Friendly Zombies Brothers Companions [V4.1]

[TheAgaures]

Update V3 is now out, adding some more stuff for the dumb duo !

-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.

Download Link: https://www.mediafire.com/file/5b2wzb04 ... 3.pk3/file

[Spaceman333]

Loving the new upgrades & features, especially the name highlights and color changing is big. Previously I had often mistaken them for another enemy and shot at them by accident because I was running a monster pack that had enemies that almost looked like the bros. These customizations help tremendously with that.

[Baratus]

Ey, it's great to see that companion mods are still being made! This is an excellent mod, highly sophisticated with its levelling and upgrade systems. Playing this for the first time I felt the joy of playing co-op with friends and being able to demolish Hell's armies with friends without having to worry about lag or random disconnects. I ran through some levels that I find typically to be a bit too tough to attempt normally, and the zombie bros tipped the scales nicely. If anything, I was struggling to get any kill confirms myself since as they were so brutally fast and efficient.

My only issue with the mod, minor as it might be, is that the zombies teleporting to you seems to be a little bit hyperactive. While in Aggressive mode, Zombies will run all over the level, and then teleport back every 3 seconds or so. This has led to instances where I've fired an SSG blast and even a BFG and watched with dismay that every single pellet and tracer has disappeared midair, because the zombie decided to teleport to my exact location and absorbed the shot. By any other metric, they are more helpful than hindering, and it's a small price to pay for having two co-op buddies. Maybe I was playing in maps with a lot of cramped spaces, and maybe I should try the other behaviour modes. All in all, great job with this. Doomguy might be a one man army, but an army of three is triple the fun.

[TheAgaures]

Ey, it's great to see that companion mods are still being made! This is an excellent mod, highly sophisticated with its levelling and upgrade systems. Playing this for the first time I felt the joy of playing co-op with friends and being able to demolish Hell's armies with friends without having to worry about lag or random disconnects. I ran through some levels that I find typically to be a bit too tough to attempt normally, and the zombie bros tipped the scales nicely. If anything, I was struggling to get any kill confirms myself since as they were so brutally fast and efficient.

My only issue with the mod, minor as it might be, is that the zombies teleporting to you seems to be a little bit hyperactive. While in Aggressive mode, Zombies will run all over the level, and then teleport back every 3 seconds or so. This has led to instances where I've fired an SSG blast and even a BFG and watched with dismay that every single pellet and tracer has disappeared midair, because the zombie decided to teleport to my exact location and absorbed the shot. By any other metric, they are more helpful than hindering, and it's a small price to pay for having two co-op buddies. Maybe I was playing in maps with a lot of cramped spaces, and maybe I should try the other behaviour modes. All in all, great job with this. Doomguy might be a one man army, but an army of three is triple the fun.

Thank you very much for your feedback !

The main thing with the aggressive behavior, is that as long as there are enemies in their line of sight, they will keep fighting until there's no more foes in the area. As for protective mode, they can only stay in a certain radius around you, if you are too far while they are fighting, they will be teleported back to you, which is probably what happened. Aggressive behavior will not teleport them to you no matter how far you are until they are out of combat (unless they have certain upgrades).
As for the Stay mode, it will simply make them stay in the designed spot, and even after fighting, no matter how far you are, they will remain in the zone they were tasked to defend.
Sadly yes they might become a little bit annoying in cramped spaces as they do move around a lot, eventually blocking your line of sight, and sadly I haven't been able to come with a solution to make the bullets go through them like projectiles

[TheAgaures]

Loving the new upgrades & features, especially the name highlights and color changing is big. Previously I had often mistaken them for another enemy and shot at them by accident because I was running a monster pack that had enemies that almost looked like the bros. These customizations help tremendously with that.

Glad I was able to make it better

[Spaceman333]

Ey, it's great to see that companion mods are still being made! This is an excellent mod, highly sophisticated with its levelling and upgrade systems. Playing this for the first time I felt the joy of playing co-op with friends and being able to demolish Hell's armies with friends without having to worry about lag or random disconnects. I ran through some levels that I find typically to be a bit too tough to attempt normally, and the zombie bros tipped the scales nicely. If anything, I was struggling to get any kill confirms myself since as they were so brutally fast and efficient.

My only issue with the mod, minor as it might be, is that the zombies teleporting to you seems to be a little bit hyperactive. While in Aggressive mode, Zombies will run all over the level, and then teleport back every 3 seconds or so. This has led to instances where I've fired an SSG blast and even a BFG and watched with dismay that every single pellet and tracer has disappeared midair, because the zombie decided to teleport to my exact location and absorbed the shot. By any other metric, they are more helpful than hindering, and it's a small price to pay for having two co-op buddies. Maybe I was playing in maps with a lot of cramped spaces, and maybe I should try the other behaviour modes. All in all, great job with this. Doomguy might be a one man army, but an army of three is triple the fun.

Thank you very much for your feedback !

The main thing with the aggressive behavior, is that as long as there are enemies in their line of sight, they will keep fighting until there's no more foes in the area. As for protective mode, they can only stay in a certain radius around you, if you are too far while they are fighting, they will be teleported back to you, which is probably what happened. Aggressive behavior will not teleport them to you no matter how far you are until they are out of combat (unless they have certain upgrades).
As for the Stay mode, it will simply make them stay in the designed spot, and even after fighting, no matter how far you are, they will remain in the zone they were tasked to defend.
Sadly yes they might become a little bit annoying in cramped spaces as they do move around a lot, eventually blocking your line of sight, and sadly I haven't been able to come with a solution to make the bullets go through them like projectiles

Hmm, a bit of an experimental idea, but what if whenever the player has their cursor pointed at a shootable target and fires their weapon, the zombies go into a "ghost mode" where they become intangible and unable to attack or use their abilities - (or have greatly weaker attacks, like 0.1x damage dealt) - while they are too close to the player?

Another idea would be a hotkey to trigger the ghost mode at will or a hotkey to outright temporarily banish the zombie bros into a pocket dimention, sort of like a pokeball mechanic without the pokeball - without actually despawning them or resetting them.

Speaking of spawning, its a bit awkward upon level start in how they're blocking my view, where I have to move to the side or forward to see what the entry situation looks like in the level. Would be funny and useful if the zombie bros were midgets (scale 0.4) for the first 5 seconds of a new level and be mildly thrusted backward or forward or sides from the player's starting position. Or maybe made 80% translucent whenever the zombies are close to the player.

[Gorec]

liking the zombies, but i have problem with using explosives, maybe an option to make them non shootable for player?

[TheAgaures]

liking the zombies, but i have problem with using explosives, maybe an option to make them non shootable for player?

They should normally be unaffected by your projectiles, unless there is something else going on, i'm not so sure
I would make them unaffected by bullets too, but I'm not sure if that's possible yet

[TheAgaures]

Hmm, a bit of an experimental idea, but what if whenever the player has their cursor pointed at a shootable target and fires their weapon, the zombies go into a "ghost mode" where they become intangible and unable to attack or use their abilities - (or have greatly weaker attacks, like 0.1x damage dealt) - while they are too close to the player?

Another idea would be a hotkey to trigger the ghost mode at will or a hotkey to outright temporarily banish the zombie bros into a pocket dimention, sort of like a pokeball mechanic without the pokeball - without actually despawning them or resetting them.

I'll try to find a solution so that they can no longer block the player's bullets, but I have yet to know how to do it, sadly zscript is kinda difficult but i'll eventually find a solution !

Speaking of spawning, its a bit awkward upon level start in how they're blocking my view, where I have to move to the side or forward to see what the entry situation looks like in the level. Would be funny and useful if the zombie bros were midgets (scale 0.4) for the first 5 seconds of a new level and be mildly thrusted backward or forward or sides from the player's starting position. Or maybe made 80% translucent whenever the zombies are close to the player.

It's true, I'm still not used to them spawning like that and instantly being blocked by them
This will be changed in the next update for sure !

[TheAgaures]

Hello everyone, I have updated the mod to make things better for you all !
Sadly I couldn't come with a solution just yet to make the zombies spawn somewhere else other than on the player, but it will come eventually !

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)

Download Link: https://www.mediafire.com/file/lger72ss ... 4.pk3/file

[TheAgaures]

Little note, because I forgot to add some features in the patch note, even if these are not too big !

-The zombies can now do some idle animations from time to time, sweet !
-Added an option to prevent the zombies from waking up monsters, if you prefer to get all the attention directly, this could be a good feature ! (They will still be able to be targeted if they attack an enemy of course)
-The zombies will also try to think more logically, being low on hp will make them avoid melee a lot and they will try to dodge more, and while throwing projectiles, they will do a short hop if the target is farther than expected.

[TheAgaures]

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.


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

[Spaceman333]

The new proximity translucent mode is nice, it certainly helps during spawn, but the bros do still flicker on top of the player and won't move until the player moves.

Can you make the zombie bro to be thrusted <<< left ways upon spawn
and make the shotgun bro to be thrusted >>> right side upon spawn?

That way each level would start with the zombies not staying right on top the player, but also push them into a cool formation.

--

I love the new 'talking' feature, though I wish I could tweak the frequency. As soon as I entered the level, they had already rattled through atleast 10 different lines within the first few seconds.

[TheAgaures]

The new proximity translucent mode is nice, it certainly helps during spawn, but the bros do still flicker on top of the player and won't move until the player moves.

Can you make the zombie bro to be thrusted <<< left ways upon spawn
and make the shotgun bro to be thrusted >>> right side upon spawn?

That way each level would start with the zombies not staying right on top the player, but also push them into a cool formation.

No problem, I'll come with a fix for this, sadly I tried to make the change before but the slightest error will break them entirely, so i'll take my time to make it more convenient !

I love the new 'talking' feature, though I wish I could tweak the frequency. As soon as I entered the level, they had already rattled through atleast 10 different lines within the first few seconds.

The talking frequency was planned already, so it's just a matter of time, next update will be about fixing lots of issues and adding some new content

[Netheritor]

Great mod. I can't wait for more zombies with more abilities.

Also, want to suggest a few options;

1. Add option to change zombie name. I think some people here want to rename them with funny or stupid name.
2. Add the option to change chat size and position. I think the chat size is too big for me; or maybe it's just my laptop and there is option to change size but I don't know how.
3. Add list of upgrades the zombies gained for the playthrough (with keybind), including weapons and level upgrades.

P.S. : Dar*ed zombies stole my super shotgun (I know there's option to disable that).