Nanite Weapon Holstering

Sirisian · 2012-02-25, 01:50 AM

In a recent tweet I made to T-Ray I tried to summarize a change to their holstering system in 140 characters.

Originally Posted by Sirisian

How are you doing holstering? Does the gun disappear? Make it dissolve into green glowing nanites and that's the holstering delay.

He clarified how their doing holstering right now:

Originally Posted by T-Ray

its just like gta

If anyone isn't familiar with GTA here's a video demonstrating the basic holstering and unholstering of many weapons. The idea is the weapon animates to a holstering position and the weapon disappears or appears in the player's hands.

Since we're in a science fiction world with nanites I think we could actually make the concept more believable. I explained the basic idea in the tweet, but I'll expand on it.

Say you you're holding a pistol and wanted switch to a MCG. The pistol would animate by dissolving toward the player's hands with a red/teal/blue glow along the borders depending on the faction. From a technical point of view it's a cheap GPU operation. You'll have to take my word for it. The time for the animation would define the holstering delay. The character would then move his hands into the position for the MCG as the weapon formed in his hands. (I haven't seen the movie, but there's a scene in the trailer for Green Lantern where the protagonist makes a MCG. It would be kind of like that probably but not as bright for the visual).

As a cheap visual (note, I'm not an artist) dissolving a pistol might look like:

Going from a MCG to a pistol would be similar. The MCG would dissolve into the player's armor then a pistol would form into their hand.

What this allows for is a way for large weapons (HA and AV) to get holstered by essentially going into the player's armor after dissolving so they aren't forced to just disappear instantly or fade away with no sci-fi explanation.

Any comments or similar ideas?

This is probably one of my more non-controversial topics.

Seems like win since we don't have visual holstering slots anymore.

VanuMAXGuy · 2012-02-25, 01:58 AM

If we can't have PS1 style weapon slinging over our backs, this would be a pretty rad alternative.

+1 from me.

The Kush · 2012-04-21, 05:43 PM

Originally Posted by VanuMAXGuy

If we can't have PS1 style weapon slinging over our backs, this would be a pretty rad alternative.

+1 from me.

Agreed. Would rather have it holstered on side/back but this would also work

Toppopia · 2012-04-21, 06:33 PM

They could add a scanning feature which could be an equipment to allow you to see what weapons and equipment they have so you could still find out who is the bigger threat and would give scouts more detailed information and could give snipers effective spotters to help prioritize targets etc etc.

Blackwolf · 2012-04-21, 07:13 PM

Originally Posted by Toppopia

They could add a scanning feature which could be an equipment to allow you to see what weapons and equipment they have so you could still find out who is the bigger threat and would give scouts more detailed information and could give snipers effective spotters to help prioritize targets etc etc.

I think if the Enhanced Targeting implant was making a comeback, this would definitely fall into that category.

I could see Enhanced Targeting showing health, armor, brackets for an idea on the size of the target, and icons along the side revealing what weaponry the target currently has.

The icons would be pretty basic, a bazooka to indicate AV weaponry for example.

VioletZero · 2012-02-25, 02:05 AM

How about "It's a design shortcut, don't think too hard about it."

FastAndFree · 2012-02-25, 02:50 AM

I really like this idea. Reminds me of the scene from Tron Legacy where the bad guys jumped out a window and summoned their Light Jets around themselves as they were falling. How awesome would it be if THAT was how vehicle spawning happened?

I can but dream

Although I guess if weapons just appeared out of thin air people might ask, not unreasonably, why you can't "carry" every single weapon in your empire's inventory

CutterJohn · 2012-02-25, 03:01 AM

That could be pretty sweet i think. Wouldn't be too hard to pull off either, just a particle effect and a moving transparency on the weapon.

Sifer2 · 2012-02-25, 03:14 AM

It still sucks they are taking all the little details out. Holstered weapons, vehicle enter/exit animations. But yeah since its Sci-Fi they could at least add an effect like this rather than just lazy weapons disappearing.

CutterJohn · 2012-02-25, 03:17 AM

Originally Posted by Sifer2

It still sucks they are taking all the little details out. Holstered weapons, vehicle enter/exit animations. But yeah since its Sci-Fi they could at least add an effect like this rather than just lazy weapons disappearing.

Honestly I'd prefer not having holstered weapons. I hate the look of giant weapons welded to someones back clipping through their backpacks. A single MA sized weapon looked ok, but dual HA/AV looked ridiculous.

Warborn · 2012-02-25, 05:06 AM

Originally Posted by Sifer2

It still sucks they are taking all the little details out. Holstered weapons, vehicle enter/exit animations. But yeah since its Sci-Fi they could at least add an effect like this rather than just lazy weapons disappearing.

It's not lazy, it's a consideration of system resources. If simply equipping a weapon creates some kind of particle effect, that's more of a strain on people's systems than otherwise, and for what? People are cool with guns just disappearing. Happens all the time in games. Not a huge deal. But if it means crappier looking explosions, or weapon fire effects, or whatever else, is it really worth it to have fancy effects for switching weapons? Or a lower frame rate?

Katanauk · 2012-05-01, 09:41 AM

Originally Posted by Sifer2

It still sucks they are taking all the little details out. Holstered weapons, vehicle enter/exit animations. But yeah since its Sci-Fi they could at least add an effect like this rather than just lazy weapons disappearing.

Is this true? If I don't see my guy get in and out of vehicles Ill be truly disappointed. Will this be like BF where I magically end up in my seat?

Xaine · 2012-02-28, 11:06 AM

Originally Posted by VioletZero

How about "It's a design shortcut, don't think too hard about it."

I don't think I've ever seen you post something remotely positive or complimentary.

Do you just hate everything or? :P

Kran De Loy · 2012-02-28, 11:20 AM

Originally Posted by Xaine

I don't think I've ever seen you post something remotely positive or complimentary.

Do you just hate everything or? :P

Some people paint beautiful pottery, others cook like a 5 star chef. Maybe he just has an innate talent for being a grouchy cu t?

Xaine · 2012-06-04, 04:25 AM

Originally Posted by VioletZero

How about "It's a design shortcut, don't think too hard about it."

If i see one post, where you don't shoot down someone's idea with a retarded one liner like that. I'll eat my hat.

Really, that is all i ever see you do. I've yet to see a constructive post from you. I'm not sure why you haven't been banned, because you contribute nothing to this forum apart from things such as the above quote, after someone has put together an idea.