THRESHOLD阈限 中文

A flood-control station deep underground.
A maintenance machine gone rogue.
A gate only you can close.

THRESHOLD

The main pump hall entrance; the Warden in the distance has not woken yet The Warden closes in, jaws open The chest core is breached and bursts Phase two: the Warden, its armor shed, lunges forward The Overload beam hits the core Kill cam: the Warden on the furnace grating, a moment before it falls

Pull the lever

The main pump is overloading and the floodgate won't close. You're the last one who hasn't evacuated.

It wakes

It never lost power. It has marked you as the fault.

Crack the core

Get off the center, jump the outer shockwave, and put rounds into the exposed molten core.

The armor falls

The chest plate shatters. Every light on its body turns blood red, and it hits harder.

Overload

Fill all 13 energy cells and press Q. A blue critical beam straight into the core ends it in one shot.

The gate closes

After the final shot, the camera pulls back.

Kill cam: the chest core detonates
Kill cam: the Warden's last roar
Kill cam: the Warden falls

Read the tells

A four-legged maintenance machine taller than the plant's support columns, with a molten core exposed in its chest. Five attacks, and each has exactly one answer.

  1. Forefoot slam

    Get off the center and jump the outer shockwave.

  2. Core beam

    A furnace beam locked onto you. Only a sidestep gets you clear.

  3. Back mortar

    Slag drops from more than thirty meters up. Clear the landing zone.

  4. Charge

    The whole beast comes straight at you.

  5. Tail sweep

    Open up distance and jump the low wave along the floor.

Core beam: a furnace beam sweeps across the floor
Core beam. Sidestep.

In your hands

Heavy repeater rifle
30-round magazine. Keep up the pressure, control the recoil, tap the weak points.
Breaching shotgun
Get in close, catch the pause while it vents heat, and blow the chest open in one shot.
Overload Q
Fill 13 energy cells to release a blue critical beam. A direct hit on the core ends the fight in one shot.

Real recoil and ejected brass, with hit-stop tuned to each weapon's fire rate. When the beast slams down, the floor shakes.

Evolution

S1: graybox prototype, a cylinder topped with an orange sphere
S1

Graybox

A cylinder is the boss, an orange sphere is the core. An empty arena in cold light.

S2: the dark four-legged model's first appearance
S2

A silhouette

The four-legged model steps in for the first time, and railings go up around the arena.

S3: the Warden in metal plating, orange light in its mouth
S3

A skin

Metal plating and a glowing mouth. In your hand, a copper hand cannon.

S4: the molten core exposed; the player holds a railgun rifle
S4

The core shows

The molten core in its chest becomes the target. A railgun rifle, jumping and usable facilities join the fight.

S5: the Threshold Warden in the furnace arena
S5

The furnace

The arena is raised over a furnace pit, and the Warden takes the form it has now.

Making of

The Warden began as models generated in Meshy and Tripo, then went through motion checks and Blender renders before it walked into the furnace.

The first Meshy model: a mechanical beast with spikes and a hooked tail
StartMeshyThe first version. Spikes, a hooked tail, orange light glowing through the chest.
The Tripo v1 model, colored by part
v1TripoA taller stance and longer legs, with the back armor and tail split into separate parts.
v6 motion silhouettes: front and side keyframes for six moves
v6Motion silhouettesFour attacks, the phase change and the death. The peak frame of every move is checked from the front and from the side.
The current model rendered from eight angles
NowBlender 5.2The current model from eight angles. The 72-frame turntable at the top of this page was rendered here too.