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I just implemented that in Quake (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk2dkMXjS8k). Think OA could go for the 'farther back and freely orbiting' kind?  It would be for cgame.

This is interesting.

Of course, it's not crucial stuff, but it may be nice.
The only question is if everyone would like a mouse-controlled camera when dies. I mean the player may move the camera unintentionally (just guessing), then he may also like a variable to restore the original behavior?

This stuff gives me another idea, maybe very stupid: what about an "instant replay" when the player dies? E.g. seeing again the last second of action, a bit slower and in thirdperson? Maybe a single variable may switch from original mode, to your deathcam, and to instant replay mode?

Probably mine is just a silly idea (I suppose the instant replay mode would need too much work -due to the need of always recording the last second of gameplay- for a such small improvement), but however this forum section is named "idea pit"... :)

I suppose the "freely orbiting" cam was a bit inspired by Unreal Tournament, isn't it? :P
I was even waiting the scoreboard to appear. :P

I'm not sure about instant replay, that would make sense for a 3D Fighting Game (Virtua Fighter, Tekken, Soul Calibur), but in an FPS I'm not sure if it would make any sense, considering you'll respawn very soon after you died.

I was thinking about this, too. But since 0.8.8 there is a timer that tells you when you can click and respawn.... if you click before that time (2 or 3 seconds, maybe? I'm not sure), nothing happens... if you click after that time, you respawn. If you don't click at all, the game will force you to respawn, but after several seconds only (I don't know... 10, maybe? Or more?). Then, if the player does not click, there would be all the time required to see the whole replay. If he clicks, instead, he would just stop replay and spawn immediately. However, this is just an idea. Instant death replay may make it more clear that each character has got only a few death animations... but however may be nice to see from which direction did the rocket or rail that killed you come. And slow-motion gore may be nice!  :D

Note: Respawning click worked at the same way also before 0.8.8, simply before there was no text telling you when you are allowed to click.

PS: About deathcams in Fromhell's video, I also like the last one...  :)

Lol @ the speed of the bots

There seems to be (more than) 2 kind of killcams;
1. You just see your opponent's view just before he killed you.
2. You see your opponent navigating further after the frag.

I like the second idea very well as it really gives you a kind of "arcade" arena feeling. It would also show off the hard work from the artist(s) more clear as you tend to observe animations way better when you see it's front in thirdperson view then when you try to aim on your opponent (as the camera obviously follows the character).
However, I'm not very font of the 1st idea as that makes you kind of live in the past. If you want to analyze what you did wrong, you could have recorded a demo instead.

The one which leileilol showed in the movie is (nearly) like it currently is?

That seems more Q1SP than Q1DM.

When I say deathcam, it's a camera of your own death - simple enough.

Making a killcam that replays what happened would require some reworking of the networking subsystem and that is a task far too big.


Why is it that I suggest one little idea, Gig suddenly posts a overambitious one after it? :(

... Because this is "idea pit" forum, and Gig is a pit of (more or less stupid) ideas!  ;D

By the way, I said since the beginning that would have required too much work.  ;)