The Minimap...

(PixelTwitch) #1

So we know you guys have a lot of work to do here so I thought I would quickly inject a few ideas…

Shape…
So, I have a few ideas that I personally feel work better on a circle minimap than they do on a square… The problem with that is circle minimaps just look ugly these days unless done in games like GTA. The square/rectangle does look quite pretty really but makes certain features a little harder to implement.

Personally for ease of use I kinda like either the moba style mini map or counter strike 1.6 style (simple radar). Saying that the minimap in Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty Advanced Warfare are both square but look nice and are functional.

Currently the minimap does not update based on sound and not even on player line of sight until a enemy has been there for a decent length of time. Personally I feel this should be instant based on line of sight. I feel that sound should be obviously only revealed accurately at very close distances but I do want to talk about a simply idea I had that should reduce back rage and also promote silencer gameplay.

So basically, show people shooting/shouting close in exact location, Spotted people exact location while spotted and seen people in exact location. Turn distant noise into a indicator on the minimap without revealing the exact location.

The mini map would look something like this…

MiniMapBasicidea.png1002×523 113 KB

The “sound detector” would be split into 8 sections around the circle like this…

MiniMapBasicidea.png1002×523 113 KB

When a enamy makes a sound the mini map will light up in the direction to indicate the sound is from an enemy and catch the eye of the player.

MiniMapBasicsSound.png1002×523 113 KB

This should help deal with back rage and hopefully minimise the frustration of shotguns at close range by communicating when people are behind you better.

This is a very rushed concept. I suppose it would work in square form just will be a little stranger when rotating view and a little less accurate.

Overall lets get the enemy on that minimap, lets zoom it in a bit and show people at the edge if you can see/hear them. Use a sound indicator that would alert people to potential postion within a 8th of the direction.

Finally lets try and get it to look like the hybrid view in battlefield 3?

Untitled-5.jpg1002×328 344 KB

(Mustang) #2

Best to just delete it.

(ToonBE) #3

Yes toggleminimap

(prophett) #4

Didn’t read the whole thread so i’m not sure what “sounds” showing on the minimap encompasses, but I’d rather sounds did not show up on the minimap (maybe for shooting an un-silenced weapon, but definitely not for anything else).

(tokamak) #5

As an ability, sure.

As for the quality of a minimap, from what I understand updating this thing according to new map revisions takes a lot of work so understandably this is something SD reserves for last.

(Violator) #6

tbh I find the game too intense to even have time to look at the minimap :frowning:

(PixelTwitch) #7

This is the reason behind the idea I am presenting…
Basically a compass rather than a minimap that shows people close but shows as a rough compass position that does not require you to break view for even close to as long as it would do normally. infact, you should pick up the “back rage” though simple peripheral vision. Also meaning when you hear gun fire in the distance you can quickly flick your eyes to the “compass/minimap” and know if its a friendly or enemy instantly.

(montheponies) #8

I would agree with the Compass concept - but rather than using the outer line for sounds - I’d place markers giving clear indication as to who needs ammo and health/reviving, with the distance to the ‘target’ denoted by the size of the alert.

It really provides the necessary info to help your team without the unnecessary clutter of an actual map, that I would hazard few actually use (especially with spotting and player names in such prominence).

I’ve seen it done like that before… ok it’s how RTCW did it :smiley:

(PixelTwitch) #9

[QUOTE=montheponies;515163]I would agree with the Compass concept - but rather than using the outer line for sounds - I’d place markers giving clear indication as to who needs ammo and health/reviving, with the distance to the ‘target’ denoted by the size of the alert.

It really provides the necessary info to help your team without the unnecessary clutter of an actual map, that I would hazard few actually use (especially with spotting and player names in such prominence).

I’ve seen it done like that before… ok it’s how RTCW did it :D[/QUOTE]

Yea I assumed all that data would be there on the compass style.
Makes things so much easier to understand on a quick glance.
Even make the size of the icon dictate how far away they are.

I still think the sound thing could be a useful tool in reducing the frustration of snipers and back rage.

(BomBaKlaK) #10

Yep I vote for this !

(PixelTwitch) #11

I am sorry…
but why complain about shotgun back rage (up close) and then vote to remove a feature that could possibly minimise the frustration in future?

(BomBaKlaK) #12

I don’t like minimap, for me it’s just useless in a game with such tiny maps …

(Szakalot) #13

its useful as far knowing where your teammates are exactly.

(montheponies) #14

Yeah, that’s how it used to work, big red exclamation mark that would get bigger as you approached the downed player (it only showed iirc when you called for a medic using the vsay and if you where down and needed a revive). Really was more useful than a minimap in that you could quickly establish where and how far away someone was at a glance.

(stealth6) #15

“Yeah, but that obviously wouldn’t work anymore since that was last implemented in 2002. People want minimaps now so that’s what we give them right? Secondly having to activate the icon yourself with a vsay is an unnecessary action since you always want to be revived.” /s

(Anti) #16

Am I missing something? We have IFFs on downed teammates already, you don’t have to use the mini map.

We removed the mini map once before and a good number of players said they wanted it back, so it’s back. It’s no so intrusive as to need removing in all honesty. Could it be more useful, yes, and it’s on our list of things to improve, but it’s not particularly high priority right now.

(montheponies) #17

The IFFs are very easy to miss, especially if they are not in your field of view - personally I dont see the point of the mini-map, but that doesnt mean others arent getting some value out of it. I just think in a fast paced game, I’d prefer something that provides more immediacy in terms of communicating useful things - ie. a directional compass with callouts from your team and/or giving an indication of nearby enemies, as per Pixel’s suggestion.

(eitsch0r) #18

[QUOTE=Anti;515328]Am I missing something? We have IFFs on downed teammates already, you don’t have to use the mini map.

We removed the mini map once before and a good number of players said they wanted it back, so it’s back. It’s no so intrusive as to need removing in all honesty. Could it be more useful, yes, and it’s on our list of things to improve, but it’s not particularly high priority right now.[/QUOTE]

hi there, just as a short note from someone rather unexperienced with db-hud minimap or … IFF’s (whatever that is :o )
two questions:

  • can i zoom in/out the displayed map-area of minimap?
  • can i de-/increase the size of the displayed minimap on screen (or [edit: change] its position)?

and as a followup:

  • can i change the side of displayed teammates health?
  • and if i ask really really pretty-please-ish … can i get my syringe back? maybe as an optional skin for these electrifiers?! :cool:
  • and what are IFF’s? giving confused look these symbols over my syringe-tar … err, revive-targets?
(prophett) #19

This - definitely not in favor of removing it. Implementing the different options Pixel proposed is a good idea, as long as people get to choose which one they want (current one is fine for me).

(DB Genome editor) #20

[QUOTE=eitsch0r;518753]hi there, just as a short note from someone rather unexperienced with db-hud minimap or … IFF’s (whatever that is :o )
two questions:

  • can i zoom in/out the displayed map-area of minimap?
  • can i de-/increase the size of the displayed minimap on screen (or [edit: change] its position)?

and as a followup:

  • can i change the side of displayed teammates health?
  • and if i ask really really pretty-please-ish … can i get my syringe back? maybe as an optional skin for these electrifiers?! :cool:
  • and what are IFF’s? giving confused look these symbols over my syringe-tar … err, revive-targets?[/QUOTE]
    As far as I know:
  • No
  • Not with any of the game menus, but you used to be able to do it through config file editing. I never bothered so I can’t confirm if it is still possible or not.
  • Maybe through config editing, not sure.
  • You do know that charging up the paddles give more health on revive? How would you charge a syringe?
  • IFF = Identifier Friend / Foe. It’s a military term that seems to have been adopted in gaming to represent all HUD markers applied to player entities, not just team identification but other status info like health, short on ammo, awaiting revive, etc…