Unified "Breathing" mechanic

[caligari87]

Something to unify both the respirator and various ideas for "spicy air" (gasmask, radiation from slime pools, etc).

Already have done some work on this privately, just need to pick it back up.

• Zones could be defined as unsafe, safe, or vulnerable.
  • Vulnerable zones would become unsafe or safe, depending on what they're connected to.
• Can discriminate based sector-based effects by sky, no sky, secret, or maybe even fog/fade density.
• Option for grid-based tracking and propagation. Probably nothing smaller than 128x128x128, iterated in small chunks or BSP-style from player's location to save performance
• Use particles or sector fades to indicate "bad" air? Let player set option for visual representation.
• Option for whether the player breathes or not when air is bad. If you breath in bad air you may take damage (aggo?). If you prefer to hold breath then you'll "suffocate" instead.
  • Need to PR to HDest some mechanism for treating air supply as a different form of damage than pure HP. Raising fatigue would probably do the trick, cause eventual heart attack in the player.

[FDAapproved]

Regarding the last bullet point for the player's breathing, I really like the idea of binding some sort of a key to holding your breath (a lot like how toggling sprint currently works).

Assuming you unified that behavior with how long the player can breathe underwater, you could also use such a mechanic to replicate the phenomenon of being swept into a body of water unexpectedly, and as a result gagging on water while you try to get your bearings (though for this you may need to make the mechanic less of a press to toggle, more of a 'press to remember', as breathing is something the human body does on autopilot a lot of the time).

Obviously a bit inane as a feature to start on, but more granularity with breathing would make mechanics surrounding it more satisfying to interact with; I feel anyway.