Question about the ant lions.....

[TheWart]

I guess they are the ant lions....whatever the things are that Freeman summons with his little alien ball.

Anyway, in the long video clip, the first time Freeman summons these things, they go after a small groupof Combine soldiers.

I noticed that when the creatures attack the Combine soldiers, the creatures move through the mattress as if it were not there.

Now I normally would not worry and say that this is because the physics engine is not done, but in all the other scenes, the mattress has the correct physical properties.

Does nayone have any word on why this happened? Thanks.

 

[BaNDiT]

this has been mentioned in earlier posts, but hopefully it will be fixed when the game is out.

 

[LajsiiWAn]

It´s only in your video that this happens, it´s a conspiracy, lock your doors and shut your windows. Barricade and hope for the best. ;D

 

[82ross]

Originally posted by LajsiiWAn
It´s only in your video that this happens, it´s a conspiracy, lock your doors and shut your windows. Barricade and hope for the best. ;D

Struggling for appropriate things to say?

Anyway, this is a clipping problem which is known to the HL2 team. Theres a few instances of it you may look out for.

a) In the tech demo, when the first little wall off wood is being shot to pieces. As the player walks past there is some incorrect clipping, either that or its a texture error.

b) The matress - already stated.

c) The beam that falls out of the booby trapped blue container onto a combine soldier.

Haveny seen any other yet, havent really looked out for it.

 

[Ridic]

dont be concernd, valve wouldnt let those problems go by without fixing them.

 

[TheWart]

Originally posted by [Hunter]Ridic
dont be concernd, valve wouldnt let those problems go by without fixing them.

Oh, well, even if they were in the game, they are not show stoppers.

I probably would not notice most of them in the heat of the moment.

But hopefully Valve will set itself apart from other game companies and take care of the little details.

 

[Ridic]

yea i wouldnt really care either. every other game in history has lots of things that clip things.

 

[derby]

I was playing Final Fantasy IV the other day when I noticed that you could fight ant lions....

I suppose they are real creatures (they eat ants). I wonder if they are in any other game.

Oh and Hunter, I just saw Equilibrium today, as I was wathcing it something clicked; now I know what you're sig is about!

 

[Apos]

Except that ant lions look nothing like ants. Real ant lions look like fat beetles with two huge claw/teeth/spikes, and they live at the bottom of a sandy hole they've dug, waiting for prey to fall in. The things in HL2 look like... ants. Kinda funny. Especially since that's what ant lions eat...

 

[derby]

Some HL creatures are named after the two animals they closely resemble, like the Bullsquid. For HL2 they crossed an ant and a lion. It's just coincedence that there is a creature called an antlion.

 

[Wesisapie]

and houndeye.. it's a dog with lots of eyes

 

[derby]

precisely

 

[Apos]

Uh, what is lion like about them in any way? That some of them are yellow?

 

[worldspawn]

they are called antlions because they are SIMILAR to the real life beetles.. but not necessarily because they look similar to the beetles, or to ANTS OR LIONS.


..(notice the tunnels they come out of?)

 

[derby]

it probably refers to thier aggression, and the way they pounce on guys.

 

[Wesisapie]

they are "lion" in size and nature, ant in family (insect)

 

[derby]

Originally posted by worldspawn
they are called antlions because they are SIMILAR to the real life beetles

When you compare this:

to this:

It seems obvious that they are not similar in appearance to the beatle, in behavior you say? Real antlions dig a hole and wait for ants to fall in. It doesn't seem they'd work in pack to, say, overturn an APC. Lions are pack animals (it's actually the lionesses that hunt).

The 'mother' antlion (or maybe just a full grown antlion) more closely resembles it's big cat namesake:

Or perhaps the name antlion sounded cool. This is fiction after all

 

[Phisionary]

Originally posted by derby
Or perhaps the name antlion sounded cool. This is fiction after all

Ummm yeah. I don't think there is any real philosophy needed to name the thing. Valve makes games, I doubt they care all that much about the taxonomy of a make-believe alien bug-thing. :E

-Phision

 

[LoneDeranger]

The Ant Lions in HL2 have wings that they can use to fly over short distances.

 

[jhero]

REALLY???

 

[LoneDeranger]

Originally posted by jhero
REALLY???

Yep, it's all in the IGN preview.

 

[jhero]

Whoa, that will be sweet.

 

[derby]

I think these might be the flying ant lions, they look like they have wing cases and they are in the desert/seabved local that was described in the IGN preview. There are at least three species of antlion.

 

[[sl@yer]]

Not that i'm doubting what your saying, but i'm sure that something as relevant and important as the ability for ant lions to fly would have been mentioned on other sites and previews. I haven't read the ign article yet, so you might be right. I'll go and have a look...

 

[[sl@yer]]

Yes, it does mention "beetle like wing bursts", but there are only 2 ant lion varieties. So it probably means that they can jump high, but cant hover or fly for a long time. This is just my interpretation. (I also found out that alien slaves WILL be returning - i didnt know that this was confirmed!! Cool!)

 

[Ender]

Originally posted by [sl@yer]
Yes, it does mention "beetle like wing bursts", but there are only 2 ant lion varieties. So it probably means that they can jump high, but cant hover or fly for a long time. This is just my interpretation. (I also found out that alien slaves WILL be returning - i didnt know that this was confirmed!! Cool!)

Wing bursts.. short distance flight.. all the same.. they wont be flying much when they get turned into dune buggy road kill..

 

[Stone]

and the fact that their skin is quite similar to a tigers fur patten...maybe

YAY, the Islaves return...hopefully :cheese: , awww aint they just so cute

 

[Dile]

Have you noticed that the ant lions use a trick to kill their enemys?
In the e3 vid, it's clear: while the first ant lion jumps (flies?) over the combine soldier attracting his attention, the second quickly kills him from the back.

Amazing!

 

[derby]

...like the raptors in Jurassic Park. Isn't someone making a JP mod? I think they are.

 

[EVIL]

i like the fact that the antlions hunt in packs.

 

[Phisionary]

With some luck they can just modify the AI to match the Velociraptor. I can see the behavior similarities. Just gotta make them sneakier.

I just thought or the Jurassic Park 1 scene in the kitchen, and where they open the door. Fighting those things with a pump shottie in a dark utility building... that sounds like fun! :E
I hope that mod works out.

Sorry, off-topic.

-Phision