Suggestion: Underground Layer

[punkbuzter#6186]

Been playing various games lately with various bugs and various solutions to each bug...
As of late, I've noticed how games handle falling through ground/terrain.

Was thinking if it's possible to add/create a layer underground that once reached, safely teleports a player back to specific or custom point of spawn, such as a base or a safe town on map. This to prevent angry players making posts in forum or contacting customer support with tickets about dying, getting stuck underground or infinite falling.

 

[redsimon#0945]

I think a suicide button as many games have it is much easier to implement.

 

[Pandagnome]

Was thinking if it's possible to add/create a layer underground that once reached, safely teleports a player back to specific or custom point of spawn

There was this game called pixel sumo and at times folks would go under the arena and if anyone fell through it would instantly bounce you to the top because it had an invisible trampoline!

Sometimes it didn't work and all you could hear repetitive thud sound from below and you instantly knew bouncing was going on in the underground which activated a dance tune.

Anyway they eventually placed a teleporter nearby but you had to bounce at the right way to go through it.


If we go underground i'd imagine it would be pitch black and you can then use your light to find a hole there is 2 holes one hole is a rabbit hole full of rabbits and another hole to your escape to the top!

Picking the hole with full of rabbits you will hear screams and you respawn spazzing on the floor of your base. Then one of the npc's would say you just had a bad dream but a rabbit would appear for a few second and vanishes near your door way, maybe you bumped your head too hard and it was all in your mind hmm.

 

[liandri]

Was thinking if it's possible to add/create a layer underground that once reached, safely teleports a player back to specific or custom point of spawn, such as a base or a safe town on map.

Pretty sure this is how it's usually handled, but mostly involves player death. The demo builds lack this even though the barrier is there. You're not supposed to be able to escape

A /kill or /stuck command would be a good addition, for any MMO really. It'd be neat if the animations for it was lore-friendly, like an emergency teleport, rather than death.

 

[punkbuzter#6186]

Pretty sure this is how it's usually handled, but mostly involves player death. The demo builds lack this even though the barrier is there. You're not supposed to be able to escape

A /kill or /stuck command would be a good addition, for any MMO really. It'd be neat if the animations for it was lore-friendly, like an emergency teleport, rather than death.

I've been comparing Hellgate London and Planetside 2 recently, where I think Hellgate handles players getting stuck much better than Planetside.
If you get stuck in Planetside 2, you basically just keep falling and falling, until you hit rock bottom where you die but depending on hight, it can be multiple times faster to just relog.
Hellgate on the other hand instantly teleports you back to the start of the map if you fall through the terrain, which imho is a lot less frustrating as it doesn't involve waiting for respawn timers, or going through the effort of relogging and potentially getting stuck in queue times.

 

[punkbuzter#6186]

I think a suicide button as many games have it is much easier to implement.

I do not want a suicide button since I know how this has been a major problem in other games, using it for free traveling, avoiding pvp, etc. Also, having the player die at the bottom can also have negative effects depending on how the game handles player death... Having a flat detection layer is not hard work, besides, we're paying for them to work.

Also, I don't rly feel like adding or discussing alternatives in this one... I've observed and noted how various games handles falling through terrain and thus far, making it simple for the player like Hellgate does is the best way.
No need to remember commands, no deaths involved, don't have to get stuck, no infinite falling, or having to go through the process or relogging potentially getting stuck in queue times...
I think I can make a short video of how this looks and post it here, I know a place where I can replicate this happening

 

[punkbuzter#6186]

Here you have a video of me intentionally getting stuck in Hellgate London...
There is a problem happening between the wall and the barrel on fire, where the game would otherwise get me stuck, it simply moves be backwards on the map, to a point of spawn. No deaths involved, I don't have to ask for help on how to solve the problem... I just continue my journey and try to avoid this place in the future, notifying the devs of the problem so they can fix it in the future (prolly not).
This doesn't present any advantages, in fact, it's more of a disadvantage since it takes me backwards, not forwards in progression.

But, I rather have this than getting stuck, infinite falling, death on bottom, or having to relog. Does anyone see the simplicity in this one?

 

[liandri]

That's a pretty elegant solution, very seamless if a little jarring. I could imagine gliding into the ground in Em-8ER and accidentally clipping through a rock and being sent back to the nearest base. I'd hate that personally. It could be abused as a fast travel option depending on how easy it would be to do it. How would you suggest laying out the spawn areas for players?

If the 'underground layer' offset 1m below the lowest plane, would you be:
- sent back to the closest base?
- a 'safe' area nearby that has been manually placed by a dev during development?
- 2m above the layer so you drop back onto the solid terrain?
- or would it just place you on the last solid terrain you were standing on?

A manual /stuck command is a necessary option in case the game fails to detect when you're out of bounds.

 

[Pandagnome]

- or would it just place you on the last solid terrain you were standing on?

A manual /stuck command is a necessary option in case the game fails to detect when you're out of bounds.

Just like the example of @punkbuzter#6186 in the hellgate video that would help to locate the problem error better.

I also agree that a manual stuck command that is bind to a key of choice when the player requires.

 

[punkbuzter#6186]

That's a pretty elegant solution, very seamless if a little jarring. I could imagine gliding into the ground in Em-8ER and accidentally clipping through a rock and being sent back to the nearest base. I'd hate that personally. It could be abused as a fast travel option depending on how easy it would be to do it. How would you suggest laying out the spawn areas for players?

If the 'underground layer' offset 1m below the lowest plane, would you be:
- sent back to the closest base?
- a 'safe' area nearby that has been manually placed by a dev during development?
- 2m above the layer so you drop back onto the solid terrain?
- or would it just place you on the last solid terrain you were standing on?

A manual /stuck command is a necessary option in case the game fails to detect when you're out of bounds.

In all fairness, people find ways to fast-travel anyway... Even in Planetside 2 you could jump off a cliff and just respawn at bound location. They have that problem solved by allowing fast travel for everyone using "Redeploy" simply pressing the "U" button, it's a feature basically