[r1571(1572) bug]Inherited monsters can't projectile-infight

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Expand view Topic review: [r1571(1572) bug]Inherited monsters can't projectile-infight

Re: [r1571(1572) bug]Inherited monsters can't projectile-infight

by printz » Tue May 12, 2009 3:34 am

I've got an idea to allow more flexibility (or rather "ease") when defining families: instead of only resorting to inheritance, also have a string-type property that makes all monsters having the same text not attack each other. Nevermind, I saw it was added just now in the feature suggestions.

Re: [r1571(1572) bug]Inherited monsters can't projectile-infight

by randi » Mon May 11, 2009 9:16 am

Re: ALWAYSINFIGHT. I didn't make a flag, but I did make a property.
Graf Zahl wrote:The same issue exists for Hexen's Chaos Serpents.
That, at least, seems reasonable to change.

Re: [r1571(1572) bug]Inherited monsters can't projectile-infight

by Graf Zahl » Mon May 11, 2009 1:12 am

HotWax wrote:Yeah, I get it's "non-intuitive" for enemies of the same type to infight. At the same time, if the original levels of Heretic were designed with this in mind,


I somehow doubt that these levels were designed with anything in mind! :mrgreen:

Seriously, the only level in the entire Heretic IWAD where infighting may be useful is E2M1 with its large swarm of Imps. But even there most are already normal ones that can infight among themselves.

Oh, and while we are at it: The same issue exists for Hexen's Chaos Serpents.

Re: [r1571(1572) bug]Inherited monsters can't projectile-infight

by printz » Mon May 11, 2009 12:55 am

randi wrote:
Gez wrote:In my opinion, if you put a pack of golems with a golem leader, what should happen is not a mutiny where the melee-only golems kill their leader. They have the same sprites, the same sounds, the same speed and animation rate; until they attack there is no way to distinguish between a leader and a normal.
Yes, but regular golems are jealous of nitrogolems' abilities, so they start mutiny at first ocasion :D

Re: [r1571(1572) bug]Inherited monsters can't projectile-infight

by randi » Sun May 10, 2009 9:32 pm

Gez wrote:In my opinion, if you put a pack of golems with a golem leader, what should happen is not a mutiny where the melee-only golems kill their leader. They have the same sprites, the same sounds, the same speed and animation rate; until they attack there is no way to distinguish between a leader and a normal. So it is counter-intuitive to have the same event (getting a fireball to hit an enemy) provoke different outcomes based on elements that are not apparent in the game.
This is my reasoning exactly. When I did the leaders' classes, I specifically chose to use inheritance because it would make them the same species.
XutaWoo wrote:So, any chance of getting a +ALWAYSINFIGHT flag for the picky people?
Maybe.

Re: [r1571(1572) bug]Inherited monsters can't projectile-infight

by HotWax » Sun May 10, 2009 7:41 pm

Yeah, I get it's "non-intuitive" for enemies of the same type to infight. At the same time, if the original levels of Heretic were designed with this in mind, then to not fix it is a fundamental change to the gameplay of those levels. That's akin to, oh I don't know, taking the saving feature out of Doom. Or making it so the first bullet fired from the chaingun isn't 100% accurate.

But I guess we can sacrifice pre-existing features to allow for more editor options or when it's clear the game designers didn't have the resources to make it the "right" way.




OH WAIT!
Graf Zahl wrote:That's the way the game behaved since 1993 so DON'T CHANGE IT!!!!!

Re: [r1571(1572) bug]Inherited monsters can't projectile-infight

by Amuscaria » Sun May 10, 2009 7:31 pm

XutaWoo wrote:So, any chance of getting a +ALWAYSINFIGHT flag for the picky people?
I thought there was one already. o_o

Re: [r1571(1572) bug]Inherited monsters can't projectile-infight

by XutaWoo » Sun May 10, 2009 2:23 pm

So, any chance of getting a +ALWAYSINFIGHT flag for the picky people?

Re: [r1571(1572) bug]Inherited monsters can't projectile-infight

by printz » Sun May 10, 2009 1:44 pm

Ok, at least I know the cause; I'll make my own wad which 'fixes' the 'bug'. :D

Re: [r1571(1572) bug]Inherited monsters can't projectile-infight

by Graf Zahl » Sun May 10, 2009 12:46 pm

I have been aware of this issue for 7 years (long before I started contributing to ZDoom) and I intentionally did not change it. I won't start now.

Re: [r1571(1572) bug]Inherited monsters can't projectile-infight

by printz » Sun May 10, 2009 9:35 am

Gez wrote:Perfect emulation, if you want that, Fraggle is working on Chocolate Heretic.
If that's true, that's good news.

Fine, whatever you say, but I thought it was unintuitive (not obvious) that property inheritance also includes allegiance. Keep it now as it is, but someone please add an inheritance flag that says: "strictly copy properties but don't team up this monster with its ancestor".

I like versatility you see.

Re: [r1571(1572) bug]Inherited monsters can't projectile-infight

by Gez » Sun May 10, 2009 9:24 am

HotWax wrote:Wait, I thought we kept features in because that's the way it was done originally. Now we're selectively dropping features because we "like the new way better"?
It's not a feature, it's a minor behavioral trait. Here's an example of an actual feature, which has been kept from Doom despite not being in Heretic. Or a better example of a feature from Strife which has been purposefully removed from ZDoom.

Raven had also every ability to correct the bug that prevents Maulotaurs to spawn flames if they're standing in lava (footclip bug) or myriad other things. They simply overlooked that part. Remember they worked from the Doom 1.2 codebase, which did not have the Hell Knight yet so the concept of family had not been introduced in the code they worked with. They were too busy adding new features (like a more 3Dish treatment of levels where you can pass above or below enemies and obstacles, the inventory system, etc.) to bother rewriting small and not-easily noticed changes between Doom and Doom 2. It's not like it's a hugely important issue anyway -- we're in 2009, Heretic support has been in ZDoom for what, nine years without anybody remarking on it earlier?

In my opinion, if you put a pack of golems with a golem leader, what should happen is not a mutiny where the melee-only golems kill their leader. They have the same sprites, the same sounds, the same speed and animation rate; until they attack there is no way to distinguish between a leader and a normal. So it is counter-intuitive to have the same event (getting a fireball to hit an enemy) provoke different outcomes based on elements that are not apparent in the game.

My bottom line is this: as things are now, it is better, more logical, more consistent, more intuitive, and more likely to be taken into account when mapping -- whether it stays as is or not -- than the alternative.

It is especially important for ZDoom project where plenty of additional monsters can be added. Remember the reasons why infighting was removed entirely from KDiZD? They are good and valid reasons, even if I didn't like it. Having families of monsters allows to have a nice diversity while still keeping an easily controllable number of "antagonizable" groups, so that infighting can be kept on rather than removed entirely.

Perfect emulation, if you want that, Fraggle is working on Chocolate Heretic. For ZDoom, this is better, so if it is "fixed" it should be with a compat option to keep the better behavior in if so we want.

Re: [r1571(1572) bug]Inherited monsters can't projectile-infight

by printz » Sun May 10, 2009 9:02 am

Gez wrote:
printz wrote:Not a compat option, but a flag inside Decorate that states: "infight with ancestor"
No because I actually think it is better as it is now. I don't want golems to fight with nitrogolems any more than I want doom imps to fight with other imps. If an imp is not hurt by another imp's fireball, why should a golem be hurt by another golem's fireballs? It's more logical and more consistent, so it should stay that way unless compat-optioned off.
I wasn't totally against compatibility options; the Decorate part I suggested would state where the compatibility option applies, for sake of flexibility.

Re: [r1571(1572) bug]Inherited monsters can't projectile-infight

by HotWax » Sun May 10, 2009 8:51 am

Wait, I thought we kept features in because that's the way it was done originally. Now we're selectively dropping features because we "like the new way better"?

If the monsters were designed to infight in Heretic originally (which they must have been because Raven had every ability to prevent it had they wanted to) then that should be restored. The obvious fix is just to change their Decorate and make them not inherit from each other...

Re: [r1571(1572) bug]Inherited monsters can't projectile-infight

by Gez » Sun May 10, 2009 7:58 am

printz wrote:Not a compat option, but a flag inside Decorate that states: "infight with ancestor"
No because I actually think it is better as it is now. I don't want golems to fight with nitrogolems any more than I want doom imps to fight with other imps. If an imp is not hurt by another imp's fireball, why should a golem be hurt by another golem's fireballs? It's more logical and more consistent, so it should stay that way unless compat-optioned off.

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