Two unacceptable design mistake persisting from NS1
Hakujin
Join Date: 2003-05-09 Member: 16157Members, Constellation
Join Date: 2003-05-09 Member: 16157Members, Constellation
I don't know why the team INSISTS on keeping two "features" for NS2:
1) marine LMG muzzle flash -- it is located TOO CLOSE to the crosshairs and is too large. It makes shooting very hard for people sensitive to flashing lights to the point that the game is uncomfortable to look at.
2) skulk bite jaws -- same problem as above, attacking blinds the player as well as makes no sense from a biology perspective.
Let me address the undoubted rebuttal of "well learn to play; it doesn't bother me." Well it bothers ME. I can'e deal with strobes and strong flashing lights and the two effects I mentioned trigger the same reaction. I have to squint and lose my concentration when using the two basic weapons in the game.
I hacked out the sprites and models in NS1 to be able to play, but it is ridiculous that this issue is considered a "design feature" in NS2. Compromising the players ability to see by default (baic weapons) is NEVER a good design decision.
1) marine LMG muzzle flash -- it is located TOO CLOSE to the crosshairs and is too large. It makes shooting very hard for people sensitive to flashing lights to the point that the game is uncomfortable to look at.
2) skulk bite jaws -- same problem as above, attacking blinds the player as well as makes no sense from a biology perspective.
Let me address the undoubted rebuttal of "well learn to play; it doesn't bother me." Well it bothers ME. I can'e deal with strobes and strong flashing lights and the two effects I mentioned trigger the same reaction. I have to squint and lose my concentration when using the two basic weapons in the game.
I hacked out the sprites and models in NS1 to be able to play, but it is ridiculous that this issue is considered a "design feature" in NS2. Compromising the players ability to see by default (baic weapons) is NEVER a good design decision.
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
2: Mods
1: Atmosphere is essential in any game, and the mouth piece immerses you greatly.
Playing without it would feel boring and uninteresting. Plus the camera-in-mouth trick is a NS trademark by now and is a feature which gets people who've never heard of the game really interested in NS.
It's by the same feature that I became interested in NS1, it just looks great.
I never really notice the muzzle flash, as I'm used to firing from the hip in other games and a lack of a reticule is no problem for me. It does encourage short bursts of fire though (if it was in any way intentional).
Who knows, maybe it will be changed in the future.
2: In due time someone will make a mod removing them, or you could do it yourself and thus not have to wait.
From a third person perspective it looms extremely annoying, indeed I get this while watching some of NS2HD's videos (on the rare occasion he does go skulk). But it feels a lot better in game, in my opinion anyway.
Probably because you are in control of when you bite down :)
Overpowered Skulks are Overpowered without the mouth cam
Flayra said somewhere that there is a bug where it should only play that animation when you're not moving... I don't know about that though, I mean hiding in a corner, while waiting for that pesky Fade tag team to move along. There should not be a Shotgun in the face animation...
Over the years I've answered this dozens of times but...I don't know how else you could give feedback to biting if the camera wasn't inside the skulk's mouth. I dare you to come up with something better...
Again, use it more sparingly as an effect for the most powerful attacks, and change the rapid-fire default melee attack to something less distracting. That would be better IMO as it would enhance the effect of the unique animation and avoid being quite so distracting as the #1 most common thing you'll be seeing during gameplay.
Since 2002, I've got an answer for almost everything. With this? I haven't. I couldn't agree with the bitecam more.
Skulks would go from balanced melee fighters to unstoppable murder machines... It is a balancing feature, same goes for muzzle flash, but bloom did indeed made it worse then NS1
Here's another idea, make the animation more back-to-front movement and have the mouth close 70% instead of 100%
I think the camera being inside the mouth (as opposed to where the eyes are on the model) is a better choice for immersion, instead of trying to be 'real' and put the camera above the face.
CLosing the mouth 70% instead of 100% maintains the spirit of the original design while not totally obstructing gameplay by flashing the inside of a mouth every half-second during combat. Adding forward motion to the animation adds to the sense of a "bite" without the jaws needing to be totally closed.
Some spit particle effects spraying out along the trajectory of the bite would also be cool.
With this implementation, it also leaves the possibility for obvious Hit feedback, if the jaws close 100% only when a hit is landed and 70% on misses.
While I'm on the subject of hit feedback, the inside of the mouth should get bloody when you get a kill.
I like this idea.
1) marine LMG muzzle flash -- it is located TOO CLOSE to the crosshairs and is too large. It makes shooting very hard for people sensitive to flashing lights to the point that the game is uncomfortable to look at.
2) skulk bite jaws -- same problem as above, attacking blinds the player as well as makes no sense from a biology perspective.
Let me address the undoubted rebuttal of "well learn to play; it doesn't bother me." Well it bothers ME. I can'e deal with strobes and strong flashing lights and the two effects I mentioned trigger the same reaction. I have to squint and lose my concentration when using the two basic weapons in the game.
I hacked out the sprites and models in NS1 to be able to play, but it is ridiculous that this issue is considered a "design feature" in NS2. Compromising the players ability to see by default (baic weapons) is NEVER a good design decision.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
1) Unimportant technical detail - if you are that sensitive, you might want to avoid lightswitches and cities.
2) It would look much worse if the camera was on top of the jaw, immersion is not sacrificed here. If anything maybe a little translucency could be added when the jaws come together, but it's not a big deal.
NS2 though has bigger muzzle flash and the skulk bite cam blocks half the view (maybe its the speed?). Atleast the gorge mouth does.
<!--quoteo(post=1852777:date=Jun 15 2011, 12:01 AM:name=Wilson)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Wilson @ Jun 15 2011, 12:01 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1852777"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I like this idea.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
+1
2. Anyone heard of Alien Flashlight? Or researched that most animals close / cover their eyes with a protective layer causing them to be "blind" temporarily while they bite / pounce / attack.
Maybe instead of closing 100% on hit, which seems odd when not closing on failhit. The jaws angle randomly left or right on hit, but stay at 70%... hmm how to visualize this :D
instead of straight on hit
 ______
|______|
They go like so (randomly either way):
       ____
----Â Â Â Â Â Â Â |
| Â Â ____|
----
Some spit particle effects spraying out along the trajectory of the bite would also be cool.
With this implementation, it also leaves the possibility for obvious Hit feedback, if the jaws close 100% only when a hit is landed and 70% on misses.
While I'm on the subject of hit feedback, the inside of the mouth should get bloody when you get a kill.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Edit: Where'd my reply go?
I agree with this completely, watching gameplay videos it's very difficult to visually tell when a skulk's bite connects, and this kind of feedback would improve that a lot. Being blinded when attacking is less of a problem than not being able to tell if you landed a bite or not. As for the mouth cam, I love it: it really sets NS/NS2 apart.
<!--quoteo(post=1852777:date=Jun 14 2011, 07:01 PM:name=Wilson)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Wilson @ Jun 14 2011, 07:01 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1852777"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I like this idea.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--quoteo(post=1852784:date=Jun 14 2011, 07:16 PM:name=countbasie)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (countbasie @ Jun 14 2011, 07:16 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1852784"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->+1<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
5 Stars
+1