How difficult would it be to use a gif as the loading screen instead of the stock photo.
Zoning from Thorefast to the outside, it's a gif 3-13 seconds or something like that, and it just shows a first person view of that transition. Same for when you zone into a dungeon, or zone from any one place to the next. Some people with uber computers, might finish a zone transition in 2 seconds and never get to see a full gif, other people, like me and super old computers might have the gif loops a time or two before we finishing zoning. I know there are zones in the game and it's 2017 already and all these games still use a photo when we zone. I know the gif will stop being entertaining, but it, just like stock photos could be updated with the change of season, holidays, events.
I always thought it would be so much cooler and a lot less emersion breaking, if it were like a short video of my group, or me, if I were alone, moving through that transitioning process. And technology has come far enough now, that putting a gif there instead of a picture isn't using too much space.
Kittik said:How difficult would it be to use a gif as the loading screen instead of the stock photo.
Zoning from Thorefast to the outside, it's a gif 3-13 seconds or something like that, and it just shows a first person view of that transition. Same for when you zone into a dungeon, or zone from any one place to the next. Some people with uber computers, might finish a zone transition in 2 seconds and never get to see a full gif, other people, like me and super old computers might have the gif loops a time or two before we finishing zoning. I know there are zones in the game and it's 2017 already and all these games still use a photo when we zone. I know the gif will stop being entertaining, but it, just like stock photos could be updated with the change of season, holidays, events.
I always thought it would be so much cooler and a lot less emersion breaking, if it were like a short video of my group, or me, if I were alone, moving through that transitioning process. And technology has come far enough now, that putting a gif there instead of a picture isn't using too much space.
I'd rather play Gems lol. Intresting idea but zones line should be seemless in art work around the entrances. This would be useful for zone transitions where you dont end up where you think you would. Example would be in Darksouls you flew off in a bird. Going from one tunnel to another not so much. I like the idea tho. Maybe it can be a short animation like League of Legends login in screen of some NPC in the zone to add to immersion or excitment of whats to come.
Example would be Crushbone in EQ, maybe would show a pan out of Emp Crush in the tower maybe.
Kittik said:How difficult would it be to use a gif as the loading screen instead of the stock photo.
Zoning from Thorefast to the outside, it's a gif 3-13 seconds or something like that, and it just shows a first person view of that transition. Same for when you zone into a dungeon, or zone from any one place to the next. Some people with uber computers, might finish a zone transition in 2 seconds and never get to see a full gif, other people, like me and super old computers might have the gif loops a time or two before we finishing zoning. I know there are zones in the game and it's 2017 already and all these games still use a photo when we zone. I know the gif will stop being entertaining, but it, just like stock photos could be updated with the change of season, holidays, events.
I always thought it would be so much cooler and a lot less emersion breaking, if it were like a short video of my group, or me, if I were alone, moving through that transitioning process. And technology has come far enough now, that putting a gif there instead of a picture isn't using too much space.
I like the idea of basically a small cutscene, in first person, showing the transition. EVE Online one had a simple blackscreen with the 'loading...' in white text as you either jumped or used a stargate between systems. Eventually they created an animation sequence, in first person view, of moving through some hyperspace tunnel that would just endless run while you loaded the next system and once finished loading, the camera would then re-attach to your ship sitting there at the jump-in point. It was a nice sequence for passing the time going from one system to another.
I also liked the EQ2 version (I think it was EQ2) that had pictures of various initial concept artwork. That was nice too. Just something other than 'Loading, Please Wait...'. It is 2017 afterall.
Zeem said:Intresting idea but zones line should be seemless in art work around the entrances.
Uhh, what? I don't follow what you mean. We already know there are going to be zones and zone loading screens. We've seen them.
What I'm saying is, when you as a player go from the outside world of Avendyr's Pass into Halnir's Cave (one example here), instead of a stand still photo and a progress bar that says Loading Please Wait... You see a short gif. My thought is its in first person view of the movement from Avendyr's Pass into Halnir's Cave. Just a short gif and all it really would show is someone walking through a tunnel, though a door, whatever the transition might portray.
Same idea whenever you zone. From Thornefast proper out to Avendyr's Pass. There's going to be a loading screen, make that screen a gif instead. FPV of walking through the archway, man door, door, whatever its call...
Kittik said:Zeem said:Intresting idea but zones line should be seemless in art work around the entrances.
Uhh, what? I don't follow what you mean. We already know there are going to be zones and zone loading screens. We've seen them.
What I'm saying is, when you as a player go from the outside world of Avendyr's Pass into Halnir's Cave (one example here), instead of a stand still photo and a progress bar that says Loading Please Wait... You see a short gif. My thought is its in first person view of the movement from Avendyr's Pass into Halnir's Cave. Just a short gif and all it really would show is someone walking through a tunnel, though a door, whatever the transition might portray.
Same idea whenever you zone. From Thornefast proper out to Avendyr's Pass. There's going to be a loading screen, make that screen a gif instead. FPV of walking through the archway, man door, door, whatever its call...
They may be referring to the way Vanguard handled zoning. You could see beyond the zone line, making the world look seamless. The transition itself took only a few seconds, but there was no loading image - you just stayed with the view accross the zone line.
Kittik said:How difficult would it be to use a gif as the loading screen instead of the stock photo.
Zoning from Thorefast to the outside, it's a gif 3-13 seconds or something like that, and it just shows a first person view of that transition. Same for when you zone into a dungeon, or zone from any one place to the next. Some people with uber computers, might finish a zone transition in 2 seconds and never get to see a full gif, other people, like me and super old computers might have the gif loops a time or two before we finishing zoning. I know there are zones in the game and it's 2017 already and all these games still use a photo when we zone. I know the gif will stop being entertaining, but it, just like stock photos could be updated with the change of season, holidays, events.
I always thought it would be so much cooler and a lot less emersion breaking, if it were like a short video of my group, or me, if I were alone, moving through that transitioning process. And technology has come far enough now, that putting a gif there instead of a picture isn't using too much space.
I'm a little confused. Have you played VG or EQ?
I think Kittik has a fantastic idea that would take little effort to implement in the game, and make zoning more immersive. Imagine a couple of examples:
- You enter the evil swamp. The camera pans to tree where a snake slithers down, and a bat gets startled and flies away.
- You enter the crypt, and as you slowly go down the stairway, there are spiderwebs that bellow from the wind.
- You enter the dwarf city, and look up to see a dwarf working on a broken mechanical system. The dwarf falls, throws his wrench on the ground and walks away.
- You enter the human city, and the large gates opens to let a wagon in as you slip by the smaller door.
To keep things interesting, for each zone, they could have a couple of variations.
metteec said:I'm a genius....
Yes you are metteec, yes you are.
You put it exaclty the way I was trying to get it to come out of my brain. This is great, so engaging and better than a still photo.
And there can always be a little bottom line bar that still puts snarky messages and a loading bar on it.
I would rather see a generic Pantheon logo with awesome random text messages as a homage to Pantheon's forebears.
"Aradune is still stinky."
"Error loading Fippy Darkpaw"
"You are at Witt's End. Passages lead off in *ALL* directions."
"A hollow voice says 'Plugh'."
etc.
If it was good enough in 1999...
Actually I found it one of the more endearing aspects of EQ.
I agree Celandor those little snarky messages were neat. But the graphics for 1999 aren't good enough anymore so why can't we ask for more from other aspects too?
Plus, think about season changes, or holidays or events. Seeing a new gif at a place you visit/zone into a 100 times would be exciting. Using one of metteec's example above the gif loading screen typically is:
- You enter the evil swamp. The camera pans to tree where a snake slithers down, and a bat gets startled and flies away.
But turing christmas you see a short gif of:
-You enter the evil swamp. The camera pans to a frozen tree where a snake falls from it's slick branch, followed by a christmas orniment falling afterwards and landing on the already dazed snake.
Seeing the same loading messages, or the same picture twenty thousands times is dull. (Beleive me, I've seen the same loading screen for EQ2 at least 20,000 times.)
I would much prefer the EQ/VG method of not having a loading screen at all, just a still frame of what you saw when you hit the zone line. I don't like being taken out of the game with artwork/tips and tricks loading screens, those things lose their luster. On top of that I hope for the most part that loading doesn't take more than a small handful of seconds.
The key to the animation is that it is full screen and rendered using the game's graphics engine so that it looks like you are actually entering that zone. The goal is to make the transition look natural and not just that your computer has frozen while loading. Right now, we do not know how long it takes the game to load from a various zones, but my initial assessment is that it will take longer than a couple of seconds. Consider the draw distances and all of the resources that require loading. I guess we will find out once we get closer to launch.
metteec said:I think Kittik has a fantastic idea that would take little effort to implement in the game, and make zoning more immersive. Imagine a couple of examples:
- You enter the evil swamp. The camera pans to tree where a snake slithers down, and a bat gets startled and flies away.
- You enter the crypt, and as you slowly go down the stairway, there are spiderwebs that bellow from the wind.
- You enter the dwarf city, and look up to see a dwarf working on a broken mechanical system. The dwarf falls, throws his wrench on the ground and walks away.
- You enter the human city, and the large gates opens to let a wagon in as you slip by the smaller door.
To keep things interesting, for each zone, they could have a couple of variations.
This is great the first how many times? And after that it's a loading screen you've seen a million times, no matter how pretty the animation. Do we then suggest to have multiple random "events" that play while loading? Now what exactly are we spending dev and art resources on? A loading screen? Count me out. This is much ado about nothing imo, and I'm "all about" immersion. Why would my camera pan away from where I was looking to go stare at some tree? Why not just stay in my perspective of what is in front of me for a few seconds while the zone loads?
Iksar said:I would much prefer the EQ/VG method of not having a loading screen at all, just a still frame of what you saw when you hit the zone line. I don't like being taken out of the game with artwork/tips and tricks loading screens, those things lose their luster. On top of that I hope for the most part that loading doesn't take more than a small handful of seconds.
Bingo. The people talking about immersion are suggesting things that ruin immersion lol.
metteec said:The key to the animation is that it is full screen and rendered using the game's graphics engine so that it looks like you are actually entering that zone. The goal is to make the transition look natural and not just that your computer has frozen while loading. Right now, we do not know how long it takes the game to load from a various zones, but my initial assessment is that it will take longer than a couple of seconds. Consider the draw distances and all of the resources that require loading. I guess we will find out once we get closer to launch.
The loading time will vary person to person, power gaming PCs to potatoes. It would get old rather quickly for those on the faster end with the camera panning out for a few seconds then snapping back to reality and I imagine those on the slower end would tire of sitting and watching the same videos to completion (and possibly even waiting longer after it ends) over and over.
I imagine having to load such a cinematic would add some to the load time as well.
(Heart) Gut Feeling:
I do like the idea of a (simple) transition piece to mask zone loading ....
but ...
I also worry that it would cost DEV time/effort and overall zone loading times.
In a perfect world
[ where we all run high-end PCs attached to dedicated fibre, and VR is given a huge grant by Lucas Arts, Disney and Warner specifically to develop the 5xGeneral, 2xUnCommon, and 1xRare transits for each of the 50 zones (say, 100 zone-lines) then ]
I would be ecstatic to see and watch them!
(Head) Logically:
1. Wait for Late-Alpha/Beta to see what the range for loading times actually is,
2. Decide on cost/benefit for replacing static images + random scripts.
Assumptions:
Should zone loading times be longer than expected, it may be that 'transit' (mini-zones) may be needed to simulate 'seamlessness', or even some other mechanic (3rd person cut-scene portraying your group 'entering the city' etc) used. In either case, given VR's limited budget (for time/resources, let alone money) I fear this will prove to be low on the 'bang for your buck' end of the hit list.
Conclusions:
Suitably interesting art in the loading screens (screenshots, early artwork etc) with some of the funny tag-lines will likely satisfy the vast majority of the playerbase. But this is not to say that some (cheap from a DEVs POV) innovation cannot be brought to bear here.
Example:
Loading screen is tiled (large main picture, plus 1-3 smaller sections)
1. Larger section contains Art + tag-line for loading
"Snake kicking is suspended until stocks of shoes are replenished"
2. Smaller section could contain information:
a) MOTD for the city [war, major events, new taxes etc]
"City Market is open Tuesdays and Thursday this Month"
"Sorhiryth has instituted a new height tax, 1cp for every inch over 4' tall."
"Faethale outposts are under attack from bandits. See the City Guard about protection."
b) 'notice board' with player pinned messages [cost silver etc]
"MyLittlePwny Guild is recruiting now! Apply at the Nag's Head Tabern"
"Iksar Industries SALE on: Blue Pills (23pp) and Red Pills (2cp). Find me in the sewers!"
"Wanted: Pick-Up Raid on Aradune-the-Mighty Saturday at 3pm EST, /tell Zynxs-the-blue"
c) Realm-wide notices:
"Server maintenance today at 01:00 UTC"
"Server First: Raid Leader Krixus and his merry men just slew Kilsinus-Wombatus-Australis"
Evoras, thinks there should also be 'rare' and 'super-rare' collectable loading pictures...