you identify what you are seeing.
But it is way to short right now, and I think it should be a few seconds longer.
And the emergency lighting is to bright, I think it should be slightly darker, and during the darkest periods it should go almost black.
The flicker idea is also cool xD.
The only problem I see with this is that the commanders (both teams) will have trouble seeing in dark areas, perhaps it could be 'fixed' by making emergency lighting brighter on their clients.
I never care if lights red or white okay you have to use your light sometimes but you can still see the aliens very well.
Maybe its not that dark because aliens have no night-vision, i hope they will get some.
This kinda takes away a lot of the atmosphere (and party the gameplay I would say) this situation was ment(?) to achieve.
Right now it's just a "Light is out but will be back in a second" moment and not a "F*ck its dark. Where am I and what is chewing on my leg?" moment ;) I general I do not even try to stop aliens chewing on a power node when others (or just one) are running around because those are more of a danger then the single one I will have to fight in "darkness" afterwards. When red light are on I really have no problem spotting aliens. Maybe that's because of missing DI? Don't know. The current system has either too short "complete darkness" moments or with red lights it's not much of a difference regarding spotting aliens (in close combat at least)
/imho
That's what happened to the darkness in NS1. Dark tunnels and corners have been removed because people yanked it that high they could read books in total darkness ingame.
That's what happened to the darkness in NS1. Dark tunnels and corners have been removed because people yanked it that high they could read books in total darkness ingame.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
yeah, that's why veil/hera/altair were more popular than say shiva, or eon. people still hiked up their gamma on the brightest maps to get the most out of it competitively. I'd say you could combat that with having brighter marine starts, that way it'd be impossible for people to have their brightness too high without having to switch back and forth as they go through lighting extremes.
good idea. since all the lighting is dynamic it should help combat gamma adjusters anyway, but it would make sense to make certain areas brighter then others.
Having said that, tried-and-true multiplayer fps games don't have RTS-style commanders and completely asymmetric teams...
I like the darkness, and the emergency lights just aren't good.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Its because most people don't like being killed by something they can't see. Additionally, most everyone orients themselves based on room landmarks (such as doors, power nodes, tech/res nodes, etc.) Making a room darker removes those basic visual indicators leading to a very disorienting effect. NS2 would only amplify the disorientation due to its fast multiplayer gameplay (think trying to find, let alone shoot, a skulk, lerk, or fade bouncing around a dark room).
I don't have anything against darkness as a mood setting as long as it doesn't seriously hinder gameplay. However, I don't see how you can go any darker with the emergency lights and not have it disorient most players.
I like the moment, if the powernode goes down and everything is pitchblack.
It would be great if the darkness stays for 30 seconds or so.
(Maybe thats the time the emergency generator needs to power up)
It just adds to the creepy atmosphere for a marine beeing surrounded by darkness and knowing that skulks are around.
or
What do you guys think about this idea:
We keep the current pitchblack time (I guess it's about 5 seconds) and...
everytime an alien attacks a broken powernode it goes dark again for the time.
That would add a nice attack strategy for the aliens and also forces the marines to use their flashlights.
If the aliens go on attacking that broken powernode it stays dark until they stop.
some problems:
aliens do not have alien flash light currently, this is huge problem for aliens. I myself made thread about this serious issue, and was told developers are working on something for aliens flashlight which brightens their vision in darkness.
once aliens have their form of flashlight, this would only hurt aliens more while darkness suppose to be their advantage.
aliens do not have alien flash light currently, this is huge problem for aliens. I myself made thread about this serious issue, and was told developers are working on something for aliens flashlight which brightens their vision in darkness.
once (?until) aliens have their form of flashlight, this would only hurt aliens more while darkness suppose to be their advantage.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Something's coming! Quick! Switch off your lantern and hide in the closet!
...
I think it's gone now.
The red lights should be removed entirely and the aliens should have super night vision capabilities.
The red lights should be removed entirely and the aliens should have super night vision capabilities.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
That sounds awesome (with the "Droppable Work Lights" too)
but i whonder if that should be a part of the main game for the main audience
As a mod, called "Natural Selection 2: extreme" that would be teriffic...
with some other extra creepy situation like.. random steam bursts out of some pipes.. flickering flashlights of the marines.. loouder deathscreams of the marines.. and so on,
The red lights should be removed entirely and the aliens should have super night vision capabilities.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Because that was so popular when doom 3 did it.
It is suppose to disorientate the marines and give aliens an advantage. Right now it doesn't because of the lack of an alien "flashlight" like in NS1 which is needed, but once in it will work well. It also doesn't hinder game play. It enhances it by adding a much more dynamic environment. Marines will also have minimaps allow them to know the layout of the room and where the exists are along with flash lights and hopefully other lighting equipment like flares and so on.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Because that was so popular when doom 3 did it.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Nice informal fallacy. That is a completely false analogy. NS2 does not equal Doom 3 one bit.
Blackouts need to last a little longer to build up the intensity of that moment and make power nodes more valuable to keep repaired and defended. Also emergency lights need a little dimming and more "distressed" effects like flickering and more prevalent fading once aliens have their "flashlight." This would give areas a much more thematic feel for both teams and make it feel like you're fighting for control of each and every room.
Blackouts need to last a little longer to build up the intensity of that moment and make power nodes more valuable to keep repaired and defended. Also emergency lights need a little dimming and more "distressed" effects like flickering and more prevalent fading once aliens have their "flashlight." This would give areas a much more thematic feel for both teams and make it feel like you're fighting for control of each and every room.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
He is suggesting having areas with zero light in them. Doom 3 did that quite a lot, and it's the main complaint I hear against the game. From this we can surmise that being in total darkness for protracted periods of time is annoying to many people.
Total darkness isn't good, it gets annoying quite quickly. It's OK in very short doses but anything more than that gets very annoying. It also looks crap, and plays terribly most of the time. The only thing it's good for is atmosphere, but atmosphere at the expensive of gameplay is a very silly tradeoff.
As another example, consider the latest STALKER game, the nights are pitch black, personally this means I simply sleep through the nights and don't bother with them. The only reason to go out at night is when you have 3rd gen night vision and need to sneak up on people, but by and large the darkness is something to avoid, and fortunately it's quite easy to do that.
In NS however, if you include pitch darkness in alien controlled areas, it's something marines can't avoid, and they're going to run into it a lot, it's going to ruin the otherwise excellent visuals, and it's going to get really, REALLY annoying.
Maybe when DI is introduced, it can cause the backup lighting to be even less pronounced. That way you have a good dynamic bonus affect between taking out power nodes and spreading DI continually in favor of aliens.
There are still powered areas between each "room," anyway. Most hallways are lit even if nearby rooms have busted power nodes. It would be silly to have rooms of pitch black, brightly lit hallway, another pitchblack room, etc. Would feel very artificial.
Uhh? It works very well in multiplayer fps games. What is the point of the flashlight if you can see pretty much 100% when the emergency lights are out? Darken the red lights or make it so it's pitch black UNTIL the commander puts the emergency lights on.
Now THAT sounds interesting!
Let the commander flick the emergency light switch. It would be a little longer dark and the
marines have one more reason to whine at the commander ;-)
or maybe the marines have to do it. They have walk up to the powernode and "use" it to activate the emergency lights, so there is a challenge for the aliens to stop the marines from getting there.
After the emergency light is on it should stay on, so that the darkness doesn't get annoying.
Examples? As Chris0132 mentioned, it worked poorly in Doom 3. I'd say that the correct answer is that the flashlights are actually useless, but put in-game for the sake of nostalgia.
edit: seriously? you even censor the most badass serial killer in the universe played by vin diesel? you're in for a ride, buddies...