[ELPIRATA]

DISCLAIMER: Ok, as Jump did, this is basically asking for differences and things that are seen from within a cockpit (can I say this here right?).

I came to Jumpgate and my previous space sim experience was Xwing, the old MS-DOS version that you had like 6 floppies to install (and some more if you had the TOD4 and TOD5).

To me, Jumpgate ship interiors (cockpit) are bland, being the quants and sols the best looking. The oct 3d interiors... ewww.

I have no clue if the ship designers/modelers/textures are going to change or not, but Id wish they did. We can notice that the actual game has the same texture set for all ships, but because not all cockpits are equal we tend to see this part or that part of the texture in a different way, but they are all the same. We have 3D cockpits, but they are bland and uninspiring. Im in a Phoenix and I think the inside stinks (guess that's why we're the smelly octs). Now, I switch to the Lightminer... and I love it, the windows arrangement is neat, same texture but you dont see it that much.

In Xwing, as many may remember, all ships (Xwing, Awing, Bwing and Ywing) had different interior views. They were 2d interiors, but they looked kinda nice and during firefights you would see damage on your main cockpit view and the radar displays could explode and you would see the cables broken and what not, and same for the other displays. Ship does still work, but do stuff by heart and ship will be still that way till you either explode or make it out.

All ships interiors were different, all in 2D, but different, though they had common stuff, (all had the radar displays, target HUD, Energy transfer, (which was pretty neat btw, allowing the ship to go faster by setting all the energy towards the engine), shield and Armor state, but these displays were set in different orders or positions, and this is one of the things I'd hope we'd see in Jumpgate Evolution.

Being able to see some of the HUD stuff directly on the ship interiors is very nice because it adds to the individualism of the ship, and you end loving this ship over that ship because of the way stuff is located. There's always a HUD of course.

Another alternative is kinda what Need for Speed had in Hot Pursuit (the first) if I remember well you had a way to organize HUD locations, so that they were in view but not bothering in the way you look ahead. Miners dont look at the front view the same as a fighter pilot would, therefore I'd wish we had that in Jumpgate.

-Different cockpit interiors, 2d or 3d, but different.
-Some indicators/displays forming part of the cockpit.
-Able to customize the location of the HUD (the one taht's displayed in the window).

The main idea is to give a sense of individualism to all the ships, so that the are all different. Ships dont feel as repetitive this way too.

There was another thing I wanted to say, but I forgot lol.

Anyways, on

ELP

[Tritian]

it'd be cool if the camera view inside the cockpit would jolt and move w/ momentum and when your ship was hit. Like, if you jam on the afterburner, you see the view from the cockpit move back a little bit, like the pilot was being pushed back into his seat. If you took fire from the left side, your camera would jolt around, etc.

Also, I wouldn't mind working guages. A guage for your speed, a guage for your AB fuel, missile lock warning lights, radar display, camera displays for target view and damage control.

It'd also be cool to have sparks and fuzzy snowy displays when you took damage.


IMO the cockpit is the most immersive part of the space sim experience, and should not be neglected.

[ELPIRATA]

In one of the colin McRae games if you roll the car the screen looks like moving and as if you were dizzy... going back to normal gradually. I like the idea Tritian. It adds to the inmersive experience.

ELP

[netburnr]

+1 for camera movement during extreme ship movement.

[Ambrosius]

While I like the ideas above, they can be explained away with "intertial dampers." I agree that anything tied to immersion shoud be a focus (as I've mentioned once or twice before).

At the risk of hijacking, another thing I'd like to to see a complete schematic for each ship, station and other asset. This is only partly because I'm a geek. The primary reason is that I think it would improve the deign process if the designer is really conceptualizing a comlpete space (rather than designing a cool-looking shell), making sure that certain functional requirements and scale issues are met.

This would also aid immersion as people (if they chose) could have a feel for the stations they are landing on (even if there is no "walk around" feature), fan-fiction can be consistent in its settings and descriptions, and other RP aspects of the game can take advantage of the common knowledge that (for example) the Uranium storage facility on Oct Core that was damaged by the Conflux was on level 11 right next to the grain storage (only Octs could be that stupid!).

[Wild_Bill]

... well, it did keep rodent infestation of the food stuffs to a minimum. Besides, who cares if their bread glows in the dark? Makes it easier to make a sandwich after "lights out".

I like Ambro's idea here.

[ELPIRATA]

Inertial dampeners dont help you with sudden impacts :P which is what Tritian was saying, unexpected hits and what not. I dont mind much about the movements, but it certainly adds to the experience, kinda like having a Visual Feedback of the stuff that happens around you.

Other short of effects could be displays flicking or turning off for a second... depending on how much damage you're sustaining and such.

The other thing we could also add, about cockpits is the way cameras switch from Front to left, or right. I like Aces High way of doing it, cause its gradual, it takes like a second for a view switch from front to left, but during the process you can watch it happen, it also helps with situational awareness.

IF I may, I'd like to see the 3d view back, I remember that in beta we could be on the 3d view and still see the chat section, I dont have screenies of it though, but I would bet a DSS that it was available for some part of retail too. Aces was nice on this, as the cockpit view and outside views and looking down to see other controls.. is quite nice IMO. Wish the new ship interiors were like this.

Also, and Im dreaming here perhaps, but the view of the Tug or the Tow.. could change from the actual 'looks like a seat' to a bridge, so when you look left or right, the windows are really farther from the pilots view. If the inside is high res instead of the actual bland... could be quite a view.

Another thing I remember hearing talks about is the seat position relative to the ship. I remember folks said that it feels as if the view was in the middle of the ship and not exactly where it was. And for the love of GOD, there is no rear view on this ships, dont put it as transparent as it is now. Make it work much like a monitor in the cockpit that was connected to a rear mounted camera. Its funny being the engine trail and nothing around it, a camera can't be there and the pilot seat is DEFINITELY not there. We need a rear view, but make it more realistic. (Example: the oct miner, the vulture, the camera would be in the hull, in the center, so you would either see the engine trails way to the sides or see on the sides part of the engine mount and then the trails, wish I could put it in graphic.)

ELP

[netburnr]

I like the panning for HAT movement, but it better not be slowed down, I need to be able to see to the sides and back very quickly, I don't want to wait for it.

[Ambrosius]

You already have the ability to do panning HAT look-around (and up) movement in Jumpgate Classic (the ~ key), but it's not what I would call "flyable."

[netburnr]

When I played it didnt Pan, it "snapped"

[KEA]

Originally Posted by netburnrol

When I played it didnt Pan, it "snapped"

That's what happens when you don't use the ~ key to switch to freelook mode. There is a freelook mode that lets you pan around, but the implementation does not work right.

[netburnr]

Ohh, your talking about the 3rd person view? You use that in fights?