Cover Systems in Gaming: cRPGs and Beyond

[Achilles]

I would reply to this, but the level of retardation it too high for me. Better wait fot the higher level codexers to deal with you.

 

[Unradscorpion]

It's really simple

In games with cover systems, levels are designed so that there is a specific point where you take cover and shoot your enemies.
There is no thinking about whether you should use the cover, it is always designed so that you need to do it.

For contrast, even in stupid stuff like Counter Strike, you need to use a small bit of your spatial intelligence when choosing your positioning. You need to count in:

- Will you see an enemy who approaches from any of the sides you are surrounded by?
- Can you hide from them to use a surprise tactic?
- Is there a way out of it or are you trapped once the firefighting start?
- Can you snipe some enemies that are far away?
- And of course, are you shielded from gunfire.

While with cover systems you have:

- Find a cover
- Pop a mole!

Cover systems effectively cut out the moving from FPSs, sort of like JRPG combat in RPGs.

Also health regeneration is stupid because it encourages players to sit somewhere hidden and generally waste time.

 

[VasectomyOmega]

The latest Call of Juarez (Read: Jaurez, not Duty) game had it's own style of cover system. It was pretty much the same thing as using WASD to move out of cover, except you used your mouse to peek around the corner. If you looked down while standing in front of a window, you leaned over the window so you could shoot at an angle impossible in other shooters. You can't see what's in front of your cover.

I thought that was a pretty decent implementation of a "cover system" for a FPS. I mean it was basically crouching and leaning with arm/hand/gun animations adapting to what's in front of you in real time. It seemed like an organic addition to normal FPS gameplay, not a whole new system that turns combat into a minigame and takes character control away from the player.

Well fuck...

Could you fire blind?

I mentioned in my post (which was trimmed when it was quoted) that Red Orchestra 2 will have a similar cover system, with the addition that you could blind fire. But all you can see when you blind fire is you holding your gun over the cover and shooting.

 

[DraQ]

The latest Call of Juarez (Read: Jaurez, not Duty) game had it's own style of cover system. It was pretty much the same thing as using WASD to move out of cover, except you used your mouse to peek around the corner. If you looked down while standing in front of a window, you leaned over the window so you could shoot at an angle impossible in other shooters. You can't see what's in front of your cover.

I thought that was a pretty decent implementation of a "cover system" for a FPS. I mean it was basically crouching and leaning with arm/hand/gun animations adapting to what's in front of you in real time. It seemed like an organic addition to normal FPS gameplay, not a whole new system that turns combat into a minigame and takes character control away from the player.

That isn't a cover system. It's just a better made leaning.

This. Adaptive animations are not cover system.

Also, cover doesn't need system to work, FFS, basic collision detection should suffice.