Basic Features We Can All Agree On (Maybe)

[PrettzL]

This one thing I've always wanted in a FPS:
- Announcer
- Music
- Gun Sounds
- Callouts/VGS
All on individually controlled volume sliders.

And when it comes to demos I'd love to see those implemented in such a way that you could say use F5-F9 for example.

F5 saves a demo of the last 10 seconds
F6 saves a demo of the last 30 seconds
F7 saves a demo of the last 60 seconds
F8 begins recording a demo/stops recording current demo
F9 clips the current demo being recorded and continues recording in a new file ongoing

Thoughts?

[ian]

I'd like to also voice support for a VGS-esque system. Some games have tried to have quick communications, but don't have the tree structure that allows for virtually every possible callout. If I had to rate communications systems on importance: Text chat > Quick chat = VGS > VOIP, but all are important and most are in modern competitive games (with some exceptions like League of Legends not having VOIP.

[JustinPierce]

This one thing I've always wanted in a FPS:- Announcer- Music- Gun Sounds- Callouts/VGSAll on individually controlled volume sliders.

Will add that to my todo list.

And when it comes to demos I'd love to see those implemented in such a way that you could say use F5-F9 for example.

F5 saves a demo of the last 10 secondsF6 saves a demo of the last 30 secondsF7 saves a demo of the last 60 secondsF8 begins recording a demo/stops recording current demoF9 clips the current demo being recorded and continues recording in a new file ongoing

Thoughts?

This sort of thing might be tricky, but it'd be nice to have yeah. With the ease and availability of stuff like OBS, it might lower the priority for me working on advanced demo playback a bit. But demos play into my long term anti-cheating plans, so it's definitely something I want to do.

Some games have tried to have quick communications, but don't have the tree structure that allows for virtually every possible callout.

Yeah, I like Tribes style tree system, though I think it can be overwhelming to new players with so many options -- they spend too much time reading at first so a lot of them may give up and just not use it. So my plan is to use the tree system but, by default, only show the most important ones so they can get used to using the VGS asap. As the user gets more comfortable with VGS, I'd expand the selection automatically (or they can just set it in options to bypass that).

[PrettzL]

This sort of thing might be tricky, but it'd be nice to have yeah. With the ease and availability of stuff like OBS, it might lower the priority for me working on advanced demo playback a bit. But demos play into my long term anti-cheating plans, so it's definitely something I want to do.

Sweet deal! Don't make a speedbump out of this suggestion though. I'm a fan of pre-buffered replays (one of the few features that TF2 has that's absolutely solid) though I've only seen them in one game so far that I don't even bother to play anymore.

It seems like it'd be a pretty neat feature for moments like this:
"Oh man that play was awesome"
presses button saves demo of period of time to be recorded in OBS later

and/or

While commentating a match:
"Did you see that ludicrous display?"
presses button
(instant replay of action)
goes back to the live game

Starting to scrape the barrel here when it comes to features that may be desirable:

-Left/Right/Upsidedown/Backwards Handedness (Model)

For the handedness thing, I'm not even sure it applies but there may be some people out there that want their tachikoma to have a dominant hand.

-Toggleable Stopwatch/Timer in GUI

A timer/stopwatch (Think Starcraft 2) that can be included in the GUI might be too much information depending on if spawn waves exist or not so this one I'll field to you Justin before really going in depth about it.

-Team Isolated Chat During Rounds/Allchat Intermission

I'm going to go stick my neck out here and say I'm against trash talking in games. So this is an opinion thing. But I'm also not for making sweeping decisions while ignoring opposition to said decisions. I don't have conclusive data or anything but from the games I've played when you cannot talk to anyone but your team mates during an active round the likelihood of raging and people becoming incoherent sacks of anger decreases dramatically.

By having 'alltalk' only available during intermission and warm up type rounds when nothing is really on the line and you have time enough to waste trash talking I believe that players will have a much more positive overall experience while playing and be much less likely to be scared away from the difficulty that AoT will present to everyone.

[vornskr]

And when it comes to demos I'd love to see those implemented in such a way that you could say use F5-F9 for example.

These would all be pretty nice--though, like you, I don't want suggesting features like this (which would be nice but aren't essential) to get in the way of more crucial things. (In an ideal world, I'd love to see replays that save the entire course of the game, not just my individual perspective, like in StarCraft. The utility for team captains, or just beginners trying to follow the flow of a match, would be huge... though I'd imagine this sort of thing isn't practical.)

-Team Isolated Chat During Rounds/Allchat Intermission

100% in favor of this, too.

[DrunkenJedi]

A good spectator mode with tools suitable for following the action. That's from a caster's point of view, anyway.

[PrettzL]

-Customizable Crosshair

The way CS:S and CS:GO do this is pretty nice. (I especially like CS:S' console commands).

I'd throw in my lot with a good spectate mode. Hopefully with a good bit of snap camera features.
Example:

1. Spectating on one guy who is going in for a cap
2. From that persons over the shoulder view you can click on other players
3. Clicking on other players swaps to them at an opposing angle so that the previous player you just were in their view is the center of the shot

(That took me a while to visualize and also write up, worth it.)

[JustinPierce]

Customizable Crosshair

Certain weapons/equipment will have different crosshairs already (like the Teleport Blade), so custom crosshairs would be a bit more complex to implement. But eventually I want to support custom HUDs using Steam Workshop (crosshairs and more).

[atavax]

yep, i hate it when devs force specific crosshairs for weapons. While a crosshair that helps indicate the arced trajectory of a weapon or the spread is useful in a tutorial, once you are familiar with it, you're just using crosshairs to help aim, and those crosshairs are inferior at that. Just a simple dot or X in a color that stands out is all that is needed.

[PrettzL]

As far as crosshairs are concerned too I do hope that allowing for inverted mode (invert the colors of what they are currently overlaying) to be a part of standard settings.

Although this game isn't dark and muddy so it might not really be a necessity.

Additional: This might actually be the first FPS I play that has a BLACK CROSSHAIR oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooohman.

[PrettzL]

@JustinPierce Is your primary concern currently whether Arms of Telos' meta is- not only- playable and also fun? Because those are two key features I fully expect AoT will have- could you enlighten us more (maybe with piechatrs and bargraphs plz) as to your primary concern that we should maintain as a key focus?

[Fixious]

I'll also throw my support behind some kind of VGS system, especially because we have objectives (flags) involved, and who knows what else in the future (C&H?). But for early beta testing my main features would be:

Customizable controls
Several graphics/resolution settings (I'm on a laptop. Graphics style looks simple so I'm not too worried)
FOV slider

Everything else can come later while map/weapon balance gets focused on.

[ChoiSeunghyun]

The only things I really want:

1. ranked matchmaking, it's why modern competitive games are successful: League of Legends, CS:GO, and many others. Queue with friends or alone, can be a simple ELO algorithm, doesn't have to be amazing. This gives something to play for.
2. eventually in game voice chat would be nice.

3. I want a chicken gun that turns the enemy into a chicken after you focus on them for long enough.

4. Maybe purchasable in game cosmetics for long term money (or later on maybe even let the community make and sell these and Telos owners take a cut). I'd like the game to have long term money for long term ladder support, servers, and updates.

[PrettzL]

Right out of the gate without even touching the game it appears that these three features are expected at minimum already by most posters from feedback:

• Resolution [Multiple Options]
• FOV Control [Slider]
• VGS/Quick Chat [Objective Callouts]

Any thoughts on these features most desired thus far?

[JustinPierce]

First two are already in. For resolution, you can just type in whatever numbers you want, though I think I set minimum 800x600 to avoid having the HUD elements don't overlap each other. Fov slider is 70-110 right now IIRC.

I've started planning the VGS system. Probably roll out text only version first and bring in VO later.

The map will be another near term priority -- it's basically still a test map right now.

[PrettzL]

I've seen a lot of newer games with built in streaming integration.

Is this something that anyone finds necessary or even useful?

[Cozy]

I've seen a lot of newer games with built in streaming integration.

Is this something that anyone finds necessary or even useful?

I really don't think so. I've seen some streamers in CS:GO have it enabled and people go full retard when they see that someone is streaming in the match. I really don't see any plus to it other than potentially growing your own viewerbase which doesn't really improve game quality at all.

[Lemuel]

Seconded. If people want to stream, let 'em use OBS (that's what Marie Antoinette said, right?) It's perfectly functional and in game streaming systems will always have limitations in terms of transitions/graphics etc. that OBS doesn't have, so you'd end up with lower quality streams anyway.
Plus it's unnecessary extra work, and who wants that?

[PrettzL]

One feature I've seen rarely but is very very nice to have that I will scream for on the top of the highest mountain is multi-monitor support for full screen windowed-mode without losing focus or minimizing the games window.

(Tribes-Ascend has this and it's lovely.)

Being able to click on my second monitor without having the game minimize on my main monitor is WONDERFUL.

[JustinPierce]

One feature I've seen rarely but is very very nice to have that I will scream for on the top of the highest mountain is multi-monitor support for full screen windowed-mode without losing focus or minimizing the games window.

(Tribes-Ascend has this and it's lovely.)

Being able to click on my second monitor without having the game minimize on my main monitor is WONDERFUL.

At least in the near term, this sort of thing is mostly going to be left to whatever Unity is capable of. =/