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Well I’m not worried one bit about what the automap will be like. I mean, look at who’s making the game.
Prepare for Overload…
I am not worried about any part of Overload actually. It is obvious from the Teaser that they are the original developers of the 6DoF genre and still know how to make a 6DoF game.
hypersonic, Thanks for the info about ‘Free flight controls on automap’ in the community rebirth d2x builds. I didn’t know about it. I play the Retro version with the Descent Rangers and the DCL competitors which is based on rebirth so I expect it is in Retro too.
Sure thing, be sure to thank Matt and Mike for releasing the source code so that the many folks who’ve been maintaining and improving the source over the past 17 years or so could add such features.
Some extra automap features that would be neat to have in Overload:
-click on a segment and temporarily delete it from view to reveal segments surrounded by other segments.
-maybe show robots in line of sight in the map as well.
-click on a point in the map and it gives you turn by turn directions of a way to get there from where-ever you are (not text or voice, just some sort of AR graphical direction would do, like the path to exit cheat code FLASH.) Guidebot can be a tad slow, or sometimes you can lose track of the guidebot and have to wait.Another idea (also shameless plug) is allowing the user to locally change perspective without rotating the whole map view: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKds1siw3nQ
It would be useful for bigger maps, I imagine.
Complicated maps can already get confusing being all twisted together like spaghetti. This multi-perspective twisting stuff I think would compound that! Multi-perspective does have some interesting uses though, such as seeing two cars travel along downtown streets with tall buildings as in that video, but I’m not sure how it could be useful in 6dof maps. Perhaps it could, but without an example it’s hard to say for sure.
New maps it is very good and always interesting, but if somebody can, please improve and import ships from Descent and Descent 3 and also ships from SolC in Overload if possible.
Also, it would be very cool to make various beautiful skins for these ship models.I’ll throw in support for a separate-window automap. Controls for it should be revised(compared to D1/2). I’m torn between wanting a “set an angle relative to the ship and have the map maintain it” or “map rotates\translates around the ship”. It’d be interesting to see both in place. Maybe in the DXX version (since we can test on that without disrupting development on Overload?)
As for rendered vs. wireframe: I’m a bit torn. There’s the nostalgia factor of wireframe that can’t be ignored; the hardware of the time didn’t allow rendering more than a couple rooms at a time. If you add in rendered surfaces (more D3-like) or textured surfaces you can loose visibility of the whole picture. I’m not sure which is “best”. Maybe we’ll get a chance to test out both in BETA?
I can’t believe I’ve overlooked Descent 3’s automap, sorry Luke and Matt! That’s perfect actually (plane colored and shaded), though it would be nice to have the ability to have it full screen or in a window in the corner while playing. While the camera in the map follows you as you move, possibly avoiding things that might obstruct it’s view of your ship while moving (or make obstructing surfaces partially or fully transparent.)
Ya a fixed camera angle is ambiguous, fixed relative to the ship or to the level? I would think relative to the level would be a good default (less confusing) with the ship relative being an option. Another possible option might be to fix the camera position and have it angle and zoom in on the ship as it travels, though this probably wouldn’t work very well.
For further features: Setting waypoints for a path to the the Exit? We used to use Markers many moons ago with a direction “left”, “up”, etc. Perhaps it’s time to get a replacement?
Yeah, I am hoping to have Markers in Overload just like we had in Descent. I never used the labeling before though to tell me where to go next; I always just a path of Markers. I wonder why I never thought of that! That would’ve been very helpful when I was newer to Descent.
Prepare for Overload…
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