UE3 has a demo system, we really need this enabled in Dirty Bomb.
With the current competitive player base pretty much unanimously using custom configs, HUDS and a variety of settings, looking to produce a frag movie for DB would be a messy affair. Not only are you faced with the problem of players needing to record their own clips be it via shadowplay/AMD equivalent (playsTV) or OBS/dxtory but it also means that each players clips are in different resolutions, frame rates and of course different in game settings.
Some players use a small white dot and some a medium green. Some players have the timer in the top left, others in the bottom left. Some players have extremely low graphics settings with atmospheric particles and even explosions turned off, other players have higher graphics settings with explosions turned on. With all these varied settings, demos enable you to collect the small demo files from players and then watch them back with a movie config of your own design. With this you can effectively render out the clips with consistent graphics and hud settings and also in lossless quality at a frame rate of your choosing.
Notice at this point I am not even mentioning the benefit of utilising demo smooths/dolly cams, which for those who don’t know enable you to fly along set camera paths at precise times in a clip. As an example, you want to fly over the enemy team as they all get blown up by a fragger nade? No problem, this is simple to achieve at whatever angle you want to view the action at. Of course demo smoothing and dolly cams would be great but they are nowhere near as necessary as a simple demo/replay tool.
The main benefit to having a working demo system is allowing your player base to produce high quality content that shows off your game at the peak of it’s graphical potential. Right now, I want to make a community montage from competitive matches however it’s a real turn off that almost all the clips will be of varying (low) qualities with in game settings way below the games optimal state.
Game companies have been overlooking this aspect of free advertising and player promotion for a long time and it’s a real shame; some of the best content I have seen online include CoD4 fragmovies. The ability for players to showcase their play in the highest quality possible is something that can only benefit the game and to put it simply, no matter how much I enjoy playing Dirty Bomb, if Overwatch has the above described tools available then I’m certain to play that game and leave DB behind.
As a final note, aside from the movie making benefits that demo systems bestow. They also greatly enhance teams ability to plan strategies and analyse their previous performances. Currently the only way to watch a match from my medic’s pov is if they recorded the entire match themselves, this creates a needlessly large file and in turn often decreases their fps while they play. It’s not an elegant solution when a demo system will allow players to view a match from any player’s PoV, of course it also allows you to go forward in the match, rewind during the match, slow it down etc.
TL/DR:
- Enable the demo system.
- Allows lossless quality videos to be saved in the highest graphical settings.
- It makes sure that a video has a consistent look with the same HUD and in game settings for each clip.
- This will help us grow the community and basically promote your game for free.
- Demo smoothing/dolly cams aren’t a priority in comparison to actually allowing us to save demos and then render from them.
- Demos not only help movie makers but also competitive teams for analytic purposes.
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