Spiral Knights - Southerly Offscreen Enemies

Southerly Offscreen Enemies

6 replies [Last post]

Tue, 04/26/2011 - 08:03

So there is sort of a visibility issue with enemies offscreen to the south, which makes it so players prefer to hug the southern wall in order to not be taken by surprise and to be able to aim with guns effectively, which further hinders visibility because of gates along the south wall, so this suggestion is twofold.

1. It would be nice if nearby offscreen enemies were represented by avatar bubbles along the edges of the screen, roughly indicating their position. Ideally, the bubble should highlight with the familiar red spikey 'about to attack' animation when they are about to attack, in order to help players prepare for unseen assailants.

2. Visual obstacles that abuse the camera angle are kind of brutal to deal with. It would be fantastic if there were a transparency bubble around the player, enemies, and items so that they could be seen regardless of what may stand in the way of seeing them. Particularly frustrating is the southern monster gate that glows bright purple and effectively obstructs the entire bottom two tiles of the screen near it, including the boundary between the nice, safe, floor and the deadly spikes in the final arena room, but also rather frequently hiding less mobile enemies like healers, and valuable items like health.

Tue, 04/26/2011 - 08:40

RamuneDrink

Legacy Username

Anti Aliasing. Deal with

Anti Aliasing. Deal with it.

No, the bubble suggestion is fine, but if you know there's an enemy offscreen to the south, aim south and fire. With guns, autotarget makes it ridiculously easy to hit almost anything. And with swords you can just charge them and murder them all.

Tue, 04/26/2011 - 08:41

Metaknight

why not just request that

why not just request that enemies be added to the minimap then?

Tue, 04/26/2011 - 09:13

Regarding auto targeting, as

Regarding auto targeting, as much as I love the strategy of running around in a circle firing blindly behind me, it is sometimes nice to have the illusion of control that makes a game satisfying to play, the feeling of untouchability: "I see you winding up there buddy, and now I am going to slickly raise my shield at the perfect time or step out of the way, because I am just that much of a badass that you can't touch me." This sensation is completely destroyed when something is shooting you or charging at you offscreen and you can't quite time it right to dodge or defend because you can't see the windup animation.

While minimapped enemies is a fine solution for knowing the position of enemies, it doesn't allow you to know when they are attacking, or even what type of enemy it is, and dodging offscreen attacks is kind of difficult if you don't see the warning animation for them. We aren't talking about enemies who are designed to attack while offscreen, we're talking about enemies who, if they are north of you, you can see them winding up and dodge their attacks, but if they are south of you, they are impossible to predict and dodge.

Tue, 04/26/2011 - 10:07

bodines1

Legacy Username

Meh

doesnt seem like a big enough problem to worry about. What possible solution do you have in mind? Make the camera rotatable? They are not going to do that as it would ruin their art direction. I wouldn't even want them to. What else could they do? If they made the camera able to be zoomed out everyone would play with it zoomed out to the max.

I say just deal with it. :/

EDIT: I suppose i should have read more than the first two lines of your post lol.
I wouldnt mind some transparency on obstacles, as long as it isn't on enemies too.
I disagree with the avatar bubble idea, unless it was optional. The screen is already quite cluttered with alot of enemies around, and having avatar bubbles (imagine an oiler danger room) would make things impossible to see.

Sat, 04/30/2011 - 09:13

Austenite

I too would like a fix for

I too would like a fix for this problem but I have no clue what it would be. It's really frustrating to have undodge/blockable shots come at you from the bottom. Would it work if the camera was centered slightly further south than the player?

Sat, 04/30/2011 - 11:56

Fenix-Stryk

In Bloodline Champions, there

In Bloodline Champions, there is a camera mode where your camera moves slightly towards your mouse depending on where your mouse is. For example, if your mouse is south, the camera moves south to compensate. The lower your mouse is on the screen (read: the closer it is to the bottom of the screen), the farther down south the camera moves. Basically, the camera follows your mouse, giving you an increased line of sight towards where you are aiming. Suffice to say, it was a huge boon and everyone used it because of how useful it was.

This could fix your South problem. Something to think about.

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Southerly Offscreen Enemies