Enhancing the Story (cut-scenes)

[Zeraph]

I have noticed that there is always one thing that rpg?s have that I have never seen in a mmorpg & that is cut-scenes. I think that cut-scenes would give more Depth to the storyline & enhance the visual appearance of the game.

& it probably wouldn?t be to hard to do, You could just focus the camera on chars that are talking in the scene & you wouldn?t have to record sound files of the people talking (although this would be nice) but you could just sub-title everything like in most N64 games.

 I think it would give the game a really nice effect if you sat down in a chair in the pub & you ?overhear? to thieves talking about were they hid some loot. The camera can switch between them & then fallow them as they start to walk toward the Door.

I think this would give this game something that the other mmorpg?s do not have. But this may be an idea for a little farther down the road? :]

[SaintNuclear]

Cut-scenes in a mmog? How?
Cut-scenes are used in single player games when you advance in the plot. It can\'t really be in a mmog because the plot is way too wide.
And even if you do make cut-scenes, and someone finishes a grand quest that affects the whole game, what, everyone will suddenly go into the cut-scene? It can be really annoying.
Besides that, many people will miss the cut-scene because they weren\'t playing at the moment.

Now, if you make a cut-scene for every quest that is viewed only by the guy that went into the quest it\'ll be really cool. But since there will be countless of quests, there will be countless of cut-scenes. The PS folder will have a few gigs only for cut-scenes.

[dfryer]

The cutscenes would have to be scripted, as opposed to prerendered as movies.  All it really requires is grabbing control away from the user and following a set of actions.. and yes, if it were implemented, it wouldn\'t drag *everyone* into the cutscene.

Still, I think there are more important features - if some theives are hiding loot, you should have to be listening to them already to find out where it is

[Krissanasli]

The game can\'t really tell between important and trivial conversations, so in this example, it would take a player or GM to manipulate the camera. While some GM meddling might be fun, it would be used rarely enough that no one would bother to implement it. A more sensible role for such a camera cutscene, as I see it, would be to give players a brief \"tour\" whenever they enter a city or tavern. It\'s a more relaxing way to join a game than popping up in the town square, half-dressed and totally clueless.

[Clowd]

Or, here is an idea to help this.

This would be a great idea for some of the major quests.  The general way of doing this would simply to have a scripted event occur, where the player is locked in place, then the player\'s camera moves to look at a different area, say, a conversation.

This wouldn\'t be hard to do, all it really is is camera manipulation during talk scenes involving a quest.  For the actual player talking, it\'s good as it is right now.

And the idea for the quick camera rome of an area when you enter it is a great idea!

[dfryer]

The game *could* tell the difference between important and trivial conversations - not between players, but at the npc/quest level, which is where cutscenes would start to become feasible.

I like the \"quick tour\" idea, although it should only be implemented for \"public\" places, i.e. friendly cities, where there shouldn\'t be too much mystery.

[Cyberchu]

It would be usefull if you could create your own cutscenes and send them to other people;

i.e., I buy a house and I then record my camera (using magic) showing the way to my house. I could then give it to my freind so he could find my house.

[Zeraph]

Well, all it is, is switching camera view around to focus on who is talking (@ first.) But Npcs only, not regular chat?

Cut-Scenes are what allot of mmoRPGs are missing, but this could be an idea for later on when you can talk to more then one npc @ a time or listen in on a conversation for like a spy quest or something?

It?s much more interesting if the camera is moving around to show who is talking?

It would be nice to get a tutorial with an aerial \"bird\'s-eye\" view sort of tour of Hydlaa if that is were everyone starts...

Otherwise they should get a look around wherever they first spawn so they can see how the game looks?


Edit: Actually cuts-cenes would all be client controlled most likely, because that is were it happens.

[Altharion]

just have a good plot and a advance story then you wont need cut-scenes.