Zoom Out Button

Discussion in 'Suggestions' started by RaustBlackDragon, Feb 7, 2012.

  1. EDIT: I'm sorry, I didn't realize this had already been suggested. If any mod would like to remove this and relocate my comments to the existing thread, found here:
    http://community.gaslampgames.com/t...view-handy-for-ranged-attacks-and-so-on.2187/
    I'd be fine with that.

    I'm a huge fan of teleportation spells, and I've been using them quite a bit. I've learned two main things:

    1: Sight bonus is a significant benefit to teleportation spells,

    and

    2: Any sight bonus above 3 or 4 is nigh unto useless because of the limitations of the in-game "camera".

    There's a lot of talk that perception is pretty useless, but on paper, it shouldn't be: It gives +5 to sight range, which SHOULD be obscenely useful and worthwhile for any build that uses a teleportation spell. The reason why it isn't is because the camera is zoomed in to the point where you can't see that far around you, ESPECIALLY downwards.

    I'm NOT suggesting that anybody change this entirely; I love the current display and think it suits the game quite well. However, I feel that teleportation skills, and really any skill that involves targeting a distant square, would benefit greatly from the ability to temporarily zoom out to see all of the squares within your sight range.

    That way, if I were to take perception and gain the ability to see around 7 or 8 spaces around me in all directions, I'd be able to target monsters 7 spaces to the south of me, rather than having to wait until they're 3 or 4 spaces away so they're not blocked by the GUI.

    As it currently stands, sight range caps out prematurely because of the game's display system, and I feel this change would remedy that.
     
  2. Chopkinsca

    Chopkinsca Member

    Maybe a button to toggle the GUI would help? I'm not sure how much further that would allow you to see. Maybe 1 or 2 blocks?
     
  3. blob

    blob Member

    Zooming would be technically tough / would probably look ugly, this is not a vector based game.
    Scrolling around the map should hypotethically be easier to implement I guess and would be another solution.
     
  4. Wisse

    Wisse Member

    Zooming out 2 tiles at a time could work? I mean from (example) 10x15 tiles to 12x17?
     
  5. Glazed

    Glazed Member

    If the graphics aren't scalable then this implies that people who play at lower resolutions (like on a netbook) are at a disadvantage over people who play on high resolution monitors. Is this the case? I thought the graphics scaled. It's not hard to scale raster graphics. You don't need vector graphics to support scaling.
     
  6. blob

    blob Member

    Resolution is changed before you start the game, scaling dynamically the view ( which means not scaling the UI) in game is different.
     
  7. Glazed

    Glazed Member

    When the scale of the game's graphics is chosen doesn't make any difference. You claimed that because the game uses raster graphics instead of vector graphics that it's a given that it would be hard and ugly to scale them. This is simply not true. Image scaling algorithms are built right into every 2D rendering engine like DirectX and OpenGL. Even if DoD uses it's own rendering engine, it's not hard to incorporate a standard scaling algorithm. It probably already does since I don't think players are penalized for playing at low resolutions.

    Arguing about it is moot, though, because neither of us understand the game's programming enough to do anything more than guess. Zooming would be a great feature. If it can be done then I'm all for it. I wouldn't be pessimistic about it.
     
  8. blob

    blob Member

    Hmmm then I do not understand why the game doesnt allow in game res change ( or does it ? Im not sure anymore). I remember terraria allows it, and there, it does affect how much you see. I thought it was linked ( just guessed, as you said). Out of curiosity im gonna ask around on how this works usually : /

    True :)
     
  9. Glazed

    Glazed Member

    At 1024x768 I can see 8.5 squares to the left, 6.5 to the right, 3 squares down, and 6 squares up. My character is oddly not centered.

    At 1080x1920 full screen I can see 15.5 left, 13.5 right, 6 down, and 8 up!

    So I guess the game doesn't scale the graphics at all, and it really does punish players at lower resolutions!
     
    ElectricMessiah likes this.
  10. blob

    blob Member

    Holy c... !
    Nice find Glazed.
     
  11. r_b_bergstrom

    r_b_bergstrom Will Mod for Digglebucks

    That's probably just because the higher-res character is carrying a wakizashi with a huge sight buff. :p
     
    blob likes this.