Feature Proposal - Proximity Based Communication

[Anonymous]

I propose our players talk to each other.  I don't mean simple on command communication where the user hits a key and his player says a set phrase.  No, that would simply not be evil enough.  I want the player's character to speak to each other automatically.  Indeed, their communication would be based primarily on proximity in relation to their allies and enemies.  

Think of it:  Two humans walk next to each other down an empty corridor.  Suddenly one pipes up about how much of a b****** their seargant is.  As they continue down the corridor their proximity encompasses a hiding droid.  And then a human will hush the other and say "Did you hear something?"

This would affect the players on many different levels.  First, it would provide for a bit of humor in those lonely times when just a couple guys are protecting a junction with no activity.  This would make the user more likely to sit back, relax, and stay at his command post.  Second it would alert the user when there might be an enemy in their midst.  If his character suddenly 'hears' something he will instantaneously become much more alert.  Third it will alert the enemy to the user's presence, allowing for eerily well timed ambushes.

It's impossible to describe the effect this would have on the players of the game in this proposal alone.  But in doing this we would be changing the way the game is played.  In quake 2, you are Bitterman, the soldier, descended from the sky as a lone survivor to the carnage on this alien homeworld.  But it's still you there.  If we implement proximity based character speech, it will make the player feel more like the third person.  As though you're reading a book about a character you like.  While you'll still be in direct control, it will feel a little less like you're in control, making it easier to play on the user's fear and anxiety.  I'll show up in the chatroom soon and flesh out my idea...  Please think about the impact this feature could have, sure it would take a lot of work but it could have a vastly great effect.  Especially if Timbo implements that audio file decoding.

[ This Message was edited by: Ire on 2001-03-23 21:12 ]

[ This Message was edited by: Ire on 2001-03-24 12:20 ]

[Cybernetsam]

That idea kicks so much ass its not funny.
I think that would be really cool to have, but filesize for all the conversations would be huge, and having to listen to the same phrase over and over again would be annoying.

[Veda]

I think it would be a cool "option." Meaning if someone has the horsepower left over to be able to turn that on. I don't know much about memory usage and sounds, but I would think 1 continuous MP3 that was around 5 megs could be loaded into memory and probably have 3 minutes of speech. Instead of having a ton of smaller files. Each phrase would be seperated by a second of silence and marked, for example the code would play 68 seconds - 71 seconds and that phrase would be "Did you hear something?" I figure that most phrases would be 5 seconds each or less unless a player is delivering a speech. 3 minutes gives you around 36 sayings at probably 5 megs. If the bitrate was lowered more time.

Whatever the case, player induced voice taunts get annoying fast and are often abused.

[Sandy]

That is a really good idea, but the "did you hear something" thing may give away the element of surprise? no?

[Anonymous]

Just the opposite Sandy.  The proximity would be very small, just because the player would be in the same room as an enemy doesn't mean it would immediately hear the enemy.  However once they were in the radius of the droid (by that time the droid should be on its way to attack anyways) they'd hear the sound and it should send them into a moment of panic.  They might both check their flanks and at that point the droid could slip out from behind its crate or something.  

Frankly though I'm thinking about scrapping the whole idea, there are a lot of instances where the speech would get complicated.  For instance when a huge lumbering defensive droid comes within proximity and can obviously be seen, it would be stupid for a marine to say 'did you hear something?'