While waiting for a respawn

[Murphy]

There are currently a few options of what happens as soon as you are dead.
There is the black screen and there is the spectator cam.
Both have advantages and disadvantages.

Black screen:
++ You can't scout out the other team's positions like a ghost.
-- Its boring to stare at a black screen.

Spectator cam:
+ You can watch a bit of action, even if you are not taking part in it.
+ You can already look around where you want to go next.
-- You can scout out the other team's positions like a ghost.

I would like to suggest a mixture of the two:
A spectator cam that doesn't show enemies or enemy fire but everything your own team does (and the level, obviously).
It wouldn't allow you to cheat and it wouldn't be boring to watch.
You would see where your team has weak spots and you would see where your mates are shooting at so you could adjust your tactic for the next respawn accordingly but you wouldn't blatantly be able to see your enemies.
I think its a good compromise between gameplay, realism and fun.

I'm not sure whether it is possible to code and there might be downsides that I haven't thought about, so what do you think?

 

[Hummer9120]

That's a lot of code to keep some ADD kids happy for about 15 seconds max....

 

[Murphy]

Why? Every player must have a setting that determines what team he is on (for example so he can't enter enemy vehicles, or to take away the reinforcement points from the right team when he dies, etc). Use that variable to draw him or not.

I don't know if something similar exists for bullets though so they might be a problem.

 

[SiC-Disaster]

What i would like, was that on dying, the camera stays in the players head, then just slowly fades to black, and stays that way.
You can keep looking for long enough, just not all around, but mostly to the ground, or up to the sky, depending on how you fall, and in the end, you wont have scouted out any enemy positions.

 

[Isaak Johnson]

What I would like, was that on dying, the camera stays in the players head, then just slowly fades to black, and stays that way.

Overall I would prefer this the most.

It's kind of already in the game right now, but for me it only happens like one out of ten times I die, and when it does happen it only lasts for a second.

I would prefer if it was just that way at default and you couldn't get out of it early, because I think it is a cool feature thats a little neglected.

 

[SiC-Disaster]

Overall I would prefer this the most.

It's kind of already in the game right now, but for me it only happens like one out of ten times I die, and when it does happen it only lasts for a second.

I would prefer if it was just that way at default and you couldn't get out of it early, because I think it is a cool feature thats a little neglected.

Yeah, it's there, but it instantly goes away most of the time, especially if you click your mousebutton. (for example when you tried to fire, but died, and press the button 'accidently' )
It looks really great though, so it would be awesome if that would be the way, or at least A way as a server option.

 

[mat69]

Punish the people that die often.
What would increase fear of death? Being able to play tetris while you are waiting or waiting with a black screen.

 

[Reise]

When you get the black screen hit O or whatever you bound to the objectives map. Then scan around to different teammates by hitting fire to see their positions on the map.

 

[Swordizzle]

How about photos of scantly clad women that pop up for you to look through while waiting.

 

[Monkwarrior]

Excellent idea.

 

[Murphy]

Huh? We already have the option to let you roam around freely in a spectator mode and lots of servers use it! I think not being able to see enemies is way better than that.

What's the deal with Tetris or sexy chicks (maybe even a mixture, where you have to staple babes or something)? I never said anything like that, nor do I suffer from ADD.

 

[Isaak Johnson]

I never said anything like that, nor do I suffer from ADD.

Don't worry bout it, they are just joking around a little.

I also think it would be cool that when seeing from your own view while dead, if maybe you could look around a little bit so that you could see around your area before you respawn. Might not be the most realistic feature, but I would find it a little more useful than the spectator mode.

The reason I say that is because most of the time I try to actually make any use of the spectator mode, the controls for switching the camera view seem ungainly and most of the time my camera defaults to some static position across the map and I don't get to see anything of any importance anyway. So I think it would be cool to turn your head a small distance in each direction to get a glimpse of the area before you fade out.

 

[Murphy]

I don't think that is possible. Engine limitation... Its the same reason why we couldn't act dead in UT2003/4 like we could in UT99. Once you die and the rag-dolls kick in you don't have control over your character anymore.

 

[mat69]

Why should there be an engine limitation?

None says that you'd have to controll your body, instead a camera could be spawned at the place you died and I'm pretty sure that this is possible with this engine.

The reason why I would not like that is because if you did not see the person that kill you you probably will see him now and gonna take him out next time.

 

[Murphy]

None says that you'd have to controll your body, instead a camera could be spawned at the place you died and I'm pretty sure that this is possible with this engine.

Not only that, but I'm also pretty sure that thats exactly what happens now. That's also why you can suddenly see yourself.

 

[mat69]

So why shouldn't it be possible?

 

[Murphy]

Because you are dead. How would you interact with the camera (code-whise)? It could work if you were still alive and just unable to move, but then there would be no rag-dolls.

 

[EvilHobo]

I personally feel that the camera should not move or roam or anything of that nature, that it should stay in the first person perspective such that the player "experiences" their death and then it fades to blackness. Having to deal with the black screen should be something they should be left with to motivate them to not die as often. The only exception to this of course would be get asploded by artillery and vaporizing, so I wouldn't know how to handle that.

 

[Murphy]

Sudden blackness instead of fading I guess. I have never been vaporized (surprise!) so I can't tell first hand.

Look, what you are suggesting is an alternative to the black screen mutator or rather an extension for it to make it more immersive while actually staying the same.
What I suggested is an alternative to the all out spectator cam that some servers run.

 

[mat69]

Because you are dead. How would you interact with the camera (code-whise)? It could work if you were still alive and just unable to move, but then there would be no rag-dolls.

The ragdolls have to be called as well, so you could also call a function that creates a camera, at least it sounds plausible for me.