Thread:Deathstalker666/@comment-1496755-20171111143841/@comment-3547390-20180316004432

So with Duke Nukem set and the idea of separation between reskins and actual custom enemies existent, I need your advice. See, a lot comes down to EXACTLY how well Quake custom packs can do things. Ignoring the two official expansions, how well polished are the enemies in question? I don't need details about them, just how much of a deviation they are.

For example, Duke is a reskin. He is a Grunt, he looks like a Grunt, and he behaves exactly like a Grunt while sounding like a Grunt. The sole deviation is the skin. This is why he is a custom .MDL, there is no separate identity there.

There are Quake total conversions. Those obviously will replace all the enemies of Quake, but obviously wouldn't be the same enemies reskinned. So it isn't just because an enemy is being replaced by another; I am not sure if that is just a thing early on, or if that is pretty much the case besides in the official expansions. Can enemies be added to Quake, or is it at the expense of another being removed? Where exactly should we stand with TC when they pretty much behave entirely different and would become essentially different games... yet replace an enemy?

What defines an enemy in a TC being worthy of being considered a separate entity if they are seen as such? If the death message is the same, does that break the immersion enough that it is still a reskin, and is it possible in the unofficial add-ons you have seen to have custom death messages or are they just recycling the same messages? This is a big basis for me, but I need to know if it is even possible for people to change to know if it should be criteria to be met.

Say you get Duke Nukem. But instead of a skin on a Grunt, it replaces the Grunt with a 2d sprite of Duke who sprouts one-liners. But when you die, it still says you died due to a grunt and there isn't any behavior changes from the normal grunt. He looks and sounds nothing like a Grunt, but the behavior and death message are the same. Where would this fall, as the latter two I know would be big cases for a separate entity? Is this mass appearance change enough or does it need more?

Basically, I feel like we have a lot of undefined grey area and I am unsure how exactly to proceed when I am unsure the potential that can be reached. You have seen more polished add-ons with custom stuff. I don't need to be told what they are, just the extent we are talking about, especially in regards to behavior and custom death messages, and of course I could use a second opinion for TCs. I think they count.

My opinion, simply put, is that enemies are still the same enemy until you change that death message. Seeing that I am killed by a Grunt is enough, in my book, to break the immersion factor that this is a new enemy. But, as I said, it sorta depends on if it is even possible to change.