Let us see the whole area please!

[Jasede]

I don't know what game it was but I've seen games where if you explore as far to the edge of the map as it'll let you walk it'd fill in the fog of war parts that you can't walk into for you, without showing you anything you haven't been to yet, only places you couldn't possibly see.

[Wulfic]

This is tricky but I would just make some points on the map that are vital. If u walk to this points for example cave, temple, lake, hat in forest the whole FoW dissapears( ofc the transparent one leaves but I hope it would have a bigger radius in IE games its tooooooo small ) Or just erase the FoW like in Sacred. In sacred FoW was only on the mini map.

[Sacred_Path]

This is tricky but I would just make some points on the map that are vital. If u walk to this points for example cave, temple, lake, hat in forest the whole FoW dissapears( ofc the transparent one leaves but I hope it would have a bigger radius in IE games its tooooooo small )

 

Since they don't want to make empty maps anyway... clear the FoW once you've bypassed the central/ most difficult encounter on that map.

[Wulfic]

WAIT ! I just had a much better Idea. Maps of areas. You could buy them from some shopkeepers. Maps of some areas. If you would buy such a map the whole area is revealed of course without the encounters.

[AGX-17]

I disagree with this. You fail to mention how taking out "opaque" FoW would further diminish the value of stealth play.

 

NPCs don't have their own FoW obscuring the player, do they? FoW is strictly for the purpose of obscuring the player's view/hiding hostiles. And with stealth play it's a straight-up numbers game.

[Hormalakh]

^ I think Shevek misuderstood my point when he posted that. I edited my initial post after his comments and I think it was clarified. I don't think giving enemies FoW really matters because this isn't an RTS. They aren't searching us out (unless they are? that would be cool!) but they will still have line of sight.

[Amberion]

How about triggers which will reveal portions of the map when you pass them. For example, one such trigger could be a narrow ring around the huge lake, which when triggered, reveals the lake center. You actually see this in action in the Starcraft 2 campaign.

[Jobby]

How about triggers which will reveal portions of the map when you pass them. For example, one such trigger could be a narrow ring around the huge lake, which when triggered, reveals the lake center. You actually see this in action in the Starcraft 2 campaign.

 

Yeah thats what i was getting at, you worded it more eloquently though

[Sacred_Path]

Personally my favorite option would be not to have FoW at all, but display the entire landscape at once; with the exception of objects of interest (NPCs, monsters, chests, doors etc.). Those should only be revealed by realistic line of sight. Especially in cities this would prevent the stumbling around a (relatively) peaceful area.

[ogrezilla]

Personally my favorite option would be not to have FoW at all, but display the entire landscape at once; with the exception of objects of interest (NPCs, monsters, chests, doors etc.). Those should only be revealed by realistic line of sight. Especially in cities this would prevent the stumbling around a (relatively) peaceful area.

I think this would take away entirely too much exploration and discovery.

 

The trigger idea makes sense to me. I know I've played games that do this, I just can't think which ones.

Edited December 12, 2012 by ogrezilla

[Sacred_Path]

Personally my favorite option would be not to have FoW at all, but display the entire landscape at once; with the exception of objects of interest (NPCs, monsters, chests, doors etc.). Those should only be revealed by realistic line of sight. Especially in cities this would prevent the stumbling around a (relatively) peaceful area.

I think this would take away entirely too much exploration and discovery.

 

This is v. subjective of course. To me, the question of what creatures or interactive items there might be on a map is much more interesting than the excitement of discovering that there are trees 5 feet in front of you. You just couldn't see them because of FoW.

 

Also, the automap could be highly stylized, so instead of a waterfall, you'd just see a blue patch. Only when you walk there would you see the awesomely drawn scenery.

[ogrezilla]

Personally my favorite option would be not to have FoW at all, but display the entire landscape at once; with the exception of objects of interest (NPCs, monsters, chests, doors etc.). Those should only be revealed by realistic line of sight. Especially in cities this would prevent the stumbling around a (relatively) peaceful area.

I think this would take away entirely too much exploration and discovery.

 

This is v. subjective of course. To me, the question of what creatures or interactive items there might be on a map is much more interesting than the excitement of discovering that there are trees 5 feet in front of you. You just couldn't see them because of FoW.

 

Also, the automap could be highly stylized, so instead of a waterfall, you'd just see a blue patch. Only when you walk there would you see the awesomely drawn scenery.

I'm talking more about being able to see that the hallway continues forward with a hallway to the left and two to the right; one of which loops back around to the same hallway farther ahead. Being able to see the layout of the map without exploring the map would take too much away imo. I'd be perfectly happy with line of site removal of FoW. Show me everything along that hallway (assuming the hallway is lit) as soon as I enter it. That's fine. But don't let me see what is behind those doors until I go in. For outdoors, that could mean you could probably see quite a bit. That's fine too.

Edited December 23, 2012 by ogrezilla