The top and bottom

[ChupaReaper]

On Doomsday, there's a feature in the menu which changes the way sprites face the camera, either:
Making the sprites act as normal.
Setting the sprites so that they dont rotate at all, like trees which would normally rotate to match the camera as the player moves around them.
And a feature that sets the sprites so that they rotate horizontally and vertically, so if the player is looking down on a sprite it looks like the sprite's facing forward and doesn't become a line!
Not very useful normally, but with model support, this would be good for particle effects and sprite projectiles.
A way to set this in decorate instead would be even better than putting it on the menu, this way only certain sprites can be effected.
Fake 3D sprites would look good (like slotting card together.) But that can be done with models.
To extend this suggestion, there's another problem with the tops and bottoms of shootable objects, hitscan attacks only hit enemies from the side making vertical attacks impossible unless very accurate.

[Torr Samaho]

And a feature that sets the sprites so that they rotate horizontally and vertically, so if the player is looking down on a sprite it looks like the sprite's facing forward and doesn't become a line!

I recently added this to Skulltag:

The code for this can be easily integrated in GZDoom.

[Karate Chris]

That looks great! I'd love this to be implemented in GZDoom. No more complaints about paper sprites if it's added.

[Graf Zahl]

Let's see. I hope this works with horizontal sprite splitting which is needed for 3D floors.

[ChupaReaper]

It would make GZDoom much better putting that in, better than trying to snipe out lines.
The first feature I've suggested that's going in! (Well, might...!)

[Graf Zahl]

In that case I'm sorry to tell you that it won't. As I expected the code assumes that sprites will be drawn as a whole. To do it properly the rotation has to be set up while preparing the polygons, not while drawing it. This will create some hideous effects under circumstances that Skulltag has disabled (3D floors)

[ChupaReaper]

Damn! It's worth it for the 3D floors though...
EDIT: There is one other thing though, not to do with sprites but to do with hitting enemies from above with hitscan, when I'm using models I have to shoot right at the centre of them, basically, monsters can only be hit from the side not the top or bottom...

[Nash]

There is one other thing though, not to do with sprites but to do with hitting enemies from above with hitscan, when I'm using models I have to shoot right at the centre of them, basically, monsters can only be hit from the side not the top or bottom...

http://forum.drdteam.org/viewtopic.php?t=2739

In that case I'm sorry to tell you that it won't. As I expected the code assumes that sprites will be drawn as a whole. To do it properly the rotation has to be set up while preparing the polygons, not while drawing it. This will create some hideous effects under circumstances that Skulltag has disabled (3D floors)

:(

[Enjay]

I recently added this to Skulltag:

Whilst such a thing would look good for fireballs etc, I have to say I prefer "paper" sprites to my Zombies lying face-down on the ground. Neither looks perfect so I guess it's down to personal preference as to which looks best.

[Nash]

It should be an actor flag; certain objects must be unanchored (fireballs, special effect particles, smoke, etc), and certain objects must be anchored (trees, lamps, humanoids, basically any solid looking object).

[DaniJ]

I don't see why it could not be done considering 3D floors. In the current in-development version of Doomsday I have been preparing the renderer for our own implementation of 3D floors.

One approach (that which is being used by Doomsday) would be to first split a screenspace transformed quad into n polygons across sector boundries, then clip each polygon against the planes of the sector it is in. It is conceptually similar already to how the DOOM renderer did posts of wall pixels.

Whilst such a thing would look good for fireballs etc, I have to say I prefer "paper" sprites to my Zombies lying face-down on the ground. Neither looks perfect so I guess it's down to personal preference as to which looks best.

Note that in Doomsday, the transform includes a perspective distort which makes the bottom of the sprite thiner than the top and subsequently, looks a lot less like the sprite is pasted on the floor. You can also customize the degree of rotation so that it has limits.

Note that if you borrow said code and your camera can be roll'ed (aviation axis); the perspective distort will need to be enhanced.

[ChupaReaper]

With models becoming more popular in GZDoom, one doesn't have to worry so much about zombies being pasted on the floor, though some people don't like models (I don't know why, I hate sprites, models are much easier!)
3D floors in Doomsday... slopes too I hope, though I'd never leave decorate, except for this doomscript whatever it is...

[Devan]

When my friend saw that sprites are flat and they're just facing player, he said they feel cheap because of their flatness This is reason why they are facing player

[ChupaReaper]

That's why I love models, but for projectiles and particles, who's gonna now the difference, except when in mid air, but if sprites are rotated to face up and down also, the projectile and particle problem is solved.

[Karate Chris]

SkullTag now has 3D floors so they may have fixed the problem.