[SEEKING HELP] Underwater fix for Hexen's Stalker

[RockstarRaccoon]

Anyone who's played Hexen remembers the Stalker: it's a serpent which swims around in the shallow water and pops out periodically to swipe at the player.
Anyone who's mapped for Hexen in the past 10 years knows painfully well that the Stalker is woefully obsolete: its animation set relies on the player not actually being able to see under the water, leaving mappers to have to make the decision between having underwater areas and using this major vanilla monster.

This is probably the biggest issue in the entire Hexen modding community.

(I said probably, but remembered that I already fixed the Mage not having a fire attack and the Stained Glass Windows only having one size, so it's the only major issue left)

I am currently putting together a set of resources to fix these sorts of issues, but I need help on this one. I don't have the time or skill to rebuild the spritesheet for a large monster from scratch, and feel like, because this is so important to the Hexen community, there's probably a more competent sprite artist out there who's willing to put the time into these.

Current Progress
- Above-Water Attack (done poorly)

Current Workload
- Surfacing / Diving
- Swimming (Next on the List)
- Underwater Attack
- Death Animations

These are the XCF files for what I've done so far: ZIP file on Google Drive

And images for all those sprites.

---

I also made a parallel post on Realm667
http://realm667.com/index.php/en/kunena ... -s-stalker

[RockstarRaccoon]

This is what I mean.

[Raziel236]

Wow those are sick! Did you make them? I never imagined the stalkers to look like that.. They are looong.

[RockstarRaccoon]

I put them into GIMP and took about 5 minutes to just rotate and piece them together. It's not hard once you're experienced with the tools.

I've seen your work and your posts and I'd suggest you get some practice with GIMP, and really learn how to use some of those tools, because once you learn you can do alot of this stuff faster and better.

[Enjay]

That looks really good and it is pretty much how I'd imagined them. I think that the posture of the first one is great but I think the second (assuming that's it rising up for an attack) might look more balanced with the upper (currently vertical) part tilted back relative to the body.

e.g. (maybe not as extreme as this though)


Of course, I'm not sure how well that would sit with the current sprites from the IWAD which, obviously, are like the one you posted.

[Dynamo]

Should I try and make some?

I would definitely encourage this if you have the time

[RockstarRaccoon]

the second (assuming that's it rising up for an attack) might look more balanced with the upper (currently vertical) part tilted back relative to the body

Ah! An 'S' shape! That WOULD look better!

[RockstarRaccoon]

Should I try and make some?

I would definitely encourage this if you have the time

I need help if I do this, as I do not have the time to draw each one and not make it look shitty. Someone else want to help with this? Like I said, this is some of the low-hanging fruit of Hexen which the ZHexen project aims to deal with.

I'm gonna work on the basic animation stuff. Anyone wanna help with expanding upon what I do, or doing some of the rotations?

[RockstarRaccoon]

[Gez]

Looking really nice! The tail should probably animate a bit, though.

[RockstarRaccoon]

Like I said, I don't have the time for that. This thread is to get someone else to make my quickly rammed together sprites presentable.

[RockstarRaccoon]

I feel like I should spray-and-pray when asking for help with stuff like this: I'm gonna go post this on a few more forums...

I'd really like help with this, and the fact that I'm receiving such little response over these things makes me wonder if enough people care about Hexen to make this worth it...

[Enjay]

For me, it's not lack of caring, it's lack of talent.

[RockstarRaccoon]

For me, it's not lack of caring, it's lack of talent.

....You're like, one of the most well respected people in the community. Like, you were widely praised when I first got into the Doom community in the mid-2000s. What do you mean lack of talent? (I get that you mean spriting and not mapping, but you should really get some practice: that's how I learned...)

Edit: Enjay, if there was a project to remake Hexen, would you want to be in on it? Should I get that impression?

Edit: I'm not gonna put much work into these. Someone else will have to do revisions... I have XCF versions of these too.

[Mikk-]

You can't just go and guilt trip forumers for not caring enough about hexen simply because they don't want to make your super awesome and overly ambitious project for you. Some people just don't have the time to contribute to your cause - and even if they did have the time, it's good to remember that nobody owes you anything here.

That being said, your stalker sprites are pretty decent, however - the posture is a bit odd, especially if it's supposed to be underwater. Realistically, it would be laying roughly belly down, face forwards to be more streamlined and reduce drag while swimming. Very much like the first sprite you posted.