Metal Gear: Outer Heaven - a GZDoom TC episode serving as an extended first-person remake of the very first
Metal Gear game from 1987. Rookie FOXHOUND operative Solid Snake must infiltrate a heavily fortified enemy base to rescue MIA comrade Gray Fox, and find out more about secret weapons research being undertaken therein.
The TC would largely follow the pacing, stucture and locations of the original game, complete with underground sewer insertion, hostage rescue, anti-personnel areas, boss battles and of course stealth-based gameplay. The enemy AI would be augmented to resemble the structure of that used in
MGS2, with Alert, Evasion/Clearing and Caution phases. Although the player would lack a radar, they would be assisted by an aural and visual pulse that intensifies in proximity to enemy personnel (provided they haven't been spotted). With initially no weaponry and minimal equipment, the player would have to rely on stealth, tactics and vigilance to avoid dangerous confrontation with the enemy.
Aesthetics and level design aside, getting anything working has been a feast of smoke, mirrors and extremely ugly hacks. Up til now I've been hampered by several factors, all of which involve actor logic in (Z)Doom. Custom states have solved many of the problems to some extent, but the issues of noise alerts (all or nothing), light/visibility levels (impossible to dynamically detect), enemy movement (it's rubbish) and restricting fields of vision/hearing (nigh impossible to implement reliably) have meant the work has ground to a halt.
Obviously using the Unreal or Dark engines would make this a doddle, but I just love working with (G)ZDoom, and really want to get this going in some way. The base technical requirements, if implemented, would serve ZDoom modders well long after my own project has been forgotten. I've made
several feature suggestions over the years that have all been unanswered, so I'm guessing I'll have to Wait For DoomScript before this one can move forward.
