"wear and tear" armor in halo 4?

[ESF Blitz]

So, for multiplayer, something i have always wanted to see, was wear and tear on your armour after your streak increases, as you take bullets and damage etc, it wouldnt neccesarily have to affect gameplay, but it couild be a visual thing, such as scratches and scuffs at 4, cracks at 8 or 10, visor cracks at 15, etc and resetting when you respawn. i think this wouild be a wonderful graphical thing to add to the gameplay. opinions?

[DonnyDoo22]

Maybe. I think it'd be cool, but the visor cracks would be pretty distracting.

[ESF Blitz]

Maybe. I think it'd be cool, but the visor cracks would be pretty distracting.

wouldnt have to be visible for oyu, rather for others and for machinima purposes. also you could have an option to enable/enable for yourself while playing online

[TheDeadly]

The helmet cracking thing happens in Metroid Prime when you are about to die. I think that would be a realistic and fun way to do it.

[RedStarRocket91]

The only problem I have with this is that it might be a drain on memory and cause framerate issues if the detail is too high, especially if one team is walking over the other team and they're moving as a group.

 

I do like it, though. It's certainly original and there's no harm in it.

[Twinreaper]

Memory issues and lag would not be an issue if the idea were applied in a simplistic manner such as decals. Decals are the scorch and burn marks we see as a result of weapons fire against surfaces and objects, and yes, even players. Simply put, all one would have to do is, apply certain types of decals for certain types of weapons. Adjusting the decal "lifespan" value to infinite, or until player death.

 

The only other way to achieve it that I can think of, is memory consuming as Red pointed out. this method requires the developer to create 2 to 3 permutations for each armor piece, to simulate an ever increasing damage effect to the player. The main problem is, that when a new permutation is spawned, especially in-game on player or object interaction things, the game first must destroy, then at the same time, spawn a new object or permutation in it's place. Because of the vast amount of resources already being applied to simple in-game mechanics, the addition of having to spawn new perms every single bullet or even after said amount of damage would amount to lag issues half way or even shorter starting from the beginning of a match.

 

Think about playing a "Rockets" match. Now because you would die instantly from a rocket, the game would detect fatal damage. Because damage or fatal damage has occured, the game switches perms. Then at the same time or within 1-2 ms, the game detects the player dies from the fatal rocket, which now has to unload the perm, and re-spawn a fresh original perm for the ragdoll. You see my point in terms of resources I hope...

[RedStarRocket91]

Out of curiosity, why doesn't this seem to be a problem with vehicles? I mean, you can tear chunks off vehicles like the wings of Ghosts, and damage sustained looks like more than just superficial markings, especially when it reveals innards - I'm also fairly certain that when pieces are removed from the sides of vehicles their hitboxes also shrink (it's saved my life a few times, or at least the collision detection was having a bad day). Is it just that there are too few vehicles on maps for it to make a difference, or are all the sections of vehicles different models to begin with?

[Twinreaper]

all the sections are different. There is a standard vehicle model. Accompanying that model is a different set of collisions that go with every combination of model permutation. Granted yes this is isn't usually an issue, but there would be a lot more going on in terms of spaning decals or perms for player bipeds. Vehicles have a set limit of 5 different perms. each one with a new collision and physics collision that is stored within the rersource maps. Have you ever noticed that after spawning every vehicle you can in one area, and then destryoing them all at the same time, produces a jitter or lag effect? Times that by a zillion when playing a 8 vs 8 or if possible in H4, playing a 16 vs 16, and then apply the same scenario to a bunch of players being hit all at the same time or near the same time by bullets and nades, forcing the engine to process and spawn damage decals or damage perm models.

[Unease Peanut]

I would like the idea of armour damage. like when you take a bullet to the head (visor section) your cam would stay first person and you would see a big bullet crack (and maybe some bloodsplats on it). And ofcourse other would see it too. And the other parts taking damage would be awesome too

[Du Vanger Gata]

I would like the idea of armour damage. like when you take a bullet to the head (visor section) your cam would stay first person and you would see a big bullet crack (and maybe some bloodsplats on it). And ofcourse other would see it too. And the other parts taking damage would be awesome too

 

Yeah I like the idea of staying in first person and seeing the crack and blood spray, I was also thinking it would be cool if when you get shot in the head you would fall and look up at the sky in first person, but it might be too cinimatic for gameplay. Also plasma burns on the armor would look pretty cool too.

[Kurt S-501]

I think it'd be cool. As long as it wouldn't affect the gameplay, just the looks.