My idea for a virtual aiming system is as follows; Firstly, you are given a shuttle containing a unit called Fire! Once you are in range of an enemy unit, a fast aiming system (represented by animated display text) loops for the player. The idea is, that when this system hits a certain position, and the player selects Fire! from the shuttle at just the right time, a bullet is fired and successfully hits the enemy. If the player fires the bullet at the wrong time, the bullet misses, or possibly has a chance to deal minor damage. Check out the demo and tell me what you think, because Im considering using this system for my new Call of Duty map. The only downside to this system is that it spams you with text, and online this can be a problem because it stops you from chatting to other players. What are your thoughts guys?

It doesn't really seem like a fun system. You're limited as to when you can shoot, and it's kind of hard to micro your unit when you have to press a hotkey and click on the wireframe of the dragoon to fire. It's just a little too cumbersome, imo.

yeh i guess so. the reason im trying to develop this kind of system though is that i think just the auto-attack (hack and slash) RPG style will be too easy, therefore making the map not re-playable. can you think of any other system i can use that involves skill?

Well, if you want to delve in to EUD you can make a stimpack health detection system that will do something whenever you press "t."

I'd much rather have to actually AIM, as in be able to pick my targets and such. Hack n Slash with a good aiming system can be pretty fun. Instead of trying to find a way where you don't need to trigger aiming, experiment with existing systems or come up with a new one for players to aim with. There's plenty of aiming systems around, each with their own pros and cons.

Cursor
+ pixel detect with the mouse
- single player only due to EUD usage

Dark Swarm/Dweb/MC/Halluc
+ Simple to trigger aiming systems
+ Pixel detection, though extremely limited, can be done with Swarm/Web for headshots, not practical though
- Swarm/Dweb have problems differentiating between different player's shots
- Halluc accuracy isn't perfect
- funny looking main characters (Dark Archon sniper...)

FRAGs (the one and only)
+ Can aim to the tile
+ Can differentiate between player shots
- Requires that the map continuously have room for 2 Scourges every 20x12 tiles
- Lots of triggers

Directional Detection (find what direction the user clicked in relative to the hero via 8 Scourges at the edges of the map)
+ Doesn't have the FRAGs limitation of requiring space aside from the edges of the map for the Scourges
+ Can differentiate between player shots
- Can only aim in a direction, not a specific spot, so can't shoot an enemy behind another one
- 8 Scourges can only shoot in 16 directions
- Not the most precise system
- Lots of triggers
- Still a theory, hasn't been done before to my knowledge

Ally (you are allied to the computer, forced to attack manually)
+ Easiest aiming system ever to trigger
- EXTREMELY annoying to continually have to press A and left click

In FRAGS the map doesn't need 2 scourges every 20x12 tiles...

It does if you want a fast, accurate scan...

Does anyone have a map with the "FRAGs" method being done?

http://www.staredit.net/files/422/

Lol, ever played Metal Marine? It uses this aiming system since a long time!

There was a Resident Evil game for the GBC that had a system similar to this. Gaiden, I think was the name?

Anyway, I think this would be a lot better as an RPG system. It would be a turn based battle system and different weapons would have varied Fire! marks as well as speeds. It would throw a little innovation into the SC RPG genre.

that's more or less what I'm building with D1

Lethal thinks of all these little whacky system but realistically, there is absolutely no fun in clicking 'up, down, left, right, fire' in a shuttle when a marine can do all of that and more just by using the basic settings. What people really need to start working on is template maps for virtual HP so that the virtual HP triggers are all done or maps with Spell templates, just something so people can pump out maps, have decent systems that they themselves couldn't do and just generally raise the standards. We've pretty much discovered everything there is to discover with mapping, modding is where you should be if you want to break 'SC Limits' but if you want to push it to the limit, but not break them, somebody needs to get on the whole templates thing... Oh also, somebody needs to make a universal editor that sums up the pro's from SF and SCMDraft and eliminate as many cons, because a universal editor instead of 'either or' would be great.

Lethal rarely makes something that doesn't have an application unless its purpose is to prove a theory or method.

Alright, you take the initiative.
The problem is that there isn't any solid vHP system or spell system. They all have so many different cons and pros, there's a separate ideal system for each kind of map. Often times it is the vHP that defines the map itself. And every system requires work-arounds and sacrifices, the users of the templates would have to understand these limits. They are bound to run into problems with it eventually and without fully understanding it, they are likely to be unable to diagnose the problem, let alone fix it.

SF has very very few advantages over SCMDraft, my advice is to be grateful for what we've got. They are powerful and far more convenient to use than what we were given initially.

If you want to make this universal editor yourself, though, then be my guest.