Jim Luc
Caldari
FMUI Navy
   |
Posted - 2009.10.20 17:23:00 -
[1]
There's a thread in the general discussion area that I thought had some merit. I remember when I was new, wanting joystick flight, etc, and then I started to get the idea of the game and how it was played, and I love it. But I still think there can be a way to add that "joystick" and cinematic feel to the game, even for veteran players.
A few ideas to make things more cinematic:
a) develop a "camera options" window, that lets you record battles for playback from any angle, allowing you to add post effects, etc. If you've ever played Halo 3, it should work exactly like the match playback works. This way you can grab screenshots and film that you normally wouldn't be able to grab during the course of battle. It will open up a whole new batch of film-makers and fan films. These films will also promote the new New Eden community, where users will post more videos of their own matches, and fan films. The graphics in EvE have finally gotten to the level of quality that rivals cinematic special effects, but it's still difficult to capture this without better camera tools.
b) allow users to toggle whether camera stays in position after target has been destroyed
c) allow free-form camera not attached to any ship or target
d) allow you to view target and set focus from a much longer distance, like make the limit 500km or something
e) create a "fighter" jet that is basically a camera drone with a sweet, sleak ship model, that allows "joystick" flight, but cannot be destroyed or targeted by other players, nor can it have any impact on battle. Hell, other players don't even need to see the little ship flying around, but it will be really fun for a pilot to jump in and fly around an asteroid belt, or fly around a huge space battle all while monitoring and controlling your main ship using the regular methods, and change your camera from the fighter to the regular views at any time. It just allows you to get closer to the battle. Or, if you're mining, allows you to hop in a ship and fly through asteroids, or with your drones as they destroy rats.
Essentially, this fighter ship is not the pod-pilot, but rather a drone that the pod pilot can control and view. So you wouldn't need to other players to see the little ship, or if they did, they couldn't destroy it or target it, because it has no bearing on battle, and is essentially a glorified camera drone. That looks and flies really cool :)
Also, this wouldn't need to be shown to other players, so you wouldn't need to add more stress to the server, it will only be on the client's side, similar to camera angles, and views, etc.
I think all of these options are easy to implement, and will add a whole new dimension to the game that we all love. It also will promote the game to new users more than any banner ads could ever do. Think if you had several thousand cinematic-quality films of huge space battles, or a ship flying around asteroid belts with huge ships in the background mining ice, all posted on Facebook, and various other social communities, how that will be a really big advertising push without paying a dime to Google.
|