[FAIL]The Stick Figure WAD

[chopkinsca]

So, basically you are going around killing black people? Cool.

[Matt]

well it's certainly a break from the usual fare that presupposes the entire cast is white...
(for other commentary on the actual demo see my previous post)

[lightman68]

I just noticed:

This robot is a high-class robot.

It doesn't matter what happens now, my headcanon for this mod is that this is a mechanocracy and the AI Big Bad is an upper class twit.


And the rest is commentary on the problems of today's increasing wealth gap.

EDIT: why the hell am I downloading an executable is this not a zed doom modification file
EDIT2: and why the hell is it 45 megs ::goes do other stuff while it slowly downloads::

EDIT3: ....it's not working. I'm surrounded by actors that say "Rain" but block your movement and I'm told to follow a guard that isn't moving. When I jump and run away I'm moving at "Hideous Destructor player carrying a BFG" speed down a corridor that looks like it'll take me about ten minutes to get through. ::turbo 600::

...please for the love of puppies tell me the later version will completely skip the now unskippable, text only plot exposition...
(and that the text file this all will be put in will be free of the typos)

...and the cinematics that put words in the player's mouth...

...two levels in and I haven't shot a thing... and it's all dark...

Level three, finally some action!

...and it's a dark unnavigable maze punctuated by rooms full of shotgun guys. :/

I think it needs a bit of polish, really. :/

whoa, the first level isnt supposed to show up a bunch of actors that say "rain". it supposed to literally show a rain animation. The whole purpose from the 2 first levels is to get info more smoothly and slowly. on the second level, its not like a natural cave will have lights and signs that say "go over there --->", You should be able to see from your own omitted light. So idk if your running this in Gl, but you shouldn't. I think your running the WAD incorrectly (The IWAD has its own executable app thingy or smthing). I did rush a lot just to post a demo .

[Matt]

Well, the light thing I think was more the fact that there was sunlight hitting the monitor at a bad angle at the time... otherwise it looks fine in GL.

That said, it still seems much too maze-y for my tastes...

As for the executable issue, I would strongly recommend against doing it that way, beyond including a copy of ZDoom as a courtesy to people who have never played a ZDoom mod before, given you can basically customize any actor in DECORATE to create a pk3 that a user can just drag and drop onto their own copy of ZDoom and run with minimal fuss. Avoiding separate-exe use also prevents problems with your mod looking very dated a few years and many ZDoom versions later, or compatibility issues with inis overwriting each other, or the annoyance of moving or copying your IWADs all over the place just to run one mod.

Basically, DECORATE and ACS are there for a reason and unless you're doing something very special like changing the netcode or adding a scoring system that shows up on intermission maps or rewriting the renderer or adding an in-game level editor or something, you should never in this day and age need to require that a user run a ZDoom mod with your own pre-packaged executable.

In any case I wasn't able to run the included exe even after putting the Chex Quest IWAD in the folder...


EDIT: As for the cutscene justification: one of the most powerful things about how Doom was originally presented was that there was a backstory but you started actual play in medias res - you could care as much or as little about the plot as you want, as long as you understood this was a shoot'emup about moving from Point A to Point B. No one who is not the creator wants to be required to sit through any non-interactive scene if they were originally expecting fast-paced play.

My suggestion: Start at Map 3 either inside the cell or just after finding the secret exit, with one hudmessage'd block of text that says this:

You were imprisoned for daring to speak out against the Nightmare Machine. You must now escape and stop its reign of terror and save mankind. Godspeed.

And all other plot revealed through little bits and pieces during play (big screens showing the Nightmare regime's propaganda, bits of vandalism and subtly coded graffiti left behind by other resistance agents, remains of brutally executed political prisoners, etc. etc. etc.).

[lightman68]

Well, the light thing I think was more the fact that there was sunlight hitting the monitor at a bad angle at the time... otherwise it looks fine in GL.

That said, it still seems much too maze-y for my tastes...

As for the executable issue, I would strongly recommend against doing it that way, beyond including a copy of ZDoom as a courtesy to people who have never played a ZDoom mod before, given you can basically customize any actor in DECORATE to create a pk3 that a user can just drag and drop onto their own copy of ZDoom and run with minimal fuss. Avoiding separate-exe use also prevents problems with your mod looking very dated a few years and many ZDoom versions later, or compatibility issues with inis overwriting each other, or the annoyance of moving or copying your IWADs all over the place just to run one mod.

Basically, DECORATE and ACS are there for a reason and unless you're doing something very special like changing the netcode or adding a scoring system that shows up on intermission maps or rewriting the renderer or adding an in-game level editor or something, you should never in this day and age need to require that a user run a ZDoom mod with your own pre-packaged executable.

In any case I wasn't able to run the included exe even after putting the Chex Quest IWAD in the folder...


EDIT: As for the cutscene justification: one of the most powerful things about how Doom was originally presented was that there was a backstory but you started actual play in medias res - you could care as much or as little about the plot as you want, as long as you understood this was a shoot'emup about moving from Point A to Point B. No one who is not the creator wants to be required to sit through any non-interactive scene if they were originally expecting fast-paced play.

My suggestion: Start at Map 3 either inside the cell or just after finding the secret exit, with one hudmessage'd block of text that says this:

You were imprisoned for daring to speak out against the Nightmare Machine. You must now escape and stop its reign of terror and save mankind. Godspeed.

And all other plot revealed through little bits and pieces during play (big screens showing the Nightmare regime's propaganda, bits of vandalism and subtly coded graffiti left behind by other resistance agents, remains of brutally executed political prisoners, etc. etc. etc.).

Know what, i like that "Map thingy" idea. Ima think of it.

Also from the other stuff, are you saying I shouldn't make a pre-packaged folder/archive thing if i have some sort of extra modded content (example: New weapon, More Monsters, Edit Sprite's names through DECORATE) inside my IWAD? and I should delete the SHORTCUT that is called "TheStickFigure" and just leave people the regular executable thingy to double click on(chex3.exe)?

[Matt]

I mean more that everything I see (or appears to me to be intended) in this mod can be accomplished using the various scripting features in ZDoom. Your final package should contain nothing inside except stickfigure.pk3 and stickfigure.txt.

What do you currently need the separate exe for anyway?

EDIT:

Chex Quest 3

lol I am an idiot. Been using the CQ1 IWAD (and runing GZDoom to the effect of "-iwad chex.wad -file stickfigure.wad") this whole time.

(But then again, there you go. DECORATE also lets you idiot-proof stuff.)


EDIT2: Okay, first off Chex Quest 3 is awesome and I thank you for causing me to try this.
Now that I've got that out of the way...

So apparently the exe is required. I've tried using GZDoom both loading Stick as an IWAD and as a PWAD with CQ3 as the IWAD, and both leads to the rain actor being a solid block with the word "RAIN" on it... but as far as I can tell CQ3 works fine. The intro looks a lot better now.

...also now that I've got the sound turned on. Really digging what happens in the transition from Map01 to Map03.

Please ignore everything I said about the intro previously. (though an option to skip the intro and some pictures for it would be nice...)

[nub_hat]

Hey I played the demo and it's very cool :) I love the art style and the music and I had fun playing it but I think you could improve it a bit
I have a few suggestions if you wanna read them, you don't have to change anything if you don't want to though (spoilered cause some level spoilers)

---

The first two levels feel like one big unskippable cutscene, I didn't mind it that much the first time through but it gets annoying when replaying the levels (I managed to get the guard stuck in the cell with me in e1m1 though that was pretty funny), an option to skip it would be great so you dont spend the first 3 minutes of every e1 playthrough reading text
When you switch to/from the fists you can see the chex quest spoon thing it's a bit weird
You gotta put the keys on the HUD somewhere, it's confusing having to open the console to check what keys I have
I think it would be great having ammo bars for all the different kinds of ammo on the HUD at all times so I don't have to switch over to check how much ammo I have for the other guns
I think the player should be able to run a bit faster than currently, it feels a bit slow at the moment but it's not a big complaint
The fence in e1m4 should be a bit lower so I can see over it, currently it's hard to see the enemies through it but they can see me no problem
It's not too fun having hitscan monsters shooting me from everywhere in an open area, maybe you could give them a fast projectile instead of instant damage so I have a chance to avoid their shots
Again in e1m4, the red door seems useless since the only thing behind it is the yellow key (and it's right next to the yellow door), you could replace the red key with the yellow key and
remove the red door or make a new exciting area behind the red door
In e1m5 I'm a bit confused by the invisible wall if I walk past the blue key door, I would prefer if you just put a huge wall blocking the road instead of not letting me walk further without explaining why
Are you supposed to be able to skip the final battle by running for the grass?
I can't see the stat screen after e1m5, you should show the stat screen before the end of demo/chapter text I wanna know how I did compared to the par time :)

Hope you'll keep working on this I like what I've seen so far

[lightman68]

Hey I played the demo and it's very cool I love the art style and the music and I had fun playing it but I think you could improve it a bit
I have a few suggestions if you wanna read them, you don't have to change anything if you don't want to though (spoilered cause some level spoilers)

---

The first two levels feel like one big unskippable cutscene, I didn't mind it that much the first time through but it gets annoying when replaying the levels (I managed to get the guard stuck in the cell with me in e1m1 though that was pretty funny), an option to skip it would be great so you dont spend the first 3 minutes of every e1 playthrough reading text
When you switch to/from the fists you can see the chex quest spoon thing it's a bit weird
You gotta put the keys on the HUD somewhere, it's confusing having to open the console to check what keys I have
I think it would be great having ammo bars for all the different kinds of ammo on the HUD at all times so I don't have to switch over to check how much ammo I have for the other guns
I think the player should be able to run a bit faster than currently, it feels a bit slow at the moment but it's not a big complaint
The fence in e1m4 should be a bit lower so I can see over it, currently it's hard to see the enemies through it but they can see me no problem
It's not too fun having hitscan monsters shooting me from everywhere in an open area, maybe you could give them a fast projectile instead of instant damage so I have a chance to avoid their shots
Again in e1m4, the red door seems useless since the only thing behind it is the yellow key (and it's right next to the yellow door), you could replace the red key with the yellow key and
remove the red door or make a new exciting area behind the red door
In e1m5 I'm a bit confused by the invisible wall if I walk past the blue key door, I would prefer if you just put a huge wall blocking the road instead of not letting me walk further without explaining why
Are you supposed to be able to skip the final battle by running for the grass?
I can't see the stat screen after e1m5, you should show the stat screen before the end of demo/chapter text I wanna know how I did compared to the par time

Hope you'll keep working on this I like what I've seen so far

Thank you for your opinions
1. I am enhancing the first 2 levels right now.

2. I going to see what is with the chex quest spoon thing with the fists.

3. I forgot to add key slot things in the demo sorry .

Ill get to work right now

[Wargasm92]

This looks...interesting.

Although, I must agree with some of the things that have been said here. I haven't DLed as I am currently feeling lazy, but from what I've read and seen, it still looks like it needs a little more polishing before it's really ready to be released as an alpha. You should probably work on that story a little more, at least fix the grammar etc issues (me no liek speeling mistaks!) but otherwise, it looks good. I like that punch animation, it made me laugh. No idea why. :]
Also, I can see in some of the screenshots that you're using that diagonal carpet-thingy texture from Doom. Honestly, I feel that for a stick figure mod, you could get away quite well with just a plain, one/two colour floor. Grey would work alright (although perhaps I just watch too many stick figure animations on the internet...) but you do what you want with that. Good work so far!

Anyway, your gameplay looks like it's a solid effort and I think people would agree with me when I say it looks quite good. Keep it up!
Wargasm92, out.

[taufan99]

Damn, it uses Chex Quest 3...
luckily Mediafire was my friend.

[lightman68]

Damn, it uses Chex Quest 3...
luckily Mediafire was my friend.

koo

[JustinC]

Don't worry about shading if your images are 'basic"

[lightman68]

Well, I am working on making Graphics from walls and floors a bit better. I'm guessing their too... simple... XD

[lightman68]

Gawd, so much time, so little progress... I'd be lucky to even get it done! D:

[lightman68]

I'd be lucky to even get it done! D:

I just don't find it fun to make a WAD anymore... Hmm... I need to achieve that "feeling" again so I can continue