Rogue-like Doom

[Occhidiangela]

t should be noted that Hellgate:London's website shows a weapon called the grappler, which will allow you to reel enemies in for a close range kill. So that nuance has been considered. But the flying enemies they show in the grappler demo video are of the "hover 2 feet in the air" variety like those in NWN or WoW. The demo videos definately don't give a "mouselook up at the sniper" feel but rather a "flat ground, autotargeting weapons, strafe away!" feel. But obviously it is too early to draw any firm conclusions about the game, other than that it will definately have a different feel to it than your average Diablo clone.

Pete

The problem of using a camera angle on a 2-D surface to faithfully simulate the ability to look up 90 degrees to se a "flying target" without screwing up the rest of the visual setting are not trivial. Aircraft flight simulation solves this with multiple screens or 240 degree wraparounds, and still misses fidelity by a large margin. Even with that quality of visual immersion, simulator illness due to vestibular upset is not an uncommon occurrence, even among a population not inclined to vestibular upset in a general sense. (Screening out those very suceptible to vestibular upset/ motion sickness is part of the process of crafting a pilot.)

I think it is just as well that the limitations on field of view remain. What we don't need is more people ending up in car wrecks, or falling down stairs, due to vestibular upset tied to the delayed reaction that is well documented in the literature. The causation chain may be hidden arleady for some accidents due to visually induced vertigo, it's just that investigators aren't asking the right questions . . . yet..

I will find the link tomorrow to one of the better articles I have on that issue: simulator sickness. The industry (simulator makers and VR vendors) hates people who write about it. Such articles cut into their profit margins.

That may be why so little information reaches the general public, unless perhaps most people don't want to know.

Occhi