Magic System Writeup Discussion

#81 Just had another idea for the filling the bar multiple times, what if the bar pulsed for each full level, so each second at level 1 it would pulse once (as in throw its border out which would then quickly fade), when you hit level 5 it would send 5 rapid pulses out each second. The same system could draw attention to your increasing damage as the health bar would pulse rapidly when you're below 10 health and increasingly towards 1. Going to experiment with this, wonder if it will work?

#82 I think having it pulse may be a little distracting (or annoying) for some people (like me). :D

How about we do the different shades of blue (or whatever) and put ticks on the side of the bar? There's no tick at no level, and when you get to level 1, a tick appears at about 20% of the bar. At level 2, the tick rises up to the 40% side of the bar. This continues until level 5, in which the tick is all the way up to the top of the bar. When it overcharges, all of the ticks could show up at once. (Of course, the bar will fill up completely for each level. The ticks just show what level it's at so you don't lose track.)

#83 Why not just split the bar into 5 little sections with a gap in-between them and when you clear the first gap then you know you are have achieved level one and so on...having the color change would be a neat effect but wouldn't be necessary.

#84 We don't have to stick with the bar as it currently is.
You could use a row of gems or bubbles that each fill up, or go from dark to brightly lit. Or concentric rings that each fill up to indicate the power level.
You could also incorporate the meter into an icon that indicates the spell or ability currently selected.

Or hell, you could even have different looking meters for different races/factions. The Elves could have cute little gems, and the Orcs could have glowing skulls.

#85 Let's not get too caught up in details like what the bar will look like. When the time comes we can come up with something, that is the easy part.

#86 That was my original idea, Matthew. We're trying to move beyond it because having one bar fill up for every level would allow you to judge its progress better, and wouldn't be such an eyesore.

I've thought about it, and I think the simplest thing to do is make the bar two colors. Have the main blue fill up over and over for every level, but also have a transparent yellow or green that overlaps that blue. There are five ticks on the side of the bar at all times. As the blue fills all the way to the top, the yellow (which should be a little transparent so you can see the blue filling up behind it) should be up to the first tick. By level 5, the green or yellow will have reached the top of the bar. When it starts to overcharge, the green or yellow stops becoming transparent and begins to become brighter. Since there's no tick telling you exactly when it'll blow up, you have to be careful.

You can't blame us for being enthusiastic about helping, James. :D

#87 James could I ask that when you have a moment or two could you write up what you've decided because this thread is monstrous now and we'd love to know what you consider workable and not and chew that over.

Thanks

Owen

#88 Following how bars fill up or however it works has me to believe that this will definitely be client-side. I can already imagine client side speed hacks, macros, and other cheats. The speed hack makes the computer think that they are already charged to what level the cheater wants it to be. Another cheater might not want it so obvious but wants to make sure that he won't blow himself from overcharging (if that will be the case). Then I can see if this is switch to more of a server side function how lag could actually prevent someone from casting on time.

OK, I'm on a different subject here, but the subject is making me think of how do you use design the features with keeping possible cheats in mind.