News Matrix bullet time: Coming to a deathmatch near you.

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2005/07/22/Bullet_Time_Multiplayer/

 

Eh did i miss something,
I've been playing The Specialists that uses a slow motion effect to focus your shots.

EDIT: heres a link to the same news post on their forum.

 

So you've answered your own question with that forum link...

 

Hmm seem to be doing this alot recently without noticing.

 

F.E.A.R also uses slow-mo deathmatch and stuff like that.

 

From what I've read, I don't think it's (in F.E.A.R) implemented in the way that's described in the article.

 

Erm did anyone play The Specalists.

 

Erm did you

 

"From what I've read, I don't think it's (in F.E.A.R) implemented in the way that's described in the article."

no it isn't as they speed the player not slow the enviroment - F.E.A.R. does it properly.
Its not news.

 

still don't get how it works... If you just slowed the environment down then all other players would be slowed down making it pointless as not only you have more time to react but so does the opposition... So it's still who can point and click faster, If you just slow the player down it would be easier for other players to shoot you as you're not running as fast so can't dodge bullets. I think I need to see it working in order to make my mind up really as i'm still in the relative time dialation band wagon...

 

Technically, they slow down time by speeding you up. The same as with slow-motion filming, they acheive it by moving the film through the camera faster, so when it's played back, the scenes are stretched over a longer length of tape, and therefore play back slower when watched at regular speed.

 

They didn't really explain it very well in the article but I think what they are saying is that every time you enter bullet mode, your game slows down for a few seconds and everyone else's game also slows down but over a much longer period and by only a small amount. That way the players not in bullet time don't notice it. Eventually both players will catch up to the same time and normal speed can resume.

God knows what happens when there are loads of players but maybe if you're only allowed a few seconds bullet time per minute and there aren't too many players then it might work well.

 

this is how Rare did slow-mo for Perfect dark in multplayer


P1 activates slow-mo - his movement is slowed down to half speed where as everyone else is slowed to quarter speed.

 

yea but the idea behind bullet time is that P1 slows down to half speed while all other players stay at full speed giving P1 more reaction time. By slowing all other players to quarter speed your giving them more reaction time as well, all it will do is slow down how fast a player can move making it frustrating more than anything else. Real bullet time cannot be done in multiplayer without affecting real time, the idea behind it just is not feasable in multiplayer. How can one player's perception of time slow down while all others stay the same.....

 

It looks like they are using lag and some software wizadry to "smooth" out what is on the player's monitor. Old school multiplayers from long ago will remember that 56k'ers were sometimes a nuisance and were difficult to kill because of their lag. If you were the person killing the 56ker. If you were the 56ker, your screen would jump all over the place. I think what this technique does is sort of smooth the transition out (i.e. it compensates), so if you were a 56ker, instead of the screen jumping all over the place, the 56ker would see a "slow-down" effect. Outside of the 56ker, it would appear that the 56ker is moving at normal speed. Obviously, nowadays, we have broadband so lag times are minimal, but we still do have lag, but you can still use it for a short time - which is probably why the technique only works for a few secs anyway. Sounds interesting, but tbh, I remember playing Quake3 with my 56k modem or even on LAN, with certain settings that made my opponent frustrated because he swear he hit me - but he never actually did. But the effect isn't actually bullet time. =]