heywood on 1/6/2012 at 05:42
Re: light gem
I would prefer to judge the darkness by eye rather than using a gimmicky magic thingy, but that won't work for everybody unless everybody is playing on good displays with proper gamma settings. If the lighting system is good enough, I would like the option to turn it off.
Beleg Cúthalion on 1/6/2012 at 18:04
Quote Posted by DJ Riff
Deus Ex, Tenchu, Hitman, Stalker, MGS...
I meant in reality. Don't know if you've ever tried it, but you aren't in the shadows as soon as you tread a shadowy area. However, this is basically how Thief works, even though TDS with its real-time shadow casting might be a bit different. But I can barely recall these "deceiving" shadow areas from T1/2. My line of thought ran along the way where you apply your real-world experience (like you always do in computer games unless a differing in-game principle is introduced) when the light gem is missing and how it could (or could not) interfere with the game mechanics.
Bakerman on 2/6/2012 at 02:32
The 'you're shadowed as soon as you walk on a shadow' is pretty necessary for a stealth experience like Thief. Making stealthed-ness work on principles like silhouettes (an NPC seeing you against a bright backdrop) would make it very difficult not only to design levels where stealth is viable without everything just being completely dark, but also to give the player proper feedback about how visible they are - since the answer to that question changes depending on the direction you look at them from. Measuring the actual light falling on the player mesh could be viable, but in a video game environment I'd imagine it'd be quite difficult to gauge very well the actual volume of shadows in a level, and the volume of your body in relation to them.
TTK12G3 on 2/6/2012 at 14:28
Quote Posted by hopper
Interesting idea in theory, and LGS may even originally have thought about it that way. The problem is that with visibility being so central to the gameplay, it would be too cumbersome to haul it out every time you need to check it. I like to think of the light gem as sitting on a bracelet or necklace, where Garrett can easily check it at a glance.
What is so cumbersome about having it set on the mousewheel with everything else? In any case, I would prefer that, of they were to remove the gem, that the cover of shadows would be more intuitive.
Beleg Cúthalion on 4/6/2012 at 15:43
@Bakerman: Surely it's easier for the player if the gameplay element is made up simple, but I have a hard time believing that all things must be kept that way because someone came up with it ten years ago. Visible silhouettes for instance are something that the player can recognize (how often have we wondered ourselves why we are invisible in T1/2/3 in front of a lit window?) and adjust to (would give more sense to this wall-hugging feature of TDS, too). And not every shadow in a level is diagonal enough to never allow cover despite a large shadowy area on the floor. I have a slight difficulty increase in mind, nothing groundbreaking (for now).
By the way, I have been thinking about scripting silhouette-visibility with T3Ed but I'd rather finish my first FM beforehand. :erg: Don't know if someone else has yet implemented such "soft" AI/gameplay improvements.
ZylonBane on 4/6/2012 at 16:50
Quote Posted by TTK12G3
What is so cumbersome about having it set on the mousewheel with everything else?
You just answered your own question.
Beleg Cúthalion on 4/6/2012 at 20:30
Its basical fukcing science.
Bakerman on 4/6/2012 at 21:52
Quote Posted by Beleg Cúthalion
(would give more sense to this wall-hugging feature of TDS, too)
You're right, I totally forgot about that feature. Even when I was playing the game :p. I guess that if silhouetting was implemented in the same way that regular shadows are (i.e., guards are basically blind), then the difficulty increase wouldn't be too steep.
