fearlesswee
commented
2 years ago Activate ragdolls would also be great for RPG logic. Skyrim and the 3D fallout games actually have a recoverable ragdoll state for a number of effects, from paralyze spells in Skyrim to the "fatigue damage" system in fallout: new vegas which lets you knock an opponent unconscious and they'll ragdoll before getting up after a couple of seconds (if you don't kill them while they're down, that is.)
In general it'd be great to have some method of ragdolling a character and having them recover from that state not just for active ragdolls, but also to enable things like respawning enemies where they can ragdoll on death rather than only play a canned death animation.
Necrym59
Lemuripest93
This is a complete shot in the dark, which is why i've labelled this as "V2" because making an Active Ragdoll system from scratch is a bit tricky, and takes a lot of time to fine-tune and perfect.
Everyone should be familiar with what an Active Ragdoll system is at this point, popularized by Grand Theft Auto IV back in 2008 and has since been a staple in a ton of other games from triple A to indie titles, here is an example of an Active Ragdoll system made by a much smaller team for something called "Project Hexane": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIAx6SmFlNE
Here is a showcase of the Euphoria Engine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jSWi8F6eUo
(Note: The videos above are just used as examples, these ragdoll systems can be as advanced or as subtle as you'd like.)
What is the benefits of using Active Ragdolls over regular ragdoll systems? in a single word: fluidity, shooting an NPC in the middle of a more advanced animation will look less strange or awkward than a regular ragdoll system or death animations, this means that no two results will ever be the same - yes this is also somewhat true of regular ragdolls, but the added fluidity to this system also improves the overall feel and immersion of your game, which is very important if your game is supposed to be more realistic or modern.
Not everyone will benefit using this type of system - though what should be mentioned is that this does NOT replace MAX's own ragdoll system or death animations, but exists alongside them as an option, this means that no matter what kind of FPS game you're trying to make in MAX, the options are there for you.
What i'm also trying to imply with this post is that basically as the engine has evolved to a really strong point, where performance issues are no longer a huge issue - we'll be able to make games that ONLY use one of these systems, only death animations, only ragdolls, or active ragdolls (or even a hybrid of all 3) - this way you can make a more consistent game from different eras, maybe you want to make a 90's shooter? only use death animations, maybe your game is from the early 2000's? only use the regular ragdolls, late 2010's? active ragdolls are there for you.
Maybe this is too ambitious of an idea, but i think this could attract more people to MAX. There exists a market for people who want to make games around interesting physics, and personally i can say that if i wasn't already attracted to MAX as an easy to use engine - something like this would have made me more interested in making the purchase to see what else it has to offer.
It might not seem that important on the surface, but this would help modernize the engine, and help you make more games consistent with the current era.
All that being said - this is intended for V2, unless this is possible for V1, don't fret too much over this, you can take as long as possible to make this available, and if it's not possible for the Wicked Engine then i guess that's that, but some overall improvement to the ragdolls would be beneficial.