How to add great "immersion"?

[ShooterSix 0]

Hey guys,

I'm designing a mission right now that I want to be very immersive... that you actually feel a real battle is taking place.

What's your opinion on high concentration of troop numbers in mission? Too clunky and clumsy, or more immersive?

What's your oppinion on how to add immersion to the battlefield?

Thanks for any replies, can't wait to hear your responses and thoughts!

[BraTTy 0]

I considered making one too

First thing that comes to mind is:

If you were talking high concentration in one area...

I would need the ultimate cover that I can fire from with some serious firepower (mgun,nades)

Because its hard in Arma to take out many soldiers , once your spotted your groundbeef

They would have to be spread out some

edit: oh, this should be in Mission Editing section

[Rhodite 3]

Moved.

[sander 14]

Hi,

One of the means to create immersion is to use a professionally looking briefing that follows the template for an operation order (OPORD) and uses the appropriate military expressions.

Some useful references to help create a believable operation order:

Example of OPORD for reconnaissance mission

Example of OPORD for an infantry mission

Example of OPORD for mechanised infantry mission

Combat leader guide

Another means to create immersion in the mission itself is to give an impression that there is a larger military machine at work than just the squad of which you are part. This can be done by having the player for example view a large encampment at the start of a mission or have the player pass an assembly area with lots of units, though these methods can have a possibly unwanted impact on performance. Another effective method of creating the impression of being part of a bigger operation is to add radio messages in the mission between the player's unit and for example the next step in the chain of command. Background noise of combat sounds is another method one can use. Having firing or explosions going on in the distance can help create the illusion that combat is going on elsewhere as well.

For missions that illustrates very well how immersion can be created by a combination of different means I suggest you take a look at Sui's work for OFP, especially Facile Ground, the culmination of a series of very good missions.

Regards,

Sander

[Op4 BuhBye 0]

For a mission to have what you are looking for it needs...

1: A good plot. The whole idea of the mission cant leave a first impression that its lame.

2: It should make the player think all the time. Whats the best plan to get it done etc. Yes a player will always be immersed in a fire fight but you need to make them think in between them also.

I like to toss twists in my missions like making objectives that affect others. Ex: Make an objective that has to be done first but but another in front of it. So if they dont think about what they are doing they fail. Toss some twists in. War isnt straight forward thing go wrong all the time.

Its the little things that few people do to put realism in a mission. You need to think about acually being there while you make the map.

[Rejn 0]

I made a smaller scale battle mission called The Cause - Battle for the hedge... I was inspired by the Normandy hedgrows.. feel free to check it out if you like... it uses an enemy respawn script... its in thread "the cause" in user missions.

If your making a defencive mission.. use group enableattack false. I forgot to do that in my mission. Something I will fix when i sttring them together in a campaign.

Big battles can be immersive but ensure that you take proper percautions to not strain the system. System lag can hurt immersion D:

massive ammounts of event handlers and units can cause problems... I find that naming units and adding the evenhandlers to the unit names in spawn scripts works well.

Alot of people seem to like armour support where the infantry might advance with armour etc... keep things diverse and consider possible scenarios etc... mabey look at past historical events/missions for inspiration and tactics etc...

[Big Nasty 0]

The number one thing which will put your mission above 90% of those out in the community is radio voices added to your radio messages. Keep them plentyful too so that barely a minute goes by without someone talking over the radio or talking amongst your team.

Can be a drag sorting all the sound files and writing the description etc but people will certainly appreciate it.

[5133p39 14]

The game is full of (ambient) sounds... the barking dog, birds, etc., use them.

The default ArmA world is too silent (only crickets or cicadas).

...i remember when i played the "steal the car" OFP mission for the first time, some dog was barking not far away, i was sneaking around a house and then suddenly i heard a dog snarl right behind me and i nearly shit myself - that is what i call immersion :-)).

[ColonelSandersLite 0]

If you really want to answer that question, start comparing the feel of the original cold war crisis campaign for ofp to the new arma campaign.

CWC didn't have some of the things that people here have mentioned. It wasn't even believable. It still put you right there though.

If you ask me, one of the biggest things that made it happen is the fact that the characters and environment had personalities added to them though the plot line. The openings of several of the first few missions where building character for your mates. Same happened every time a new character was introduced.

Arma's campaign by comparison is a sterile go to point a, do this, go to point b, do that, kill anyone that get's in your way. Rinse, repeat.

[ArmaVidz 0]

Hey guys,

I'm designing a mission right now that I want to be very immersive... that you actually feel a real battle is taking place.

What's your opinion on high concentration of troop numbers in mission? Too clunky and clumsy, or more immersive?

What's your oppinion on how to add immersion to the battlefield?

Thanks for any replies, can't wait to hear your responses and thoughts!

MOre troops = more bullets whizzing by = more franticness = more immersion

If you want real immersion you could make a few custom voices for when any blufor (or when on opfor, and opfor) soldier goes down the custom sound is played. "F&*@ man down!" "MEDIC!"

Or the same use but when you down an enemy soldier rather than "I got em" you could use something with a little more attitude.

I think immersion in ArmA is very possible, however we have to make the engine not do what it normally does like Ai going prone, then standup, then prone, then standup... LOL.

Good luck

[Trapper 0]

If you want to feel a real battle taking place, then make a real battle taking place.

All your many supporting ai groups need their own orders. Some groups conquer a hill to cover your flank, others defend a village and some are waiting to reinforce where needed and so on. Create more than one hot spot possibility, so everything is really dynamic.

Do the same objectives for the opposition and then let the ai finish the big battle situation by chance.

Now select one of the groups and place the player in it. Add a realistic briefing that covers only the informations the soldier would get. Don't write down the whole ai plot just because you can.

Add allies radio chatter messages, cutscenes, change players objectives drastically or any other gimmick you think of... and let them be triggered only when by chance a situation causing it took place. eg the guys attacking the hill are defeated.

[johnnyboy 3793]

Chit-chat before and between actions is good too. Guys complaining about the chow, their CO, girlfriends. Civilians say something when you pass by. People go about their business.

[Barnaby2007 0]

Immersion ...............

For me the most impressive addition is body movent to wounding, near by explosions etc

So for instance a left shoulder wound could knock you round that way and put you on your back or a near by explosion could cover you in matter splatter or when you come out of water you are still wet.

It would be good to have the shiver tremour you get from being too near an explosion.

Also when sniping I'm not convinced that AI's are fooled by camo or being in a bush or using shadows it seems to me that if an AI has direct line of sight even though you are in the shadows etc he gets a 1-shot kill.

Regards

Barnaby out