coopordie2 is a 3rd Person Shooter for multiple reasons:

• I don't like HUD and want to display informations directly on the player character or the environment
• I think some character actions will be better rendered in 3rd person (crawling when wounded, supporting a teammate ...etc)
• A multiplayer First Person Shooter require to have two models for each character action available. One model is needed for the 1st person view and a second model for when the action is performed by other players

The shield level of the player, ammunitions available and items carried will all be directly visible on the player body. And I will probably display his name, country flag and "medals" directly on his combat suit.

Generally, 3rd Person Shooter have two main cons:

• Difficulty to aim
• Camera troubles when an obstacle is between the camera and the player

I plan to minor the two main cons by putting the camera very near the player character. The result is like the games "Gears of wars" or "Dead Space".

The aiming method I plan to use is identical to FPS: you have an aiming sign and the shoot goes exactly where expected. It is the orientation of the weapon who is adjusted to point at the right target, and not the conversely (already visible on 1st video).

I have discover the game Dead Space - Extraction 2 months ago on the console of a friend. This game uses a lots of the features I wanted for times. It has no HUD and the life level is displayed on the player body (the green light tube).

The camera management is also very interesting. You have two modes: normal and aiming.

In normal mode, the mouse movement turn the camera around the player. If the camera look inside the cone view of the character, his head points in the right direction. If the camera look behind the character, the character front is visible. If the player move, the character turn rapidly and move in the direction pointed by the camera.

In aiming mode, the weapons point where the camera look and the character turn with the camera mouse movement. The aiming mode can be activated through a key or when the fire key is pressed.

For coopordie2 I plan to test a similar method, but without any "aiming mode" key. The view will turn immediately in aiming mode if the player press the fire key or if there are near enemies (like most MMO do).

I have recently purchased Dead Space on PC, here is a sample of it's camera management.

Isn't dificult to aim on 3rd person... I've tried myself on Gears of Wars, and other games. Moving the weapon to aim where the aim dot is would fix most issues about aiming.. though it may get annoying for some people.

Would be interesting to have to be aware of if your weapon (the weapon itself) is blocked by something on the way.. Lets say:

I'm covering, and want to shoot: My weapon has to go out of cover and have a clear line of fire to hit target (therefore it would have some kind of balistic/trajectory).

In any case....

Seems interesting the camera mode of Dead Space.. though I must say that bar on the back of the player looks.. uh.. bad? But.. I guess you would put it good enough About obstacles.. I've seen games where that doesn't quite afect you... Though I don't remember what they did.

About the ammo.. Well.. we have to have a "mind" count of the bullets we have =) That would be awesome.

You haven't played "Gears of wars" on a console

Really? All in all it will be very different for coopordie2, the information will have to be visible for the player himself and for his teammates. I think about armor shards on the legs...

I DO HAVE! On XBox, at the store
And I've to say is as easy as any other FPS there Or even easier =)


It was cool in coop =)

The bar looks bad, becuase.. looks like Patriarch or Flesh Pound From Killing Floor.

Now that I've played DeadSpace (1, I guess) That bar doesn't look that bad when you actually use it. Its a lot better to not have that "freaking" hud on the panel. But, as I've seen, they fixed to problem with the camera pretty much ok. I didn't feel bad by having something behind me (it quite actually warns you there is soemthing behind you, so turn back and look).

I guess having the ammo on charger, should be on the weapon itself (as a PART of the weapon itself, not something that pups up). Items carried, only if it was some sort of.. uh.. how is it called? Models attached to models, but that may also limit you on what respects to what you can carry, because it would look odd to take a grenade from the same place, like.. clonning the grenade.

The name on the combat suit should be like the names of your AI squad on SWAT 4, like this: <link>

Country flag, on score board. Medals could be models, but that would be overloading the engine too much already.