Boarding and Exiting animations in Planetside 2

[Dreamcast]

Keep it in the game...I dont want some guy to instally get inside a vechile.


Also it looks cool.


Also when he is getting in, make him allowed to get hit so he will die before he gets in.

[BorisBlade]

If you cant afford the animations, put in a delay via sound effects or somethin, its bad enough its gonna feel totally fake just magically gettin in and out, atleast dont kill the gameplay by just lettin us get in and out instantly.

[basti]

Do we actually know for sure why this isnt in the game? They said you cant hack enemy vehicles because of texture stuff etc, but what about those animations? Animations take a lot less ressources than a full blown 1024x1024 texture with normal maps etc. And as there will be only one, max 2 (male and female) skeletons you build your animation for, its like almost nothing.

Ofc doing those animations and getting them to look good is quite some work for those animators, and they are propably busy with lots of other stuff. Having them coming post release would be fine, as long as they come at all. Just saying "no, never" would hurt.

[Volw]

Originally Posted by basti

Do we actually know for sure why this isnt in the game? They said you cant hack enemy vehicles because of texture stuff etc, but what about those animations? Animations take a lot less ressources than a full blown 1024x1024 texture with normal maps etc. And as there will be only one, max 2 (male and female) skeletons you build your animation for, its like almost nothing.

Ofc doing those animations and getting them to look good is quite some work for those animators, and they are propably busy with lots of other stuff. Having them coming post release would be fine, as long as they come at all. Just saying "no, never" would hurt.

They said costs.

Mind it's not only animations, it's also the bits of interior you can see when entering/exiting vehicles.

[Bags]

As long as vehicle entering isn't instant I don't mind them going away too much.

[Lunarchild]

Originally Posted by basti

Do we actually know for sure why this isnt in the game? They said you cant hack enemy vehicles because of texture stuff etc, but what about those animations? Animations take a lot less ressources than a full blown 1024x1024 texture with normal maps etc. And as there will be only one, max 2 (male and female) skeletons you build your animation for, its like almost nothing.

Ofc doing those animations and getting them to look good is quite some work for those animators, and they are propably busy with lots of other stuff. Having them coming post release would be fine, as long as they come at all. Just saying "no, never" would hurt.

Animations would still need to be tweaked depending on the armor you're wearing. All armor that you can use needs to be checked, as needs each vehicle. Heck, in PS1 we have multiple animations per vehicle. (Mag Rider anyone?)

[Talek Krell]

Absolutely yes.

This is a potential gamebreaker for me (to the point that I started an account largely to make this post) as much because I loved the animations themselves as because of what their absence implies by extension of logic.

The animations, the time delay involved in actually boarding the vehicle, and the distinct entry points for different positions were all integral in creating hands down the most immersive, most interesting vehicular warfare that I've ever seen in a game. Deciding when and where to repair and resupply were engaging exercises in critical thinking, and some of the best memories I have of the game are of being ambushed by boomer dropping, pistol slinging madmen in invisible pajamas. Some of my regular crew have actually commented on the paranoia I've developed as a result of those instances.

If they're taking out the boarding animations, then the pertinent question is "What else?". Because with how much they apparently love battlefield, I'm terrified that they'll copy the instant teleporting, seat hopping, driving through the trunk, one man attack helicopter, outrepair the rocket launchering, lazy hackjob of a vehicle system that every other FPS and it's dog seems to use today. And that breaks the deal.

It doesn't have to be on release, but I want those animations. And even more importantly, everything that goes with them. So until more info is forthcoming, my answer is a very loud "A".

[Valdae]

If the game comes out without boarding animations, then a month later no-one will care. The most important thing is the time delay between entering the vehicle, and being able to use the vehicle. Something simple like flickering vehicle lights/engine starting/exhaust fumes with a 3 second delay would be enough to keep everything balanced and provide enough visual immersion.

[IceyCold]

Originally Posted by Valdae

If the game comes out without boarding animations, then a month later no-one will care. The most important thing is the time delay between entering the vehicle, and being able to use the vehicle. Something simple like flickering vehicle lights/engine starting/exhaust fumes with a 3 second delay would be enough to keep everything balanced and provide enough visual immersion.

Well in no way is this a game breaking thing; I will miss them, but I will not be angry that they are gone.

Since the costs are a problem I would much rather see them spend the money elsewhere. but maybe one day if the game is doing well this is a nice little fluff feature they could add back in.

I do think that vehicles need to have a startup time, so that people dont pop in and out of them instantly.

[Malorn]

From a product development standpoint, this seems like fluff that could be spent elsewhere. I'd rather they work on more voice macro animations or something like that than spend animation resources for all the different units entering and leaving the vehicles.

From a gameplay standpoint I dont like the delay. Push butan, enter/exit vehicle. No delay, not ime spent looking at an animation when I could be shooting or moving away to cover.

[Bags]

Originally Posted by Malorn

From a product development standpoint, this seems like fluff that could be spent elsewhere. I'd rather they work on more voice macro animations or something like that than spend animation resources for all the different units entering and leaving the vehicles.

From a gameplay standpoint I dont like the delay. Push butan, enter/exit vehicle. No delay, not ime spent looking at an animation when I could be shooting or moving away to cover.

I think people's biggest gripe is the gameplay aspect of it; you can't instantly get in and drive a vehicle.

[Highwind]

I want to know what they gain by avoiding this part of the game. Some things come to mind like avoiding the need to "carry" around the interior polygons that would need to be shown any time it was exposed (sans some modern LoS rendering tech etc) on every vehicle. Arbitrary entry points on vehicles? It sounds silly saying it, "oh you mean I have to get in at the door?" but some of the time it was a little annoying like when finding an open slot on a Gal.

The big concern that comes to mind is "warping" in / out of vehicles to avoid damage intentionally or not.

I think that creative use of either Hud animations or player-only mini-cutscenes I guess you'd call them could take the place of real loading animations that would effect the performance of those around them. That and the load / exit times for Vehicles in motions/stopped/in-flight etc will have to turned tightly for balance given that animations won't be there as a firm baseline.

[dsi]

Originally Posted by Bags

I think people's biggest gripe is the gameplay aspect of it; you can't instantly get in and drive a vehicle.

This, exactly this, having to spend time to get in/out balances the (hopefully) usefulness of them, if you have to spend 5 seconds to hop out you won't exactly have time to hop out, repair from near destruction, hop in and run away (see: BC2), you'll have to either A) Plan ahead and not rush in or B) Go down fighting as you rushed in like an idiot.

Highwind: As long as the doors are obvious that really shouldn't matter, maybe I'm just used to using doors from PS1/PR/ArmA2...

Also, not being able to see other people enter or exit is just as bad, if you can't tell what they're doing how do you react? If you wait 5 seconds to find out he might get the jump on you.

[Logit]

Originally Posted by Malorn

From a product development standpoint, this seems like fluff that could be spent elsewhere. I'd rather they work on more voice macro animations or something like that than spend animation resources for all the different units entering and leaving the vehicles.

From a gameplay standpoint I dont like the delay. Push butan, enter/exit vehicle. No delay, not ime spent looking at an animation when I could be shooting or moving away to cover.

The animations definitely aren't fluff. That few seconds getting in and out of the vehicles allows for those outside of the vehicle to react in said situation.

If somebody can hop in a tank and start shooting instantly, the infantry around have no time to run for cover, toss a jammer, or what have you..

I mean, shit, it does take time to get in and out of a vehicle, why should it be instant? It's just like pulling a gun off your back...

[Dragoneye]

Yeah. It's not a deal-breaker, but I think that's really unfortunate.

I'm an animator by trade, and I know that those entrance/exit animations aren't that bad to do. I am sure that "on paper" it looks like a bad way to spend resources. (It'd probably take two animators a couple weeks to get decent animations for all vehicles. Considering the average salary, the estimated cost is somewhere around 8,000-12,000$, not counting implementation costs).
But I also think that the vehicle animations in Planetside were something done "accidentally right", because it provides a much better sense of immersion in the world.

In fact, BF3 is -adding- animations for entering and exiting vehicles, now.

EDIT: Actually, this is the kind of thing it would be good to poke them about. It's the kind of polish that won't get added unless they think there is a good value for it. This is the kind of thing the community could conceivably get implemented by asking for it en-masse.