Animations

Andon · Post by **Andon** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 3:07 am

Hrm... I think that having some animations would be a nifty feature, and (from what I know) would be unlikely to cause any more server load.

Most ships wouldn't need it - I can think of only a few (such as the IC Bomber) that could benefit from having a keyed animation. And also, the animation could be keyed to more than just a keystroke. Like with the IC bomber, you could have it keyed to mounting/unmounting missiles. If you have no missiles loaded, then it is closed. you mount the missiles, and it opens. Granted, you'd have to do something about the automatic reload, but it would be possible.

Ships could also be given 'unkeyed' or constant animations - animations that go on no matter what.

Arson_Fire · Post by **Arson_Fire** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 12:23 pm

Wasn't this originally intended to be a feature in allegiance? I think that is why the IC bomber looks like that in the first place.

Is any of the code still there?

madpeople · Post by **madpeople** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 9:34 pm

i believe quite a lot of the original artwork files all have animations in them too, but only one frame is used for the actual in game art.

giga pods have little feet that come out
rix figs wings swing out to the position you see in game
I think the IC bomber's missile racks also come out like you would expect

Andon · Post by **Andon** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 3:47 pm

Hrm....

I think a simple 'On Launch' animation would be pretty nifty, regardless of if there are other animations

Makida · Post by **Makida** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 6:02 pm

Animations would be awesome, but there must be some reason the code is the way it is. Was it just a case of Microsoft rushing the game out on a deadline and never getting around to adding the naimations, or was there some actual problem that makes it difficult to make the animations work?

Andon · Post by **Andon** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 9:33 pm

I believe that the reason was bandwidth.

Makida · Post by **Makida** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 1:04 am

Andon wrote:QUOTE (Andon @ Oct 10 2008, 05:33 PM) I believe that the reason was bandwidth.

Ooh! That's really cool. Theoretically, bandwidth should be less of a problem now, so especially if some of the work has already been done when the game was first created, this should actually be doable now, right? ^_^

mesial · Post by **mesial** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 4:40 pm

Advanced as the times are we still cater to dial-up users.

Animations DO NOT take up bandwith, as animations are employed by your graphics card, not relayed through the network.

Ever work with animations in Allegiance? Not all that easy. Several files must be changed, not just a quick change to a BMP file.

I tried making an animated pod porn mod and finally abandoned the daunting task.