Is respawning a good idea in a game or should it be eliminated. Also, in a mode where respawning is not used, what kind of spectator cam should be used. I am thinking of using an isometric view since the mode will be something like 50-100 per team.

Flying isometrc with 100+ player models in the map? I''d better buy stock in fire extinguishers, or maybe graphics cards. Or both.

I think many games have made excellent use of permadeath, infinite respawn, and finite respawn in multiplayer modes. Giving each player a few "lives" ups the ante, but prevents the infuriating "dumb luck eliminations". If you die five times, you deserved at least one of them.

It''s up to you. What works best in the context of your game? What will make it most fun?

quote: Original post by Iron Chef Carnage
It''s up to you. What works best in the context of your game? What will make it most fun?

Like the Chief says, there is no right/wrong/best. It depends on what works in your specific game.

It also depends on the situation. If I die in Call of Duty or Mohaa (when playing for fun) I like to free roam because it is more interesting. When playing in a clan match however that isn''t acceptable.

Dan Marchant
Obscure Productions (www.obscure.co.uk)
Game Development & Design consultant

I'm also with Chef and Obscure in saying that it is entirely up to the game.

I would like to suggest a similar method to the Ghost Recon model of dieing a certain number of times and then permadeath. This can of course be a problem when a lot of players are in or if a few are really good and take a long time to die (god forbid campers!).

To resolve this perhaps there could be a timed/lives system, each player gets 2 to 5 lives and the round time is around 1 - 3 minutes. Like in Counter-Strike only have quicker times and more lives to keep people in the action (unless they are totally incompetent and as such will lose their lives very quickly anyway).

The other solution I can think of is to make lives a time based equation, for every minute you get one life to a maximum of 2 - 4. Then the action never stops but a bit of tactics in a team game could very well be just as important as in permadeath team games.

Oh and for the OP's question, I think permadeath is nice in some ways but will slow the game down. If the game plays to slowly for your liking (or to 'twitch' like) then add respawns. As for spectating, it depends on what they can do besides viewing the game. If they can still talk using team-chat talk modes then make sure they can't see any more than what the rest of their team can! Otherwise give them a total view or ... (see counter-strike for a good variety and then fix up the map views with decent graphics if you use them perhaps).

edit: I can't really be that tired, damn it! It probably still has small pieces that don't make sense.

< krysole || krysollix >
sleep, caffeine for the weak minded

[edited by - krysole on December 26, 2003 9:01:45 AM]