Friendly Zombies Brothers Companions [V4.1]

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TheAgaures
Posts: 31
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2021 9:34 am

Friendly Zombies Brothers Companions [V4.1]

Post by TheAgaures »

UAC Technology is fascinating, and allowed for some miracles in these terrible times. Somehow, in a well hidden research station,
a group of scientist managed to hold captive 2 zombies and, thanks to some powerful technology, they altered their soul and will
to fight the demonic possession, and improve their abilities well beyond simple zombies...


Wait, is that even possible ?
Nah that sounds unrealistic.
How about...


One day, you woke up and there was 2 zombies. A Zombieman and a Shotgun Guy. They made you some coffee. They were friendly. No one knows why, neither how, and god isn't fully sure himself
at this point. They're just here. 2 Zombies Brothers. That fights evil along with you. And they like you. 2 Zombies Bros. Yup.


Now that's better !

//////////////////

You will have 2 friendly zombies to fight with you everywhere you go !
Here's how they work:

-You can give them orders by pressing the use button when on them, in case you want them to be realistic and not
literally go batshit crazy.

-They are fully customizable, thanks to their own option menu. You can make one of them spawn only, or even none
if they somehow gets too annoying. Neat !

-They will try to act like players as much as they can, going as far as being able to pick up weapons, and heal
themselves using stimpacks and medikits placed on the map (you can disable these features as well).

-Not only they can expand their arsenal of weapons, but they can also get XP from killing monsters! The more HP a monster
has, the more XP it will be worth. After reaching 200 XP, they will unlock a special reward which can help them to improve
even more!

-Zombies will fight a lot, but they can also be useful in other ways! From time to time, if they are idle near you for long
enough, they will start searching items in the vicinity. They might find stuff, or not, or even weapons to give to themselves.
Yes, they will share weapons they find with each others. Brotherly love even after death. And if you are low enough on life,
they will share some health goodies!

-And much more to come!

UPDATE V4.1 07/06/22

-Fixed a bug where the zombie's chat would overlap often (it might still happen, but way less than before)
-Fixed an issue where the zombies could be shot even after dying, causing them to die more in the end.
-Fixed an issue where the zombies would be able to pick up weapons, or health items when dead.
-Added more voice lines for the Escape Plan and Friendly Rescue upgrade, and as well for picking up weapons they find on their own.


UPDATE V4 06/06/22

-Added the option to make the zombies transparent when near the player.
-Added the option to make the zombies ghosted, which will prevent the player's bullets from hitting them. (But also prevents enemy projectiles from hurting them)
This is a temporary option until I find how to make them truly unshootable by the player only.

-Added an option to make the zombies talk !
They will be able to chat once in a while, depending on their actions. They will even taunt the enemies after kills !
You can also change their default lines to a more... classy dialect.
-Updated the entire code of the zombies to simplify modifications in the future.
-Lots of bug fixes as usual.

There will be bugs, as I can never get rid of them all, it's a love hate relationship.
If you spot anything bad, feel free to comment about it, and I hope those small changes can make the games with
these dumbasses better (especially for the bullet block)


UPDATE V3 29/05/22:

-Added new upgrades for both brothers !
-Added a several new options, such as customizing their speed, showing their names, or even changing their colors !
-The name will always match the zombie's color in game.
-Fixed a lots of nasty bugs.
-Fixed a bug where Explosive Retaliation wouldn't give XP to the zombies if they killed monsters with it.
-Added more weapons for the zombies to collect: Shotgun for Zombieman, and Chainsaw for Shotgun Guy!
-Added some visual effects to grenades.

UPDATE (2) 25/05/22:

-Hotfix: Fixed a bug where the game would crash if one of the zombies found a berserk upgrade.
-Removed unused upgrade from Zombieman's reward pool. (Will come back later fully functional)
-Added visual effects whenever a zombie heal himself.


-Lots of bug fixes.
-Added many more upgrades to unlock.
-Added the ability to disable the zombie's mode select, and to use hotkeys instead (This will allow you to press switches if they're on top on you.)
-Fixed a bug when the zombies would find items extremely fast while searching. (Now their rate of search is nor too long, nor too short.)
-Adjusted the type of damage they cause to avoid conflicts with other mods (hopefully !)


Feel free to tell me if you have any suggestions or bugs you might encounter :D


https://www.mediafire.com/file/09q56xub ... 1.pk3/file


There isn't much screenshots to provide, so you'll have to try these big boys by yourself!
It's also just a recolor of a Zombieman and Shotgun Guy, but i'll add more features about that whenever I can.

This is my first mod done with ZScript, so I don't expect everything to be perfect, but I sure hope it gives you lots of fun, like
it did for me!
I will add more and more features over time, so stay tuned, and any feedback is greatly appreciated !
Last edited by TheAgaures on Tue Jun 07, 2022 6:27 am, edited 6 times in total.
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Spaceman333
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Re: Friendly Zombies Brothers Companions

Post by Spaceman333 »

Perfect, I'm down for another companion mod, thank you for making this! :D
TheAgaures
Posts: 31
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2021 9:34 am

Re: Friendly Zombies Brothers Companions

Post by TheAgaures »

Spaceman333 wrote:Perfect, I'm down for another companion mod, thank you for making this! :D
Not a problem, I hope you will like these 2 idiots as much as I do :)
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mamaluigisbagel
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Re: Friendly Zombies Brothers Companions

Post by mamaluigisbagel »

Really liking it so far, I especially like the additions compared to other companion mods such as the xp gain, the fact they can be killed (but resurrect a certain amount of times per level) and the amount of customization. Also highly appreciate making one green and the other red. Not just because it makes it easier to tell them apart from regular zombies, but it also makes me think of Mario and Luigi, which may have been intentional lol. Everytime I see one leap into the air after seeing an enemy I can't help but think of "Jump Up, Superstar" xD

Random picture I took while testing

TheAgaures
Posts: 31
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2021 9:34 am

Re: Friendly Zombies Brothers Companions

Post by TheAgaures »

mamaluigisbagel wrote:Really liking it so far, I especially like the additions compared to other companion mods such as the xp gain, the fact they can be killed (but resurrect a certain amount of times per level) and the amount of customization. Also highly appreciate making one green and the other red. Not just because it makes it easier to tell them apart from regular zombies, but it also makes me think of Mario and Luigi, which may have been intentional lol. Everytime I see one leap into the air after seeing an enemy I can't help but think of "Jump Up, Superstar" xD

Random picture I took while testing


Thank you very much, i'm glad you like these 2 goofballs! I always wanted a companion that could be just like the player, and I think I did it!
Also I just realized mid developpement that these 2 were actually like Mario and Luigi, it wasn't my intention at first but I had to go with it :lol:
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Spaceman333
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Re: Friendly Zombies Brothers Companions

Post by Spaceman333 »

Here's another pic of them up close.

Image

Very versatile companion mod and quite different from any other companion mod in terms of configurability, character growth and additional features.

Been playing with them tagging along for about 15 different maps so far and they're kickin' ass quite nicely. Stellar work! :thumb:
TheAgaures
Posts: 31
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2021 9:34 am

Re: Friendly Zombies Brothers Companions

Post by TheAgaures »

Spaceman333 wrote:Here's another pic of them up close.

Very versatile companion mod and quite different from any other companion mod in terms of configurability, character growth and additional features.

Been playing with them tagging along for about 15 different maps so far and they're kickin' ass quite nicely. Stellar work! :thumb:
I'm really glad you've been enjoying my mod !
I'm currently working on them to add even more features, so stay tuned :D
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Spaceman333
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Re: Friendly Zombies Brothers Companions

Post by Spaceman333 »

The companions can sometimes block me from pressing switches because I end up cycling through their modes instead.

I haven't been doing the use commands on the brothers in general either - I'm usually fully content with them just either be following or aggressive - so perhaps in the settings menu an option to set a default mode for the brother to be be either follow, aggressive or use command, where the former two would disable the use command, preventing the above issue.
Starman the Blaziken
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Re: Friendly Zombies Brothers Companions

Post by Starman the Blaziken »

I kind of always wanted to see a good companion mod with the respawn and leveling features, so great job on that. :)
But I did notice one thing with the grenade the green zombie throws as it seems that if a certain WAD makes a sort of change to the actor, it can make it so that the grenade can deal damage to you as well.
Suppose you might want to make so a new actor, so it hopefully does not conflict as easily as so if it changes to me another WAD's grenade type.
TheAgaures
Posts: 31
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2021 9:34 am

Re: Friendly Zombies Brothers Companions

Post by TheAgaures »

Spaceman333 wrote:The companions can sometimes block me from pressing switches because I end up cycling through their modes instead.

I haven't been doing the use commands on the brothers in general either - I'm usually fully content with them just either be following or aggressive - so perhaps in the settings menu an option to set a default mode for the brother to be be either follow, aggressive or use command, where the former two would disable the use command, preventing the above issue.
Thank you very much for the feedback, I sadly noticed that they would block me often as well, I'll make the change right away :)
TheAgaures
Posts: 31
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2021 9:34 am

Re: Friendly Zombies Brothers Companions

Post by TheAgaures »

Starman the Blaziken wrote:I kind of always wanted to see a good companion mod with the respawn and leveling features, so great job on that. :)
But I did notice one thing with the grenade the green zombie throws as it seems that if a certain WAD makes a sort of change to the actor, it can make it so that the grenade can deal damage to you as well.
Suppose you might want to make so a new actor, so it hopefully does not conflict as easily as so if it changes to me another WAD's grenade type.
I'll check it out as soon as I can, hopefully I can come up with something :)
TheAgaures
Posts: 31
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2021 9:34 am

Re: Friendly Zombies Brothers Companions

Post by TheAgaures »

Thank you for your feedbacks, I was able to come with a solution that should solve these problems (I hope !)

UPDATE 25/05/22:

-Lots of bug fixes.
-Added many more upgrades to unlock.
-Added the ability to disable the zombie's mode select, and to use hotkeys instead (This will allow you to press switches if they're on top on you.)
-Fixed a bug when the zombies would find items extremely fast while searching. (Now their rate of search is nor too long, nor too short.)
-Adjusted the type of damage they cause to avoid conflicts with other mods (hopefully !)


https://www.mediafire.com/file/d2wsimbk ... 2.pk3/file
TheAgaures
Posts: 31
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2021 9:34 am

Re: Friendly Zombies Brothers Companions

Post by TheAgaures »

I have updated yet again my mod due to a game breaking bug, hopefully it will be gone for good now !

UPDATE (2) 25/05/22:

-Hotfix: Fixed a bug where the game would crash if one of the zombies found a berserk upgrade.
-Removed unused upgrade from Zombieman's reward pool. (Will come back later fully functional)
-Added visual effects whenever a zombie heal himself.


Download Link: https://www.mediafire.com/file/1uahfc4w ... 1.pk3/file
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Spaceman333
Posts: 622
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Re: Friendly Zombies Brothers Companions

Post by Spaceman333 »

TheAgaures wrote:Thank you for your feedbacks, I was able to come with a solution that should solve these problems (I hope !)

UPDATE 25/05/22:

-Lots of bug fixes.
-Added many more upgrades to unlock.
-Added the ability to disable the zombie's mode select, and to use hotkeys instead (This will allow you to press switches if they're on top on you.)
-Fixed a bug when the zombies would find items extremely fast while searching. (Now their rate of search is nor too long, nor too short.)
-Adjusted the type of damage they cause to avoid conflicts with other mods (hopefully !)


https://www.mediafire.com/file/d2wsimbk ... 2.pk3/file
Awesome! The hotkey solution is excellent, much better. Solves many problems at once.

I've had a few moments where I was using a sniper rifle to pick off enemies at a distance, but the zombie bros kept getting infront of my gun, hitting them instead. Another issue was levels where I had to navigate narrow corridors with crushers, but because there was no way to tell them zbros to stop & go, I had to park them at the entrance and finish the rest of the level without them.

The hotkey solved both of these. And as a bonus I don't have to chase them down to change their behaviour too. Thank you for the good update! :D
TheAgaures
Posts: 31
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2021 9:34 am

Re: Friendly Zombies Brothers Companions

Post by TheAgaures »

Awesome! The hotkey solution is excellent, much better. Solves many problems at once.

I've had a few moments where I was using a sniper rifle to pick off enemies at a distance, but the zombie bros kept getting infront of my gun, hitting them instead. Another issue was levels where I had to navigate narrow corridors with crushers, but because there was no way to tell them zbros to stop & go, I had to park them at the entrance and finish the rest of the level without them.

The hotkey solved both of these. And as a bonus I don't have to chase them down to change their behaviour too. Thank you for the good update! :D[/quote]


A pleasure to have been able to come up with a solution, I honestly thought i'd never make it since I know nothing about ACS :lol:
But at least that's out of the way, i'll come up with even more features, most likely one that allows to show their health, lifes remaining, xp, weapons acquired and upgrades !

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