Flashbomb And Others

[god_is_my_goldfish]

Here's some sketches i did today, I took photos of them, which is why they are a bit blurry, I'll scan them in later.

 

Flashbomb concepts

Good,

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v140/god...od/100_4485.jpg

Not so good,

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v140/god...od/100_4484.jpg

 

Noisemaker Arrows

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v140/god...od/100_4487.jpg

 

Moss arrows

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v140/god...od/100_4488.jpg

 

Crappy looking mine, i'll do a better version later.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v140/god...od/100_4486.jpg

 

New Arrow

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v140/god...od/100_4489.jpg

[Renzatic]

Man, that flashbomb concept is awesome, throw a couple of rusty screws on it'll be perfect for the game.

 

But the K.O arrows...nuh uh, too cheap. A nonlethal takedown should be something you have to earn, and being able to do it from a distance would make the harder difficult levels too easy. The concept is cool, but I don't think it'd fit in with the gameplay.

[god_is_my_goldfish]

Yeah, I didn't think it would really fly that well. Just an idea.

[SkeletalPhrame]

I really liked your concept for the moss arrow. Cool thing there.

[Springheel]

I had the same problem trying to keep the moss arrow from looking like a stick of asperagus.

 

You know, since modelling is our weakest point, I wonder if we shouldn't just stick to the crystal idea for arrows? One model, different textures.

[BlackThief]

yeah, I also prefer crystals I'm glad that they kept them in thief 3.

[Renzatic]

Gonna play the big downer for a sec here...but might that fall under copywrited material?

 

A moss arrow by itself is vague enough to avoid infringements, but if we were to copy both the style and function of the arrows it might be skirting a bit too close to areas we want to avoid.

[BlackThief]

well, what about thievery and nightblade `? both use crystal-arrows - thievery even uses some original thief 2 textures

[Springheel]

I agree, I don't see how using crystals would put us over the edge.

[Renzatic]

Alright, I concede.

[god_is_my_goldfish]

You know, since modelling is our weakest point, I wonder if we shouldn't just stick to the crystal idea for arrows? One model, different textures.

I think it would be nifty if we could do more of a "glow inside the crystal" effect on them, kinda like T3, but not exactly the same.

[god_is_my_goldfish]

NOW IN COLOR!

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v140/god...shbombcolor.jpg

Edited October 2, 2004 by god_is_my_goldfish

[Fingernail]

Nice colour. A smaller version perhaps?

[god_is_my_goldfish]

Fear not Oh ye of 640x480 resolution!

 

Click on the pic!

Edited October 2, 2004 by god_is_my_goldfish

[Springheel]

Very nice job.

 

Re: the glow inside the arrows, I like those too (though the glow for arrows other than fire should be quite dim, so they don't give the thief away). But that is a lighting issue, as I understand it, not a texture one.

[jay pettitt]

smoke arrow (a bit like a smoke grenade) instead of a flashbomb = less work to implement maybe?

 

glowing colours sounds like a fine way of differentiating between between the arrows.

Edited October 4, 2004 by jay pettitt

[New Horizon]

Hmmm, I wonder. What do you all think of the noise arrow being a crystal, still with holes in it to make the whistle sound like previously suggested, but upon impact it sounds like shattering glass? That would be quite the shock for a guard. :lol:

 

>-- Shhhrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkk - SMAAAASH!!!!!----->

 

Guard: "WHAT THE BLOODY? Who's taffing about then???"

Edited October 4, 2004 by New Horizon

[god_is_my_goldfish]

EDIT: I like that idea new horizon, would also help account for the arrow's "dissapearance" after being fired.

 

I vote we keep flashbombs. A flash arrow would make it a bit too easy to blind someone from a distance, rather than judging arc and such.

 

Plus, flashbombs seem more steampunkish.

Edited October 4, 2004 by god_is_my_goldfish

[New Horizon]

EDIT: I like that idea new horizon, would also help account for the arrow's "dissapearance" after being fired.

Ahhh, another detail I hadn't considered. Quite true. I like the idea of the noise maker being one of the many mystical magic crystals. I wonder if its details could be achieved by using the same crystal model as the rest, but having the holes on the texture?

[god_is_my_goldfish]

I think that having something similar to my original design, possibly have it made of porceline or something that would shatter, might work better visually.

 

Not to knock your idea, but mostly the crystals look like they "contain" the element they are. A crystal arrow like that might look funky, and i can't think of how it could look. If you have an idea on it's appearance however, let us know!

[jay pettitt]

I vote we keep flashbombs. A flash arrow would make it a bit too easy to blind someone from a distance, rather than judging arc and such.

Which would, of course, be largely pointless. Not much point blinding a guard half a block away. The thing about smoke arrows/flash bombs is that they are limited in number rather than particularly challenging to use. You've got me on the steampunk issue though

 

I'd certainly still recommend implementing a 'flash' or smoke arrow during the early stages of development so the functionality is there without needing specific modelling and animation (although I suppose the DOOM3 grenade throw might suffice?).

 

Regarding the shattering noise arrow. I quite like the idea. Breaking glass would certainly attract attention. Although in the first two games the noise arrows were few but reuseable. I hate to be a kill joy, but do we need a noise arrow at all? Could the thief not just fire a broadhead at something noisy or throw a pot? Less work is good in my book.

Edited October 4, 2004 by jay pettitt

[New Horizon]

This is what i picture a shattering noise arrow crystal looks. I would think it would be more transparent, but this was the best I could do with my abilities.

 

Lots of holes everywhere so the wind blows through and makes the whistle sound...but then it is weakened enough by the holes to shatter on impact. Just a suggestion.

 

 

In response to having noise arrows at all. We should since our aim is to give people the tools to make thief like fan missions. Leaving them out would get us hung, much the way rope arrows hung the T3 devs. We're not looking to reinvent the wheel...maybe just refine it and make it smoother.

Edited October 4, 2004 by New Horizon

[BlackThief]

you arrow isn't bad, but I'd prefer the design of goldfish with porceline.

 

I think the elemental arrows are some kind of magic-arrows - it wouldn't make much sense, that there'd be a magic-noisemaker-crystal, would it ?

Edited October 4, 2004 by BlackThief

[Springheel]

As I posted elsewhere, if it's magic, it can have any sound trapped inside. The sound of footsteps, of whistling, of a few words spoken, etc. It might be neat if the sound was randomly picked from a list each time the arrow was fired. And once the crystal is broken, the sound is gone. No resuse. I kind of like the idea of a magic noise arrow.

[god_is_my_goldfish]

I would rather have something a little bit more realistic for the noisemaker, just explaining everything away with magic feels, i dunno, too easy.

 

Also, because i'm an impatient bastard, i threw a test animation together this morning, it has some pretty glaring flaws, but i was just checking some framerate elements. I stuck it it on the ftp, i hope you don't mind. Needs divx to run.

 

it can be found here

 

EDIT: before people start telling me to wait, this is just a test, nothing more. I'm not even going to start on the animations until we have a plot and know where we are going with the style of it. I'm mostly going to do writing and concept art right now.

Edited October 4, 2004 by god_is_my_goldfish