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DrakeTheDragon

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Finally managed to get a documentation video of the current latest state of development of the Gliding Flight approach I'm still working on.

It can be used by my Anthro-Dragons, current and future versions thereof, races derived from them and using my wings, other winged races using currently available other wings, any and all wingless races by using a Wing Glider wearable item, and thanks to the race-based animation override system, given appropriate animation files are provided, by every thinkable race in existence as well. And what I also already achieved technically, yet still completely lacking animation-wise, it can just as well be used on winged ridable creatures, like let's say my Creature Dragon work-in-progress, too.

The animations seen herein are still a little unfinished. Everything going straight forward and down is already using the newer wing poses pointing a little bit up, forming a widely spread V-shape, while all others are still using the older poses looking like straight horizontal airplane wings. But that's being worked on to get fixed.

Next will be similar animations for the new wings, currently still unavailable from a public release, as they're sadly still unfinished themselves, but you've likely already seen them regularly in my progress report screenshots of the last years.

And as these new wings are also used on my Creature Dragon WIP also shown in screenshots over the last months/years, the animations will only need slight adaptations or refinements to work with the Creature Dragon as well last but not least.

But that's all still way, way ahead in the future, as the current state isn't only lacking in animations but also in the physics department some, as you can fairly easily see in the inability to gain height by wing flaps appropriately (it works some, but especially when the game's heavily impacted by loading freezes and such, the effect it has on gaining height is only mediocre at best, as regular unavoidable crash dives can attest to), and especially the weird and still unnaturally abrupt ways of starting and ending the flight.

And yes, in the unlikely but possible case you wondered, the rare wing flaps you can see are always triggered manually by button presses, as it's not needed to stay flying but only to (re-)gain the height you lost during the glide, or that's how it's intended to be some day, if I get it working that way.


Now tell me your thoughts. I can't promise any timely release, as my current lack of free time won't allow for it. But maybe your thoughts will provide me with something that will help me to succeed in the end.
Or don't. It's not like it'll really make much of a change, unless I can finally find the time to make a significant enough progress to get closer to an actual release.

Enjoy, have fun, and if you feel like it, give something useful back, and I don't mean a non-saying, equal to a pat on the back, Endorsement, if you know what I mean. I'll do my thing regardless, and you'll do your's. Public releases are only a beneficial by-product of an otherwise already productive hobby after all.

(And just for the records, I'm not going to moderate in my own comments other than to maybe occasionally clean up the place. But I will report infractions I deem it necessary on to the rest of staff, so they won't be repeated on other authors' pages, too, as they always will once started on one author's page, no matter whom.)

2 comments

  1. DeathClawDC
    DeathClawDC
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    • 78 kudos
    Its great to see that you are still working on this
    i thought it was a gem lost in time
    hope you finish it soon
    and for the video
    please work on the tail physics
    when the wings flap the tail kinda clips if look closely and hope u made it flexible in the future
    still best of luck
    1. DrakeTheDragon
      DrakeTheDragon
      • Moderator
      • 308 kudos
      Not making much progress lately, but yeah, I'm still working on it, now and then.

      I'm not seeing much of any clipping at the tail, to be honest, maybe it's just a problem with perspective, but these are the antiquated out-of-date versions of the tails anyways and have long since been replaced by way better, even longer, models just not fit for a release.

      However, getting the tails to bend in a sort-of-natural flow while in flight won't exactly be easy either way, as it is mostly impossible to do in this game engine, if it can't be at least simulated through movement animations. Movement animations react only to button presses though, and thus will always move the same way and not change with position, angle or velocity, so it won't ever be like "in a flow".

      I'll be working on it though, as I want the flight to look as natural and fluid as can be.
    2. DeathClawDC
      DeathClawDC
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      • 78 kudos
      OK hope you do it
      Still looking forward to the finished version