I highly recommend that whenever Demo Talk is active with staff and streaming that you start up your build and join in. If I'm there, I'll take notes. (staff, you can DM me.)
There was productive conversation while @ChAzZ_NuT was streaming the other day. In it, the rough model of the heavy prompted discussion about vehicle entry.
Many of us have seen Anthem videos with their frame entry animation. In it, their frame up and the player is given a first-person view of entering into it.
To understand why entry is important, I'm going to describe one aspect of the psychology of writing (authoring).
Different kinds of tools force a writer to think differently. There are different writers and things influence them differently, but I want you to imagine the mindset difference between a writer who is on a computer and free to tab out and research, and who has spell checking, versus a writer with pen-and-paper (myself) where everything written is immutable. There are certain constraints presented in the latter where the mind must be in a different state if there is to be anything "good" that comes of it.
In both cases there are moments of "preparation". It is a decision point between living life like a civilian and arming ones self to become a writer. Perhaps it is a scheduled time for writing, or perhaps there are moments of insight which must be immediately acted upon.
There are some wonderful subtleties in this topic, but I'll stay constrained. Imagine a person who both writes pen-and-paper and must act upon inspiration. First, a pen is not just a pen. Some writers have a story behind a favorite pen, keep it a certain way, or some other nuance. That story "imbues" the wielder. Perhaps you have an art, and you can relate. The two primary kinds of pen are the "clicky" and the "cap". The clicky pen is immediate and it has a certain sound. It is so immediate that some people click it multiple times. The cap pen needs two hands, dexterity, and patience. Some writers who use a pen argue that the mindset the cap pen brings has more "weight" to it in some sense; that it makes the mindset of the writer more committed.
Entering a frame is like uncapping a pen. Let's imagine the heavy frame, because that size demands consideration.
Perhaps deployment is a garage in a town, or trucked in, or dropped from space; that doesn't matter. I don't want to talk about deployment, just entry.
The pilot is small against backdrop of a heavy. It is so large and of such substance that it's shadow is noticeably cool.
The pilot brings up an OP-AI, beginning the entry sequence. Its left foot steps back and it lowers to touch that knee to the ground. With one bent right leg it opens it's hands and stacks them like stairs. The pilot leaps from left hand to right hand, from knee to cockpit.
This description reveals two things. One is that it's involved just like uncapping a pen, and two is that it gives rise to countless variations. Interestingly, those could be gated behind achievements. I would politely demand that this not be yet another avenue for monetization. This sort of animation sequence would be expensive, I know, but if made conspicuously free, requiring involved gameplay, then it builds on the "uncapping" feeling. It becomes a connection between the player through the pilot into the frame then the game.
As soon as we got to this point, we had an absolute blast coming up with ideas for an "enter frame" emote. Importantly, this animation needs to either have a fast-entry mode or be entirely skippable. e.g. press X to enter fancy, hold X to enter quickly. Aborting a fancy entry might be tricky.
Ideas:
Exits can have all sorts of other animations. We didn't spitball this, do you have ideas?
----
There were other ideas, but I'm going to stagger threads weekly so as to not overwhelm.
There was productive conversation while @ChAzZ_NuT was streaming the other day. In it, the rough model of the heavy prompted discussion about vehicle entry.
Many of us have seen Anthem videos with their frame entry animation. In it, their frame up and the player is given a first-person view of entering into it.
(Personally I find first-person entry a special kind of claustrophobic horror)
To understand why entry is important, I'm going to describe one aspect of the psychology of writing (authoring).
Different kinds of tools force a writer to think differently. There are different writers and things influence them differently, but I want you to imagine the mindset difference between a writer who is on a computer and free to tab out and research, and who has spell checking, versus a writer with pen-and-paper (myself) where everything written is immutable. There are certain constraints presented in the latter where the mind must be in a different state if there is to be anything "good" that comes of it.
In both cases there are moments of "preparation". It is a decision point between living life like a civilian and arming ones self to become a writer. Perhaps it is a scheduled time for writing, or perhaps there are moments of insight which must be immediately acted upon.
There are some wonderful subtleties in this topic, but I'll stay constrained. Imagine a person who both writes pen-and-paper and must act upon inspiration. First, a pen is not just a pen. Some writers have a story behind a favorite pen, keep it a certain way, or some other nuance. That story "imbues" the wielder. Perhaps you have an art, and you can relate. The two primary kinds of pen are the "clicky" and the "cap". The clicky pen is immediate and it has a certain sound. It is so immediate that some people click it multiple times. The cap pen needs two hands, dexterity, and patience. Some writers who use a pen argue that the mindset the cap pen brings has more "weight" to it in some sense; that it makes the mindset of the writer more committed.
Entering a frame is like uncapping a pen. Let's imagine the heavy frame, because that size demands consideration.
Perhaps deployment is a garage in a town, or trucked in, or dropped from space; that doesn't matter. I don't want to talk about deployment, just entry.
The pilot is small against backdrop of a heavy. It is so large and of such substance that it's shadow is noticeably cool.
The pilot brings up an OP-AI, beginning the entry sequence. Its left foot steps back and it lowers to touch that knee to the ground. With one bent right leg it opens it's hands and stacks them like stairs. The pilot leaps from left hand to right hand, from knee to cockpit.
This description reveals two things. One is that it's involved just like uncapping a pen, and two is that it gives rise to countless variations. Interestingly, those could be gated behind achievements. I would politely demand that this not be yet another avenue for monetization. This sort of animation sequence would be expensive, I know, but if made conspicuously free, requiring involved gameplay, then it builds on the "uncapping" feeling. It becomes a connection between the player through the pilot into the frame then the game.
As soon as we got to this point, we had an absolute blast coming up with ideas for an "enter frame" emote. Importantly, this animation needs to either have a fast-entry mode or be entirely skippable. e.g. press X to enter fancy, hold X to enter quickly. Aborting a fancy entry might be tricky.
Ideas:
- Your frame leans down, and the cockpit slides out for you to turn and sit in.
- It squats and splays its hands like a ladder.
- Your frame bends down to grab you and tosses you up, opening the cabin at the last moment.
- It belly flops onto you, does a pushup, and stands.
Exits can have all sorts of other animations. We didn't spitball this, do you have ideas?
----
There were other ideas, but I'm going to stagger threads weekly so as to not overwhelm.
