Six Days in Fallujah

In the gameplay reveal video, I noticed the character being played verbally reacted to firefights and spoke to the AI. Is this something being talked about in the development team? If so I personally wholeheartedly welcome this, I feel a silent playable character in FPS games is far too common and having the ability to hear live chatter on the ground between you and your squad is an amazing way to increase immersion.

Of course, given this game is in large part meant to put the player in a battle that really took place and you have to weigh the respectful considerations that come with that, I can see why this might be smart to avoid. As someone who has grown up playing FPS games however, hearing my own character react with a surprised expression and shouting to the rest of the squad that a firefight is happening that took both the character and me by surprise would absolutely motivate me even more, if for no other reason, to hear the chatter between the squad members once the dust settles. It would also give more relatable elements and help humanize the traditionally shell of a vehicle that is the character the player takes control of. But that's just my take, regardless of all this I am still excited to watch this game develop

Yes, this is something that we have also received feedback on from the IGN sneak peek. Communication between a squad is key to accuracy.

Let me ask you guys this: how do you feel about these verbal comms when it comes to sneaking, revealing your positioning, etc?

AmperCamper wrote: Wed Apr 07, 2021 12:12 pm Yes, this is something that we have also received feedback on from the IGN sneak peek. Communication between a squad is key to accuracy.

Let me ask you guys this: how do you feel about these verbal comms when it comes to sneaking, revealing your positioning, etc?

This is from someone with no military background aside from hearing stories from family, nor having any programming experience. That said, one thought is the integration of the voice being dependent on the soldier's stance and firefight engagement.

- If the player is walking around at a standing position while not firing/being fired at, the character(s) would be talking normal with minimal strain in their voice
- If the player uses a command within a certain specified distance of an enemy and the voice is normal, i.e. simply walking through a house without being in a firefight and having a squad member cover a door with a verbal command, I think having the position of the player revealed to the enemy AI would be an incredibly immersive experience and would force the player to use commands sparingly while not firing/being fired at
- If firing/being fired at, or finding people inside a house such as what we saw in the IGN gameplay trailer/a similar event occurring, the voice would rise regardless of stance.
- If crouching without firing/being fired at then talk would be at a whisper.
- Lastly if the player is in a firefight while crouched but wants to move position undetected, then perhaps the game might be able to detect the player is trying to move position by the length of time between the AI firing at the player due to detection. Example: The player is engaged in a firefight, voice is strained. Enemy AI loses tacking of the player and a certain amount of time passes with no shooting from anyone, such as 20 seconds. After 20 seconds the voices of the player and squad move to a whisper until either a re-engagement/new engagement where voice will rise again, or a certain amount of distance is put between the player and enemy AI that previously lost track of the player wherein the voice returns to a normal level. (Hope this makes even a little sense haha)

Essentially the stance of the player and the action of being engaged in a firefight determines the level of verbal comms, this way it gives the player a sense of urgency while action is high and a sense of tension when moving through sections of a level that requires minimal sound without stripping the character of their voice. And by having verbal detection by the enemy, it means the player has to be careful where they choose to give commands. I'd bring up either a "Silent Comms" one-tap command or some sort of "level of voice" wheel but I'm not sure how practical this might be, let alone how it would be bound to a controller/keyboard. Sorry for the potentially jumbled post, hope I formatted it better than I wrote it haha