Visibility

VasikkA · Post by **VasikkA** » Fri Jan 03, 2003 7:31 pm

Have you ever wondered why all areas are visible to the player in Fallout and Fallout 2? This clearly makes the game easier for the player, because he can in advance plan his moves when he knows what to expect. I noticed this a while ago when I was at the Wanamingo mines in Redding. I could see the location of nearby aliens simply by scrolling around the surrounding area. I could also see the location of ladders and other stuff. That helped me to plan my moves beforehand, making the game a lot easier. Some might say it's not very realistic, which it isn't, but I don't care too much about realism in games. But still, this feature is pretty annoying. Should you see what treasure awaits you behind the locked door? Should you see the footlockers on the other side of the fence when you arrive in Broken Hills, or would it be more fun to 'accidentally' discover them?

Well, I think that covering all unexplored areas in a dark cloud, like in many RTS's, could be a solution to this.You might think I mean a system used in Diablo or Infinity Engine games, but I'd rather have a more clever system than that. In IE games, your character uncovered a small area around him as he traveled around the map/area, sometimes showing what's on the other side of the wall. The game should only uncover the area your character can see. Nox did this very well with its True Vision system. Your character should only see what's in front of him, revealing a corridor or a room at a time. Of course, your character's perception and the amount of light should affect the visibility. This would make exploring feel more atmospheric and more adventurous, accompanied with pressing music. Imagine being attacked by a deadly robot from behind, or running into some floaters behind the corner, immediately activating the turn-based combat. Your party members would offer an extra pair of eyes making you less vulnerable to sudden attacks. I can think of a few games which succeeded in creating a tension like this. Old X-COMs, Doom, Hexen and AvP for example, but I think it would work well in Fallout too.

Civilized places, such as towns, vaults etc and open areas should be fully visible to the player. But all unexplored caves, mines, abandoned bases and vaults should not be visible to the player. It is up to the player to explore them, or not. Once an area is uncovered from the black cover, it should remain visible as well as all static corpses, items, machinery and NPCs there. Definitely no respawnable monsters, I hate them.

Maybe all NPCs and critters could appear as dark shadows at a long distance before they're recognized. The range would depend on your character's perception. This would create a slight feeling of uncertainty, in a positive way. All NPCs and critters should use the same visibility system, which would allow stealthy movement methods and spying/trapping enemy patrol routes. Critters should also react to gunfire and other noise nearby. This would encourage the use of stealthy methods. Smart enemy AI would be nice, because the critters in CRPGs are usually dumbasses and rarely work as a group. Maybe stealthy characters could choose perks which would enhance their senses(ability to hear/locate critters from a distance etc). The motion sensor would now be a useful gadget.

Maybe you were happy with the visibility system used in Fallout and Fallout 2, but I think these might be suggestions at least worth discussing. What do you think?

Stealth Rabbit · Post by **Stealth Rabbit** » Fri Jan 03, 2003 8:22 pm

That actually sounds like a good idea.

Too bad FO3 wont be coming out til hell freezes over...

VasikkA · Post by **VasikkA** » Fri Jan 03, 2003 8:23 pm

Stealth Rabbit wrote:Too bad FO3 wont be coming out til hell freezes over...

Good, then they have enough time to fix all bugs.

Snake · Post by **Snake** » Sat Jan 04, 2003 4:39 am

LOL, quote of the day
I'l laught about that for the next few weeks I think
:P

Mad Max RW · Post by **Mad Max RW** » Sat Jan 04, 2003 6:23 am

No, even if Black Isle was working on Fallout 3 for 50 years Interplay would somehow rush it out the door unfinished.

Snake · Post by **Snake** » Sat Jan 04, 2003 4:26 pm

I think the visibilty is fine as is
I mean that once you've played the game once you pretty much remember whats coming up next
Plus you encounter some ppl that kick your ass and you die
So you reload and change weapons or something different
So your not really gaining much in seeing ppl around the corner
You need to have decent weapons and skill to kill them anyway

Kashluk · Post by **Kashluk** » Sat Jan 04, 2003 8:07 pm

This visibility-thing sounds interesting... Though it means more working hours spent in Fo3 :-/ Just like Mad Max stated earlier.

I'm all ok with the system in FO 1 and 2. But if they change it, they must do it properly (pretty much like you wrote, VasikkA).

Bloodgeon11 · Post by **Bloodgeon11** » Tue Jan 07, 2003 1:32 am

AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please, no Fog-o'-War in the fallout universe...I might go insane! The underwear gnomes! *Cleanup in aisle three* Oh no, the voices, they're back! *Weeps*