Last words experiment

[Bad King Urgrain]

I've been working on an experimental thing that would let people draw something with their mouse as their last words (in their blood or something, even though it's viewed by searching the body), because I like working on fun gimmicks.

However, people have raised some decent points as to why allowing people to communicate something after dying would make it really hard for traitors. So in this thread I'd like some discussion on how it could be balanced. I don't want to spend time integrating it into the game only to find it has to be turned off to retain balance.

Some fairly logical ideas: no drawing if headshot; and let traitors search a body without identifying it immediately (so they can judge if a body contains sensitive info and should be removed).

Oh, here's a screenshot. Prototype quality etc.

I wrote "ajunk sux" here. The meter on the left is the blood-o-meter, which indicates how much more you can write. The limit is a technical one related to how much information can be sent to the server in one message. I could theoretically double it quite easily, but there will be a time limit as well so drawing more may not even be feasible (or necessary).

[OctaneHugo]

I like traitors searching bodies without identifying them - that's something I've always wanted in the game. I think that option should appear for everyone; A small box at the bottom of the search report with "Identify: Yes/No". I think with those balances and some others (no mic, quickchat, etc.) in the game this could work, as long as you couldn't see the person who killed you after you've died.

[me]

How long are you going to be able to write stuff? 2-3 seconds?

[worbat]

Allow the traitors to 'cover up' the text so it smudges it/makes it harder to read. The body also on inspection says. "It appears the body has been tampered with"

But I like the idea. I like it a lot.

[Shadow_Archmagi]

I don't like the idea; it feels like it'd be hard to balance.

[Secone]

I really like this idea but I can't think up of a way to have it be perfectly balanced.

[Milo]

This idea is awesome to the max, as long as you would be able to write brush pen style and not lines (I have a tablet and want to use it to draw entertaining doodles on my innocent victims).

And do what you did for the C4. Put it out to the public and see what their reaction is, then balance it accordingly.

[OctaneHugo]

I like the sound of tampering. Only traitors should be able to do it, though, and they should get a VERY limited supply of blood to write. So, scribbles, or maybe if they wanna get creative they can switch lines around.

[Bad King Urgrain]

I like traitors searching bodies without identifying them - that's something I've always wanted in the game. I think that option should appear for everyone; A small box at the bottom of the search report with "Identify: Yes/No".

I'm not sure it should appear for innocent players, they have little reason not to confirm deaths.

I think with those balances and some others (no mic, quickchat, etc.) in the game this could work, as long as you couldn't see the person who killed you after you've died.

They would already be a dead spectator from the game's perspective, so chat and stuff will not help them (not that they could use keyboard stuff while the drawing window is open).

How long are you going to be able to write stuff? 2-3 seconds?

I don't know yet. Maybe 5 seconds. Keep in mind people have just died, so they need to suddenly switch from playing an FPS to writing something.

Allow the traitors to 'cover up' the text so it smudges it/makes it harder to read. The body also on inspection says. "It appears the body has been tampered with"

It's not really possible to smudge anything for technical reasons. Could remove strokes at random but that would look bad and not work that well. Let's assume the text can't be modified.

Actually drawing more stuff onto it would be more possible, but I'm not sure it would help that much. I mean if it says "AJUNK" you can strike it through but that won't prevent anyone from understanding what it says.

This idea is awesome to the max, as long as you would be able to write brush pen style and not lines (I have a tablet and want to use it to draw entertaining doodles on my innocent victims).

You hold down left mouse to paint, which I think is what you mean. However it will automatically simplify lines as much as possible and stuff, so probably no extensive artworks. Making round shapes costs you more "ink" than just straight lines. All for technical reasons, it's a lot of data to juggle around.

[worbat]

I was thinking removed bits or added a lot over the top.

[that guy]

You could make blood splatters appear randomly on the tablet if you tamper with it.

[Milo]

Aw man, oh well. I'll still doodle on them anyway.

[OctaneHugo]

You could make blood splatters appear randomly on the tablet if you tamper with it.

That'd be pretty neat.

[Andyp]

Im liking this idea :D. Although it does mean that when i get traitor ill have to rely on manipulation tactics more, but then again i love those XD.

[Bad King Urgrain]

You could make blood splatters appear randomly on the tablet if you tamper with it.

Yeah, that could work, just obscuring a random part (or parts) of the area.

[CrazyChicken]

What if you made it so when you wrote it was jittery so it came out all messed up. That with a short time limit and limited writing can give away little and possible important information. I'll make an example in GIMP.

Edit:

Never mind GIMP's jitter effect works different then I thought.

[Ajunk]

Sorry, but I don't like this idea. It's really going to kick the traitors in the nuts, like, way too hard.



HOWEVER, a neat way to use this mechanic would be writing/scrawling on walls while you're alive. While global voice chat and global text chat kind of make this less useful, it would still be pretty cool. You get a limited amount of ink each round, and traitors could erase it if they found it. Players in distress could try to hide messages before they died in hopes of someone finding it.

Goddammit this idea would be fantastic if talking wasn't global!

Anyways, I'm kind of drun

[Shadow_Archmagi]

Aw man, oh well. I'll still doodle on them anyway.

"I think it's a TV"
"It's obviously a car"
"No you fool, it's a duck"
"Or a goose."
"A canadian goose?"
"AJUNK IS KILLEERRR"

[Bad King Urgrain]

What if you made it so when you wrote it was jittery so it came out all messed up. That with a short time limit and limited writing can give away little and possible important information. I'll make an example in GIMP.

The problem is getting a situation where the writing is not completely useless to survivors, but also not completely terrible for the traitors.


An option I've considered is interrupting the dead player's drawing if the traitor headshots his corpse. This is not without disadvantage for the traitor (noise, etc) and not always possible (when in a firefight, etc), but does offer a way to cut short any sensitive information. Especially for stealthy kills the traitor should be able to do this quickly and cleanly (if the kill was not a headshot already).

Sorry, but I don't like this idea. It's really going to kick the traitors in the nuts, like, way too hard.


HOWEVER, a neat way to use this mechanic would be writing/scrawling on walls while you're alive. While global voice chat and global text chat kind of make this less useful, it would still be pretty cool. You get a limited amount of ink each round, and traitors could erase it if they found it. Players in distress could try to hide messages before they died in hopes of someone finding it.

Goddammit this idea would be fantastic if talking wasn't global!

Anyways, I'm kind of drun

It's not feasible to stick drawings in the world, because decals are 1) unreliable client effects, and 2) have a limit (300 by default), while one piece of text such as the one in the screenshot would take 40-60 decals. I guess you could use pieces of paper that show the text when +use'd, but I'm not sure how useful it would be.

[Qloos]

For 5 seconds after a player dies due to non headshot he gets to doodle.  But every time his corpse takes damage for those 5 seconds his canvas gets a blood spatter on it - possibly marring what he was writing.  So Traitors will mercilessly shoot at a corpse if they suspect the innocent knows who killed him.