[Suggestion] Introduce Accurate Aiming

Lately, the main SC2 updates we've been hearing about are from the art department. We've heard/seen things from the mildly interesting (e.g. new Disruptor = Sentry) to the dreadfully inane (e.g. new trees!!!). This to me sounds as if the art team, like us, are getting a little bored waiting and are so doodling about randomly.

Hence, I think a better use of their time would be if they improved on attack animations. Currently, ranged units use the same set of attack animations, whether for air or ground units. While this isn't problematic from the top view, it can look really silly up close (e.g. in-game cinematics). Marines will always aim their guns upwards at a 45 degree angle regardless of whether they're shooting at Mutalisks or burrowed Zerglings. Marauders always point their arms forward as their grenades zoom upwards to hit enemies on the higher ground. This, I think can and should be improved upon. As such, I can think of two possible solutions:


OPTION 1:

Ideally, I think units should be able to aim their weapon towards their target's center of mass. This would mean a Marine would aim his gun higher as an air unit gets closer, Zealots would strike downwards when attacking burrowed Zergling, etc. What this would entail would be for each unit model to be given a pivot point (arms for Marines, waist for Zealots, etc) from which the limb can swivel up and down (since the unit always faces the direction it is attacking) and a reference point that would be the point the attacker would be aiming for (very high for Colossus, lower in Thor, etc).


OPTION 2:

If Option 1 is too radical a change and would require too much retooling, a much simpler and straightforward compromise would be to simply introduce new, specific attack animations for air, ground and perhaps underground targets. For the Marine, this would be obviously aiming the gun at a 45 degrees up, flat horizontal and 45 degrees down respectively. I believe this was already employed in WC3 for units that attack air and ground differently. Therefore, this is entirely doable.


So, care to share your thoughts? Which of these options do you think can/should be employed? Is any change even desired in this regard?

I think it would be a nice touch. So long as the animations don't detract from the gameplay (which this definitely wouldn't) it can be implemented. For goodness sakes, if they can pull off left-right target tracking, there's no reason they can't pull off up-down target tracking.

Unless this tracking system was already implemented into the skeletal system so that arms act like turrets and point towards a 'center of mass', I simply don't see this working. This rules out option 1.

Option 2 is very much possible. Attack anim 2, set it to 'Air' and 'Massive'.

TBH though, you're not really gonna notice much in game. Marines pointing their guns up from an isometric view is like asking for more detail on the zealot's face. You're just not going to notice it, and it's more work and than worth the time.


I wouldn't so easily assume that the art team has time on their hands. Animation is a subset of art, it has little to do with the modellers. The Animators have to deal with Cutscene work on top of in-game animation, and I'd figure there is still a lot of singleplayer work to be done.

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Unless this tracking system was already implemented into the skeletal system so that arms act like turrets and point towards a 'center of mass', I simply don't see this working.

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It's easy to provide the illusion that they're aiming at something. All you need to do is a little animation blending. Games do it for aiming all the time.

The question is how much performance will it take when you're doing it on 200 guys? It's the equivalent of running the animation system twice for each character.

There is already a RTS game with aiming physics like this and it is called Supreme Commander.

Shots being fired from units can actually miss or even be dodged with micro because they are not just animations.

You notice it quite well in the game not really the units actually aiming but the tracking and physics of the shots you do.

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Originally Posted by Nicol Bolas

It's easy to provide the illusion that they're aiming at something. All you need to do is a little animation blending. Games do it for aiming all the time.

The question is how much performance will it take when you're doing it on 200 guys? It's the equivalent of running the animation system twice for each character.

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Well, for that, settings can come into play. If it needs more memory or such to run that kinda thing, they can just make it toggle-able in the settings, like everything else. If it doesn't work out for you, just turn it off.

I like both ideas, OP. I personally hope both ideas are implemented in some way. I like idea A the best, but it wouldn't look right with melee attackers with underground targets, where it'd look like they're just swiping at the ground.

Sort of like in Tekken the model's heads always follow the enemy. The layer of realism added is so big with such a small change..

I like it.

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Originally Posted by don

Sort of like in Tekken the model's heads always follow the enemy. The layer of realism added is so big with such a small change..

I like it.

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Not exactly. To get headtracking working, the units have to be specially set up for that, like how the Siege Tank turret always follows the target. Siege Tank turrets can spin a full 360 around, but guys like marines aren't set up to point their guns at a target while running away. Most units don't have their guns follow the target, they just face their entire bodies in the general direction horizontally. To get tracking working for arms only, they would have had to change the way the skeleton and animation works.

They can 'fake' it with animation blending, like Nicol mentioned, or with an alternate animation that just points upwards. The angle wouldn't be perfect but it'd look more natural than just pointing straight.

I support it. IMO I think it would definitely be noticeable, especially if you have lots of men on the field at once with their guns all pointing in different directions.

I think it would be a nice worthwhile touch and don't see why it couldn't be done to some degree while we're all still waiting for beta anyway.

In any case, I especially agree with the point about in game cinematics.

Well, if they're 3D models, the legs already move to walk, and the arms already move to the different positions, right? And the unit already calculates the angle to aim on the horizontal (rotation), right?

Are we sure they just point 45 degrees up to fire?