I have an idea!

Author	Topic: I have an idea!
modnaR Shock Trooper Member # 1863	written Wednesday, September 11 2002 11:59 Profile #0 I don't know if any of you have thought of this, but now that there's going to be an isometric, and as such three dimensional version of the blades of exile we know and love, we can finally make genuinely aerial monsters! Well, sort of. Graphically, at least. It'll be nice to see something actually floating in the air, as opposed to sitting on the ground and just happening to have wings, a'la drake, dragon, etc. There are imps of course, but the point is that this 'hanging in midair' formula is usable on larger 1x1 creatures. You just make a 1x2 custom graphic for whatever type of monster (drake, avian, winged demon) but only fill the upper half, leaving the bottom blank. There you have it, a monster hanging in midair. Of course, this wouldn't do much other than be a nice change aesthetically, but who knows, there may be some sort of 'immune to melee weapons' ability or somesuch that would make it only hittable by missiles and magic, or an 'ignore height' property that would alllow it to ascend to higher, even blocked higher ground in one move. One can always hope. I know I dreamed of making actual flying monsters in the original Blades. Maybe I'm just strange though. Pardon my rambling, sorry brave sir robin, sincerely -modnaR, Garzahd, Ner Vyle, and other such stuff. -------------------- Fnord. (Insert your name here) is a capitalist pigdog. Deus Ex Penguin: God out of the Penguin......Cogito Eggo Sum: I think, waffle I am. If Voting could change the system, it would be against the law. Posts: 298 | Registered: Tuesday, September 10 2002 07:00
Tails Canned Member # 1248	written Wednesday, September 11 2002 12:08 Profile #1 That's actually not a bad idea...It would make BoA much cooler looking.... -------------------- Tails MSN Hot-Mail Address --- WWEsports@hotmail.com Posts: 455 | Registered: Saturday, June 1 2002 07:00
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Wednesday, September 11 2002 13:16 Profile Homepage #2 Attacking a monster that appears far above the space it's on would be difficult, and spell effects targetting it would actually hit below the graphic. The damage would appear too low as well. —Alorael, who doesn't see why bats don't properly convey flying. If something really can fly, then why would it stick around for you to whack it to death? Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
modnaR Shock Trooper Member # 1863	written Wednesday, September 11 2002 15:48 Profile #3 Yeah, that could be problematic. That was part of the problem I was alluding to when I talked about melee weapons and 'immune to melee'. Still, there might be a workaround, and I still think it's a very interesting idea. As for bats (and imps as I said) those work well enough, but that only works for monsters considerably smaller than the template window. As for damage appearing below the monster, I don't see any great wrong in that, though it could be confusing if there was something behind it. The spell animations being off target is a good point, though. --Modnar, lord of the randoM, who says that the random number generator hates him, ironic as that sounds -------------------- Fnord. (Insert your name here) is a capitalist pigdog. Deus Ex Penguin: God out of the Penguin......Cogito Eggo Sum: I think, waffle I am. If Voting could change the system, it would be against the law. Posts: 298 | Registered: Tuesday, September 10 2002 07:00
Schrodinger FAQSELF Member # 3	written Wednesday, September 11 2002 16:43 Profile #4 I understand what you mean from an asthetic view, but believe that it would cause much confusion. Very few games have adequate flying monsters. Baldur's Gate 2 had some dragons, but they were forced to be earth-bound, eliminating a degree of freedom in combat. Maybe if there were a few more changes to the engine it might be possible, but your greatest hope in getting something like this implemented probably lies with Geneforge. -------------------- A few cats short of a kitten pot pie... Radioactive cats have 18 half-lives. Check out a great source for information on Avernum 2, Nethergate, and Subterra: Zeviz's page. Finally, there's my Geneforge FAQ, Geneforge 2 FAQ, and Geneforge 3 FAQ. Posts: 2831 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00
Desert Pl@h Lifecrafter Member # 1768	written Friday, September 13 2002 03:54 Profile #5 I think you have a good idea and should ask spidweb to change programming in order to make this work well. Desert Plah desertp@juno.com -------------------- "Oh, North Wind, why frighten others? In Nature's family all are brothers. Puff and blow and wheeze and hiss; You can't frighten Shingebiss. Bring your frost and ice and snow; I'm still free to come and go. You can never frighten me, One who never fears is FREE!" -Shingebiss, the mighty duck Posts: 830 | Registered: Tuesday, August 20 2002 07:00
Silent Motion BoE Posse Member # 15	written Friday, September 13 2002 04:28 Profile Homepage #6 You can simulate a flying beast graphically, but making it's specs change from "in flight" to "attacking near the ground" would probably be quite difficult. Here's one way to do the graphic: Have a 1W x 2H graphic. For passive mode, have the creature in the upper cell as big as possible. in the mid to upper part of the lower cell, place a small shadow of the creature (to simulate height). For attack mode, move the creature to the lower cell and shrink it down so it's noticably smaller than in passive mode. Move the shadow closer to the creature or eliminate it. This will fool the viewer's eyes into believing the creature has moved down towards the PCs during attack. You can spice this up with some preliminary text that reads, "The creature swoops down upon you, rising and falling for each attack." This will reinforce the visual, and (kind of) explains why you can hit the creature with hand-held weapons even when it appears to be above you - you might have caught a piece of a tail or a limb as it was rising up. [ Friday, September 13, 2002 04:29: Message edited by: The Quintessential Being ] -------------------- All that we see, or seem, is but a dream within a dream. Visit the Louvre, the BoA Graphics Database at http://www.personal.psu.edu/bxb11/boa/louvre/ Visit Alexandria, the BoE Scenario Database at http://www.personal.psu.edu/bxb11/boe/alexandriajs/ Posts: 653 | Registered: Thursday, September 27 2001 07:00
modnaR Shock Trooper Member # 1863	written Saturday, September 14 2002 14:42 Profile #7 That's true. That's a very good idea. -------------------- Fnord. (Insert your name here) is a capitalist pigdog. Deus Ex Penguin: God out of the Penguin......Cogito Eggo Sum: I think, waffle I am. If Voting could change the system, it would be against the law. Posts: 298 | Registered: Tuesday, September 10 2002 07:00
Mortifer Shock Trooper Member # 1706	written Monday, September 16 2002 06:25 Profile #8 Aye! Excellent idea! :) -------------------- "We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves." Romans 15:1 Posts: 274 | Registered: Sunday, August 11 2002 07:00