Working spectator/death camera

[DaXcess]

The spectator camera will require some thinking about how to go about implementing it. In the base game, the spectator camera can revolve around the spectated player, which could be really awkward in VR. Furthermore headset movement may cause some issues with the rendering. Maybe add a freecam for VR players, so that once they die they can just float through the world and phase through walls, with teleporting to players?

Then we have the "everyone-is-dead" camera, which spectates the outside and inside of the ship before respawning the player with a correct camera setup. I think this one is a tad bit easier: just allow the position to be updated by the cinematic but allow for free rotation. It is a short scene anyways, so I don't think it's worth it going all out on this specific use case.

[Tyler8x]

would it be better to add the spectator camera as a first person view of the person they're spectating? I don't know how awkward that'd be to experience, but I think it'd be more fun at least that a freecam

[DaXcess]

would it be better to add the spectator camera as a first person view of the person they're spectating? I don't know how awkward that'd be to experience, but I think it'd be more fun at least that a freecam

I'm super open for ideas like these yeah, my idea was just something I really quickly came up with as a possible solution.
Maybe, and I'm just throwing out a quick idea here again, you have the first person view of the person you're spectating, but instead of just dumping that on your face which would really be uncomfortable it'll be rendered to a canvas positioned in world space like a tv screen, which you can then look at without causing discomfort. Would have to figure out how to properly do the audio though and maybe even model some sort of room where the "tv screen" will be positioned so you're not just looking at a black void with a screen in it.

Just spitballing here lemme know what you think of this.

[Tyler8x]

this sounds great! a bit of chill for someone that's just died probably wouldn't go unappreciated I think :P for the room the player's spectating from, you could use the ship and either the television model or the monitor array to display the spectated camera
edit: switching between the players you're spectating could be the same toggle as turning on/off the television like in game, or with the monitor array switching between the players as if you're sat in the ship normally, if that makes any sense

[yusuf-wadi]

Maybe make like an "afterlife" level that uses the same switching player perspective idea from the ship screens and just displays the currently spectated player. it could be like a dark area that somehow makes clear that you're dead.

[yusuf-wadi]

this sounds great! a bit of chill for someone that's just died probably wouldn't go unappreciated I think :P for the room the player's spectating from, you could use the ship and either the television model or the monitor array to display the spectated camera edit: switching between the players you're spectating could be the same toggle as turning on/off the television like in game, or with the monitor array switching between the players as if you're sat in the ship normally, if that makes any sense

whats crazy is that i didnt even read this reply when i made my reply. but if we both independently came to the same conclusion we must be onto something

[c7stagyt]

Personally, I thought of first person spectating, but theres a huge issue. If you’re not moving your head, and they turn, I believe that causes MASSIVE motion sickness. Go into any game that allows you to choose smooth instead of snapped controller motion. You’ll see what I mean.

I’m thinking maybe do a snap motion with 4 or 8 different angles.

Another idea I have is you could make the player spawn in at the ship, you can’t interact with the equipment in the ship, other players can’t see or hear you if they aren’t dead, and you can’t leave the ship. It would be boring, but it would work a lot better than getting motion sick.

[Resnox]

Something I've seen in the VR mod of Risk of Rain 2, is simply to keep the player in the place they died and just show a VR screen of what you would see if you basically played normally on PC, so in this case the view of an mate still alive on a flat surface, as if you are watching a TV in VR.

Performance may be an issue, especially with HDRP and I'm not well documented on how it was actually implemented on the RoR2 mod, but at least that can give you some ideas I guess.

[Vyppal]

I think something like a dead-wandering state would be nice. Being able to walk around, enter entrance/exit doors (without making sound if possible), phase through closed doors (including pneumatic doors), as well as teleport to other players. No interacting with anything except ladders and entrance doors

edit: when I think of this, I think of phasmophobia. You can also do a similar filter to signify "you're dead", might cause issues with fog depending on implementation

[ggezgaming]

I think something like a dead-wandering state would be nice. Being able to walk around, enter entrance/exit doors (without making sound if possible), phase through closed doors (including pneumatic doors), as well as teleport to other players. No interacting with anything except ladders and entrance doors

edit: when I think of this, I think of phasmophobia. You can also do a similar filter to signify "you're dead", might cause issues with fog depending on implementation

this fitts twice as well considering the original game was inspired by phasmophobia, but i see maybe potentially issues with how white the filter is in vr, though no complaints in phasmophobia so i dunno how much of an issue it would really be

Another cool thing if this was the way the death system worked would be being able to interact with some objects, nothing substantial but just some tiny things to either mess with or help your teammates, as an optional thing of course in a config somewhere, i mean imagine closing the door on your teammate whilst they're running from a thumper, or maybe at the very least add some objects that the ghosts can move but dont add any value, that way the ghost player doesnt feel like they're just stuck wandering and watching, make it into an actual gameplay element, this would go a bit into the vanilla Plus category of suggestions for the mod but it would definitely be very cool to have as an option

[DaXcess]

I think something like a dead-wandering state would be nice. Being able to walk around, enter entrance/exit doors (without making sound if possible), phase through closed doors (including pneumatic doors), as well as teleport to other players. No interacting with anything except ladders and entrance doors
edit: when I think of this, I think of phasmophobia. You can also do a similar filter to signify "you're dead", might cause issues with fog depending on implementation

this fitts twice as well considering the original game was inspired by phasmophobia, but i see maybe potentially issues with how white the filter is in vr, though no complaints in phasmophobia so i dunno how much of an issue it would really be

Another cool thing if this was the way the death system worked would be being able to interact with some objects, nothing substantial but just some tiny things to either mess with or help your teammates, as an optional thing of course in a config somewhere, i mean imagine closing the door on your teammate whilst they're running from a thumper, or maybe at the very least add some objects that the ghosts can move but dont add any value, that way the ghost player doesnt feel like they're just stuck wandering and watching, make it into an actual gameplay element, this would go a bit into the vanilla Plus category of suggestions for the mod but it would definitely be very cool to have as an option

Though the idea is pretty fun, I think I'm going to stick with the "looking at a screen" idea, since adding the ability to walk around during death may bring up a lot of complications (especially if it would also allow item interactions, but this is a feature not found within the base game and therefore will not be added to this mod for feature parity sake) and just being a very complex feature in itself. The VR screen idea sounds a lot easier to implement, and while also raising questions like "how to hear the sound of the player you are spectating? How do you handle if the player you are spectating also dies?" I still think it would be much easier to implement.

[Hibbs6]

Definitely agree that adding a screen is the best way to do it. Adding new features that aren't present in the regular game is something to be avoided IMO, other than natural VR interactions like throwing and swinging weapons (eventually).

[brom10]

Agreed with adding a screen to spectate being the best option, but where will the VR player actually BE while watching? Where they died, or in a black void? Maybe they could get put back in the Ship, and the normal spectate screen just pasted over the terminal, or floating in front of their heads?