(Cast your vote here!)
Screenshots!
Spoiler:Cola 3 is a sequel to an unfinished sequel to a really old early-GZDoom mod of mine, The Adventures of Mister Cola. The original mod was a basic set of weapons that all had powered-up versions that'd enable when you found a six pack of cola. The sequel gave weapons gradual (albeit uninteresting) upgrades that came from, of all things, health pickups. Both, I'd argue, were missteps in the realm of gameplay and theme.
Nowadays, though, I felt like randomly giving the concept a third try, using the basic gameplay of Cave Story as inspiration. In Cola3, you have a small selection of weapons that have infinite ammo (with reloading because damn it I like reloading), but every enemy drops a pile of "cola bubbles" that fill that weapon's upgrade bar. Each weapon has 3 upgrade levels, with significant behavior changes (so it's not like cola2 where it just boosts damage). However, you must take care not to get hit, as taking hits reduces your weapon's upgrade bar, and you can lose levels this way.
Weapons and Items
Spoiler:The Credits
X. Melee
Every weapon in the game (the ones that are fully implemented, at least) has a melee attack that you can perform by pressing Weapon Zoom. It does precisely 50 damage per whack, making it invaluable if your weapon is empty, or if you'd like to quickly finish off a foe that's too close.
XX. Super-Shaken Soda Grenades
Found in the Inventory bar (or with the Quick Throw Grenade key in the controls menu), your Cola Powers enable you to weaponize an ordinary can of cola as a contact explosive. Soda Grenades don't bounce, but they do throw at an arc (so aiming up is encouraged to hit distant foes), and they do explode on contact, harming everybody but you. Your Soda Grenade will recharge automatically over 30 seconds. (Also be on the lookout for cans of Blastola Cola, which are even more powerful!)
X^3. PortaCola Flask
"The cola you can take with you!" PortaCola is a revolutionary drink that can withstand the rigors of super-fast movement, jumping, even punches and bullets, without ever shaking up or exploding in your pocket. Health bonuses are replaced with PortaCola bottles that get stored in the inventory bar (or the Quick Heal key on the controls menu), you can use all of your PortaCola at once to heal up to 100 health. You can carry up to 100 units of PortaCola, with each pickup giving you 2. (In the Raven games, you gain PortaCola from Quartz Flasks; 20 units per pickup.)
X*e+4. Arms Barriers
Armor Bonuses and Armors are now Arms Barriers. Mini Barriers are worth 5, regular Arms Barriers are worth 50, and Max Arms Barriers are worth 100. They don't absorb damage on their own; the Arms Barrier's function is to prevent your weapons from leveling down whenever you take a hit. Regardless of the hit's damage, the Barrier takes 10% damage when you are struck. Barriers also give you 60 seconds of Armor Powerup, which reduces all damage that you take by 50% until the timer runs out. (Mini Barriers do not give the powerup.)
X-X!V''Q. Cans of HP Cola
All health items are replaced with various kinds of cola! Single cans only restore a little health, six-packs restore a lot of health, but all cans can be shot at and destroyed - this actually has some benefits! You don't get health out of destroyed cans, but the resulting fizzy blast can severely damage if not totally destroy nearby enemies, and they'll always drop some Cola Bubbles with which to upgrade your stuff. If you don't think you'll need the HP boost, by all means, fill those cans fulla holes!
1. Marston R-1 Techvolver
An unassuming little 12-shot revolver (with a Hungarian-influenced double-ring cylinder) that serves as the mod's starting weapon. It doesn't do a lot of damage at first, but its quick rate of fire and effortless reload mean you won't have to duck behind a wall in the middle of a fight. Upgrading is easy due to its low EXP requirements, and it doesn't lose much EXP when you're damaged, either. It's just an all-round dependable weapon.
2. KS-23 Shotgun
Replacing both types of shotguns, this Russian-made 4-gauge riot shotgun holds only 4 shells, and is very slow to reload at first, but is stupidly powerful even at base level. It both upgrades and downgrades quickly, with a low level requirement but also a very high penalty for taking damage. Upgrades will help significantly with reload and firing speeds. But what's better than a 4-gauge riot blaster? How about another one? Pick up another KS-23 and you'll gain the ability to dual-wield them, boasting full support for Synthfire - either fire them both at once, or fire one while reloading the other using Super Armpit Skills. The dual shotguns use the same level gauge as the single shotgun, so it may be worth switching back to the single one if your level is too low, since reloading and pumping take somewhat longer per shotgun than the single one does. Also, if I forgot to mention, the shotgun(s) also have a radius-blast effect - enemies (and most projectiles!) will be sent flying away from you if they're close enough when you pull the trigger, and this is effective at all power levels.
3. Kare Brand Cards
Replacing the Chainsaw, this ordinary (yet familiar-looking) deck of cards appears to have Mutant Powers. Flinging cards around with abandon (and pretty pink trails) can make you feel like a Ragin' Cajun, as the cards bounce off surfaces and explode into a cloud of Solitairey goodness, dealing a fair heft of damage and never needing to reload. Be careful, however, as leveling up the Cards actually levels them down - they begin to lose their Mutant Powers as you gain levels with it, and the only way to make them Powerful again is to take damage yourself. Fortunately, they're quick to lose levels this way, and the Arms Barrier completely ignores them. (One useful strategy, if you're leveling a weapon that has a high damage penalty, is to have the Cards equipped while you're collecting Barriers, since the Arms Barrier won't absorb damage while you've got the Cards out.) Also, be wary of a Special Surprise when under the effects of Zero-Calorie Cola.
4. Plasma Autorifle
"The hotter, the faster!" - rather a lot like another weapon from a certain other FPS game, the Plasma Autorifle is a slightly inaccurate, mildly devastating rapid-fire weapon that has a tendency to overheat. Heat management is a must - not just because overheating will render the weapon inoperable for a few seconds, but because heat also governs rate of fire. As the Autorifle gets hotter, its rate of fire increases to roughly 5 times its base speed. So keep it burnin' hot - just not TOO hot. (Unless you're at max level, or in powered-up mode, in which case overheating the Autorifle causes it to expel a long burst of deadly flame instead of simply ejecting mostly-harmless smoke.)
5. Sidewinder Missile Launcher
No relation to the AIM-9 Sidewinder, this snake-based explosive projectile actually resembles a snake! A snake with a rocket motor! While at first a bit imprecise, as the rockets spiral out of control and pretty much hit whatever they feel like hitting, upgrading the missiles improves their guidance to fly straight, and then adds cola-splosive cluster payloads to the mix, and at max level, spews homing missiles everywhere. The best part: none of them do any damage to you whatsoever, making this a great weapon to get out of sticky situations.
6. Piledriver
An "accidental" hybrid between a pilebunker and a rivet gun, the Piledriver is a CO2-powered, spike-flinging nightmare of a gun. Its magazine only holds 20 spears, and holding the Fire button down for too long tends to deplete its CO2 supply, causing spears to fire with significantly less force than usual (for both less damage and less distance), so you may need to retreat behind a corner to let the CO2 recharge. When upgraded, the Piledriver will shoot faster, recharge faster, and lose less damage potential when the CO2 gauge is low.
7. Toothpaste Laser
Named for the, uh, loving nickname of a certain weapon from Raiden 2, the Toothpaste Laser's overall behavior is a bit more reminiscent of Panzer Dragoon's homing lasers...albeit a bit less controllable! Clicking to fire will cause it to shoot 2 small laser beams that will curve to hit any enemy targets on screen. Holding the fire button will charge it up - at max level, it fires 6 small beams and 1 huge beam that will eradicate whatever happens to get in the way. This weapon does not level up.
P1. ReGen Cola
What's that? No bonus health? No, ReGen doesn't heal you above 100, but it DOES grant you 30 seconds of health regeneration!
P2. Zero-Cal Cola
All the damage, none of the calories! Zero-Cal grants you 30 seconds of LEVEL X POWER for all weapons, in addition to healing you.
P3. MAX Cola
A great big two-liter bottle of cola goodness, grants you not only a full heal, but also the effects of ReGen Cola and a full Arms Barrier with armor benefits! Replaces the Megasphere.
Spoiler:
CREDITS LISTING
/graphics/
/cannon/cannon.png - Sprite originally provided by Neccronixus, borrowed and recolored by me.
/deck/deckhand.png - An actual photo of a deck of Areaware Solitaire.exe cards. Deck by Susan Kare/Areaware, photo by me.
/effects/Muzzle**.png - Blood by Monolith Productions, recolored by me.
/hands/dzhand**.png - Various hand sources: id Software, Banjo Software, Monolith, Interplay, Raven Software, 3D Realms, edits by Marty Kirra and myself. Sleeves come from a skin mod for Counter-Strike Source by Predaaator and Fishsticks?, available at https://gamebanana.com/skins/28781
/heatgauge/*.png - Original graphics by me. The writing on YESTAPE.png is the font "Edo SZ" by Vic Fieger, available at https://www.dafont.com/edo-sz.font
/hud/
BOTL*.png - I can't track down my original source for this graphic, but I recall it came from OpenClipArt.org. I did a *LOT* of tweaking and editing to it to do what all I needed it to do.
COKE*.png - Written using the font "Loki Cola" by Utopia, available at https://www.dafont.com/loki-cola.font
COW*.png - Original graphics by me.
GREN*.png - Based on a vector image from https://www.iconspng.com/image/90632/silhouette-arme-01
HUDBUL*.png - I don't know where this came from.
HUDSHELL.png - Edited from a vector image from http://www.clipartpanda.com/clipart_ima ... s-40421148
itembox.png - The box is my own graphic. the "Item" label was written in "Loki Cola" by Utopia.
PILECO2*.png - Based on a vector graphic from https://openclipart.org/detail/188627/oxygen-tank
POWGLASS.png - Based on a vector graphic from https://openclipart.org/detail/224375/orangejuiceglitch
/pepsifont/*.png - Originally written in "Pepsi" by Jakub Degórski, found at https://www.dafont.com/pepsi.font with very heavy alteration by myself to properly shade it and to make it work at a low resolution. This also applies to the repaletted (and recolored) variants found in /filter/heretic.
/piledriver/piledriv.png - Originally a TF2 model by Avenger Corp.(tm), model-ripped by Captain J, with pieces stitched on from the SMEG from Postal 2 (also model-ripped by Captain J) and other miscellaneous bits from other Captain J model rips. The result was then recolored by a user who wishes to remain anonymous.
/plasma/*.png - All graphics in this folder were drawn and kindly donated to the project by zrrion the insect. Recoloration was my work.
/revolver/*.png - Captain J model ripped these sprites from the Sketchfab model "Cyberpunk Revolver" by Paul C, found here: https://sketchfab.com/models/10d9dc3caa ... 680333ee71
/shotgun/*.png - Captain J model ripped these from an unknown source; pillowblaster and zrrion the insect kindly helped make it look neater.
/sprites/
FPANA0.png - PO'ed by Accolade; hand alteration by myself, including sleeve from Predaaator and Fishsticks?' CS:S arm skin
/cards/CLBS*, DMNS*, HRTS*, SPDS* - Windows Solitaire, drawn by Susan Kare, ripped (and slightly altered) by Isle.
/cards/TCD**.png - Windows Solitaire, drawn by Susan Kare and run through Adobe After Effects by myself for that spinning effect.
/cards/poker/PKR1, PKR2, PKR3 - Written by me in "Broadway" (a default Windows font?).
/cards/poker/PKRC* - Daniel Cook drew these for Tyrian; I just removed the black border from them.
/cards/robot/* - Draw by Susan Kare for Windows Solitaire, after which I bastardized a walk cycle for them and cut them into smaller bits.
/cola/
BON1A0.png - Based on a graphic drawn by Xaser(?) for Psychic, used and recolored with kind permission (as far as I can remember).
CBBL*.png - Recolor of graphics from Bubble Symphony: The Story of Bubble Bobble 3 by Taito.
CBBX*.png - Recolor of graphics from Zombies Ate My Neighbors by LucasArts.
COLA*.png - From LameDuke (Duke Nukem 3D alpha version).
PEPSI0.png - Photograph (promotional?) of a bottle of Pepsi MAX, provided by Yholl.
RGEN*.png - LameDuke Coke can, recolored by me.
SODGA0.png - Zombies Ate My Neighbors.
WWBC*.png - The Adventures of Captain Comic (MS-DOS).
ZCAF*.png - LameDuke Coke can, recolored by me.
/effects/
BARX*.png, FBLX*.png - Blood by Monolith Productions.
HGFB*.png - Freedoom.
SMOK*.png - Unknown original source; originally obtained from Doom 2.5 by Kronos.
SPKB*.png - Solarsnowfall.
TRAC*.png - Original graphic by me.
/items/
BARR*.png - Tyrian, drawn by Daniel Cook.
CHRY, GRAP, ORAN, STRW - Xargon by Epic Megagames.
IBRUA0.png - Promotional photograph of a can of IRN BRU.
KSSG*.png - Various stages of a pickup originally drawn by myself (using a photo as reference), then enhanced in turn by pillowblaster and zrrion the insect.
MRAK*.png - Cave Story+ (Doukutsu Monogatari) by Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya, upscaled and altered by myself. Snake head comes from a Duke Nukem 3D beta resource release (source unknown).
PARPA0.png - My original graphic.
PDRVZ0.png - Uses a photo from the Jane's Defense Library 2000 CD-ROM as a base; the rest of the sprite was drawn by myself.
REVPA0.png - Sketchfab model "Cyberpunk Revolver" by Paul C, found here: https://sketchfab.com/models/10d9dc3caa ... 680333ee71
RKPUA0.png - Based on a graphic by Neccronixus, heavily altered, rearranged, and redrawn by myself.
TPPKA0.png - Captain J from an unknown model.
WSOLA0.png - Susan Kare for Windows Solitaire, with heavy reshading and alteration by myself.
WSOLB0.png - The unmodified Windows Solitaire icon.
/mercmissile/*.png - Freedoom, recolored by me.
/piledriver/
BLAD*.png - Hexen.
FRG2*.png - Duke Nukem 3D?
FRME*.png - Radix: Beyond the Void by Epic Megagames.
/sidewinders/*.png - From a dump of Duke Nukem 3D beta resources (source unknown).
/toothpaste/
SLS*.png - MofoOfSpades drew these many, many years ago. I've been recycling them ever since.
TPLG*.png - Captain J ripped this from an unknown model; I modified it very heavily afterwards. Fonts used: Agency FB, Edo SZ, MS Hei(?).
/filter/chex/sprites
All sprites in the Chex Quest filter folder are borrowed from Samsara, provided by kind permission of TerminusEst13. I was not able to track down more detailed credits.
/sounds/
Dryfire.ogg - Unknown (Counter-Strike Source?).
/bullets/
trcefly*.ogg - No One Lives Forever 2.
trcehit*.ogg - Medal of Honor: Allied Assault.
trceric*.ogg - Goldeneye.
/burps/
burp1.ogg - Deus Ex.
burp2.ogg - Grand Theft Auto.
burp3.ogg - Grand Theft Auto 2.
burp4.ogg - The Simpsons.
burp5.ogg - Mr. PIBB: The 3D Interactive Game.
burp6.ogg - Earthbound.
burp7.ogg - Unknown (stock sound library?).
/cards/
cardchrd.ogg - Windows 98.
carddry.ogg - Windows 3.1 and 007: Nightfire by Gearbox Software.
cardhit*.ogg, cardtos*.ogg - Hoyle Classic Solitaire by Sierra On-Line.
cardwin1.ogg - Windows 3.1.
cardwin2.ogg - Windows 98.
cardwin3.ogg - No More Heroes Original Soundtrack, plus 278183__ylearkisto__peliautomaatti-potti-old-arcade-game-kitty-mechanical-playing-sounds-some-elctronic-signals-big-win-coins-tinkle from Freesound.org.
chiphit*.ogg - Hoyle Casino (1996 edition) by Sierra On-Line.
getcards.ogg - Hoyle Classic Solitaire.
scrdhit*.ogg - Phantasy Star Online by SEGA.
scrdtos*.ogg - City of Heroes.
/cards/robots/
roboleg*.ogg, robostep.ogg - unknown (Diaz v3).
robosprk.ogg - unknown (ww-magop.wad).
/handgun/
pistlv0*.ogg - System Shock 2 and Call of Duty 2 (mixed).
pistlv1*.ogg - System Shock 2, Call of Duty 2, and City of Heroes.
pistlv2*.ogg - System Shock 2 and Call of Duty 2 (mixed).
pistlv3*.ogg - System Shock 2 and Call of Duty 2 (mixed).
pstlejec, pstlinst, pstlopen - Vunsunta for Wannabe's Raging Bull for Counter-Strike Source.
pstlxplo - Yakuza 4.
/items/
DrinkWtr - Fallout 3.
Get2ltr - Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Fallout 3, Links LS 1998 Edition.
GetArmsL, GetArmsM - Unreal (with mixing).
GetArmsS - Team Fortress Classic (sped up).
getblast - Metal Gear Solid 3, plus musical cue composed by me (based on sfx from Captain Comic).
GetBubl1-6 - Same as burp1-6 from /sounds/burps/, with musical cue added by me (based on sfx from Cave Story).
GetBubl7 - Hoyle Casino (unused sound), with same musical cue.
GetCola - Unknown stock sound, plus drinking sound from Outlaws by LucasArts.
GetColaP - Same as above, plus "oh yeah" from Links LS 1998 and unknown choral sample (GM.DLS?).
getkey - Musical cue composed by me (based on sfx from ZZT).
getmisl - Musical cue composed by me (based on sfx from Cave Story).
getmislr - Soldier of Fortune 2 (slowed down), plus musical cue composed by me (based on sfx from ZZT).
getpaste - TimeSplitters 2 (mixed).
GetPChry - Kiloblaster by Epic Megagames.
GetPDriv - Command and Conquer: Renegade (mixed).
GetPGrap - Xargon by Epic Megagames.
GetPlasR - Unknown gun clicking sound (stock sound library?) plus Descent 2 pickup sound.
GetPOran - Xargon.
GetPStby - Kiloblaster.
GetXarg - Xargon.
nuh_uh - Mr. PIBB: The 3D Interactive Game.
porta* - Unknown (Half-Life 2?).
sodahit - Half-Life 2.
sodatoss - Timesplitters 2.
sodaxplo - My own recording, plus hissing from unknown source.
/levelups/
leveldn1 - Duke Nukem 3D (slowed down to mimic the Tiger Game.com version).
leveldn2-7 - Gazillionaire Deluxe, by LavaMind Software (with mild speed alterations).
levelup1 - Dimahoo (Great Mahou Daisakusen) by Eighting/Raizing.
levelup2 - Wetrix by Zed Two.
levelup3 - Crimsonland by 10tons.
levelup4 - Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory.
levelup5 - The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
levelup6-9, levelupA-C - Gazillionaire Deluxe, by LavaMind Software.
/melee/
meleeht* - Left 4 Dead 2 and Oblivion (mixed).
meleepf* - Left 4 Dead 2 and realMyst (altered and mixed).
meleepsw - Oblivion and Quake 4(?) (mixed).
meleepw* - Left 4 Dead 2 and No One Lives Forever 2 (mixed).
meleesw, meleewl* - Left 4 Dead 2.
/menus/
eb* - Earthbound.
menuopn1 - Pepsiman (Mike Butters).
menuopn2 - Earthbound.
menuopn3 - PIRATES (NIX).
menuopn4 - Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius.
menuopn5 - SiN (outtakes folder).
menuopn6 - Hoyle Casino.
menuopn7 - Red faction (outtake).
menuopn8 - Super Smash Bros. Melee.
menuopn9 - QTest (unused?).
menuopna - Wetrix.
menuopnb - Swarm.
menuopnc - ""
menuopnd - Soldier of Fortune 2 (outtakes folder).
menuopne - QTest.
/missilelauncher/
mslexplo - Star Wars: Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight.
mslfire - Serious Sam 3: BFE.
mslload - Stock sources from Sonniss GDC Sound Library.
mslsuper - realMyst (mixed).
/piledriver/
pilealt - Killing Floor (DLC weapon).
piledry - Deus Ex.
pilefir* - Forsaken.
pilehit* - Half-Life 2.
pileload - Command and Conquer: Renegade.
pilexplo - Powerslave by Lobotomy Software.
/plasma/
DSFTHROW - Hexen.
lasrbeep - Deus Ex (sped up).
lasrhiss - Half-Life (sped up).
lasrlv_* - Descent and Saints Row 2 (mixed).
merc* - Descent II.
/quits/
pepsimn* - PepsiMan by Kindle Imagine Develop.
/secrets/*.png - Mr. PIBB: the 3D Interactive Game.
/shotgun/
pshtback, pshtfwd - Combination of sounds from a Twitter video by @Scarlet_Yusuri, and Sonniss GDC 2016 - Pole Position Production - Saiga-12 12g solid slug.
pshtfir* - Saints Row 2, Outlaws, and Sonniss GDC 2017 - Gamemaster Audio - Bullet Impact Sounds.
pshtgbn* - Soldier of Fortune 2.
pshtglod - Quake 4 and Max Payne 2.
pshtgren - Unknown sources and 3D Pinball: Space Cadet (Full Tilt! Pinball).
pshtload - ZPC (remixed).
pshtxpl* - Quake 4.
/toothpastelaser/
tpaste1-3 - Mechwarrior 4: Vengeance and Galaxy Force II (Genesis).
tpasteaf - Galaxy Force II and Sonniss GDC Sound Library.
tpastec - 3D Pinball Space Cadet, reversed.
MISC CREDITS:
TerminusEst13, Marrub, Combine_Kegan, InsanityBringer, and a bunch of other cool people on Discord (moral support and some code help)
Captain J (a lot of graphics came from his SnapShooting Workshop)
Neccronixus (the current Missile Launcher sprite)
PillowBlaster (I borrowed a pickup sprite from him, and then he turned around and totally spruced up the shotgun and gave major gameplay feedback)
A contributor who wishes to remain anonymous (serious sprucing-up of the Piledriver sprite)
Yholl (I borrowed his synthfire script with some changes)
Snarboo and other contributors who extracted data from various ACKNEX games
Zrrion did the plasma rifle sprites and also some major major touch-ups on the shotguns holy crap
AFADoomer helped a damn lot by porting the HUD to ZScript among other nice fixes
Nyss had the bright idea for the Blastola Cola
torridgristle made the soda machine template I used for the menu/titlemap
The titlemap textures come from Freedoom
Marrub's been a damned lot of help with all this ZScript stuff, like, my god
dawnbreez came up with the rather inventive "BulletZ" system that replaces all hitscan attacks with bullet tracers. AFADoomer came up with a vital fix for it so enemy refires work correctly. /zscript/ColaBulletZ.txt is almost entirely their work.
Enough Already, Let's Try It Out Don't worry, it's still 100% free to download, I'm not selling it or anything, but if you feel like giving me a little donation as thanks, you may do that now.