Quake Monster Pack WIP

[Dutch]

Who's up for a modelling project? I think it would be cool to release an actual monster pack outside of a mod. Obviously the pack itself would be a mod, but it wouldn't change any other characteristics of the game. That way the monster pack can be directly injected into anyone's mod, or it can simply be run as-is with the only intention of adding more monsters to quake (and nothing else).

Here's the basic idea: create new monsters from scratch with their own sounds and QC file for game logic. Release the model, sounds, and the QC file so that modders/mappers everywhere can *almost* effortlessly add new monsters to their mods/maps. Obviously, they'll have to update an FGD or ENT file for their editor to read, and package their map(s) in a mod, but for any halfway decent modder/mapper that's all simple enough. The idea is to let anyone use any combination of the monsters we create, and not bundle them up in one mod alone.

Alternatively, original monsters can be re-modelled much in the style I did the Quake Guy (I'm actually in the process of adding variety and difficulty to the original monster's behavior, and a fresh model never hurts). The goal is mid-poly definition. I'm not a fan of the super fancy dressed up MD3/1024res/particles-galore models, because I'm not a fan of re-working the ENTIRE game to make them look like they belong.

These would be the paramaters to work in:

* Vertex limit: 2000
* Texture limit: 512x256 (this is twice the area of 256x256)
* Frame limit: 200
* Size limit: Shambler size (to avoid hull clipping issues)

I'd like to keep some uniformity between the models as far as level of detail.

A lot of people here (myself included) start big, ambitious projects, just to let them die because they realize how much work it's gonna be. What I'm proposing here is a few of us come together, we each decide on our own monster to make from scratch, throw everything we have at it, and put them together in a pack for everyone to use.

If your skillset doesn't include QC coding, no worries. I will take care of that if needed.

If there are enough people showing interest, I'll post up a design structure we can follow to make this happen. It will probably start along the lines of this:

"Here's an inspiration picture [see below]. Who's down to Quake-ify this thing?"





Thoughts, anyone?

[Mugwump]

Thoughts: great idea, and great opportunity to make that fish-thing we talked about a while ago. At least a couple more aquatic monsters would be good. As for your pictured example, I dunno: it looks badass in itself but doesn't strike me as very quakey. I'd be more thrilled to see a more lovecraftian bestiary. Here's hoping modelers will answer your call to arms!

[MadGypsy]

I say this only as an observation and am by no means trying to say anything negative about your Ranger.

That shambler and dog go together well but your Ranger does not. Your ranger isn't "smooth" enough. And therein lies the weakness in your idea. With multiple people making textures none of this stuff is going to look like it goes together. You need one guy willing to do all the textures OR a couple/few people that are true artists capable of capturing a consistent feel and visual style.

I'm not saying your idea is bad or not possible. You are going to have a hard time getting all this stuff to look like it belongs together though.

[Dutch]

@gypsy

The ranger picture was taken with GL_texture smoothing off. The shambler and dog had it on...I'll repost a smooth picture tonight.

@lovecraftian

Lovecraftian is cool, but I'm open to anything at this point...we'll see if anyone chimes in. This is kind of my last ditch effort at a large contribution...I neither have the willpower or time to do it all alone.

EDIT: but yes, definitely that water lamprey creature is on the table

[nahuel]

Nice project dutch. Do not let it die!!

I think your ranger is great with shambler and rotweiller

About Lovecraftian style: I am sure quake is not 100% lovecraftian. I am a reader of lovecraft, and i play with some regulary call of cthulhu (role game). And in my opinion quake monsters are closer to dungeons and dragons than lovecraft style. Maybe vores and tarbabys (and obviously shub niggurath) are lovecraftian. But the other monsters are something generic, demons ogres and knights are near to D&D universe, the shambler does not even look like Bloch's "shambler of the stars" ....
Aniway Quoth is super lovecraftian i think.

[MadGypsy]

@nahuel

Finally, someone that knows what they are talking about. Quake is definitely more D&D than Lovecraftian. I do not agree that Dutch's ranger goes with the shambler and dog though - at least not as currently displayed. I can agree to disagree though after all, we are both just expressing an opinion.

@Dutch

I'd love to see your interpretation of that Lamprey. That's gonna be a tough one, I believe. However, if you perceive it the same way I do, you can cut the work down. Look at it from the tail all the way up through the body to the first set of arms. That in itself is a body without a head. All that stuff is proportional. Then where the head should go they just slammed in another upper torso. All that being said. If you model the tail through the first arms first, you could then copy/paste the upper torso, scale it up and plug it in the top. Then you are just a head away from finishing. THEN! import the armature from your ranger, use mirror modification and move the joints on one side where they belong. Then treat your armature the same way you treated the model for the bulkier second set of arms. Copy/paste and adjust.

If you really want to cut down the work. Go to turbosquid and download a free velociraptor cause that basically all that thing is.

[MadGypsy]

This might be a good place to start


3d model trex

[MadGypsy]

@Shambler of the stars



There is no doubt you are right, Nahuel but, it does seem like they tried to keep some of the details. IMO the no eyes on the face and mouth on these creatures are basically the same. I bet Id decided to get creative with the rest because without a humanoid body, the shambler is basically just another shub.

On a side note, the shamler of the stars look like some nightmare pu55y. It even has a labia majora. I know I'm not sticking my junk in anything that looks like that. Although I probably already have . There's a whole drunk decade that is super questionable in my life. All I know is there are no tarbabies on my stuff and if I would have picked up any rotten health I would definitely have known by now(this segment is my 20's and I'm 42), so whatever I did I got away with it

[talisa]

im pretty sure the inspriation for the shambler was lovecraft's dimensional shambler


especially seeing doom 2 actually had a reference to it, with a quit message saying

"Don't go now, there's a dimensional shambler waiting at the dos prompt!"

its also supported by the fact the shamblers in quake seem to mostly appear by teleporting near the player,
just like how the dimensional shamblers are known for being able to teleport in and out of dimensions


.


anyway, ID didnt do a very good job at that either,
the actual shambler in quake looks more like a fluffy yeti-ish beast....

although reforged did make a skin that gives the shambler the actual 'loose leather-like skin'
which lovecraft described the dimensional shamblers as having

[Dutch]

@gypsy

The shambler and dog are actually probably the blender renders, which I think has even more filtering than some quake engines...idk, I'll put up some comparison pics when I get off work tonight. Either way, the example was more to show level of detail in the model itself (even then, the Ranger has a bit more 3d stuff... I wish the shambler teeth and toes were pronounced and not simply a texture, but with no blend file to easily modify I'm not about to re-work the entire thing...importing the MDL is a MAJOR loss of vertex accuracy). Point being is, they are all much better than the originals, but not so dressed up that they look out of place in a quake map (IMO).

This pic here is what bfg meant by the lamprey:


But yes, your idea for simplifying the design process for the creature is the OP is great.

@nahuel

Yes yes yes I totally agree! Quake is not as lovecraftian as is perceived. If you look at a lovecraftian bestiary, there aren't many correlations. It is much closer to DD, or even Magic the gathering (not sure if that came before quake or not...I think it did).

At any rate, I'm having a new idea on how to select a monster. I might post up a few pics of different monsters and take a poll and see which one is most popular. Right now I'm re-working the fiend. I can't find a model I like so imma gonna make one lol

[MadGypsy]

I was wondering why "you were calling" the 4 armed thing a lamprey. I just rolled with it cause it really didn't matter what it's real name is.

@ranger smooth
yeah, I got you, bro. I am specifically talking about the current post. Probably uselessly so .

@talisa

no doubt you are probably right. I am no compendium of all things lovecraftian. I just know knights and ogres are more D&D. I also just rolled off of what Nahuel was saying regarding shambler to the stars.

[MadGypsy]

@Right now I'm re-working the fiend. I can't find a model I like so imma gonna make one lol

That shit takes too long and is generally a huge waste of time. Base meshes, bro. Here is a damn good one. It is practically already a fiend. Chop off the tail, hands and ears. Scale up some of the features and make spikes where the hands were and give it a new tail. It also has excellent topology, is free, low-poly and comes with a blend file. Reusing your armature, you could probably have this thing ready to be skinned and animated in just a few hours.

Actually, this exact same model could also be used for that 4 armed thing. Chip-chop/paste/scale/merge done (practically)

The idea is to work smart, not hard.

sorry I'm posting whole screenshots of this stuff. Turbosquid is completely locked up for posting direct images.
werewolf 3d model

[xaGe]

A few more aquatic monster types would be cool.

Thoughts: great idea, and great opportunity to make that fish-thing we talked about a while ago. At least a couple more aquatic monsters would be good.

[MadGypsy]

7 minutes - I'm not saying this is awesome or anything. It's just an example of why modelling from the ground up is a waste of time. There is no way in hell you could get this far in 7 minutes from scratch. Even if I spent 2 more hours getting this closer to the OP, it still smokes "ground-up". The only reason this even took 7 minutes is because I made it one solid mesh. There isn't a smaller version of his head shoved in the larger torso or anything and it's completely merged/welded

I have no intention of finishing this.

[talisa]

aye aye, i was replying to nahuel saying the shambler in quake looks nothing like bloch's 'shambler of the stars',
which wasnt the inspiration for quake's shambler which was inspired by lovecraft's dimensional shamblers instead

.

also yeah i agree, most quake enemies are more D&D, with knights, ogres, zombies,
and mission-packs including monsters like wraths, golems, enchanted swords and gremlins.

the second mission-pack's mainly features castles, dungeons and caves, all typical staples of D&D


however the lovecraftian influence from sandy petersen (who was a big fan of lovecraft) is also very obviously present in some of the monsters
like the shambler, spawn (shoggoth), shub niggurath (actually looks a dark young instead), and fiend (ghast)...

the shalrath and scrag while not based on actual lovecraftian stories are very obviously inspired by lovecraft too

the early model of the shalrath does show its roots in lovecraft,
appearing as a more wizard-like character which was inspired by lovecraft's wizard


and the model of the scrag is actually called 'wizard.mdl'
suggesting that the scrag was possibly originally inspired by the same character