Superball - last update 2020-02-23

[Matt]

2020-02-23: Now that I've got a webspace again I've reuploaded some stuff that used to be on the old one. Superball has updated documentation and is now released as BSD-3, and fast mode no longer has that pre-fire altfire delay that made it so useless.

2014-12-25: Because I'm a hugeass loser with no life you guys are awesome and deserve this wonderful Xmas gift I just spent Xmas Eve and Xmas Day redoing all the weapon and player code on this mod from scratch!
(for all subsequent updates just read the thread - download link is the same each time.)

Biggest changes from the 2009 version (which now causes a freeze whenever the ball hits something and I have no idea why):

• The ball now inherits your movement and has gravity, and each shot pushes you back a bit.
• You get an altfire that lets you shoot a very fast, lower-gravity ball, which mitigates much of your own inherited movement but disables your gun for a terrifying and usually lethal 2 seconds. (NB: you have to hold down the key for a split second.)
• Ball damage is now deterministic. It is by design that any direct hit will instantly kill any player (200 damage ignore armour).
• No more random mega-explosions. Oddly enough, between this and the deterministic ball damage the game is no less utterly fucking chaotic than I recall the old version being - possibly even more so.
• No special pickups other than weapons and weapon-replacers.
• Not quite as much ball variety, it seems. Will work on that.I think I've outdone the old mod at this point. (AlsoStill no obituaries for now, but I think I'll leave that as it is.)
• New minimalistic HUD.
• Monsters are solid. Players, however, can pass through each other and generally cannot telefrag each other.
• Mandatory spawn protection: you cannot pick up items or get hit for 2 seconds or until you shoot, whichever comes first.
• New powers based on ammo pickups. Now if you have at least:
  • 100 clips, your primary shot has double ROF.
  • 40 shells, your alternate shot is a 3-round burst.
  • 10 rockets, your shots bounce.
  • 200 cells, your shots rip.
  The good news is that if you take any damage you lose ammo!
• New cvars to customize your experience:
  • sb_grav = turns on gravity on balls.
  • sb_slow = slows down all players.
  • sb_nopu = removes ammo-based powerups.
  • sb_pitch = if sb_grav is on, adjusts the pitch of your shot to be slightly higher than where you're aiming. (client only)

---

So after XutaWoo's take on the idea I decided to take another look at my old mod.

Premise: All the hitscan weapons are gone. The player's only weapon is a powerful rocket-like deal that can also be used to block shots. But be careful - there's a very small but non-negligible chance that a blocked shot will blow up in your face killing everyone in the room!

Players move slightly slower but have considerably less mass, letting them jump, rocketjump and knock other players around. Players are also non-solid to allow maximum mobility.

OLD Download: Here

[old screenshot broken links deleted 2020-02-23]

[Captain Proof]

I haven't played this yet but I wanted to say that Skybox is pretty fucking awesome.

[Pedro vc]

I haven't played this yet but I wanted to say that Skybox is pretty fraking awesome.

[Matt]

It is, isn't it.

[Matt]

Minor update: changed the HUD and used random spawners instead of new actors in the weapon pickup replacements.
EDIT: Derp, forgot to add keys to the HUD.

[Matt]

Massive necrobump update! I've completely rewritten the mod from scratch (except only for the monsters) using (G)ZDoom features that weren't even theoretically on the table 5 years ago.

For the record, here are the changes in case I edit them out of the OP:

• The ball now inherits your movement and has gravity, and each shot pushes you back a bit.
• You get an altfire that lets you shoot a very fast, lower-gravity ball, which mitigates much of your own inherited movement but disables your gun for a terrifying and usually lethal 2 seconds. (NB: you have to hold down the key for a split second.)
• Ball damage is now deterministic. It is by design that any direct hit will instantly kill any player (200 damage ignore armour).
• No more random mega-explosions. Oddly enough, between this and the deterministic ball damage the game is no less utterly fucking chaotic than I recall the old version being - possibly even more so.
• No special pickups other than weapons and weapon-replacers.
• Not quite as much ball variety, it seems. Will work on that. (Also no obituaries for now, but I think I'll leave that as it is.)
• New minimalistic HUD.
• Monsters are solid.

The bots are surprisingly super effective here, so if you can't grab enough people you're willing to share a connection with give them a try!

[Abba Zabba]

Heh, first found his mod on your website around a year ago; thought it was an beginner's project, didn't know it was on the forums. Was a blast! Though I avoided berserks since the screaming drove me insane.

[Matt]

I knew I forgot to mention something! Yeah, no screamy railgun zerkball this time - not for any design reason, I just couldn't get them to work. ._.

[Matt]

Just added a whole bunch of balls and fixed a bug where the imp ball would be faster than any other. Same download link as before.

[Big C]

I think I'll try this with nuts.wad. Thanks, Vaecrius!

[Matt]

Anyway since I'm still on vacation yet another update. Lots of aesthetic tweaks including feedback for shots and hits.

Also playing way too many botmatches with this to this song:

[Big C]

For shits and giggles, of course.

And because this seems like a vaguely danmaku-ish mod.

[T1 Heavy Tank]

Ok the PK7 wont play in Zdoom, GZDoom, Zandronum 2.0 alpha, and Zandronum (Full Version) thanks

[edward850]

Ok the PK7 wont play in Zdoom, GZDoom, Zandronum 2.0 alpha, and Zandronum (Full Version) thanks

Because you need to actually update G/ZDoom.

[Matt]

Up to now there have been 2 major ways in which gameplay flow has been reduced:
1. Zombies and imps have 100 health and take forever to kill.
2. Players can block each other's movements.

That's all gone.