Proposal Discussion Perception of movement in a void?

[Jenner]

next to none

So there *is* a chance, then? Alright!

 

[Mike Evans]

So there *is* a chance, then? Alright!

Just like there is a chance that dropping my mug will result in it flying up into space instead of down onto the ground yeah

 

[Tinman]

The likelihood of us designers that engage the forums uploading a Gif let alone a video of anything we talk about is next to none Videos and the like come from the man at the top and/or Michael.

"Next to none" you say? So not impossible then!! Awesome! Let the nagging begin!!

Edit: Jenner beat me to it!

 

[Nagual]

Just like there is a chance that dropping my mug will result in it flying up into space instead of down onto the ground yeah

So when's that gif appearing then.. ?


I wonder how many mugs broke before one learnt to fly by missing the ground..

 

[Memnoch]

The likelihood of us designers that engage the forums uploading a Gif let alone a video of anything we talk about is next to none Videos and the like come from the man at the top and/or Michael.

Looking forward to that! It's always nice to see how things are progressing, in the flesh as it were.

 

[Valkyrie]

We actually tried the grid representation detailed above and we felt it didn't look good in the end and didn't really help with the sense of movement (it felt like the grid was moving over you rather than you moving through it). Also as for orientation what are you orienting towards? In the end depending on where you are the grid like nature of it might just look really bad because of the typical flight path through it not being along a major axis.

We're currently going with a subtle yet still visible periphery cloud like particle field that you fly through. Thus there are no dots or grains like in many other space games but there is something there to indicate movement and drifting. We can also scale up the effect and add more granular particulates when in and around dense asteroid or ring systems but even in the void we still have it visible around the periphery of the cockpit.

To reinforce the above we also have a concept of motion ladders that are visible on the HUD when in motion and show movement in the three relative axes around your ship. Thus there is one for vertical movement, one for horizontal and finally one for forward/backwards motion. Each ladder has three scales, each being a series of lines that move as the ship does. Each scale moves at a different rate, the largest lines belonging to the smallest scale and thus move very quickly as you get up to speed. The shortest lines move the slowest and represent much larger distances covered as they move by. Each set of lines belonging to a particular scale also fade out when their motion is no longer relevant to the player to help in readability. Thus when you're going really fast the longest lines belonging to the smallest scale almost completely fade away as they're no longer relevant for the speed you're going at.

I actually wrote a game, no prizes for guessing its inspiration, back in the early 00's and had to write an algorithm to simulate movement and did the dust/grain effect via sprites in a virtual box that surrounded the camera, I was quite proud of this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXpAsNjmG4s

I believe the intro to the Domacles video shows some of that cloud like particle field, even though you're travelling at ludicrous speed?

 

[Maxeren]

I actually wrote a game, no prizes for guessing its inspiration, back in the early 00's and had to write an algorithm to simulate movement and did the dust/grain effect via sprites in a virtual box that surrounded the camera, I was quite proud of this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXpAsNjmG4s

I believe the intro to the Domacles video shows some of that cloud like particle field, even though you're travelling at ludicrous speed?

What did you write that in?

 

[Valkyrie]

What did you write that in?

Blitz3D

 

[laforge]

It's subtle enough that you only really notice it when you're specifically looking for it but not so subtle that you're not subconsciously aware of it's presence. Ever since getting it in game it's dramatically improved the sense of speed and movement and it's almost impossible to imagine not having it in the game any more.

Can you give us the option to turn it off? Some sort of 'realistic mode'?

Also: I could imagine that a 2D grid placed on your HUD, which is visually far away from your ship, but fine enough to see your movement, would also look quite nice. Like this for example

It doesnt need to be wrt to the systems coords. Maybe its orientation could be defined by the ships alignment at activation.

 

[Kerrash]

It's subtle enough that you only really notice it when you're specifically looking for it but not so subtle that you're not subconsciously aware of it's presence. Ever since getting it in game it's dramatically improved the sense of speed and movement and it's almost impossible to imagine not having it in the game any more.

I bet it looks even better with the Rift on your head?