[SUG][PLAYER] Indication of facing direction for diggers, blockers, etc

[namida]

We have a topic by Crane regarding the Digger-Blocker trick (in the past known as the "Wild 15 Glitch").

Whether or not to change blocker and/or digger behaviour in NeoLemmix is a separate discussion, but one other point that was made in that topic - and one that remains valid regardless of whether aforementioned behaviours are changed or not - is that this behaviour, and presumably some others, are not easily noticed with the current sprites, because the sprites for diggers do not in any way indicate what direction the digger is facing. The same is also applicable to blockers and disarmers, maybe some others too (although most other cases are either death animations or exiting animations, and as such don't have as much need to clearly indicate the lemming's direction).

I very much feel that, some way or another, this should be improved on. The bare minimum should be that, like the blocker currently does, these other states also show a direction arrow when the lemming is moused over in clear physics mode. Ideally, I would like to fully have a sprite that one can look at and instantly determine the lemming's direction.

What's everyone else's thoughts here? I would also note that the option is there of "use the clear physics mode arrow as a quick fix, improve on this with a proper fix later".

[namida]

Commit 975EA35 makes the clear physics mode arrow appear for the selected lemming no matter what its current action is, instead of only when it's a blocker.

This is of course not a full solution to the issue, but a full solution will have to come later. Ideally, I think the long term solution should be to introduce some changes to the sprites. This doesn't have to be radical changes, but perhaps the blocker looks in the direction he's facing and nods his head up and down (rather than side to side), while the digger could perhaps always perform his strokes towards a particular side (I actually feel stroking front to back would be better here, but I'm not 100% sure on this). Off the top of my head, disarmer is the only other one where the direction is ambiguous and the lemming is going to remain in play after the action; since this is an original skill, there's much less need to worry about staying close to an existing animation, perhaps disarmer needs an entirely new one.

[namida]

WillLem has made a pretty neat disarmer sprite that has distinguishable directions, is clearly distinguishable from other skills, and would even be suitable to use as a toolbar animation.

How do people feel about the above suggestions for Blocker and Digger? Any alternative proposals?

[Dullstar]

If we wanted a less radical change to the blocker's animation, it taps one of its feet. This could be used as a directional indicator and would only require mirroring the existing sprite. While this would be a bit more subtle, most of the time the blocker's directional facing isn't very important.

[IchoTolot]

I think for the Blocker tapping feet in the direction the lem is facing would be enough.

For the digger the lem could look up towards the side he is facing for a couple of frames during the animation.

[namida]

For the blocker, this might be okay, but I think for the digger, the direction should be noticable on (almost) all frames of the animation. Reasoning: A blocker, once placed, isn't going to change direction. So this only needs to provide a way you can visually determine the direction, it doesn't need to produce a noticable visual change of direction. However, the initial reason this came up was precisely because it was hard to spot that a digger changed direction. As such, the digger needs to be more noticable IMO.

[namida]

I recently implemented the blocker change - he now only moves his head between center (looking towards the player) and the direction he's facing physics-wise.

No changes have been made to the digger yet. This one won't be so simple - I have ideas in mind, but actually making them is another matter. I'm essentially thinking that he "scoops" with both arms, throwing the "dirt" behind himself. This would feel similar to the existing animation on the surface, but have a clear direction to it.

[WillLem]

I did a sprite with the blocker holding a STOP sign, it's in the zipped folder here. This would be the most obvious solution, or are people thinking it's a bit too different from the original?

(Also attached a pic for quick reference).

[WillLem]

No changes have been made to the digger yet. This one won't be so simple - I have ideas in mind, but actually making them is another matter. I'm essentially thinking that he "scoops" with both arms, throwing the "dirt" behind himself. This would feel similar to the existing animation on the surface, but have a clear direction to it.

Happy to volunteer for the task of creating this if you want to go ahead with the idea.

[namida]

For the blocker - as mentioned in the other topic, it's great for high-res, but for low-res I don't think the stop sign fits. I'm happy with what I've got now for low-res, anyway.

Yep - would be awesome if you could make that digger sprite in both resolutions. Just do one for now - let's see if people like it / how well it works in practice, before making the effort to do the other resolution. And if you have a different idea for the actual visuals (but please try to keep it, at least in low-res, fairly similar to the original), feel free to try that instead - what matters is that the direction is very clear (including that a change of direction is noticable), not that it's specifically the idea I suggested above.

[namida]

Just to clarify something as a few people have been getting confused:

In both resolutions, the blocker no longer looks left and right. Instead, he moves his head between "straight ahead" (towards the player), and the direction he's facing physics-wise; they never look towards the direction they're not facing.

Only in high-res, the blocker also holds a Stop sign. This stop sign is also on the side the blocker is facing towards.

No actual change to the digger has been implemented yet.

EDIT: Closed this topic; continue the discussion for the Digger here: https://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=4598.0