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Barking Betty
I've noticed that you sped up her speech file in December. It's not fixed yet so I'm assuming it's intentional; to deliver the warning to the player faster. On that note, to follow this theory, I would really like to see some changes with what she says.
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I'm not sure what else you guys have planned, but that 'Warning' stuff is going to build up, it might even be common enough and result in being redundant. The whole reason to have her is to highlight the warnings. So you can see it's silly to have a warning system to warn you about warning you that something is going to happen. Of course it's a warning - that is why she is there and, it being a warning, is the main reason she is going to be saying what she's about to say. I'll touch on this again
Under the assumption that the reason behind her voice being sped up was to push information to the player faster, the prefix goes against that very reason. It's about getting information to the player faster, but it is delayed by a message prefix. It would be really nice if that part was left out, since we know it's a warning the moment she speaks.
Set priority sequences on messages:
If you'd like to get completely into fleshing out Barking Betty, you might be interested in adjusting the pitch or the inflections based on the type of warning messages given.
Priority 2 type messages:
- Mech status messages are of a lesser importance than real time imminent events that require instant action.
- A lower tone and slower pace of voice sets these lesser important "status notifications" to the background.
- These kinds of messages to me would include: ammo levels, destroyed weapons, pieces of mech destroyed, critical damage, fuel levels, enemy base being captured, powering up or down(manual), bay doors open/closed.
Priority 1 type messages:
- The other set of messages that I mentioned earlier are ones that require pilot intervention immediately.
- A faster, clearer, louder(?) and higher toned message sets these into the foreground of the notifications; delivering a sense of urgency and demand.
- These kinds of messages to me would include: Base is being captured, targeted, incoming fire, ECM is being countered/disabled by PPC, critical hit, heat levels, shut down sequence initiated (by over-heating), shrouded by ECM.
- Priority 1 type messages override Priority 2 type messages. Example of this would be "Fuel at Twen- INCOMING MISSILES"" As you can see, the lower priority message is overridden by a higher priority message that requires the pilots immediate attention and did not wait for the lesser important message to finish speaking.
What to consider:
- The "Warning:" prefix undoes any effort to deliver information quicker to the player
- Remove the Warning prefix, and reducing messages to "Targeted/Incoming Missiles"
- Change audio warning for Incoming Missiles to: "LRM's Incoming"
Notice: LRM's is the first word that is spoke. Not to many other warnings will start with LRM's (other than yours being destroyed.) but I'm sure there's potential for many more to start with Incoming.. Putting first the object that is incoming delivers the information to the player faster yet. In time, it's really down to how things are said, not what is being said - so keep every warning starting off differently. When we hear it enough times, we understand that first cue quicker than if two of three warnings start with the same sound. I've witnessed people identify a song by hearing just less than 1 second of the start of the song. You can do the same with the Betty warnings.
Heat Warning / Overheating
Heat and over-heating is an issue. While it's considered skillful to remain functional and not over-heat, there is room for improvement with how the information is presented.
The issues I'm facing are:
- "looking past" the <<HEAT WARNING>> visual indicator.
- I do not see my heat levels rise.
- Audio indicator blends too well with other warning messages and ambient weapon fire, engine hum, torso pitch and yaw sounds, . (see above about Priority 1 type messages)
- Audio indicator starts only when the heat level is reached, and does not go by the presumed or pre-calculated amount that the heat is going to rise towards after alpha striking or creating large amounts of sudden heat. This inhibits my ability to effectively override an upcoming shut down.
Cues that I do catch:
- the hissing sound of the mech
- Audio indicator is heard outside of the main stage of battle (while sniping, or LRM boating).
Visual aid that could help:
- Hud distortion (separating/popping/pixilation, minimap flickering between on and off, something that simulates a "melt down".)
- Cockpit lights flickering
Why the <<HEAT WARNING>> indicator gets ignored:
My main reason is that is looks identical to <<CRITICAL DAMAGE>> and <<INCOMING MISSILES>> indications.
I think the <<CRITICAL DAMAGE>> indicator is the biggest culprit here. When you've received critical damage, it never goes away. Brains turn off that section of the screen when the warning is heeded, since it's not a relevant source of info anymore. The notifications blend into each other and HEAT WARNING reduces down to the same importance as the least important notification up there, Critical Damage (much like the Warning prefix and the same tone of voice for all of the BB voices).
The only suggestion I have for fixing the Heat Warning is to reduce the size of the message, and move it down, just above the Mini-map. It makes sense to me down there that because it's a warning regarding heat, you'll want to bring the attention down to where detailed information about your heat is already being displayed. Logically, it's inefficient to look up to read the message, and then look down to see specific info about it. Keep it together in one place so you only look down and detailed info is just an eye twitch away.
HUD Flickering:
This would help majorly as one more thing to indicate high heat temperatures, but it would need to be separated from the ECM HUD distortion so they are not identical, and also keep in mind that you are thinking about(?) adding HUD distortion when hit by a PPC. I suppose ECM and being hit by a PPC can share the same effect, one is caused by a massive explosion and the other one just happens quietly. The should be a good enough difference that the effect does not matter. However, heat should be vastly different, as it can be confused as ECM effect. I do, however, instantly notice my HUD flickering as soon as I'm covered by enemy ECM, so I can see how this can be effective for high heat.
Edited by MoonUnitBeta, 28 February 2013 - 12:09 AM.
