Directional Indicator for Heard Events in Ground Combat

Instead of being in the dark while waiting for hidden aliens to finish their turn, I think it would make sense for my soldiers to be able to figure a general direction toward the sound that they've heard. Maybe the footsteps are just for atmosphere, but surely if someone hears a gunshot they should be able to tell whether it came from north, south, east, or west. Do we hear every single alien movement on the map or are they tied to the proximity of soldiers? If the former, then I guess never mind. If the latter, than instead of staring at the static art when an alien pistol is discharged, I would like to see the map centered on my nearest soldier with an arrow showing the general direction towards the sound.

That arrow thing seems really complicated. And personally I wouldn't enjoy it. It would take away from the atmosphere of the game imo.

The way I said it, yes, I can see that. What I was imagining, however, was more of a soft arrowhead at one of the edges of the screen rather than a big red arrow radiating from a given soldier. What I'm thinking of isn't garish, busy, or complicated (assuming they're already doing the calculations to see whether alien activity can be heard). Also, since it would only be momentary, during a single alien's turn, I don't see that it would diminish the atmosphere. On the contrary, since it would indicate which soldier is nearest the noise it would also therefore indicate that they are most likely the one in danger.

Something like this, is what I'm thinking:

That does seem a lot better then what I imagined from your first post. Not entirely convinced, but not as opposed to it as I was initially.

Alternative:

Don't show the direction the sound comes from but have a circle "pulse" outward from the soldier who is closest to the sound.

That's some information but not too specific.

better.

...Something like this, is what I'm thinking:

+1

Hmmm, I think this might involve a fair bit of rewriting the way the game tracks stuff during the alien turn so I'm not really keen.

Hmmm, I think this might involve a fair bit of rewriting the way the game tracks stuff during the alien turn so I'm not really keen.

Simple, workable, easily implemented solution that does NOT require rewriting how the game tracks things on the screen after the player presses "End Turn":

Screen would stay in tactical mode most of the time (flash "Hidden Movement" screen or rename it "Enemy Movement"), and just scroll fairly quickly from player's closest team member to the source of the shot or loud noise.

Quickly enough that you won't figure out EXACTLY where the shot was fired from, or where it hit (maybe some things like rockets/grenades should only scroll to where they go boom), but useful enough that you can crank up the difficulty in other parts of the tactical game if need be, and makes it pay to watch closely what happens during the enemy movement turn.

Upside of this is that we get a sort of return to the good old days of X-Com when you were hunting the silhouette of a half-seen enemy shadow in the dark. You knew you saw the alien during the enemy movement phase for a split second, but you couldn't always remember or figure out where, and it was very quick - with potentially lethal consequences if you didn't figure it out.

You're already tracking observed civilian movement (very awkward and jerky, but I have faith this is a minor priority to fix pre-release) and the camera follows.

You're already tracking observed alien movement and the camera follows.

You're already tracking observed alien shooting and the camera follows.

You're already tracking hidden alien movement and the camera doesn't follow.

You're already tracking hidden alien shooting and the camera doesn't follow.

All I'm saying is track hidden alien shooting and have the camera quickly pan from a near player-controlled soldier to the impact of certain shots depending on weapon type - or explosion - very fast (or slow for Easy Mode), while not showing anything but dark, undiscovered terrain. Or even simpler, have the camera track the path of the shot, without revealing it. If it's near enough to an already cleared part of the map, the player has a chance to figure it out. That chance to figure it out rewards paying attention and thinking quickly. Which is X-Com bread and butter.

What about subtle text messages indicating general direction and volume of sounds heard, JA2 style?

"You hear a subtle/distinct/loud/ noise to the north-west"

Would that be easier to implement?

What about subtle text messages indicating general direction and volume of sounds heard, JA2 style?

"You hear a subtle/distinct/loud/ noise to the north-west"

Would that be easier to implement?

No, as it's not really about ho to show it, but how to let the game track where the event its informing about is happening... and how it relates to a point of reference for the player.

If a sense of direction should be gotten, would it not be easier to center, on the map, on where the shot is fired. Taht way, if there is any soldiers near, the player will get some sense of direction, while if there is none near, it will be mostly a guess or a shot in the dark.

How hard can it be to just center on the Xenonaut closest to the movement and letting you hear the sound panned to whatever direction it emanates from?

Because if the game doesn't have directional sounds already then they would need to be added to the code before it could be done?

It may also need the code added to decide which Xenonaut is closest to a specific event as that doesn't appear to be used at the moment either so I would assume it is not present.

The game appears to track movement from the perspective of the camera rather than the perspective of the other actors on the level.

What you suggest appears to require reworking a lot of the code used to track events and display them.

That also runs the risk of introducing a whole new set of bugs and problems for a system that gives a slight hint of where things might be on the level out of view of your troops.

The answer to your question could be anything from relatively easy to practically impossible.

It wouldn't be impossible but would require work. And depending on how much of the players think it is a necessity (I, for one, think it is), perhaps it is something that should have work invested in.

There is going to be a tactical map feature added, right? Maybe that would be a good place to display such information about where soldiers think sounds might be coming from. And perhaps the ability for a soldier to be able to perceive the relative position of the source of a sound and the accuracy of that perception could be dictated by one of the soldier's stats... like reflexes maybe (though that wouldn't make too much sense)? Or introduce a new stat for that purpose (which I think this purpose alone would merit such a stat). The game mechanics that would underlie such a system would be relatively straight forward, especially if it is simply relegated to sounds made by weapons or vocalizations.

An example: any time a shot is fired, the game could calculate the distance from the source of the sound to every entity on the map. For each entity, there would be a roll of the dice, with the resulting number being modified by distance between the source and the entity, and perhaps intervening obstacles like walls and stuff, and perhaps some sort of stat possessed by the entity (like reflexes or some made up stat like "perception" or something). If the result of this calculation is above a certain threshold, then the side the entity belongs to would have the information available to them of the relative direction and area the sound originated from. How high above that threshold value would determine the accuracy of that information. In the case of the player, that information could be represented on the tactical map with circles or something that can be toggled as an overlay (sort of distantly analagous to the motion detector in the original X-com). In the case of sides controlled by the AI, perhaps that information could be integrated into their decisions regarding movement and attack (but I have no idea how the AI works in this game). Alternatively, it could just be a system that works just for the player. Seems like a pretty solid system to me.

And, yeah, any and all of these things would require a lot of reworking of code, but, darn it, if it is a feature that would benefit the game by being there (and I think it would!), it would be more than worth the effort. And it's not like the math and stuff involved would be at all processor intensive in the slightest.

And my favorite suggestion so far in this thread, for what it is worth, is Oathbreaker's. It seems like it could work with least effort... and, also important, it would bring one of the very very few things to the game that the original X-com had that I absolutely loved and added to the atmosphere.

To be honest I am bit surprised sound tracking is not already implemented. This will add realism and take away time needed to hunt last remaining allies. There will be plenty of tactical battles so every reasonable feature which will make it more friendly is welcome!

It's how XCOMEU does it.

The alien's turn does not take you out of the "action". It's only a red overlay text on the screen.

When your soldiers hear something in the fog of war, some kind of "sound wave" cone is radiating out from the unseen origin.

That way the gaming system doesn't need any directional sound hardware at all, you can play without sound, and gamers with hearing disabilities aren't at a disadvantage.

Come to think of it, JA2 had done that quite a while ago. The sound "pings" on the map weren't as pretty but the principle is the same.

Oathbreakers suggestion is my least favourite and I would demand being able to disable it if that was used

Fast scrolling as he suggests is similar to how the camera acted in earlier versions.

I was unable to play the game at that point because it triggered some kind of motion sickness, very disturbing.

If somesound tracking was to be added then I would prefer an overlay with cones emanating from your soldiers in the direction of the sound.

The loudness of the sound would determine the angles of the cone as well as the distance it could be heard from.

If the sound could be heard by multiple soldiers you would be able to triangulate the area it actually came from.

It would be useful to select different sounds to see them individually as well but that isn't so important.

I would allocate a loudness value to each weapon individually, a machine gun is likely to be a touch louder than a laser pistol etc.

It would also be nice if the tiles had a loudness value as well, set where the footstep sound is set, that determines how far away steps can be heard from.

Stick to grass if you want to be sneaky, stamp around on metal walkways if you are bait...

I would allocate a loudness value to each weapon individually, a machine gun is likely to be a touch louder than a laser pistol etc.

It would also be nice if the tiles had a loudness value as well, set where the footstep sound is set, that determines how far away steps can be heard from.

Stick to grass if you want to be sneaky, stamp around on metal walkways if you are bait...

so Xeno is going to be like Jagged Alliance 2 but with aliens? Cool No, really, just very basic events system could be enough. But without that it would be pain to clear complex maps

Why would it be a pain to complete missions without a sound function?

The aliens have objectives to accomplish and the player has multiple win conditions rather than simply being forced to clear every last enemy off the map.

If you work your way to the UFO and hold the engine room and bridge for five turns, for example, then you win.

Not sure how a sound function would affect that either way.

I wouldn't go too far with the sound system I mentioned either.

It just doesn't make a lot of sense that loud footsteps and screams are played during hidden movement but all your troops would be able to hear are gunshots.

A pistol shot three streets away would surely be less noticeable than a terrified scream in the next room or the sound of someone walking up behind you when you know there are no friendlies that way.

It is not a pain to complete missions without a sound function (I mean, the game is fun even as it is now!!!), but it is frustrating and immersion-breaking as all hell when you hear these things happening in between turns and don't have the slightest inkling of what direction they are coming from when you'd think that trained professional soldiers (or anyone who isn't deaf for that matter) would be able to tell. And it does affect things you mentioned (working one's way to the UFO, etc.) in that you have no idea if the sounds you heard are coming from the direction of where you are going, or behind your troops are, or whatever, so you cannot adjust your tactics accordingly and have make guesses due to a lack of information you should have.

In any case, the directional indicator ideas the OP and Gauddlike suggested would be pretty awesome, intuitive, and pretty straight forward in their implementation...

I like this idea.

I like this idea too.

Could this actually be modded in, even?

Sometimes in combat a alien icon will appear in the Fog of War.

Um...instead of text, part of the "circle" indicating the soldier could flash toward sound. Now game already show perceived movement from soldier.

So sound = movement perceived

Quarter of circle = movement general direction.

What would have to be scripted....i m not a programer, but probably what soldier heard and what soldier didnt +circling...is it a lot to program ?