Submitted by Wessel on
Hello Combatants!
Having only just joined the Call of Combat v2 development team, I think a small introduction would be in order. My name is Wessel van der Es, and I will be working on the game as a technical artist. My focus will be getting the game to look awesome using the latest and best lighting and shading techniques, as well as bending my head over a few other technical aspects of the game.
One interesting thing that I've already been working on is something that has also been discussed internally before I joined the team, namely the (in)visibility of friendlies units on the battlefield.
A big part of the gameplay of Call of Combat is to stay out of sight of the enemy whenever possible, whether it is by moving into a building or crouching behind a stray barrel. A problem that arises from this is that one of your own men could potentially become hidden from your own sight as well, as a result of the way the soldiers and their surroundings are currently rendered. Although we strive for a sense of realism, soldiers going MIA is not part of the game.
So what to do when one of your soldiers disappears behind a wall? Temporarily remove the wall? Show an indicator above the soldier's position? A possible solution we've been testing so far is to render a kind of overlay which makes your characters visible through walls. This way you'll never lose a man on the battlefield, from a certain point of view.
Be safe.