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Co-op split screen

Discussion in 'Suggestions' started by Myth, May 18, 2013.

  1. Myth

    Myth Space Penguin Leader

    Co-op should totally have split screen. It's so much fun, but super frustrating when someone falls, or you accidentely split up and you can't see anything. It doesn't need to be constant split screen. If you could somehow program it to split when players move screens.

    Agree? ^^
     
    • Shrooblord

      Shrooblord Void-Bound Voyager

      Splitscreen, especially if it's dynamic, would make this game way too cluttered. Imagine both common variations: verticle and horizontal splitscreen. In verticle splitscreen, you wouldn't be able to see further than three paces in front of you and this will severely handicap your ability to spot enemies and will cloud your judgement over how far you should jump to get to that one rope that's off-screen, for example. Horizontal splitscreen would probably cause you to miss a lot of items that are higher up or lower down, simply because you can't see them and maybe even can't be bothered to check out every little rope or ladder to see if there's something nice waiting at its end. Also, with more than two players, the individual screens would become so tiny you probably couldn't even make out what's going on anymore. And diagonal split screen is just silly.

      Dynamic splitscreen would be far too confusing or annoying. Imagine two players right at the edge of the single screen. The two screens pop up, but one player moves back into the single screen region. The two screens merge into one. When he moves back, there's two screens again. With two highly mobile units - say two Commandos - this could become an eyesore very quickly.

      Sorry to bash your idea like that, but I wanted to give my reasons for disagreeing. Maybe I came over a little harsh, but I didn't intend to.
       
        Alvin Flummox, MisterS42 and Myth like this.
      • Treadlight

        Treadlight Existential Complex

        Oh, actually, I do agree. I remember seeing this LEGO Harry Potter game had it done perfectly.
        It was accomplished by making the line between the screens be perpendicular to an imaginary line that connects the two players. And having it fade in/out with a couple frames of transparency made the transition smooth. Rather than making the line static, the line rotated to stay perpendicular.
         
          Myth likes this.
        • Xalick

          Xalick Master Chief

          Or, Local multiplayer. that would be awesome
           
            Engio likes this.
          • Treadlight

            Treadlight Existential Complex

            You mean LAN multiplayer? As same-machine multiplayer is already in the beta.
             
            • Myth

              Myth Space Penguin Leader

              It's ok, I wanted to hear people's opinions and you were not being rude or anything.

              I found in my let's play (thanks for watching that btw ^^) that it's chaotic no matter what. You'll find several examples in my video where my partner and I die, because one of us accidentally falls out of frame. It's fairly frustrating, and dampens the experience slightly. I would enjoy being able to LAN at the very least, or use multiple monitors (I have two on my rig). But I think a dynamic vertical split screen akin to something like LEGO Harry Potter (thank you for mentioning where I've seen it before Excavater9!)

              It's much more confusing trying to find your way back then having a smaller section of the screen to work with. I think it would work with just two players, sure any more might be too much. It also limits your strategies. For example, hey let's split up to find buffs, or to get away from a vagrant or a horde. You're forced to stay on the same screen. Once you lose yourself, especially later on in the game, you die very quickly. So yeah, either LAN, multiple monitor support, or a split screen experiment.

              Also, mobs spawn pretty much at your feet anyway, so I don't really think there's a problem with seeing mobs.
               
                Treadlight likes this.
              • Shrooblord

                Shrooblord Void-Bound Voyager

                No, good points, indeed. I've seen in your video what can happen when someone gets stuck offscreen. I'd played with someone before, but we always quickly got back together if we went offscreen. Maybe a dynamic splitscreen would work very well - I don't know for sure - but I imagine it being confusing. Do you have any video examples of this Harry Potter game? It sounds interesting.

                (That 'may be confusing' point I made may be because I myself am easily confused by screenclutter. I don't know if you know the game League of Legends, but I usually find myself completely lost when there's more than three players in close proximity, due to the sheer amount of things flying to and thro.)
                 
                • Treadlight

                  Treadlight Existential Complex

                  "Screenclutter"—as you put it—never seems to be a problem for me. I'll see if I can find some footage of Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 that I don't own.
                  A quick google search resulted in a German review of the game, I'll link to the video at the time I think best shows the split-screen thing.
                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMhClQPfZTk#t=3m30s

                  Note: I've never played or owned the game, just seen videos of it.


                  EDIT: Wow, didn't think I'd need plain tags there.
                   
                    Myth likes this.
                  • Myth

                    Myth Space Penguin Leader

                    It may be impossible to do in game maker. A LAN would suffice however.
                     
                    • Treadlight

                      Treadlight Existential Complex

                      It's probably possible with the use of surfaces. But from what I've heard of them, they are pesky.
                       
                      • Shrooblord

                        Shrooblord Void-Bound Voyager

                        Aw, wow that looks great! It probably works better in a 3D environment, though.
                        Also, views, surfaces - anything that's of changing polygonal structure (how the view rotates around as the players get near each other for example) is pretty advanced in Game Maker. I'm not saying it's necessarily difficult or impossible to do, but it requires some good coding to keep it optimised too.
                         
                        • okok111

                          okok111 Pangalactic Porcupine

                          LAN would be better.
                           
                          • Shrooblord

                            Shrooblord Void-Bound Voyager

                            Unless you actually want to be playing on the same computer, which I can very easily imagine being the case.
                             

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