Friday 2010-02-25 Development update:Interview by Grégory Lemasson/Discussion Thread

[zapatista]

Originally Posted by MikkOwl

........... re fuel leak in cockpit ...............
Try to think beyond just 'smell'. How do humans react to strong fumes? Especially in your example of it splashing around.

If I was a designer for Maddox Games, I would:

1. Make the eyes mist (vision become foggy).
2. Coughing (sound effect & movement of the viewscreen matching the cough attacks).

And more things maybe, depending on what was appropriate. I think you will agree that these two points would be clearly noticable, even in a dogfight, just like it would be clearly noticable to the real pilot. It is true that we still don't smell it, and that is a disadvantage. But the other multiple signs are clear for anyone to understand that nasty fumes are in the air.

you are slightly missing my point, it is this:

for ex, when the hurrican pilot is in his cockpit flying around believing he is alone in the air, and suddenly
- some bang noises and a physical jolt (depending if large shell or small caliber hit, there might be little jolt or noise other then like rocks falling on a tin roof)
- his aircraft continues flying (so no major damage, and pilot initially unsure of what the jolt or sound was, or what it did to his aircraft)
- he feels liguid sprayed on his face and clothing
- strong smell of fuel
- no fire

there, in 5 sec the pilot know exactly what happened, how serious and threatening it is to him, and because of training knows his basic options and risks, and procedures to either evade (escape from cockpit), or reduce physical risk (put goggles on if not allready, close jacket, hand on canopy opening etc...). so how do you convey the same information to the virtual pilot sitting in his living room behind a monitor in the same 5 sec ? blurring some vision and making the pilot cough just doesnt convey the same information, especially since the same type of reaction could be from smoke or even glycol leaking into the cockpit and affecting the pilot (oks, not exactly the same, but you catch my meaning)

for a leak in oxygen, or sudden or gradual oxygen loss in supply to the pilot, the time delay in real life could vary from 30 sec to many minutes (particularly in a gradually climbing aircraft which might take several minutes)

so the problem is, for events like low oxygen, fuel leak into cockpit etc.. we need a way to convey the same information a real pilot has in the same time delay , other then using some "non real" messages onscreen or "virtual visual clue's" in the game to SIMULATE this pilot information i dont think it is possible to have our virtual pilots behave in the same way a real pilot experiencing a real life event would.

for those that dont like the idea or dont understand the concept, give them an on/off option in the preferences and they can fly around in a sensory deprived virtual space to their hearts content.