Dragon sprite

[Valkier]

I think the reason you're not getting a good feel for an impact on the swipe is because you have him doing it from an odd angle. It seems like it would be more natural to have him swing his claws to the side and then arch out in front of him. You could have him rear back a bit and then stretch out as he does it. Right now the swipe does look somewhat awkward and weak.

[A-Red]

Say, you guys, I just thought of something.

Every unit that can fly--and therefore can be positioned over unwalkable terrain like lava--is animated to be in flight at all times, rather than sitting on the ground. I feel like that would look really awkward for a unit with this size and build to be hovering in place like a bat or a gryphon...however, the equally awkward alternative is to have that unit potentially squatting in lava. For instance, Khrakrahs in SoF is pretty much only seen positioned over lava tiles, because he only comes out to attack units positioned on the edge of the cliffs. I know that's only one rare case; on the other hand, it's half the dragons currently appearing in mainline.

Maybe this is something that can easily be dealt with using multiple sequences and WML. I don't really know, but I thought I'd raise the issue before it gets even later.

[thespaceinvader]

This is not necessarily the case - as with the Drakes, flight can be filtered to only occur over certain terrains. There is some new WML in the works to allow for take offs and landings to transition to and from this state. However, as with the drakes, animating sets of attacks whilst flying AND whilst landed is just too much effort. So you'll have to live with the unit landing to attack, whatever the terrain and however odd that may look.

Pixelmind: i think the lift-and-slam, which was chatted about in eternal's thread, actually works better than the swipe, on reflection. nice work =)

[Boucman]

as a reminder, it's perfectly possible to have multiple attack animations for the same attack, we can even do a "finishing blow" special...

[pixelmind]

... we can even do a "finishing blow" special...

Nice


Tastes like chicken
( not a really serious attempt but could make a nice easter egg ^^ )

[mabeenot]

Very nice.

[Zerovirus]

Right...

Bite 9999-1. 100% chance of hitting.

[pauxlo]

Nice animation idea ... it would be goblin spearman-specific (and also specific to the right angle).

This could certainly lead to creation of a campaign of Dragon against a goblin army, to see this often
(I'm not sure which side should be the player ...)

Or there can be two animations of dragon and other unit combined (= the defense animation of the goblin is "being eaten" in the case of a killing blow of this dragon), and with a bit fiddling one could exchange the goblin with some other unit (which also has a "being eaten" animation) without having to adapt the dragon.

[thespaceinvader]

If you're willing to animate something like that, it would be a very nice little easter egg to be filtered to the bite attack if, and only if, it killed the unit in question. But i don't know how well it would fit in with the normal death animations etc. You'd have to check that out with someone more knowledgeable than myself about the animation engine.

[Stilgar]

I also love the idea of having that "eat" animation for a killing blow, if it's workable.

[pauxlo]

I think the dead animation can be switched off for this case, like so:

Code: Select all

[unit]
  id=Goblin Spearman
  ...
  [animation]
     apply_to=defend
     # or has it to be nw, viewed from the goblin?
     direction=se
     [filter_second]
       # or what ever is the name of our dragon
       type="Fire Dragon"
     [/filter_second]
     [filter_attack]
        name=bite
     [/filter_attack]
     hits=kill
     ...
     (here the frames)
  [/animation]
  [animation]
     apply_to=dead
     direction=se
     [filter_second]
       # or what ever is the name of our dragon
       type="Fire Dragon"
     [/filter_second]
     [filter_attack]
        name=bite
     [/filter_attack]
     [frame]
       duration=0
     [/frame]
  [/animation]
  ...
[/unit]

I have not tested this, only read the wiki

[Kenpachi]

that is epic

[Urs]

Pure Win.

[PsychoticKittens]

If this turns out as awesome as it looks like it will, the bone dragon oughta be revamped as well. I might've missed this already being talked about I don't check this constantly and its rather long topic. Along with how I read it like a magazine (pictures first, people.) But still, Bone dragon should be a given since its always been the same generic shape is the fire dragon.

[thespaceinvader]

It probably should be, but I doubt it will be a priority.