Keith tweeted a photo this morning of Flavien playing an early build of the Battlescape prototype:
So the question is, what are we looking at here?
Keith tweeted a photo this morning of Flavien playing an early build of the Battlescape prototype:
So the question is, what are we looking at here?
I see panelling on the upper right and some sort of structural pylons on the left…the rest of it makes no sense at all :\
I would like to point out that if my memory serves me right, Crayfish analyzed every frame of about a dozen monitors that were playing a build of Elite Dangerous during their Kickstarter. So if @INovaeKeith posted a video, we would be reading a nice theory about IBS gameplay…
Is my memory alright @Crayfish?
Using my amazing skills of obvious observations: A cockpit of some kind.
I had forgotten about that but yes I did. I like to get my money’s worth out of such reveals.
Here you go:
Is that a cockpit view? It looks like a cockpit view.
The piloted ship seems to be landed on an artificial surface, either a ground platform or possibly an interior hangar. The top left corner looks like sky, so I’d say the former. The left may be a small control/observation building.
A close big structure can be seen to the right, either a frigate-sized ship or a building I’d say.
Right in front of the cockpit, before the big structure,some sort of crane-like utility horizontal device can be seen. It seems to have both legs (visible to the left) and a vertical beam going toward the ceiling/sky.
Or at least that’s what it looks like to me.
It most likely look like a cockpit, the other things I got no idea about.
At first I thought the white thing in the upper left corner were a part of a asteroid field of a planet but then all other things look weird. So iunno, the other stuff look likes structures, or part of a large structure of some sort (really big ship?).
In any case, I have no idea what we’re looking at.
I could be wrong, but it looks sort of like a computer game.
Certainly a cockpit view. I’m wondering if it is from a space station where all that white stuff in the upper left is a planet which is being hugely overexposed courtesy of HDR rendering.
It just now occurs to me to wonder why cockpits would have faceted glass on them with a metal frame. Why not be like modern fighters and use an all-glass bubble?
Apologies for immediately going off-topic.
Art direction for this particular faction lends well to the brutality and utility of faceted cockpits. This is why however, you’re likely to see more of the sleek cockpit designs in the other two factions, especially those curvy dudes.
Because that’s the style we wanted for this particular ship, no other reason.
Edit: And I didn’t see Dan’s post… YAY.
I noticed the other screenshot looks really sunset ish. Do we need to have another talk Hutchings???
Ha, well, I wasn’t there so you can’t blame me! Although I did take that one for last weeks screenshot share, and it’s “Sunset-ish,” but I think we’re ok.
Just wait till you see the next three for this weekend.
This, my friends, is what is called a teaser.
I’m going for planet in a night sky or a very large hanger with an open roof. (that wight off to the left)
It looks a cockpit view from inside an hangar or platform of some kind…
Also I think a photo from the guys would be great.
In real yes bubbles all the way… but in game - oh boy.
With headtracking i actually like some thin lines of frame for orientation.
In a dogfight it is really easy to loose track of which way your plane is rotated, when your head is tracking enemy. it really helps to see some reference.
Yeah, you hear fighter pilots complain about that all the time.
If the player has headtracking then their body tells them their orientation. For everyone else, a mark on the canopy directly over the pilot’s head should suffice. That’s about the only orientation where neither the HUD nor the ship is (classically) in the field of view.
So have a faceted cockpit without the frame. I want to be able to see the game world as I fly about.
That’s an extreme example because I wouldn’t want the heavy distortion created by such a thing, but the basic idea is to create that brutal look while still keeping the canopy clear. I can well understand that the graphics programming work would be prohibitive, but even something approximating the look would be appreciated.
I just can’t imagine playing games that just won’t let me see the game world. Too many are presented dark and cluttered. The Infinity:Battlescape visuals are just too beautiful to cover up.
Elite:Dangerous
Star Citizen
No Man’s Sky does a somewhat better job, probably because they created a game world that they want their players to be able to see.
I’d probably be less annoyed by it if I was using VR gear and could move my head around.
One last thought that might be an interesting thing to put on the Someday list. Keep screen clutter to a minimum (well, I’d like that today). So when simply flying around, the canopy is clear and the HUD is minimal. If the player switches to a mode of activity that requires more clutter, add it. Navigation, scanning, etc. Combat would probably introduce the most clutter.
The bit that just occurred to me is that when the player is ready to go into combat, have a visible heavy frame deploy around the canopy. Do it Iron Man style, with lots of bits and pieces interlocking to form the frame. That suggests that there might even be multiple frames. One simple frame might be used when operating in atmospheres or dusty systems or near stars. The combat frame may well be the heaviest, though refueling off a star might involve no exterior visibility at all.
Taken to an extreme, stuff all over a ship would pull an Iron Man transformation. To some modest extent. Extra bracing or armor for the critical parts of the ship that would normally interfere with efficiency or accuracy that are acceptable in dangerous circumstances.
Suit up.