ArmA2 Point! (as in "hey you, go there" *point*)

[noubernou 77]

Hello Ladies and Gents...

I am working on a feature that I hope will really change the way people do multi-player infantry squad tactics!

How many times have you wished you could just scream over vent or TS "GO THERE" and point in the direction or at the object you want your squad members to go to?

From my experience you end up having to accurately describe where you want your team members to go, even if its just crossing a street (which as well all know, in combat, real or simulated is probably the most dangerous thing you can do). There are some ways around this, using the commander view, or setting squad member waypoints, but that relies on the games squad make up. Composite groups from different squads are often the norm in more unorganized games and even on more organized missions.

Well hopefully that will all be a thing of the past soon!

What my addon will do (is doing) right now is basically making an icon on a players screen that shows where the people around them are pointing. Since its hard to actually look down someones arm or trace their arm length in game I feel an icon paradigm is an appropriate solution. This icon, as of right now is a semi-transparent colored circle on the screen that fades out to the edges as you can see below. This should make it so you can visually draw your eyes around the general area someone is pointing, since the icon wont change size depending on the distance of whatever the person is pointing at. See below for an example.

I also have another one I am using while testing that has a opaque crosshair in the center. You can see that in the screen shots below.

Inside that circle is the name of the person who is pointing.

This icon is placed on the viewers screen approximately where the users line of sight the object they are looking intersect, but it even works at pointing at things in the air!

Right now it works in a radius of 10 meters, behind or in front. In the future I would like to make this so it works so that if you are in view of the person pointing and within a certain distance (say 20 meters) it would show you. Since it samples the pointers center of the screen, you can free look to point in different directions from where your weapon is pointing, simulating moving your arm around independently from the rest of your body.

Some screen shots below (click to see fullsize)...

I took these on my main PC, with my laptop also in the game. The laptop is the one pointing at things.

Video:

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Things I hope to add in the future:

• Pointing animation (somehow, someway)
  
• If user is holding a gun that requires more than one hand to wield while firing (which is almost all of them) then you can not shoot while pointing.
  
• Disabling/enabling pointing for situations where you would obviously not be able to point or see someone pointing (inside armored vehicles, etc).
  
• Selectable colors (I initially plan to make them random, this might not be a big deal though).
  

My goal here is to add what I think is a much needed way of interacting with other players, but do it in the most realistic way possible, all while maintaining ease of use and game play (if it requires more than one key stroke to enable/disable pointing I don't want to do it).

What I want from people here? Suggestions! If you have any way you think I can improve on this let me know!

Here is the real kicker. Right now this is totally script based. I plan to make it an addon, but it being right now totally script based means it could be added to any multiplayer server with no client requirements!

Edited December 29, 2009 by NouberNou

[jw custom 56]

That sounds nice :cool:

[Raunhofer 13]

Looks good, but could the 'pointer' be less visible? For example if someone is trying to show the hidden enemy sniper, that cross or balloon would cover him and nobody couldn't see him.

Could it be for example transparent circle (like a ring) or something like that?

[Lhowon 10]

Good initiative, this is the sort of thing I would add to the Ultimate Military Simulator I'm designing (in my head :P). Pointing is of course very valuable in real life, it's just taken for granted.

[noubernou 77]

Looks good, but could the 'pointer' be less visible? For example if someone is trying to show the hidden enemy sniper, that cross or balloon would cover him and nobody couldn't see him.

Could it be for example transparent circle (like a ring) or something like that?

Yes, it is much less visible when I am not using the one with the cross hair (see the blue image at the top). It is very faint (transparent). It adds somewhat to the realism in that, as in real life it takes you a second to find what they are looking at. Slows down the process a bit.

[KeyCat 131]

Nice idea NouberNou, looking forward to this....

/KC

[jasonnoguchi 11]

Very interesting gameplay mod idea. looking forward to this!

[kremator 1065]

This sounds brilliant. Looking forward to using it ingame.

[noubernou 77]

Updated first post with a video! :D

System is working really well. I need to make it work for people inside cars, or people that are turned out of tanks too... Not sure how I can query that though on a player if they are turned out or not...

[Binkowski 26]

Awesome! Looking good Nouber. Can't wait to use this.

[Inkompetent 0]

Nice idea! Looks really nice this far!

As for vehicles, is it not possible to check a crew's/passenger's animation state to see if they are turned out or not, if no more simple solution exists? =/

[noubernou 77]

Hrm that is a possibility. I didn't know turning out was an animation?

[kremator 1065]

The video is just superb .... being able to combine this with the Spacebar look will be amazing !

Keep up the good work mate. I'm sure you will have a FLURRY of people asking to be beta testers :)

[Defunkt 431]

Very nice idea, the hallmark of which is its simplicity. It'll be a great aid but care should be taken not to make it any more useful than pointing is in real life, the need for accurate vocal communications and the potential for ambiguity is a vital element when immersing yourself in a combat sim. A few observations...

1. One-size regardless of range is an elegant mechanism for making indications less distinct the further away but I think in most/many cases it should be much larger than shown in the screenshots, at present it's quite easy for the pointer and observer to determine the center, as you might guess I don't much care for a crosshair within.

2. The size you're using might be okay if the observer is standing right next to the person pointing and can more or less sight along his arm but where standing 10m away and perpendicular to the direction indicated I really think it should be nearer a half-screen high. Scale according to the distance between the two parties and to a lesser extent the angle between pointer, observer and target, I think it'd be nice to reflect the two things differently, scale according to distance and let angle influence opacity.

3. Why coloured? Strikes me as unnecessarily 'gamey', personally I'd be happy with a fuzzy white/light cloud, might also further address the ease with which a center can be determined.

4. You're going to need two keys aren't you? One for the pointer to choose to point and another for the observer to look (they should have the option of not seeing these indicators). You could use one key and a shift/ctrl modifier but I'd suggest you should be able to point and look at others pointing at the same time.

5. Offset of the pointer's name could/should be randomised so as not to indicate a center.

---------- Post added at 08:02 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:57 AM ----------

I think it'd be nice to reflect the two things differently, scale according to distance and let angle influence opacity.

Actually the other way around would probably be more representative of RL.

EDIT (should think more before posting): Strictly speaking the angle between pointer and observer would influence the width (only) of the blob, it still being possible to accurately gauge the ascension but harder to determine the lateral component when standing perpendicular to the direction indicated. Possibly I'm just being a bit OCD now...

Edited December 27, 2009 by Defunkt

[noubernou 77]

I have implemented a number of the suggestions so far.

I am looking for a good way to measure the brightness of a scene to make the pointing cursor blend in more. At night the cursor is too bright and obvious. I made a black cursor that blends in more with the night sky and darkness, but the problem is blending between the two. Since ArmA2 simulates the length of days over the course of the year it'd be a pain to manually make tables to adjust all of them...

I tried implementing a sunrise/sunset calculator as well, but I am not getting anywhere near the right results (I think the latitude/longitude I have is totally wrong).

[kremator 1065]

What about having a pulsing cursor - that way you will be able to see the point in any light.

[buliwyf 4]

That sounds really nice! Great idea!

I think it would be nice to work with an HPP File in USERCONFIG folder where users can change the color of the icon... :rolleyes:

:dance1:

[TheCrusader 10]

Great idea NouberNou!

One thing I would like to see, is that the pointer is only visible if you are really close to the person pointing. This is because if there are multiple people in a squad all pointing stuff out to different people, it will get quite confusing very quickly as there are multiple pointer markers moving around.

[Master gamawa 0]

Ι used to use the 'go to' command to do the same thing when I played with friends. I just gave them a waypoint towards the house, area, tree, bush I wanted to point towards.

But this is even better. I am kind of vague on the blob idea though. Ι would prefer/suggest a simple circle or maybe just four segments of a complete circle that stays on screen for a few seconds and then fades away.

[noubernou 77]

The point of the blob serves two purposes.

First, it makes it so the pointing is not extremely pin-point. How often do you have a friend point ant something and immediately see it with no scanning of your own eyes? It takes you a second, even a half second. This is meant to somewhat simulate that.

Second, as you move closer to the person the blob becomes easier to see, making it easier to find what the person is looking at. If you are 15 meters behind the person you will only have general sense where he is pointing. It is not until you get much closer that you will be able to more easily pinpoint the person pointing out something.

Defunkt has the right idea. I need to make this a little bit "harder" to interpret in the game, so it does not become too "easy" to point at things. Not too hard though. If you are right up next to the person pointing something out it shouldn't take you more than a second or two to figure out what he is pointing at. If you are 10 or 20 meters away and someone is pointing out something it should take you more time, and make you want to come closer to the person or ask them "hey what are you pointing at?"

[Master gamawa 0]

Don't try too hard dude. There is so much going on in the game that you don't really need to overcomplicate things with adjusting visibility according to distance etc...

A simple non-intrusive and transparent pointer that stays for a while and then fades away is going to be enough.

It's just enough to be able to tell your squad mates "cover this side" and go on with playing, you know what I mean?

I mean RELEASE THE DAMN THING AS SOON AS IT WORKS! :)

thanks.

[noubernou 77]

Hrmm, it shouldnt be over complicated. It feels actually pretty natural right now. The closer you are to the person the more easily you can tell what they are pointing at.

The fading is something I want to work on. For example, say you are to the side of someone and they are pointing across your field of view to something that is outside your field of view. Right now if you turn your head and they move out of your field of view the pointer blob immediately goes away. I would like to make it so when you do that you can see what they were pointing at for a few seconds, just like in real life you can establish a mental line from their arm towards the direction you were looking at, but if you are not constantly watching where they are pointing it is only good in your head for a while.

It is pretty stable right now besides some of the tweaks. Hopefully I will have something out soon. This week is sort of hectic though, being the last week of the year and all.

---------- Post added at 10:17 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:15 AM ----------

Also, I am sort of on the fence about what button to use to enable pointing. I like the space bar, but its already an over tasked button, especially with ACE2.

Also on the issue of having a button to see what people are pointing at... I hope to not need that. Pointing is going to be a disabling type action. If you are pointing then you are unable to fire your weapon (since most rifles require two hands to be effectively fire), also if you are running at a full gallop you will not be able to point either because you have to maintain your weapon (unless you have it on your back, or no weapon) and I doubt you'd be able to run while doing that. Hopefully that will stop people from annoyingly pointing all the time.

Edited December 28, 2009 by NouberNou

[MirindoR 10]

a bearing works too :/

[noubernou 77]

a bearing works too :/

That it does, but, a bearing from one person to another is inherently inaccurate unless they are also on or about in the same position. Plus, communicating a bearing under fire takes a lot more time and accuracy. I guarantee this will have a big effect on infantry under fire in the game.

Don't get me wrong though... obviously from my other addons below I do love a good bearing reading (its what artillery is all about too, and I do love artillery!).

I'll have another video up later in the evening hopefully, showing the size and opacity changes.

[kremator 1065]

Excellent mate.

What about this idea..... You point out a position but the person sees it as an area, however the longer they stare at the area the sharper the position becomes until it becomes a single point. This can all happen in about 5seconds. So if I point out enemy troops they could be in a 5 degree arc but the longer I hold the point I can focus in on exactly where they are.