Rope Arrow

[New Horizon]

Well there really isn't a problem with them just dissapearing into your inventory when you frob them, in fact, i'de prefer that over anything else. Though we could possibly have some wood splinters fly out as it's "pulled" from the wood.

 

Do you really think we're going to have the player re-wind the noisemaker when they frob it? 

Well, with rope arrows in the previous games were reusable so as a balance they were rare, but if ours are a one time only type of deal FM authors will just make them a little less hard to find. Shouldn't be a bad trade.

 

As far as how it works, I can just as easily accept the rope coming out of a metal arrow as I can a magic arrow. Personally, I'm rather fond of oDDity's idea. It will look the same regardless. So, if they're not reusable it's just a matter of making them a little more abundant. Not a lot, just a little...but that's not really our worry. Almost makes them a little more valuable in that respect...they would have to be used just as wisely.

[_Atti_]

here comes the idea:D

how about a crossbow? it definitaly has more power and a bolt is a lot better for that purpose than an arrow...

Edited January 21, 2005 by _Atti_

[Springheel]

  here comes the idea:D

how about a crossbow?

 

I'll pretend I didn't hear that...

 

So, if they're not reusable it's just a matter of making them a little more abundant. Not a lot, just a little...but that's not really our worry.

 

Only trouble with not making them reusable is that then you have a bunch of ropes hanging around all over the place. Ghosters would at the very least want to be able to pull them out. And if you can pull them out might as well be able to reuse them.

 

I'm fine with oDDity's idea of a thicker, hollow shaft for the arrow. I don't think we need to go into any more detail than that. What about the arrow tip? I like the long, pointy one I put on mine. It's an armour-piercing head, but it looks like something that could imbed quite deeply into a piece of wood.

[_Atti_]

why? a little but powerfl crossbow...i dont see why wouldnt it fit

[Springheel]

why? a little but powerfl crossbow...i dont see why wouldnt it fit

 

There's nothing inherently wrong with a crossbow. But we decided a long time ago that we're using a bow, we have some of the arrows done, and we are already modeling and animating the bow itself.

[_Atti_]

oh no i wasnt talking about replacing bow with crossbow..never..i just said that the thief may has a little crossbow just for shooting ropes..

[Ishtvan]

This isn't my department, but my opinion is: Between the options of creating, modeling and texturing another weapon (the crossbow) to try and make something work without magic, to making the rope arrow look different and not really explain exactly how it works (maybe magic, maybe tech that doesn't exist in our world), I'd go with the 2nd option.

Edited January 21, 2005 by Ishtvan

[_Atti_]

well it was just an idea..i personally dont really care if its not a realistic rope arrow..which i think cant exist:D

i would be happy even if all we could include is simple t-t2 ropearrow

Edited January 21, 2005 by _Atti_

[sparhawk]

I don't try to give a good explanation for a rope arrow. The point of the rope arrow design is: The player should immediately see on screen which arrow he has knocked, and the arrow should look interesting. That's it. So making it thicker might be more logical but adding a coil where the rope is winded up would make the arrow look more interesting. Since we are doing a game, the objects should be functional and interesting to look at.

[god_is_my_goldfish]

Okay, i'll make that my objective, rather than making it work perfectly.

[oDDity]

THe player isn't going to see the arrow until he mounts it on the bow ready to shoot, so I'm not sure why the arrows all have to be visually distictive.

Any picture icon of it in an inventory will be coupled with text saying this is a rope arrow'.

Making a distictive head for each arrow is sufficent, that's all that will distinguish the rest of them anyway, so why make an exception for the rope arrow.

[sparhawk]

The player will see the rope arrwo when he picks it up from the map. Going from your argument we don't need any arrows at all. Just the broadhead design would do then. And the image of the inventory item is the model that is used also for the real arrow. So it makes sense. Also, it's all the little details that makes a game good and immersing.

[Domarius]

Let's stick to the T2 method for the initial release, hey?

 

No extra animations, and people will just be happy to see it back the way it was.

 

This is certainly one object which I think the functional side of it can't really be discussed to any useful point, other than to just say "it's magic" and leave it at that. At least for the initial release.

 

Besides, I haven't seen any work from the modelers that involve ingame animation and rigging up the ragdoll physics, which I think we really need to have soon.

 

What I REALLY REALLY want right now, is a simple rope, with the joints rigged up correctly to env_rope.af (the articulated figure file, that makes it flop around realistically, like a ragdoll.)

See the details in the thread I posted in the 3D modelling board.