Weapons Kick

[MossyStone48]

I've always felt there was something missing in combat. I finally figured out what it was: The weapons have no effect on the ship's movement or the player's view when in use. Now I'd like to see the camera give me some visual feedback when I fire a big friggin gun. Add in some sound effects and lighting changes plus a healthy amount of screen jitter depending on how close the camera is to the output and we have something interesting. Slap on a charge time based on the size of the weapon (bigger weapon = longer charge time) and let that charge time slowly consume energy from the reactors before firing. Glorious. The longer the firing is sustained the more aggressive the related jittering of the cam. If a ship is just a massive gun with engines then firing it's weapons could become very disorienting for the pilot. Placing the camera further away helps but even in astronaut mode, if you are near a weapon's output, your view needs to get jiggy wid it.

Makes designing and firing a weapon a bit more satisfying.

Edit: additionally a weapon hitting the ship would affect the camera giving it a violent stagger depending on the power and location relative to the camera would be killer too.

 

[Zyrr]

[minelayer system waiting intensifies]

Seriously. @schema @Calbiri please. I want my massive death star lasers.

 

[starhaiden]

The minelayers are going have a charge effect on other weapons you could make so what Warsong said happen with the minelayer effect.

 

[OdraNoel]

i like this idea a lot, often times its those little effects that can make all the difference in feel and perception

and whats all this talk about minelayers? new up coming weapon? where do you guys get this info! is there a dev blog or video or something i missed?

 

[Comr4de]

I'd rather have weapons fire add a force to the ship, or have projectiles actually scatter when they fire.

 

[FunnyBunny14]

i like this idea a lot, often times its those little effects that can make all the difference in feel and perception

and whats all this talk about minelayers? new up coming weapon? where do you guys get this info! is there a dev blog or video or something i missed?

Minelayers are something old they had planned but didn't finish before the weapons update. They have said they still want to add it. So now you know not to ask for minelayers anymore

 

[SmartScout]

I think that the game should jerk the view and kick the ship back if it is hit by weapons, but not if it fires weapons. It would ruin aiming and honestly, does an X-wing, the USS Enterprise, or the Death Star rattle when firing weapons, heck no. If ship rattling when hit happens then maybe a powerful sucking effect on crew and players if there is a hull breach should come in the same update.

 

[aceface]

this is what starmade is lacking and what is making every update seem like there is no change. we need to stimulate our ears god dangit[DOUBLEPOST=1412664027,1412663991][/DOUBLEPOST]@Omni

 

[MossyStone48]

you're barking up the wrong tree, ace

 

[aceface]

wut?

 

[MossyStone48]

omni doesn't do sound for this project

 

[aceface]

he said he would be in charge if it was required, can't remember the name of post but he did say that before

 

[Lecic]

I think bullets size and beam thickness increasing with weapon size would help with this as well.

 

[Omni]

this is what starmade is lacking and what is making every update seem like there is no change. we need to stimulate our ears god dangit[DOUBLEPOST=1412664027,1412663991][/DOUBLEPOST]@Omni

omni doesn't do sound for this project

Actually, I'm going to try to improve the sounds of weapons at the same time as working on particle effects for them, to give them more boom and "kick". To make it feel like you actually hit something. Audio editing is one of the many things I have a bit of experience in... it's a long list of things.

Not sure about things like camera-shake, but one of my top goals when I can finally start proper work on particle effects is to make the weapons really feel like they have power. I want a cannon to feel (in visuals and audio) like you just launched a big piece of solid matter out of your ship at high velocity, and when that big piece of solid matter hits, I want it to look and sound like you just hit it with a massive artillery shell. In other words, deep bass, loud booms and satisfying contact visual effects such as explosions. Which, there's no sound in space and not nearly as much in the way of explosions, but Rule of Cool. (So long as they're not overdone.)

It's equally important, however, that these effects aren't so intense that they quickly become bothersome. (Subtle variety could help this issue.) I personally feel that camera-shake would be more distracting and bothersome than valuable. It's a bit hard to fly your ship when anything remotely related to combat makes you unable to see, aim or fly straight. It might work a lot better in astronaut mode, though. (Shake if you're close to a large projectile hitting the ship you're on.) Also, camera shake when something hits close enough to your cockpit/core/source of vision, depending on the magnitude of the hit, could work. I could certainly understand if a small ship getting hit by the main cannon of a capital ship has some visual shake. No promises, but interesting to think about.

 

[MossyStone48]

Especially small ships that are mostly just a big gun with thrusters i want to be very hard to fly. trying to shoot and move should be pretty frustrating unless the ship is balanced correctly. either the building tones back the weapons some or the make the ship bigger to handle the kick.

 

[Mariux]

Very cool suggestion, although I think "recoil" would be a more appropriate term. We could also have the screen "crack" if the camera block gets damaged.

 

[Zyrr]

Y'know, some of these ideas are really cool, WarSong...

...but at the same time, this is going to add to our already ridiculous for a sandbox game learning curve. If and when we get some of these options, they ought to be included in the Start Game menu as a checkbox of some sort, clearly labelled and explained. We already have enough newbies quitting because of our variety in simple blocks and sometimes unclear names for them, we don't need to add debilitating screen jitter to their starting ships that may not be much more than a big gun and some thrusters.

I like Omni's suggestion quite a bit. More cool factor without obnoxious amounts of unnecessary effects.

 

[FunnyBunny14]

Moar 'plosions :p

 

[Proxima_Centauri]

We also need weapon sounds and weapon impact sounds for the myriad of weapon combinations now in the game

On top of that we need weapon sprites to cast light on nearby objects

 

[FunnyBunny14]

Actually, I'm going to try to improve the sounds of weapons at the same time as working on particle effects for them, to give them more boom and "kick". To make it feel like you actually hit something. Audio editing is one of the many things I have a bit of experience in... it's a long list of things.

We also need weapon sounds and weapon impact sounds for the myriad of weapon combinations now in the game