Tranquility (On Hold, 2017-08-12)

[RSSwizard]

After talking about my own shotgun issues I remembered another idea I had for amping up shotgun damage up close. Doing the Quake1 assumption of more pellets hitting tighter naturally if you're at close range.

The shotgun could fire 2 different kinds of pellets - the usual kind that goes downrange, and some extra ones that disappear at a close range. That way if somebody is at point blank they will get hit by the extra ones, but if they're far enough away they wont be reached by them. So thats a way to do Supercombine damage. And the sawed off can fire even more of those.

It would be great if the damage could be modulated based on distance, but this is a way of managing it.

These would not leave Puffs, the player isnt supposed to know those are even there (though it causes more pain and blood). Its a way of simulating "you took more than 5 pellets to the chest, so you're going to take some extra damage because of how close the holes are together". Without being so detailed about it.

[Caligari87]

Hey guys, long time no update. I recently got the drive to work on this mod again so just wanted to briefly bump and say it's not dead.


[Click for fullsize]

Rather, I've refactored the whole mod (as I am wont to do with these things) and started from scratch with the Pistol and a new (very shiny!) dynamic sight system you can see above. While I'm not ready to do a proper release+update yet, I did want to share the github repository for anyone who wants to try it out and give feedback.

https://github.com/caligari87/tranquility

Please note there is no compiled ACS in the repository, source only. To make a build of the current version you must compile scripts and package everything under the "source" folder into a PK3. I do commit snapshots from time to time, and these can be found in the appropriately-named builds folder if you want to try it out easily, but these are liable to be buggy or out-of-date.

(this is my first major foray into git as well, so I'm still working out some kinks in the process)

Any feedback or suggestions appreciated. Watch this space for more details.

[Dr_Cosmobyte]

Just gave this a try. I loved it. There's so many possibilities that i can't list them all.

[wildweasel]

This is really neat! I feel like it wouldn't go amiss to have some subtle "breathing" on the sights while standing still (at least for a couple of seconds after moving). I also can't help but think that this would go really well with some of the gameplay concepts from my old experimental ww-skillguns mod, like the heavy-trigger system and variable recoil.

[Caligari87]

Actually the current version does! The sights shift around slightly, although at first glance it's virtually inconsequential. The effect is pronounced by enabling "run mode" (either holding shift while auto-run is off, or having auto-run enabled), or being at lower health. In the future stamina will also affect the idle sway/jitter and settling time.

The most recent version also has SidDoyle's RealAim included by default. I don't think it's in the compiled build though. I'll spin up a new one when I get home since it's pretty stable at the moment and includes a cool new dash/dodge feature and a couple other things (manually pulling the slide with altfire for example).

I do like some of the concepts in Skillguns, and I'd be interested in approaching them in some form if you didn't mind.

[wildweasel]

Feel free to borrow anything you like from it; I don't remember the sources for all the graphics and sound effects off hand, but the scripts are fair game. The repo for it is here if that helps.

[Caligari87]

Cool, I'll take a look! Hmm...

Little sidebar, one of my goals for this mod is to basically marry Hideous Destructor and Receiver in a more intuitively playable form. To that end I want to use Altfire as a "weapon interaction modifier" which opens up more options for the player without binding additional keys or interfering with the basic ideals of "run and shoot" gameplay.

So here's my thought: Shooting normally works as it does now, but Altfire+Fire is an aimed shot which tightens down the sight sway and "bouncyness" and uses the heavy-trigger mechanism, simulating greater care for the shot. Does that sound like a good idea?

[wildweasel]

Hm, I think a different way of handling that would be that "aimed" shots return to center aim more quickly, while being unaimed makes the sights a little slower to return to the center in general (a la Operation Flashpoint or ARMA) but produce less view kick (albeit more kick to the sights).

Up to you, though. I can only barely imagine how both systems would work from a gameplay standpoint; I'm just trying to visualize them from the perspective of an actual person firing a gun.

[Caligari87]

Well there's already a mechanic in there for recentering: If the player keeps holding the trigger after firing the weapon will recenter, but if they release early it'll cancel (try it, it's kinda fun). Supposed to simulate trigger follow-through and control. An aimed-hold shot could definitely make the view recenter quicker as well as increase the tightness of the sight rebound.

[Caligari87]

Bump: New pk3 build compiled.

Includes new dashing feature (double-tap forward, left, or right) and a simple altfire function (rack the slide).

[Josh771]

Good sir, you must put up a video of this thing in motion. I had no idea what I was getting into when I downloaded this. To be honest, I expected a custom crosshair and some mathematical "realism." This 2.5D iron sight business with the Goldeneye-esque weapon swaying, however, is just genius. And the fact that you intend to marry HD and Receiver only makes me salivate all the more as I consider what this mod might look like finished.

[JimmyJ]

Yeah, I am absolutely in love with this aiming system, it's something I've been dreaming of for a Doom mod. Anyway here's a real small video I made for you Sid,

[Caligari87]

Awesome video JimmyJ! I've had trouble getting decent recordings on my PC for some reason. Mind if I put that in the first post so people can know what they're getting into?

[JimmyJ]

Feel free to!

[Caligari87]

Question for anyone who wants to give input. I'm a little torn on the visual direction I want to take this mod, and it's causing me to procrastinate adding more code.

For example, I want to include features like checking the weapon for a round in the chamber. Most games don't have any functionality like this at all. Hideous Destructor shows the status with a little graphic on your hud, but I'd rather do it like Receiver does, by actually pulling the slide back to check. To do this with Doom-style graphics, I'd have to create/steal/edit/rip weapon graphics since nothing existing really fills that particular use case, but I'm horrible with spritework.

Here's some options I've boiled down to:

1. No weapon sprites: Think old Ghost Recon or Rainbow Six, just crosshairs and some kind of status messages / icons. This would be the easiest to work with since I can use clean, abstract crosshairs and avoid tons of sprite work (because I'm no good at it). Unfortunately a lot of people like to see nice weapon sprites (including me). This tends to make the game feel more clinical and less immersive, and lacks some of the tactile interactivity I want. It would also kind of change the "Doom-y" feel we're all used to (and god I love the Doom shotgun).
2. Simple/limited weapon sprites: Sort of where the mod is now. More Doom-style using original or tweaked weapon sprites to keep that "enhanced Doom" feel. Would have some partially-animated weapon interaction (such as shifting down to show reloading), but this would be crude and representative at best because more detailed stuff (like looking into the chamber to check for a round) would be impossible without additional spritework (again, no good at this). Would probably fall back to #1 with hud icons/status messages for stuff the weapon sprite can't do (like Hideous Destructor).
3. Abstract weapon sprites: Think almost like Receiver, where the guns are essentially untextured shapes. This is an interesting option for me, because I imagine a "real" weapon made of multiple overlays (such as the frame, magazine, rounds, slide, etc) and the weapon's sights are the crosshair. It's never been done quite like that before and I think it could be really cool, but it does involve a ton of extra code, and the "graphics" as such are likely to be somewhat ugly and functional, an even wider rift from "Doom-feel" than #1.

There's a fourth option of "create/rip new pretty weapon graphics for everything" but I'm not sure I can or want to put in the work for that. Anyway, your opinions are welcome, for these or some combination/alternative; just trying to brainstorm some options so I can settle on a path.