Concepts that look cool.

[Overstatement]

For those who don't know, my card sucks. It only goes up to pixel shader 1.3. So, this makes it kind of hard for me to program advanced graphical stuff. However, see all those other programmers posting on the forum with their informative and technical comments? THEY CAN! So, lets come up with things that require cool effects for them to program. No, we are not torturing all those programmers that aren't me, they're programmers, what may be frustating for you is extremely fun for them!

I'm asking for cool stuff that create cool effects. Don't fill my thread with something completely obvious or has already been done in every game (nothing that requires smoke particles, please). I'm talking heat haze, bloodtrails on the wall/floor for hit spies for mercs to follow (like the footprints from CT) or monitors that show realtime information (imagine a security booth with a lots of screens that show anything from realtime camera footage to the location of every mine on the map). I guess I'll allow anything cool but it should have a really awesome graphical component. That's what this thread is for because current-gen (Formerly known as next-gen) is more than just pushing polys or shader instructions, it's also about pushing ideas.

[ElShotte]

Yeah dude I don't see that being a problem, and is quite logical IMHO. Your card sucks, you focus on gameplay coding and such, they focus on the shaders/effects.

[goodkebab]

i want to make some electrical arteries on the spy suit that work the with camo suit.  What would be really cool is that they give a glow effect like a heart pumping  when it initiates the camo suit.

Also, I think it would be a cool effect to integrate a kind of sound meter effect where these arteries pulse whenever a spy makes enough noise to ping a mercs SD.

[goodkebab]

Also....a new way to show the Merc visions is needed.  We can stick with blue/red colors....but the noise filter and mt lock on can be done in a new way. Also, the transition between visions would benefit....

If we can get the feeling that MT is actually scanning like radar/sonar  with lines/noise moving through the vision  (to cut down on vision whores).  Also,  emf in DA :SP is much more authentic looking.

Also....what about a sound vision mode?

[MR.Mic]

I think it would be nice to have the glow effect initiate in a non-uniform fashion across the body.

Something like having the invisible effect expand outward from the lines on the suit by using an animated mask or something like that.

[goodkebab]

i like the idea being able to see the vids from security cameras....or spies being able to wiretap them for that matter

[Overstatement]

I knew there was some good repressed ideas out there. It just needed a thread. I've discovered how limiting my bad graphic card has been to my ability to think of cool graphic things so I'll just be one of those losers that criticize (the nice kind too) without contributing ideas.

I think the idea of hackable security cameras are pretty lame compared to the following use of realtime monitors: One of those monitors shows the position of both mercs on the map by just looking at it, no hacking. If you do hack it, it should upload the realtime position of your spy partner and as long as you stay at the console, you'll be able see your partner in relation to the mercs. Combine that to teamwork and microphones and you have the perfect sci-fi movie cliche of having a guy watch dots on a screen while directing his partner/team.

i want to make some electrical arteries on the spy suit that work the with camo suit.  What would be really cool is that they give a glow effect like a heart pumping  when it initiates the camo suit.

TRON! Now, as a frequent user of the camo suit, I know that 90% of the time, I activate it when I see a merc (as oppose to predicting him entering the room) so wouldn't making my camo glow right before it cloaks make it more useless? I think maybe we could have the glow effect when the camo suit is taken but not on, and have MrMic's idea of cloaking the suit. So it would mean the suit has a disadvantage of being more seeable than a normal black suit when it's off but it's obviously less seeable when it's turned on.

Edit: Just noticed that having a constant glow effect was probably what you were talking about. Please don't hurt me.

[goodkebab]

well....spy goggles have a glow not  visible by mercs...and DA spies have a subtle glow and shininess to them when they are in dark vents

the veins serve the purpose of making the spy visible to the player that is all....visually its just a cool factor

[psyichic]

There is no need to nerf the use of the camo suit Overstatement. I mean unless we drastically increased it's time and made the thing harder to see it really would be nerfing an already arguably difficult to use gadget.

[USAHOLIO]

I agree with Psyichic. I don't know about the pc version but i know that on the xbox version, camo was easy to see unless you were far away or in the dark (or when a person had an xbox 360 they saw a green outline around people in camo which is, I know trust me, very gay), so nerfing it would just make it utterly useless.

[Overstatement]

I don't have as much trouble using the camosuit as you guys apparently do. Aside from the loud camo activating sound, camo works nicely in the right spot. I don't see how it's really a nerf. When you bring camo, you would not rely on the blackness of your suit to hide yourself. When you have a merc in sight, camo is always active and the merc usually passes before the energy runs out. If your energy does run out, the merc probably heard it deactivate and he'll find you no matter what colour your normal suit is. Typcially, you would not move while in camo either. Can we call it a rebalancing rather than a nerf if we fix the loud camo problem?

Also, lets try to come up with some new ideas, yes?

[USAHOLIO]

EAX is not a problem that im used to so even though i play with my volume pretty high, I usually cant hear camo when it de/activates, so fixing that never occurred to me.

[psyichic]

Overstatement what I am saying is that making the camo suit have a downside other then taking up a slot such as the glowing effect of the spy would make it something people would not want to bring merely because they are now going to be forced to use a camo suit every time a merc wanders past them.

Your idea will mean a spy is going to get screwed stealth-wise right off the bat. If he takes camo suit he is either easily visible when he isn't using it or he is glowing in EMF when he is using it and it is draining his battery which might be better spent on shocking a merc.

I understand how the camo suit works but ive never felt it was in need of such a change as making the spy glow when he isn't using it. That is essentially nerfing the camo suit which does not need any nerfing. People don't always use the camo suit when they have it. If you are hiding in a dark shadow there is no purpose to use a camo suit if the merc just walks by it is useful when you either have a good ambush going or are hidden in partial shadows or you need to sneak by a merc at medium to long range.

The camosuit works fine the way it is. The easily heard activation is an effect of EAX which everyone knows is grossly overpowered. There is simply no need to nerf the camosuit in such a way. Fixing EAX would not overpower it to any point where it would need nerfing as you are suggesting.

You haven't given me one good reason why it needs this nerf.

[Overstatement]

It was just an idea I threw out. I don't feel strongly about putting it in either, just trying to work in goodkebeb's idea. I still don't think it's as strong a disadvantage as you do but I don't want to argue. The more time you think about arguements, the less time you'll have to think about concepts that look cool.

[psyichic]

I understand creating a glowing effect that only spies can see. Just like goodkebab said it could be a visual effect that only illuminates to the spy. The merc doesn't have to see it.