Nooooooooooooooo!!!! My cart!

[Yolan]

I was hauling a cart of baskets to the lake by the ring of Brodgar to fill with fish, when it got stuck against something while fully occluded by one of standing stones. Result? Lost cart!!! Is there anything to be done about this? Any plans for revealing a radius around your player when behind things in the future?


*sobs*

[Malicus]

Huh? I don't really understand what you're saying. What's lost about it? Can't you just pull it from the other side to get it out?

[RaptorJedi]

What he's saying is he was pulling it, and it got caught on something (causing him to stop pulling it) and it's now completely behind one of the standing blocks in Brodgar, so he can't see it to click on it and take it out. At least, that's how I understand it.

[Sean_Mirrsen]

I've accidentally lost a quern behind a cabin this way. Not a great loss compared to a cart, but still - this needs to have a workable solution.

[loftar]

Why yes, thank you, we are very well aware of the problem. It is, in fact, one of the largest surprises so far that more people haven't complained about this. :)

A fix will be implemented in due time, but it requires a good solution. I think it would be a pity to loose the ability to hide behind things if you want to be stealthy.

[Sean_Mirrsen]

Well, I don't see a problem except from a programming standpoint (and hardly even that). Make a switch to invert the Z-depth of all movable objects except players. That way, the players will remain hidden behind anything they might have been using as cover, and the sprites of anything that might have been lost behind an immobile structure will show up to be used.

[loftar]

But that would mean that you couldn't hide stuff that you're smuggling. :)

Rather, I'm planning to implement it so that when your player has been standing still behind an object for, say, 0.5 seconds or so, other things behind that same object would be outlined and clickable.

[Sean_Mirrsen]

Heh. Well, in that case I suggest you go with the usual isometric way. Any immobile object that obscurs the player is reduced to an outline on the ground. It won't stop interaction with the object because the outline is still the object's sprite, but will reveal everything else that's behind it. If you consider that a hiding thief can "pass as furniture" if a player unknowingly bumps into them behind something - well, that's not very plausible, so don't.

[Cunk]

Actually most isometric games I've seen use a sort of transparent halo around the player when they are behind stuff where anything within the halo is fully interactive. I don't know how complex of a programming task this is but it's pretty much the standard technique for dealing with this issue that I've seen. I'm sure there are plenty of examples out there on the web.

And this wouldn't interfere with being able to hide since other players would need to be standing near where they are to see them.

[Sean_Mirrsen]

Thing is, with the way this game seems to work, just an outline (a-la Age of Empires) won't be sufficient. There needs to be a solid sprite you can click on. I think making obstructing scenery just disappear is the best method.