[Add-On] Extra Badass Monster Pack for Project MSX [v 1.7]

[TheLightBad96]

This monster pack is really badass especially the stealth grunt and both the sheild using troops, Project Msx just keeps getting better .

P.S. if you can be any of the monsters in this pack who would you be?

[VICE]

Probably the Widowmaker. This guy:

Hopefully I'll finish him by Saturday and have a version ready.

[Hellstorm Archon]

http://mts.richarddecosta.com/category/ ... s/monsters

I finally managed to find this guy's website after some time, and I'd like to share it. Although the link originally showed more monsters, these frankensprites are decent enough to provide ideas.

[Valherran]

Well, I just tried out your new monster pack, it ain't half bad, though I have beef with that Warden of yours, he is OP. Blocks way too much, and can damn near insta-kill you if he rams you, and 1 salvo from the pistol kills your shields. He is actually more threatening than a Cyberdemon, which should say a lot. If you can modify his sprites so that you can shoot him anywhere in the body, except where he is holding the shield, that will balance him out. Also toning down his damage is a must, on a side note, the sprite enhancement I said above could also work with that grenadier too, as he also block way too much.

[VICE]

http://mts.richarddecosta.com/category/ ... s/monsters
I finally managed to find this guy's website after some time, and I'd like to share it. Although the link originally showed more monsters, these frankensprites are decent enough to provide ideas.

Some good ideas in there, thanks. I think there are a couple of concepts there that I'm definitely going to use (like the circling fireballs on that archvile, or a kamikaze lost-soul kind of enemy).

Can damn near insta-kill you if he rams you.

Only if you're already hurt, his charge can do a total of 60-90 damage (three ticks of 20-30 if you let him ram you for the entire duration).
He is liable to follow up with a shield bash after his charge, though, so you need to get away from him whenever he's charging. If he drove you into a corner with his charge he'll probably start bashing repeatedly.
It's supposed to function like the charge attack that a lot of videogame boss monsters have. I'm going give him a slight delay and make him telegraph this attack more clearly, though, so that the player has time to prepare and get out of the way.

1 salvo from the pistol kills your shields.

I think that's fair. Compare to the original raptor shotgun grunt, one well-placed shot of his can take down your shields just as easily. Granted, raptor grunts are rarer.
I'll probably make the Warden spawn less often, I don't want to create too many situations where you're fighting more than one of them simultaneously.

He is actually more threatening than a Cyberdemon.

I disagree. It could be that I feel this way because I designed him, and I know exactly how to kill him, but killing this guy is really just a matter of placing one powerful, well timed attack.
Your options for that include:
Powerfist, charged grenade (two clicks should be enough), raptor shotgun, autocannon, plasma rifle in shock mode, and the sniper rifle.
So you either resort to heavy weaponry, or if you don't have a heavy weapon yet, you always have access to the fist, and usually some grenades too.

If you can modify his sprites so that you can shoot him anywhere in the body, except where he is holding the shield, that will balance him out. Also toning down his damage is a must, on a side note, the sprite enhancement I said above could also work with that grenadier too, as he also block way too much.

Is there a way to do that for the sprite itself? I don't think spawning hitboxes like in Brutal Doom will work for the charge attack, and I'm not sure how to handle it when the Warden isn't facing you directly (when he's infighting and blocking something with his back to you).

[Valherran]

Only if you're already hurt, his charge can do a total of 60-90 damage (three ticks of 20-30 if you let him ram you for the entire duration).
He is liable to follow up with a shield bash after his charge, though, so you need to get away from him whenever he's charging. If he drove you into a corner with his charge he'll probably start bashing repeatedly.
It's supposed to function like the charge attack that a lot of videogame boss monsters have. I'm going give him a slight delay and make him telegraph this attack more clearly, though, so that the player has time to prepare and get out of the way.

That would help, would also recommend you make it more obvious to the player that he is about to charge, maybe a battle shout? His shield bash isn't very obvious either, might need a new attack animation for that. You should see what this guy does to you on Masochist mode, he completely flattens you in less than 2 seconds if you get close.

I think that's fair. Compare to the original raptor shotgun grunt, one well-placed shot of his can take down your shields just as easily. Granted, raptor grunts are rarer.
I'll probably make the Warden spawn less often, I don't want to create too many situations where you're fighting more than one of them simultaneously.

Raptor Grunts only deal half damage to shield at point blank range.

I disagree. It could be that I feel this way because I designed him, and I know exactly how to kill him, but killing this guy is really just a matter of placing one powerful, well timed attack.
Your options for that include:
Powerfist, charged grenade (two clicks should be enough), raptor shotgun, autocannon, plasma rifle in shock mode, and the sniper rifle.
So you either resort to heavy weaponry, or if you don't have a heavy weapon yet, you always have access to the fist, and usually some grenades too.

That is going to be a serious hassle when you start fresh and you get 2 or more of these guys in the same room. Though it may even out after you nerf him a bit.

Is there a way to do that for the sprite itself? I don't think spawning hitboxes like in Brutal Doom will work for the charge attack, and I'm not sure how to handle it when the Warden isn't facing you directly (when he's infighting and blocking something with his back to you).

Ok, maybe not the sprite, but maybe create an invisible small-arms fire proof shield that would appear directly in front of the shield and as the same shape? Same for the grenadier too.

[VICE]

His shield bash isn't very obvious either, might need a new attack animation for that.

Yeah, you're probably right. At the very least I'll make a new swing frame and make the animation longer so that it's more obvious. I'll nerf the charge and bash damage by a few points too while I'm at it.

Raptor Grunts only deal half damage to shield at point blank range.

Really? I've always been tense around them because I thought they were one-hit killers. Maybe that was in the previous beta.

I'll nerf the warden's pistol damage a teeny bit more (I already did originally, his pistol shots are weaker than the player's), but it's still going to be high, he's supposed to be using the same high-cal pistol that you have.
Maybe I'll increase the delay between individual shots a little bit too.

Ok, maybe not the sprite, but maybe create an invisible small-arms fire proof shield that would appear directly in front of the shield and as the same shape? Same for the grenadier too.

Yeah, that's what I meant by using hit-boxes. This solution will work but it introduces a new set of problems that I have no idea how to solve, and it might mess up the charge attack.

I think I'll just reduce his block frequency (pain chance) to 200 or so, so that the player can get a chance to hurt him a bit more. It doesn't have to be realistic, just fair. :wink:

Edit:
Version 1.4 is up. Introducing the Widowmaker - he'll teach you to save more often. :)

v 1.4 Changelog:

---

- Added the Widowmaker.
- All "Badass" grunts (Includes the Grenadier, Warden, and Shocktrooper for now) have deeper voices now.
- Warden: Telegraphs charge attack more clearly and with a longer delay ("Closing in!").
- Warden: Reduced spawn frequency. (1 in 36)
- Warden: Reduced pistol and charge damage slightly, increased delay between shots by a few more ticks.
- Warden and Grenadier: Reduced block frequency.
- Grenadier: Reloads faster.
- Rapid-Fire Revenant, Shock Trooper, Grenadier and Plasma Grunt: Increased spawn frequency.
- Skull Wizard: Dramatically reduced spawn frequency (1 in 36 Kabro, never Hellknight.)
- Skull Wizard: Fireball spread attack has been made weaker.

[Valherran]

The Warden and Grenadier are more tolerable now. Also glad you toned down that Bone Wizard, was gonna say something about that this morning lol. thanks for that.

Been getting to lots of fights with the Plasma Troopers, they could use a small damage nerf, 4 bolts at point blank range shredded my shield.

The Heavy Gunner dodges around too much and doesn't attack enough, may need to lower dodge frequency.

The Stealth Grunt is always walking around and opening every door in the level, the opening doors part needs to be removed. On a side note, would be nice if when this enemy is walking around in liquid he would make splashes where he walked. The Grey Pinky could use that too, but that is for MSX to alter. lol

Will give more feedback when I start finding the other monsters.

[VICE]

The Stealth Grunt is always walking around and opening every door in the level, the opening doors part needs to be removed.

Hmm, odd. I can't replicate this. I just tried jamming three of them in a small room right next to a door, closed it behind me and waited for them to open it. Nothing. I've never seen it happen in regular gameplay either.
There's a flag that I can add to completely prevent this, I think, so I'll go ahead and do that anyway. Doesn't make sense for them to be opening doors if they're trying to ambush the player.

I've included the actor names in the monster list in the first post so that they can be summoned via console ("summon [actor name]"), if you want to test particular monsters (or fight five skull wizards at once, that was fun ).
Map 12 of Doom 2 is where I usually test the monsters initially before actual gameplay testing, it has a lot of space to run around and climb and dodge.

[Mav3rick]

nice new additions to the team and damn that widowmaker can kick ass fast as hell O.o
the only thing that i can say that is starting to bother me is that because the new monster are more dangerous and powerfull the pistol, shotgun and AR start to become weaker, the pick ups of ammo no give enough in some wads which can be painfull and to try to kill 20 soldier with barehands is no good idea

so far all nice and great to have a new challenge

[VICE]

Version 1.41 is out. Not much new in this one, just some general balance changes and tweaks. Just wanted to get this out since I will be busy all week.

v 1.41 Changelog:

---

- Widowmaker: Now checks to see if he has enough room to launch the triple seeking missiles, to prevent them from hitting the ceiling as soon as he fires them (this is done by comparing ceilingz and floorz). If he doesn't have enough room, he'll default to the autocannon.
- Widowmaker: Has been given the NODROPOFF flag, so he will no longer fall down ledges when he dodges back in melee range.
- Grenadier: Now correctly checks his distance before shooting - he won't fire if the target is so far that his grenades can't reach them.
- Skull Wizard: A slight overhaul to his attack damage, patterns and visuals (wide shots use hellknight sprites again).
- Shock Trooper: Now dodges around only when very close to the player. As a result he will generally begin firing sooner when encountered/after reloading.
- Dark Cacodemon: Will now attempt to turn invisible when his health is low.
- Dark Cacodemon: Now correctly bleeds red, like his sprite.

Aside from that, I've been working on the Berzerker's sprite set. Hopefully this guy will be there in the next version:

[Mav3rick]

widowmaker test sounds ..
http://www.shockwave-sound.com/sound-effects/monster-sounds/monster2.wav
http://vocaroo.com/i/s0KCno0rJmbF
http://vocaroo.com/i/s05cyVJbYscL
http://vocaroo.com/i/s0ORQEevckiP
http://vocaroo.com/i/s0wRnxoG51Y9
http://vocaroo.com/i/s0eA7SF5ZELL
http://vocaroo.com/i/s0xffhejs477

hope it helps at some point

[Mav3rick]

Bug: the grenadier drop box only give you one grenade instead of the standar

the warden just drop pistol ammo, so far no other items i have seem so far
skull wizard seeking missile can be deadly if there is no much room to avoid, probably reduce the damage 5% ~ 8%?

[VICE]

Bug: the grenadier drop box only give you one grenade instead of the standar

It's supposed to give you 3 by definition, but I've had it grant 1 or 2.
I didn't change anything about the grenade box in this mod. This might be caused by the difficulty setting ammo property, somehow.

the warden just drop pistol ammo, so far no other items i have seem so far

Code: Select all

   dropitem "golampistol" 100
   dropitem "pistol_ammo" 100
   dropitem "pistol_ammo" 100
   dropitem "shieldbooster" 80
   dropitem "healthstim" 80

He's not guaranteed to drop a stim or a booster (or anything) - you've just been unlucky so far, that's all.

skull wizard seeking missile can be deadly if there is no much room to avoid, probably reduce the damage 5% ~ 8%?

I'll keep testing this in gameplay a little more. Maybe I'll scrap this guy altogether.

[TiberiumSoul]

Could I use some of these guys in my mod Insanity's Requiem?

Mainly 2 to be exact:

The widow maker and the skull wizard