Enemy bodies disappearing right away or turning into bags of loot.

[AGX-17]

The reason enemy bodies disappear in games is for rendering and memory purposes. Every corpse is another model for the computer to render in realtime, and the more there are the slower it's going to be. If you leave a place full of corpses and you want them to remain there forever that change to the location's data has to be saved, and those saves are going to bloat up like a pufferfish, just like in Bethesda games.

Edited November 23, 2012 by AGX-17

[SGray]

The reason enemy bodies disappear in games is for rendering and memory purposes.

Rly? And this also applies to all RPGs? And to 2D isometric view? With corpses as simple flat decals on the ground?

 

Every corpse is another model for the computer to render in realtime, and the more there are the slower it's going to be.

In 2d it not an issue for a lo-o-ong time (Diablo 2 is dated to 2000). In 3d - the only thing rendering is what is in your view, so it's an issue only when there are repeatable spawns on the same place and stacking happens, or when the corpse has a complex physics model.

 

If you leave a place full of corpses and you want them to remain there forever that change to the location's data has to be saved, and those saves are going to bloat up like a pufferfish, just like in Bethesda games.

Yup, couple of int's per corpse: X,Y, corpse type, probably rotation angle. To 3d model - add Z, and another rotation angle. Thousand of corpses would take like 48kB at max. Such a huge bloat?

 

Main point of this thread is that reasons for corpses disappearing in isometric RPGs are solely gameplay and immersion based, not technical. It isn't a shooter or a strategy that could push nowadays, or 5 years ago (10 even) existing calculating power to the limits by mere numbers. Talk is about: is it worth it to write separate logics on corpse disappearance only for immersion and credibility and how to better do so. Also mentions of: how to handle corpses to make looting process handy.

 

Probably there are other features to discuss, but doubt any would relate much to performance issues.

[PsychoBlonde]

It's so much more entertaining when the loot launches into the air after you kill stuff, though.

 

That being said, I'd prefer to have corpses be lootable and then disappear after you've stripped them.

[ReyVagabond]

i want a more natural fell, keep the corpse there for 24 in game hours, and then puff its gone.(with some imagniation you can think some animals ate that roting corps).

[teknoman2]

i say the bodies should stay where they are until you leave that map and a certain time has passed... and i dont mean go in a shop within the map and come out...

[entrerix]

Fallout 1 & 2 had bodies after killing someone so it shouldn't be a tech problem nowadays. I would love to see the same bloody mess after carnage my party makes. Body's can disappear after party leaves the area (for example a city street, but maybe not in dungeon unless there is something that can eat corpses still alive). And the corpses should be more detailed than in fallout after death, blood, insides and all the fun stuff.

 

this pls

[Hassat Hunter]

I think it's silly most modern games still have dissapearing corpses. And so fast.

 

I definitely agree having them stay around would be good, until you spend a considerable gametime away (or if a bar-fight or something, if you leave the map).

 

If the only concern is looting, in a different thread there was a good suggestion of instead of looting idividually, you just got an overview of all, asign to party members, then they all go collect the stuff. This way, "loot blocking" wouldn't even be an issue.

[Ningaubel]

I prefer the Jagged Alliance 2 method most. It adds a lot to the immersion and the game world. And who doesn´t like carrion eaters?

[frost_maidrin]

Maybe certain creatures or environment effects lead to rapid destruction of the dead, travellers would loot any remaining armor and items, other creatures would scavenge bones. Maybe a bone scavenger creature - like a vulture that eats bones or builds nests with them.

[TMZuk]

It depends on the length of the story-arc.

 

But, I'd love to see a timer on the corpses. First they reduce to be decaying husks, savaged by carrion-birds and wolves. Then they become bones, and finally they vanish.

 

AND, I'd love an option to bury the corpses.

 

In fact, it would be super-cool if there is a chance that unburied corpses turn into vengeful undead, attacking the PC when he or she return to the area.

[Hassat Hunter]

Could get annoying, if you have to bury. every. single. corpse.

 

So rather not...

[TMZuk]

Could get annoying, if you have to bury. every. single. corpse.

 

So rather not...

Well, that would depend on how difficult it is. And how common it would be for the corpses to turn undead. And how powerful said undead would be.

 

Personally, I find the laissez-faire manner in which killing and death is treated in most RPGs annoying. I'd like to see a bit of morality and ... realism (Darn, I said it. The silliest term to use about a fantasy RPG mechanism ) introduced. The ability to bury the dead would be a beginning.

Edited April 15, 2013 by TMZuk

[Walsingham]

Erm... having dealt with dead bodies, and seen a mass grave I'd have to say you don't want to be immersed to that extent.

 

I'm just saying, it's fantasy. Be happy there's a divide.

 

~~

 

Although being the fabulous hypocrite I am, we had this exact issue in my tabletop group the other week. I made the players take WP rolls to loot a fellow they beheaded (lucky roll with an axe). Naturally the youngest player objected that loting was only sensible. So I treated him to an in depth description of what the body was like. He went a wee bit green at the gills and muttered about failing the WP roll anyway.

[TMZuk]

Erm... having dealt with dead bodies, and seen a mass grave I'd have to say you don't want to be immersed to that extent.

 

I'm just saying, it's fantasy. Be happy there's a divide.

 

I've not seen a mass grave, and I'd rather not ever.

 

I ~have~ seen more dead people than I care for, and few of them were particularly pleasant. Most of them just looked horribly ~dead~.

 

I doubt any video-game will ever be able to carry that sensation across. Not do I want it to. However, as Obsidian has stated, it would be interesting to explore more mature themes than usually done in CRPGs. And I believe that along that line of thought, a more ~believable~ approach to killing and death would be an interesting avenue to walk. The usual glorified mass murderers that is a typical RPG player character is a trope I'd like to see dissapear.

Edited April 17, 2013 by TMZuk

[Failion]

Since this is a mature game I doubt enemies will dissapear right away after death. Enemies corpses dissapearing after you leave a area or time passes is the best way to handle it. The story telling potential of corpses shouldn't be easily dismissed. Corpses are good props if used right can invoke suspense  fear and terror.

 

For example a party of adventurers are returning to a familiar sunny carefree paradise, a simple peaceful island off the coast  of the jungles of the native cat people. Things are not as they seem. The familiar faces of the furry friendly inhabitants are missing. Disturbing screams can be heard in the distance that quickly fall silent. Your party soon uncovers ghastly remains of the inhabitants scattered across the Island. The tension building is erupted by the screams of the dead. Before you stands the Chiefs daughter you rescued earlier in the mainland that was being chased by humans and rumored to be cursed, your party made a dire mistake in saving her life.. Reanimated into the living dead by voodoo magics by her father. Horrific in appearance, she lets out a disturbing scream causing your party to panic and scatter. You yourself flee only to fall and lose conscious. You awake and the sunny paradise is no more. You realize you ****ed up big time being a cat love You begin your search for your companions only to find they are all dead and zombies. You have to find a way to lift the curse and hopefully restore them to to life. You begin by rallying the few hidden survivors on the island.

Edited April 17, 2013 by Failion

[Walsingham]

 

Erm... having dealt with dead bodies, and seen a mass grave I'd have to say you don't want to be immersed to that extent.

 

I'm just saying, it's fantasy. Be happy there's a divide.

 

I've not seen a mass grave, and I'd rather not ever.

 

I ~have~ seen more dead people than I care for, and few of them were particularly pleasant. Most of them just looked horribly ~dead~.

 

I doubt any video-game will ever be able to carry that sensation across. Not do I want it to. However, as Obsidian has stated, it would be interesting to explore more mature themes than usually done in CRPGs. And I believe that along that line of thought, a more ~believable~ approach to killing and death would be an interesting avenue to walk. The usual glorified mass murderers that is a typical RPG player character is a trope I'd like to see dissapear.

 

You make a good point.