Author Topic: Dear developers of FPS games:  (Read 3888 times)

Offline gpw11

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Dear developers of FPS games:
« on: Monday, November 26, 2007, 11:00:25 PM »
Most flashlights don't shut off after being used for 30 seconds.  Your perpetuation of this myth ads nothing to gameplay.  It doesn't make anything more creepy or spooky, it just means I have to stand in one spot for 30 more seconds while my flashlight recharges.  Stop being douche bags.

Offline Jedi

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Re: Dear developers of FPS games:
« Reply #1 on: Monday, November 26, 2007, 11:51:30 PM »
Dear dev's....

You know that game... um BioShock... yeah exceed that!

Offline Xessive

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Re: Dear developers of FPS games:
« Reply #2 on: Monday, November 26, 2007, 11:58:39 PM »
Haha that flashlight thing never made sense to me. Just as with Doom 3's illogical inability to duct-tape a flashlight to gun, or even a shoulder light.

Hmm, come to think of it Bioshock didn't have a flashlight.

Offline Pugnate

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Re: Dear developers of FPS games:
« Reply #3 on: Tuesday, November 27, 2007, 04:41:03 AM »
Most flashlights don't shut off after being used for 30 seconds.  Your perpetuation of this myth ads nothing to gameplay.  It doesn't make anything more creepy or spooky, it just means I have to stand in one spot for 30 more seconds while my flashlight recharges.  Stop being douche bags.

:P

Most shooters last what... 8-10 hours?

I think even flashlights with batteries from North Korea would last that long. I am curious, what game has irked you? The usual suspect would be Doom3, though I think HL2 Ep1 has similar moments.

Offline scottws

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Re: Dear developers of FPS games:
« Reply #4 on: Tuesday, November 27, 2007, 06:26:23 AM »
Yeah Doom III and HL2 come to mind immediately.  What about F.E.A.R.?  Did it have a quickly depleting flashlight battery?

Offline Xessive

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Re: Dear developers of FPS games:
« Reply #5 on: Tuesday, November 27, 2007, 06:28:16 AM »
Yeah Doom III and HL2 come to mind immediately.  What about F.E.A.R.?  Did it have a quickly depleting flashlight battery?
Yeah, it had like a 15 sec limit. It was ridiculous.

Best flashlight in a game? My vote goes to Clive Barker's Jericho.

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: Dear developers of FPS games:
« Reply #6 on: Tuesday, November 27, 2007, 07:17:51 AM »
I liked how Jericho's light would occasionally just flicker out.  There were a couple times when it worked in tandem with the depth of field effect too that were pretty cool.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline Cobra951

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Re: Dear developers of FPS games:
« Reply #7 on: Tuesday, November 27, 2007, 12:03:25 PM »
Most flashlights don't shut off after being used for 30 seconds.  Your perpetuation of this myth ads nothing to gameplay.  It doesn't make anything more creepy or spooky, it just means I have to stand in one spot for 30 more seconds while my flashlight recharges.  Stop being douche bags.

I second that motion.

Doom 3 was ridiculous.  I spent more time fixing that problem than playing the game.  I came up with my own gun-light mod with a persistent toggle switch.

Here you have these futuristic shooters where you are strong enough to carry multiple heavy, high-tech weapons, yet you have one dim flashlight, and one set of near-depleted ancient-tech batteries, or is it a hand crank?  What about that fancy helmet with all those HUDs, hah?  Hah?  Why doesn't it have a tungsten-bright semicircular lightbar that comes on when you think "let there be light!"?

Offline Pugnate

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Re: Dear developers of FPS games:
« Reply #8 on: Tuesday, November 27, 2007, 12:15:00 PM »
I know everyone hates the flashlight in Doom 3, but I just accepted the plot device and enjoyed the game a lot more as a result.

Offline scottws

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Re: Dear developers of FPS games:
« Reply #9 on: Tuesday, November 27, 2007, 02:41:57 PM »
I know what you're saying Pug.  It is just a device.  But like gpw said, it doesn't really succeed in its purpose.  It just makes you stand around and wait.

Offline Pugnate

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Re: Dear developers of FPS games:
« Reply #10 on: Tuesday, November 27, 2007, 02:55:16 PM »
Well it did a number on me I guess. I found the game far spookier because of.

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: Dear developers of FPS games:
« Reply #11 on: Tuesday, November 27, 2007, 07:02:10 PM »
It amazes me what bothers people sometimes, and I don't mean this as an insult to the rest of you... this is just the kind of shit I'm so used to, I don't even notice it.  When people complained about Doom 3's flashlight, my first reaction was "What the hell are you talking about?"  It didn't even really register until people started talking about it, and even then I didn't care.  I've noticed this with like 75 to 80% of complaints leveled against decently-developed games these days.  Most of what bugs people I'm just so used to it doesn't even exist to me.  All the stuff people didn't like Clive Barker's Jericho for, for instance, or the few things that bug some people about The Witcher.  I noticed them in the latter game, they just don't really bother me.  I can deal with a weird inventory system.  I've dealt with them a thousand times before.  I can deal with flashlight crap.  It's nothing new.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline idolminds

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Re: Dear developers of FPS games:
« Reply #12 on: Tuesday, November 27, 2007, 07:29:54 PM »
The flashlight in D3 didnt really bother me. The flashlight in HL2 did. It seemed so arbitrary. Why is the light run off suit power and can run out so quickly? Considering it takes all of 10 seconds to recharge, just fucking let me keep it on if I want.

Offline gpw11

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Re: Dear developers of FPS games:
« Reply #13 on: Tuesday, November 27, 2007, 07:50:32 PM »
It's nothing new, but it's cheap, pointless, and just stupid.  Bad camera angles in 3d platform games are nothing new, that doesn't mean I like dealing with them.

Two games really brought this on: HL2, and FEAR.  All it does in both games is just break up the gameplay with a few seconds of standing around.  What you mention in Jericho might be alright, but it accomplishes absolutely nothing in most games. The flashlight goes out, I can't see anything at all. It's not like in real life where I might try to stumble around in the dark for a bit - this is a videogame, and when there's no light there's no way I can see anything.  I also don't think I've ever had something happen where the flashlight went out and I got attacked by something.  No, instead it's the same thing it has been the last 3,000 times:  Flashlight goes out, I stand there for 20 seconds, and then I turn it back on for about 30 seconds and keep moving.  If I don't hit some sort of light in that thirty seconds the whole thing is repeated.  They might as well just make it so that my keyboard stops responding every 30 sec. or so.  You'd achieve the same effect.

Doom 3's flashlight problem is something I haven't experienced for a long period of time:  I didn't really like the game off the bat, and I didn't play it for long.  I think it was a poor design choice, but it at least served a purpose and did what it did well.  It's just that no one wanted that in the game (I agree.  The leaked alpha level had the flashlight affixed to the gun and it was much more fun).  The problem with the way Valve and Monolith handle this is it's not only pointless, but it just breaks up gameplay and completely fucks the pacing up. Seriously, if you want to somehow use a flashlight in order to amplify a spooky atmosphere, why not take a page from Silent Hill?  Always on, but shadows and low coverage area always make you wonder what's just outside your view.

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: Dear developers of FPS games:
« Reply #14 on: Tuesday, November 27, 2007, 09:40:17 PM »
Honestly, I don't really even remember hardly using the flashlight in either FEAR or HL2.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline gpw11

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Re: Dear developers of FPS games:
« Reply #15 on: Tuesday, November 27, 2007, 09:57:16 PM »
That's because you subconsciously tuned it out.

Offline Xessive

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Re: Dear developers of FPS games:
« Reply #16 on: Tuesday, November 27, 2007, 10:51:31 PM »
In HL2 I only really used the flashlight in Ravenholm. In FEAR it was more necessary but I adapted myself to hit the Reflex button the moment I hear gunfire. As for navigation I managed to make due.

In Doom 3 I just resorted to raising the brightness and gamma so that everything was visible, at least until someone made an Ambient light mod.

Another decent flashlight was in Condemned: Criminal Origins.
« Last Edit: Wednesday, November 28, 2007, 12:07:34 AM by Xessive »

Offline Pugnate

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Re: Dear developers of FPS games:
« Reply #17 on: Tuesday, November 27, 2007, 11:28:52 PM »
Quote
In Doom 3 I just resorted to rasing the brightness and gamma so that everything was visible, at least until someone made an Ambient light mod.

It isn't just you my friend. I think 95% of the people who've played the game, have done something like that. It just boggles my mind. I thought it would be a fairly boring game played like that.

Offline Xessive

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Re: Dear developers of FPS games:
« Reply #18 on: Wednesday, November 28, 2007, 12:14:19 AM »
Well, it was more predictable but it was less annoying :P

The whole 'thrill by darkness' doesn't intrigue me, it just irritates me. I think the same idea was used in other games too. On the other hand there are other games that are dark, but they don't rely on the darkness to be the central gameplay element i.e. Call of Cthulhu.

With Doom 3 the challenge was mostly navigating through the dark because the UAC, who apparently developed the technology to make oxygen and water from rust, didn't think to invent nightvision goggles or perhaps a frickin' glowstick. The lack of light utilities was not only a gameplay deterrent for me, it didn't sit right conceptually either.