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This is a call to make our big stompy mechs seem bigger and stompier. One of the unique and attractive things about mecha games is that feeling of towering over things. Sometimes when I play MWO, it is easy for me to forget how big my mech is, especially when playing a light.MW3 and MW4 gave me much more of this sensation, despite their inferior graphics. I think one reason was the ability to interact with tanks and helicopters. Shooting them down made me feel like Godzilla invading Tokyo. Another factor was the intro movies, which showed humanity scurrying before the mechs, people getting squashed, the maintenance crew tending to the mechs, the elevator carrying the pilot up to the cockpit.
By contrast, there are relatively few of these kinds of cues in MWO. Admittedly, some maps are better than others. For instance, River City has some scattered vehicles, street lights and signage. Alpine Peaks likewise. Canyon Network, on the other hand, often makes me feel like I am man-sized. The river sometimes feels more like a creek. The foliage does not look like large plants which I am looking down on, but typical canyon scrub as it would appear to a man taking a stroll.
I propose adding some elements which play up the tremendous size of these mechs. Add some little people and vehicles in the Mech Lab, or a ruler, or at least a human silhouette, to give a better sense of size as you are going into the game. Consider adding some animations which play up the scale, perhaps some intro which shows what these mechs would look like to a person on the ground. Consider adding more scattered vehicles, and making them destructible. Consider adjusting the foliage on all terrains to make them look more like large plants that seem small because of our great height. Consider adding more signage (billboards, etc) and other objects of recognizable scale (some commercial airliners to contrast with that huge jumpship, for instance). Consider changing the perspective when our mech is destroyed so that we see what it would look like to a person standing on the ground looking up at the battle.
These are just some preliminary thoughts. Anyone else have any ideas of ways to add a better sense of scale to the game?
