The Castle Doctrine Forums

tons0phun

Member

From: California, USA

Registered: 2013-04-03

Posts: 6

Absolute Line of Sight

I think player's vision should be reduced only to what they can see. No sight beyond walls, or beyond doors.

I see many players trying to implement door-guessing with pitbulls behind the wrong ones, but they are useless because  my robber has the ability to see through doors, and walls. I didn't even have to buy X-ray specs!

Doing this should really be the job for another tool, something simple like a pocket-mirror to see under doors, or maybe $1000 for "blue-prints" which can let the robber reveal one tile on the map.

Whatever the means, robbers should only be able to see what they can see.

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colorfusion

Member

Registered: 2013-04-02

Posts: 537

Re: Absolute Line of Sight

I think a map item is already being planned, but only for expensive unsolved houses.

I feel guessing traps like that are already kind of overpowered as it is, remember that:

• Just opening the wrong door instantly kills you, no chance to kill the dog

• Cats or Chiwawas can be used on the correct door so people can barely tell a difference

• There are no tools to counter wooden doors

• If you go down or up to enter then it's almost impossible to tell the difference

• Even horizontally it's very easy to make the mistake if you don't stare at the door for a while

For aesthetic purposes also I don't think absolute line of sight would look very good, and it would be hard to tell what some vision blocking things actually are if you only saw one pixel width of it.

Last edited by colorfusion (2013-04-04 09:04:41)

jasonrohrer

Administrator

Registered: 2013-04-01

Posts: 1,235

Re: Absolute Line of Sight

Yeah, this was a balance between looking good and functionality.  If I tightened up the edge of the black fog, it blocks what's on the other side of a wall, but doesn't look as good (sharp edge).  If I move it in more, then it really obscures the walls that you're standing next too.  I wanted it to be clear that you're standing next to a wooden wall, for example.

The idea is that you can kind of hear an animal on the other side of a door.  Maybe you can "detect" a vault through a one-thick wall by knocking on the wall.  Walls are thin!  Or maybe there are cracks to see through.

Matrix

Member

Registered: 2013-04-06

Posts: 137

Re: Absolute Line of Sight

Yeah, this was a balance between looking good and functionality.  If I tightened up the edge of the black fog, it blocks what's on the other side of a wall, but doesn't look as good (sharp edge).  If I move it in more, then it really obscures the walls that you're standing next too.  I wanted it to be clear that you're standing next to a wooden wall, for example.

The idea is that you can kind of hear an animal on the other side of a door.  Maybe you can "detect" a vault through a one-thick wall by knocking on the wall.  Walls are thin!  Or maybe there are cracks to see through.

Fair point. And I actually like the current implementation of the limited vision. I do have a question though... why does the player see further down (south) than up (north)? It's almost double the amount.

If there is a thick wall, you can only figure out 2 units if it's above you but you can figure out 3 units below you.

zz

Guest

Re: Absolute Line of Sight

It would be nice if mobiles which are partially drawn but which aren't in full LoS would be highlighted in some way (e.g. drawn in monochrome). Too often I find myself sticking my head close up to the screen and waving it around, trying to decide whether those few faint pixels could be the trace of a pitbull or not...

colorfusion

Member

Registered: 2013-04-02

Posts: 537

Re: Absolute Line of Sight

Yeah, this was a balance between looking good and functionality.  If I tightened up the edge of the black fog, it blocks what's on the other side of a wall, but doesn't look as good (sharp edge).  If I move it in more, then it really obscures the walls that you're standing next too.  I wanted it to be clear that you're standing next to a wooden wall, for example.

The idea is that you can kind of hear an animal on the other side of a door.  Maybe you can "detect" a vault through a one-thick wall by knocking on the wall.  Walls are thin!  Or maybe there are cracks to see through.

Fair point. And I actually like the current implementation of the limited vision. I do have a question though... why does the player see further down (south) than up (north)? It's almost double the amount.

If there is a thick wall, you can only figure out 2 units if it's above you but you can figure out 3 units below you.

It's the way they're drawn, the 3d graphics go up from where the actual block is.