"Minimap" idea

[Farks]

One thing that's hard to simulate with a normal computer screen is how the human eye and senses work. In real life you can sort of keep track of people around you even if you're not directly looking at them. If you want to check on you fellow soldiers in PR and most other games, you have to turn around completely, which takes away both your aim, situational awareness and some focus. And with the above in mind, it's sort of unrealistic. I do know about the small arrows you have right now, yes, but they're useless if you ask me.

One solution that could simulate the way human senses work is to bring back a tweaked version of the minimap that only shows your squad (no other friendly soldiers) and no terrain/map either. So it will only be good for keeping track of your squad mates. It would sort of simulate the above; the player takes a look at the "map" on the top of his screen, which can represent how a real life soldier looks over his shoulders or uses his senses to keep track of his friendlies.

It will make the life for infantry much better as they can keep formations easier and have some idea which sector their friends are covering, which will improve situational awareness as you and others don't have to take eyes and aim away from your area all the time.


Maybe not completely realistic in a way, but the function it will serve will be realistic.

[nick20404]

Just tap caps lock and you get your map up quickly, no need for a gps window in the corner blocking your view.

[Farks]

Originally Posted by nick20404

Just tap caps lock and you get your map up quickly, no need for a gps window in the corner blocking your view.

And the Caps Lock map doesn't block the ENTIRE screen then? And you can't aim or see anything with that map, and it's a real clumsy tool to serve that purpose.

[MajorT0m]

they should actually bring in maps, hit a key you pull out a map instead of a digital image of the entire battlefield.

in addition you may have the entire digital map in vehicles VIA computer.

[IronTaxi]

Originally Posted by Farks

One thing that's hard to simulate with a normal computer screen is how the human eye and senses work. In real life you can sort of keep track of people around you even if you're not directly looking at them. If you want to check on you fellow soldiers in PR and most other games, you have to turn around completely, which takes away both your aim, situational awareness and some focus. And with the above in mind, it's sort of unrealistic. I do know about the small arrows you have right now, yes, but they're useless if you ask me.

One solution that could simulate the way human senses work is to bring back a tweaked version of the minimap that only shows your squad (no other friendly soldiers) and no terrain/map either. So it will only be good for keeping track of your squad mates. It would sort of simulate the above; the player takes a look at the "map" on the top of his screen, which can represent how a real life soldier looks over his shoulders or uses his senses to keep track of his friendlies.

It will make the life for infantry much better as they can keep formations easier and have some idea which sector their friends are covering, which will improve situational awareness as you and others don't have to take eyes and aim away from your area all the time.


Maybe not completely realistic in a way, but the function it will serve will be realistic.

i like it...

afaik the Dev community as a whole wants to avoid adding anything to the HUD area. But this is a pretty useful funtion and would increase squad awareness for sure.. could be very useful..

[Farks]

Originally Posted by [R-DEV]IronTaxi

i like it...

afaik the Dev community as a whole wants to avoid adding anything to the HUD area. But this is a pretty useful funtion and would increase squad awareness for sure.. could be very useful..

Thank you! And it doesn't have to be the old GPS map, something minimalistic should do the trick.

[llPANCHOll]

Originally Posted by [R-DEV]IronTaxi

i like it...

afaik the Dev community as a whole wants to avoid adding anything to the HUD area. But this is a pretty useful funtion and would increase squad awareness for sure.. could be very useful..

If the minimap is coming back, how about just bringing back the "M" map and set it at 100% Transperancy and Zoomed all the way in all of the time. This would acheive basicly the same purpose, and more importantly would make it "Toggleable" for those of us who do not wish to have the additional clutter on the HUD.

[=BTB= LoftyB]

Originally Posted by llPANCHOll

If the minimap is coming back, how about just bringing back the "M" map and set it at 100% Transperancy

Nobody would be able to see it

[llPANCHOll]

Originally Posted by llPANCHOll

If the minimap is coming back, how about just bringing back the "M" map and set it at 100% Transperancy and Zoomed all the way in all of the time. This would acheive basicly the same purpose, and more importantly would make it "Toggleable" for those of us who do not wish to have the additional clutter on the HUD.

Originally Posted by =BTB= LoftyB

Nobody would be able to see it

On the contrary, the Transperency setting only effects the background, not the player dots. Or the map grid when zoomed all the way out for that matter.

[Mary.au]

I must say that I disagree.

Originally Posted by Farks

In real life you can sort of keep track of people around you even if you're not directly looking at them.

It really depends on what you are referring to. If you mean peripheral vision (what you can see in 'the corner of your eye'), then this feature is unnecessary as peripheral vision is, as far as I know, already simulated with wide screen (16:9 or 16:10) monitors.

If you are referring to spatial awareness, then this feature is unnecessary to an extent, as you can keep mental tabs on what people are doing around you, regurdless of whether its in a computer game, or in real life.