Visual feedback on HUD

[tigaer]

The blood splatters would be perfect. Having the blood glow slightly to see if your shots hit in dark areas and at distances wouldn't hurt either.

Glow as in maybe having it be a slightly richer red, or reflect light more as if it was shiny melted red metal.

[Farley4Fan]

I think it would be better to not see the blood splatters in the dark.  It would be nice to see mercs tracking blood trails into darkness and using their flashlight to find the direction the spy went. 

The hit indicator should be simple.  Like the current one.  Or like Ion mentioned, the COD sound wouldn't be bad either.  In the light you should see blood and hear the sound.  In the dark you just hear the sound and the blood wouldn't be visible given that it's dark enough.

A really cool visual effect would be having blood drip from a bullethole through a thin ceilling if you shoot a spy.

Maybe a sound would be a bad idea and only using blood would be a good alternative after all.  It would leave more room for creativity I guess.

I just argued with myself. 

[comicsserg]

yea this blood effects (that FraleyFan have written) can make our game unique.

[CurdyMilk]

Combining scary stealth with horror could be quite interesting.  My only issue with blood is that it's over used in the gaming industry.  I'm not saying that it would not work for this, but I don't want it to become "just another bloody effect" that I see in many other games.  If uniqueness can be combined with purpose then it should be fine.

[comicsserg]

no horror i don't think mercs are afraid of spy.

[Cronky]

This is starting to remind me of the rumors that Ghosts were in the Orphanage Level. :P

[Farley4Fan]

This is starting to remind me of the rumors that Ghosts were in the Orphanage Level. :P

There are ghosts in Orphanage.  What is an orphanage without ghosts of little orphans?  Honestly.

And I agree not to overdo the blood thing but I could see it working.

[Spekkio]

I have some nice ideas for separating the noobs from the already experienced players when there's a re-install. That should save the pros a lot of time.

Just have some kind of server side stats tracker in terms of time played wins and losses if it's really an issue.

However, the old system where people just wrote skill levels in server titles worked just fine. There's really no reason to make up some intricate thing to separate players. Oh, and mandatory tutorials are epic fail.

[Ion.67]

Make the blood look like fear blood. Thick and a lot. Also, make it shiny green because it will match the spies goggles. Or, don't have blood. Or have a tiny bit. Tracking the blood on the ground would be funny and unrealistic but I can deal.

[Farley4Fan]

Tracking blood isn't unrealistic.  Haven't you seen it in the movies?

[frvge]

Tracking blood isn't unrealistic.  Haven't you seen it in the movies?

Yes! Of course! Movies are always realistic. D'oh!








Just messin' with ya ;)

[Farley4Fan]

Tracking blood isn't unrealistic.  Haven't you seen it in the movies?

Yes! Of course! Movies are always realistic. D'oh!








Just messin' with ya ;)

I wasn't being serious, fridge  :D

[Cronky]

Just have some kind of server side stats tracker in terms of time played wins and losses if it's really an issue.

However, the old system where people just wrote skill levels in server titles worked just fine. There's really no reason to make up some intricate thing to separate players.

Yeah, that would probably be the easiest ways to go about it. Still have the problem of people that make dwarf accounts, but that's really rather minor.

Oh, and mandatory tutorials are epic fail.

I'd agree with this if they were making any kind of Generic FPS. I think to solve that problem would be that if you have no time on said tracker mentioned above it recommended (in a... You REALLY should do this way) that you play the tutorial level. Like many games do with some kind of prompt box.

That way You could skip it, but those that are new would at least know that it's there. Perhaps also making players have to click one of those check boxes that says "Never show me this again". So that the EXTREMELY new would have a chance to see the recommendation more than once, or just for reassurance that they don't want to play the tutorial.

...Though I believe the PS team should still make a creative Training Level that explains Everything (unlike CT SvM Exam Map did) non-linearly so that you have the option to skip the parts you don't want/need to hear.

[Farley4Fan]

It should go like this:

You boot up the game.

A message pops up immediately - "If you have never played Spy versus Mercenary multiplayer then it is highly suggested that you play through >this< tutorial."

Another message - "Even if you have played it a little bit, you should probably check out >this< tutorial."

Another pop up - "Seriously man, this game's learning curve is pretty damn steep.  >Tutorial< Click it."

And another - "Are you sure? >Tut<"

1 last message - "Since you are obviously so capable of your abilities, I'm sure you wouldn't mind me putting you into a match right now!"

*Play dramatic music and throw the player into a match with the legendary players like Mic, Spekkio, Agent, and Farleyfan* (we'd have different time slots for each of us to be in position)  :P

If the player succeeds and the 3 other players judge that he/she is worthy, then the player can proceed without playing the 2 minute tutorial.  This whole process of skipping the tutorial would be longer than actually doing the tutorial.





---


Seriously though.  Just make it so that there are multiple warnings that we can quickly skip through and never worry about again.  Hopefully newcomers will get the picture.  If not, then it's trial by fire.

[Cronky]

Seriously though.  Just make it so that there are multiple warnings that we can quickly skip through and never worry about again.  Hopefully newcomers will get the picture.  If not, then it's trial by fire.

That's what I said. Just as usual, with 1800 extra words. ;D

Cutting it down as small as possible...
Prompt Box with recommendation to play tutorial. Checkbox or button that says "Never show me this prompt again".

Pshhh, doesn't sound as good without 14 examples tied to it. ;)