Suggestions that don't deserve their own threads or tickets

[favorito]

While many of us have been devoted fans and contributors to this project over the years, several of the "elder members" (myself included) no longer have time to incessently patrol IRC, or play the game as much as we used to. Life has a way of getting in the way like that. : )

While that may limit our credibility somewhat in terms of lending advice towards balancing and some of the more nuanced facets of the game, our experience allots us enough to still be of use in granting suggestions and contributing ideas in other, more universal areas.

I know many individuals who take notes while playing games, and that is certainly the case for me, and has been recently with RE. I've seen other forums establish threads of this sort, for items not large enough in scope for their own, and this sort of thread seemed appropriate given the topic.

Anywho, here are some raw notes I took during my last session over the weekend. Perhaps others can share theirs as well, or respond back to other posts to critique or mature these ideas, at which point they can be submitted into tickets, or taken directly should Quin see anything he likes. I would advise to keep them realistic and not too grandiose, as this thread will quickly become a graveyard for them and the rest if things get too ridiculous.

Interface/HUD:
-An option to replace the HUD color in FFA matches to your primary color, or a custom color of your choice, instead of plain gray.
-Any "showgui" key (in reference to "showgui loadout" specifically here, but could be applied to others) should behave as more of a "togglegui" rather than a "showgui". It would be nice to close the menu with the same key that opens it.
-While the mutator/mode combinations grant RE a great deal of customizability, reading the two letter abbreviations when you have half a dozen chained together can be daunting. It may be worth displaying the full name of the game you're in somewhere. It doesn't have to be obtrusive, but communicating this somewhere would be greatly helpful.
-Display a name of the song playing at the beginning of a match, fade away after a few seconds

Maps:
-While Insidious plays well, it surpasses any other map in the game in terms of darkness. Does anyone agree here?

Weapons:
-I absolutely love the additions to the Flamer (the new alt fire, serving as "extinguisher" and "rocket jump" enabler). In a similar line of thought, what if we had other weapons fulfill roles to the other "ill effects" aside from burning?
--A sword slash to a teammate could cure shock
--A plasma shot to a teammate could cure bleeding
--On a similar note, perhaps shock could do more damage in liquids, or even affect other players in the liquid with you?
-When a Plasma is even partially charged and the player dies, release whatever they had as if they let off on the trigger when they died

Aesthetics:
-Should the gib/player fade be tweaked a tad, so it appears the player "becomes" these gibs, rather than having them simply fly out of their bodies? It may look nicer if it was more seamless, although having these metallic chunks of meatloaf flying out of our faces does look hilarious, maybe it should be left in. : )

Procedure:
-I've been watching a sibling play "Wonderful 101" as of late, and the loading screens in the game crack me up: you're allowed to run around in an empty area and simply toy around with the game's mechanics and practice your skills. It might be fun to take the "lock" off of the post-game intermission and let the player have their way. Let them fly around, give them rockets, practice a bit until the next match loads, might be funny. Quake 3 did something similar pre-match if I remember correctly.
-When a person leaves the match, perhaps leave their entry/name in the score card until the match ends? Their name could simply be grayed out. I often have players who leave right after a match ends with whom I was close to in score, and I often want to see how I faired in relation to them, but can't since they left preemptively.

Gameplay:
-Love the new flag pedestal model, but you can currently hide mines seamlessly inside them. A problem?
-In a Duke Nukem 3D-esque fashion, being able to stomp on players a certain percentage smaller than yourself and turn them into pancakes would add a new dimension to the resize/vampire mutators.

Misc:
-Provided we had the funding each year to maintain service, would anyone else be interested in an official RE mumble server, enabling clans and such to create private channels, and things of that sort? I'd happily donate to this cause myself.
-Typing "gdmt" should trigger the "god damn it" voice acting, because it's 1337

That's all I've got for now! Please post your own or offer your thoughts on these.

See you in-game!
-favo

[Calinou]

An option to replace the HUD color in FFA matches to your primary color, or a custom color of your choice, instead of plain gray.

There is a variable for that:

{l Code}: {l Select All Code}

/inventorytone

Values 1, 3 or 4 do what you want.

[qreeves]

"inventorytone" is either -1, -2, -3, etc, or a colour (0xRRGGBB).

[freezurbern]

-When a Plasma is even partially charged and the player dies, release whatever they had as if they let off on the trigger when they died

+1

-When a person leaves the match, perhaps leave their entry/name in the score card until the match ends? Their name could simply be grayed out. I often have players who leave right after a match ends with whom I was close to in score, and I often want to see how I faired in relation to them, but can't since they left preemptively.

+1

I like both of those a lot in particular.

[quintux_v]

While the mutator/mode combinations grant RE a great deal of customizability, reading the two letter abbreviations when you have half a dozen chained together can be daunting. It may be worth displaying the full name of the game you're in somewhere. It doesn't have to be obtrusive, but communicating this somewhere would be greatly helpful.

When a Plasma is even partially charged and the player dies, release whatever they had as if they let off on the trigger when they died

you're allowed to run around in an empty area and simply toy around with the game's mechanics and practice your skills

+1 to each of these. I typically won't join a server if there's a combination of muts that I don't like. If I don't understand the abbreviations, then I don't know whether there's a mode I want to play or not.

As for the plasma, maybe something similar should happen with the rocket and the mines, just like the grenades. Speaking of the mines, do they explode when you suicide?

For the mini-practice, maybe this could just run after a match has finished, while people are voting on the next map.

[favorito]

Thanks, Quin and Calinou, for the clarifications on the FFA HUD colors! I need to brush up on my vars, hehe.

For the mini-practice, maybe this could just run after a match has finished, while people are voting on the next map.

Yeah, that's just what I had in mind! Quick respawns, FFA, and just general mayhem after you vote/while others do so.

@ Quin: browsing around at older topics, you're probably rolling your eyes at this one now. We've seen quite a few "general/small suggestion" threads. Your thoughts on stickying this one and directing people here if they have a post that fits this criterion?

-favo

[qreeves]

I just let the topics run their natural course, it isn't hurting anyone.

[Ulukai]

I do like some ideas and suggestions, but some remarks to those that seem to be popular by others too:
- Mini games during voting sounds like fun and could put RE more on the map between other games but wouldn't it keep players from voting too much?
- Names of players that have been on and hopped off during the game would clutter the scoreboard too much imo.
- Some more options in the menus for variables (like the HUD) would be nice.

[favorito]

I just let the topics run their natural course, it isn't hurting anyone.

I agree with that assessment actually. I was just thinking more in terms of your sanity and keeping these things in one place, but if you don't mind...

but wouldn't it keep players from voting too much?

I see it as only supplementary. As long as it's apparent (via HUD messages, etc.) that it's an intermission and that the player should be voting, I don't see it as inhibiting at all.

[qreeves]

The HUD messages are suppressed during intermission so they don't flood the chat console (SVN). I believe people should be focused on voting at intermission anyway, not doing pointless things; if you encourage them to do that, then all you will get is people doing it.

[Jamestonjes]

My only suggestions are for the ability to link spawns to an affinity so that in defend and control so you can spawn at the points that you own (or neutral,unlinked ones if the team has no points) only

I'm probably only suggesting that because i'm planning a massive map where your team captures buildings and use them as a base, so this is kinda selfish of me

[radiant]

Could the variables be simplified by doing away with "assistkilldelay" entirely? Instead of specifying a time limit for getting an assist, simply tie it to regen: keep track of who damaged the victim, and all opponents on that list except the killer each get credit for an assist. When a player has gone undamaged for a long enough period to start regenerating health, clear their list so the next damage source will start it anew. In survivor, this will mean that everyone who ever damaged them in a round earns assists (since there's no regen at all), not that they're worth any points with that mutator, but it feels like a better foundation for what the concept of an assist is supposed to mean.

Speaking of which, why was foundation cut from the default map list? There really should be at least one official map that turns "onslaught" into "insane mode", and that was already it.

[Jamestonjes]

why was foundation cut from the default map list?

Well im guessing its because nobody EVER votes for it online(IDK why)
, well except occasionaly

edit: i just voted for the map in edit mode, i walked up to a pusher it pushed me up twice, I crashed, lol