Friday Facts #424 - Gleba Pentapod Enemies

[GregoriusT]

The Stompers feet should definitively make some smoke, dust or splashes pop up when they land on something, depending on the surface type of course.
Even when they rotate in place there should at least be a little "effect" on the ground. This might help to hide the some tricky animation details like the flickering of the "toes" as well.

Oh boy did you post this like 15 mins early before the next FFF showed those exact animations xD

[hojava]

I would also like to point out that official Factorio never did anything with red and green cables, despite many requests from colour-blind people. Of course, there's a mod for that, but still. Let this set your expectations.

There's indeed a mod for that, but also an attempt by Wube regarding colors :
08-18-2024, 00-51-00.png

Oh, cool, I have no idea! That's great. Thanks for correcting me!

[rootgear]

I think the "tranluscent" versions shown looked a lot nicer, I enjoy the soft bodied look a lot more, especially on the strafers rear-head and the flier. The only things in the final version I like better are the strafers legs and the scale/simplicity of the wriggler which feels more befitting for what it is. Though how much it would've been better is hard to say without seeing all the tints and without understanding of the issues alluded to in the post (since I don't really see opacity as neccesary for the difference in design). The only two serious suggestions I would have to the final form (as I don't expect an overhaul on a finished result for something as frivolous as a slight visual preference) are the circumference of the stompers legs being reverted to a more even girth and the flier being changed.

The stomper suggestion reinforces the stompers role as being physically impactful, it's legs aren't just a more muscular version of the strafers but a moving mass so large you can hardly make out the muscular structure. I think the tapered form of the final version is still desirable in movement, especially as it allows for articulation with it's accentuated foot, and so the way I'd propose in doing this is to increase the size of the foot to be equal in diameter to that of the kneecap and then slightly increase the lower half of the calf slightly as to preserve the present effect in a more subtle manner.

Regarding the flier, it seems as though it was intended to look like some heatseeking missile, since that's what it effectively is, and in doing so doesn't look organic. This is exaggerated by it's smoke-like flighttrail. If it's intended to feel like it bridges the gap between being life and artificial due to it seemingly lacking autonomy then I think it could be done better, as it stands it just looks boring compared to the rest. So, I'd suggest to either make the head more interesting or alter the flighttrail in form or opacity so that the rearward portion can be more appreciated. The latter is the simpler "fix" and would preserve the players ability to easily discern it from the background in-game.

[Grillmax]

So these pentapods are attracted to the scent of you growing crops, could we set aside a part of our production to peacefully feed these creatures instead?

[Cutemine]

The Stompers feet should definitively make some smoke, dust or splashes pop up when they land on something, depending on the surface type of course.
Even when they rotate in place there should at least be a little "effect" on the ground. This might help to hide the some tricky animation details like the flickering of the "toes" as well.

Oh boy did you post this like 15 mins early before the next FFF showed those exact animations xD

aparrently so. I like the splashes in the new FFF