DeviousAlpha Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 So... will the camera be rotate-able in the final game? Right now not being about to see people because of the camera is driving me bonkers. A simple solution would be to outline or silhouette in some way people who are behind scenery. This would be a good improvement to the game generally, as, even with camera rotation some units could still be invisible while others are not. Other stuff... grenades? Something I really enjoyed about UFO:ET was that I could make a reasonably accurate/useful grenadier. He carried a bunch of grenades and I levelled up his throwing/aim stat. It allowed me to have another strategic tool in my arsenal, either for stunning aliens, breaching buildings/ships or just general grenade-y death. I feel like currently grenade accuracy is pretty terrible over medium distances and utterly worthless over longer ranges. C4? Is it intentionally impossible to blow the wall off an alien ship and come in through the side door? I have attempted to use C4 to no avail. This may be intentional due to strength of the alien walls, or bugged, or both! Would love for clarification. Lastly, I've been massively enjoying my recent foray into the game and I really love the idea of the air combat. Currently I feel the TU system could still benefit from little bits of polish, mostly around taking shots and how they factor in turning/not turning etc. Really looking forward to the beta version, and the final game! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 It's not possible to rotate the camera with 2D art, but we are working on ways to make the units more visible as we know it's not ideal at the moment. Grenades aren't functioning properly at the moment, and nor is C4 really - though UFO hulls are indestructible so you won't be able to blast your way in even in the final. The art doesn't work like that I'm afraid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StellarRat Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 It's not possible to rotate the camera with 2D art, but we are working on ways to make the units more visible as we know it's not ideal at the moment.Grenades aren't functioning properly at the moment, and nor is C4 really - though UFO hulls are indestructible so you won't be able to blast your way in even in the final. The art doesn't work like that I'm afraid. Does anyone know if it's possible to blow the hatches on an alien ship? I haven't tried that yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GizmoGomez Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 Perhaps (I don't know what has been planned) to show the player where his guys are, if they're behind a wall or something there could be an outline of them, or something. That may be difficult to implement due to engine limitations, though. And if we can't cut a hole in the side of the UFO, at least we should be able to blow the doors off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar Pancakes Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 That definitely would be nice, seeing as how I would make holes in the sides of UFOs extensively in the OG (especially with the damned Battleships so I could get my HWPs inside), so storming a door that's been blown off its hinges (door frame?) offers me a quick way into the ship with (hopefully) the least amount of reaction fire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StellarRat Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 ...so storming a door that's been blown off its hinges (door frame?) offers me a quick way into the ship with (hopefully) the least amount of reaction fire.Not to mention the ill effects for poor Xorg standing behind the door with his plasma pistol at the ready! LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thothkins Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 but we are working on ways to make the units more visible as we know it's not ideal at the moment. Sgt thothkins: Right. I'll just take a leak behind this building. No one will ever kn....gah! my outline! Darn you v18! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorlom Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Perhaps (I don't know what has been planned) to show the player where his guys are, if they're behind a wall or something there could be an outline of them, or something. That may be difficult to implement due to engine limitations, though. And if we can't cut a hole in the side of the UFO, at least we should be able to blow the doors off. Yes, Chris has stated that is impossible. The game engine does not know where the outlines of the sprites it is displaying is so it seems it can not add anything onto the sprites (such as shine through outlines). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GizmoGomez Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 I figured as much. So, what other ideas are there for showing where your guys are when they're behind a wall? Perhaps cutting the wall sprites in half, and when you have rooftops turned off and are at the right level, it cuts those sprites in half? Showing where the wall is, but also where your guys is? Does that make sense? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 We already have an updated transparency radius around soldiers that will be in the next build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GizmoGomez Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Awesome! Transparency, I'd not thought of that. I didn't know the engine could handle that. Or will you have to make them different sprites entirely, just transparent-ified with photoshop or something, that pop up when the player is near? So, will the player cause the already existing sprites to become transparent, or will it trigger replacing those sprites with see through versions of the same sprite? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StellarRat Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Awesome! Transparency, I'd not thought of that. I didn't know the engine could handle that. Or will you have to make them different sprites entirely, just transparent-ified with photoshop or something, that pop up when the player is near?So, will the player cause the already existing sprites to become transparent, or will it trigger replacing those sprites with see through versions of the same sprite? There are four ways I can think of: 1. Remove the tile temporarily 2. Replace part of the map with a different (transparent) tile temporarily 3. Alter the existing tile and turn it transparent by changing the color characteristics temporarily. 4. Finally (most difficult), locate the area in video memory (bypassing the game engine completely) and re-render it so the moving object are visible then put it back to normal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erutan Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 I don't know enough about alpha/masking, but it would have been cool to outline sprites with an aqua/red outline then hide it with the alpha channel. Then when a unit is obscured have it so that layer shows and the rest doesn't and have laid on top of existing tiles or something. Even if it was possible, too much re-rendering at this point, just randomish musing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeviousAlpha Posted February 28, 2013 Author Share Posted February 28, 2013 It's not possible to rotate the camera with 2D art, but we are working on ways to make the units more visible as we know it's not ideal at the moment.Grenades aren't functioning properly at the moment, and nor is C4 really - though UFO hulls are indestructible so you won't be able to blast your way in even in the final. The art doesn't work like that I'm afraid. Thanks for the info Chris. I thought those walls might be rather strong. And yeah been noticing the grenade/c4 craziness. Glad to know you guys are on top of the silhouette thing. I might add that its hard to see what tile you are selecting sometimes too. The only other thing which seems buggy/glitchy and I assume is intended to change is the weird behaviour of what walls show/don't show and some strange line of sight issues. Thanks for making the xcom game I'm dreaming of Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlievee Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 one thing that is semi related, will you be able to turn your men without taking a step into the next tile? would be nice to "clear dead space" before running around a corner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GizmoGomez Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 You can now. Right-click in the direction you want them to face. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlievee Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 kewl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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