[WIP] Virus - Episode 1 "Shareware Release"

[Phobus]

Progress: Done the whole "A" frame for the Meshflier, which is a bit difficult to do, but at least it won't require much effort once I've finished up to "D". I've also completely made the Mill, and have spent a while tweaking it's behaviour so that the laser is powerful enough and doesn't break up into seperate projectiles too quickly... works best when viewed side-on over a fairly short distance. Over a long distance it'd be very obviously seperate projectiles. Anything with low health, it annhialates in a few shots, but tougher enemies generally knock it down because it's got quite low health (400, like a caco).

[hnsolo77]

i just got around to playing the demo, pretty damn cool!

[Unknown_Assassin]

Sorry for the bump, but there is an annoying gameplay problem I keep experiencing. I use autoaim and it seems that most of my projectiles doesn't hit the enemies (them turret thingies). Whenever I fire, most of them would hit the ground before it even hits the enemy. This causes me to have a tough time surviving. Since I'm a keyboard-oriented person, I leave my autoaiming as always rather than having a mouse to use for aiming. I could use the keyboard look, but I find it more uncomfortable than using the mouse look. Anyway you could fix this problem?

[Phobus]

The problems arise from multiple things which I'm afraid I can't really change, because it'd then mess things about for mouse-looking people. The heights of most things, and the spawnheight of projectiles, is based on the sprites. This means that some things are small targets, including the player. If you want proof of this, fly directly up as high as you can in any room where something can shoot at you. It's shots will hit the ceiling before they hit you unless it's got a really low angle on you. Likewise, the player's shots originate from near the floor due to the weapon being held in that position, so the elavation and accuracy issues are due to that.

[XutaWoo]

I finally got around to playing this. You should do something about that switch, because it doesn't look like one. I was too frustrated on how long it took me to figure that out to do the other levels.

Also, if possible, do you think you could find a way to lock movement on a X/Y or Z axis by pressing a button on the keyboard? I found that I constantly missed my target when dodging.

[Phobus]

The answer to your second bit is no, because that is an awful lot of effort for something the player can handle themselves. Afterall, in Doom when circle strafing you have to constantly adjust your aim, so what's so different with the third dimension of movement?

And if people would just READ you would see that anything green or white is a switch, and anything purple is either a door or something which will move via switch, script or interaction.

[Phobus]

Wahey! Just finished the MeshFlier... which is useful against the player, and for that reason generally gets owned by other monsters should EvE come into the equation (ie. ZDoom Wars), though anything small or weak will never stand a chance.

[Phobus]

Here's a "Team Photo" of all of the non-boss monsters I've made so far (so that means the Leader isn't in it, and neaither is the AirCarrier, the latter because I've not made it yet).

From the top to the bottom, left to right:

MeshFlier (up there on it's own), Virus, Mill, Prism, Greater Prism (just below the prism, but above the TurretFloor), Drone, TreadMill, MeshWalker, Spore, TurretFloor.

The TurretCeiling isn't in the picture because it's just an upside down floor turret - and also it's not going into ZDoom Wars, unlike this lot, the bosses and the AirCarrier. The thing behind the TreadMill is a dead MeshWalker (stupid thing wouldn't stand still )

[Captain Ventris]

Wow, I can see why that Meshflier would be a pint to sprite! Those all look cool, can't wait to receive the package!

[Phobus]

I have to say, I can't wait to see how this lot work in ZDoom Wars. Only three more monsters to go, two of which are nice and simple... the third one I have an idea for, but I'll have to wait and see how that pans out... might need refining.

[Captain Ventris]

Well, think up four types of defense that would fit Virus. The turret would be one, of course, and there needs to be a barrier. The other two could do whatever the heck you'd like. For the most part, I've been taking decorations from each game and making them into defenses.

Of course, there aren't really any props in virus, huh? Defenses could also be limited-capability units of some sort, like a healer or something.

[Phobus]

Well, I have two 'props' in the game already, and yes, the turret could indeed be a type of defense rather than a monster in it's own right. The generator could work as an explosive barrier, and I'm sure I could think of a "defensive" use for the teledrone... perhaps it could be an untargeted small barrier which follows enemy monsters about, hindering their movement and blocking the odd attack, which would play on it's indestructability and general lack of impact in the game. As for the last? Perhaps the speed boost pickup? Let the player fly even faster for a short while in exchange for mana?

EDIT: Well, I've implemented the Teledrone as a 50 health floating barrier which chases after enemies and soaks up a little fire before dying. This does have some down sides however, such as also blocking your own attacks. Likewise I've implemented the Generator, scaling it up to 2.0, and giving it twice the dimensions, making it 40 units tall and about 80 wide. It explodes very violently when it's 200 health have been taken away. Anything small would go splat, anything big would miss a chunk of health, anything really big, with +NORADIUSDMG wouldn't care. The turretfloor is already in there, and I'm now thinking about what else I could use as some form of defensive or at least passive thing. Perhaps a random powerup spawner? You fire it off, it spawns, summons a random powerup (could be armour, invisibility or speed boost, as they're all present in Virus).

EDIT2: Yep, with a bit of messing about I've now made a VirusItemSpawner, which uses the itemfog sprites from Virus (with new names) and can summon either a Shield +100, which goes up to a maximum of 300 for ZDoom Wars, or a Disruptor (partial invisibility) or a SpeedBoost, which is the equivilant of the Boots of Speed I believe. Now it's back to just monsters to sort out

[Captain Ventris]

Neato, can't wait to see it.

I was thinking, it would be really neat for each class to have a custom HUD from their game. How would I do that?

[Phobus]

No idea... does HUDINFO allow for things to be displayed depending on class? If so it could be cool - if not, the basic ZDoom small HUD is nice and generic enough.

[Captain Ventris]

No idea... does HUDINFO allow for things to be displayed depending on class? If so it could be cool - if not, the basic ZDoom small HUD is nice and generic enough.

Yeah, but having a Strife HUD with Strifeguy would rule.