Weapon Bobbing and Muzzle Flash

(injx) #1

A couple of things that jumped out at me from watching some of the recent PAX 2011 gameplay videos.

When sprinting the weapon bobs up and down in a very odd way - it actually struck me as looking silly, rather than natural. A good example is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1IYDqhK9Uw at 0:06. The weapon bob looks more like an out-of-control hosepipe, both in the way it oscillates, and the magnitude of the oscillations. I would prefer something more natural in form and more subtle in magnitude.

The second thing I noticed in this video is that some weapons have a huge muzzle flash which obscures the enitre screen - however in ironsights mode this muzzle flash is mysteriously absent. As Brink is supposed to favour fun rather than realism, I don’t believe that such an extreme muzzle flash is a desirable feature to have - it’s not fun for spectators and players alike.

(Nex) #2

He is using drum magazine and that makes gun pretty heavy…also that implies that he plays as heavy medic class…so probably that’s the way heavy class looks like when running…

There is option btw, to turn off bob…so its cool…

Muzzle flash, they can be customized and that’s all i know…

(Mustang) #3

(Nex) #4

I’m too lazy to find it…so, you’ll have to trust me

(trigg3r) #5

yeah, i don’t remember where but i heard that as well

(INF3RN0) #6

Bob has always been on toggle, thank god :).

(Luftwaffle) #7

From the looks of it the muzzle flash is so severe because he has some sort of muzzle break equipped, which you can see when he reloads.

(1234567) #8

I have to admit that it does look kind of odd.

(Jess Alon) #9

[QUOTE=injx;270047]A couple of things that jumped out at me from watching some of the recent PAX 2011 gameplay videos.

When sprinting the weapon bobs up and down in a very odd way - it actually struck me as looking silly, rather than natural. A good example is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1IYDqhK9Uw at 0:06. The weapon bob looks more like an out-of-control hosepipe, both in the way it oscillates, and the magnitude of the oscillations. I would prefer something more natural in form and more subtle in magnitude.

The second thing I noticed in this video is that some weapons have a huge muzzle flash which obscures the enitre screen - however in ironsights mode this muzzle flash is mysteriously absent. As Brink is supposed to favour fun rather than realism, I don’t believe that such an extreme muzzle flash is a desirable feature to have - it’s not fun for spectators and players alike.[/QUOTE]

How do you know that’s not actually what a weapon would look like when you’re moving around? Why does their animation have to look like everyone else’s?

(DouglasDanger) #10

The lack of muzzle flash when using that sight is kind of odd. Not a big deal, but odd.

(Jess Alon) #11

It’s a perspective thing. When you are looking down sights you awareness of the flash is going to be different. Just like the sound of the gun would probably be different. Kind of like a camera focusing between a distant or closer object. The core of the flash is still prevalent but the huge burst is out of focus.

(DouglasDanger) #12

The muzzle brakes probably reduce muzzle flip at the expense of increasing noise and muzzle flash. That one in the video there looks awesome. It reminds me of the huge muzzle flashes on some of the guns in Goldeneye and Perfect Dark.

(Mike XL) #13

I agree with the gun bobbing thing… Like Goofy might be behind the gun. I doubt there will be a toggle on consoles ya?

(EnderWiggin.DA.) #14

I think this is what Jess is saying but I’m not sure. I’m not a gun guy so I’m just quoting something I read recently. I don’t know, but if you are thinking of the muzzle flashes you see in the movies, I’d guess Hollywood does something to make them bigger than they would normally be. Don’t know.

Actually if you are looking directly at someone firing a gun at you, even if there is not big muzzle flash you will still see it. I don’t think most people realize that the person shooting a gun does not not experience the same effects a person being shot at does. Muzzle flash and noise are much greater on the business end of a gun.

When firing a gun all you see is a small pop, a jerk in the sight, and a pop noise. The person on the other end sees a flash like a camera, hears two noises from each bullet fired. A snap from the bullet traveling toward them, followed by the muffled pop of the gas escaping from the barrel. The further away the person being shot at is the more time there will be in between the two noises, just like seeing the flash of lightning then waiting for the sound of thunder.

To make things even more complex, the shooter may even hear the vibration of the buffer spring a few seconds after each shot, and on a hot day the shooter can see the bullet trail in the mirage, but the person being shot at and people off to the side will not see it.

(Jess Alon) #15

The mechanics of gunfire are seriously amazing. Also sometimes muzzle flash is random and varied. Not every round has the EXACT same amount of powder when loaded. Even the fact that it’s a barely half a milligram off can change muzzle flash characteristics. I shoot at the range every saturday and I use cheap factory reloads and muzzle flash change from one shot to the next is always different. (Not to mention there’s smoke/dust everywhere. How come you never see that in video games? The resistance should have smoke clouds from cheap crappy ammo.) On most modern guns they are ported so that as you look down the sights the muzzle flash is diverted away from sight. This is another reason you don’t notice it when you bring it up to sight.

(Shadedluck) #16

I’m seeing all these reviews about how odd the gun bobbing is, but to get an idea about how it works why not carry a 25+ pound gun and try running with it. Then look at yourself and see how well you can run with a gun without it bobbing awkwardly. And from what I’ve also read, if you still don’t like it you can turn it off. As for the muzzle flash, I don’t know anything about that.

(Jess Alon) #17

Well it looks like the muzzle flash changes with the changing of customizable parts. And if you look down sights… the flash dims.

(Shadowcat) #18

The gun WILL bob when you are sprinting. If you’re holding it with one hand and using a sling it will go forward and back. If you’re using two hands, holding the handle and the fore-grip it will go side to side as you move your arms. But I cant think of any situation where you would have the tip of the gun going in perfect circles.

(Joe999) #19

has that been officially announced? i didn’t read anything like that so far.

i’m just wondering because of reasons beyond my understanding eg wolfenstein didn’t have that option. in fact bobbing in wolfenstein was the worst than in any game i’ve played before. an option wasn’t even available via console command on pc. if you wanted to turn off bobbing you had to apply some hack which made you float around like a ghost. it was a real nightmare for people who suffer from motion sickness. that was not enjoyable at all.

(EcafNoGav) #20

It looks like they ripped the gun motion animation straight from Bad Company which has a goofy looking weapon bopping motion as well and it had many complaints as well. I also agree that it looks bad. I can’t imagine that they would give an option to turn it off as no other game ever has. But other games allowed you to turn off camera bopping and that’s what was probably mentioned.