Natural Selection 2 News Update - Skycam Spectator Mod
Hugh
CameramanSan Francisco, CA Join Date: 2010-04-18 Member: 71444NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Onos, WC 2013 - Shadow, Subnautica Developer, Pistachionauts
CameramanSan Francisco, CA Join Date: 2010-04-18 Member: 71444NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Onos, WC 2013 - Shadow, Subnautica Developer, Pistachionauts
Comments
first person counts :)
>Skycam?
>First-person?
>Follow?
>Ghost view?
I'd almost post a challenge-accepted, but I've already too much on the proverbial plate.
I guess switching from sky view to ghost view will be by zooming in with the mouse wheel, soon?
Now, if you could get zooming working for the normal comm view, I'd be ecstatic.
Looks good though!
This is a great addition, but, Same here!
<b><!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro-->Please make sure to add a 1st-person spectating mode <!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></b>—with full GUI, crosshairs included.
Love it! :)
<ul><li>First person view, demo/replay system (this is one of the foundations of competitive play and teaching/learning/making good looking gameplay videos)</li><li>Starcraft II-style spectator info - what's in production for each team, how many players are alive and dead on each team, income per minute, hive types, per-player map vision (to see what has been scouted/scanned as players do this), team res, pres, pres worth equipped on players, per-player list of equipment/upgrades ("Oh no! Bob forgot to get carapace and he's going to die to these shotguns!")</li><li>Buttons to rotate the top-down perspective (again, for making things look pretty or framing action in a certain way)</li></ul>
The video was really cool, and it's nice to see that you guys have well-designed software so you can hack something like this together quickly. What about a demo/replay system (record and play back the entire activity of a game offline)? Will that be something difficult to create or..?
First-person spectating is really important, not just for actually spectating/shoutcasting, but also as a rudimentary way to detect cheaters at the player/admin level.
<!--quoteo(post=1919478:date=Mar 29 2012, 03:18 PM:name=MrRadicalEd)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MrRadicalEd @ Mar 29 2012, 03:18 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1919478"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->This is all nice, but down the road when things are all fleshed out I would love to see units highlighted, or maybe a modified view(sort of like hive sight) that shows players firing, taking damage, movement, growth--- just a nice visual summary of what's going on so you can focus your attention quickly.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I like this idea. You could switch to 'action mode' where players not taking damage/firing are de-emphasized in some way (contrast, brightness and so on). I guess I basically just repeated what you said but the point is it's a good idea!
<ul><li>First person view, demo/replay system (this is one of the foundations of competitive play and teaching/learning/making good looking gameplay videos)</li><li>Starcraft II-style spectator info - what's in production for each team, how many players are alive and dead on each team, income per minute, hive types, per-player map vision (to see what has been scouted/scanned as players do this), team res, pres, pres worth equipped on players, per-player list of equipment/upgrades ("Oh no! Bob forgot to get carapace and he's going to die to these shotguns!")</li><li>Buttons to rotate the top-down perspective (again, for making things look pretty or framing action in a certain way)</li></ul><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I second this list.
That'll be a nice view for casting anyways.
Will there be any chance of a zoom ever happening for the commander's view as well?<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
Also, IMO demo recording & playback is another very important feature the devs should add. I think this feature helps keep players interested in the game, as well as generate interest for people who don't know about the game (it's easier to put a video on YouTube when you can play back a match). Newer players can play back matches and scrims and cycle through players to see how better players play and react to situations. It's also an invaluable tool for catching cheaters (as is First Person spectate).
...zoom ever happening for the commander's view...<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
+1
My favorite example of outlining in a top-down view is <i>Anomaly Warzone Earth</i>. If Skycam had that kind of feature, I'd be elated.
<ol type='1'><li>Make health and armor display either at all times on the HUD or around each player in a much easier to see format, names need to be more easily visible too</li><li>Make easier to see indicators as to where players are, sometimes they blend in and this works against spectating</li><li>Allow the spectator to "bind" players or buildings to buttons for quick camera movements</li><li>Make the HUD show the number of resource nodes each team controls</li><li>Add a button for smooth panning as a top down spectator (middle mouse button?)</li></ol>
To flesh out #1. If the health and armor is to be shown around each player (and name) it must be more blatant to the spectator. Or if you are going to show players of both teams on the HUD at all times make it so you can easily tell which player is which on the battlefield so as to match the HUD list.
I think that's about it for now. Camera angles can only go so far, if groups (such as LANified!) are going to be broadcasting with commentary we will need to have more information visually available for the spectator.
Now only if the commander could have that zoom feature.
Edit: Also looking forward to a first-person perspective spectator mode.
No doubt it wouldn't be too much of a challenge for you, but get on with the gamestate recorder, it's eagerly awaited! *push*
Your hard work is appreciated, I'm just a bit too excited about it ;)
On topic: Looks very nice! Amazing that Dushan used his spare time on this, thanks x9000!
Also, thanks to all the developers who do things in their own time that we don't see in such a public way!
My comments:
<ul><li>ability to use mouse scroll wheel in addition to arrow keys to zoom</li><li>smooth animated transition from skycam to freecam like Google Maps does with street view (enable MapsGL for best example, just scroll wheel zoom into the mapdown to teh streetview level)</li><li>player names above them with health indicators</li><li>other HUD items that others have suggested in this thread</li></ul>
Thank you again!