Dev Update 12/10/2023: Lets Talk Crosshairs

Design Notes on Game Crosshairs

It's been a while since Open Tournament has really had any public-facing discussion on design and development, so I thought I would change that by giving a peek inside a small but important topic: Crosshairs.

While they usually aren't big and flashy, a crosshair is one of the most essential elements in a first-person shooter game like Open Tournament - It's always on the screen, it's always in focus, and you are using it constantly. Although crosshairs seem like a simple topic, there is actually a lot of complexity that can go into designing and implementing crosshairs. To keep it short, this article isn't going to try to discuss every aspect of crosshairs in Open Tournament, but there are some main points I wanted to hit.

Retrospective Aim

Before we jump into things, let's take a look back at how crosshairs functioned and evolved in the UT series over its many incarnations.

1st Generation

1st Generation Crosshair

In the first generation crosshairs were more or less a static indicator on the screen. Players could select a shape and color of crosshair, but little else.

2nd Generation

2nd Generation Crosshair

In the second generation, crosshairs became a feature of a weapon. Players could specify crosshair style per weapon uniquely.

3rd Generation

3rd Generation Crosshair

In the third generation, crosshairs incorporated features from previous generations but also began to add some dynamic gameplay elements like showing indicators for loaded rockets.

Overall the crosshair has seen a slow evolution over the course of the Unreal series. With Open Tournament we are aiming to fulfill the basics, but to push the idea further than preceding games.

The Basics: Aim, Fire, Repeat

In any shooter game, accuracy is key, and crosshairs are an indispensable tool for achieving it. A well-crafted crosshair allows players to align shots on target while providing a sense of precision and control.

For Open Tournament, the key takeaway is simply to let players express themselves through customization. No single style of crosshair is going to work for every player, especially with a wild & creative range of weapons in the arsenal. So whether you prefer something simple like a cross or a dot, or you want a complex reticle with an assortment of circles, boxes, and bars as your crosshair, it's important that we give you options to suit your preference and style.

Differing Crosshair Styles

Dressing Up: Crosshairs for Weapon Character

One aspect of crosshairs that may not be talked about much is simply what a crosshair communicates about the character of a weapon. When a player picks up a weapon they're not familiar with for the first time what does the crosshair tell you about that weapon? If the crosshair is a tight X centered on the screen that gives an impression of a precision weapon, whereas a large oval with some drop bars is probably better suited to a grenade launcher.

The styling of the crosshair matters too. A weapon that's shooting a futuristic beam of energy should have a different crosshair from a pistol that shoots a bullet. The actual game mechanics of these two things could be the same in code, but how that's presented to players is important to convey information to players before they even pull the trigger.

Example Crosshairs for Different Weapons

Acting Out: Weapon Behavior

The last aspect I wanted to discuss is using crosshairs to communicate weapon behavior. This actually is present to a limited degree in UT3 and UT4, but isn't utilized to nearly its full potential. For example, the UT3 Rocket Launcher crosshair shown earlier in this article displays rockets within the crosshair as they are loaded. This is important functional information that communicates to the player the state of the weapon.

Back in 2014-2016 timeframe when I was working on Unreal Prime (a set of modifications for UT4) I started exploring this concept in more depth because I wanted to utilize the crosshair to expose information that normally wasn't presented to players in gameplay.

Renegade Pistol Crosshair

For example, the UT4 Enforcer will always fire its first shot perfectly accurately, but you must wait 0.25 seconds between shots to fire without any randomized spread. For Unreal Prime I developed an alternate pistol called the Renegade. This pistol behaved similar to the Enforcer with its primary fire, but I added an growing/shrinking circle to the weapon's crosshair that communicated information about the weapon's accuracy over time. This simple change gave players a way to read what was happening with the weapon and make informed decisions about if they would fire rapidly with reduced accuracy, or stagger their shots to fire with more precision.

In Open Tournament, when we have nuances to weapon usage, it's crucial to convey this clearly to players in the game, without needing to consult source code or other out-of-game resources. Crosshairs are an important tool to accomplishing that, and I think we can really improve the readability of weapon behavior significantly with more dynamic crosshairs.

Final Thoughts

Crosshairs are a small but important detail and one we hope to utilize to make Open Tournament be more dynamic, responsize, and customizable than its spiritual forefathers. We're aiming to hit all three of these objectives with our crosshairs, and hopefully the same level of detail and attention to all areas of the game.

As we move forward into 2024 expect more news and updates on Open Tournament. If you’re interested in following along, I encourage everyone to join our Discord or subscribe on Substack.

Cheers,

Wail