Should there be an intro sequence?

adel_50adel_50 Join Date: 2016-09-01 Member: 221973Members
edited October 2017 in Subnautica General Discussion
I always wandered to what happens before the aroura crashes but this sequence will take place in space and will add more parts to the aroura and will need more work so I'm thinking is it worth it or not?
Of course adding it will make the game a lot more polished but does it really need it? Of course the devs can find a way to add it and impress as us as they always did so I want to hear your opinions guys
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Comments

  • Kouji_SanKouji_San Sr. Hινε Uρкεερεг - EUPT Deputy The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-05-13 Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    edited October 2017
    I quite like being thrown into the middle of having to scramble getting to the escape pod and seeing the Aurora explode. Only to climb out of the pod, after being nearly beheaded by a loose artifact in certified escape pod, to see that huge hulking wreckage in the distance. It also hides the fact that the ship was hit by some energy blast from the surface and as such hides the existence is this doomsday device :tongue:

    It's has a lot of impact and is a hectic way to basically tell you, you're on your own now boy, good luck!
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  • Hulkie2345Hulkie2345 New York Join Date: 2017-08-23 Member: 232598Members
    edited October 2017
    The black box data basically gives us a text log entry of a few minutes before the crash. I'm not oppsed of it. But it would require the team to model a good version of corridors and stuff. That won't get used in the rest of the game.
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  • Morph_GuyMorph_Guy Join Date: 2016-04-21 Member: 216034Members
    edited October 2017
    Something like that seems unnecessary and I don't think it would help the game feel more polished.

    An entire intro sequence would require a lot of modeling, animating, and voice acting work, all for something that would probably just be you walking around a bit and maybe a crafting tutorial in the middle, which isn't really needed. All it would really add is some extra lore that we can already get from things like lifepods or wrecks.
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  • adel_50adel_50 Join Date: 2016-09-01 Member: 221973Members
    Hulkie2345 wrote: »
    The black box data basically gives us a text log entry of a few minutes before the crash.

    I know but the question is would you like to live these few minutes?
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  • adel_50adel_50 Join Date: 2016-09-01 Member: 221973Members
    Kouji_San wrote: »
    I quite like being thrown into the middle of having to scramble getting to the escape pod and seeing the Aurora explode. Only to climb out of the pod, after being nearly beheaded by a loose artifact in certified escape pod, to see that huge hulking wreckage in the distance. It also hides the fact that the ship was hit by some energy blast from the surface and as such hides the existence is this doomsday device :tongue:

    It's has a lot of impact and is a hectic way to basically tell you, you're on your own now boy, good luck!

    Well there's no windows on the aroura so it's not like you'll see the beam hitting the aroura
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  • adel_50adel_50 Join Date: 2016-09-01 Member: 221973Members
    Morph_Guy wrote: »
    Something like that seems unnecessary and I don't think it would help the game feel more polished.

    An entire intro sequence would require a lot of modeling, animating, and voice acting work, all for something that would probably just be you walking around a bit and maybe a crafting tutorial in the middle, which isn't really needed. All it would really add is some extra lore that we can already get from things like lifepods or wrecks.

    Well I'm not on anyone's side here cuz I don't know what to think about this as i only wanted to see what people think so I won't argue against what you or the other guys think
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  • AkuMasterofMastersAkuMasterofMasters Join Date: 2017-09-10 Member: 232934Members
    I voted yes because I want it, but that doesn't mean it needs to be added :P
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  • Calarand77Calarand77 lurking in general forums Join Date: 2016-01-22 Member: 211786Members
    edited October 2017
    I think the current sequence is more than enough, dropping you right into action.

    That said, some sort of an explanation as to why we ended up as the only passenger in a two-seat lifepod would be nice. It could be just as little as a black screen and voices, before the actual cutscene, just to quickly explain the circumstances. Were we somehow the last one evacuating? Had the one assigned to lifepod 5 with us got injured and we left them for certain death to save ourselves? What happened there?
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  • adel_50adel_50 Join Date: 2016-09-01 Member: 221973Members
    Calarand77 wrote: »
    I think the current sequence is more than enough, dropping you right into action.

    That said, some sort of an explanation as to why we ended up as the only passenger in a two-seat lifepod would be nice. It could be just as little as a black screen and voices, before the actual cutscene, just to quickly explain the circumstances. Were we somehow the last one evacuating? Had the one assigned to lifepod 5 with us got injured and we left them for certain death to save ourselves? What happened there?

    I like your idea man
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  • Kouji_SanKouji_San Sr. Hινε Uρкεερεг - EUPT Deputy The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-05-13 Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    edited October 2017
    TBH I'd prefer a short cutscene beforehand, rather than the game taking control of the character like it does now while in first person. I always hate it when games do that :D
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  • Hulkie2345Hulkie2345 New York Join Date: 2017-08-23 Member: 232598Members
    adel_50 wrote: »
    Hulkie2345 wrote: »
    The black box data basically gives us a text log entry of a few minutes before the crash.

    I know but the question is would you like to live these few minutes?

    No. It doesn't add anything for me. Since it would be a cut-scene. I'm not going to interact. I won't meet the crew or anything. So starting where it starts is fine.
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  • ThricebornPhoenixThricebornPhoenix Join Date: 2017-08-29 Member: 232713Members
    Calarand77 wrote: »
    That said, some sort of an explanation as to why we ended up as the only passenger in a two-seat lifepod would be nice. It could be just as little as a black screen and voices, before the actual cutscene, just to quickly explain the circumstances.
    Isn't there already a "Press the any key" screen at the start of the game? Slap a single paragraph at the top of that explaining summarizing the situation - search and rescue mission, warning sirens, lifepod. BAM, done. This sort of thing is pretty common in near-future space sci-fi movies, so it's not without precedent.
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  • Hulkie2345Hulkie2345 New York Join Date: 2017-08-23 Member: 232598Members
    ThricebornPhoenix wrote: »
    Calarand77 wrote: »
    That said, some sort of an explanation as to why we ended up as the only passenger in a two-seat lifepod would be nice. It could be just as little as a black screen and voices, before the actual cutscene, just to quickly explain the circumstances.
    Isn't there already a "Press the any key" screen at the start of the game? Slap a single paragraph at the top of that explaining summarizing the situation - search and rescue mission, warning sirens, lifepod. BAM, done. This sort of thing is pretty common in near-future space sci-fi movies, so it's not without precedent.

    That's not a bad idea. But it does make the Black Box data entry redundant.
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  • garathgarath Texas Join Date: 2017-02-08 Member: 227730Members
    adel_50 wrote: »
    Hulkie2345 wrote: »
    The black box data basically gives us a text log entry of a few minutes before the crash.

    I know but the question is would you like to live these few minutes?

    Later in the game, they have this really cool and unexpected thing that happens when this rescue ship is landing. If I was alive for two minutes longer on the Aurora, I think it would totally ruin the surprise later...
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  • adel_50adel_50 Join Date: 2016-09-01 Member: 221973Members
    garath wrote: »
    adel_50 wrote: »
    Hulkie2345 wrote: »
    The black box data basically gives us a text log entry of a few minutes before the crash.

    I know but the question is would you like to live these few minutes?

    Later in the game, they have this really cool and unexpected thing that happens when this rescue ship is landing. If I was alive for two minutes longer on the Aurora, I think it would totally ruin the surprise later...

    Well not sure how it ruins it as you only just walking doing your stuff then suddenly sirens are on and everyone evacuates the ship so if you can explain it a bit for me
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  • garathgarath Texas Join Date: 2017-02-08 Member: 227730Members
    adel_50 wrote: »
    garath wrote: »
    adel_50 wrote: »
    Hulkie2345 wrote: »
    The black box data basically gives us a text log entry of a few minutes before the crash.

    I know but the question is would you like to live these few minutes?

    Later in the game, they have this really cool and unexpected thing that happens when this rescue ship is landing. If I was alive for two minutes longer on the Aurora, I think it would totally ruin the surprise later...

    Well not sure how it ruins it as you only just walking doing your stuff then suddenly sirens are on and everyone evacuates the ship so if you can explain it a bit for me

    "...suddenly sirens and everyone evacuates"

    Isn't that what we have now?

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  • scifiwriterguyscifiwriterguy Sector ZZ-9-Plural Z-α Join Date: 2017-02-14 Member: 227901Members
    The current opening is an in media res intro that has worked well for film and games for a long time; it enables the work to put the viewer in an off-balance "what the hell is going on?!" state where they feel less in control and more at risk. Which, given that the ship has been holed and is going to crash, is pretty much the feeling you want to create in Subnautica. Unless the proposed intro would have the player in an area that takes damage from the beam hit, it's just going to be "ho hum, mopping the floors, what was--AAAAHHHH! GONNA DIE! GONNA DIE!"...which is pretty much where we are now, minus the mopping. (And, honestly, if we were in a place on the Aurora that took damage, we were probably dead or unable to evac anyway.)

    However, there is a compromise which I would very definitely back, and that's not having a fixed cutscene. @Kouji_San pointed out that whenever a game takes control of your character, he hates it - and he's far from alone. I hate it, too, and probably so do a lot of you. So rather than a cutscene, make it a semi-quicktime event: Pull harness, hit launch button, maybe do something else, enjoy ride, get smashed in face (no input required there), wake up, and...we're back to the original start point. Maybe only two to four things for the player to do, all of which are exceedingly minor, but it gives the player a feeling of agency. That way, time isn't burned creating an environment that we'll never use again (because the undamaged Aurora set needed to create a full intro is effectively wasted resources), but we still get a feeling of being a part of the action rather than apart from it.
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  • cutefishleviathancutefishleviathan United States Join Date: 2017-07-22 Member: 231975Members
    I say no even though I accidentally vote the opposite. The current intro sequence makes us wonder what happened, kinda like a cliff hanger which is well set up. What I want is for them to add fun facts or small tips on the loading screen just to make it a little entertaining. There are facts within the game that I "believe" aren't addressed like equipping a tool or fish slow down your swimming speed, other than the seaglide of course.
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  • 0x6A72320x6A7232 US Join Date: 2016-10-06 Member: 222906Members
    scifiwriterguy wrote: »
    The current opening is an in media res intro that has worked well for film and games for a long time; it enables the work to put the viewer in an off-balance "what the hell is going on?!" state where they feel less in control and more at risk. Which, given that the ship has been holed and is going to crash, is pretty much the feeling you want to create in Subnautica. Unless the proposed intro would have the player in an area that takes damage from the beam hit, it's just going to be "ho hum, mopping the floors, what was--AAAAHHHH! GONNA DIE! GONNA DIE!"...which is pretty much where we are now, minus the mopping. (And, honestly, if we were in a place on the Aurora that took damage, we were probably dead or unable to evac anyway.)

    However, there is a compromise which I would very definitely back, and that's not having a fixed cutscene. @Kouji_San pointed out that whenever a game takes control of your character, he hates it - and he's far from alone. I hate it, too, and probably so do a lot of you. So rather than a cutscene, make it a semi-quicktime event: Pull harness, hit launch button, maybe do something else, enjoy ride, get smashed in face (no input required there), wake up, and...we're back to the original start point. Maybe only two to four things for the player to do, all of which are exceedingly minor, but it gives the player a feeling of agency. That way, time isn't burned creating an environment that we'll never use again (because the undamaged Aurora set needed to create a full intro is effectively wasted resources), but we still get a feeling of being a part of the action rather than apart from it.

    And if you take too long, you see a nice bright bright orange-white flash, and you're back to "press any key to continue"
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  • adel_50adel_50 Join Date: 2016-09-01 Member: 221973Members
    scifiwriterguy wrote: »
    The current opening is an in media res intro that has worked well for film and games for a long time; it enables the work to put the viewer in an off-balance "what the hell is going on?!" state where they feel less in control and more at risk. Which, given that the ship has been holed and is going to crash, is pretty much the feeling you want to create in Subnautica. Unless the proposed intro would have the player in an area that takes damage from the beam hit, it's just going to be "ho hum, mopping the floors, what was--AAAAHHHH! GONNA DIE! GONNA DIE!"...which is pretty much where we are now, minus the mopping. (And, honestly, if we were in a place on the Aurora that took damage, we were probably dead or unable to evac anyway.)

    However, there is a compromise which I would very definitely back, and that's not having a fixed cutscene. @Kouji_San pointed out that whenever a game takes control of your character, he hates it - and he's far from alone. I hate it, too, and probably so do a lot of you. So rather than a cutscene, make it a semi-quicktime event: Pull harness, hit launch button, maybe do something else, enjoy ride, get smashed in face (no input required there), wake up, and...we're back to the original start point. Maybe only two to four things for the player to do, all of which are exceedingly minor, but it gives the player a feeling of agency. That way, time isn't burned creating an environment that we'll never use again (because the undamaged Aurora set needed to create a full intro is effectively wasted resources), but we still get a feeling of being a part of the action rather than apart from it.

    What I think will work is this

    You are in the living quarters (maybe in the storage room) then suddenly the sirens goes and everyone starts running to the lifpods then you see the character also starts running then the screen fades out then fades in then the sequence that we have it now starts this will need very little work to implement
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  • 0x6A72320x6A7232 US Join Date: 2016-10-06 Member: 222906Members
    adel_50 wrote: »
    scifiwriterguy wrote: »
    The current opening is an in media res intro that has worked well for film and games for a long time; it enables the work to put the viewer in an off-balance "what the hell is going on?!" state where they feel less in control and more at risk. Which, given that the ship has been holed and is going to crash, is pretty much the feeling you want to create in Subnautica. Unless the proposed intro would have the player in an area that takes damage from the beam hit, it's just going to be "ho hum, mopping the floors, what was--AAAAHHHH! GONNA DIE! GONNA DIE!"...which is pretty much where we are now, minus the mopping. (And, honestly, if we were in a place on the Aurora that took damage, we were probably dead or unable to evac anyway.)

    However, there is a compromise which I would very definitely back, and that's not having a fixed cutscene. @Kouji_San pointed out that whenever a game takes control of your character, he hates it - and he's far from alone. I hate it, too, and probably so do a lot of you. So rather than a cutscene, make it a semi-quicktime event: Pull harness, hit launch button, maybe do something else, enjoy ride, get smashed in face (no input required there), wake up, and...we're back to the original start point. Maybe only two to four things for the player to do, all of which are exceedingly minor, but it gives the player a feeling of agency. That way, time isn't burned creating an environment that we'll never use again (because the undamaged Aurora set needed to create a full intro is effectively wasted resources), but we still get a feeling of being a part of the action rather than apart from it.

    What I think will work is this

    You are in the living quarters (maybe in the storage room) then suddenly the sirens goes and everyone starts running to the lifpods then you see the character also starts running then the screen fades out then fades in then the sequence that we have it now starts this will need very little work to implement

    You're running into making new character models, and adding animations for them all running. This would take a significant amount of time for a small team, AFAIK. Could be wrong, though.
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  • scifiwriterguyscifiwriterguy Sector ZZ-9-Plural Z-α Join Date: 2017-02-14 Member: 227901Members
    0x6A7232 wrote: »
    You're running into making new character models, and adding animations for them all running. This would take a significant amount of time for a small team, AFAIK. Could be wrong, though.

    And a fully-modeled set to move around in that you're only going to use once.
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  • adel_50adel_50 Join Date: 2016-09-01 Member: 221973Members
    0x6A7232 wrote: »
    adel_50 wrote: »
    scifiwriterguy wrote: »
    The current opening is an in media res intro that has worked well for film and games for a long time; it enables the work to put the viewer in an off-balance "what the hell is going on?!" state where they feel less in control and more at risk. Which, given that the ship has been holed and is going to crash, is pretty much the feeling you want to create in Subnautica. Unless the proposed intro would have the player in an area that takes damage from the beam hit, it's just going to be "ho hum, mopping the floors, what was--AAAAHHHH! GONNA DIE! GONNA DIE!"...which is pretty much where we are now, minus the mopping. (And, honestly, if we were in a place on the Aurora that took damage, we were probably dead or unable to evac anyway.)

    However, there is a compromise which I would very definitely back, and that's not having a fixed cutscene. @Kouji_San pointed out that whenever a game takes control of your character, he hates it - and he's far from alone. I hate it, too, and probably so do a lot of you. So rather than a cutscene, make it a semi-quicktime event: Pull harness, hit launch button, maybe do something else, enjoy ride, get smashed in face (no input required there), wake up, and...we're back to the original start point. Maybe only two to four things for the player to do, all of which are exceedingly minor, but it gives the player a feeling of agency. That way, time isn't burned creating an environment that we'll never use again (because the undamaged Aurora set needed to create a full intro is effectively wasted resources), but we still get a feeling of being a part of the action rather than apart from it.

    What I think will work is this

    You are in the living quarters (maybe in the storage room) then suddenly the sirens goes and everyone starts running to the lifpods then you see the character also starts running then the screen fades out then fades in then the sequence that we have it now starts this will need very little work to implement

    You're running into making new character models, and adding animations for them all running. This would take a significant amount of time for a small team, AFAIK. Could be wrong, though.

    You got me completely wrong the sequence is you are in the storage room (the one with water and food) doing certain stuff and you hear the footsteps from the other side of the door then when the sirens go on the player panics and the screen fades out then fades in when the current sequence starts so not much work is needed
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  • adel_50adel_50 Join Date: 2016-09-01 Member: 221973Members
    scifiwriterguy wrote: »
    0x6A7232 wrote: »
    You're running into making new character models, and adding animations for them all running. This would take a significant amount of time for a small team, AFAIK. Could be wrong, though.

    And a fully-modeled set to move around in that you're only going to use once.

    The sequence isn't interactive so no need for that
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  • Pilipin0_pridePilipin0_pride Join Date: 2017-09-29 Member: 233295Members
    Taking a leaf out of Stranded Deep's book, a brief tutorial aboard the Aurora set hours before the crash couldn't hurt.
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  • NuclearTestingNuclearTesting Join Date: 2017-07-27 Member: 232082Members
    Hulkie2345 wrote: »
    The black box data basically gives us a text log entry of a few minutes before the crash.

    I agree with @Hulkie2345. The blackbox data and lifepod wrecks give us all the information we need.
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  • adel_50adel_50 Join Date: 2016-09-01 Member: 221973Members
    NuclearTesting wrote: »
    Hulkie2345 wrote: »
    The black box data basically gives us a text log entry of a few minutes before the crash.

    I agree with @Hulkie2345. The blackbox data and lifepod wrecks give us all the information we need.

    Well if you say so
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