A Reworked Emote System
in Suggestions?
No chat or in-game voice, okay. I can understand the reasoning for that, for one it's an entirely new system to add on to what already seems to be a highly stressed network. For two, too many gamers are, to put it politely, jerks. (As an aside, I'm stunned that you don't have people trolling in the single entrance point to guidance bridge from the tutorial grounds. Perhaps the declining user numbers are a good thing in some ways.)
However, if you're going to have an open world, in which people are expected to co-operate as well as compete, some means of communication between players is essential, and, unfortunately, the current emote system simply doesn't allow enough range. Plus, many of the emotes are somewhat similar -- a singular arm movement directly ahead. But doing emotes is limited by the controllers that you can use. Obviously drop-downs are not acceptable in a game intended primarily for controllers. But making the radial system too crowded can be equally difficult for controllers (to say nothing of trying to use a mouse to pull in a very specific controller based direction.)
So, my suggestion is, first, to make the emote system two levels. The first is a menu that takes you into the type of emotes you want to use, both it and the sub-menus only use the cardinal directions.
Main menu, from top and going clockwise:
Utility, represented by a question mark.
No, represented by an X
Co-op/Compete, represented by your current coop and fight symbols with a slash between them.
Yes, represented by a checkmark.
Utility menu, from top and clockwise:
Point. New emote: Character extends their arm fully straight to point directly ahead, palm down, fist with index extended.
I don't know.
Me. New emote: Character points thumb at self, contracting at elbow and lifting arm up sideways
Over here.
No menu, top + clockwise.
Sad.
Emphatic No/Cut it. New emote: Character raises fore-arm to opposite shoulder, palm flattens pointing toward self, makes a chop motion across to other shoulder while shaking head.
No, no, no (aka Taunt no)
Refusal: New emote: Character stands straight, crosses arms, turns head away.
Co-op/Compete:
Fight (agree to fight)/Terminate Co-op. Context sensitive, depending on what request is pending. If no request, then it works as a request to start a fight.
Bow.
Co-op (agree to Co-op)/Stop Fight(agree to stop fight). Context sensitive depending on current activity and request. If Co-op or Stop Fight request pending, do that. If in a fight, Stop Fight. If none of those, request co-op.
Come on!
Yes menu:
Victory: Shorten current emote to just the character raising both arms and shaking. No jump.
Yes (aka Thumbs up): As current.
Jubilation: Other half of victory emote, jumping with one arm in the air.
Satisfied yes: New emote: Character stands straight, hands on hips, exaggerated nod.
Second, during an emote, the character is in an unbreakable guard. Stamina still decreases, and after stamina, health, but the emote is not broken into a stagger even if hit. Once the emote is complete, the character is incapable of guarding or attacking for 1 second, or until hit, however they can enter into another emote.. This will allow people to get out emotes during an initial rush, but not make the useful for people to actually use to prevent a beating.
However, if you're going to have an open world, in which people are expected to co-operate as well as compete, some means of communication between players is essential, and, unfortunately, the current emote system simply doesn't allow enough range. Plus, many of the emotes are somewhat similar -- a singular arm movement directly ahead. But doing emotes is limited by the controllers that you can use. Obviously drop-downs are not acceptable in a game intended primarily for controllers. But making the radial system too crowded can be equally difficult for controllers (to say nothing of trying to use a mouse to pull in a very specific controller based direction.)
So, my suggestion is, first, to make the emote system two levels. The first is a menu that takes you into the type of emotes you want to use, both it and the sub-menus only use the cardinal directions.
Main menu, from top and going clockwise:
Utility, represented by a question mark.
No, represented by an X
Co-op/Compete, represented by your current coop and fight symbols with a slash between them.
Yes, represented by a checkmark.
Utility menu, from top and clockwise:
Point. New emote: Character extends their arm fully straight to point directly ahead, palm down, fist with index extended.
I don't know.
Me. New emote: Character points thumb at self, contracting at elbow and lifting arm up sideways
Over here.
No menu, top + clockwise.
Sad.
Emphatic No/Cut it. New emote: Character raises fore-arm to opposite shoulder, palm flattens pointing toward self, makes a chop motion across to other shoulder while shaking head.
No, no, no (aka Taunt no)
Refusal: New emote: Character stands straight, crosses arms, turns head away.
Co-op/Compete:
Fight (agree to fight)/Terminate Co-op. Context sensitive, depending on what request is pending. If no request, then it works as a request to start a fight.
Bow.
Co-op (agree to Co-op)/Stop Fight(agree to stop fight). Context sensitive depending on current activity and request. If Co-op or Stop Fight request pending, do that. If in a fight, Stop Fight. If none of those, request co-op.
Come on!
Yes menu:
Victory: Shorten current emote to just the character raising both arms and shaking. No jump.
Yes (aka Thumbs up): As current.
Jubilation: Other half of victory emote, jumping with one arm in the air.
Satisfied yes: New emote: Character stands straight, hands on hips, exaggerated nod.
Second, during an emote, the character is in an unbreakable guard. Stamina still decreases, and after stamina, health, but the emote is not broken into a stagger even if hit. Once the emote is complete, the character is incapable of guarding or attacking for 1 second, or until hit, however they can enter into another emote.. This will allow people to get out emotes during an initial rush, but not make the useful for people to actually use to prevent a beating.
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