Waves "splash" animation

  • TheNestiik
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    I genuinely think sailing in Sea of Thieves is one of the most brilliant experiences this game can offer. The attention to detail in ocean dynamics truly enhances the gaming experience. Well done, Rare! The feeling of hitting a wave at full boat speed in the wind is something incredible.

    However, there are some aspects that I believe could still be improved.

    The splash animation that occurs when the ship hits the wave moves with the ship body, which feels rather static.

    • Imagine if the "splash" and its drops of water moved along the ship towards the stern, similar to how it happens when sailing in real life. We already have different effects notifying the user about specific actions (fire, damage, poison, drunkenness, etc.). Perhaps we could go as far as to make players standing in the way of this moving "splash" have a similar effect on the sides of the screen, displaying, for example, droplets of water. This addition would enhance the overall experience of sailing. Of course, this might impact the current state of gameplay; therefore, it could be conditional based on the height of the wave and the speed/direction of the ship. TLDR: more dynamic splashes from the ships hitting the waves improving sailing experience

    The sound of the ship hitting the waves overrides majority of other sounds.

    • I currently don't know whether there are different sound models for different types of wind (headwind, crosswind, tailwind) mainly because I mostly hear the ship hitting the waves during the sail. It would be nice if sailing at full speed (depending on the ship type) would at least intensify the sound of the wind to really grant the players that feeling of speed. Again, this might have an impact on other aspects of the game, such as boarding, but I still think it could be implemented in a balanced way.

    For a reference I've compiled short youtube video showcasing the current state of the game which can be found here.
    (video is not monetized, is not public and is accessible only to people with the link. If I have invalidated any of the forum rules I apologize in advance).

    What do you think about these suggestions? Would it be a welcoming change, or would it potentially break other aspects of the game and there is no need for improvements in this already glorious part of the game?

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  • D3ADST1CK
    Vanguard
    Insider
    Founder

    Water droplets on screen are one of the worst ideas for destroying immersion and only makes sense if your pirate is wearing a helmet with a visor. The other effects that display on screen are concessions for damage indicators that you can't see in first person.

    I don't really have an opinion on the sound or wave splash changes one way or another, except to note that at one point a bug caused the splashes to occur more frequently which became quite distracting and is something I would fear would happen with more pronounced and/or moving splashes.

  • TheNestiik
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    @d3adst1ck I would agree that with already dynamic splashes the effect I've described could be too much.
    However, Skull of Siren Song is another example of such effect which does not indicate damage (by teammates) but that's not a valid point anyway.

    • bug caused the splashes to occur more frequently which became quite distracting

    I hope that we can agree this is just a question of "balance".

  • RockWinner05363
    Castaway

    Welcome to the Sea of Thieves forum where passionate players are encouraged to leave feedback and suggestions to improve the game.

    Just be aware that there are about 10-20 people who never log out of the forum who only exist to criticize and demonize any new feedback and suggestions.

    These people and their incessant negativity are not only never disciplined or discouraged but are actually celebrated by the equally negative to new ideas official Rare support team that moderates the forum.

    With this information in mind my wish for you is that you do not allow any negativity to get you upset or bothered. This literally happens to basically every single new feedback + suggestion topic that is created.

    At least the behavior is consistent and they aren’t singling any one person out with their negativity. Everybody gets it!

  • Hijack Hayes
    Commander
    Insider

    @rockwinner05363 Interesting you have been a part of the forum community for less than a week, with 3 posts to your name...

    Is it fair to assume you used to operate under a different entity here? If not then you seem to be making some pretty detailed observations for someone with less than a week in forums.

    I agree that is can maybe discouraging for new members sometimes trying to find their feet, it would be a lie if I haven't seen instances of people being overly harsh at times and that is unfortunate when it happens.

    However I like to think that a vast majority of the OGs (myself not included, people who have posted and contributed way more than I have) are an important soundboard and safe guard for the game. They have seen where the game came from and what is the spirit of the game. It would be foolish to automatically throw away their insights wholesale based on your observations of a few.

    With a group of people often been long invested and protective of such a gaming experience you may have some push back on some things. I feel like in today's world it is extremely easy to criticise those with long term investment when you are a newer party.

  • RockWinner05363
    Castaway

    @hijack-hayes

    People could choose their words carefully to indicate they don’t like the idea without being 100% blunt and honestly just rude half of the time. It’s very discouraging.

  • Hijack Hayes
    Commander
    Insider

    @rockwinner05363 They could, that can also go both ways. I think everyone could do with adopting 'the golden rule', ensuring we all try to treat each other as we would ourselves.

    I've seen frustration first hand, maybe a year ago and further back you would have people post about private servers at least 2 or 3 times a day. New players who didn't read the rules or are just not aware of basic forum etiquette that almost any forum would adopt. After a few weeks of telling people about the other active threads on same subject, I know a lot of people were frustrated (myself included).

    I would like to think you could see the frustration in this very limited but real example. That my friend, is just a fragment.

    OP's post: It sounds interesting, be cool to see what the dev team could do something with that.

  • knurd9369
    Commander
    Insider
    Founder

    Not sure we need any additional splash effects, but I would love to hear different wind in the rigging sounds.

    To add to your suggestions, I'd also like to have a visible wake (nothing fancy, doesn't even need to be visible more than a few feet behind the ship).

  • TheNestiik
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    @knurd9369 I absolutely forgot about the wake, for sure would like to see it implemented as well !

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