Thank you very much for your detailed comments and critique. I took the time to write down my own thoughts.
Retraux Squid wrote:
They can be moved quite a lot closer to the center of the screen. The reloads don't need to be any smoother, but they could use being sped up quite a bit (Duke3D style). The actual XCOM sounds would be very nice to have (I don't think it's illegal to rip game sounds and use them for a mod, is it?). Depending on how "modern" you'd like the mod to feel, bullet casings/smoke/visual recoil could be interesting additions. Weapon pickups could use a healthy amount of ammo with them given that no aliens drop it, and pickups in general could be things like backpacks and whatnot with more than 1 clip per vanilla clip pickup, to balance it out. Removing weapon bob to prevent the edges of the weapon from being seen (and to make it feel a little more "tactical") would be nice.
The screen weapon placement might look different on different resolutions, I'm not sure. On my screen, they look good and have been positioned so to not show the edges on bobbing, but disabling weapon bob would probably be a good idea, as is screen shaking (I experimented with the A_Quake command but couldn't figure out how to make only the screen shake and not the player as well). "Ripping game sounds and use them for a mod" means redistributing material from third party, something that is specifically mentioned in the EULA. That so much sprites etc. from games get included in mods is more because these games are old and the right owners don't care anymore
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Retraux Squid wrote:
Arc Thrower: Would replace the Chainsaw, just stuns aliens (deals a set amount of damage with a special drop set on a "kill" with it).
I have included the Arc Thrower with the current version (to be uploaded later), it works as I and you described, it deals special damage and if the aliens "die" from it they drop their plasma weapons. This mechanic would benefit from a on-screen health bar indicator for enemies to know when they are close to death so they can be stunned to get their weapons.
Retraux Squid wrote:
Shotgun: Would benefit from a more aggressive pump animation- currently the soldier barely moves it backwards. I know there's no Super Shotgun, but reducing this thing's damage and inaccuracy to be more in line with the single Shotgun would help. This could probably be found in standard Shotgun weapon spawns (I'd recommend placing dead XCOM or generic military soldiers in the spawner with the weapon, to explain why they're there- of course, with custom maps, you control where these appear, so that's not so much of a problem).
The problem with the shotgun cocking animation is the model itself; the forward stock can only move a few real-worl inches before it clips into the receiver, I notices that but it's just the design of the weapon. In XCOM this isn't as apparent since the shotgunner does a fancy "one-hand-pump" animation with a lot of movement to both the weapon and the arm. I agree that is might be too powerful at the moment. Accuracy is actually slightly less than Doom's, but the spread is not limited to the horizontal plane.
Retraux Squid wrote:
LMG: I'd put this in regular Chaingun spawns, along with the chance for some ammo or a rocket launcher (i.e. on a dead Heavy). Could do with a heavier feel (shake a bit while firing, loud-ass sound, etc.) as currently it feels more like a battle rifle in comparison to the AR than the hulking squad support weapon it is.
Yes, the sound could be better, maybe I can find something beefier. I thought of this as being similar to Opposing Force's M249 or Half-Life 2's aliens machinegun. Ammo should be kinda rare so it gets used only in dire circumstances, similar to the Plasma Rifle in vanilla Doom.
Retraux Squid wrote:
Rocket Launcher: No real problems, though for a weapon that's quite a lot slower than the stock RL it seems too weak damage-wise.
Agreed, it needs more damage and bigger explosion.
Retraux Squid wrote:
Sniper Rifle: The bolt animation looks kinda strange, other than that I didn't have too many problems with it. I could see this appearing in Plasma Rifle spots, as you already have 2 automatics (AR and LMG).
As with the shotgun, the bolt cycling animation is limited by the model; The bolt can't move back enough to fully eject and insert a round
Retraux Squid wrote:
Grenade: Would be a good addition. Alien nades would just be flat damage upgrades, but would probably be much rarer and only dropped by nade using aliens (I'd recommend making these inventory items, not weapons, to keep things simple and consistent).
Good idea.
Retraux Squid wrote:
General: Could get a lot more blood particles and general gore during the death animations, as they are unusually clean ATM (the "clean" deaths would work just fine as "stunned" aliens with an Arc Thrower). The firing positions of the plasma bolts could be moved over the exact muzzle locations of their plasma weapons. Some of the aliens need resizing (e.g. Sectopods are bloody tiny, and Zombies seem kinda huge). Their actual EU sounds would be very nice.
Agreed. I don't want to include seperate gory death sprites as that would mean a lot more tedious work so maybe some particle blood effects will have to do for non-stun death.
All assets in general are sized consistently to each other. However, seeing that these come from a game where they would mostly be seen from above, their vertical dimensions might be exaggerated. I thought about placing the spawn position of the plasma bolts over the muzzles but feared that it might lead to monsters firing at walls when they target the player. Some testing is in order!
Retraux Squid wrote:
Sectoid: I like this, don't recommend any real changes ATM aside from making the plasma bolt come out of the pistol. I'd have him replace the Shotgunguy too, but unlike the Zombieman replacers, shotgunguy replacing Sectoids would be able to "mindfray" the player (read: weakish long-ranged hitscan attack with a purple hue, representing them screwing with your head), using their pistols more often. I don't see how Mind Merge would work without a lot of ZScript magic, so best not to use it (unless it's Sectoids healing each other, which is very doable).
I have become dissatified with enemy hitscan attacks (the Sectoid Commanders are more of a threat than I initially thought since I sped up their mindfray animation). I now aim to have them a "rolling thunder" type attack where a big "psi bolt" is fired and makes the ground under it explode.
Retraux Squid wrote:
Thin Man: This alien could be scaled down a bit and could benefit from a stronger, faster-moving plasma bolt (seeing as how he has a rifle, not a pistol). He could perhaps fire more than one shot, or use his Enemy Unknown poison spit attack.
Spit attack is definitely planned, as is some puking for the zombie
Retraux Squid wrote:
Outsider: Since he's in the Chaingunner slot- and his EU animation had 6 rapid fire shots- I'd recommend making him endlessly fire to be more of a challenge.
I haven't played XCOM in quite some time so you are probably right. I saw him as some sort of generic alien soldier but making him a rapid-firing monsters might also be fun.
Retraux Squid wrote:
Drone: Could be slightly smaller; since it's weaker than vanilla Lost Souls, making it much faster and fire more often would help. If there were nearby Sectopods it'd be nice to see this thing heal them with a beam.
I was actually planning for them to heal Sectopods but couldn't figure out how to do it. So now they only revice dead aliens.
Retraux Squid wrote:
Chryssalid: I like this a lot, it's just fine.
I plan to make them drop pieces of their armor upon death which act as armor bonuses for the player.
Retraux Squid wrote:
Zombie: I think this should be slow, weak, and pathetic, but burst into a much faster-moving Chryssalid when killed, just like OG X-Com; hence, you would try to avoid them or at least mitigate how many you kill to get through your path. Could be a bit smaller too.
Hatching a Chryssalid is also planned, I will see if there's a special animation for that in the game files.
Retraux Squid wrote:
Muton: I like the Revenant slot, but seeing as how these guys are the most common alien heavy infantry in EU, I'd recommend also putting a squad of 1-3 in the Arachnotron slot, and a squad of 3-5 into the Mancubus slot. They could fire three plasma bolts and throw grenades as a random special attack when the player is fairly close.
Good idea about the squads and grenades.
Retraux Squid wrote:
Muton Berserker: Fairly decent for a Hell Knight replacement, though it seems like just a much heavier Demon. Could get a "charge" special attack.
A charge attack woudl be cool but then again, I don't know how to do it
Retraux Squid wrote:
Muton Elite: Should throw grenades (much farther than Mutons) and fire bursts of Heavy Plasma fire.
I wonder, what kind of weapon should the Heavy Plasma be? a quick-firing plasma machinegun or a slow-firing cannon?
Retraux Squid wrote:
Sectoid Commander: I think this one should replace the Arch-Vile; Ethereals IMO should be a monstrous threat comparable to a Spider Mastermind. Could buff all Sectoids around (make them shoot crazy fast and deal more damage). At longer ranges it would use a "mindfray" attack (read: Archvile style heavy hitscan damager with a purple hue), at close range it would panic and use its plasma pistol plus alien grenades.
I like the arch-vile replacement although I wonder if the Sec Com isn't too frail for that?
Retraux Squid wrote:
Ethereal: Needs to be much stronger and more deadly; I also suggest mindfray here, plus summoning reinforcements. A single Ethereal would be a good Baron of Hell replacement.
Summin reinforcements is a cool idea.
Retraux Squid wrote:
Sectopod: Needs to be bigger. I love its missile attack, but its plasma attack is a bit rough around the edges, and the beam cannon has a tendency to totally miss a stationary player. Could be a great Cyberdemon replacement.
Even bigger?
I don't like the Sectopod at all, he indeed had trouble hitting things since the ray fires from such a great height.
Retraux Squid wrote:
Should be a bit smaller (towers over the vanilla Doom player).
It would be interesting to have "classes" similar to XCOM; you'd have the Support with lots of medkits (as an item), AR, and pistol; Assault, with shotgun, pistol, and grenades (maybe a flashbang too?), Sniper, with a sniper rifle, pistol, and medkit/other support item, and Heavy, with LMG, rocket launcher, and grenades. Or just Rookie, who just has his trusty rifle, grenades, and pistol, and probably no idea what he's about to face.
I seem to remember that the XCOM sprites were scaled according the normal Marine player sprites, maybe my math was off or they just seem to be bigger since they are leaner overall?
Classes would be perfect for this mod but don't benefit much for longer campaigns, since progressing by way of finding and using new weapons is an important part and having a lot of these at game start would destract from that. Might work better for custom missions, though.
Retraux Squid wrote:
Ultimately I really like this and can't wait to see where it goes. Props to you for the fantastic monster and weapon rips.
Thank you very much. New version is coming out soon, with all plasma weapons plus arc thrower (and hopefully grenades).