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Author Topic: [Beta 13] (spoiler) Misleading projectile arc prediction  (Read 2806 times)

R-26 Lightspeed

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[Beta 13] (spoiler) Misleading projectile arc prediction
« on: April 26, 2024, 02:11:26 AM »

When firing multiple weapons in a volley, including a weapon with an arc such as a Rocket Array, the arc prediction always shows, even if the target is out of range (and you therefore won't fire).
This can be misleading, since it makes it look like the launcher would fire alongside the other weapons.
This is especially bad if the weapon is a launcher, since those do show explosion predictions only if your target is in range of the launcher.
(Also, not only is the majority of the very few arc weapons launchers, launchers are also the most common arc weapons!)

The confusing thing is that the two parts of the projectile prediction for arc launchers don't behave the same way;
The arc prediction always shows, but the explosion prediction doesn't (and also gets almost completely hidden by the arc projection before it disappears).

It isn't technically a bug, but it is misleading!


Screenshot attached for clarification.
« Last Edit: April 26, 2024, 02:16:19 AM by R-26 Lightspeed »
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Kyzrati

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Re: [Beta 13] (spoiler) Misleading projectile arc prediction
« Reply #1 on: April 26, 2024, 02:25:39 AM »

Yeah I'm aware of this behavior, that's how it was built to show you the arc no matter what, since it's helpful to know even if it won't fire, which you'll generally know due to the other differences (in particular the lack of an explosion prediction showing AOE). I decided from the beginning to leave it this way since it can fall on the edge of helpful.

Arc is actually part of the line-of-fire visual (unrelated to AOE), which has always shown even when your target is out of range. In that sense it is consistent.
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Josh Ge, Developer - Dev Blog | @GridSageGames | Patreon

R-26 Lightspeed

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Re: [Beta 13] (spoiler) Misleading projectile arc prediction
« Reply #2 on: April 26, 2024, 02:31:21 AM »

Yeah I'm aware of this behavior, that's how it was built to show you the arc no matter what, since it's helpful to know even if it won't fire, which you'll generally know due to the other differences (in particular the lack of an explosion prediction showing AOE).
Maybe the arcs should be made less obvious, at least when combined with explosives, then? The explosion prediction does get hidden pretty well by the arc if you're not firing at close-range targets. (Though that might be due to my SHIFT_HUE... I'll have to check.)
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Kyzrati

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Re: [Beta 13] (spoiler) Misleading projectile arc prediction
« Reply #3 on: April 26, 2024, 02:47:05 AM »

I mean... explosion predictions are pretty obvious because they have a half-square outline delineating the maximum in each axis direction, which is the more fundamental part of that display--it uses lines in addition to the interior highlight area and not just relying on color like the rest of the targeting interface.
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Josh Ge, Developer - Dev Blog | @GridSageGames | Patreon

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Re: [Beta 13] (spoiler) Misleading projectile arc prediction
« Reply #4 on: April 27, 2024, 02:53:45 AM »

I mean... explosion predictions are pretty obvious because they have a half-square outline delineating the maximum in each axis direction, which is the more fundamental part of that display--it uses lines in addition to the interior highlight area and not just relying on color like the rest of the targeting interface.
It might be intended to be the more fundamental part of that display, but what i automatically check to see if an explosion will occur is the far more obvious highlighted area. I wouldn't be surprised if that was also the case for a good chunk of players.
At some point, i even saw those explosion range line indicators and thought "wait, were those always there?". I might be good at noticing things generally, but apparently i can tunnel vision when i'm not in "parsing the entire screen for information" mode.
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Kyzrati

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Re: [Beta 13] (spoiler) Misleading projectile arc prediction
« Reply #5 on: April 27, 2024, 02:58:36 AM »

Understandable, although as a part of the line-of-fire visualization rather than extra AOE visualization, it will remain for now.
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