CLOAK
Written by MM. Posted at 4:46 pm on September 27th, 2010
37 comments.
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looks awesome but still seems too well visible. only an advantage when not moving so far…
Woah really awesome.
I just really hope this one day makes it to xbox.
Luma, it’s just too much contrast on the background
actually, nvm I think this is best on PC. On xbox it may be harder to update + mods are what make PC games a lot more fun.
Holy, s**t! Hail to Predator!)
Awesome)
AWESOME!!!!!!!
Wow.
shit damn that is cool
Predator style for the win. Maybe make it a little bit less obvious, but overall looks like a great effect.
Yep, some one has been watching certain Arnie movies again.
Seems like that would only work in darker areas, or motionless.
Arnold: IF IT BLEEDS, WE CAN KILL IT
and kill it he did…
Absolutely perfect cloak. I love how it’s completely invisible in the dark. >:D This game is going to fucking rock! Keep up the good work Michal. And when do you want the beer to be sent to you? I actually can’t remember my exact promise, but I think it was when you finished – I’d consider the up to the Alpha release is good, I’d send you some good Canadian beer. I have no idea though how much shipping would cost… and you probably could pick up the same beer in Poland anyway. lol. We’ll have to figure something out.
Excellent. I cant wait to snipe those damn mutants while cloaked in a bush :).
boner
Anything but total invisibility is nothing but a fancy graphical effect with no gameplay meaning.
wow.
Very very nice!
Sweeet… ;D I want this in L-D!
Looks so fucking awesome! :-O
Be careful with all these lighting-tricks though. When people set light settings and such to off, they might be considerably advantaged/disadvantaged in the game by the results. (Completely seeing the cloaked player – or not seeing him at all).
Snow: come visit me in Poland, or maybe I’ll visit you:)
I don’t want this to be 100% visible cause that wouldn’t be fun at all for the other team. As everything in this game I want it to be used well only when thinking, so don’t move too much with it and move against backgrounds that don’t have a lot of contrast.
Plus it’s more scary when some predator cloak passes you.
It will still be spottable by an experienced player.
Why would I wear noobkilling gear when I could have something universally useful against all skill levels instead?
What exact purpose will this effect serve; you won’t be able to enjoy it much ingame because by the time it looks like that you will already be a bloody pulp on the floor.
(Don’t get me wrong, it DOES look cool!)
What are your plans on Field of View/Fog of war?
maybe make it even more transparent [like 80-100%] when not moving
“Anything but total invisibility is nothing but a fancy graphical effect with no gameplay meaning.”
You downer.
Cloaking is a big gameplay feature so I think you should spend a while on it. When coded improperly, it IS noobkilling gear. I believe a cloak should be useful only if the player stays in place.
To do this I suggest adding a variable like cloak intensity. Intensity 0 means the cloak is impossible to see, 1 means the disortion is huge and is easily visible.
When the cloak is turned on, it starts at intensity 1 and as long as the cloak is active, intensity slowly drops, over 5-15 seconds or so, to 0. Actions such as running, shooting, throwing grenades quickly degrade the intensity, making the player very visible, until intensity regenerates. Walking slowly, walking crouched and aiming for example on degrades intensity much slower.
In practical gameplay terms this means a cloaked player must use cover and walk slowly and carefully – he must still sneak. I think this is what you want tyo achieve – so that the cloak only augments, not replaces proper stealth and smart movement.
Crysis solved this by having an energy meter that depleted rapidly when running, and when a shot was fired when cloaked, it instantly consumed all your energy (making you vulnerable) and disabled the cloak. Moving or aiming also displayed additional artifacts that made it easy to see a cloaked player. In fact, due to those artifacts a cloaked character was MORE VISIBLE than a character in plain camouflage. Movement (the cloak’s artifacts were moving) is a lot more noticable than differences in color.
This shader effect looks nice and simple. You might also want to experiment a bit with blurring.
jeez major description above
First rule of camouflage: DO NOT MOVE! Movement exposes. Thats the first thing new recruits are taught about warfare.
Also, if this gets into the game, make sure that the character casts a shadow and becomes partly more visible on light effects etc. ๐
Yea, this charracter would be completly unoticed if he was crouching still.
<3
Visiting you in Poland may be possible. Most of my gf’s family is Polish and I heard talk of a trip to Poland. We could LAN on Link-Dead and scream obscenities at eachother.
On the flip side if you want to visit. I live in Calgary, Alberta. Despite being a city, it is nice out here so you can come visit anytime. You could go hunting and bag a nice deer.
I really like Archonts proposal and the way it would encourage players to play stealthy
I’d be opposing an idea about giving some magical ability to become invisible when not moving. The invisibility shouldn’t be granted. It should be a constant. Movement should expose, as with real warfare. For example when you’re looking into darkness and trying to spot something, you won’t notice the enemy standing 30 meters in front of you as long as he has proper camouflage matching the background + stands completely still. Even the slightest movement of the silhouette or texture will expose him to you. I’ve witnessed this myself multiple times during my military training. Also be aware that you can’t focus on a single spot in the darkness for too long, 10 seconds max. After that your vision will start playing tricks. Small micro movement everywhere. In real life, you have to observe, experience and counter this somehow. It’s a real bitch once you think you heard something moving in the dark, but can’t see a thing…
I recommend anyone even remotely interested in the subject to try to get some field manuals in your hands. Canadian army has some good ones floating around. ๐
Is very cool!
Clawbug has a good point. But you got to keep in mind the fact that its a 2d platform shooting game.
Your experiences are from first person. Trying to simulate a first person aspect in a platformer is a bad idea.
I think that is pretty intuitive and fun for a game- if you don’t move you are 100% invisible if you move you can be seen. Plus it will be scary as hell to suddenly see a predator camo guy appear right behind you and stab you with a machete.