romk.im blogs

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One of the largest obstacles preventing Counter-Strike from being as active in the tournament circuit as League of Legends and Starcraft II is the lack of interest in spectating tournaments. I believe a large cause of this dwindling interest is due to the…

Interesting comments from Salvatore Garozzo (the artist formerly known as Volcano of Team 3D) on how to improve an increasingly old, stale, uninteresting, boring spectator experience in Counter-Strike. He has a few good suggestions, adding a few of my own.

First of all a fundamental problem in Counter-Strike - and many other first person shooters - is that a spectator mode first person is defined as “whatever the players can see”.

This was cool 10 years ago. As spectators we could “direct” our own action during games, as we could jump from player to player, even switch between third person and first person modes. But compared to the immediate overview and understanding from games like StarCraft II this is outdated and inefficient. It’s boring. And it’s confusing for people who don’t know the game as a player.  

Sal touches on a “wireframe” mode. For a while I’ve been thinking about a more comprehensive approach to spectator modes. And two elements to this can actually already found in another series from VALVe: Left 4 Dead.

1: “Ghosts”

I don’t think you need to go “wireframe” - use a ghost outline as found in L4D. It clearly shows position, direction and weapon. And it could be used to show both team mates and opposing players of the person you are following.

2: “Laser Sights”

In Left 4 Dead 2 these laser sights improve your accuracy, but they also show you where your team mates are aiming. Imagine a spectator mode where these were visible for both teams (maybe in different colors) - the information and overview given to the spectator would be incredibly useful. You would know when someone walks around a corner, you would know what is waiting for him - you would be able to anticipate action and skirmishes on a very detailed level.