Wall opacity change

[Azira]

So, after playing the game a while, I noticed a recurring problem I had: Walls either obscuring my vision, or being invisible when near me, causing me to not be able to detect obstructions. The transparency effect that is currently in the game is okay enough for getting by, but I think that it can be improved by keeping the base of any wall visible. I also think that any wall in the foreground should go transparent always.

 

This would allow players to see their character in motion at all times. As it stands walls don't always go transparent when they obscure your character, but if anything in the foreground becomes transparent, it allows you to deal with vision obstruction a lot better, and it would solve the problem of zombies hiding behind objects in the foreground. I don't think it makes much sense for zombies that my sprite has a clear line of sight to and is able to detect are still invisible to me, but I encounter this problem relatively frequently, especially in small rooms.

 

The way I envision this looking is when you are outside, walls in the foreground are reduced to an outline on the ground that shows you where your movement is blocked, but doesn't obscure your vision of detected zombies and containers. When you are inside, movement-blocking terrain on the floor you are currently on, save the floor, stairs, and windows become transparent, leaving an outline on the ground to show you where your movement is blocked.

 

The end result of all of this is giving you complete access to terrain information you should already have. If a zombie is directly in front of you, but beside a wall, that wall shouldn't obscure the zombie, because your sprite can clearly see it. Because of the way lighting and perception work, you aren't getting any information you shouldn't be getting, but you are getting all of the information you should be getting.

[Flachzang]

Now this is quite interesting. You could be right that under certain circumstances, you as a player might not be able to see what your character actually sees, especially the zombies. This is something I'm gonna check myself because I never thought about that so far or noticed it as a big problem.

 

But I think, making all the frontwalls invisible/transparent takes away the atmosphere a little bit. Not much but...you know...Hmm...

 

And what do you think about giving the zombies the character sees, the same "transparency bubble" the character has? Or a smaller one. I don't know if I would like that or if it's even possible but it would solve the problem of zombies you should actually see.

[Azira]

Well, I thought about that, but then you still run into the same issues indoors, and when containers are against a foreground wall. It also doesn't solve the problem of walls being invisible to you completely when you're too close. The more fortified my entrance gets, the harder it is to navigate it because the walls keep disappearing and i can't see the entrance.

[Dreadhawk177]

Maybe the devs could use F1 - F4 to make Sims style wall cutouts without showing the inside. For example, F2 would not show ANY walls or roofs, but it would show doors and windows, along with a FOV inside from those access points.

[harakka]

This stuff is hard to achieve with the current graphics engine, but will be improved on after the 3D engine overhaul.

[Azira]

Ah, well, it was worth a try.

[D_Malachi]

A 3D engine overhaul. Is that an actual planned feature? If so, is there any planned ETA on this, version-wise, or the standard "when it's ready"? Have checked the main site and nothing shows up regarding that, so I'll assume the latter, and quite some time away.

[Kajin]

I think it might be on the list of Things To Do right after NPCs, which are being put in after the general round of bug fixes and optimizations the devs are doing now.

 

Don't quote me on that, though.

[silents429]

A 3D engine overhaul. Is that an actual planned feature? If so, is there any planned ETA on this, version-wise, or the standard "when it's ready"? Have checked the main site and nothing shows up regarding that, so I'll assume the latter, and quite some time away.

The 3D engine is planned, and one of the biggest things to happen for the game.

They mentioned somewhere at some point, they wanted the walls to work like they did in the sims.

[D_Malachi]

Yeah, I did some legwork and found the topic with several mentions to that. Mondoid Reposts

3D engine is mentioned several times, though I don't see much in the way of screenshots depicting it in action (aside from some neat lighting effects), so my guess is either it's a fair ways off, or they're keeping the visual details secretive... or I'm dense and can't tell the difference visually.

[Dreadhawk177]

Can't wait for this stuff. This game is going to explode. Like DayZ mod.

[silents429]

Yeah, I did some legwork and found the topic with several mentions to that. Mondoid Reposts

3D engine is mentioned several times, though I don't see much in the way of screenshots depicting it in action (aside from some neat lighting effects), so my guess is either it's a fair ways off, or they're keeping the visual details secretive... or I'm dense and can't tell the difference visually.

Not much to show about it, it won't be visually different, other then better performance, and new abilities with a brand new engine, elevation, particles, the sims style of wall opacity.

[D_Malachi]

Unless this will be part of the 3D engine. Not exactly sure what he's working on, but if this is the (possibly far) future visual style of the game...

 

https://twitter.com/CaptainBinky/status/403193921850703872/photo/1

 

...not off to a bad start. Either way, probably not what the devs mean by 3D engine, and simple The Sims style cut-away would be a significant improvement as far as locating things goes.

[harakka]

Unless this will be part of the 3D engine. Not exactly sure what he's working on, but if this is the (possibly far) future visual style of the game...

 

https://twitter.com/CaptainBinky/status/403193921850703872/photo/1

 

...not off to a bad start. Either way, probably not what the devs mean by 3D engine, and simple The Sims style cut-away would be a significant improvement as far as locating things goes.

That is one of the character models the current character sprites are rendered from. The screenshot is from Binky doing some work on the animation tools.

As stated above, the 3D engine overhaul shouldn't affect the game much visually, it'll only make the game run better and open up various options that weren't available in the 2D era, such as cutaway walls.

[Simon816]

Unless this will be part of the 3D engine. Not exactly sure what he's working on, but if this is the (possibly far) future visual style of the game...

 

https://twitter.com/CaptainBinky/status/403193921850703872/photo/1

 

...not off to a bad start. Either way, probably not what the devs mean by 3D engine, and simple The Sims style cut-away would be a significant improvement as far as locating things goes.

 

Methinks someone is using blender lol

 

i always loved doing the skeletons and anim but hate sculpting lol

 

i hope there not on the dark side with 3Dmax

 

-ive actually just realised it should be alot easier to add backpacks and stuff to the character animation now! cant wait to see that.

oh yeah and the reason i came into this thread lol

 

i do agree with azira that some way of marking walls while transparent would be good either just a flat "plank" style marker on the ground tile or dialing back the opacity slightly so we still get a kind of outline.

Edited December 4, 2013 by Simon816