Reductive light monsters

[rabidrage]

Okay--so this time I'm not really asking how to do this, but if you have ideas or you've done it before, please feel free to share your techniques and experiences. Mainly I just want to know if anyone's tried to make a monster that exudes darkness. The idea struck me last night as very cool, and I've been attempting to implement it to minor success. It seems apparent, though, that these monsters have pretty limited use, however. In big, open areas it looks weird--just a dark monster with a big round shadow underneath. But inside they're awesome!

Do you all think it's a good idea? Have you tried it? If so, what happened?

[scifista42]

What's your technique? Is it OpenGL only? I'm not sure if I understand what you mean at all. Something like a spherical dynamic light with negative brightness around a monster?

[rabidrage]

Yeah, it uses GLDEFS. I created a pointlight and--considering the high ceiling of the room the monsters first appear in, I've given it a height offset. I've also had to up the intensity so that the darkness that surrounds them isn't canceled out by other dynamic lights.

[Soundblock]

Screen shottie?

Sounds cool.

[rabidrage]

Screenshots are tough with these guys. It's really cool when they're in motion, but I haven't quite gotten the hang of making videos yet. That would be one of the best ways to show them off. In the meantime, here are some attempts at screenshots:

http://imgur.com/I22StXO

http://imgur.com/5UG1OEg

http://imgur.com/OewWIPM

http://imgur.com/v7glkh7

http://imgur.com/3i6onpv

I used the PSXDoom TC Nightmare Spectre for this, in case you're looking for the source of the darkness.

[Soundblock]

rabidrage said:

Screenshots are tough with these guys. It's really cool when they're in motion, but I haven't quite gotten the hang of making videos yet. That would be one of the best ways to show them off. In the meantime, here are some attempts at screenshots:

http://imgur.com/I22StXO

http://imgur.com/5UG1OEg

http://imgur.com/OewWIPM

http://imgur.com/v7glkh7

http://imgur.com/3i6onpv

I used the PSXDoom TC Nightmare Spectre for this, in case you're looking for the source of the darkness.

I like that last shot best. A low DOT when affected by his darkness would be great, but I understand the melee system is rather difficult to work with.

[rabidrage]

You'll have to excuse my Noobness here, but what does DOT stand for? I tried to Google it and found a discussion where it seems to be used to describe an area damage effect? If so--well, I think it preserves the uniqueness of the ability by making it only affect the lighting. But who knows? I might contradict myself at some point and mess around with the idea.

[Soundblock]

rabidrage said:

You'll have to excuse my Noobness here, but what does DOT stand for? I tried to Google it and found a discussion where it seems to be used to describe an area damage effect? If so--well, I think it preserves the uniqueness of the ability by making it only affect the lighting. But who knows? I might contradict myself at some point and mess around with the idea.

Sorry, my bad. Damage Over Time. Like a poison effect, or standing in nukeslime effect. RPG terminology, mostly MMO.

[rabidrage]

No worries. Usually if someone's tooling around with GLDEFS like I've been it makes sense to assume I'll know things like that. The fact is, I do a lot of what I do by reverse engineering and a fair bit of blundering about. Sounds like my guess was basically correct, though.

Area damage is definitely a consideration for some kind of monster. Maybe not this one...but maybe eventually one that gives off red light. I wouldn't mind seeing that in a WAD sometime.