GLADE Team Project: Dark Magic

[-Archmage-]

We did the Shadow Walker, except for the texture, but I guess we're changing concept.

Also, I made a slight start on the Morlock, you can download it here. Someone can finish it, if I don't work on it more this Weekend.

[titi]

I will make the Imp ok?
But It will have no wings!
It will crawl on the ground like an animal. Ok?

[-Archmage-]

Small wings on the back would be perfect, but make sure modman approves first.

[titi]

Nearly all these creatures have little wings in the concept arts. I think it will not look good if they all look like crippled dark birds.
It will only look ugly ....

[John.d.h]

Nearly all these creatures have little wings in the concept arts. I think it will not look good if they all look like crippled dark birds.
It will only look ugly ....

Just use your best judgment.  I've seen enough of your work to know you'll come up with something good.

It will crawl on the ground like an animal. Ok?

I remember Modman saying it should run like a dog would run with only two legs, in case that helps.  I think we were planning on making this a size 2 unit, so it can be spread out a bit and bent over.  I think it will be easier to model it without wings to begin with, and if it doesn't look good, it should be easy to add them.

[modman]

The Imp looks like a kangaroo; it is about that size too.  It would be nice though if it would run kind of move like a kangaroo, but less smoothly.  This is because the unit is evil, and maybe has a limp, maybe not (whichever you prefer).  The whole idea of this unit, though, is that in the XML it will resemble the Horseman/Drake Rider, because both Magitech factions already have quick units (I call them recon because they serve little other tactical purpose).  So with that in mind, the unit is about as fast as a Drake.  I think the attacking animation should be with the claws, amplifying the whole "wild animal" feel of the unit.

[Mark]

Yes, but the imp could retain small wings, and very powerful hind legs, (like the kangaroo).  The claws would be attached to the wings, but at the end, and the wings would be muscular.  Please send me the static blend, before you animate, or texture.  Maybe for running it could take giant bounds where it tries to gain air by flapping its wings.

[modman]

Alright, I’ve finally got around to zipping up Dark Magic, with a few bug fixes.  I need to give John credit he deserves for spotting the Dark Mage existence bug.  This was simply a failure on my part when I wanted to change how the Dark Mage was produced, and so had I deleted the Acolyte’s morph skill.  I have since fixed this.  The Dark Mage is now produced by the Sorcery Runes, what I think it a happy medium between morphing from the Acolyte and being produced by the Sorceress.

Personally, I have been concentrating most of my critical thinking devoted to Dark Magic to the Morlock.  It is the one unit which seems rather out of place.  There needs to be some rethinking of the Morlock because it is both the weakest and cheapest unit in all of civilized (standard Magitech-compatible) Glest factions.  Please note that if you are modeling the Morlock, do not fret because all of this is XML-based and will not affect any modeling work expectations.

There are several possibilities around the Morlock.  Right now, I still have to decide which options I like best, and think of some more.  Once I do think of them though, I will share them with you, discuss, explain, and show the pros and cons of each.  I’ll also make a corresponding poll, which in this case just constitutes a change of the current one.

I'll include the download link when it finishes uploading, but if not, it's at the Filefront account "Glest Files".

[modman]

Download Dark Magic v 6.3

Enjoy!

[-Archmage-]

Thanks will add to
GUE

[John.d.h]

I need to give John credit he deserves for spotting the Dark Mage existence bug.

Always happy to help.

Personally, I have been concentrating most of my critical thinking devoted to Dark Magic to the Morlock.  It is the one unit which seems rather out of place.  There needs to be some rethinking of the Morlock because it is both the weakest and cheapest unit in all of civilized (standard Magitech-compatible) Glest factions.  Please note that if you are modeling the Morlock, do not fret because all of this is XML-based and will not affect any modeling work expectations.

My current concept is that the Morlock is an underground cave-dweller, so it would probably be a little smaller than a person, and very hunched over, probably a knuckle-walker.  The knuckle-walking posture wouldn't make him take up too much space because it's small, maybe roughly chimpanzee size, but probably a little larger.  I'm also thinking he would attack with claws, so it would probably be a fast attack but have low damage, making it very ineffective against heavily-armored units, but decent against lightly-armored ones.  Its general appearance is like somewhat human-like, with three-fingered hands and three-toed feet, shaggy hair on parts of its body, and very ugly.

Like this image: http://www.morbidmonster.com/Horrora/Morlock.jpg

Where my concept differs from this image is as follows: I think the cloth garment it's wearing would be a good place for team color, and we could make it look more like an animal pelt.  I also think we should not make it so blue, but more of a pale "I live underground" look since pigmentation serves no purpose in the absence of light.  The more I think about it, the more I'm unsure about the knuckle-walking idea, but I think that if it's going to walk upright, it should have some sort of primitive weapon, like a club or stone axe, so I'm thinking EITHER

a) it walks/runs on its knuckles and fights with claws
OR
b) it walks upright like a human and fights with a weapon

[Kung Fu Panda]

thanks for posting on filefront modman

wow wtf i cant download it! every time i press 'download now' the page just reloads! ??? it doesnt download!

it worked once then someone unplugged the modem thinking it was something else and the download got broken then i cant seem to download it!

[-Archmage-]

John, I think his pose should be in between A & B.

[modman]

thanks for posting on filefront modman

No problem.  I set up an account for Glest Mods, called Glest Files, and I chose the file hosting service carefully.

wow wtf i cant download it! every time i press 'download now' the page just reloads! ??? it doesnt download!

Works fine for me...

Where my concept differs from this image is as follows: I think the cloth garment it's wearing would be a good place for team color, and we could make it look more like an animal pelt.  I also think we should not make it so blue, but more of a pale "I live underground" look since pigmentation serves no purpose in the absence of light.  The more I think about it, the more I'm unsure about the knuckle-walking idea, but I think that if it's going to walk upright, it should have some sort of primitive weapon, like a club or stone axe, so I'm thinking EITHER

a) it walks/runs on its knuckles and fights with claws
OR
b) it walks upright like a human and fights with a weapon

I like option b better because it is what I originally imagined.  Besides, it might be hard to see it, and I kind of want it to have a pipe or other primitive hand held weapon.

[John.d.h]

Important!  Something I noticed about GMD's Moon Mod is that their textures aren't GPL-compatible, so I just want to make sure that ours are.  So, where are each of you getting your textures (if you aren't making them from scratch)?  If you're basing them on photos or something, I just need to verify that the source of the photo is entirely okay for us to use.
/Important

I like option b better because it is what I originally imagined.  Besides, it might be hard to see it, and I kind of want it to have a pipe or other primitive hand held weapon.

Sounds good to me, except that a pipe or club would do impact damage, which would make the unit just about useless against other light units.  I was thinking something more like a stone axe or spear, or maybe (even better) a meat cleaver, since Morlocks are supposed to be man-eaters.

[titi]

Some problems in the current release:

- There are still missing animations in the xml-setup for the acolyte.
acolyte_walking_harvesting.g3d and acolyte_walking_gold.g3d are not used yet!

- The death animation for the sourceress is much too fast!

- The attack animation of the sourceress is a bit too fast and doesn't look really good in my opinion. Why didn't you use my shot setup?

- the gods bane is much too strong and I think its too big. What do you think ?
 
- the wyverns are much much too strong  and the whole faction currently is too strong.

For the imp:
Its nearly finished, but I have no screenshot yet. Death- charge- and attackanimations are missing yet ( I'm a bit slow, because the egypt mod steals my time  )

 

[-Archmage-]

Once you get a very well balanced version, I'd like to check it's balance in my spectators map.

[titi]

A first screenshot of the imp:

The red parts are the team color beside the face which is always brown/red.

[-Archmage-]

Very nice, but some suggestions:

1- Make the legs as round looking as possible
2- Make the feet into three clawed feet
3- Overall, try to make it look more animal like.

[Loronal]

Imps where reasonably straighter they have tiny wings arent capable of flying plud that looks like a mini t rex]

[John.d.h]

I like the overall look, but I think the hands right now look more like paws.  It might be good to split them into two or three fingers each.  Also, the legs look very rectangular.  I'd wait for Modman to give his opinion before making any changes, though.

[titi]

Yes thats all true, but this is fully zoomed in, even the techs worker will look bad in this zoomed view!
And yes it looks like a mini T-rex. All other things I tried before didn't look really good. They looked too human.
I also made two walking animations yet. One where he is creeping like a lizard and one where it runs more like he is standing.
I added the tail, because it looked too strange and human without it. The "lizard walking" animation really looks good because this should be a fast unit and this fits very well with the lizard like movement.Over all it's a very "nervous" unit and the charge animation will be a surprise .

I also think the result currently is not really an imp and its really not my best model yet, but you should try it (I think  tomorrow its done). It's an interisting and different looking unit.
But if you really don't like it, I will try another one.  Or we decide to call it no longer imp. Maybe lizard ape is a name for it.
I also found this picture maybe that's a better imp. But I think in the detail level of a glest unit, it will loook like a normal human again

[John.d.h]

Yes thats all true, but this is fully zoomed in, even the techs worker will look bad in this zoomed view!
And yes it looks like a mini T-rex. All other things I tried before didn't look really good. They looked too human.

I agree, but I still think the hands would look better with fingers/claws, kinda like the Acolyte but with only two or three fingers on each hand.  The claws are this unit's main weapon and I think it's supposed to be somewhat strong, so it should be clear that his claws are dangerous, unless he's going to use a weapon (I don't think that's part of the concept, but I have no problem with a weapon).  Currently his claws don't look threatening at all to me.  I'm thinking something more ghoul-like, like this (specifically the arm he's holding up high).

I also made two walking animations yet. One where he is creeping like a lizard and one where it runs more like he is standing.
I added the tail, because it looked too strange and human without it. The "lizard walking" animation really looks good because this should be a fast unit and this fits very well with the lizard like movement.Over all it's a very "nervous" unit and the charge animation will be a surprise .

Those walking animations sound really good.  I'll be glad to see when they're finished.

I also think the result currently is not really an imp and its really not my best model yet, but you should try it (I think  tomorrow its done). It's an interisting and different looking unit.
But if you really don't like it, I will try another one.  Or we decide to call it no longer imp. Maybe lizard ape is a name for it.
I also found this picture maybe that's a better imp. But I think in the detail level of a glest unit, it will loook like a normal human again

Luckily, the definition of imp is very broad.  From dictionary.reference.com: "imp (noun) - a little devil or demon; an evil spirit".  So basically it can look like anything.  I do like the big ears in that picture, and I feel like the current model has a very plain head, so maybe you could give it big goblin-like ears like that.  Also, I like that it has a tail, but it looks really thick and stubby.  Maybe it could be thinner and have a joint in it?  If we want to go even more for the reptilian look, we could make his feet look more like the lizard people in this picture.

By the way, how big did you make this unit?

[titi]

Ok here it is:

The glest unit ready for dark magic:
http://www.titusgames.de/darkmagic/imp/imp_glestunit.zip
( Hint:  Add this to the starting units in dark_magic.xml:      <unit name="imp" amount="10"/>
 )

The blender file:
http://www.titusgames.de/darkmagic/imp/imp5.zip

[Mark]

Looking good!!

Aw, man, I was hoping you would give the blend to me first...