ZDoom

Spoiler:

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Introduction
Nearly nine goddamn years[1] after the original mod emerged from the swamp of our psyche and roughly half a decade after its last update, Reelism is back! More to the point, it's being reborn.[2] I've teamed back up with The Shadsy and we've gone back to square one - pretty much all the code built up for the original Reelism has been thrown out, and we've been rewriting the entire mess in ZScript, allowing for terrifying new possibilities and/or bugs.[3]

While we've got a reasonably solid-ish skeleton set up, we still need to build all the actual content - since we're rewriting everything, we can do things in much smarter ways, do things we had planned and either couldn't do or couldn't get around to in the original mod, and replace stuff that that either sucked or hasn't aged well with new and exciting things.[4] We're also adding some weird new elements into the mix, including a metagame of sorts... but we'll talk more about that later.[5]

Gameplay
If you never played the original Reelism, here's how it works: It's basically an arcade survival mode where gameplay is split into five sixty-second rounds. At the start of each round, three modifiers on a slot-machine style display are re-rolled, changing gameplay rules and what weapons and monsters spawn. Some of these are fairly normal, like, say, "explosive weapons" or "Imps and their many variants". Some are quite a bit less normal, like "drive an invulnerable tank", "swarms of the dogs from Wolfenstein 3D" or "shrink to the size of a Pinky's toe". If, after five of these rounds, you've somehow managed to stay alive, a strange and wacky boss will swing by to finish you off. Defeat the boss to achieve victory! Alternatively, die hilariously and vow to get a higher score next time![6]

Screenshots
All screenshots, as ever, are non-final.


The additional engine features added over the last five years or so allow for new and exciting ways to mess with challenge the player.


Some classic maps return, having grown and evolved with exposure to years of hindsight. Here's a sneak peek at the second-generation Astrolab.


Bosses return, with a new system behind them allowing for new possibilities, such as encounters with multiple bosses at once.


Of course, the stranger side of Reelism will continue to show in new and interesting ways. Get dunked on, nerds!

Downloads
Reelism 2 is not currently ready for public consumption. We still need to build a lot more content before we feel comfortable inflicting it upon a wider audience. In the meantime, we'll post regular updates here and even-regularer updates on Twitter. If you contributed to the original Reelism or have exhibited a knack for ZScript Crime, let me know and I'll try and pull you into the loop.




[1] Yes, I find this depressing too. Time makes skeletons of us all.
[2] As opposed to being unborn, which is a whole different kettle of grown adults crawling into pink felt sacks while moaning loudly.
[3] Our current favorite is sporting equipment achieving sentience.
[4] The battles about what to do with that one long-irrelevant enemy reel (you know the one) continue to rage on into the night.
[5] When we've built more of it. Currently it's much like the rest of the mod in that it kinda works but needs a shedload of content.
[6] Before you ask, yes! There's a point to your score now! Yeah, a point to points. I know, right?

Spoiler:

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Nine... y-years?

* looks to the calendar in the kitchen and puts both hands in head, thinking about how much utility i've been giving my time *

Dr_Cosmobyte wrote:if this is not an early April's fools and you're not playing with our fragile feelings