Outdoor House Size and indoor size.

[Wulfic]

In many rpgs I saw a very big problem in the size of an indoor house ( mostly in neverwinter nights 2 ). As I walked the street with my group I saw a little tavern and I walked in, only to see the Inn is actually PRETTY HUGE inside and by huge I mean really huuuuuge. I like how Bethesda solves this with TES. They just take the outdoor model of the house and on the base of this model they make the interior. Huge interiors really destroy my immersion ;/. If I remember good in Baldur's gate this problem didnt exist or it didnt really made that difference. What do you think folks ?

[melkathi]

My original degree is in architecture, so I am biased.

I much prefer when space is handled in a realistic way,

[Domigorgon]

I don't think it degrades immersion much if an inside of an inn is a bit larger than the outside. After all, it'd be rather cramped were it realistic, and then players would complain about how cramped it is (it would impair strategic positioning and characters might get stuck). But, yeah, NWN2 did overdo it at times (Moonstone Mask comes to mind). Dragon Age as well.

[melkathi]

Dragon Age also had the problem though of reusing doorways too often

I am thinking of a warehouse in Denerim in paricular.

 

While I can overlook a certain discrepancy in scale, I do want buildings to make sense. So if I enter a mansion I do want it to have been a mansion on the outside and I do want it to have the layout of a mansion and not be a long linear progression of random corridors and rooms based on the order of encounters the player is supposed to experience and not on what the location is.

[Shadenuat]

Stuff really made me mad in NWN. Partially because NWN was tiled of course, and one could easely count the number of tiles outside and inside. Taverns and tombs with corridors so huge you'd think they were build with a future use of dump trucks in mind.

[mstark]

My original degree is in architecture, so I am biased.

I much prefer when space is handled in a realistic way,

This, because this is exactly my situation, too

 

It's just an absolute must.

[Umberlin]

Consistency is something I appreciate, but I also understand why it happens. Still, I think it was playing the Sims and Sims 2 when I was younger that made me appreciate internal and external consistency of a structure. I couldn't actually stand the games though . . . I should just look into a game that lets me build neat houses, without the Sims aspect. Chances are probably low that an in depth RPG had that level of structure building and customization. .-.

 

Boy did I digress . . .

 

Anyways, it'd be nice if the internal and external structure was consistent, but, at the end of the day . . . like I said, I get why it happens. There are more important things for a developer to consider, obviously. Still, I can't say I disagree with the general sentiment.

[Kage Tempest]

What if.... all those places with insides that are a lot bigger than the outsides are all actually... get this... TARDIS's!!!!!1111111 ohohhohohohohoho

 

Ok ok, I kid I kid

 

but for the forgotten realms universe you can easily explain that some of those places are actually dimensional pockets funded by very wealthy people.... that is until you summon an extraplanar creature and NOT be sucked into another dimension or are unable to summon said creature in the first place, or you realize that the place that is a lot bigger on the inside looks like and functions as a hovel in normal society.

[Pshaw]

I've always felt the other way around, that something looked big on the outside, with multiple floors, and then you got inside and it was small.

 

That said it just doesn't really bother me much personally. I can see it as an oddity but it don't really think about it beyond that. If you start nit-picking these things then you start to wonder how come the Inn has no bedrooms, why there is no wash tub or kitchen and so on.

[rjshae]

An earlier update mentioned that the outdoor and indoor viewing angles may differ. If the indoor viewing angle is more toward the vertical, that may help a lot with the interior spacial arrangement. Beyond that, since the animated figures are going to be 3D, perhaps they may also change the scale between the exterior and interior views? We'll see, I guess.

[kabaliero]

i think it was just made for a player to travel faster on foot without mounts and stuff

and areas being more like a symbolic fantasy layout than a real one

 

i would only vote for real size if there will be mounts c:

[mstark]

If you start nit-picking these things then you start to wonder how come the Inn has no bedrooms, why there is no wash tub or kitchen and so on.

The IE games did have bedrooms in their inns, and a number of characters/NPCs/events tied to them, so as not to make them a pointless addition. I think it's fair to expect similar attention to detail from PE.

[jezz555]

This never really bothered me before. I suppose it would be nice if they matched up, but I can't say I really care either way.

[JFSOCC]

I'm all for bigger on the inside.

[PsychoBlonde]

I like them to match, but that being said, I don't want a ton of interior spaces where you can't fit your entire party in the room. This becomes an even bigger problem when you have combat to deal with.

 

The general problem is that the characters take up way more space than they ought to, and they can't navigate through narrow areas for spit. Solve this problem, and you don't need building interiors the size of a football stadium.

[Tsuga C]

This is a non-issue for me. Realistic arms and panoplies matter, but the interior dimensions of the local pub versus its exterior dimensions hardly raises my eyebrow. I'm used to it from NWN1 and NWN2 and it's small potatoes compared with a score of other potential graphical/artistic pitfalls. *shrugs*

[Lord of Lost Socks]

Huge buildings in an isometric game tend to cause problem when they cover a huge area behind the building since we can't rotate.

[jivex5k]

Personally, I'd like to avoid a loading screen when entering a building.

I'd prefer the roof to just become transparent, this worked great for Ultima Online.

Then the whole realistic size thing is automatically correct.

 

They key to avoiding unseen or blocked areas is transparency.

Edited December 5, 2012 by jivex5k

[lolaldanee]

Personally, I'd like to avoid a loading screen when entering a building.

I'd prefer the roof to just become transparent, this worked great for Ultima Online.

Then the whole realistic size thing is automatically correct.

 

They key to avoiding unseen or blocked areas is transparency.

 

i agree with this

[Tamerlane]

Haha. I'm not the only one replaying Neverwinter Nights 2 right now.

 

****ing warehouses, man. Miniature god damn modron cubes.

[Tsuga C]

Personally, I'd like to avoid a loading screen when entering a building.

I'd prefer the roof to just become transparent, this worked great for Ultima Online.

Then the whole realistic size thing is automatically correct.

 

They key to avoiding unseen or blocked areas is transparency.

 

i agree with this

 

It doesn't look to be that sort of game. The transitions between areas don't bother me and they're a small price to pay for a greater level of detail.