Rogue_5’s Comlink - April 28, 2006 New Target System

[Issele]

Hello again!


This week has been a busy week for the development team. Earlier this week we wrapped up our development on Publish 28 and then released it to the live Galaxies on Wednesday. Since the release we have been working hard to clean up any new issues that were introduced, starting with the hotfix that we released this morning. We are also actively working on some additional issues which we want to release in a hotfix next week. Ultimately we want to make sure that we address any new issues that we inadvertently introduced as quickly as possible.


While we have been taking care of the publish 28 live issues, the development team has also been hard at work on the new features for our next publish. One of these features includes some further prototyping of our targeting system. Given your comments on various targeting issues you were having we have taken a look at this feature and decided to make a few upgrades.


We’re still play testing this feature internally, but barring any major issues you should see it being rolled out with publish 29. This new targeting feature will resolve the targeting problems for different kinds of combat and non-combat situations. Here is how it will work:


You’ll have an extra targeting bracket on your screen (much like in space) that we’ll call the “intended target”. Once you select an intended target (by TAB-ing or clicking – more details below) the intended targeting bracket sticks on that target. For non-combat situations this will, for instance, make it easier to move furniture in your house or target instruments in a cantina.


In combat, this means that you’ll have a visual indicator of who you’re trying to attack at all times. You’ll still have to aim your cross-hairs over the target in order to hit them, but the intended target bracket will make it easier to pick your enemy out of a crowd. In addition to that, we’re also adding a safety to all weapons that work in conjunction with the intended targeting bracket. This means that when you hold down the safety key (CTRL by default) your weapon will only attack while you have your cross-hairs over your intended target. This feature will not allow you to shoot through enemy targets.


Here are some details of how this feature will work:

* Mousing-over an object does NOT change the intended target (the intended target corresponds to the health/action bars in the upper right of the screen).
* Pressing ESC clears the current intended target.
* Left or right-clicking on an object does NOT change the current target if you already have an intended target. It DOES, however, change if you do not have a current intended target
* If you do not currently have an intended target and you are attacked, the attacking creature becomes the new intended target
* Mouse-over on a creature displays the creature's health/action above the creature (as it does currently), even if the creature is NOT your current intended target.
* If the cross-hairs should overlap with the current intended target, the cross-hair graphic will change to indicate that the you should press "fire"
* Intended targets can be cycled with the TAB key.
* Intended targets can be overridden by hovering the reticule over a new intended target and hitting either "z" (ala "x" in space) or ALT-CLICK-ing.

As always, we are very interested in hearing your feedback on this system. Be sure to post your thoughts in this thread or feel free to send me a PM. I may not respond to all of my PMs, but I do read every one.

Thanks again, and may the Force be with you.

Grant "Rogue_5" McDaniel
SOE Producer, Star Wars Galaxies

http://swg.stratics.com/index.php