A suggestion about fear/anxiety in the rising... Thread - The Rising mod for Half-Life 2

Hi, im dxaxxxtyriel AKA farseer, im currently making a model for the mod ( a prop ), and i have an idea for the Rising that i'd like to share...

As we all know, the rising will have many features to instill fear, panic and anxiety into the players... But, all of that only exists in the player's head. And usually, since its a game, the aforementioned things dont have ALOT of effect on the player(s). Until now...

I propose that a "Fear-O-meter" is to be added (Crappy name, i know), that shows how scared the in-game character is at that moment... Certain things will increase fear and certain things will decrease fear. Fear will be the resistances' weak spot, that the necros will usually aim for, think of it as softening your target before killing him.

Now how this will work, the way i imagine it is that there will be a meter displayed on the HUD, that on default is at the middle of the meter, if it goes right (into red colored zone), the player is scared. There will be many levels of the "red zone", each one doing something to the player. For example, if the player is staying AWAY from the group, his fear increases and his movement speed is slowed a little bit along with some other debuff. If the player is hurt, his fear increases again, which causes a loss in accuracy (the crosshair becomes bigger) and again movement speed (because he's hurt). These are just a few examples of how fear can be turned from something that exists in the players mind into something that exists in the characters mind, and physically and mentally affects him. There will be 3-6 levels of fear (not final). Ofcourse, forcing fear into the final phase can be a mistake, as the player is fighting for his life, and therefore gets a damage increase (think of adrenaline rushes).

Now if you noticed, I stated above that the fear meter starts in the middle, and going into the red zone increases fear (right direction). But what happens if the indicator moves LEFT? (into green colored zone) the player character has faith/hope/is NOT demoralized , and he gets buffed (as before, many phases of "green" exist, each with its own unique effect upon the player). For Example, if the player is staying with the group, he gets a health bonus, and even a SLIGHT hp regeneration (very slow, dont get excited). If the player has survived an attack by the necros, he gets a stats boost, maybe a momentary movement speed increase or something else...

Now, as i said before, there will be many things instilling/removing fear from the player, for example, AMMO checking.... if you check your ammo, and you have 1-3 bullets left, you get an increase in fear (since the character realisez he's low on ammo). However, if the player has a good amount of ammo, a few things can happen, A: nothing happens or B: if the player is already deep in the fear zone, he gets a decrease in fear since he knows he has bullets. One last note, this is just an example, but there will be things that only reduce fear, and should occasionally be sought after, for example, Candy bars (looting a store) or maybe even ciggarettes and alcohol (which will have special effects).

Now, WHY is this system needed? here are a few points...

A: If a pro players comes along, he will most definetly try to seperate from the group who he deems are noobs. Fear will prevent this, as a lone player is at a severe disadvantage if he stays there long enough.

B: If a bunch of pro players play as resistance, the necros will have not much of a chance to win the game, therefore, FEAR can be instilled to give the necros an advantage.

C: It will add variation to the game, as i forgot to mention, the fear meter will occasionaly shift, giving either a +1 to fear or a -1 to fear (only when the indicator is at phases 0-4 in both ways)

D: Adds a new mechanic into the game, which can later be expanded upon with many other ideas...

Please comment, tell me what you think of this idea, please note that it needs to be balanced a bit, as i believe there needs to be MORE "red areas" than "green areas", which would mean that the player is constantly scared to some point.

Farseer.

I don't really like this idea. Makes it all too much mechanized, if you know what I mean.

It actuly sound like a really great idea I'm looking foward to it , it's Differant :D

I agree whit McCrazyMc. Don't really like the idea either

i think the idea is good.. but i'm worried that because its pre-programmed to do certain things in reaction to certain triggers, people (especially "pro") will very quickly find ways of abusing the feature.

i think its a good idea... but i think if your away from your team fear level goes up but if i was like that i would not slow down i would be running trying to find my team and call for them maybe you could have that and not a slow and mess up there aiming when he sees a zombie because who would not be shaking if they were alone in a zombie attack. A. it makes it more of a real thing that would happen B. the yelling would make the zombies know were you are and come get you faster in large numbers.if your hurt and fear is up you should mess his vision a bit because i know i would be sweating like all my water.Just some little things that would make the fear seem more real
ok another idea if one of your allies die your guys fear level should go to red more.
when your guys is fully calm(full green) his aiming should be close to perfect.
when your shot an ally fear should go up because you will feel like your useless and are just a screw up.