Debriefing > Impressions & Feedback

Interactivity

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The Cy:
hi kids,

I really think we need much more interactivity in the maps. most of them are perfectly designed, with all the high definition textures, the thousand decals, the architectural finesse I admire. but most of the time, you simply run forward and don´t have to care for the environment. I say: let the environment be a dynamic part of the game. one explosive barrel ist nice, but we need two barrels. we need locks and boarders for doors. the player wants to destroy things. the player likes to mess around with things. we need pitfalls (think of cradle)! have you ever played goldeneye rogue agents? this game´s shit like hell, but it has nice multiplayer options that I stole for the funhouse: buttons, traps, shooting ranges, collapsing floors.  falling objects from the ceiling. in my opinion those things are very important to entertain the player. they create a certain feeling for the map.

Mangley:
In my opinion it's a difficult balance to strike.

Interactivity is good as long as it doesn't interfere with the consistency of the experience. One difficult choice in design is how far you are going to allow interactivity to intrude in the game space and how does it wear over time?

If we look back to the old version of Silo from beta 4 with the Rocket that actually launched when you pressed Use on one of the computers. In theory it sounds awesome and the first time you witnessed it it was cool... But then it started happening every round and the novelty wore off very quickly. It gradually became an annoyance and a distraction from what was going on. People unfamiliar with it didn't understand what was happening when the deafening alarm went off, and the people who did had seen it a million times before.

What's great about Funhouse is the interactive features of the map are very clearly intentional as part of the atmosphere and design of the map. They're also not intrusive enough to break the experience in a way that is repetitive or overly distracting.

I think the key is subtle functionality. You can have interactive features that are purely visual or that don't really affect the environment in any kind of dramatic way, and when done correctly they won't feel gimmicky or annoying. As for dramatic experience-changing features, they need to be executed in a way that does not make them easily repeatable or jarring in a way that is annoying or interferes with the player's expectations.

The Cy:

--- Quote from: Mangley on September 15, 2011, 03:05:40 pm ---In my opinion it's a difficult balance to strike.
If we look back to the old version of Silo from beta 4 with the Rocket that actually launched when you pressed Use on one of the computers. In theory it sounds awesome and the first time you witnessed it it was cool... But then it started happening every round and the novelty wore off very quickly. It gradually became an annoyance and a distraction from what was going on. People unfamiliar with it didn't understand what was happening when the deafening alarm went off, and the people who did had seen it a million times before.

--- End quote ---


I think the launch of the rocket is just a funny gimmick to watch. like the cartridge in control when you find out the right combination. these things are easter eggs which don`t influence the player. the traps in funhouse are deliberately exaggerated. there shouldn´t be a guillotine in facility. what I miss are more dynamic things like the moving platform in complex. I like to activate/destroy things which causes the player`s death. there´s a map (golden gate bridge) in goldeneye rogue agent where you can simply activate pitfalls by pushing a button. I would like to see something like this in cradle. someone´s pushing a button, a slot opens and a player somehere else gets the shit end of the stick. 
and there´s always the possibility to control the interval of a trap in order to prevent abuse

VC:
Yes and no.

For missions, yes.  We should make the environment highly dynamic.  I'm reminded of one of the later games (Nightfire?) that featured "Bond moves" when the player noticed a highly theatrical way to accomplish a goal.  I'm not necessarily into devising specific ways to do things, but yeah...the player should be able to think of ways to deal with problems and see them work.  Use laser-watch on a seemingly meaningless floor grate to weaken it, guard walks over it, it breaks and he falls to his demise.  Shoot a cable on the ceiling to make it drop down, attach to a door knob, if a guard opens the door he gets fried.  If we're going to make Single Player matter, it needs to capture more than the gun-play of the films.  My spitballs here are probably implausible, but you get what I'm talking about.

For multiplayer, maps need to be static.  Except for the grand dream of a map that automatically opens up when players pack in and locks away paths when players leave, there is really no opportunity for any grand interaction that isn't going to either be annoying or one-shot.  Exploding barrels are accepted as cliche, because they are point traps that just make an area more-dangerous unless you pop them before you go in, or pop them when someone tries to sneak by them.  Once "used" the trap resets.  But, you can't do that with big things like collapsing a staircase (which also chokes flow, which is bad for multiplayer) or destroying walls.  (We already had problems with glass respawning on people and trapping them in place.)

Indeed, the barrel is your guide for making a proper map trap.  It's easily defused (with a drawback, you can't use it and everyone heard you do it) and anyone who is close enough to be killed by it knows he's risking himself by going near it (usually for a power item), it doesn't break any other feature of the map, and it doesn't break immersion when it resets.  You can camp it hoping to get a cheap kill on someone, but it isn't a winning strategy.  Yet, every once in a while in a gunfight, barrels make the difference.  Caves' generators are barrel traps in the exact same vein, and work well.

Jeron [SharpSh00tah]:

--- Quote from: VC on September 15, 2011, 07:09:35 pm ---Except for the grand dream of a map that automatically opens up when players pack in and locks away paths when players leave,

--- End quote ---

That may be possible through a trigger multiple, !activator and a counter

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