Critters and stuff related to them

[Michaelh139]

I have yet to see a good death animation for 3D critters that have been made.  That is my major concern, and why I think 2D should still exist with 3D...  Besides the fact that 3D looks kinda ugly with the landscape anyways.

[Jotisz]

Recreating the death anim is possible and they look quite ok

From the character animation threads

I was a bit worried about special death animations, after spending so much time thinking how to achieve these , and test over and over, I came to this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-Lc81Fb_ZU

[Michaelh139]

...

I guess they're "ok"  But you can't even see the animation in action without damn slow-mo.  The speed is way to fast to be enjoyed...

[Karpov]

That is a major concern for me as well, Michael. I made those animations as a test, so they are quite bad. But they use an alternative model, a model which is previously dismembered, cut in half, or whatever you need. This is not good, because you also need an alternative armor model, which is perforated or whatever is needed. I can't think of any other way to do it, so It could require a lot of work.
  About the 3D and the environment, I think they fit very good, at normal zoom, they seem to blend nice with the 2d critters.

[Gray]

That is a major concern for me as well, Michael. I made those animations as a test, so they are quite bad.

Speaking about death animations, you can try to insert a little delay (0,5-0,7 second) into the start of animation to give projectile some time to reach the target.
And a little suggestion. The "laser slice" animation would be more spectacular if the upper piece of body will slide slowly instead of jumping.

And of course, all animations will look incomplete without blood. Particle effects still needed.

[Cryptopsy]

I have yet to see a good death animation for 3D critters that have been made.  That is my major concern, and why I think 2D should still exist with 3D...  Besides the fact that 3D looks kinda ugly with the landscape anyways.

What about animals? Radscorpions and all? If they are going to have 3D models, then are they going to have alternate animations, too?

It would be a shame to see them all still just kinda flicker and slump down perfectly in the sleeping position.

[Graf]

Animal critters models and animations are postponed for later stage of development, but if anyone wish to do it, it would be appreciated.

[Haraldx]

...

Mostly, animations are a huge problem, as we have many modelers, but animators are low on numbers (actually - only one). If somebody could give me some tutorials and stuff, I would give it a shot to make some animations, however, I can't promise anything.

EDIT: Saw one video today featuring Van Buren models and animations. It turns out, the dog actually has attacking animations! Wait, actually it has all the animations! Most likely the problem is - it doesn't look anywhere near the original dog from Fallout 2.

[SIGISMUND]

They can get a reskin and look good as new.But you are right the Van Burren dog is a bit skinny.....but still we can try to make  a new texture for it.

[Haraldx]

Oh well, for those who haven't seen this video featuring some Van Buren models and animations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez8BVFT77ro&feature=feedlik

[Aniketos]

That is a major concern for me as well, Michael. I made those animations as a test, so they are quite bad. But they use an alternative model, a model which is previously dismembered, cut in half, or whatever you need. This is not good, because you also need an alternative armor model, which is perforated or whatever is needed. I can't think of any other way to do it, so It could require a lot of work.
  About the 3D and the environment, I think they fit very good, at normal zoom, they seem to blend nice with the 2d critters.

Hmm just wondering how are the armors done on the model, I hope they work as attachments (skinned on same skeleton without main mesh) and not separate models (character model + armor as a whole). Because if its the last one its going to take way to much work (and I truly hope its not the last because thats just terribly inneficient on the resource manager). However if its the first its theoretically possible, you could at the moment of death swap the original mesh with the one that is all cut up and just use same skeleton attachments to render the armor during the animation stage. Thats how i'm doing gibs in my game I just view the main character mesh as an attachment aswel.

Btw I could probably make some creatures and animations. However I'll need to see how feasible it is what your trying to do. I don't want to waste time on something that never will be implemented.

[SmartCheetah]

AFAIK Armors are diferent meshes which uses same skeleton(Just like you hope). They are 100% not seperate models sticked to each other(It's totally ineffiecient)
And about death anims - Yeah, I had the same idea. Modelling another mesh with eg. hole in his body,and then - swapping it with normal mesh in moment of death. Add bloody texture and particle effect and voila.

[Gray]

A human-in-armor is a discrete mesh. Shoulderpads, braces, boots, helmet and backpack are the attachments.

[LagMaster]

how about something like this:

17. Anyway in the fallout bible chat you asked if we were wondering about spefic animals and extincatioon, and I know this might sound odd, but I was basing it on a storyline for a fot campaign set in africa I was making, So I was wondering what is the status in the fallout world of hippo's, elphants and penguins?

Penguins are dead, elephants and hippos are unknown, and there's no documentation on whether they are alive and kicking or not. Feel free to play around with FEV and species survival to suit the story. Mutated hippos would be interesting. Mutated penguins probably wouldn't be.

BTW, I suppose I shouldn't be hyping other games, but if you're interested in checking out some cool things you can do with hippos check out VR1's Lost Continents:

http://lostcontinents.vr1.com/images/newsletter/hippo_big.jpg

For anyone doing fan fiction or campaign stuff for Fallout, my recommendation would always be to do whatever makes the story or campaign better - strict adherence to the Fallout genre might kill some good ideas for a story or (in role-playing games) lessen a cool playing experience for your players.

?

[Haraldx]

I just don't get what are you trying to say... Are you suggesting us to implent hippos and penguins which are mutated? Umm...