Hud Vote (the Final Final Vote)

[oDDity]

The compass needle goes to the edge and stays there until you are generally north facing again enough for it to move. The player doens't need precise geographical coordinates, this is not a fecking treasure map or an army orienteering exercise, he only needs to know which direction is north. (actually he doesn't even need this, you can play the game just as well without that knowledge, this entire compass business it a complete waste of time and thought)

[Springheel]

So then the player still has to spin around to find north? Since we're having a compass, we might as well make one that works properly.

[oDDity]

He doesn't have to spin around deliberately to find north. YOu're constantly moving and turing in the game anyway so it should be obvious to you where north is. Unless you have absolutely no sense of direction at all, you don't have to keeping checking the compass every 5 seconds.

Let's leave just a little bit of thinking to the player shall we, and not spoonfeed him to death.

A player has no right to know where which exact direction he's going in anyway, he should have to judge it using his wits. WHat kind of a thief would carry a bloody compass with him. I've never had any bother finding my way around a map without a compass.

[Fingernail]

I never even use the compass...the automap and my own sense of direction are fine.

 

And any level shouldn't be quite mazelike enough to demand this hardcore orienteering.

[Springheel]

Nobody will *have* to use it. But having a half-working one is sillier than not having one at all, IMO.

[sparhawk]

A player has no right to know where which exact direction he's going in anyway, he should have to judge it using his wits. WHat kind of a thief would carry a bloody compass with him. I've never had any bother finding my way around a map without a compass.

In RL I can walk through a house and can know my way within a short time. Since this is not as easy in a GAME (yes we are making a game) the compass compensates for that. And therfore it should work like a real compass, giving all directions and an AI nearing detection HUD as well.

[oDDity]

Nobody will *have* to use it. But having a half-working one is sillier than not having one at all, IMO.

No it's not. Not having onre at all give you no way of kknowing where any direction is. With this mini compass you can always know where North is, and automatically know where everywhere else is.

Ans Spar, it is no more difficult to orient yourself in a game than in real life. Not in my experiecne anyway.

Again were getting into poinltess bickering. I'm not really bothered, I just saw this as the natural and easiest way for this mini compass.

[New Horizon]

Nah, makes more sense to have the letters rotate and the needle stay put. If we're going to the bother of having one at all, it might as well work. Essentially, the compass is just going to be a circle that spins and half of it is obscured by the gem. Easy enough.

[Darkness_Falls]

I'd prefer rotating compass points and letters. Doing so will allow us to have a gold-colored North point on the compass.

 

Here's a URL showing several compasses, if it helps development. You can see the arrows would usually turn with the letters anyways, since they're usually both part of the same rotating disc: http://www.photovault.com/Link/Technology/...MDVolume01.html

 

Side note: I don't really like the idea of having just a half-compass, like oDDity mentioned.

[Springheel]

I'd prefer rotating compass points and letters.

 

The fewer things moving the better, to avoid drawing attention to itself. A simple rotating letter wheel would be the most efficient, and was what I had in mind when I put it together.

[Domarius]

I was agreeing with oDDity, but it is a bit unconventional.