...even explosive-tip caseless rounds to the gut... I mentioned part of this in another thread, but I have a more general discussion I''d like to open up: What do you think about regenerating vital resources versus requiring players to find / buy / win and manage limited resources. Most games seem to require management of a limited resource pool, be it fuel, health, ammo, etc. Awhile back, I noticed shooters which gave you one unlimited weapon. Most recently, I''ve seen games like Red Faction II, Halo, and Baldur''s Gate: Dark Alliance all regenerate your health (or some part of it)automatically over time. (I''m just waiting for the fighting game that regenerates your health ) What do you think about this? When it comes to some resource that''s vital to the player being able to continue to play the game, would you prefer that resource be limited or that it regenerate? Side question: In games where you do have to manage limited vital resources, do you think this forces you to focus unduly on the resource rather than usually peripheral things like the game''s atmosphere, story, environment, etc.? (I''m curious because I got this experience recently while playing The Thing: I was tired, had a bit of eye strain, and found myself running through the gameworld totally "unimmersed" because I was looking for a stupid save point.) -------------------- Just waiting for the mothership...

Well I like the idea, but it all depends on how realistic you want to make the game.
How quickly can a person recover from wounds?

Just about any wound can heal in time, but proper care makes this time a lot shorter.
So should your avatar in a FPS heal all the way up from 13% - 100%?

If health regenerate automatically then I would have to stand still for an hour and then come back and play. In other words = lame.

I think I prefer it to be limited.

Although if the game doesn''t allow for "healing potions", such as Jagged Alliance 2 (if one of your mercs got sot, you have to use a doctor that has a medical kit on that merc, but it wouldn''t heal him for 30 hp, it would regenerate him a lot faster than if he hadn''t had a doctor..), then some kind of regeneration is ok.


I wonder when we''ll see a genuin FPS, with a somewhat realistic healing implementation. (ie. not picking up a spinning health kit on the ground )

I think that''s too general of a question. It depends on the game''s design and implementation.

Regenerating armor worked for Halo because the rest of the game was well-designed with that fact in mind. It made sense within the story that this superior sci-fi character has this energy-armor. It made sense within the game universe because other enemies had it too, like the Hunters, and their AI knew how to rest and recharge in the heat of battle. It made sense within gameplay mechanics because energy weapons can deplete energy-armor very fast, and that became a gameplay mechanic that fit in with the rest of the scheme. It made sense within the very huge levels and it was assumed that it would be hard to get through it all on one armor bar, and that placing armor recharging stations would have broken immersion. It made sense with the co-op feature because it created a game mechanic of protecting your friend while he recharges.

So I don''t think there is a general rule of when to use limited vs recharging resources, because it''s tied heavily to the rest of the game''s design.