I'm sorry if I make some grammatical mistake in my messages, English is not my main language, but I will do my best on this. I also apologize if this post violate some of the community's rules.
HESK: Hyugaren it's my first public zdoom project. I started with it this year, in February, and many of the main concepts of the mod were implemented through a long journal of learning, tests and hard work (At the time of it's creation, I had zero knowledge in Decorate besides it's existence, too little involvement in ACS and no knowledge at all of the remaining lumps).
This project was conceived based on a post-apocaliptic, futuristic world, which was destroyed by a horde of simultaneous epidemics, mostly by mutated agents of previous diseases. In light of that, the gameplay it's adjusted through a new health system, which includes the "Immunity" value. This value, depicted in a green bar below the main health, it's the one which keeps the player protected from various diseases and infections. Needless to say, every disease has their distinctive sympthom which will negatively affect the player (Sometimes even killing him, if the conditions met and medications aren't taken on time).
Left: Screenshot of the new, custom HUD, including the green bar along with health and armor bars, in the lower-left part of the screen. Right: One of the infectious life forms, in a virus shape, in the upper-right part of the screen.
Immunity can be affected by two things: 1st generation tainted beings, floating on the map's surrounding (Won't affect main health, and cannot be killed); and the future's toxic environment. The contamination of the air it's also variable, and will increase as the player approach the ground level. If the player has no immunity at all, the smog will slowly kill him, draining his main health.
That's why armor now plays a major role. Having armor means being protected from the environment (All armors are assumed as closed air cycle type), which mean that losing all armor points will drain player's immunity. How fast will it be drained rely on the amount of contamination the player is currently breathing (He's too close to the ground or in specific locations, such as waste deposits). Some diseases can affect the player's immunity, thus draining it even faster.
Also, armor now have many more max points than original ones (Technically, 500 points max). It will absorb a great percentage of damage too (Almost 90%, varies between suits). In this case, running out of armor, besides contaminating the player, will put him in a sure-death situation if there are mutants near.
So, now that armor has a very important role, I've decided to make a new armor pickup system, which will help the player to not lose his previous suit when collecting a new one. This is made through an "Armor zone", where the player will need to enter and press "Use" to collect the item on the ground. A graphics menu will appear on the left part of the screen, depicting values of the new and old armors for comparison.
Screenshot depicting a worn blue armor (Ground) and the player in the Armor zone. Graphics compare stats of both, currently wearing armor (Top) and stashed armor (Bottom). Values are: Status, which mean that, what it's the armor current status. Protection, which is literally the save.percentage amount of the armor (This also depends if the armor it's brand new, worn or modified). Endurance it's a coefficient which tells the player how much will take the armor to be unusable.
There are many new inventory items too (And currently expanding), which will fulfill differents needs. They'll also have different variations which will vary the conditions to be used, and the effectivity of said items. A quick list:
• Portable medikits: These are classics, and will give the player the opportunity to heal himself when needed.
• Repair Kits: They will be used to repair armor. A repaired armor, no matter what it current status is, will be marked as "Worn".
• Medicine: They will be used to counteract diseases and infections. Different diseases will logically need different medicine.
• Antidotes: They will boost the immunity of the player. Overuse it's penalized, so taking a shot while having a considerable amount of immunity will drastically affect main player's health, and will induce secondary effects.
• PDA and Memory cards: The player starts with his own PDA, and can be expanded with Memory cards, which will contain useful info, and even will give plot info to the player. Memory cards can be encountered all around the map (Sometimes, human zombies will drop Memory cards, along with some other useful items, such as ammo and health bonus). (To be implemented)
• Isotonic drinks (Health bonuses): Health bonuses will now work as stackable items to be used at any time by the player. Some will boost both main health and immunity, while others will boost main health but will affect immunity.
• Tools: They'll give the player the option for upgrade his armor. However, others items will be needed to perform such upgrades:
• Components: They are basically parts which can be used to upgrade armor. They cannot be installed without proper tools. (To be implemented - Both Tools and Components)
A screenshot of currently developed items. Notice that some graphics are temporary.
In matter of architecture for the map, some of the main influences I had come from The 5th Element film, 28 Days Later film, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series and some from Silent Hill games. Mapping style denotes a noticeable amount of fall-risk ledge spaces at high height, an almost omnipresent smog, dead-like colouring and lighting, rusted and decayed texturing and futuristic shapes. There is a significant amount of 3D floors too. This is what I call HESK style, which is the main name of the mod. Future mods which could be part of the HESK series can have no relation in any way to Hyugaren, and can be part of an entirely different story/gameplay (As happened with a Multiplayer experiment, also called HESK).
For the texturing, I'm making a rework of some selected Doom's original textures, such as metal ones, while others are modifications of existing textures in other games (S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Silent Hill). HUD, fonts and other graphics will be completely new. However, only critical ones are implemented, as this is a suspended work, because my main focus right now it's the gameplay.
Monsters are also reworked, and will have their sprites remastered. Some of them will be replaced, as happened with the IMP, which was replaced with a new monster: The Lurker. This is a highly dangerous (Yet weak at the same time) being, which will kill the player in less than 3 hits, because of their highly sharp arms (Which resembles a pair of scythes). It's fast, almost silent, and never gives it's back to the player. There's also some monsters from Blood, which I'm planning to modify in the future.
Screenshots depicting a reworked Zombieman (Left screenshot) and the Lurker (Right screenshot, on the left part of the screen).
For the audio, I'm exploiting every posibility to give this mod a deep ambient, with many ambient sounds and special effects. Also, there are a great variety of sounds, mostly for the player, to contribute to the diversity of the environment. As with the music, it's a make up of many Dark Ambient compositions of my own, dedicated specially for this mod. However, now in it's 2nd revision, it only adds 6 minutes of music (Previous revision had 15 minutes, but it was an entirely different playlist).
Also, I'm developing some other sound features, such as footsteps, which can be configured (Or turned off) in the special "Hesk menu". Gore it's also a feature I'm including, which will have "composite" sounds and graphics, to add an unique touch to every weapon and situation.
There are also two major and unique features I'm developing for this mod: HyperSkybox and HyperLiquids. Those two are a compositon of textures, which draw a "HD" sky and liquid. Perhaps the most important point of their development it's the optimization. I won't limit players just because a bunch of HD textures. If I need, I'll make different packages, and add appropiate options for optimize performance.
I'm gonna leave links to demo videos and images below. Take into account that graphic and audio features are only applied in critical parts and some are temporary. They will be implemented or changed in further stages of development:
Youtube links (Make sure of turning on comments and/or subtitles for a live, on-video description):
Hyperwater
HyperSkybox (Old YT channel, no longer used)
New Armor Mechanics
Advanced Health System
HESK: Hyugaren Early Preview (Early Alpha stage)
Music demo (Taken from "HESK Multiplayer" experiment)
Well, I hope you find this project as interesting as I find making it. This is something I was expecting to make since a long time ago and now, slowly, I can finally put every idea into work. Although graphically the game has not so much changes, in terms of gameplay it's almost totally reworked. There are some issues I'm having right now with some features I want to include, but I think I'll eventually find the way around. I plan to make this mod flexible, and give the player the option for dismiss some new features if he wants, or configure them at his liking.
I believe I'll be around here more often, so I think I'll see you soon. In that case... See you soon!
