A FEW THINGS THAT NEED TO BE DONE...

[GFX]

I just entered the game and watched it for a while and these are my oppinions... note that i know the game isnt finished yet, but dont know if this is already thought out.

When i first started the game i didnt know if it was still loading or not and since the mouse dont do a thing you start wondering what is going on... so i think the mouse should be active from the begining as an automatic feature.

After i finally noted that i could move i noticed that the moving speed isnt even at a real person\'s speed when walking, the character is like carrying a huge weight and can hardly move. The runing speed is adecuate for the walking speed and i think it should be changed.

Im not a game designer but i work in the 3D animation industry and have done several mods and game characters, so i will say you are doing a really well job with the graphics of this game considering the size of the map, and is quite appealing to the eye... though i think you should really reconsider the use of the current lights. (i could tell there is only one directional light or a single distant point light) and if not... thats the feeling i got. Mood and effects can be achieved with good lightning.

I am one of the old school gamers so ive seen a great deal of games... and i feel there needs to be a better GUI in game, i belive that the chatting box/character inventory/life&mana or whatever/options/etc, should be tidylly alocated in the lower side of the screen and inside a nice looking and organized bar (think Diablo/muonline/Baldour\'s gate, etc) if you want to reinvent the weel, why dont you create a bar but at a side?.. i think it keeps gamers focused if there is a bar at the bottom of the screen with all the options in it.

Another thing you should consider is adding a label on top of each character when they speak. That bar should contain the name of the character and the text of the message... for design purposes the label could have the name of the character centered in a colored semi transparent label and under it the text. (Think Muonlne)
I say this because i Ran into a few people, and some where saying Hi while i was walking by, and it was hard to note who was trying to speak with me (or if it was with me) since all the characters are like dead dolls scatered in the map.
And talking looking at the chatting box feels like your standing in front of a corpse but chatting with somebody else in another world. And it Doesnt feel right.

I noticed that neither character had an animated  standing stance. What i mean is that with a simple animation loop for a standing stance it could give the world a lot of life, right now the characters are like manequins or dolls, a sutile movement or a small range of standing movement that plays at random would give the characters a soul. And I think your trying to give \"life\" to this world, right?

There are other things i have in my mind right now, though ill post them after i give your world another try.

Oh.... and check on the forum scripts, i get erros everytime i want to check a box o write on the subject or message parts.

Cheers
Glen

[RussianVodka]

Well, the game is still in early development. But you can watch a video of CB, as you can see, there are a lot more features...

And im sorry to say, but i suspect you are gona get ALOT of flames for this post...

Good luck.

[Waylander]

Hmm, you know there is the news that says a release is coming out soon....maybe looking for what is in this release would have been smart eh.

Anyways, was too tired to flame you to much.  Oh and don\'t capitalize every word in your topic title makes you look unprofesional and stupid

I wonder when new players will stop coming here and posting things that need to be changed or such...

[Jadd]

I agree with you that the talk should be displayed above the character.
The way it works now, you\'ve got to concentrate on who is talking at the moment, which is a bit troblesome when the text could as well be easily related to the character who is talking by adding it above their head as well as in the conversation-box.

Hopefully we will see this function later.

[Waylander]

You mean bubble speak? if so then no, I hate that stuff, bubble appear everywhere causing stupidness

[Monketh]

GFX/Glen, this happens to be merely a techinal demonstration.  It exists to prove to us that the Devs aren\'t sitting on their afts doing nothing, and, of course, to play with.

[Kiva]

With the bubble thing, I was thinking more like something ala Quake3 where a small blue bubble shows if a person is writing something, and it could simply stay for a few seconds after it, and the text would still appear in the chat window. Then again, that\'s just my silly idea.

As for the moving and running speeds. They\'re fine, really. The PlaneShift universe is not supposed to function like ours does, and the fact that everyone is so deep in the ground means we\'re all closer to the core of the planet, thus more gravity. It all makes sense, you know.

Im not a game designer but i work in the 3D animation industry and have done several mods and game characters, so i will say you are doing a really well job with the graphics of this game considering the size of the map, and is quite appealing to the eye... though i think you should really reconsider the use of the current lights. (i could tell there is only one directional light or a single distant point light) and if not... thats the feeling i got. Mood and effects can be achieved with good lightning.

That would be because there is only one big source of light, the big crystal in the top of the cave. You would notice if you went into the temple, that the big sparkling thing is also a source of light, and so are the torches that hang around in the city. But yes, you\'re right. If you\'re standing outside, there is only one omni-light source kind of thing.

I noticed that neither character had an animated standing stance. What i mean is that with a simple animation loop for a standing stance it could give the world a lot of life, right now the characters are like manequins or dolls, a sutile movement or a small range of standing movement that plays at random would give the characters a soul. And I think your trying to give \"life\" to this world, right?

All characters do have some loop, you just wont see it if you run past them.

[Zephyrus]

Originally posted by Gronomist
As for the moving and running speeds. They\'re fine, really. The PlaneShift universe is not supposed to function like ours does, and the fact that everyone is so deep in the ground means we\'re all closer to the core of the planet, thus more gravity.

... Actually screw it, I was going to correct you, but gravity underground is a damn complicated thing and to be honest I dont really know exactly what would happen. The thing is maximum gravity is at the bodies surface, inside the surface you move towards the center of mass where there would be no gravity - as you move towards the center beneath the surface gravity the center of mass shifts as there is now a considerable amount of mass above you.... Sorry if that was difficult to understand...

[Jadd]

Originally posted by waylander
You mean bubble speak? if so then no, I hate that stuff, bubble appear everywhere causing stupidness

No, I don\'t mean comic style \"bubble speach\". I\'m talking about text that shows above your character like in Neverwinter Nights for example.
I don\'t see how it causes stupidness at all, but it makes it easier for you to know who is speaking at the moment. If lots of things are happening at the same time you can have a hard time following conversation simultanily, and thus miss important things.

If the text was being shown both above the characters, and in the conversation-window, then it would become a lot easier to concentrate on the gameplay as well as conversation.

[rifft]

As always, I think it should be an option, where those who don\'t like it, and think it detracts from game play (think 200 people in plaza all spouting these little bubbles) could turn it off.

You can\'t cater to everyone, but you could at least provide options to allow them to cater for themselves.

[dfryer]

As for the moving and running speeds. They\'re fine, really. The PlaneShift universe is not supposed to function like ours does, and the fact that everyone is so deep in the ground means we\'re all closer to the core of the planet, thus more gravity. It all makes sense, you know.

No, I don\'t know.  Explain the careful design process that produced the decision to make anyone walk slowly?

Or perhaps, just perhaps, someone made a working animation and they said \"sure, that\'s fine for now, it\'s a tech demo!\"

[rifft]

Well think about how fast the world moves when *YOU* walk, no faster than in the game. Plus since running doesn\'t affect you in any way (there is no such thing as stamina or any other little gauge that prevents you from running) just turn autorun on and stop complaining about it. In some cases, it would be cool to be bound by a slow walking speed.

Like you are creeping through a dark mantion, your hart is pounding, but you\'re walking extra super slow so that you don\'t make any noise, because if you do, then you\'re DEAD!

Play hitman, any of them really, and you\'ll undrestand, or thief.

Anyway, just my two cents. I mean if you have an autorun, who cares. Plus you could make movement speed a funtion of agility, or something along those lines.

[FESFES]

i like all your ideas and i think the game would be better with them (including bullbe speak)
i dont think many ppl like bubble speak though

[Icefalcon]

I am in favor for the so called \"bubble speak.\" It is alot easier if you are just having a 1 on 1 conversation with someone when there are hundreds of people within earshot.

[Androgos]

Think about it.

In RL is it possible to talk to eachother in the middle of 100 other ppls talking? No, well we can shout.

In PS you have 3 choices:

1. Go to a quiter place
2. Create a group and use the group chat
3. Create a guild and use the guild chat (Not to recommend )