[pythian] Re: Camera Controls
- From: "Andrey Plisko" <andrey.plisko@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <pythian@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 27 May 2003 16:01:54 +0300
> > While this can be kind of pain I think we can't avoid it. We
> > can see this "cursor mode" in many FP games.
>
> Yeah, but ours isn't a FP game. There is still questionable
> utility in even
> having a FP mode for our game. It's really only there because some people
> (usually frequent FPS gamers) prefer it to the 3rd person view typical in
> RPG games. Hm... it's also important to note that these are the
> people who
> keep trying to turn our game into an FPS as well :)
:-))
I really enjoed both modes. I played Elder Scrolls series a lot in FP mode.
And I really like NWN with it's 3-person view.
So I am not the guy who want game to be shifted to FPS. :)
There are a lot of such games - no need to have another one.
> > The only issues to be careful with are:
> > 1. Is combat possible in "cursor mode"? This is very important - so I
> > issolate it from other issues.
>
> I assume you would put the crosshair on the target and click the
> mouse. The
> player character would then attack automatically.
Ok. The only thing to notice - character should attack only enemies
(currently hostile targets).
While we can reserve some other action like "talk" for friendly ones. And
maybe implement Ctrl+click for force-attack.
> > 2. What other actions possible in this mode?
>
> Similar to attacking, when you click the mouse on something the default
> action occurs. My control theory here is that when you have the
> mouse over
> something the cursor changes to say "You'll be doing action X" if
> you click
> the left mouse button. If you right-click, a menu appears, something like
> in Maya, Never Winter Nights, or RavenShield with a circular menu
> from which
> you can select any available actions for that object.
Again this system is quite common for many games. And I like it.
Also we can implement some keyboard shortcut to switch default actions
quickly if player is in a hurry to do something.
> > 3. Situations of automatically switching to/from "cursor
> > mode". While some
> > games have this feature I really don't like it very much
> > (completely agree with Darryl about switching something
> > automatically is not
> > so good for player). Maybe only is some very special case.
>
> The problem for us is exemplified by the Equipment/Inventory
> menu. To equip
> something, you need to select it in the Inventory and drag it to the
> Equipment menu. I can not imagine a good way to do this without a cursor.
> We will have many other menus, such as the magic/spellbook menu, that will
> require a mouse.
>
> In a strict first-person game, it's not a problem because you can
> pause the
> action when the player is manipulating his inventory. In a multiplayer
> game, you can't pause, so if the player is being attacked, he has to be
> quick on the Esc menu to get back in control of his character. If he's
> running away from an enemy while trying to switch from crossbow to long
> sword, he's going to have some problems (the Quick Equip buttons from NWN
> might help here).
Yes. We should reserve some keyboard shortcuts also for such situations.
> > I am not so familiar with control code, but I assume it can
> > be a pain to introduce such changes in the code.
> > However what other options we have?
>
> True enough. If we want to make FP a part of our game, and I think we do,
> then we're going to have to make some changes to allow it. It's possible,
> but it's a refactoring of a bit of code.
>
> The reason I'm thinking seriously about this is that because our game is
> truly 3D, which tall building and whatnot, sometimes it's very handy to be
> able to look up and down to see what is around you. With our currently
> controller config, FP is almost useless.
>
> Darryl
>
>
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