On Distinguishing Enemy From Friendly: Poll

(3Suns) #1

The latest PAX Prime Impressions thread has some discussion on the topic of distinguishing enemy from friendly, and how Splash Damage should go about ensuring the best experience for the gamer. This isn’t even the first time this topic has been discussed. I thought maybe a poll would provide a little insight as to what everyone is thinking.

The poll allows for multiple answers.

Also, most of us haven’t played it in any form, so it is a given that we don’t have all the info, and are just speculating.

Feel free to elaborate on your choice (or lack thereof) below.

(Senyin) #2

I want to choose the first one, simply nothing, but to be honest I would probably have a hard time with that.
A marker over friendly’s would be sufficient for me though.
I find the red aura very ugly and way too much handholding so I hope at least that won’t be the outcome.

(SockDog) #3

Pick coloured cross hairs (both friendly and enemy) and also name tags.

The former because there are times where things just aren’t displayed (maybe LOD clips a model the player is behind) and you think they are friendly/enemy incorrectly. Having either either red,green or white (no target) would allow you to be sure of an accurate identification.

The nicks I just like because you can know who you’re shooting or getting shot by which is good more for the game than actual immersion but i think it’s a worthwhile payoff.

(Seyu) #4

SockDog, but dude, won’t that be the same as having red, blue hues? only less unsightly, aesthetically speaking.

I don’t think there should be any indicators for showing enemy positions, whether its tags, hues or red arrows, it will kill the stealth element as well as make the game shallow.

(tokamak) #5

Use whatever hud indicators you can on team-mates, nothing on enemies.

(Senyin) #6

Yes exactly, I forgot to mention that.

(LyndonL) #7

No auras. DEFINATELY not relying on changing reticles being as I’m colourblind. I’d have a major problem playing that.

A name tag over friendlies only would suffice for me :slight_smile:

(darthmob) #8

In my opinion you shouldn’t have to aim at someone to check if he is on your team or not (unless it’s a Operative in disguise). It’s simply annoying to use.

It should be possible to tell at all times if someone is on your team (via marker, nametag, class icon or whatever) or not. Anyone not on your team is automatically an enemy and you shoot him. I’m definitely no fan of the auras. They seem to remove the colours from the different customizations and reduce enemies to glowing red guys. This is not Quake (brightskins ftw, they fit there!). I want to be able to distinguish people by their chosen customizations.

(Voxie) #9

This. As I stated in the previous thread, the best way to separate team mates from opponents is to mark friendlies with HUD information. The auras are visually noisy, prohibits stealth and, with a “proper” solution to team differentiation, are overkill.

(Kinjal) #10

“How do you want Splash Damage to help you visually differentiate between Friend/Foe?”

  • Release SDK as fast as posible

P.S. Look at wolfenstein 2009 if u want to see, how red aura can ruin the multiplayer.

(V1s0r) #11

I liked how it was in ET:QW. But that’s not going to happen. :frowning:

Can you still spot enemies and let an arrow appear above there head in Brink?

(Mustkunstn1k) #12

I think it would be best if friendlies would have little icons over their heads and when you aim at them you get their full names. And same for enemy - they get red names once you aim at them.

(SockDog) #13

If the players are distinguishable from variable distances (after a short amount of play) then I can live without it. If all the customisations make that less that 100% achievable then I’ll go with the cross hairs and nicks combo for both teams even if it means shattering some of the art budget.

Again I’ll say it’s important to identify both because then you can be sure it’s one or the other and not a glitch in the detection.

Also it’s worth considering that with FF off by default it doesn’t really matter who is who beyond a waste of ammo and some annoyance.

(Voltech) #14

I like the idea of the blue\green outline for friendlies only and tagging friendlies when aimed at but not the enemy. They should only show their power bar when hit then it quickly goes away other wise they cant really hide if they have this huge symbol over their head. As far as FF I don’t think it would work well in this game just leave it off by default. The hard core player can turn it on if they really want it.

(BioSnark) #15

my preference is player indicators on friendlies but health and name on everyone when you aim at or damage them… in other words, green arrows settings in quake wars.

Having no indicators wouldn’t be as bad as in quake wars if friendly fire is off but it’s not something I’d favor.

(tokamak) #16

When does that ever happen?

(Apples) #17

Whats wrong with tiny green / red arrows?

(INF3RN0) #18

You can even adjust their size via cvar :D.

(SockDog) #19

I don’t recall the exact specifics but I had instances in ETQW where occasionally, distant players would not display their indicators or not display them immediately. I’m not sure if the same also happened as people clipped through bushes.

My point is that relying on no information being displayed as a means to identify an enemy can lead to these false positives where a friendly is clipped in such as way as not to display an indicator and so appear to be an enemy.

(darthmob) #20

Quake Live recently added friend indicators as well. They are drawn all the time and for reasonable distances through walls as well. There is no way you could mistake a teammate for an enemy except if you don’t watch. But then Quake maps are pretty basic in layout and design.