Oh I See! Counter-Strike: GO's New Player Animations
For visual clarity
Being able to tell quickly what's going on is awfully important in competitive multiplayer games. That's why MOBA characters (try to) look unique, different guns have distinctive sounds, and, ideally, you can see exactly what an enemy is doing.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive [official site] is now a little clearer, thanks to the latest update. All player animations have been updated (and look better), and the game has new animations for things like climbing ladders, switching weapons, and defusing - complete with visible wires to a doodad showing exactly what that chap crouched over the bomb is up to. Plus, the days of guns poking through doors are over!
They're using a new system for player hitboxes too, so the game should better detect when a bullet should hit someone. The update has also finally put an end to players' guns poking through walls and doors, giving away their position; this does mean it looks a bit weird when a gun hitting a wall has its end mysteriously disappear, but it's better than the alternative.
"The new system modernizes the player’s skeleton and hitboxes to better express at-a-glance exactly what your enemies and teammates are doing," Valve say. "Upgrading classic maps and adjusting weapon balance are just some of the ways CS:GO is constantly evolving. We expect to continue iterating on animation in future updates, so jump into a game and let us know what you think!"
Check the changelog from last night's update to see all that's new.
This here video from TrilluXe on YouTube shows off new animations and changes, as well as a few problems - players on ladders still have wonky hitboxes, for one:
