Yesterday, my brother got really mad and threw a spool of electrical wire at my head. I swear I saw it hang in midair for a moment right as I ducked. Apparently this is part of the phenomenon of adrenaline. The instant my brain registered that there was a dangerous object flying towards my face, it slowed down the perception of time to allow my reflexes to kick in & duck. Now, of course, my one-track mind began thinking of how to use this in games. For instance, I was playing my friend that morning in Goldeneye, and no matter how angry or desperate I was, I character still walked as fast as my opponent did and myaim was still as reckless. Plus I still couldn''t perform a Waterboy-style raging tackle. So... Do you guys think that an adrenaline effect would be a good idea in games? There are some obvious problems, like if you slow down time for one person, you''d have to slow it down for the other players as well to avoid a synchronization nightmare. But still, any thoughts? lntakitopi@aol.com | http://www.geocities.com/guanajam

I've been thinking about the same thing ever since I saw the Matrix . It would definatly work in single player games. But multiplayer games are what really need discussion.

My thinking is that you set it up so that if two players are fighting you make it so that nobody else can join into the fight. Then, you make their characters move at different rates depending on the situation, etc. In other words, you give them their own time object which is independant of the main global time, so to speak.

That way, you could get really cool effects without making everyone slow down/speed up. The only problem is that you need a damn good backstory to support the different time rates .


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Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk, my first instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if I was an ant and she fell on me? Then it wouldn't seem quite so funny.

Edited by - The Senshi on June 29, 2000 2:53:03 PM

I''m using adrenaline in my TPS as well. If you use it to make yourself move faster/stronger, don''t forget to weaken the character afterwards. Adrenaline really wears you out.

I''m using nanotechnology for almost all my weapons. They charge up from the character''s own bioelecticity. Adrenaline charges the nanotech faster. Also, if the character feels rage when a comrad dies, she "overloads" her adrenaline and can do some serious damage!

E:cb woof!

Let''s see, two players fighting with swords. They are both skilled at what they do, but what happens when in one of them adrenaline kicks in? He will start to have even faster reflexes, will be able to dodge more strikes, and return with his own faster. How would this reflect in a computer game?

Hm, I think baseball would be a good example to test it with.

Pitcher throws fastball. The batter has only a short time interval in which he can hit the ball. He will have to time perfectly, because if his bat is at the spot the ball passes him too late, the ball WILL pass him. If his bat is at the spot too early, it will bounce of the bat harmlessly (well, maybe the blunt was intented )
What happens when a batter''s adrenaline kicks in? Well, I think that if his perception of time slows down, he will have more ''time'' to react and will have a longer interval of time in which to hit the ball. If time slows down, but his reflexes do not, he will have a much easier time to hit the ball.

In a computer swordfight, the player with the rush of adrenaline will have more time to react. His opponents actions will appear slower...but, time doesn''t REALLY slow down (real time) so how to achieve this?

Say you''ve designed a game where fighters can actually do different maneuvres while they fight. They can throw slow blocks left and right, fast jabs, use shields, use two weapons, move around while fighting, duck, etc. Each move would be assigned to a single keystroke. What if you would use a certain ''time'' for each of these moves. A fast jab would be quick and hard to counter by the opponent, but wouldn''t do as much damage as a swing. A full swing would take up a lot of time and would be easier to defend against, but it would do more damage.

Ok, now adrenaline kicks in, which slows down the PERCEPTION of time for one of the characters. What this would do, is make the ''time'' each of the action''s of that player takes, take shorter. That full swing that is so easy to defend against would come a little faster and might surprise an off-guard opponent. Defense would become easier, as arms move faster, shields go up faster. And the opponent would not have a really hard time defending against the now lightning fast jabs.

Of course it would be hard to set up a real swordfight like this, but it IS possible I think.

Silvermyst

Well Now,

I think that would be a really cool idea to
incorparate into a game. Into say an RPG for
example. Just imagine if in FF8 for instance
you aquired a skill that lets your attackers
seem very slow and you can do multiple attacks
very quickly. In exchange for this amazing feat
your life drains as you do this. Also there would
be no need to worry about the other players
perception of speed at the time cos in this
type of game there is no other player, just a
computer that does as it''s told.


STVOY

Mega Moh Mine!!

Ever played an really, really intense game of Counter-Strike? For the unititiated, the weapons are hopelessly inaccurate, you slow down to the point of sitting duck when shot and entire teams can pounce you in the blink of an eye.
I play Counter-Strike all the time, so I''m relating to it. I''m sure this same phenomenon goes for most other first-person shooters.

Okay, so you''re walkin down this dark, yet secure, hallway. Door ahead, all''s clear BAMM screams in front, screams behind, gunfire gunfire gunire BAAM you''re blind smoke all over footsteps more gunfire gunfire explosion screams.

And you see, coming out of the shadows, a Bad Guy. Now you look him in the eye. You always do, it''s a human reaction. So you know where his ''center of perception'' is. He looks you right back there.
And you see him holster his knife, you SEE THE BASTARD HOLSTER THAT KNIFE and draw a rifle.
What do you do? What do you do??

The entire scene above took place in less than a second. And you caught all of it, and you turned it over in your head, and if you''re worth anything in this game, you''ll plaster his head all over the wall because he had to draw that knife. And you didn''t. And while you''re watching him holster that knife, the odds are that your firing away merrily, blissfully unaware that you''re doing so.

This is adrenaline, and the coder didn''t even have to do anything to simulate it. Just to stimulate it.

The_Minister
1C3-D3M0N Interactive

Yes, that assumes that the player is taking the game incredibly seriously -- a little more seriously than you could expect from the average player. The thing about games is that the reflexes can be sped up by the user''s adrenaline, but not things like strength or speed. That has to be coded in.

lntakitopi@aol.com | http://www.geocities.com/guanajam

The only time I''ve ever had adrenaline kick in is when I played Unreal Tournament against real opponents on-line. It wasn''t he slow-down as described before, but this crystal cleer ability to dodge many more shots and shoot straighter. Maybe it is because I''m perceiving things faster, but it''s hard to tell.

All I can say is that is quite embarassing to get up after a 20 minute game with a quickened pulse and sweating {not to the point of B.O., but still...}, knowing full well that I haven''t physically excerted myself. Then again, it could be the earmuff style headphones {a good pair of Koss''} I''ve been noticing that I feel overheated listening to music.

actually this matrix style slowdown has already been done in a game.
Check out Max Payne