Well I think that this truly depends (and has depended) on whether or not you are playing with a squad where you have the luxury of cover (as with many military WWII games for example), or if you are playing a single solo character in something like Doom or Half-Life, etc.

The game mechanic for having realistic "X-number of ammo per clip" forces the person to throw away clips that aren't full or mostly fully before each major confrontation, unless if they have supportive fire. If they have teammates, it is a matter of shoot until out regardless of how full your clip is, then duck and reload while another takes your place. However, this kind of mechanic when implemented in a solo-character FPS does sort of make people purposefully waste low-ammo clips just to receive a new full one in order to prepare for a new possible encounter.

And its probably that reason that many solo-character FPSes don't use the "ammo-per-clip" model, they just use the "ammo-pool" model (where ammo is not organized into clips) because it provides a much more continuous sense of shooting, to which in a squad-based military or police game, your teammates provide that for you.

I've always explained this away to myself by saying that because in solo-character FPSes, the character you are playing usually controls the entire pace of the game's story/progression by himself, as such he would perhaps have lots of side time that isn't shown in the game (much similarly to eating or pooing) to take out the bullets in nearly depleted clips and fill them into other clips to make all full.

Another thing to factor in here is the weapon designs themselves (which is related to game setting, but still can ultimately depend on the game design itself). Many FPSes are sci-fi or fantasy, as such, have no need to model their ammo-loading system after clips, for they might use something else entirely different. Your gun might not take clips, and instead, take individual rounds, like what a shotgun does. An "ammo-pool" system would then match for weapons such as these.

So I guess if your game is to focus on squad-based shooting, then having an "ammo-per-clip" model would emphasize such team-based gameplay. If your game is to focus on the individual experience of having a single main character survive through the entire game world by himself, then the "ammo-pool" model would be better suited for that gameplay.

[Edited by - Tangireon on June 22, 2008 2:24:42 AM]

Well, here's another angle to consider... Are the clips thrown away, or simply topped-off? Also consider tube-style magazines such as those used in shotguns or most lever-action rifles where you can simply add more rounds as you see fit.

Most people in real-life carry a few loaded clips for fast reload, but don't throw them away when they're spent; they just reload them when there's down-time.

That might be a mechanic you could pursue as well; Having some number of loaded clips at the ready, and having to take on a lengthier process of reloading clips when the action's not so hot.


All that said, the guiding principle of game design should be "But is it fun?" for some games, taking the time to reload can be a part of the game-play mechanic, such as a team-based shooter where relying on your comrades for cover is part of the experience. For a single-player game, forcing the player to take on lengthy reload sequences in their down time, or "taxing" them ammunition for being prepared isn't any fun... You'd probably end up compensating by making ammunition more readily available in the environment anyhow, in which case there's no real penalty, just an annoying thing you have to do and no sense of finite availability of ammunition or the suspense that can cause (See Half-life 2's Ravenholm level or any of the Resident Evil games.)

It's not a bad idea across the board, but you have to consider carefully whether it adds to the fun or to the experience.

I once knew a guy who's "Ultimate MMO" idea was to be hyper-realistic to the point that dressing yourself in armor would require 10-15 minutes and a pair of assistants. The high-point of the sequence included cinching and buckling each and every strap where the tightness or looseness of which would have positive/adverse affects on protection, speed and dexterity.

Realism for realism's sake makes a terrible game.

Alien vs Predator 1 had ammo-discard features, it all but forced players to reload for new encounters because you could die so quickly. Since there was little choice but to reload or risk loosing health (40 minute missions with no saves encouraged keeping health), it basically ended up forcing players to lose either way.

While it can definitely help promote tense situations, it would have been nice to have had some way to recycle those "lost" rounds, even if it was time consuming (and thus, not always practical).

In the Infiltration mod for UT, unspent clips were stored in reserve and reused in order of most to least full when players ran out of full clips. I thought this worked particularly well, especially since you rarely knew how much ammo was in each partial clip. It added to both realism and tension. The matches were short and ammo limited, so it wasn't practical to throw any away or refill partial clips. In single-player games with quiet time, providing a mechanism for consolidating partial clips would be in order. This sort of question only really comes up during combat. Players expect to do some micromanagement during quiet time.