5 replies to this topic

[pyrocomp]

Intro cinematics is a good thing in any game and it is also a kind of presentation of what's waiting further.
MWA has an intro (a good one showing some action from above). But ...
There is no point in a whole game except when you are switching mechs in Academy when you are really shown the scale of Mechs. Like to see that that pesky little Locust is actually a huge battle machine. Yes, Mech are called huge in the intro... but there is no scale to compare to and no comparision to make in the game (and with maps like Forest Colony of Viridian Bog... well, no way to fell Mech size).
Might be a good thing to present Mechs in the cinematics from the human eyes level. Like after the Cpt.Adams says all he has to say land that dropship on the air field and drive player to the mech in a car with a Locust overunning above (with corresponding agressive comms exchange on what's going on and why Locust is running where a personel ransport is or why that transport is where the training goes) or pause before the King Crab marching in front from (tunnel exit is may be a good spot). Then fade to the cocpit or just frive to the T-bolt and make a switch animation.
Anyway, show a new player (new to the franchise, yes, those players do exist, I checked) the scale of a mech. With triple gravity the illusion of a big machine is not there, unfortunately. But the sight of a mech from below does impress people (I checked that on a friend of mine, who was new to BT universe, that she never realise how big those things are).

If the devs are strongly attached to the MW5 (and I'm waiting it) I can make a guess that it also will have tutorial and there will be players new to the francise. Some things may be tested in the MWA that will make it to the MW5.

[Dave Forsey]

No disagreement. I would love that - and even tried it.

The textures of all the objects in the world and the Mechs don't hold up when the camera is only 6ft off the ground.
The resolution just isn't there which would give new players a terrible impression about the quality of the game.
There wasn't the bandwidth to retexture for a few moments of camera time, and no bodies or time to even attempt pre-rendered video (which would need up-res'd assets as well)

I did try to get a little bit of scale in there with the technicians running around when you land, but it happens a little fast to register the scale.

But yes - a full on, in-your-face, setting of scale would be better. (One of the reasons the MW5 demo starts off in a Mech hangar)

[pyrocomp]

Dave Forsey, on 30 March 2017 - 01:32 PM, said:

No disagreement. I would love that - and even tried it.

The textures of all the objects in the world and the Mechs don't hold up when the camera is only 6ft off the ground.
The resolution just isn't there which would give new players a terrible impression about the quality of the game.
There wasn't the bandwidth to retexture for a few moments of camera time, and no bodies or time to even attempt pre-rendered video (which would need up-res'd assets as well)

I did try to get a little bit of scale in there with the technicians running around when you land, but it happens a little fast to register the scale.

But yes - a full on, in-your-face, setting of scale would be better. (One of the reasons the MW5 demo starts off in a Mech hangar)

Thank you for the answer.
It is a sad thing that some small technical issues barred a good thing from existances. I hope that at some point in the future we will see textures upgrade in all the MWO (current systems have some extra power to use).

Plus, many maps would benefit from mapmakers observing their work from eye level (really ask the modelling team for a tiny 6ft DevMech). The exact River City (and Crimson Strait) lack any resemblance of a city by not having anything about living (mailboxes, advertisments, wirig, banners, road sings...). Pripyat' has them, and those maps look more like atomic bomb test site just before the detonation. And small details, while not affecting gameplay or map itself, strongly affect the overal impression even if you do not look at them al the time.

Anyway, I hope that at some point the neccessity to have a good intro will mean that the texturing and detalisation should be worked on, not that the good intro must be scrapped. The players spend much time staring not into the distance (with flickering buildings due to sloppy LoD) but into the nearest wall or slope, waitng for the enemy. Just current play of hide and seek, and taking cover. We see more of cover and close-up walls rather than lanscapes and horizons.
=)

Again, thank you for the answer.

[The Basilisk]

pyrocomp, on 31 March 2017 - 05:51 AM, said:

Thank you for the answer.
It is a sad thing that some small technical issues barred a good thing from existances. I hope that at some point in the future we will see textures upgrade in all the MWO (current systems have some extra power to use).

Plus, many maps would benefit from mapmakers observing their work from eye level (really ask the modelling team for a tiny 6ft DevMech). The exact River City (and Crimson Strait) lack any resemblance of a city by not having anything about living (mailboxes, advertisments, wirig, banners, road sings...). Pripyat' has them, and those maps look more like atomic bomb test site just before the detonation. And small details, while not affecting gameplay or map itself, strongly affect the overal impression even if you do not look at them al the time.

Anyway, I hope that at some point the neccessity to have a good intro will mean that the texturing and detalisation should be worked on, not that the good intro must be scrapped. The players spend much time staring not into the distance (with flickering buildings due to sloppy LoD) but into the nearest wall or slope, waitng for the enemy. Just current play of hide and seek, and taking cover. We see more of cover and close-up walls rather than lanscapes and horizons.
=)

Again, thank you for the answer.

What Mr. Forsey discribes is far from "a little technical issue".

High res retexturing and overhauling the models just for an intro shoot....not only of the mechs but of the surroundings as well... would be a major task with little yield.

It is the same size (from a workload point of view) as the implementation of quad mechs, mech toppling and reverse cameras.

Lots of points ppl are nagging they want to have them since for ever.

Thing is the amount of work....the man hours needed.... to resolve those issues are in no relation to the gain you would yield.

[pyrocomp]

The Basilisk, on 31 March 2017 - 06:26 AM, said:

What Mr. Forsey discribes is far from "a little technical issue".

High res retexturing and overhauling the models just for an intro shoot....not only of the mechs but of the surroundings as well... would be a major task with little yield.

It is the same size (from a workload point of view) as the implementation of quad mechs, mech toppling and reverse cameras.

Lots of points ppl are nagging they want to have them since for ever.

Thing is the amount of work....the man hours needed.... to resolve those issues are in no relation to the gain you would yield.

The quadruples and toppling require lots of coding and implementation of things like Mech tilt on uneven terrain (and we don't have even IK for existing mechs). Those things are code-related.
The addition of the high-poly models is way easier since those models (for Mechs) do exist (as a part of the Mech creation process). Thus the question is to add high-poly models to the game. That requires some work (mapping and all that goes with artistics, see the dev's discussion on how they do Mechs). As to the textures... Well, I'd be surprised if those do not exist. But all if that is additional Mbs to download for about 50 000 clients.
So, the question is for the artistic department, not for the coders. Those are now also busy with new mechs and MW5 probably. But anyway, I think that Mechs and environments can have higher detail level for the present day game. I'm all for Mech update, nit for more mechs. At present I want eye candy before new 'content'. Just so I can get more friends into the game who has no idea why they should feel shock and awe just seeing random (for them) abbreviation Mk.II.

[xe N on]

The Basilisk, on 31 March 2017 - 06:26 AM, said:

What Mr. Forsey discribes is far from "a little technical issue".

High res retexturing and overhauling the models just for an intro shoot....not only of the mechs but of the surroundings as well... would be a major task with little yield.

Dave Forsey have a point here. However, this point is only valid for displaying mechs and surroundings at very close distance.

While the MW5 cinematic video was quite impressive and shows the scale of BattleMechs very well by setting the pilot in direct and close distance to a BattleMech, there are other options to give players a sense of scale.

For example, there could be a pilot model just next to the Mech in the hanger. A feature that have been asked for since years. It's not that hard to implement, considering there are already humans displayed in the academy tutorial.

Another feature could be displaying humans on the ground while piloting a mech or in a cinematic sequence as spectator some meters away from the mech and humans. Szenes likes this would not influence the texture quality of the game.

Here is a old movie showing how dimensions acutally are.

https://youtu.be/g-CKgeQG8MA?t=24

I miss this kind of feeling for scale in most of the game completly.

Edited by xe N on, 01 April 2017 - 11:24 PM.