Richard Tyrer · Lead FPS Systems Designer

So FPS scanning will be similar to ships. It will have a unique nuance in the fact that FPS scanning, and what I call FPS radar in terms of its ping system, will actually be less passive. So it will be something that you actively use rather than it being on all the time. So I think the passive version will actually only search for audio, so for decibels. So if you hear people in the distance, or if you hear gunshots from an FPS point of view, then it will obviously appear on your radar. But if you actually actively ping, that will then track the other emissions. So you'll get EM and IR. And then eventually, later down the line, as we start to work towards armor gameplay, that's when armor will start to give off those emissions and things like that. And then you can bring in different components in terms of different levels of FPS radar, in terms of FPS scanning. And obviously FPS scanning will have similar functionality: you'll be able to select or highlight over a target, and then that will give you more information on that target, loadout and so on and so forth. So the plans are that we want the FPS and the ships to feel like a similar experience. We don't want you to get out of the ship and it's a totally different experience than when you're in the ship. So we want to have that kind of holistic approach, that approach where you feel like everything's connected, that all of these disparate systems are playing together for one unique experience. That's kind of the overall idea for FPS radar and scanning. That's something that we'll be working on, absolutely, in the future.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community

I should clarify the question. That's not something that's coming online with Alpha 3.7. That question is more about design philosophy going forward.

Richard Tyrer · Lead FPS Systems Designer

Absolutely. So that's something that we've got on our minds. It's something that we're working towards. And as you know, in terms of the roadmap and so on and so forth, we've got lots to work on. But in terms of general idea and philosophy, that's the principle.

Sean Tracy · Technical Director of Content

Sure, and Rich went over it just exhaustively anyways, even in the last quarter. And it's something that we're doing now on the combat pillar almost specifically: we really try to get out in front of the designs for the implementation. So we've got a great idea of what we're doing on the combat pillar actually till the middle of next year at this point, and actually even the next quarter, quarter three. So Rich is real good at this. He's already seeing something coming in the quarter forward from that, so he's already getting the design all worked out. And by worked out, I mean pretty exhaustive by the time we get to it. It's like we know exactly what we're doing at the moment that we do. And that's why in the last couple months, anyways, we've been able to get some pretty huge features out from the actor team, like the personal commodity inventory, the animation actually. We haven't done that one yet. That one's coming in in 3.8. That's going to be a nice one, though. I really like that. Animation speed-ups for some stuff. Anyways, just wanted to give a shout-out to Rich for doing designs ahead of time.

Richard Tyrer · Lead FPS Systems Designer

Fundamentally, it's about making sure that all of the designs, since we're making a big game, that all of those designs tie in together. And if you design something today, but you don't take into account what's coming in the future, then all of a sudden, when you design that future system, you have to look back and go, actually, we need to change this. And then you get a scenario where you're having to change a lot of things. Now, obviously, that's not always possible, but I think it's always a good philosophy to try and take into account everything that's going to come in, so that you can go, okay, how is this going to impact this? How is actor status going to impact the health system, or how is stamina going to play into the different locomotions? So I think that's kind of the overall general principle and philosophy that we're trying to aim for, to make sure that when it all comes in, it creates something that we actually want.