The idea is to point out priority targets. In a big crowd the chaingunner will whittle down your health, but it can be hard to see where he is. Maybe put a marker pointing at him, or something above his head, or just make him glow or bright or something until I find him. And maybe shotgun guys could also have this to a lesser degree.
Also, a more general graphic option to try for harder wads, maybe something that highlights enemies in general, makes them brighter. Even with "standard" GZDoom sector light mode, and 1.15 gamma on a bright monitor, sometimes the enemies blur into the surroundings for me a bit, especially when trying to find the shotgun guy or chaingunner. And sometimes in huger areas can be good to know more easily where Revenant missiles come from.
I've made do over the years, not blind as a bat (good Meat Loaf song) or anything, just an idea I had today while being gunned down looking for these priority targets, and thinking maybe some tools to help players out while upping their game would be a cool niche for someone to fill.
Idea: Priority target mods, or making enemies more visible?
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JudgeGroovy
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Matt
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Re: Idea: Priority target mods, or making enemies more visib
You can already hear gunshots, which will always be in the absolute direction of their source.
The doomguy's mugshot turns towards the source of any attack that hits you.
The pattern of the bullet puffs on the walls will show where the attack is coming from.
The game already has skill levels you can choose on entering.
(EDIT: Seconding everything Nash said in the below post)
The doomguy's mugshot turns towards the source of any attack that hits you.
The pattern of the bullet puffs on the walls will show where the attack is coming from.
The game already has skill levels you can choose on entering.
(EDIT: Seconding everything Nash said in the below post)
Last edited by Matt on Mon Jun 19, 2017 3:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Idea: Priority target mods, or making enemies more visib
I am not naysaying or putting down these ideas, as I can agree that Doom still remains to be quite hard today (a true survivor of the test of time in video games :D) but from a completely VISUAL standpoint, the Doom monster sprites are among some of the easiest to see in the environment. They have very distinct colours and the blockiness also helps the monsters to stand out in the environment's silhouette.
In my opinion, for Doom, the difficulty doesn't come from not being able to visually see them against the map (unless the map purposely hides them behind textures or 1-sided walls or something)... but rather, the game's AI is just brutal. Fast hitscans with almost no chance to miss forces you to constantly be on your toes and eliminate threats as fast as possible.
This is why I prefer sprite-based shooters. The sprites are so easy to see against the level.
And for this reason, I have a somewhat dislike for modern, photorealistic games. I first experienced this when I played the Rise of the Triad 2013 remake. Since the enemies and levels are realistically scaled, and realistically coloured... it just became annoying because I literally had trouble SEEING them. It didn't help that ROTT 2013 is very fast paced, which leaves me little time to scan the scene to see where the shots are coming from.
By contrast, with Doom, even quick swipes with the mouse, I can see in that split second - ah, I see 2 chaingunners there, I see a Zombieman up there, etc. With that same mouse swipe, I usually can't see the enemies in ROTT 2013. The damn enemies might as well just be part of the level's static decorative geometry.
Also have a similar experience with GTA 5. The environments are overly-detailed and look photorealistic, which is nice to look at, but finding the enemies in that photorealistic visual noise can be frustrating. I have to rely on the little compass at the corner of the screen a lot, and that's just not fun anymore.
From a design standpoint, this is interesting to take note of... realistic scale != good gameplay!
In my opinion, for Doom, the difficulty doesn't come from not being able to visually see them against the map (unless the map purposely hides them behind textures or 1-sided walls or something)... but rather, the game's AI is just brutal. Fast hitscans with almost no chance to miss forces you to constantly be on your toes and eliminate threats as fast as possible.
This is why I prefer sprite-based shooters. The sprites are so easy to see against the level.
And for this reason, I have a somewhat dislike for modern, photorealistic games. I first experienced this when I played the Rise of the Triad 2013 remake. Since the enemies and levels are realistically scaled, and realistically coloured... it just became annoying because I literally had trouble SEEING them. It didn't help that ROTT 2013 is very fast paced, which leaves me little time to scan the scene to see where the shots are coming from.
By contrast, with Doom, even quick swipes with the mouse, I can see in that split second - ah, I see 2 chaingunners there, I see a Zombieman up there, etc. With that same mouse swipe, I usually can't see the enemies in ROTT 2013. The damn enemies might as well just be part of the level's static decorative geometry.
Also have a similar experience with GTA 5. The environments are overly-detailed and look photorealistic, which is nice to look at, but finding the enemies in that photorealistic visual noise can be frustrating. I have to rely on the little compass at the corner of the screen a lot, and that's just not fun anymore.
From a design standpoint, this is interesting to take note of... realistic scale != good gameplay!
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JudgeGroovy
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Re: Idea: Priority target mods, or making enemies more visib
Wouldn't "enemy brightness level" or something be a cool thing to have, though? Like, whatever the sector lighting would have them be at, +10% or plus 25% all the way up to fullbright etc. The difficulty thing is one thing, but people have modded Doom in every way completely changing the gameplay, nothing wrong with the idea of making enemies more visible on occasion.
Also I realized after, I was playing a user map that used all custom textures, very brown/beige, making enemies blend in more. Then when I was back to playing maps with blue walls etc, enemies stood out best. So I guess an alternate option would be a mod to make all the walls bright blue...
(j/k - there is that FireBlu mod though!)
Plus some videos I see of Doom plays on youtube have the brightness way way up, I play with a darker brightness than some of those UVMax video posters. I guess that's one way of doing it, it's how they do it, I just think it would be cool to make the enemies stand out more without the whole game looking super washed out and bright. The priority target idea is a bit more niche though. People like mods that replace hitscan bullets with projectile tracer effects, there's an idea for everybody.
Also I realized after, I was playing a user map that used all custom textures, very brown/beige, making enemies blend in more. Then when I was back to playing maps with blue walls etc, enemies stood out best. So I guess an alternate option would be a mod to make all the walls bright blue...
(j/k - there is that FireBlu mod though!)Plus some videos I see of Doom plays on youtube have the brightness way way up, I play with a darker brightness than some of those UVMax video posters. I guess that's one way of doing it, it's how they do it, I just think it would be cool to make the enemies stand out more without the whole game looking super washed out and bright. The priority target idea is a bit more niche though. People like mods that replace hitscan bullets with projectile tracer effects, there's an idea for everybody.