Project Osiris - Alien Breed 3D for GZDoom (0.10 BETA)

[Rayman The Hedgehog]

Mah boi, can't believe you finally released this. I glad i was able to help you in this project.
Also, thanks for releasing it exactly on my birthday (March 1st)

[Rayman The Hedgehog]

Hope something for similar for Breathless will happen one day

I ripped most of the textures Breathless have so it can be a posibillity

[paradust]

First and foremost - thank you very much for doing all this work reviving this game. I never thought I would be able to enjoy it. While I got it on my CD32, the abyssmal framerate and pixelation is just too much for someone spoiled by the blessings of modern PCs.

The remake is excellent - there is no other way of describing it. I only just completed it and the game is very true to the original.

Now, on to some comments:

- It's a real shame there is no music. The CD32 version had a fantastic CD sountrack by Bjorn Lynne. I got the original copy of the game - if you'd like (and if you think this wouldn't cause any copyright issues), I can provide a copy of the tracks.

- The splash footsteps rarely come on when walking over shallow water.

- The water itself - it would be great if the ripples actually distorted everything like in the original, although I suspect this is a limitation of the current engine (I cannot believe a game from 1995 has an actual technical advantage over some modern engines!!!).

- The final boss - I like the new desing of the map. Previously you had to wake it up first, now it comes after you.

- I noticed that the baddies are in idle state until they spot you. Is this inherent in the new engine? The reason I am asking is that, if I remember correctly, in AB3D they would all actively look for you from the moment the map was loaded. Thanks to this, you could not spot an enemy in the same place twice.

- The grenades feel a tad too bouncy - especially when dropping them down into lower levels.

- I would make the spread of the shotgun much more concentrated. The original shotgun used slugs, which made it close to a railgun. Now, while I like the idea of using buckshot, I would tighten up the spread radius. I just remember that picking off aliens from medium distance with a few well-placed shots was extremely satisfying.

Other than these few minor details, the game is perfect. Once again, thank you for all your hard work!

[QuakedoomNukem Cz]

It's a real shame there is no music. The CD32 version had a fantastic CD sountrack by Bjorn Lynne. I got the original copy of the game - if you'd like (and if you think this wouldn't cause any copyright issues), I can provide a copy of the tracks.

I offer to this project the CD32 Music:
https://mega.nz/#!KR91VKQb!Val45keN7_6e ... z3e-86DUCU

I know that QuakeDoomNukem made a version of this before (And thank you for the music files! ^^) but I wanted to make a cleaner version in hopes that it gets merged in the main file at some point.
It's still optional and you can activate it in the "Project Osiris" options menu

You can use this, if you want the CD32 Music. And if you're wondering, Arc said he doesn't feel like the CD32 Music is appropriate tone-wise, as he'd like to compose more darker, ambient music for the levels, so there's your explanation, as to why there's no music.

[ArcturusDeluxe]

Project Osiris 0.9 is out!
DOWNLOAD

* Brightmaps! Lots of things glow in the dark now! All enemies have some sort of brightmap, some more subtle than others. Either way it'll help you pick them out in those dark areas. Textures also now have brightmaps where appropriate, the computer bits texture looking particularly snazzy. Thanks Ozymandias81!
* The old Rocket Launcher! I find it looks a bit silly and takes up too much space on the screen, and it will probably break if you're running a wider than 16:9 ratio, but some people wanted it so here it is. Select it under Weapon Style under Project Osiris options.
* Less pixelly explosions! Quadrupled the pixel count of the original explosion sprites, now watch the Breed blow up in style!
* Smaller file-size! Ozy also did some magical PK3 wizardry to optimise the sounds and shrink the size of the game by a few megs. Exciting!
* Tweaked weapons! Hopefully less annoying grenade launcher! It should now fire further and higher, and bounce less. That grenade launcher bit in MAP02 has also been changed to be less lethal to your health. Faster Plasma Rifle! Both fire-rate and projectile speed increased. Should make the weapon more useful. Does less damage per shot but more damage overall.
* Tweaked maps! Quite a few subtle changes made to make the brightmaps feel at home and make some areas look a bit nicer. Also added a little more ammo in the later parts of the game.
* ZScript! If you care about such things, all the DECORATE code is now ZScript, meaning any mods made for the game potentially have a lot more flexibility. I haven't really done much with it yet, I'm terrible at coding, but it paves the way for future things maybe.
* Slightly wobbly underwater! In the unfortunate absense of the awesome water effects of the original, I added Gutawer's shader that makes things a bit wobbly underwater. It's not quite the same but its something.
* You can shoot the lamps!

Will post a fuller changelog in the OP if you care about such things!

BRIGHTMAPS SCREENSHOTS

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- It's a real shame there is no music. The CD32 version had a fantastic CD sountrack by Bjorn Lynne. I got the original copy of the game - if you'd like (and if you think this wouldn't cause any copyright issues), I can provide a copy of the tracks.

I'm going to make some darker ambient tracks for the in-game music at some point, but multiple people have requested the CD32 music be added, so I will probably include them into the mod as an option when I get round to doing that. In the mean time check out Dude27th's file if you want this.

The splash footsteps rarely come on when walking over shallow water.

I want this too! Unfortunately Zombie Killer's ACS Footsteps mod doesn't seem to do anything with 3D water areas. I do have a plan for a workaround and will look into it for a future update.

The water itself - it would be great if the ripples actually distorted everything like in the original, although I suspect this is a limitation of the current engine (I cannot believe a game from 1995 has an actual technical advantage over some modern engines!!!).

Yeah I love the water in the original, but I am told that currently in GZDoom texture shaders can't affect anything behind them, so no can do for now, sorry!

I noticed that the baddies are in idle state until they spot you. Is this inherent in the new engine? The reason I am asking is that, if I remember correctly, in AB3D they would all actively look for you from the moment the map was loaded. Thanks to this, you could not spot an enemy in the same place twice.

The issue with this is, in Doom enemies tend try to get towards you instead of just wandering, so having them active at all times could end up with them bunching together up against walls and ruining the flow of encounters. There are also certain enemies that I'd rather remain in a specific place for ambushes and stuff, since I've changed a lot of enemy placements for the sake of balance. I'll see what I can do with this though, I think there is a 'randomly wander' function in the engine so I may be able to make use of it.

The grenades feel a tad too bouncy - especially when dropping them down into lower levels.

Sorry about this - it's very tricky to balance. Maybe the new update is better for you. I had to reduce the grenade gravity to have it travel further so there's still some high bouncing especially from high places, but it should be nicer for general use hopefully!

I would make the spread of the shotgun much more concentrated. The original shotgun used slugs, which made it close to a railgun. Now, while I like the idea of using buckshot, I would tighten up the spread radius. I just remember that picking off aliens from medium distance with a few well-placed shots was extremely satisfying.

I did have it more like this, but I felt like it made the shotgun a bit too powerful, and I like the idea of it having it's own short range, high damage niche rather than being another medium-range option like the Plasma. I'll take it under consideration and will see if more people think the same thing though.

Thanks for all the feedback again! It's been crazy for me over the past week! I think I'm going to slow down and take a break from the project for a while (assuming no serious issues with the current update) since I've been working on it for a few months and starting to feel a little anxiety and burnout. When I get back to it though I'll let you all know and maybe a 0.10 (or maybe even a 1.0) will be on the horizon before too long.

[Ozymandias81]

This is awesome ArcturusDeluxe, can't wait to test it finally this weekend, happy to have been of help somehow

[paradust]

Thank you good sir. No sweat on the tweaks - the game is pretty amazing as it is in its current state. I beat it again in one seating, and had a blast til late at night (that I had to pay for next morning at work haha).

One last comment regarding music - I remember reviewers back in the day saying that the CD32 music is (in short) not enough like Doom. To me and a few people I know, however, the music made the amazing otherworldly athmosphere. The only other game that gave me the same feeling was the first Unreal. But it's not that much of a problem - currently I just play it in the background via Foobar. And since you're planning to add two options in the future (darker music + OG), the future is bright. I've waited 20+ years for this, I can wait a bit longer. No rush!

BTW, I got the extended Bjorn Lynne OST with tracks that didn't make it if you'd like to have a listen.

I totally understand your other comments. I am not that bothered with the enemies ai to be honest - I'm on my third playthrough and their behaviour is still pretty faithful to the original so I wouldn't waste any time improving them.

Anyway, this is truly amazing work. I cannot stress enough how great this remake is. A thousand thanyous to you for your extremely hard work and the mindblowingly diligent recreation. Despite being a different engine with its own unique quirks (sidestep running lol) it feels and plays like the original. And being able to finally see sone of the levels in detail was like an epiphany. Thanks again!

p.s. I used to do pixel graphics in DPaint back in the day. Let me know if you got anything that needs work on (although seeing how you designed the HUD - which just oozes awesomeness - I don't think you'll need it).

[Dynamo]

The issue with this is, in Doom enemies tend try to get towards you instead of just wandering, so having them active at all times could end up with them bunching together up against walls and ruining the flow of encounters. There are also certain enemies that I'd rather remain in a specific place for ambushes and stuff, since I've changed a lot of enemy placements for the sake of balance. I'll see what I can do with this though, I think there is a 'randomly wander' function in the engine so I may be able to make use of it.

Yup, look into A_Wander (instead of or working alongside A_Chase), it should provide what you seek.

p.s. I used to do pixel graphics in DPaint back in the day. Let me know if you got anything that needs work on (although seeing how you designed the HUD - which just oozes awesomeness - I don't think you'll need it).

I'm not the author but someone mentioned the higher tier enemies lack rotations, so that may be worth looking into perhaps, just as a suggestion.

By the way, are there any plans for the sequel to this game to receive a similar treatment in the future? Or maybe some other Amiga FPS (someone mentioned Breathless, and I'm gonna mention Genetic Species)? If not that's fine, just figured I'd ask.

[Cherno]

By the way, are there any plans for the sequel to this game to receive a similar treatment in the future? Or maybe some other Amiga FPS (someone mentioned Breathless, and I'm gonna mention Genetic Species)? If not that's fine, just figured I'd ask.

I started working on a Gloom TC for GZDoom some years ago, converted everything up to the first hell level before I got bored. Gloom is far less fun than Alien Breed 3D in the long run with only three enemy types per episode and no real difference between the weapons. Still, I got so far, I think I will eventually come back to it and finish it.

[Rayman The Hedgehog]

By the way, are there any plans for the sequel to this game to receive a similar treatment in the future? Or maybe some other Amiga FPS (someone mentioned Breathless, and I'm gonna mention Genetic Species)? If not that's fine, just figured I'd ask.

I ripped some resources from Breathless (nearly all textures plus screens, fonts and soundtrack) maybe someone like ImpieTwo would make a remake out of then, also i was able to rip the gun used in Gloom Deluxe (tbh, that was easy af, just needed to decrunch the sprite file
and throw it in the sprite viewer the source code have)

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I also tried to rip Fears & Genetic Species, but need the entire Fears palette to open the Files with Tile Molester, and Genetic Species is mostly a lost cause because of the weird-ass format used which TM can't find any image with any config

[doomjedi]

Very fun project, really.

...NEED...MORE....AMMO!.....
I never played a game were I was constantly zero on almost all weapons.

[Redneckerz]

Please keep the Realm667 in your bookmarks upcoming Friday. A little present may be waiting for PR

[zxdunny]

By the way, are there any plans for the sequel to this game to receive a similar treatment in the future? Or maybe some other Amiga FPS (someone mentioned Breathless, and I'm gonna mention Genetic Species)? If not that's fine, just figured I'd ask.

I started working on a Gloom TC for GZDoom some years ago, converted everything up to the first hell level before I got bored. Gloom is far less fun than Alien Breed 3D in the long run with only three enemy types per episode and no real difference between the weapons. Still, I got so far, I think I will eventually come back to it and finish it.

I hope you do. Your TC is actually better than the port that someone has done recently from the Amiga sources.

I ripped some resources from Breathless (nearly all textures plus screens, fonts and soundtrack) maybe someone like ImpieTwo would make a remake out of then, also i was able to rip the gun used in Gloom Deluxe (tbh, that was easy af, just needed to decrunch the sprite file
and throw it in the sprite viewer the source code have)

---

I also tried to rip Fears & Genetic Species, but need the entire Fears palette to open the Files with Tile Molester, and Genetic Species is mostly a lost cause because of the weird-ass format used which TM can't find any image with any config

If you could throw your Breathless stuff my way, I'd be grateful. I've been wanting to do a Breathless TC for a few years now but have been unable to figure out the file format for the textures. And it would be a great motivation to finally learn doom mapping...

Out of interest, what tools do people recommend for this sort of thing these days?

[Hellser]

If you're wanting to learn how to start mapping, then I'd recommend picking up Ultimate Doom Builder. I personally don't recommend however diving head first into UDMF - you might get overwhelmed.

[Enjay]

On the flipside, however, I personally do recommend diving into UDMF. Why? While is is definitely more complex, it is also more logical. Many of the limitations of the other formats (especially the original Doom format) are simply illogical and merely exist because all they were needed for was to meet what id wanted to do with the game in 1993. Line actions are tied to activation types, whether actions can be repeated or not are also tied to their types, there are limited and quite specific sector and line types. Multiple actions from single lines are not possible (I don't entertain voodoo doll conveyor hacks) etc etc.

Yes, the learning curve might be a bit steeper, but I genuinely do not feel that it is much steeper than learning to map from scratch in any other format. But it you do then want to move on to UDMF, you still have to go through a second (albeit less steep) learning curve and "unlearn what you have learned" about many of the other mapping formats.

Just my £0.02 of course.