Views...a simple change for big imersion value

[poosd]

Dear Devs.,

 

Often in the forum's you see posts like "sailing in OW is so boring".  Or, "It takes so long to get around on this map".  I remember when OW was first introduced and everyone was worrying about if the map was going to be big enough, and then there was "why do our ships move so fast in OW...it's unrealistic".  Here is a simple suggestion that I hope would not take too much programing effort, yet may have the potential for increasing the immersion value of Naval Action in a huge way. 

 

You've given us beautiful 3D sailing ships and a wonderfully detailed world to sail in.  Why not let us stand on the decks (and other places) of these beautiful works of digital art?  Here's what I mean.

 

1.  Create multiple camera views (a la flight simulators).  How about:

   

     a.  Two at the helm or tiller of all vessels, port and starboard sides.  360 degree view, plus pan up and down.  No spyglass as helmsman would not be equipped with one IRL. 

     b.  Two at the quarter deck rail (or equivalent command position on each vessel), port and starboard sides.  360 degree view, plus pan up and down, plus equipped with spyglass with current zoom feature.

     c.  Two in the bow (or "eyes" of the ship) near the anchors or bow chaser guns if so equipped.  Again, port and starboard sides.  360 degree view, pan up and down, plus spyglass with current zoom feature.

     d.  One at the highest lookout point (main mast top yard or similar).  360 degree view, pan up and down, plus spyglass with current zoom feature. 

     e.  Current "chase view" left just as it is.

 

     Views a, b, c, and d would all be synched to the motion of the vessel as it sails through the sea and not be locked to sea level.  Eye level would be approximately 5ft. 6" + or - above deck level (eye level of average man), and, until programing time is available for more advance work in this area, all views would be stationary (with the exception of previously mentioned rotations and pan and spyglass zoom features).  Think what it would like to sail in a Cutter through an OW storm standing next to its tiller!  at deck level !  I imagine views like the old Sea Trail storm instances !  Now that would keep your attention while sailing.

 

Here are some other future enhancements that might complement this idea on views. 

 

    a.  The height of the main mast lookout above sea level would determine when sails of other ships came into view.  Thus, large ships with lookouts high above sea level would spot other vessels farther away as it is in real life (taking weather  conditions into consideration).

   

    b.  When in one of the "view modes", your sound programmer (Demetri?) could add appropriate sounds.  On the main deck views, crew talking, music playing, rigging creaking, sails flapping, sounds of the ship, wind and sea (you already have these now).  The main lookout view might only have the sound of the wind howling through the rigging and sails flapping.  A little touch, but something to hold us over until more advanced crew graphics can be considered (or not !).

   

    c.  These views could lay the foundation for more advance UI graphics for our beautiful ships.  Picture this... you're at the quarter deck view.  You turn and see the ladder way or hatch way leading below deck.  You move your cursor over the ladder or hatch and discover that it is a click spot.  You double click on it and are taken to a below deck view.  At first a generic below deck view can be created for all ships.  You face aft and see a door leading to a cabin, another click spot.  You click on it and you are able to see your level, gold, chart/map view, etc.  things related to the captains cabin.  If you turn forward, you see compartments related to your ships hold, gun decks, pumps, etc.   All these UI features come out of the expanded views created and can be fleshed out as programming time permits.

 

Sure would be a different Open World viewed from the decks of our own beautiful ships.  If you carried this "views" concept in to the battle instances as well, with the creative nature of your current customer base already known, I bet some truly amazing after action reports or sea stories would be created. 

 

Add weather related damage and terrain damage effects (i.e. running aground damage and sail, spars and mast damage in storms) to these new view; sailing through your beautiful Open Water world in a ship that you, as her captain truly feel a part of would become a WOW! experience for new customers and your old jaded testers.

 

I know others have recommended similar ideas, so I make no claim to original thinking here, but if you have made similar comments, or like this idea, jump on in and see if we can't get the Dev's to consider this for a quick upcoming small patch

 

To the Devs, thank you for your time.

 

Dean

[Hethwill]

Playing "on the deck" all the time, especially during battle I heartily approve of camera work. I like to look awesome.

[maturin]

Numpad would be ideal for views.

[Roche Brasiliano]

one of the devs  said the Home key will be back soon...

 

Posted 14 September 2016 - 01:01 PM

Roche Brasiliano, on 13 Sept 2016 - 8:26 PM, said:

btw...put back  HOME key in OW...

 

we just lost the chance to have that nice pics again. Besides this, i like to walk around the ship and see the details, inside decks, etc...

 

I know ppl was using it in exploiting mechanics, but i think it is not dificult to restrict the use of home key to just few meters around the ship, etc...

 

its coming back soon. 

 

http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/4225-open-world-beautiful-places/page-17

Edited September 20, 2016 by Roche Brasiliano

[Billy Budd]

Dear Devs.,

 

Often in the forum's you see posts like "sailing in OW is so boring".  Or, "It takes so long to get around on this map".  I remember when OW was first introduced and everyone was worrying about if the map was going to be big enough, and then there was "why do our ships move so fast in OW...it's unrealistic".  Here is a simple suggestion that I hope would not take too much programing effort, yet may have the potential for increasing the immersion value of Naval Action in a huge way. 

 

You've given us beautiful 3D sailing ships and a wonderfully detailed world to sail in.  Why not let us stand on the decks (and other places) of these beautiful works of digital art?  Here's what I mean.

 

1.  Create multiple camera views (a la flight simulators).  How about:

   

     a.  Two at the helm or tiller of all vessels, port and starboard sides.  360 degree view, plus pan up and down.  No spyglass as helmsman would not be equipped with one IRL. 

     b.  Two at the quarter deck rail (or equivalent command position on each vessel), port and starboard sides.  360 degree view, plus pan up and down, plus equipped with spyglass with current zoom feature.

     c.  Two in the bow (or "eyes" of the ship) near the anchors or bow chaser guns if so equipped.  Again, port and starboard sides.  360 degree view, pan up and down, plus spyglass with current zoom feature.

     d.  One at the highest lookout point (main mast top yard or similar).  360 degree view, pan up and down, plus spyglass with current zoom feature. 

     e.  Current "chase view" left just as it is.

 

     Views a, b, c, and d would all be synched to the motion of the vessel as it sails through the sea and not be locked to sea level.  Eye level would be approximately 5ft. 6" + or - above deck level (eye level of average man), and, until programing time is available for more advance work in this area, all views would be stationary (with the exception of previously mentioned rotations and pan and spyglass zoom features).  Think what it would like to sail in a Cutter through an OW storm standing next to its tiller!  at deck level !  I imagine views like the old Sea Trail storm instances !  Now that would keep your attention while sailing.

 

Here are some other future enhancements that might complement this idea on views. 

 

    a.  The height of the main mast lookout above sea level would determine when sails of other ships came into view.  Thus, large ships with lookouts high above sea level would spot other vessels farther away as it is in real life (taking weather  conditions into consideration).

   

    b.  When in one of the "view modes", your sound programmer (Demetri?) could add appropriate sounds.  On the main deck views, crew talking, music playing, rigging creaking, sails flapping, sounds of the ship, wind and sea (you already have these now).  The main lookout view might only have the sound of the wind howling through the rigging and sails flapping.  A little touch, but something to hold us over until more advanced crew graphics can be considered (or not !).

   

    c.  These views could lay the foundation for more advance UI graphics for our beautiful ships.  Picture this... you're at the quarter deck view.  You turn and see the ladder way or hatch way leading below deck.  You move your cursor over the ladder or hatch and discover that it is a click spot.  You double click on it and are taken to a below deck view.  At first a generic below deck view can be created for all ships.  You face aft and see a door leading to a cabin, another click spot.  You click on it and you are able to see your level, gold, chart/map view, etc.  things related to the captains cabin.  If you turn forward, you see compartments related to your ships hold, gun decks, pumps, etc.   All these UI features come out of the expanded views created and can be fleshed out as programming time permits.

 

Sure would be a different Open World viewed from the decks of our own beautiful ships.  If you carried this "views" concept in to the battle instances as well, with the creative nature of your current customer base already known, I bet some truly amazing after action reports or sea stories would be created. 

 

Add weather related damage and terrain damage effects (i.e. running aground damage and sail, spars and mast damage in storms) to these new view; sailing through your beautiful Open Water world in a ship that you, as her captain truly feel a part of would become a WOW! experience for new customers and your old jaded testers.

 

I know others have recommended similar ideas, so I make no claim to original thinking here, but if you have made similar comments, or like this idea, jump on in and see if we can't get the Dev's to consider this for a quick upcoming small patch

 

To the Devs, thank you for your time.

 

Dean

I very much welcome this and it would certainly make sailing our ships, so much more enjoyable. I only play this game as a solo player on the  PVE server and do quite a lot of trading between ports, covering the whole map. So I spend hours sailing my ships  most of the time. Having some crew visible on board the ships in the OW would also add to more realism with numbers of crew visible, relating to the size of the ship. Like the OP has stated, it will add to the boredom that some people find, whilst sailing in the OW. I love sailing my ships, so no problem of boredom, but it would be nice to have more camera views from different positions on the ship and maybe some suitable music to be able to turn on or off whilst sailing. This game has so much potential, besides all the action and economy that the game is designed for.  

[Rebel Witch]

Did first person view in a recent mission and loved it, can you imagine if that was the only camera angle we had in battle is from the deck of your boat...man that would completely change the way battles go

 

great suggestions

[Hailstormz]

Love the idea... I've often found it a bit frustrating/disappointing that when I try to zoom in to my ship in OW I can't see anything because the mast/sails are in the way...  I'd be happy with the ability to see through masts and sails when zoomed all the way in, or change the zoom in point to the crows nest or somewhere higher in the rigging.

[Killick]

Why are the devs not responding to this request? It would be so simple to implement and there is clearly a high demand for it. Rather than continuing to add more content to the game, they should spend a little time on these immersive issues.

Personally, I haven't bought this game yet and I do not plan to do so until it seems like I can enjoy it from a first-person perspective on deck (and not in helicopter view or at best ten feet above deck). Every time I see the YouTube movies, I am disappointed of the viewpoints.

[AngryPanCake]

On 9/20/2016 at 8:11 PM, Rebel Witch said:

Did first person view in a recent mission and loved it, can you imagine if that was the only camera angle we had in battle is from the deck of your boat...man that would completely change the way battles go

 

great suggestions

OP has great suggestions, but POV during battle would be incredible!

Just playing from the deck when firing guns at current configuration is pretty amazing, so being able to stand at the quarterdeck and directing your ship in battle would be the pinnacle of immersion in the age of sail naval battle.

Oh, I just noticed this suggestion was made several months ago and was just revived.

[Macjimm]

7 hours ago, Killick said:

Why are the devs not responding to this request? It would be so simple to implement and there is clearly a high demand for it. Rather than continuing to add more content to the game, they should spend a little time on these immersive issues.

Personally, I haven't bought this game yet and I do not plan to do so until it seems like I can enjoy it from a first-person perspective on deck (and not in helicopter view or at best ten feet above deck). Every time I see the YouTube movies, I am disappointed of the viewpoints.

Actually the developers have restored the ability to position yourself on deck or climb into the rigging.  It's great.  

We still cannot control the ship movement from this view but I'm hopeful that that feature will be added.

 

[Killick]

Yeah, I saw that, thanks. But isn't the guy in the movie just using freecam to float across the decks and along the rigging? Or is your motion actually limited to the decks here? Anyhow, the point is of course that the ship should be controllable from this viewpoint. Is there any progress on getting that implemented?

[Kaaru62]

i have used the freecam to stand at head level on the deck. it works somewhat because it is not connected to the deck of the ship. with the time compression the way it is, the decks pitch up and down too quickly to have the camera moving with the deck, you would not be able to see anything and a lot of people would get motion sickness.

with the decks moving the way they do, you can only stand at the pivot point like the camera is now. if anything, lowering the camera from the current position and maybe adding a left and right position would add a lot of effect.

[Macjimm]

15 hours ago, Kaaru62 said:

i have used the freecam to stand at head level on the deck. it works somewhat because it is not connected to the deck of the ship. with the time compression the way it is, the decks pitch up and down too quickly to have the camera moving with the deck, you would not be able to see anything and a lot of people would get motion sickness.

with the decks moving the way they do, you can only stand at the pivot point like the camera is now. if anything, lowering the camera from the current position and maybe adding a left and right position would add a lot of effect.

You have a point Kaaru, during speedboat mode the view from the deck is irritating. But during speedboat mode there is really no immersion or realism.

I like to sail at Battle speed (or sometimes Slow, or even Dead Slow).  This makes the view from the deck fascinating and immersive.  I know that this type of gaming is not for everyone .  But it makes sailing much more interesting.  It is an entertaining way to make a 20 min trade journey.  During the voyage I stay busy watching for enemy.  Sometime I have to go speedboat mode to escape combat, but most often I am able to complete the whole journey uninterrupted.

What would be more helpful is to be able to control the ship's movement after pressing the Home key.