Willy the Spider

Willy the Spider or just Spider is a custom Monster for Quake. Willy the Spider is relatively large in size; it has a hitbox similar to that of a Vore. Due to the sounds it makes, it is also most comparable to that Monster, though is far weaker.

As the name would suggest, Willy the Spider is a giant oversized spider. It relies almost entirely on a weak spit attack or using its mobility to get in melee range. Combined with a moderate but not extremely high amount of health, the player shouldn't find themselves struggling with this new opponent, especially if they are a veteran.

This Monster was made by Ken Turner of The Birthing Chamber. Willy the Spider is notable for being one of the first custom opponents with open-source coding.

While the Psionic Slug had been released earlier and had more refined features like custom sounds and a death message, said opponent was provided as a closed source mod that could only have its QC acquired by emailing the author. This means that Willy the Spider is notable for opening up a realm of possibilities to the average editor.

While it is possible to Gib this monster, Willy the Spider does not have a gibbed head like the vanilla Monsters. Instead, Willy the Spider just spawns a few generic Gibs and a torso.

Strategies

 * Willy the Spider is a relatively weak opponent. It was originally intended to be used in idBase levels; while a bit harder than the original release, it still is not much of a genuine threat. While Willy the Spider has more health than a Grunt or Rottweiler, it still can go down without wasting too many Shells.
 * Due to the weakness of this opponent, the player should focus more on killing the Grunts around it, since Willy the Spider relies entirely on a projectile-based attack instead of hitscan.
 * Much like the Scrag, Willy the Spider attacks using a spit attack. Much like the aforementioned opponent, that means it is relatively easy to dodge the attack. In the event you do manage to get hit by Willy the Spider's projectile, it is a weak attack that only drains 9 health.
 * Making things simpler, you can also stun Willy the Spider with ease, much like a Grunt. Willy will fly a few feet into the air when hit before landing on the ground. This stun lasts a few seconds, meaning it allows for even more attacks without risk. Note this stun is relatively uncommon, like most Monsters.
 * While Willy the Spider has the ability to jump around if it has a bit of distance from you, it cannot cause injury by doing such. The only real reason for the jumping is that it makes Willy the Spider a bit harder to hit. As long as you know where it is in relative proximity to you, this should not be much a complication, since you can always hit Willy the Spider when it lands.
 * Note that Willy the Spider also has a melee attack that can be even weaker, but also slightly stronger, depending on the distance you are from Willy. The responsiveness of it can be a bit unreliable, meaning the player will receive damage a second or two later than the attack. This can be somewhat exploitable, allowing the player to continually move forward and back with the Axe. Since it is using its melee attack, it will stay in place and not jump, and backing up will minimize the damage so that the player is only losing 3 at a time.
 * Willy the Spider is pretty much a meat shield. It will take quite a few shots to bring him down, but it isn't particularly hard to do such due to the weakness of his attacks. Willy the Spider has the same amount of health as an Ogre, but is far weaker, meaning it shouldn't be too much of a threat as long as the player does not get too reckless and gets used to their mobility.

Death Messages

 * "Player" was desiccated by a spider

Updates
Willy the Spider was later expanded upon with a version 2.1 release on October 19, 1996 by Stan C. This version added various mechanics to the original Willy the Spider as the author felt the concept could be expanded upon.

Advertised with this modification was the ability for Willy the Spider to have poisonous bites. Essentially, the player would get bit, and have a 70% chance of being poisoned. This would cause health to decay every 1-2 seconds until the player found a Health. None of these mechanics appear in-game however; the player can freely get bit over and over without experiencing the effects of poison.

The player will receive a message when they are "poisoned" and another when they are "cured". As the poison mechanic does not do anything, this means nothing outside of messages displaying the player's alleged state. Note also that these messages only appear in software mode and the original DOS executable; GLQuake and its derivatives will not display any messages.


 * Willy was given the ability to jump, increasing his mobility.
 * The projectile was changed from a Death Knight fireball to a Scrag spit projectile. This was done since the author felt it was more appropriate for a spider.
 * A melee attack was added.
 * A custom footstep sound was added; this was essentially done by making a nail tap on some glass.
 * A proper death message was added.
 * Willy the Spider now replaces the Death Knight so that a special level did not have to be made for it.