Team Captains & In-Game Tactical Map Planning

(Bloodbite) #1

This just popped into my head as a great idea under the most ideal circumstances…

What if there were a way to draw tactical doodles and notes onto the limbo map, or a separate tac-map. I got the idea from the comm’s ability to do this during battles in Savage 1 & 2, but if you don’t know the reference then think NFL play diagrams over the field.

I could see this being handy for pre-game prep, like a lobby/warmup period between competitive matches. Also updateable during a match. And referable during play too, like the quick map hotkey in W:ET.

And, should there be a team captain that controls the pen tool for doodling over this alternate map? Or should the team be allowed access to it… restricted to pro enabled matches only mind you, never in pugs.

The downside I can imagine would be that it could slow down gameplay and the general unified response time of a team too much… by about the same degree as it could enhance a team under the kind of ideal circumstances that I’m seeing in my head.

What do you guys think? Would this impact too heavily on the currently intended flow of mechanics and map design? Or is it something you could see yourself and your clan mates using?

(Bananas) #2

Would be an interesting feature for teams in warmup.

Also, I could see drawing on the map very useful for casters.

(BMXer) #3

could also see lots of penis drawings and other cool stuff. So +1 for that!

(Hundopercent) #4

I think it would be abused more than used. Seeing an enormous African schlong every time I join a server doesn’t seem appealing, though I like the idea.

(INF3RN0) #5

^Putting the dirty in “Dirty Bomb”. This would backfire so fast lol.

(Bloodbite) #6

hehehe, I figured making it enabled for competitive/clan servers only could avoid most of that… but thinking back to my Savage 1 & 2 days, it was rarely abused. I wonder if that’s a genre issue. Being that even as an FPS/3PS player in the Savage games, everyone still felt they were RTS’ing like the commander, to some degree. In a lot of ways those communities kind of thought and behaved like W:ET and ETQW folk. Perhaps with the FPS audience we justifiably assume there will be enough kids that make up a genuine demographic of “I play to grief and no other reason” for it to be a griefable feature.

Could treat the captain as a commander… vote to kick/impeach, vote to elect someone else. Plus if it’s a unique quick map, it never interferes with the minimap, or an overlay toggle option for the limbo menu map.

(Bangtastic) #7

I think there should be only given signs, and like easy commands like go to this position, pull back, no free hand drawings… maybe with some ingame symbol as the objectives, or some arrows on the minimap. For planning a match, there could be an integrated picture editor to draw and mark some stuff for that purpose, or there should be a way everyone can only join in spec mode for that purpose? Otherwise people will use Advanced tactical center, or simply photoshop, gimp etc. Also i think people would abuse it too much without any limitations, restricitions. Such a feature would be nice, but i doubt that will be for a big purpose. I can only imagine this would be sweet for streaming comp matches, or editing the demorecord for learning purpose. Still it can implemented afterwards, i think there is more important stuff to focus on.

(scre4m.) #8

A minimap in which all players can mark their main defensive spot seem like a really good option to me. Especially if a matchmaking system is implemented.

It might get a bit too much and spammy for 8v8 matches, but I see a big use for this in 5v5 comp format.

Also maybe a ‘teamcaptain’ should be voted or picked by most points should be able to mark weaknesses in defense on the minimap.
This whole system would fill the waiting time between respawns and would be a quite unique feature for shooters.

I’d really love to see this in the game.

(WindKun) #9

In Savage 2 I used to draw boobs, a penis and “LOL U SUCK” after we’d begin the winning process.

Thus I believe each player should have 5 commands (we can figure out exactly which each mean) that they can hot key and press at the location they happen to be at; and have it be visible on the map to all on the team, wether it be a marker “!” Meaning an objective is near being built or optional objective, or using the num pad to have 9 directions to “Go” as a team, one person should be able to give two directions and the players “Lined Direction” should represent a color to distinguish that it came from him; or a message popping up in the same color stating so. Figure a 10 second cool down before these directions dissapear, perhaps shorter. It’s an easy way to issue pg up/9 as a “Go north east” with a “3 soldier” marker while the “Go North” with a “2 soldier” marker can be placed; and give on the fly orders via map.

It may be a bit complicated especially jumping in - but for 5v5 or 6v6 (whatever we decide on that works for competitive) something like that may be crucial in those pick up compet matches when VOIP / Mumble-vent-ts etc are not being used by a team or clan.

(jopjop) #10

Natural selection 2 has this for casters. Its really nice feature and the casting of NS2 is really easy to approach and fun to watch because of this feature. Ofc this needs a good caster. Just the fact that sometimes when they explain tactics and draw it on the map makes it really clear and easy to follow, rather than just using the names of places and then you have to picture in your mind what the caster is trying to explain. Why try to explain something difficult if you can draw few lines that shows it 10 times better?

(Fluffy_gIMp) #11

sounds like a cool idea, I do agree, prefabs might be better to stop griefing, even then it probably wouldn’t be long until someone worked out a macro script to draw obscene material, certainly requires further thought though. Could just be a case of restricting access…

(BTMPL) #12

I would agree with this use - make it part of an advanced spectator HUD / caster HUD. I feel that it would not be used during matches by the players, as it is WAY faster to explain via voicechat what you’re doing / what you want other players to do as soon as the community coins names for various places on the maps.

(INF3RN0) #13

This does make more sense for casters. Saw something like this for CSGO casting also. Makes it really nice for overhead map commentary.

(potty200) #14

I think the idea is a great one but the community will just abuse. Therefore I wouldn’t back it, however, as a caster it would be awesome to have this on the pull up map when spectating a game.

(Samurai.) #15

Yeah i can’t see this being a useful feature during gameplay for a player, would encourage spamming on the minimap, cause more static gameplay as some players may spend longer drawing on the map before resuming the play, even in clan matches voip would be used over it as you can play + communicate at the same time rather than 1 or the other… the only way any sort of feature like this would function would be outside of the game like a seperate software solution to help teams plan and communicate strategies to everyone. (I remember there was a ETQW version of this that i’ve seen - mainly with static pictures/spawn stuff over the top but everyone see’s the same) - but i imagine a community member would make this rather than SD.

If you did go down this road of allowing players to draw over the minimap, the option should be allowed via each player whether to allow drawing to occur on their minimap or not.

For casting my point of view is completely different, i think it’s a great tool to give and like other’s have said here CS:GO spectator mode for casting is really great, i’ve watched a few games recently and its very friendly for the audience to understand the layout of the game without knowing much about what’s happening through use of the minimap (as well as the HP bars/Model outlines through the wall for spec’s etc)…

(Rex) #16

I like art, put it in! But maybe as potty said, only for casters.

And that’s exactly the reason why it shouldn’t be used by everyone. :rolleyes:

(Protekt1) #17

Put this in with android/ios support and your game just went gold.

(Virus047) #18

Someone had something like this for an ET Mod I used to play. You could spot locations on maps and direct people to those locations to attack/defend. etc. Was kinda fun. However no one used it. I can’t remember the mods name…