Search Unity

  1. Megacity Metro Demo now available. Download now.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. Unity support for visionOS is now available. Learn more in our blog post.
    Dismiss Notice

Whats the best way to display reloading?

Discussion in 'Game Design' started by SpyderManToo, Mar 11, 2021.

  1. SpyderManToo

    SpyderManToo

    Joined:
    Dec 8, 2020
    Posts:
    387
    Should I do a UI text that says "Reloading" or a little slider thingy on the ammo text or make the reloading one at a time where u can cancel it
    help
     
  2. Joe-Censored

    Joe-Censored

    Joined:
    Mar 26, 2013
    Posts:
    11,847
    What kind of game is this again? For an FPS game you usually see a hands animation as well as hear sounds which show the reloading process. For something like a tank game, a reloading bar can work well.

    Eve Online has an interesting system, where you fire your guns by pressing a circular shaped button. Reloading is indicated by a circle around the button similar to a reloading bar. It is pretty intuitive and doesn't use much space on the screen.
     
    Socrates likes this.
  3. SpyderManToo

    SpyderManToo

    Joined:
    Dec 8, 2020
    Posts:
    387
    my game is a 2d singleplayer top down shooter
     
  4. TonyLi

    TonyLi

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2012
    Posts:
    12,670
    Can you play a 2D animation of your character reloading its weapon?

    If not, what about animating bullets or markers going into the ammo count part of the HUD?
     
    Joe-Censored likes this.
  5. SpyderManToo

    SpyderManToo

    Joined:
    Dec 8, 2020
    Posts:
    387
    im not rly sure how i could make an animation for the character, do u have any suggestions?
     
  6. TonyLi

    TonyLi

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2012
    Posts:
    12,670
    It depends on how you're doing graphics now. Do the animation the same way you're doing the walk, shoot, etc., animations.
     
  7. SpyderManToo

    SpyderManToo

    Joined:
    Dec 8, 2020
    Posts:
    387
    my player is just a circle ;-;
    and thats his head, there isnt any walk animations and shooting just instantiates a bullet(planning on adding muzzle flash)
    but yea, thats pretty much it, i was inspired by surviv.io
     
  8. TonyLi

    TonyLi

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2012
    Posts:
    12,670
    In that case, maybe just play a reloading sound, disable shooting while the sound is playing, and bump up the number of shots available once the sound is done.
     
    Putcho and Joe-Censored like this.
  9. SpyderManToo

    SpyderManToo

    Joined:
    Dec 8, 2020
    Posts:
    387
    i already have it so u cant shoot while reloading but ill take ur suggestion on sound!
    are there any visual ways i can display it?
     
  10. TonyLi

    TonyLi

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2012
    Posts:
    12,670
    If you have an ammo count HUD similar to one of these for example:
    upload_2021-3-11_15-12-44.png
    then use a coroutine to add bullets or increment the number over the duration that the reload sound plays.

    For the upper right image, while the sound plays, you could show 0/15, then a moment later 1/15, then 2/15, and so on.

    Or, for the upper left image, you should animate a larger bullet icon zooming into place on a curve.
     
  11. SpyderManToo

    SpyderManToo

    Joined:
    Dec 8, 2020
    Posts:
    387
    huh, thats cool, the thing is, i would need to rework my reload system to do it to one ammo every x seconds and the player should be able to stop reload.
     
  12. Putcho

    Putcho

    Joined:
    Jun 1, 2013
    Posts:
    246
    Its should not be that hard of what you got so far, you already have shoot, inventory, pick up, switch gun, and drop item done. reload is just math and set up UI :D.
     
  13. Owen-Reynolds

    Owen-Reynolds

    Joined:
    Feb 15, 2012
    Posts:
    1,992
    Alternately, do what all game designers do and play with the rules. In a "realistic" game the person has to reload like in real life (or real movies). But you're a circle. The game-point of reloading is so you have to be a little careful with shooting. You could have it reload whenever they aren't firing -- every quarter second s not shooting adds 1 more bullet. Or just have it slowly reload all the time, like a manna bar. That removes the boring decision of when to reload, turning it into a nicer "try not to shoot too much".
     
  14. Martin_H

    Martin_H

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2015
    Posts:
    4,436
    Reloading is one of the top reasons I die in coop games. If you think the decision when to reload is boring, the game probably doesn't put enough pressure on you. When I play together with a friend and we both happen to use LMGs with long reload times in a challenging coop game, we'll even try to communicate so that we're not reloading at the same time, because it's that important for our survival. Removing that as a mechanic in the way you describe would remove a lot of depth that comes from weapons having different mag capacities and different reload speed (at least if I didn't misunderstand you - sorry if I did).


    Maybe try a circular progressbar around the circle, and change the aim cursor so that it's clear you are in a state where you can't shoot during a reload.

    Both, depending on weapon type. It's expected that mag-fed weapons reload a mag at a time, and shotgun-like weapons may be fed with individual bullets one at a time.
     
    angrypenguin likes this.