The Aiming Overhaul

[GodWaffle]

I'll try to keep this relatively 'simple'.

Aiming and Firing

The aiming system we have in-game right now isn't all that great; You look in the general direction and hit a target without really aiming at all.  

I haven't played multiplayer yet but I don't really think that the current aiming system will work very well with it at all.  I think hand-to-hand weapons are okay, but guns aren't.

First of all, with the 3D system, when aiming, arms should be slightly detached from look direction, so it's a sort of keyhole aiming style.  So if I'm facing forward, I can move my character's arms still to aim within that 45 degree forward direction.

Bullets would be fired towards the mouse cursor, however would take height into account too.  Say you're got a zombie next to a wall, he's standing still, so it's purely a target to shoot at.  If you howver the cursor over the grass in front of the zombie, the gun will be 'aiming' at the ground, so the bullet will hit the dirt.  If you hover the cursor over the zombie's legs, it's aiming at that height, and will hit the legs.  If you hover the cursor a little above his head on the wall behind him, the bullet will hit above him.  

This would work by having an invisible 'aim target' attached to the cursor, which would move across the space in 3D, up and down walls, along the ground, etc, kind of like a laser pointer from the gun to the mouse.  The gun would then trace a ray from the gun's 3D position (even from rooftops or balconies) towards that point in space, and if it intersects with something along the way then that is what it will hit.

For example, you're on a three-story building rooftop, in front of you is two-story building with one zombie on the roof.  You aim your mouse cursor at the road behind that building, so although you've aimed at the road, if the 3D ray passes through the zombie, it would hit him.

This ray would be invisible, and the aiming would not be 100% accurate (skills would play a larger role here), but I think this would work really well for making sure PVP gunfights aren't a "I can click faster than you" affair.

Gunshot Wounds

So to combat the DayZ style bloodlust that some players may have, gunshot wounds should be dangerous, but not instakill dangerous.

Basically, the player body model is already in-game, you've got your body parts which can be damaged, etc.  So depending on where the raycast hit point is on player's avater, that part of the body would be damaged with a gunshot wound.  

A gunshot wound would cause bleeding and agony, and the 'Needs medical attention' moodle would linger until the bullet is removed.  You could get lucky and the bullet may pass through you entirely, but if not, then you could risk trying to pull it out yourself (and likely infect your wound), or try to find a doctor.

Depending on where the bullet hits, you would have effects to your character:

Head = Instant kill
Neck = Death in under 5 seconds, slow movement, heavy bleeding
Chest = Death in under 10 seconds, slow movement, crawling, heavy bleeding
Stomach = Slow movement, crawling, heavy bleeding, possible passing out (Likely needs someone to drag you to safety and carry you back to camp)
Legs = Limping or crawling, bleeding
Arms = Decreased melee damage, decreased pushback force, bleeding

And also, all gunshot wounds should be treated properly, and I believe the devs plan to overhaul the medical system which would definitely play into this to ensure the wound doesn't become infected.

Having these effects for getting shot would make it more of a risk to try and shoot someone.  These factors would come into play:

-You may miss.  Result = DEAD
-You may hit them and they may shoot you back.  Result = INJURED
-You may kill them and their buddy shoots  you.  Result = INJURED OR DEAD
-You may kill them and steal their supplies.  Result = ALIVE

So you'd need to be a good shot, you'd need to be quick enough to pull your gun, aim accurately (+ have good aiming skill), and shoot them before they can react and run/start shooting, and even if you down them, they could still shoot you before they bleed out.

Taking Cover

This one isn't so big, but I believe sneaking will make players crouch low in future versions, so having more low objects like cars and what-not would allow for some really intenses gunfights.

Well, those were my ideas as simple as I could get them, still pretty long, but let me know what you think.  This would be a lot of work for the devs but I personally think that in order to have PvP being fun and giving players a chance to defend against griefers and bandits, this is the way it should be done.

Thanks for taking the time to read through.

-Ben
 

[Gildenopa]

I like this idea ! Sounds Good !

[silents429]

I don't like how aiming would work, I know the Devs say they need to brush up on some combat, because honestly while this game with others sounds friggin amazing, PVP sounds like a clunky nightmare.

Getting gunshot wounds is coming.

And I know crouching for sneaking is coming, but if they somehow make this game more combat oriented where its just a cover and shoot type of game, Ima kill me a few people.

[syfy]

it sounds ok if you just assume that every person who plays will be using the keyboard, and no one will use any type of controller. but that will certainly NOT be the case, since the fact is that many people prefer using a thumbpad/joystick to using the WASD keys to move around and hence will not have their hands on or near the mouse.

 

and taking that much time to line up a shot with a mouse would result in you being shot by someone who saw you first, or bitten/scratched by a zombie who walks up behind you while you are focusing on the target in front of you.

 

don't mistake this game for one of "those" types of game. you want to focus on trying to kill others with sniper techniques, there are plenty of shooter games available for that.

[PintLasher]

These are all great ideas especially the wounding, with the move to a true 3d engine I don't see why laser pointing styled aiming would be hard to implement (such ignorance, much wow). I think the laser pointer style might be a little much but the current aiming system does require a little work. I imagine it would be very easy to shoot your friends in online MP while fighting zombies in current versions, even though you aren't pointing anywhere near them.

I've often hit zombies who were at least 45 degrees and 3 meters away from where I was pointing/looking.

[Ewok]

As mentioned, mouse-specific aiming is a no-no for people using a controller.

So, how about an aiming line coming out of the character that shows your shot direction when aiming. The better you skill with firearms, the longer the line will be (lower skills it cuts out and makes you guess the rest).

Additionally, the higher your skill the better base odds if getting an insta-kill headshot.

Or, instead of an aiming 'line', it could be a narrow 'cone' to represent that it may miss - with more practice narrowing said cone.

[Daazx]

The taking cover idea sounds awesome and the gun wounds

[Guest]

I agree with this. 

Edited March 21, 2021 by Red Storm 58

[boogada]

Maybe not total mouse aim, but having the gunplay be a little bit more hotline miami-ish rather than headshot anything in a 90 degree arc in front of you would be good.

[Lexy]

Maybe not total mouse aim, but having the gunplay be a little bit more hotline miami-ish rather than headshot anything in a 90 degree arc in front of you would be good.

qft

 

the problem i have at the moment is that the aiming is totally random ... you cant pick off specific targets unless they stand so far away from each other that you would have to make a 360° to aim at them. 

shoot in a straight line in front of you, where you are aiming at ... alter the accuracy of hitting something at more lethal parts by aiming-skill

remove the whole "auto-aim at what is within your cone" thingy 

[Anvilman6]

Interesting Ideas. Crouching behind cover while bandits rove around searching for you would be a tense moment, something I would enjoy on large MP servers.

[Elliot9191]

I'm supporting this idea a lot. I hope one of the devs see this.

[Daec]

As mentioned, mouse-specific aiming is a no-no for people using a controller.

So, how about an aiming line coming out of the character that shows your shot direction when aiming. The better you skill with firearms, the longer the line will be (lower skills it cuts out and makes you guess the rest).

Additionally, the higher your skill the better base odds if getting an insta-kill headshot.

Or, instead of an aiming 'line', it could be a narrow 'cone' to represent that it may miss - with more practice narrowing said cone.

this would probably be the best solution for mouse and controller.

[Aardman55]

Gunshot wounds:
Thats my fav! Actually, wounds in general! When I ram an axe into someones head, i expect blood and flesh to show up

 

Taking cover:

It should probably work with autoinitialize and taking cover, so for example when the player is under fire and runs against a car the player will automatically combat roll / slide / squat against the car and then be able to shoot around and go back to cover, and you should be able to get out of cover using "c", this would allow the devs to add another function to the button that would have been the cover button, and also it would look alot cooler than simply having the crouch animation infront of a car

That worked pretty well in the last of us!

[lightiggy]

I got a question about the headshots, they may not be instant kill, the bullet might just graze you or even go completely through but do almost no damage provided if you are lucky