Level transitions in SoM , and lighting

[Verdite]

Hello folks

I would like a few opinions on what I am debating over, and this will affect how my game turns out. Yes, all 25 base levels will be either changed or kept as they are depending on how I go about this.

So, after putting it off for a long while and reading up on map transitions in SoM, I decided to do a test to see the transition from a light to dark area. It doesnt work well at all by using the least 'scene' like approach, having no black on /off or white on/off.

There will be no warping through objects or items in my game, as I want the player to get the sense of adventure and playability... So it means I need to either get the lighting standardised across the whole board for my levels, or simply break the immersion feeling that I have tried very hard to preserve.

The problem is that I have outdoor and indoor areas. If I were to standardise the lighting universally, it would probably be based around the indoor, darker areas meaning outdoor sections would suffer in terms of visibility.

[HwitVlf]

My personal feeling is that you should keep the lighting variations between maps rather than worry about smooth warping transitions.  Having good lighting effects and variations throught the game will add far more immersion than rough-warping takes away.

Rough warping doesn't happen very often and it's such a 'normal' gameplay convention that I don't feel like it significantly hurts immersion. I mean, most of us are used to 30 second load screens between levels! So a little 'pop' is nothing.

What does hurt immersion, are the unrealistic things that you have time to examine, or unnatural feeling things that stay a constant theme throughout gameplay.
My two cents 

[Auric]

You should add a brief loading screen like what was in the SoM remake of KF. Like what HwitVlf had said, We're all used to loading screens. Adding this could give the illusion of making the transition smoother as the player's attention is ever so slightly taken away from the game.

I believe the loading screen was just a display image attached to the leaving map event.

[Verdite]

Much appreciated.

I'm not used to loading screens in a KF style game though 

Its just a trade off I suppose. Either its a sudden pop into another level, or do away with the varied lighting. Having said that, I could do consisent lighting, but use lamps to create a brighter scenario, though it wouldnt feel natural when having the same coloured sky.

The only other thing I thought of doing was increasing the draw distance significantly for outdoor areas - its more than double right now. Also, adding lighter fog might just do the trick, but its a gamble...

Example

consistent lighting
lighter fog, at 0.5 fog range outdoors, 27.5 draw distance
darker fog at 1.0 fog range indoors 10.0 draw distance
no fog when warping (if done correctly)

[Verdite]

Making a new post in reply to my last theory on how to workaround that 'pop' warp. Basically, I ran a few tests trying different methods, and it wasnt feasible... It seems that the draw distance may in fact affect the lighting in the level. I know that sounds strange, but no matter how hard I tried it wasnt possible to achieve the same lightness as the next level. It could be that the fogs 'trail' had something to do with it, anyway I think I'm going to stick to varied lighting and let players pretend its their characters eyes 'adjusting' to the new lighting? 

[HwitVlf]

I don't think a little pop will be an issue at all, but it's cool that your have such attention to detail that you want to make such things perfect. I think that's a big part of what makes games great.

A couple last ideas, you could put a short intro movie during map transitions- say a recoded 'flying' view of the path just ahead of the payer. That might feel more natural than a loading screen and should help hide the pop effect.

A second idea is to have the player walk through a short flooded hallway between maps. It would probably only be worth doing when there was a stark lighting difference between the old and new maps.  The players walk down steps into water as the leave the old map. You set up a warp to an intermediate "underwater' map that triggers exactly as the player's eye level goes underwater. The intermediate underwater map has thick blue fog and water sounds to mimic an underwater environment.  As the player leaves the flooded hallway, you set up a warp that sends them to the new map exactly as their eye passes above the waterline. The water effects should help hide the light differences between the old and new. I don't know if that's worth the effort though.

[Verdite]

Honestly John I am very stringent when it comes to details, immersion etc, exhaustingly so most of the time. I hope it pays off.

That last idea is great, but I could only use it for one level I think.

Anyway I was thinking about a workaround, and that is to include a 'entering the (area name)' picture with a premade screenshot of the area in front of the warp, so I will need to do two graphics for to and fro, and day / night. I got the idea from Scotts suggestion on adding the loading screen graphic, only seeing loading................ at the bottom of the screen breaks immersion. If TES had included a screenshot view of where you were warping into, I would have liked it alot more. Its the detraction that frustrates me... I get put into a black screen, where I am like a museum viewer, looking at art pieces. Nice, but wrecks the feeling of being in the game.

So thanks Scott, and John. And Diablo 2! When you see the graphics in my game you'll know you've been a part of it!!!



Welling up with nostalgia...