Merman Hunter, extending the javelin throw routine

[Trilby]

@ Beetlenaut, thanks again. I wanted to see some of these units get done, if only to help out "Dead Water" from the other direction.

I intended to follow only one of these alternatives, but I'm well aware the B route has serious flaws, it never had as much time spent on it as the first.

So, what's the suggestion, the upper body and throw motion is satisfactory, but the tail in Blocking A still needs an overhaul, as per TSI's pool based musings? Or should it move on to the detail and spriting stage?

[lurker]

Hello, Trilby

I know I am late to the game and sorry for that. But I think only blocking B makes sense regarding the physics: The hunter throws its javeline with the right hand. That adds a counter-clockwise torque to his body. Like every being with a tail he would try to compensate for it (rotate clockwise), not to add to the torque. Of course you are free to ignore that, but I thought I would mention that anyway, since nobody mentioned the fundamental physical principle of preservation of torque up until now.

Greetings

Lurker

[artisticdude]

I've stayed sort of agnostic in this debate up until now, but I believe lurker is correct in his assessment (not that my opinion is worth much, but take it for what it's worth ).

[Trilby]

Okay, I think it's safe to say looking into the alternative tail motion is worth it. It's been decidedly voiced on a few occasions, now, that the tail physics are off. So I've been working on developing the Blocking B route more, to try to come up with something that moves as smoothly as "A" but more logically. Here's what I've got so far.

[lurker]

Okay, I think it's safe to say looking into the alternative tail motion is worth it. It's been decidedly voiced on a few occasions, now, that the tail physics are off. So I've been working on developing the Blocking B route more, to try to come up with something that moves as smoothly as "A" but more logically. Here's what I've got so far.

I am not very good at spotting small inconsistencies, but to me this one looks right. I especially like how the fin goes up at the end of the motion to help the torso get back up straight.

[Trilby]

Hello again. I've made further adjustments to stretch the tail whilst it swings around. I shamelessly stole some of the line work from the Pugilist's tail attack in Dead water for some of this, I believe it helped greatly, thank you. It was looking significantly stumpy before. As yet the spines have to be placed, but all the frames have detail on now.

Anybody have thoughts to share on Hunter progress so far?

[thespaceinvader]

Looks great. Keep going =)

[Trilby]

Next stage.

I've yet to touch the the tail spines and shadow. The latter, because I've yet to commit to a decision over what to do with the melee spear, do I blatantly disappear the weapon as is currently the case or keep it in his grip as I originally intended?

As for the javelin, the intention here was to make it look as if the Hunter was throwing straight from the quiver, like some kind of rapid throw, but in doing this his arm disappears as he turns and loses the trajectory TSI commented on. How do you think this looks as is, problem? And of course, if the the motion is fine, is there need to depict the javelin on the sprite prior to the spear overlay cutting in? Baring in mind the throwing spear overlay is quite different from those that the Hunter throws.

Thanks guys.

[thespaceinvader]

Two things on that:

1: IMO you can probably get away without putting the spear in, but i'd need to see it in game to be sure. If it does need to be there, it's probably just for one frame - otherwise, it would need to be there right through the whole wind-up

2: You're welcome to make a new projectile, if the current one does not fit.

[beetlenaut]

You have a much darker outline on the arms than the base frame--especially the near one, and it shows.
It seems more natural to keep the melee spear. If you do it in a separate layer, you can always remove it later if it gets in the way.

[Trilby]

I've gone through the frames and toned down the darkness of those outlines.

I will come back to this after the weekend and see what a weapon totting version looks like. My idea was to have the melee spear tucked close against the length of his arm throughout the wind up, so the bulk of the weapon doesn't obfuscate too much detail as it passes in front. We'll see.

[thespaceinvader]

I'd definitely agree that the melee spear needs to stay - I hadn't realised that was what you meant. You could, on that note, have him drop the melee spear at the start, and pick it up at the end, however. Just having it vanish that obviously looks kinda weird.

[Boucman]

if you do that, please do the dropping/picking up as a different animation, so he doesn't drop/pickup between every throw

[thespaceinvader]

Indeed - it would be an excellent use of the sheathe/unsheathe animations boucman instituted when we were working on the Drakes.

[Trilby]

Here's a a mock up of the Hunter holding the melee spear during the throw.

I'm not necessarily content with it, but I'm not certain on what tweaks to make to get it looking right. I suppose he could keep holding the spear upright for longer during the wind-up and only keep the drastic tilt right at the last wind-up frame --that way it looks less like an attack in itself... Or try to make it so the spear looks to come to a rest parallel to the arm (My first attempts failed to get this to look right).

Perhaps you have a more immediate idea how it could be improved?

On the other hand, I'll be happy if you like it as it is.