Nothing at the moment. It was planned to make it so you earn those mastery levels, then the weapons would be permanently at that level regardless if you change to another, and pick a mastered weapon up later or not. That plan changed, and the current plan is to increase damage done by a weapon once you level up its mastery level.
There will also be other ways to improve a weapon in the future, once I get the system in and rearrange the Weapon Status Window. As stated in an earlier post, I am trying to make some forms of progression once you reach level 3 with a weapon, as some people may not switch out weapons often, and I can imagine that would be boring if nothing changes once a weapon is maxed out. Hopefully the Weapon Enhancer change will encourage switching more often, though!
Holy crap, I LOVE this mod. I do have one thought though:
Subweapons should be their own dedicated button. Sometimes you wanna fling one out, but if you're using a secondary fire enabled weapon, you can't unless you stop firing. Why not have the Use Item button be dedicated to subweapon usage?
retronutcase wrote:Holy crap, I LOVE this mod. I do have one thought though:
Subweapons should be their own dedicated button. Sometimes you wanna fling one out, but if you're using a secondary fire enabled weapon, you can't unless you stop firing. Why not have the Use Item button be dedicated to subweapon usage?
Hmm...That's a good idea, and would make some weapons that utilize Alt-Fire to activate their features less awkward to use, while also not requiring a primary shot to be used first. I'll see if I can get it to work right. If I cannot, then I could always remove one of the lesser used abilities, such as the Flash Guard and replace that with the Sub-Weapon key. I can even move the Equipment Screen over to the Use Item key, and move Sub-Weapons to User1-4, as the upcoming update sets the Equipment Screen to User4.
I would actually say Flash Guard is a must keep for certain enemies like the replacements for the Revenants. Those guys without a flash guard are just awful.
I took the suggestions here and improved the keybinds. Now alt-fire is reserved for weapons that utilize the function, such as the Quick Strike and Winged Reaver. No longer will usage be quirky and awkward, while some times firing out Sub-Weapons by mistake! I've also moved the Status Screen to 'Inventory Use', in order to make the previous change possible. Hopefully the keys don't take too long to get used to - but as always, I am open to feedback, should that be the case!
On another note, thanks to a good friend's help, we were able to make the Flash Guard much more useful of an ability. It is now held out as a temporary shield, instead of it being used as a very situational ability that rarely saw use. Take a look at the example video below!
I hope to have a stable release out within the month - next month tops. Thanks for the feedback and for playing!
In regards to the poll, I did plan to make new characters, but the weapon set would be the same for each one. The differences for each character, however, would be changing their Ability 1/2 (Which in this case, is Flash Guard and Quick Kick for this current playable character), and their 'Ultimate' (Bullet-Eye Mode). Of course, this also means the HUD portrait, voice clips, and hands on weapons would change as well to match the different characters. Another idea I had in mind was to make each one specialize in a weapon family. For example, the character we have all been playing as from the start, Valnos, will specialize in RAPID weapons. This means that RAPID weapons will have better handling and possibly even a special effect, but only when he is played. I'd like to hear players' thoughts on this!
The development version will go on hiatus. That does not mean the mod is no longer being developed! Far from it, in fact! Development was moved over to GitLab, and a download to that will be available once everything is in working order. With the help of a good friend (help as in, he did all the work), the systems of the mod have been refactored. What this means is that most code was ported over to ZScript, and therefore, will make adding in new content such as weapons a breeze! The main reason I didn't make weapons as often is that they were quite the chore to add in, with information having to be entered into SBARINFO, and adding swap code to every other weapon actor. With the new code, all the necessary information is added into a weapon's properties, streamlining the entire process while also reducing the time to create a weapon by a considerable amount. I do believe it would even be possible for players to add in their own weapons, if they are willing to put in the work for weapon levels. Everything else should be a simple process!
The above image, which was once a concept, has now been turned into a reality! While these items won't do anything other than add to your score, they will still be fun to find and collect!
With this, there may be a slight delay in the planned release, as one of the things I need to do is to enter weapon information again. Thankfully, doing so will be much simpler than it previously was.
The updated dev version has now returned! This will now be on GitLab (with link provided straight to the download), while the older Dropbox version will still remain. The Dropbox version will cease updates, however, and all future dev updates will be on the GitLab link. I will still package stable releases into PK3s for ease of access, once those are available!
You won't see too many changes in this dev version, as most updates were under the hood improvements. You will see that the reloading and ammo use systems are now available, however! Players can mix and match options between 'Weapons Reload' and 'Weapons Use Ammo' to fit their play style. I may still need to adjust ammo drop rates, but feedback on that is always appreciated! Feedback on reload sounds would be helpful as well!
Another thing you will see is a working collectibles menu, but no actual collectibles to...collect! Those will come soon, as adding them in is extremely easy to do.
Other than that, there are still a few more changes to come before the next stable release is out - namely revamping a few more weapons.
Having just tested the newest beta (with unnecess.wad ~ the short episodic rush-type levels are ideal for Bulleteye), looks pretty good. Looking forwards to the new stable release when it comes.
I will say that the assassin chaingun (?~ the one that doesn't fire unless it locks onto to things) seems extremely powerful; rapid tapping it almost guarantees a pain state and reduces single targets to mush, which I don't think is the intended use, but it is the best one. That, plus my old favourite the Snek-Hand-Puppets-gun (as I like to call it~ speaking of which, I'd love to see them open their mouths as they fire, that would be fun) was enough to carry through pretty much any situation, though the triple cannon and flamer were pretty cool. The stick-on-bombs gun is still my least favorite gun, seems very weak, and the spread-fire seems mediocre still (the scrap-gun at least basically acts as an SSG).
Also, are there supposed to be such a low amount of upgrade orb drops? I only saw 2 in 12 levels. Which of course isn't enough to even buy a single level 2 upgrade, lol.
I'm aware they're the starter weapon as well, but the homing shurikens continue their place as 'not really worth my sub-weapon-ammo' as well, by the way. I discovered a new love for Cross-Mine though, that's pretty cool.
eharper256 wrote:Having just tested the newest beta (with unnecess.wad ~ the short episodic rush-type levels are ideal for Bulleteye), looks pretty good. Looking forwards to the new stable release when it comes.
I will say that the assassin chaingun (?~ the one that doesn't fire unless it locks onto to things) seems extremely powerful; rapid tapping it almost guarantees a pain state and reduces single targets to mush, which I don't think is the intended use, but it is the best one. That, plus my old favourite the Snek-Hand-Puppets-gun (as I like to call it~ speaking of which, I'd love to see them open their mouths as they fire, that would be fun) was enough to carry through pretty much any situation, though the triple cannon and flamer were pretty cool. The stick-on-bombs gun is still my least favorite gun, seems very weak, and the spread-fire seems mediocre still (the scrap-gun at least basically acts as an SSG).
Also, are there supposed to be such a low amount of upgrade orb drops? I only saw 2 in 12 levels. Which of course isn't enough to even buy a single level 2 upgrade, lol.
I'm aware they're the starter weapon as well, but the homing shurikens continue their place as 'not really worth my sub-weapon-ammo' as well, by the way. I discovered a new love for Cross-Mine though, that's pretty cool.
The Assassin Vulcan I'll most likely give a small cooldown after firing, but not one so big that it would make it undesirable. The Storm Mine still needs a L3 effect, but I can also bump up the damage a bit on the mines to make it more useful. Spread Shot I am still working on, and still need to change the L2 and L3 effects. I revamped it previously, but it still didn't feel right. Scrap Launcher will receive an alt-fire soon to make it much more fun to use.
As for the Weapon Enhancers, I can increase the drop rate of them a bit. I may also make score mode mandatory, as having that enabled will reward you with Weapon Enhancers if you kill all enemies or find all secrets in a map. That, and I may have more uses for it in the future.
I may need to tune the shurikens a bit, but they are quite useful for getting some enemies around corners now! Before, they had no homing capabilities. The Cross Mine still needs to be finished, but yes, it's going to act as an actual mine now, which can be placed. Hopefully the effects look neat so far!
Thank you very much for the feedback! It really helps!
It might be nice for the assassin vulcan to be able to fire without lock-on as well; possibly as an alt-fire, just for those times you need to hit shootable switches.
As another feedback in terms of quality of life; don't know if its possible, but it would be nice to have a 'query this' option, where you can point at a new gun or armour and see what it does (ideally in comparison to yours, with stats, ala. Diablo games) prior to you picking it up. Its especially an issue I find at the moment with armour pieces, as you basically have to pick it up, stroll through the menus to armour to see what it does, and then pick your old one up and see what that does as well. Also the option to have a pick-up button when you have a locked inventory. The two in combo would really help with managing your loadout.
We are in the final stretch! An update should hopefully be released by the end of the month, if all goes well. I know about two months ago, I said "July tops" would be the release date. However, that was before the whole refactor was done! The refactor, as mentioned earlier, makes content much easier to add as opposed to before, while also improving upon existing code or utilizing ZScript to streamline mechanics. Of course, convenience comes at a cost, as when some bugs are fixed, others pop up. We are squashing them all as fast as we can, and I may delay some weapon revamps until the next update, but rest assured, everything should be ready soon.
I did want to add a few more new weapons and new enemies with this upcoming release, but I think it is best to first get a far more stable mod out the door, compared to what's available in the current live release.
Also, for those who were unaware, we now have a Discord server which also houses a number of interesting projects in the works from other members! https://discord.gg/cFpdvWZ
Hope you've been enjoying the mod, and I thank those who have stayed with us this far.
After seeing screens and videos recently of the mod using the current stable release instead of the dev version, I thought it was time to get the update out the door. Besides, the last update was released on May of 2018 so I think it's about time!
This update is so extreme that it skipped versions 0.9.8 and 0.9.9 and jumped straight to 0.10!
As stated in my previous posts, you won't find too much in the way of new content - however, almost every weapon has been revamped or has a new feature added to it in order for them to feel much more fun and unique to use. So it will still feel like a new experience! The next update will definitely focus on adding in new weapons, revamping the remaining few that need it, and giving an art/animation pass to the existing weapons so that they feel much more enjoyable to fire. You'll see what I mean by that when you use the new starting weapon. It will also help to balance out the current arsenal, as there are only two selections available for the MELEE and SEEKER categories of weapons.
I gave it a test run to see if I missed any bugs, and fixed whatever I found. Hopefully I got them all! At least the ones that are major. You will still see some things that don't make sense, such as reloading with the Winged Reaver. That is because it will be changed in the art/animation pass to be similar to how the Slicer weapons from Phantasy Star Online function, in that the weapon is swung but not actually thrown, but projectiles are launched from the weapon with each swing.
There are also options to enable reloading and ammo usage. They can be mixed and matched to create an experience with which one would find most enjoyable. Do you like infinite ammo but require reloads like Overwatch? That can be arranged! Or how about classic Doom where no reloading is done, but ammo usage is the standard? Go right ahead! Please note that the update has been balanced with at least reloading in mind, so some items or weapons may not work correctly with it disabled. Though, it's nothing that will cause any major issues - it is just a matter of imbalance with certain weapons.
ATTENTION! An important thing to note is that due to how the damage and defense slider code has changed, you will need to set them to 1.0 (or whichever setting you prefer) before playing. Otherwise you will deal little to no damage!
Hopefully I covered everything that needed to be said. As always, we hope you enjoy the update!
Posted: Fri May 24, 2019 3:20 pm
