SEAL's FPS Pictures

[SEAL]

Guess which one's me.

I've been meaning to make one since I first saw C-A_99's one. I had to use Paint to make it though. So it's not as good as I would have liked. It's also pretty fuzzy. But that's because my brother had an awful hard time holding the camera still in one hand. This picture's a lot better then some of the ones we took that didn't turn out well.

[isoaker]

hehehe! Nice job!

Too bad these forums clip the right-side of the pic if one's window is too narrow. Sadly, no easy way to fix that bug.

[SEAL]

Really? The whole picture is there for me. If it's not for you, I can always post a link to the photobucket page with the full-sized image.

Anyway, I've thought up a solution for the fuzzy problem. If I ever want to make more of these, (Which I will.) I'll just use a tripod.

[isoaker]

When I view iSoaker.net in full screen, the whole pic is there. But as I usually browse in a smaller window, parts on the right get buried beneath the right-side column.

As for fuzzy-problem, it's a matter of stability (tripod) and duration of exposure (lighting) which will affect how much blurring you get.

[SEAL]

Okay, I'll provide the link. Here you go.

Yeah, next time we'll use a tripod. Our camera automatically focuses, but my brother (Who took the picture.) had to hold the Vanquisher in his other hand, so he had a hard time holding it still. Actually, it almost looks more dramatic when it's slightly fuzzy.

[HBWW]

Your list takes up the whole vertical space of the screen and is mostly too hard to read. Plus, try to get the gun centered next time, and your HUD lacks information on pressure. If you can't, no one says you can't do a 3rd person picture lol.

The pic itself is pretty good though. (I should point out that most modern games do use motion blur.) Just work on your HUD art skills, and try to get the gun centered and pointing towards the center of the picture.

[SEAL]

Tell me about it... A lot of things went wrong with this picture. Like I said before, I only have MS Paint to do these so that's about the best HUD that we could do. (My brother drew it.) He also was the one who took the picture. But the next time I swear it will be better! Coincidentally, a few days ago, I actually was thinking about doing a 3rd person picture sometime. I probably will.

Oh, as far as the text goes, as you can see, I made the text white in one spot where it was impossible to see it in black. Maybe I should have put white in a few other places. It looked okay when I was making it... We tried a ton of colors, but none of them seemed to work except black. (Except of course in a few places.)

[HBWW]

Hey, I was just providing suggestions lol.

Even with just paint, you can still be creative and make an interesting HOD. I don't have time to dig up my paint-made HUD's right now though. The main problem is the text. However, I think the new Paint in Windows 7 can handle text outlines which is by far the easiest and most effective way to solve the problem. (Think black outline and white fill for the text.) I haven't tried it yet though.

[SEAL]

Are you reading my mind? I was using W7 paint, (Not my computer.) and I was thinking about outlining the text for my next picture!

[SEAL]

I made some changes based on C-A_99's suggestions. Like the new HUD map? I also added less text, and put in a pressure gauge. I used a different program then paint, because paint doesn't allow you to outline text. This program doesn't either, but it lets you add a shadow to the text, so it's easier to read. Unfortunately, the program doesn't have as good painting tools as paint does, so I'm going to try something else in the future. My little brother took the picture, so the positioning may not be perfect.

I've always thought that if there was a Water Warfare FPS, then homemades would be considered "Cheap". By the way, I'm the dude with the skull cap.

I don't get what's with this size issue! Even if I resize it, it's still the same size here! So I'll have to give you guys a link to the page with the pic. Here.

[HBWW]

Well I have to say, use the circle tool next time you want to make circles. Also, your homemade is pointing pretty close to the center but your crosshair is really thrown off. Auto-aim I take it? lol

What I do is indicate water balloons and bottles with their icons. Far more elegant than saying "water balloons" right up there. As for gauges, you may have noticed that when the blaster has a pressure gauge, I replicate it (though do a bad job of doing so) and display it on the HUD. Without a gauge, the pressure amount is ambiguous, so I use an ambiguous indicator: a solid color. Blue is full pressure which gradually fades to red as pressure goes low. Same goes to reservoir; I use a color indicator, or I will use a gauge if the blaster in question has a transparent reservoir.

I like the Google mapfinder you put on the corner. That particular style is a bit out of my taste for a water warfare game, but that's just a matter of personal preference and some games use one. (i.e. Battlefield series.)

Homemades would most definitely NOT be cheap in any such WW FPS game. The obvious limit is being unable to pump while shooting but it's also possible to even disable left click for shooting homemades and force the user to use, say, the shift key, while they use another key to switch between the pump and valve. I came up with a set of possible keyboard mappings earlier while I was thinking of making a WW FPS w/ a friend but I can't remember exactly what I did at the moment.

Speaking of which, I'm not exactly sure what I'll do yet on that FPS. I can only do 3D game art/graphics and me and my friend were thinking of using the Unreal SDK to work on it. It's been just talk though and nothing has happened; I was having some second thoughts and thinking of working on something else. We'll have to see.

[SEAL]

Oh. It seems to have resized. Weird...

Anyway the reason I didn't use a circle tool is because the program I used doesn't have one! I guess we could say it's auto-aim. I told my brother to aim it at my other brother, but he said that the homemade was kind of heavy and hard to position. (He's only 11.)

I usually do use water balloon icons, but like I said before, the program didn't have a circle tool, so I decided to make it so he had no water balloons left. There normally would be water balloon icons there if he actually had any (Like in the first pic.). I have an idea for a reservoir/PC gauge, so that will be better next time as well.

The only reason I thought they would be cheap, is because of the superior range and power. If I designed a WW FPS, I certainly wouldn't make it so you had to push a button to shift your hand between the valve and pump, I'd just make it so when you pushed the fire button, your hand would automatically shift to the valve and fire. (In the case of this homemade of course. Some homemades have regular triggers.) Also, I don't think pumping while shooting matters that much. In real life, I hardly ever pump while I shoot, preferring to take tap shots and only pump when needed.

Are you saying that you were going to make a WW FPS game? That sounds cool.

[ncog]

Nice work man, cool pictures!

[HBWW]

Well, since I never got back to SEAL's post, I'll take this opportunity to do so.

The seperation of triggering and pumping is vital to ergonomics and ball valves are much "clunkier" to trigger than other triggers. You're probably right on not forcing to use different keys and what not to switch hands, but such a key would be useful for triggering the FF and Oozinator. I would still prefer to have the same pump button attached to the pump for both normal triggered blasters/homemades and for piston blasters, just to put emphasis on how bad and awkward the piston blasters are. I'll post my keyboard setup ideas later, but I'd rather it be possible to use a gamepad to play as well so there's probably a lot that has to be stripped down.

I may not necessarily be able to make the FPS game but its good to throw ideas around. I wouldn't really be the one making it either, just the graphical aspect of it. (I can't program to save my life anyway, but its worth spending some time on the Unreal 3 Development Kit which is actually much easier and more powerful to use than other tools/engines out there.)

[SEAL]

Meant to post this Wednesday night, but I got shall we say, 'held up'. I forgot about it yesterday.

I agree with having a key for switching between nozzles on blasters like the MD Secret Strike, FF/AB, and Oozinator. Sort of like in MW2 where you can switch between the regular gun, and M203-type attachments.

As for homemades, I still think that the user's hand should automatically switch to the valve upon pressing the fire button. It would of course, take longer to shoot the blaster after hitting the fire button, therefore limiting the practicality. And, I presume that players would be able to design and build their own homemades in the game, so players could just add real triggers and solve the whole problem!

I would still prefer to have the same pump button attached to the pump for both normal triggered blasters/homemades and for piston blasters, just to put emphasis on how bad and awkward the piston blasters are.

Two words: Do it. (That is, if you actually end up making the game of course.)

ncog: Thanks, but the pictures could be much better. I will probably be using Photoshop from now on to make the pictures. Although I probably won't be making any more pics anytime soon due to the oncoming winter.

[HBWW]

The truth is that triggering most grenade launchers is as simple as pressing another trigger instead of having to switch. Same goes to the FF/Secret Strike, but of course, you only have so many keys/buttons that can be mapped.

I took a few pics in the winter once, but no FPS pics as they're difficult to setup properly. You can make them in 3D modeling software though, then use fireworks/photoshop for the HUD as usual.