WHAT THIS IS:

This is the Nth release of solidmon, now in patch format.  Read howpatch.txt
for info on how to install.

I've seen people complain on rec.games.computer.quake.* that the monsters
become ghostlike after death -- You can walk right through them, can't
shoot them, etc.  This annoyed me too.  So, I wrote spent this first day
after the release of QuakeC changing this.

When a monster dies, it falls down, may discharge some ammo, and lays
there.  Now, the laying monster can be hit, and eventually it gibs.  To
make this even more satisfying, I added a flesh-impact sound to the axe
chop (really a zombie sound) -- Kill that shambler and then hack it to
bits!  Or tear into a dead body with the super perforator and watch the
gibs fly.  (This is impressive, but not quite believeable)

When playing in God mode, I saw a shambler get mad at a scrag.  He killed
it, and then proceeded to hack the body to death before going on to his
next assailant.  This was pretty cool to watch.


WHAT STILL NEEDS TO BE DONE:

I haven't tackled the player object.  I was also thinking of adding a
gib-and-teleport effect when a player gets his new body.  But I don't dm
much, and am afraid of breaking something.

The fish and tarbaby are just like before.  They don't have gib animations 
and are written a little different.  Besides, I haven't played far enough
to run into them yet.

The bodies themselves stay the same between death and gibbed-to-pieces.
It'll be this way unless somebody designs models with arms, legs, etc
chopped off.  A tall order.

ABOUT MY CODE:

When a monster dies, don't set it "SOLID_NOT".  Instead, set all its
actions to nothing, assign a new health number and a new death function
that gibs the creature.  You now have a creature that's solid and
destroyable after death.  Turn off its FL_CREATURE flag so its death isn't
counted twice.

See the code in monster_corpse_setup &c for the common code for all
solid-after-death monsters.

I discovered a really neat way to make a monster invincible:  Set it
DAMAGE_NO.  Imagine a monster that's only vulnerable at certain moments,
such as when it's about to fire at you ...

Quake C seems to not be too difficult to program (though I don't think I
can create entities from scratch just yet) and it seems pretty powerful.
Having played with this, I just got a lot more impressed about the
possibilities Quake should offer those who are working to extend it with
their own ideas.



THANKS TO

id, for the game and all the openness about it.

My girlfriend, for patiently ignoring me when I tried to explain how cool
it was to hack up dead bodies.

Jason Carter <wcarter@mindspring.com> for figuring out good bounding boxes
for all the dead monsters.

Someone on IRC whose name I've forgotten, for providing the code for pushable
corpses.  (this is currently disabled, it made things act weird for me.
Sigh.)


GIVE ME FEEDBACK:

Please mail me with your thoughts about this quick quake hack. (try saying
that three times fast!)  It may not be as glamorous as level editing, but
I like it.

Jeff Epler
(jepler@inetnebr.com, Synger on IRC (linuxnet and undernet, primarily))
31 July 1996