Names of Friendlies Should be GREEN!

Dart · 2012-07-10, 09:04 AM

After watching the stream last night I think the reason we've seen so much TKing so far is because of the inaccurate IFF interface (Identify Friend or Foe). I was struggling to tell which Empire people were, at a glance, and judging by the amount of TKing we've seen at E3 and again last night I don't think I'm the only one. Part of this, I believe, is because friendlies currently show up in WHITE. That's the same colour that you get for lots of other things in game.

Now I understand that the devs wanted to keep GREEN for squadmates but right now I just don't think it's worth the trade-off. I'd far rather see all the guys on MY Empire highlighted green and hopefully not get TK'd by every 'friendly' who happens to see me and can't figure out which Empire I belong to. Any thoughts?

Karrade · 2012-07-10, 09:10 AM

Originally Posted by Dart

After watching the stream last night I think the reason we've seen so much TKing so far is because of the inaccurate IFF interface (Identify Friend or Foe). I was struggling to tell which Empire people were, at a glance, and judging by the amount of TKing we've seen at E3 and again last night I don't think I'm the only one. Part of this, I believe, is because friendlies currently show up in WHITE. That's the same colour that you get for lots of other things in game.

Now I understand that the devs wanted to keep GREEN for squadmates but right now I just don't think it's worth the trade-off. I'd far rather see all the guys on MY Empire highlighted green and hopefully not get TK'd by every 'friendly' who happens to see me and can't figure out which Empire I belong to. Any thoughts?

Maybe swap green with white? So the squad still gets it own highlight, but the common unit is green?

Blue would work too, if green was squadmates, unless platoons or something is blue already, though I suppose you have the sky/ocean to deal with there, even if white you have the sun glare.

I don't think it'll be an issue as much when people can recognise units, as they will be able to, though at first I believe you are right.

-edit

Another option, different shades of green for squad members. Regular green = Regular troops, lighter = squad/platoon, even lighter perhaps if you wanted to have platoon and squad green.

Reizod · 2012-07-10, 09:12 AM

Maybe a darker shade like grey? I think white is the best suitable color for friendlies. I just think players are too trigger-happy IMHO.

CJMBC · 2012-07-10, 09:12 AM

I thought squad mates were Orange? I do however agree that sometimes it looked as if an enemy was in front of him that just turned out to be a team mate.. It also looks like its range triggered, when he got close the names appeared. I'm pretty sure it also looked that he could see the amount of people in enemy vehicles, but maybe that was just me cracking up....

Dart · 2012-07-10, 09:12 AM

Originally Posted by Karrade

Blue would work too, if green was squadmates, unless platoons or something is blue already.

Yeah, I'd settle for (insert another neutral colour here) but Green is just more intuitive for new players. Basically anything but white.

Originally Posted by CJMBC

It also looks like its range triggered, when he got close the names appeared. I'm pretty sure it also looked that he could see the amount of people in enemy vehicles, but maybe that was just me cracking up....

That is the second part of the issue. The IFF system needs to be reworked imo. Right now it looks pretty poor IMO. And yeah, you could see the number of occupants inside vehicles with a little '1/2' or '2/2' indicator. I'm not sure whether that's necessary or balanced on enemy vehicles tbh. I'd rather see the names of the driver (as in PS1) - possibly with the help of an implant and NOT know how many people were in enemy vehicles.

Canaris · 2012-07-10, 09:19 AM

yeah it should be Green for own faction this is an industry norm and it could be another colour for squad mates, the rainbow is our oyster for choice.

zomg · 2012-07-10, 09:19 AM

I think there should be an option to define the colors yourself.

Remember that thread about color blind options? I'm a bit bad with shades of green and such, so while I agree that having a unified color for things like foes is good, I'm a bit worried about them being easy to see. BF3 for instance had some bad choices with that regard.

I believe someone actually commented that it took a couple of hours for a developer to add options for that in some other game

Kran De Loy · 2012-07-10, 09:19 AM

I find I write too much when I post.

Anyway, 2 points I'm gonna make here.

First:
Yeah I see what you mean, but I don't think it's a problem of the white names, I mean at long distances you could see a symbol representing the faction next to the name and at close ranges you should be able to make out the colors/shape of the ally.

Also THERE IS A GIANT FLOATING NAME THERE. It doesn't matter what color it is if it is there, if someone is shooting at it, it is because they're stupid. No real reason other than then.

Second:
Personally I hated seeing the names at long distances like over 100 feet away. That really bothered me. I would want to be sure that names for infantry and whoever is inside of a vehicle only show up within a very close range, like 30-40 feet. Feet mind you. That's super close.

Also the option to turn off names entirely.

Also enable binoculars to be able to show names on allies, like something that shows up off to the side near the edge of the binocs. Of course not on enemies though.

CJMBC · 2012-07-10, 09:20 AM

Originally Posted by Dart

That is the second part of the issue. The IFF system needs to be reworked imo. Right now it looks pretty poor IMO. And yeah, you could see the number of occupants inside vehicles with a little '1/2' or '2/2' indicator. I'm not sure whether that's necessary or balanced on enemy vehicles tbh. I'd rather see the names of the driver (as in PS1) - possibly with the help of an implant and NOT know how many people were in enemy vehicles.

I think seeing the number of occupants would be pretty detrimental to using decoy transports and such... Why target a 1/12 when you could kill a full transport.. And it's as simple as targeting...

This might be temp though, so I won't jump to conclusions just yet!

Karrade · 2012-07-10, 09:20 AM

Originally Posted by zomg

I think there should be an option to define the colors yourself.

Remember that thread about color blind options? I'm a bit bad with shades of green and such, so while I agree that having a unified color for things like foes is good, I'm a bit worried about them being easy to see. BF3 for instance had some bad choices with that regard.

I believe someone actually commented that it took a couple of hours for a developer to add options for that in some other game

Brilliant suggestion

Also the icons suggestion was nice, a few posts above.

All options perhaps?

Dart · 2012-07-10, 09:25 AM

Yep yep, I agree about defining colours yourself. But as has been noted, the industry norm is Green and since we're trying to make sure as many people get into PS2 as possible, why not have it as Green by default?

I agree showing how many people are in each enemy vehicle effectively removes 'decoy' vehicles as an option and while I can completely understand it's use for friendly vehicles (saves you trying to jump in a full Galaxy) it should not be an option for enemy ones! As I said, I'd far rather just know the name of the pilot/driver and leave it at that.

Zicamox · 2012-07-10, 09:31 AM

Originally Posted by Dart

Yep yep, I agree about defining colours yourself. But as has been noted, the industry norm is Green and since we're trying to make sure as many people get into PS2 as possible, why not have it as Green by default?

I agree showing how many people are in each enemy vehicle effectively removes 'decoy' vehicles as an option and while I can completely understand it's use for friendly vehicles (saves you trying to jump in a full Galaxy) it should not be an option for enemy ones! As I said, I'd far rather just know the name of the pilot/driver and leave it at that.

Knowing the amount of people in the enemy vehicle could help a lot though. Say you're a Heavy assault with an AV rocket launcher, and you see an enemy tank. The name tag says it has 2 people in it, so that way the top turret (machine gun) could easily spin around and shoot you, before you get a couple shots off.

Then again, that could be too much information as well.

SnipeGrzywa · 2012-07-10, 09:31 AM

I think color schemes aren't that important. Play the game for a week and you will be use to it. They spent all that time to make each empire look unique that the names are more for situational awareness and you can trash talk ppl.

MrBloodworth · 2012-07-10, 09:32 AM

Looked like squad is green, faction is white. Enemy is red.

Dart · 2012-07-10, 09:33 AM

Originally Posted by SnipeGrzywa

I think color schemes aren't that important. Play the game for a week and you will be use to it. They spent all that time to make each empire look unique that the names are more for situational awareness and you can trash talk ppl.

But it is important if you can't tell who is what faction before you can shoot them. THAT is my point. Last night you could clearly see Higby was able to fire on people before he/we could tell what faction they were. That is an issue within the IFF system and needs to be fixed imo.

Btw if anyone wants to watch the stream the link is in my sig.