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Immersion


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#1 lavalamp1138

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Posted April 22 2011 - 07:36 PM

Immersion entices a person to suspend their disbelief and accept what they are viewing on-screen as actual reality. However, immersion can be a very subjective and personal process. Every individual is immersed by some facet of a game, but not everyone is immersed by that same facet. So which is yours? What is it about Hawken specifically that allows you to form this spatial presence?

Is it the sound design? It is indeed a stimulating sensation whenever the siren begins to ring, alerting you of incoming missles. Or the satisfying roar of the machine gun as it churns out shell after shell in rapid succession.

Perhaps it's the environment? You want to lose yourself in the slums that have been laid to waste and uncover remnants of its obscure past. Who knows, maybe it's empathy that compels you reach out and connect with Hawken's world?

Or are you fixated on the game through the perspective they present it to you? In the cockpit, it's as if you are truly there piloting that mech and engaging in combat with someone hell-bent on taking you out. Both winning and losing feel much more personal to you because of this.

So which is it? Something else entirely? Please share your thoughts, my friends.

#2 Dem

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Posted April 22 2011 - 07:59 PM

I think the sound and perspective are the two main things for me.  

When playing in first person, it just feels so much more, I dont know, in your face.  With Hawken's take on it, i.e. the cockpit and guns on the side, it really made me feel like I was piloting that mech, and I wasnt even playing it.  

The sounds can make or break a game, and so far they sound great which is good.  If you've ever seen the movie Public Enemies, you'd know that the sounds of the gunshots were absolutely amazingly realistic, and they really added a certain feel to the movie that wouldnt have been there had they used some more generic or softer sounds.  They were really loud and crisp, which is what made them sound so great.

I think one other thing that immerses me is a strong sense of character, be it written and scripted, or just me and the way the game evolves according to my actions.  If I dont feel like the character is an extension of myself, through customization usually, then it's really difficult to put myself inside the game.

#3 Mech Mechanic

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Posted April 22 2011 - 08:19 PM

Immersible is the idea you are searching for.

It's perceptive appropriation to be more exact.

1. The sound of the background settles the mood.
2. Small oscillations in the camera when you fire any weapon.
3. Small deviations of the mech's path when you fly.
4. The calibration of sound and action.
5. Collision detection.
6. Deformable environments.
7. Destructible environments.
8. Sounds produced by collisions.
9. Dynamic environments like rains, light shafts, day and night transitions.
10. Events happening in the environments like movable variable stages.

There are many more factors...

#4 vesper1

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Posted April 26 2011 - 01:21 PM

FWIW, what really _made_ the youtube previews (especially the second one) was the sound. I love when a game sounds the way 'the real thing' does (at least in my head). Huge props to the sound people behind Hawken.

That is not to say that the wonderful graphics didn't add their part ;-)
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#5 Flyingdebris

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Posted April 26 2011 - 02:20 PM

the cockpit design, all the way
Mech time all the time

#6 Dahdah

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Posted April 26 2011 - 02:58 PM

Simply stated, for me the biggest factor would have to be sound. Having quality and varied sounds for the different weapon types is very important in putting me 'in' a game. Fancy shadows and textures are nice to look at, but this is an action game; if we're playing it right, you're probably not going to stop to look at a particularly well-done effect. A well done sound stage (surround sound) can really make the experience.

After sound, force-feedback is hoped for. I know the PC people on here will disagree, and cite the increased accuracy of the mouse/keyboard combo, but there's nothing like the rush you get from well-orchestrated controller rumble. From the simple nudges of individual steps to the thump of a cannon shot to the steadily increasing vibration of a failing mech, controller feedback gives a tactile effect I don't think you can get with keyboard/mouse.

#7 Flyingdebris

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Posted April 27 2011 - 04:04 AM

except that gamepad controller "feedbacK" comes at the cost of having to have aim-assist *cough cough aimbots*adjusting your aim so you can hit anything at all.  i.e. sticky aim/magnetic bullets/and a few others i don't know the names of.
Mech time all the time

#8 Dahdah

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Posted April 27 2011 - 04:36 AM

Flyingdebris said:

except that gamepad controller "feedbacK" comes at the cost of having to have aim-assist *cough cough aimbots*adjusting your aim so you can hit anything at all.  i.e. sticky aim/magnetic bullets/and a few others i don't know the names of.

That might be true for most of the FPS shooters out there today (which have been 'dumbed' down to make them more accessible) but Chromehounds had NO aim-assist and very complex gun physics (recoil, shell drop, etc.). You were either accurate or you didn't last long in battle. With the size of targets (you are driving a 30-40' tall mech) there should be no need of AA on any platform for this game either.

Not trying to start a PC/console war, but rumble controllers are an aspect of immersion the PC just doesn't experience.

#9 Zero

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Posted April 27 2011 - 08:59 AM

To me, immersion is the ability to put yourself into the character's shoes. First person really helps, although in reality it is far from perfect in most games. Quality of sound and environment really help in these regards. Generally I find it easier to be immersed in serious games, especially when there are moral decisions to be made, like you might be given the opportunity to kill either your sister or your people (like Fable 3). It makes you feel like your decisions actually have weight in the world around you.

#10 The_Silencer

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Posted April 27 2011 - 01:34 PM

According to your latest post, what comes to my mind now is a Friendly Fire toggle setting. :)

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#11 Zero

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Posted April 27 2011 - 06:13 PM

The_Silencer said:

According to your latest post, what comes to my mind now is a Friendly Fire toggle setting. :)

Very true, it can be annoying, but it is most certainly more realistic.

#12 The_Silencer

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Posted April 28 2011 - 11:34 AM

It also may be something pretty interesting in the future.

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#13 Skulo

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Posted April 28 2011 - 06:07 PM

A combination of all of this is Immersion

But sure i have a favorite, that would be myself inside a cockpit shooting sum commis

#14 brainbone

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Posted April 30 2011 - 09:38 AM

I gotta say what most draws me into games like this is the addition of huge Z axis movements. I first found how intense the feeling was when I played Starsiege: Tribes for several years. By being about to lift off the ground and jet around it made the terrain visuals incredibly varied and dynamic. For me, I can run around in real life on the X and Y axis and experience that rush but I need a video game to be able to simulate free movement in the Z axis.

I'd hope to see this game take some liberties with the mech movements so that a face paced, high speed, CTF style of game play could happen.

#15 Ganthir

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Posted April 30 2011 - 05:46 PM

Sound design is a big part of what draws me into a game  like being able to hear that rocket fly past behind you in your headphones is something you can instantly recognize and react to because you notice things when you hear them behind you: when you hear a door click open behind you.
and that includes music, if it's really good can set a tone and feeling that is sort of like the gateway into connecting with the game.. and I love it when I hear new and interesting sound effects that were made specifically for the game I'm playing, things that you recognize instantly, like when you hear the sound of a lightsaber turning on in Star Wars.

Artistic Design is essential, nothing can really hook me into a game or story like a well crafted world that feels real within itself with things like language / architecture / designs, these things do the best job of pulling ME out of reality and placing me into theirs. Take BladeRunner for example, that movie has one of my favorite worlds ever and everything in it comes together hand in hand such as it's music and sound with how people dress and what the city-scape looks like. On top of all of that is how authentic something looks, and when I was watching the cockpit view of Hawken I was drooling over the little gauges and uncovered wires connecting everything together as if it were a real machine. Every little bit I saw inside and outside of the cockpit looking as if it really has significant meaning to how it effects me and where I am.

Details always plays a big part in how real the world feels to me because it's the most important part of how video games and reality "merge", things like having no-hud and being able to see sunlight glance off of a scratch in the glass of my windshield. The dust flying through the air inside of my cockpit. Being able to see something like newspapers being blown through the wind, and seeing flags blowing around in the wind as I look for the nearest threat. I don't mean "good" graphics as in how high resolution your textures are but good in the way that it was designed to look and feel. More of an artistic point of view than a technical one for graphics and detail, which leads me to the last one point of immersion for me. POV is also super important because it's placing you digitally into another universe and being in the First-Person point of view sets everything into a familiar plane of sight for you to naturally connect with. + A lot of the stuff the rest of you already mentioned like Z axis.

(I've probably mixed up the "category's" I have up there. I tend to ramble)  :)

#16 The_Silencer

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Posted May 02 2011 - 09:40 AM

IIRC, one of my first posts was about customizable SFX for this game. To mod the sound effects of the mechas into this game would be something cool and fun, IMO. That does not mean that I was not drooling abundantly as I was watching the gameplay video. Particularily, the sounds set was awesome at that stage. :D

On the Artistic Design. More on the same. I felt amazed with the scenarios, cockpit, VFX and other visuals as well!.

On gameplay details and othe mechanics: Once more, the gameplay video instantly catched my attention. So being a work in progress I can't wait to see what else they're gonna show to us next time. Very excited!. And I've to admit that I'm not one of those guys to who you can impress with ease. :)

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#17 Mitchybape92

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Posted May 22 2011 - 02:00 PM

it would be neat if there were little animals running around/flying around in the areas (Like the cities seen in the gameplay videos)

i can just imagine your playing and you see a deer off in the distance, then as you approach closer it looks at you like it would at a car, then quickly dart away into the city.

it would just be a neat little thing to have in the game :)

#18 colR

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Posted May 23 2011 - 12:00 PM

For now, incidental sound is the most important aspect for immersion. Take this for example: City 17 on a solely visual level is actually quite restricted - there's not a lot to it, just some twisty corridors, indoors and out. It's not until you listen to the soundscape that it comes alive.

Of course, this will all change when they invent SOIP - that's Smell Over Internet Protocol (patent pending). Nothing says "pwned, noob" like the smell of cordite drifting out of your speakers!

#19 The_Silencer

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Posted May 25 2011 - 04:03 AM

Now that you mention that.. comes to my mind a horn a la War of the Worlds for those big space ships launching missiles to the crowd down there. That would be ... yeah.. that would be pretty awesome, IMO. :D

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#20 Mekboy

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Posted October 01 2011 - 03:48 AM

This might be relevant to this thread, so I'm gonna ask my question here instead of making a separate thread.

I see those huge towers and buildings/ships looming over the landscape in some levels. Will the players be able to scale them in-game? I know there's plenty of buildings already to stand on top of and the environment seems very diverse, I just assumed from the early previews that you'd be able to scale those background superstructures as well. Anyone can confirm/deny this? I love the art style and scale regardless, nice touch with the retro cyberpunk feel. 8-)




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