Falling Trees

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

Before too many new tree made by Engrique I think team need decide if falling trees should be something they are going to add. Because the trees will need a break point and a 2-bone skeleton. Animation and sound FX would be very simple.

If they do, I think it can be very similar to current way of killing and gather from a sheep.

A sheep has hitpoints.

Gatherer uses Attack.Slaughter animation to kill it.

A tree can have hitpoints.

Gatherer uses Attack.Tree animation to kill it (basicaly the chopping animation already in game)

Gatherer units maybe need a new attack type in their template for trees. (opportunity for new techs)

A sheep plays death animation and can then be harvested after death.

Gatherer uses Gather.Meat animation.

A tree plays death animation and can then be harvested after death.

Gatherer uses Gather.Tree animation (a new one where they chop downward instead of sideway)

Edited December 6, 2015 by wowgetoffyourcellphone

[Stan`]

See the relevant ticket(s):

http://trac.wildfiregames.com/ticket/1017

and the well known

http://trac.wildfiregames.com/ticket/131

Also it seems like you like slaughtering names.

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

#131 not relevant, like at all.

#1017 proposal totally different solution.

Stannis, I bring this up now before too many new tree made.

Edited December 6, 2015 by wowgetoffyourcellphone

[Stan`]

#131 not relevant, like at all.

#1017 proposal totally different solution.

Stannis, I bring this up now before too many new tree made.

Well it's damage to structures, and we could extend it to trees too. So it's kinda relevant. And the other is to show that it was planned. I totally get your point though, and will make sure Enrique sees that thread. However making this work will be complex as leaves are invisible seen by under. I guess we could remove them when the tree falls though. And then we'd have to make the tree stumps.

[Enrique]

Some drawbacks I can think off:

-More triangles, it would need to have triangles facing down, so when the tree falls, the leaves and branches are still visible

-Some animations may look weird, specially trees that have a trunk composed by 3 parts for example, and all of them will be cut and fall the same time as the same "block" (the bone moving the top part)

-Harder selection box?

-Clipping units through leaves and hiding them? (I guess this is minor since the silhouettes whould be there)

If this is a desired feature it would be nice to know it asap, and of course, it will need every single tree in the game to be redone.

[Stan`]

We could go for the simple way.

Make the tree fall, by adding one bone and a death anim. Requires manual work, but not that hard. Your point on multiple branches tree still applies though.

Then replace all dead trees by a single trunk mesh such as the one used here

So no clipping, leaves removed when replacing by the dead actor

Who is in charge for those decisions ?

[WhiteTreePaladin]

I think it is a very worthwhile feature and would help with immersion. It's the same behavior as in AoK. Also, some players like a battlefield view which would benefit from the leaf undersides. (If performance is an issue, we could swap the actor for a version with the leaf undersides for the falling animation and gathering process. That might be too much effort though.)

Edited December 6, 2015 by WhiteTreePaladin

[LordGood]

maybe have the tree sink down quickly when dead, and have a "resource" model which is the fallen tree, Sure it wouldn't be as pretty as falling trees, but we wont have to scrap all of the trees we have already.

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

maybe have the tree sink down quickly when dead, and have a "resource" model which is the fallen tree, Sure it wouldn't be as pretty as falling trees, but we wont have to scrap all of the trees we have already.

Not a bad solution, but might be simpler to just go the Sheep route(tree falls over with death animation)? Plus ppl are already used to the AOK/AOE style fallen trees. The current trees are all being replaced anyway. If we come up with solution now, then the new tree can be retrofit easily.

Only real problem is the footprint changi? But that problem shoudln't stop work on the actual feature.

Edited December 6, 2015 by wowgetoffyourcellphone

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

Some drawbacks I can think off:

-More triangles, it would need to have triangles facing down, so when the tree falls, the leaves and branches are still visible

As far as I tell with your video, the leaves face both direction anyway?

-Some animations may look weird, specially trees that have a trunk composed by 3 parts for example, and all of them will be cut and fall the same time as the same "block" (the bone moving the top part)

I think chop point for weird trees can be low to the ground. As low as you need it to not look weird.

-Harder selection box?

I don;t thinbk this should stop first iteration. Development is about iterations (evidence by your 2nd or 3rd pass on trees; I think this time should "get it right" all around, wirh all features in thought! I think you can agree, so that further iteration unnecessary excelpt for cosmetics).

-Clipping units through leaves and hiding them? (I guess this is minor since the silhouettes whould be there)

Not a problem, as you say, silhouettes solve and not a problem in a game like AOE3.

If this is a desired feature it would be nice to know it asap, and of course, it will need every single tree in the game to be redone.

Yes, ASAP. Work so far on new tree are very excellent. Best to do this comprehensively, IMHO. I am outsider, but I can see this straight. Let's not waste effort on making such an excellent selection of tree, then 1 year down the road decide to, oops, make them fall. keke

[Josh]

Yes, ASAP. Work so far on new tree are very excellent. Best to do this comprehensively, IMHO. I am outsider, but I can see this straight. Let's not waste effort on making such an excellent selection of tree, then 1 year down the road decide to, oops, make them fall. keke

Making trees support falling is approximately the same amount of work, no matter when it's done.

#131 would potentially add something like a physics engine (that's what AoE 3 used). If we took that route, it would automatically 'create' falling/collapsing anything.

[Stan`]

I agree #131 is a must have.

With it we could

1. Overlay Textures (Dirt, Blood, Crackling)

2. Add Props (For instance it could get all the props of a structure called prop_flame_damage, and add a flame sprite depending on the building damage)

3. Replace Models by others.

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

.

Edited December 7, 2015 by wowgetoffyourcellphone

[sanderd17]

@Enrique, IMO, it might be good to have a falling animation (perhaps only the trunk, without leafs), then it still can be decided how to use it (drop after cut down, cut down then gather, ...)

But I do wonder how a fallen tree would look on uneven ground. Trees are always supposed to stand straight (as opposed to keeping a straight angle with the ground), but when they fall, they're still the same actor, but need to align to the terrain better. Nothing too hard to code though, we just need to think about it.