Hey AGR fans,
I’ve never been happy with the vomit graphic. The colour is good, could be better, but it’s never looked like a liquid, it doesnt *move* like a liquid, and really just looks like a lump of solid matter. The original vomit .mdl (that’s the type of file the 3D elements in Quake are) I originally made myself by (severely) altering the teleporter, as this was the only thing I (the newbie) knew of that the player dropped to his feet. I then put the chunks of ‘stuff’ in it. However it was always a temporary measure until someone offered to make a proper one. That someone has arrived, and that someone is the amazing Trickle, the main man behind VWEPS (the amazing weapons you see)!
[WARNING: The rest of this article is not for the squeamish. SO STOP READING NOW if you are not in the mood for highly detailed, graphical descriptions of vomit]
His vomit has frames – it moves, it spreads!! It DOES look liquidy! I’ve installed it into my home (test) version of AGR, and it looks VERY GOOD indeed, and I’ve even made it slowly evaporate! The texture is still being discussed, as Trickle went for a ‘realistic’ beige/brown colour (which is how vomit actually looks), but I’ve always been more concerned with drama than realism and I currently feel that the yellow vomit actually looks more ‘vile’, and I want something that stands out, that looks toxic, rather than benign. Otoh I’ve been checking Trickles latest version and it has more colours, and I’m kind of getting used to it – the new vomit model might just need to look brighter (so it stands out more in the dark*) and more chunks of ‘stuff’. The same issue came up with the smoke grenade. A later, better version was produced by MauveBib which did actually look more like real smoke; however, I much preferred the (imho) more dramatic, and disconcerting version we use now (which was meant to be the prototype).
FUN FACT: Whilst researching this area, I consulted experts, and was informed that the ‘carrot’ things in vomit are not actually carrots, they are bits of the lining of your intestine!!
Anyway, I’m sure a great compromise will be reached, the goo looks great, not sure if it will be ready for this weeks Session, but it’s definitely something people will never forget!
Evolution of Vomit:
1. Added vomit chunks, so that there is a series of vomit chunks, which flow out of the person
2. Made vomit pool evaporate slowly!
3. Made the vomit chunks not flow steadily, but start slow, and then explode out of the body
4. Thanks to Trickle, found an animation to make it look like hes vomiting
5. Made the vomit not be infectious during the last stages of the evaporation process
6. Positioned the vomit to come out of the players mouth
7. Made it so that the vomit stays in one chunk until it hits the ground, and then it goes splat!
8. Added second animation where the vomiter crouches whilst vomiting
9. Removed the vomiter’s weapon during vomiting
OneManClan
* maybe a darker vomit that people don’t see as well in the dark would make for a more interesting gameplay, hmmm … something to think about.
