Re: (wip) Ashes 2063 TC - THREAD EVACUATION

[kodi]

I think a subtle desaturated blue sector coloring would work wonders in the outdoor areas under that blue sky.

[Vostyok]

Hmm. Not a bad idea Kodi.

I will see what I can do. I don't want the level to look washed out though.

Also, noticed that software QZDoom removes sector color. Gzdoom seemed uneffected. Bug??

[Vostyok]

Hey guys. I'm hopefully posting some more screens in the next couple of days. I wanted to set up a poll, since there are a few things I wanted to ask. Feel free to drop your counter questions, opinions and criticisms while you are at it....

Questions:

i) would you be happier with a more vanilla type game experience? As in - no reloading, less lethal attacks, no jumping, alt-fire functions instead of boot knife?
ii) Do you think you'd enjoy the bike sections? I want to keep them less common, but more fun ramp and jump puzzles for bonuses rather than an enforced "gauntlet run" for now. Any thoughts welcome.
iii) Silent protagonist? Or more character. Or even a female option??? Easily done either way.
iv) 3d floors? Purely for eye-candy, added gameplay, or the bane of life... You decide.
V) finally... Is anyone using software options still? I don't want to force gl on people who can't use it.

Anyway, thanks for taking time to answer. I doubt i will make any radical changes at this point, but I'm getting a bit of doubt with some features.

I'm also wondering how much to give away for demo. I think 2-3 maps would be respectable enough. Laters

[-Ghost-]

I think the approach you're going for is good. Personally I prefer reloads, alt attacks, etc since it keeps things more interesting, in my opinion. I'd stick with a silent protagonist as well, a lot of mod characters end up being kind of cringey if they've got weird voice work or a weird character.

[Mr.Enchanter]

Questions:
i) would you be happier with a more vanilla type game experience? As in - no reloading, less lethal attacks, no jumping, alt-fire functions instead of boot knife?
ii) Do you think you'd enjoy the bike sections? I want to keep them less common, but more fun ramp and jump puzzles for bonuses rather than an enforced "gauntlet run" for now. Any thoughts welcome.
iii) Silent protagonist? Or more character. Or even a female option??? Easily done either way.
iv) 3d floors? Purely for eye-candy, added gameplay, or the bane of life... You decide.
V) finally... Is anyone using software options still? I don't want to force gl on people who can't use it.

i) Why not bind the knife to a melee key AND give alt-fire functions to weapons?
ii) Depends on if the handling has been changed since the last build that was released, if no, less scarce, if you have changed the bike, it would be interesting to see some time based sections similar to the Duke Forever mod for eDuke32, as well as the way the bike handles.
iii) More character for sure, cheesy action style.
iv) Yes For all of the above!
v) Oh boy...

---

[matuloco]

I) I would prefer the more survivalist / tactical approach, as in: reload between battles or behind cover, make shots count, etc. Jump, duck or run if outnumbered. Alt fire and melee could be separate things, as long as they have a distinct gameplay functionality, rather than just to be there; Eg: Switch fire modes, throw grenades/molotovs, check ammo inside gun, etc.
II) Bike sections could be used for travelling between levels but also for reaching special areas or secret levels. I like the ramp puzzles idea.
III) I would prefer a silent anonymous protagonist "scavengerguy" but maybe there can be player classes with special traits (tank, stealth, etc.). What about having accuracy/stamina like in strife?
IV) 3d floors? Yeah sure unless it means countless hours of headaches and suffering, you are the mapper so I would suggest considering cost/benefit.
V) I like software mode for nostalgic reasons but I wouldn't mind a little sacrifice for art's sake hehe.

[twinkieman93]

1) I like the more "realistic" feel of the weapons as of the last time I got my hands on a beta of this. Altfires I don't think are really warranted here, except maybe for the homemade guns you have planned which might have overpressure functions ala the Metro games? That would be a good use for an alt-fire.
2) I think making the bike challenges optional are a good idea, maybe make them speedrun oriented? The bike path is faster and safer if you can pull it off, while the foot path is overall simpler to do from a sheer execution standpoint but is more dangerous. There would, though, be more goodies.
3) I like being able to choose gender in games. As long as the protagonist isn't voice-acted and makes no reference to their gender in their dialogue(or if they do, the line is altered slightly to work), I think a gender option could still be done even with a high-octane 80's action movie personality. That having been said, casting the protagonist as the straightman(or woman) to the world's crazy post-apocalyptic cheesiness would be more interesting than having them be just as cheesy.
4) Yep, sounds good to me. Just don't go crazy with jumping puzzles.
5) I think retaining software compatibility is nice to do if you're able but if you have to ever say to yourself "I want to do this but can't because it wouldn't work right in software", then balls to it, do it anyways. Don't constrain yourself for your audience's sake.

[Dude27th]

Questions:

i) would you be happier with a more vanilla type game experience? As in - no reloading, less lethal attacks, no jumping, alt-fire functions instead of boot knife?
ii) Do you think you'd enjoy the bike sections? I want to keep them less common, but more fun ramp and jump puzzles for bonuses rather than an enforced "gauntlet run" for now. Any thoughts welcome.
iii) Silent protagonist? Or more character. Or even a female option??? Easily done either way.
iv) 3d floors? Purely for eye-candy, added gameplay, or the bane of life... You decide.
V) finally... Is anyone using software options still? I don't want to force gl on people who can't use it.

Anyway, thanks for taking time to answer. I doubt i will make any radical changes at this point, but I'm getting a bit of doubt with some features.

I'm also wondering how much to give away for demo. I think 2-3 maps would be respectable enough. Laters

i)Vanilla , like Duke's vanilla would be great! (Like alt-fires but no reloading)
ii) I found them fun , and it's a nice way to travel in big areas.
iii) Silent protagonist, sometimes it's better but depend about the voice actor , still sometimes it fits better a silent protagonist.
iv) Yes! , 3d floors are nice and doesn't affect the performance too much like the voxels , please don't do voxels :c.
v) I prefer opengl personally but I use gzdoom 1.9 because I can't afford the fancy efects of the newer versions.

3 Maps would be nice for a demo :3

[PRIMEVAL]

1. I don't mind reloading and lethal attacks, though vanilla is always a good thing, too. I'm more neutral on this, I suppose.
2. Bike sections sound really cool, adds something new.
3. As long as the character isn't too talkative, I don't mind some decently done voice acting. And having a female / character option is neat, even if there's nothing different between them like in Unreal's player creation, just different PAIN and OOF sounds.
4. If you want to and have the creativity for it, do all the 3D floors you want!
5. I occasionally do software mode if I want to feel nostalgic, but I use GL much more often.

Depends on how many maps you're planning on making, but 3 seems to be a good tease.

[Rozy]

1. I think being it's own thing is better than being vanilla. Though if you want alt-fires why not just make the alt-fire for weapons that shouldn't "really" have one a melee attack?

2. As long as they fit the overall flow and feel there shouldn't be a problem. Might be fun to have a speeding highway fight at some point, though that might be my irrational love of the megadrive game outlander in play

3. I think a more quiet protagonist fits an overall gritty post apoc theme, maybe not totally silent. Think about how little max talks in mad max 2. And yeah a female option would be great, there's not nearly enough female representation for PCs in doom mods/tcs in my opinion.

4. If you need them use them, if not don't? I wouldn't force them in but if you genuinely need them you should go right ahead.

5. I think it should be okay to leave software in the dust by now. Even some pretty weak pcs can use hardware acceleration on zdoom these days. I guess there's no harm in wanting to add a potato mode though.

[kodi]

i) would you be happier with a more vanilla type game experience? As in - no reloading, less lethal attacks, no jumping, alt-fire functions instead of boot knife?

I like FEATURES myself. But if you're going to include jumping, decrease the default height a bit so you can't run and jump on top of monsters like in standard zdoom.

ii) Do you think you'd enjoy the bike sections? I want to keep them less common, but more fun ramp and jump puzzles for bonuses rather than an enforced "gauntlet run" for now. Any thoughts welcome.

I'm pretty sure I'll love them if the physics are nice. Edit: I might be able to help with that. Possibly.

iii) Silent protagonist? Or more character. Or even a female option??? Easily done either way.

Depends on how much plot/storytelling there'll be. I think I'd go with a silent one if I were you (other than pain and oof sounds of course). A female soundset for that + mugshot sprites would be a nice option.

iv) 3d floors? Purely for eye-candy, added gameplay, or the bane of life... You decide.

They're great. But use them sensibly, like for simple bridges, overpasses and tables rather than quake 1 style multi level gothic ruins made from sloping 3d floors
As long as the detail level is consistent throughout the level I don't see a reason not to use them.

V) finally... Is anyone using software options still? I don't want to force gl on people who can't use it.

Now that there's palette tonemapping and stuff I honestly don't see much of a reason to stick to software. But that's just me. Depends on how authentic retro or whatever you want the project to be for meta reasons.

[Vostyok]

Wow, thanks for the replies!

Gives me lots to think about! It seems a lot of you prefer the silent protagonist, more realism, and more up-to-date graphics approaches. Seems I wasn't too far from the mark.

I will incorporate some of these features into the demo. With regards to protagonist, I did want to stick to the "straight-man" figure, as well as a convenient way of adding plot points and gameplay hints ("hmm, seems this thing needs power to function"), without the player actually having to do anything. Now I think about it, the language barrier might be a problem though. Obviously, this is an English forum, but... How many of you would understand English vocals without a translator? I can get by, but... Can't please everyone, I guess...

I worry about the little things ahaha.

Anyway, I have been playing with some things. The city outskirts, as well as map compatibility. Seems to work fine with Arachnophobia!, as well as the Duke Nukem TC. This is only good news, I guess...


The flooded outskirts

Squash those damn spiders! With your wheels, if necessary

Dukin it out on the Fury Road

I got some better screens of the subway and the city limits, just tidy up time. Watch this space.
Laters...

[Dr_Cosmobyte]

*w*

Vostyok plays my mod!

Senpai noticed me!

[ramon.dexter]

Hey guys. I'm hopefully posting some more screens in the next couple of days. I wanted to set up a poll, since there are a few things I wanted to ask. Feel free to drop your counter questions, opinions and criticisms while you are at it....

Questions:

i) would you be happier with a more vanilla type game experience? As in - no reloading, less lethal attacks, no jumping, alt-fire functions instead of boot knife?
ii) Do you think you'd enjoy the bike sections? I want to keep them less common, but more fun ramp and jump puzzles for bonuses rather than an enforced "gauntlet run" for now. Any thoughts welcome.
iii) Silent protagonist? Or more character. Or even a female option??? Easily done either way.
iv) 3d floors? Purely for eye-candy, added gameplay, or the bane of life... You decide.
V) finally... Is anyone using software options still? I don't want to force gl on people who can't use it.

Anyway, thanks for taking time to answer. I doubt i will make any radical changes at this point, but I'm getting a bit of doubt with some features.

I'm also wondering how much to give away for demo. I think 2-3 maps would be respectable enough. Laters

1: reloading gives better survival feeling. You cannot just run and gun, you have to think to relad. Alt fire for weapons is reasonable only for weapons, where you could explain why it has secondary fuire. So secondary fire for flamethrower is OK - the flamethrower can spew flow of fire, or shoot fireballs. But secondary fire for revolver?
2. Well, I personally don't like ramping and ramp based puzzles. So only as an option.
3. I don't reallty care. But I prefer male protagonists in games.
4. Eye candy and added gameplay. Since gzdoom is really limited in the means of level architecture, 3D floors is a must (at least for me).
5. Well, no. Software is good for the old-school feeling. But since the graphical effects of software could be masked with opengl, I think software is little bit outdated. Also, when I test my first released map on opengl, it runs fine. When I test it on software mode...boy, it barely runs with FPS like 3-5.

[Dr_Cosmobyte]

I) would you be happier with a more vanilla type game experience? As in - no reloading, less lethal attacks, no jumping, alt-fire functions instead of boot knife?

No. Although i love doom, making it so vanilla at the point we have only new sprites kinda breaks the experience. Just my thoughts.

II) Do you think you'd enjoy the bike sections? I want to keep them less common, but more fun ramp and jump puzzles for bonuses rather than an enforced "gauntlet run" for now. Any thoughts welcome.

Yes, if that doesn't mean much more work for you.

III) Silent protagonist? Or more character. Or even a female option??? Easily done either way.

Unless you plan some NPC dialogues, i'm okay with either option.

IV) 3d floors? Purely for eye-candy, added gameplay, or the bane of life... You decide.

Eye candies are candies nonetheless

V) finally... Is anyone using software options still? I don't want to force gl on people who can't use it.

You won't avoid receving requests from diferent users. I got me a little request these days because a user had Zandronum and couldn't run it because of one weapon.

I always take it as simple as possible, but since this is a way more big leap, you couldn't contain yourself, that's what i think.