Seeing your own shadow

[Floyd]

I never really understood this 'immersive' feeling people get when seeing their avatar's legs/arms, etc in a game. In the few games I recall seeing them, I felt as though I were operating a robot. Those really aren't my legs working the controls. That isn't really my left arm reaching forward (In reality its holding the glass that I'm drinking from and my right hand is on my mouse). Hey, I just moved my leg and it didn't move on my screen.

I never really 'look' at my body parts to perform an action. Though I may extend my non-throwing arm to throw a rock, I don't really 'see' it. I know its there, my brain knows its there.I look past or through it and don't really 'see' it. I use the arm in-game to aid in aiming my grenade, but its not an immersive factor. Its a game play mechanic.

irl, if I'm running around and look down at my feet, I'll probably run into something (like a fountain in a mall for instance). The only reason I might conciously look down specifically at my feet or shoes is to see if my shoelace is untied or something....

Seeing body parts that I'm not in control of doesn't add any immersion for me. In fact, it detracts from it. Surely I'm not the only one that experiences that?

 

[MagicSnake]

Seeing body parts that I'm not in control of doesn't add any immersion for me. In fact, it detracts from it. Surely I'm not the only one that experiences that?

I must say I agree somewhat: to me seeing "body parts which are not mine" in a FPS is not an obstacle to immersion, but it doesn't really "pull me in" either.

But the point of seeing your own shadow is that it can have strategic repercussions. For instance, say you're waiting in ambush near the corner of a building, bayonet ready: you could ask yourself: "can my shadow be seen from the other side of that corner?" By seeing your own shadow, you know just how "stealthy" you actually are. Add to that weapon collision and you have a pretty decent idea of what the enemy can/can't see of your avatar.

 

[Floyd]

...
But the point of seeing your own shadow is that it can have strategic repercussions. For instance, say you're waiting in ambush near the corner of a building, bayonet ready: you could ask yourself: "can my shadow be seen from the other side of that corner?" By seeing your own shadow, you know just how "stealthy" you actually are. Add to that weapon collision and you have a pretty decent idea of what the enemy can/can't see of your avatar.

I'd agree with that. If the enemy can see your shadow, then by all means, so should you. Perhaps the player could see sort of a 'blob' shadow of his avatar. That might alleviate the need to have all of one's visible extremities.

 

[wahoo4]

YouTube - Attacking.wmv[/URL]

Here we go, this is what we want. Looks really good for your avatar shadow. This would really bring a cool feature into the game that really makes it feel real. Please TWI out of all the crap I've asked for put this in

 

[Moyako]

What mod is that???

 

[cameron.]

It is a world war 2 mod for arma2 im pretty sure it is this one
http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=4160

 

[Partizan™]

YouTube - Attacking.wmv[/URL]

Here we go, this is what we want. Looks really good for your avatar shadow. This would really bring a cool feature into the game that really makes it feel real. Please TWI out of all the crap I've asked for put this in

Good example, also try to find a video from the game "Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood" that's where I got the idea.

 

[LJFHutch]

Seeing your own shadow is very important for gameplay also though, if the enemy can see your shadow but you can't then that's just silly.

 

[wahoo4]

It makes the game feel more real. It's not something you notice until you come up on a corner. It's a must for me and adds tactical realism. Any word on this TWI? Will RO2 have it? A yes or no so we can move on?

 

[jalex3]

I would like to see this, it would have alot of gameplay changes come with it.
You would been to be thinking about where the sun is and stuff

 

[LugNut]

While I like the idea and I enjoy it in ARMA, I think it's harder than it sounds as you'd have to have a fully modeled character like in the vid.

 

[Bashenka]

Personally I don't want to see my shadow in-game. Why? Because it's not your shadow you're seeing, but some generic soldier's! The only positive I see from this is the concealment argument, which is very fair and justified. But yeah, more often than not it'd just annoy me. Just my 2 cents.

 

[LJFHutch]

While I like the idea and I enjoy it in ARMA, I think it's harder than it sounds as you'd have to have a fully modeled character like in the vid.

Surely you just render the shadow from your 3rd person model - what everyone else sees.

 

[Partizan™]

Personally I don't want to see my shadow in-game. Why? Because it's not your shadow you're seeing, but some generic soldier's! The only positive I see from this is the concealment argument, which is very fair and justified. But yeah, more often than not it'd just annoy me. Just my 2 cents.

Well the hands operating the weapons are also not your's but they will be in the game. I btw think it would be cool if when you'd reload your weapon you could see your characters shadow changeing the magazine (if the light is strong enought).

 

[wahoo4]

well the main two things I would love to see in RO2 would be FP shadow and light/dark adaptation. Othwise I can't think of anything else that would make RO2 more realistic.

 

[wahoo4]

I will add DX11 to my list as well. lol

 

[echutter]

would look best if you have 3D legs to see in 1'st person view aswell, without that, you'll see a shadow cast by nothing when you look down.

But including legs is not all that easy for various reasons, it does take some time to include, and it does come with a performance hit aswell, as more polygons will be permanently attached to your view.

I've allways enjoyed having legs in the games that featured this, and if HoS where to have it, that'd be just super. But if logistical reasons prevent it, than i can live with that too.

Yes. Legs would be awesome.