Seamless

[Makara 96]

 

Seamless:

1. Adjective (of a fabric or surface) smooth and without seams or obvious joins;

smooth and continuous, with no apparent gaps or spaces between one part and the next.

 

You guys probably seen seamless transitions in, for example, Horror games in which you turn around and suddenly the map has changed. You turn around again and puff, it changes again. You are completely either scared or just very confused. Stanley Parable for example does something of the sort. You go into a room, come back and it's something else. Or in Assassin's Creed or example, when you enter buildings, to further the open world sensation.

I'm making a personal project for my friend in which I'm going to include a couple along with Terrax Lightning to give more atmosphere and more confusion.

 

I personally like it a lot, if it's properly done, else it just gets stupidly confusing.

I wanted to ask, would you add these effects in your game? What are your thoughts on seamless transitions in general?

 

Also, what do you think of my gif, in the sense that player goes one way into chamber #1, then notices the chest is in chamber #2, goes back and the chest moves to chamber #1 and when he goes back again it's in chamber #2 and so on, making it impossible to reach the chest? From a player's perspective, is it annoying or funny?

 

PS: I know that are better examples rather than 2 chambers and a chest, but this is the simplest thing I could think about. bluh.

Edited February 1, 2017 by Flashy

[lonequeso 1,921]

I don't really have any use for seamless transitions in my game. I like them though. They are good for making a Lost Woods kind of scenario or a maze that changes it's shape. It's a good way to drive players mad 

 

The GIF is both funny and annoying. As long as there's actually a way to get the chest, I'm okay with it. You'll want to stay from trying to make the player try and get something they can never obtain. 

[Cookie Ninja 374]

Punish players wherever possible as often as possible. An outraged gamer will remember your game, if you get them to smash their keyboard and have a stroke. That would be a sign of a job well done. Seamless transitions is a good way to accomplish that. Well, you could use it to do some cool level design and motivate players to re-explore areas, but that would be wimping out in my eyes. >_<

[Rezanta 373]

About the GIF, I honestly felt it fits your objective, and it was actually funny. I wouldn't find it annoying, considering I've played games that you had to hunt down moving chests and creatures, so yeah.

 

I probably wouldn't add this effect in some of my games, considering how my game plays out. Then again, torture is a fun subject, so who knows.

 

To top the questions' answers off, I'd say seamless transitions are great to use, if done right and not over-used.

[Kayzee 4,032]

I am curious about, if you decide to do this on a large scale, how you actually plan on doing it without noticeable loading? I guess it's entirely possible to preload maps and swap between them, if a bit difficult.

[lonequeso 1,921]

If you can get it so there's just a few frames of lag, it would work. It'd still be noticeable if the player is paying attention, but subtle enough to get away with it. Lag. The bane of RPG Maker's existence. 

[Kayzee 4,032]

You would think so, but in my experience even a little bit of lag or other hickups can spoil the trick.

[Tarq 746]

I guess its usefulness as a technique depends on its purpose. When I first saw this I though it was a neat effect but I can't really think of any reason to use the technique behind the effect other than the example in the gif (where I would just change the chest location dynamically rather than change maps). Ofc, I'm sure other people can find a purpose for this technique (but again, I'd be wary that just because something can be done a certain way doesn't necessarily make it the best way - 'when all you've got's a hammer' and all that).