New Thief Characters

[Springheel]

A little taste of what's to come in 1.04. I've rigged our thief model to the new skeleton and made a series of slightly different versions for variety. There are heavily equipped professional burglars (like the player character), and versions with simple bracers and less armour. I've included both melee combatants and archer versions. It should be pretty easy to flesh out a thieves guild now.

 

Here's an example of four different looks:

 

[Aprilsister]

Very nice.

 

Russ L. Crow?

[7upMan]

Is it just me or are the heads WAAAY too big for the bodies? Is there any way to scale them down a bit? Right now these guys look like oversized Hobbits.

[lost_soul]

Looks good... great work! It will be nice to see another faction in-game.

[Fidcal]

Is it just me or are the heads WAAAY too big for the bodies? Is there any way to scale them down a bit? Right now these guys look like oversized Hobbits.

 

Not at first glance. Possibly a tiny amount after staring at them. In the shot below I simulated a reduction of the heads in a paint program.

 

The Ryker one on the left is reduced to 98%.

The middle two are unchanged.

The hooded guy on the right I reduced to 95%. But since all the heads are the same scale much of this must be illusory and this last one must be because of the size of the hood.

 

Need to see them in game I think. The thief body is of course, meant to be slight, so the standard heights might seem a tiny fraction large. And I believe that in RL, human heads are proportionally larger on a slim figure than a large one - at least the bone structure. A sumo wrestler seems to have a small head even though it is actually fatter and more fleshed out than average.

 

[jaxa]

Like 7upMan I definitely noticed "large heads" at first glance, but I'll admit that seeing it in-game probably helps. The hood on the right seems oversized but not part of a cloak outfit which confuses the eye. Maybe tuck it in or shorten it?

[Fidcal]

Reviewing these I seem to have pushed the heads back somewhat on the two I resized. This makes me think that some (all?) of the problem may be the head offset.

 

The first on the left might be OK if the head is slightly back and down. I cannot tell from one screenshot. Need to see it in game.

 

The basic thief (2nd one along) is correct and has been that way from the start. No problem.

 

3rd one along looks OK to me.

 

The hooded guy might well look much better if the head is put back a little and down. Just depends whether it clips or not.

[SiyahParsomen]

looks good! variety on thieves was extremely needed.

[Aprilsister]

heads WAAAY too big

 

Well, that evaluation is certainly WAAAY hyperbolic, I'll give you that.

[Springheel]

Like 7upMan I definitely noticed "large heads" at first glance, but I'll admit that seeing it in-game probably helps.

 

 

It's just the perspective that causes that effect. The thief character is the same size as everyone else.

 

The basic thief (2nd one along) is correct and has been that way from the start. No problem.

 

I remade everything by working from Oddity's original models, and the head is new. But it all matches the sizes of our existing characters (other than the body being slimmer than average).

 

Looks good... great work!

 

Thanks.

[ocn]

Nice.

[lost_soul]

... and since these guys are going to be cloaked figures who look similar to the player character, would it be possible to share their animations with the player model? This would make mirrors look accurate, and would eventually be good for a coop mod, which should turn up some day.

[Springheel]

and since these guys are going to be cloaked figures who look similar to the player character, would it be possible to share their animations with the player model?

 

Yes, the player model will be replaced with the fully-equipped version, although I haven't done that yet. I'll then need to make some specialized animations for him (creeping, leaning, etc), so that he'll react properly in mirrors (at least to some degree). More importantly, I'd like the animations available for mappers to make cut-scenes like Above the City. That won't be done for 1.04, however.

[masterthief]

lol! Very nice work!

[Bikerdude]

Very nice work Springs

[Sotha]

Cool!

 

So, who's gonna make the FM which introduces the City's notorious thieves guild?

[Springheel]

Mine will introduce two rival guilds, though I've got to stop making new things and get back to it...

[Berny]

great work! Looks good!

[Aprilsister]

Springheel, am I correct in determining that you haven't released a FM yet? Not a criticism, of course, but an honest curiosity about what new excellence to expect. I see that you were involved with "The Builder's Influence" as the writer of the story; but of your architecture, etc and et and cetera... we have not seen?

 

Also, can you give us some percentages as far as the progress of the various aspects of the FMWIP?

 

Thanks

Edited January 3, 2011 by Aprilsister

[Springheel]

Nope, I have helped out with a couple released missions, but haven't really had time to finish my own yet. Mod-related tasks keep coming up, and if it's a choice between working on my private map and adding new characters or vocals or whatever that everyone can use, it's hard to choose the former.

 

I did post a few WIP shots...oh, almost year or so ago.

 

http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/10003-so-what-are-you-working-on-right-now/page__view__findpost__p__211188

 

I think after I finish my 1.04 stuff, I'll focus on the map and try to finish it off by the summer.

[Aprilsister]

Thanks, I like the many-cobbledness of it.

 

As I say, it's completely clear that you've been doing other (and important) things, just wanted to know a bit more about what can be said and shown.

[brethren]

The new models looks great, nice work. Can't help my curiosity though, any info on when we might see the mages show up in TDM?

[Springheel]

They're one of the characters on my radar, but I can't promise anything.

[Sotha]

Mages, eh? I'm interested in them as well.

 

I'm not sure if this is public info or not, but I suppose there is no harm in asking... What's the plan with mages gameplay-wise? Will they be casting some spells on the player like in some old thief -mission I played? Or is magic gonna be so complex that they simply attack with bows and daggers rather than energy bolts and burning hands?

[Berny]

Uh yeah mages would be very cool i love them - city mages, skeleton mages, woodsi mages ;)