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OriginalTibs, on 15 November 2012 - 12:19 PM, said:
Perhaps it could be a wireframe depiction available via the HUD, like the 4X view module. The result otherwise will be very few people using first person view because it would be a handicap.
Slightly modified, I don't see any reason for anyone to argue with this.
What if third-person was a viewmode (like heat vision) that replaced your view with ONLY wireframes of your mech, the terrain, and the mechs you or your allies were currently targeting? It's not exactly classic third-person, but it's similar and I think it would benefit everyone.
Since it would be wireframe, (i.e. no textures, simple colored lines on a black screen), it would be easy to rationalize that your targeting computer is drawing only what is currently targeted. It doesn't add that "fantasy" idea of a floating viewpoint in the real world. There would be no (or minimal) HUD, so it wouldn't be a very playable viewpoint, and because you could only see what you already targeted, it wouldn't give you any view advantage.
It helps first-person players, as you could use it to see what physical condition the target was in and how it was moving, even if it wasn't clear with ingame rendering. It's a lot like thermal vision or the theoretically useful night vision. If I recall correctly MW2 actually had a wireframe vision mode, but I could be wrong on that point.
It helps new players as well, because they could walk around and get used to how their mech moves, as well as probably attempt to fight in third person if they wanted to. (Most brand-new players won't be using the weapon grid anyway). Buildings/terrain would be drawn in wireframe, so those that get stuck on things or get confused as to which way they are moving would benefit.
So first-person users would actually have more awareness than third person players (due to HUD indicators you wouldn't see in third person). And, of course, texture-free graphics would run better (although making the switch in-game could be hard on systems, depending on how CryEngine works).
As for implementation:
It would be fairly simple to not draw any weapons fire that wasn't viewable from first person, as weapons fire (excepting missiles) are particles, which don't have a wireframe. So drawing a single line for a laser and maybe a dot for ballistics would be in addition to the "actual" first person particles, making it simpler to exclude anything you couldn't see from first person.
It should be (relatively) easy to implement, at least easier than a third person view that hides everything you can't see from first person. Many game engines already have a way to draw only the wireframes, and they nearly all have LOD models that the wireframes could be drawn from (so that the hugely complex wireframes of the modern game are replaced with much simpler, easier to identify ones). I don't know the particulars of CryEngine of course, and there would still be a fair amount of work to get it working, but it wouldn't be impossible.
TLDR: Make third-person a vision mode like thermal that replaces your view with only wireframes of your mech, what you're targeting, and the terrain (and maybe a minimal HUD).
Anyone else think that OriginalTibs stumbled onto what could be a really good idea? Or am I just overreacting and expecting too much...
