| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Mike73x
Joined: 12 Jul 2004
Posts: 71
Location: Perth, Australia
|
 Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 11:46 am Post subject: Gameplay stuff |
|
|
I saw the comments on macupdate and figured I might put down I few thoughts I had.
- On the awkward control, I usually reassign 'up', 'down', 'left' and 'right' to the arrow keys (rather than having 'forward' and 'stop' grouped with 'left' and 'right'), that feels more natural to me. Also, now that ships slow themselves down, the stop key is pretty much redundant, right?
- In first person perspective, mouse control works really well, but it's almost impossible in 3rd person - I think there needs to be an option to flip the y-axis on the mouse. Also, third person lacks any shield/fuel/thrust indicators, or a target sight (obviously the first person one won't work, perhaps two squares of different distances in front of the ship?) Finally, it would be nice if the 3rd person camera tilted up and down with the ship's pitch so you can see where you're going. Yep, I'm a bit of a 3rd person view junkie.
- Using the mouse or the keys gives wildly different gameplay because of the autoleveling when using keys. With the mouse, you can aim at something higher or lower than you, but the autoleveling makes it hard to do this with keys. Finally, I'm wondering if it might be easier for ships to have full 180 degree pitch - it's inconvenient when a planet is directly below you, but you have to do a 'spiral' down to it as you can't point directly down.
- Trying to bullseye a target with lasers is kinda difficult (related to "pick up and play" gameplay fun, to my mind). I noticed in previous versions of EH (when you could continue to fly along in one direction and fire in another) that the shots don't inherit the ship velocity, perhaps that would help? If not, maybe just making shots faster, perhaps).
- EH could do with some more sound effects - jumping to hyperspace, small hits when you get shot, a klaxon when someone turns hostile against you. Speaking of hostiles, an EV-style 'select nearest hostile' key would be really handy, and perhaps their scan images could turn red?
- Collisions against planets are kinda wierd, but you probably know that... The player wobbles against them and I think I've seen AI bounce all over the place before, but maybe that was in an earlier version.
- Graphical thoughts - ships don't appear to have smooth poly shading, is this possible? It would also be cool if we could define fully-illuminated poly's (that ignore lighting) for 'glow in the dark' engines.
That about does it for my ramblings.. for now  |
|
| Back to top » |
|
 |
Paul
Joined: 17 Apr 2004
Posts: 447
Location: Chicago
|
| Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2005 4:54 pm Post subject: Re: Gameplay stuff |
|
|
| Mike73x wrote: |
I saw the comments on macupdate and figured I might put down I few thoughts I had.
- On the awkward control, I usually reassign 'up', 'down', 'left' and 'right' to the arrow keys (rather than having 'forward' and 'stop' grouped with 'left' and 'right'), that feels more natural to me. Also, now that ships slow themselves down, the stop key is pretty much redundant, right? |
Yeah, I'll change the default key bindings. And I think I'll change the stop key to make it so you'll continue in your current direction while being able to rotate, ala earlier versions.
| Quote: |
| - In first person perspective, mouse control works really well, but it's almost impossible in 3rd person - I think there needs to be an option to flip the y-axis on the mouse. Also, third person lacks any shield/fuel/thrust indicators, or a target sight (obviously the first person one won't work, perhaps two squares of different distances in front of the ship?) Finally, it would be nice if the 3rd person camera tilted up and down with the ship's pitch so you can see where you're going. Yep, I'm a bit of a 3rd person view junkie. |
I'll see what I can do here. I mostly use 1st person, myself, but I guess I can try playing more in 3rd to see how it goes.
| Quote: |
| - Using the mouse or the keys gives wildly different gameplay because of the autoleveling when using keys. With the mouse, you can aim at something higher or lower than you, but the autoleveling makes it hard to do this with keys. Finally, I'm wondering if it might be easier for ships to have full 180 degree pitch - it's inconvenient when a planet is directly below you, but you have to do a 'spiral' down to it as you can't point directly down. |
I agree. I've been working on some different ways of extending motion, but using the current model doesn't work very well, so I'll keep working on this.
| Quote: |
| - Trying to bullseye a target with lasers is kinda difficult (related to "pick up and play" gameplay fun, to my mind). I noticed in previous versions of EH (when you could continue to fly along in one direction and fire in another) that the shots don't inherit the ship velocity, perhaps that would help? If not, maybe just making shots faster, perhaps). |
Weapons don't inherit velocity now, either. There's a limit to how fast I can make them, though, cause if they're too fast they can pass right through an object without actually hitting it, based on my current method of detecting collisions. I suppose I could change this, though.
| Quote: |
- EH could do with some more sound effects - jumping to hyperspace, small hits when you get shot, a klaxon when someone turns hostile against you. Speaking of hostiles, an EV-style 'select nearest hostile' key would be really handy, and perhaps their scan images could turn red?
- Collisions against planets are kinda wierd, but you probably know that... The player wobbles against them and I think I've seen AI bounce all over the place before, but maybe that was in an earlier version. |
Yeah, collisions are still weird. I need to look at my code again and see what I'm doing wrong.
| Quote: |
| - Graphical thoughts - ships don't appear to have smooth poly shading, is this possible? It would also be cool if we could define fully-illuminated poly's (that ignore lighting) for 'glow in the dark' engines. |
Actually, smooth shading is enabled. But to take advantage of it, a ship's shape must only change gradually, i.e., more poly's are needed. It seems a decently fast computer can handle more poly's than are currently being used, so feel free to up the count, if you want, and we'll see how it goes.
For the ignore lighting stuff, I can probably do that.
Thanks for the comments, I'll get working on it. 
_________________
Differentiation is an integral part of calculus. |
|
| Back to top » |
|
|
Game Mogul
Joined: 30 Jan 2005
Posts: 241
Location: Neenerneener Land
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2005 9:59 pm Post subject: |
|
|
When Mike mentioned awkward controls, it made me think of a game called Vendetta Online which is basically what we're working up to. The difference is that they are selling the game (and have finished it  ). Getting back to the controls, they have two flight configurations: one is proffessional, and the other is dorko-idiot (I don't know what they really call them but...).
| Vendetta Online wrote: |
Vendetta uses a very powerful dual-flight model. By default, your ship is configured to fly in the direction it is facing, like a fighter jet. You can use the throttle controls to set your desired speed, and the ship's computer will automatically calculate thrust so that you move in the direction that you're facing, at the correct speed.
This mode, "Flight Assist Mode", allows a great deal of maneuverability, but for even greater control, you can turn it off and control your ship's movement directly. This disables your ship's auto-thrusters, causing it to behave more like a true space ship. With Flight Assist off, you are not necessarily moving in the direction you're facing. Some people find this disorienting at first -- it is a bit like sliding around on wet ice. Once you get going, you keep moving until you thrust in a different direction. This is invaluable in a dogfight, since you can easily turn around and fire at someone who is chasing you without worrying about them catching up with you.
|
You can get to the page this is from here.
_________________
"Never sneak up on a turtle while he's welding" |
|
| Back to top » |
|
|
Paul
Joined: 17 Apr 2004
Posts: 447
Location: Chicago
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2005 11:27 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Yeah, I think I'm going to change it to work like that. It seems to work pretty well.
_________________
Differentiation is an integral part of calculus. |
|
| Back to top » |
|
|
|
|
