IMMERSION - 14th_Fly's Opus *YES IT'S ON TOPIC*

[14th_Fly 0]

Ok, here goes, after all that..

Immersion in Operation Flashpoint is quite impressive already, as previous posters have mentioned.

However, there are a few things that Operation Flashpoint can do to increase it with little or no appreciable hit on CPU cycles or bandwidth.

First is to add more visible weather effects. I have to strain hard to see that it's raining. Other games have much better rain effects. I just think in OF, it needs to be beefed up a little. I can't remembe if there's a fog option in OF editing. IF it is, it should be used more . It'd be nice not to be able to always see to the horizon.

Second, add a "quick add civilians" button that intelligently adds them to the background of either single or multiplayer maps. They can be on foot, in vehicles (civilian only), or kicking back in a structure. Via a quick menu (like Rainbow 6 series), when in contact with them you could tell them to leave, stay quiet, or get down with varying levels of compliance.

This addition would make you think twice before shooting towards every sound that you know is not your teammate. A vehicle traveling down the road might not be a civilian but instead the enemy trying to be sneaky by not rolling up in a big ass humvee or 5-ton. There could be an option to make these civilians appear in different levels of concentration (i.e like MS Flight Sim 2000 where you choose how heavy airport traffic and objects are). It could be sparse, medium, dense, or none. Ideally, it'd be a server option, not just one for the map designer.

Third, and finally (yes folks, it's here): Addition of ANIMALS.

Adding animals, like adding more civilans, would be great! And for those that think they'd be repeatedly blown up and who hate cruelty to animals, or fox hunting or whatever, make them either indestructable, or "transparent" (so that people can't hide behind a walking cow as a shield). Or they could die just like any other creature.

Birds, small rabbits, deer, elk, bears, all are possible. They could be placed randomly by the game engine using some simple rules (i.e. some animals only can move in the open fields, others only within forests, and others can move where ever.

It would require that you also drive more carefully. Cows or other large animals might disable or injure you if you hit them full force - just like in real life.

They could be given simple AI (Animal Intelligence) whre they react at a simple level (hehe maybe like the AI soldiers in Delta Force) to different things. (i.e. freeze, like deer, scatter when surprised, or just move merrily along, or attack (like a bear)).

Hearing the crunch of leaves in a forest will make you think twice before blasting away because 1) it may be an enemey or 2.) it may not be , 3) it could be an animal and shooting gives away your postition 4.) moving might attract the evil bear towards you... It all adds more things for you to think about...

and I say, it makes the game much more interesting.

Right now, people are "pixel sensitive." If a pixel in the distance moves. Well, it's either friend or foe and usually you can determine that it aint a friend. Civilians and animals will help keep people from being trigger happy, reward those with patience, and make the game lots more fun.

14th_Fly out. (again)

p.s. armourdave, yes you must be getting old and slower

[Placebo 29]

Please don't attempt to taunt the moderators, we tend to respond simply by removing posting rights, and then nobody wins

[animalica 0]

I think the idea with the random civilians is good - I like games where you got to think before you shoot.

And a few animals to revive the landscape - why not?

Even the CBM Amiga version of Hard Drivin` had an cow, also those other Amiga classic "Hunter" (Activision ©1991), which reminds me in a lot of things to OFP, had animals - but there was an penalty when you killed them (you would lose some of your score).

It`s strange that threads mentioning animals and their deaths (on purpose or not) will be locked or deleted because it also happens in real life while we play an wargame where you kill humans and this also happens in real and this is much more brutal!

Are soldiers and civilians no lifeform?

I see - mankind is still on THIS level...

[14th_Fly 0]

taunt?

[Wobble 1]

I like the animals thing, its a good idea. If yer some tree hugger and vomit every time you see a dead bunny on the road, fine thats your problem.

[Placebo 29]

http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=taunt

That's how I read "Animals Threads Don't Die, They Multiply" and "p.s. armourdave, yes you must be getting old and slower"

If you didn't mean it like that then fine

[Pete 1]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (14th_Fly @ Jan. 13 2002,05:00)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">taunt?<span id='postcolor'>

yes, placebo felt targetted when u mentioned "animal inteligence"

btw, wouldnt it be cool if the animals would be playable?...we could have a group of hunters with choppers (unarmed) searching for a player who is a deer..

[EvilSanta 0]

Yes, it could be like my town here in New jersey where hired guns (called white buffalo co.) hunt deer to control the large population. They go out with sniper rifles and nvgs, and end up giving the meat to the needy. This would make a funny mission type, sort of like those deer hunter games. Just food for thought.

[14th_Fly 0]

hahah pete.

oh placebo, that was directed at armourdave, he knows what he wrote and it was he himself who suggested he was getting slow and old..............

so uh, like whatever.

[Antichrist 0]

There is nothing wrong with killing those animals

U're killing at least 10 men every time u play OFP so if u think that murdering some rabbit is bad and slaughtering 20 soldiers is normal u're sick!!!!

[theavonlady 2]

LOL@Aintichrist's avatar!

Sorry, I didn't mean to taunt.

[christophercles 0]

I dont think they should bother with animals. Is it just me, or i the only one who thought this was a combat game, not "pretty picture simulator". If im in the middle of a battle in the forest or something, i dont want to accidently shoot a deer and give away my position, itd be crap. The civilian idea is good, but the animals dont seem necessary and a waste of cpu sycles to me, especially when people are worrying about "1gig+" maps these days.

[Guest]

This thread is going to be closed now and If I see another thread regarding this topic the creator shall be banned. I'm personally getting sick of this childish rubbish.