Thanks, Odin & Grandraem!
The trend to go for Unit Packs and "whipping them out" has been going on many years but Question... What happened to inspired creations where everything is scrutinized and offered as the way the Artist wants everything to be? No Cutting Corners" for the sake of fastidiousness or automation for the sake of expediting what they feel is not worth their their time to finish. This strikes me as not caring too much about the creation.
I don't believe releasing multiple units as pack is necessarily "whipping them out". For instance, both my Kong and Godzilla Packs took me months of works, on and off. It was the best I could do at the time.
While I do see the "pack trend" going on, I can't agree on the decreasing quality possibly associated to it - although I haven't maintained a personal classic epic mod for years so I've only game-tested myself my own units.
On the other end of the spectrum, I've released "speed units" at some points, Baron Voodoo and the Egyptian Werecat, because that's how I felt like. I haven't planned for them, it was on the spur of the moment, the animations came very easily but they still asked for rigorous work and testing.
In other words... I believe it is important to Strive to provide what people can use without having to adjust or add to what has been created.
Plotinus stated it very appropriately, saying in essence that a Finished Unit should have everything necessary for an individual to add the unit to their game without having to adjust or make anything else. If individuals do not like what has been done, they can then adjust or add what they want.
I agree.. to a point. It is a hobby (dedicated to yourself), not a mission (dedicated to others). I like to mod, I like to create new graphics, I like to share them, I like to talk about it and other people creations.
Graphics making and sound making are obviously very different things, asking for different sets of skills. If anyone doesn't feel like doing sounds, for any reason, that's all he need to say. Don't get me wrong, we can discuss any issues a release has, and this sound discussion is interesting on its own - but nobody should be looked down upon because he doesn't apply to this philosophy.
On the other hand, it would be nice to have sound creators be able to 'show' their creations directly on the forum. Perhaps would it be possible to add a module able to play sound from a source ? Perhaps it would shift to focus a little more on sound creating, pushing people to try their hand at it.
I probably shouldn't feel
that focused on (but it's my thread after all
) - but I've released sounds in past, tested in-game, and I plan to go back to it eventually. I think I can safely say almost every units made for Modzilla will only be used in Modzilla so I will be able to do the sounds on time for the true gameplay experience. An unit I'll release soon will have sounds - in fact, it has been finished for almost two weeks but I'm waiting for someone authorization to release modified sounds he originally created.
Vuldacon, could we get back a moment to the frames issue ? I still don't see how you get the "+1 frame" storyboard to fix.