Walpurgis 1.0 (For Doom/Heretic/Hexen) [GOLD RELEASE!]

[eharper256]

Well, I wasn't actually expecting to put out a video this morning (lol) but then I saw that Heresy suddenly put up an RC1 for testing!

This lovely looking new 8-Map Heretic megawad by Endless, Remilla Scarlet, et al. kinda deserves a look, so here we are. You can get it here: https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/1 ... r-heretic/

Functions fine with Walpurgis's enemy changes as well, which is always encouraging, as well as, interestingly adding in the Harpy enemy you see, which is currently in my list of things to be added later (I've changed its sprite a bit from the one seen here).

[Lagi]

thanks for highlighting this mappack - its very nice.

i play 2 levels without any mods. But i get quite bored with gameplay. Monsters are spongy, and lack of alt fires is less funnt.

Then from level 3 i use walpurgis, i get fighter from random roll when i select level from ZDL. I have a blast at the start. I love melee combat. And baratus is nicely design to do that, with loads of HP and melee attack even with 3rd weapon hammer. 2nd weapon Axe is great, i enjoy alt fire the most. But then the challenge dwindle. I one shot everything. Its fun to kill stuff with one attack, but after a while it gets easy. I never need to stop and focus on combat.

I notice that harpies have different attack with walpurgis. So did you foreseen stats for every monster from Realm667 ? or did you add already patch to Heresy mappack?

the hammer alt fire upgrade with multpile little hammers scatterings from thrown main hammer is... silly. Why the little projectiles should look like hammer? Im sorry for looking sens in fantasy games, but that irk me.

hmm... maybe i try it with different class.

edit: lookslike there is lightbringer clash, because Parias picking up different weapon, with bespoke ammo, not mana.

this armor sets are very nice. It always feels like a reward when i find one.

Parias's firestorm is the best fire weapon ever. It always feels very satisfying to burn something with alt fire. and Reload fire ring is just unfair, but I feel so powerful

[eharper256]

thanks for highlighting this mappack - its very nice.

i play 2 levels without any mods. But i get quite bored with gameplay. Monsters are spongy, and lack of alt fires is less funnt.

Then from level 3 i use walpurgis, i get fighter from random roll when i select level from ZDL. I have a blast at the start. I love melee combat. And baratus is nicely design to do that, with loads of HP and melee attack even with 3rd weapon hammer. 2nd weapon Axe is great, i enjoy alt fire the most. But then the challenge dwindle. I one shot everything. Its fun to kill stuff with one attack, but after a while it gets easy. I never need to stop and focus on combat.

Balance is always a fun conundrum. Default Heretic is, as you say, replete with lots of spongy monsters relative to the damage you do. I actually increase the HP of alot of enemies (in all the games) to roughly assume that Walp's arsenal is about 30% more powerful, but of course, if you're a good player, it can feel ALOT stronger than 30% more. I realise that's a thing, which is why the various difficulty increasing modes exist, like Doomed Souls and now DI mode. I will also consider integrating a "pistol starter" type mode in future (the actual "Pistol Starter" mod works fine with Walp, I believe).

I notice that harpies have different attack with walpurgis. So did you foreseen stats for every monster from Realm667 ? or did you add already patch to Heresy mappack?

Nope, I double checked the Harpy code they use, and there is nothing that would be altered or replaced by Walp. What it probably is, is that compared to base Heretic, you have your innate armour in Walp, so even if you're not picked any armour pieces up, Baratus is reducing all damage dealt to him by 15% (and Parias by 20%).

the hammer alt fire upgrade with multpile little hammers scatterings from thrown main hammer is... silly. Why the little projectiles should look like hammer? Im sorry for looking sens in fantasy games, but that irk me.

Its a hammer that creates spectral clones of itself when you throw it in lore, so it made sense that the upgrade was... making more clones! But yep, cluster hammer is a bit silly! Though I like its silly-ness.

I guess I could think about making the actual clones look more ghostly and magic.

edit: lookslike there is lightbringer clash, because Parias picking up different weapon, with bespoke ammo, not mana.

Yes it seems there is a Lightbringer added to the later levels, as well as a Raven Staff, though they're quite poor compared to the Walpurgis weapons (especially since all the monsters are buffed compared to their initial map versions). Unfortunately, any map that adds its own unique weapons won't be caught by Walp's replacers. Walp's own Lightbringer will still work fine (and will be on slot 2 of course, rather than slot 8).

this armor sets are very nice. It always feels like a reward when i find one.

Armour sets are indeed one of the things I'm super proud of. So thanks!

Parias's firestorm is the best fire weapon ever. It always feels very satisfying to burn something with alt fire. and Reload fire ring is just unfair, but I feel so powerful

Heh, perhaps I should increase the mana-consumption on the Tertiary Fire. It is indeed super-good. I'm always reluctant to nerf it too much though, because as you say, its super cool.

[primaris82]

in hexen do you still need 3 parts for there best weapon?

[SallazarSpellcaster]

in hexen do you still need 3 parts for there best weapon?

Hello! Yes - you need 3 parts in every game.

Also, been toying around with Version 0.95, and I may offer some thoughts!

The new monsters, and Dimensional Instability mode, are really fun - usually I liked to play with monster replacers, as vanilla monsters weren't quite up to speed compared to the surge in power from Walpurgis, but now it feels more fun and balanced.

- Doomed Souls mode is NOT mobile friendly - which is to say, I had a lot of fun save-scumming and trying to stay alive. It works great for a much more masochistic, tactical gameplay, as it forces one to use the myriad objects at their disposal.

Overall, been having a great time with this new update.

[eharper256]

in hexen do you still need 3 parts for there best weapon?

Yep that's right. But I endevour to make sure its really worth it. Your Walpurgis Ult is really, REALLY strong (unlike in Base Hexen, where only really Wraithverge gets that distinction). The ult is only balanced out by it being an absolute mana-whore (as it should be).

In Doom, Plasma Rifle, Chainsaw, and BFG drops will be ultimate weapon pieces.
In Heretic, Necro Gauntlet and Firemace drops (all of them, as there are usually multiple) will be ultimate weapon pieces.

Also, been toying around with Version 0.95, and I may offer some thoughts!
The new monsters, and Dimensional Instability mode, are really fun - usually I liked to play with monster replacers, as vanilla monsters weren't quite up to speed compared to the surge in power from Walpurgis, but now it feels more fun and balanced.
- Doomed Souls mode is NOT mobile friendly - which is to say, I had a lot of fun save-scumming and trying to stay alive. It works great for a much more masochistic, tactical gameplay, as it forces one to use the myriad objects at their disposal.
Overall, been having a great time with this new update.

Good to hear all the new modes are completing their intended missions! Thanks for your comments as always Sallazar.

[rayburn]

Hello. Any particular reason for druid to be immune to Poison type dmg? Noticed because I have some poison atk monsters in my monster mod. Also, Druid totally feels OP, waterballs are scary

In any case, would you mind if I make compatibility patch for your mod when I release mine? Mostly taking care of elemental damage (if I even have to), I designed every monster to have counter elements using "vanilla" elements: None, Poison, Ice, Electric, Fire: https://i.imgur.com/Nq5yrkX.png

And once again, thank you for the great mod, I'm having a blast, especially with Myrmidon and Druid.

PS. The projectiles you made for your monsters are sooooo pretty, I am totally jealous

[eharper256]

Thanks for the video! Do you want me to add it to the front page or would you prefer to keep it there?

Also, Druid totally feels OP, waterballs are scary

Heh, I see in this video you managed to activate the upgrade for the Dagon's Cane; which I accidently left in for this version; that's not at all balanced (lol) and not supposed to used right now, and the Druid in general probably needs a few more balancing tweaks, being the newest of the classes. Though she ~IS~ supposed to be the Glass Cannon/Fragile Speedster archetype.

Hello. Any particular reason for druid to be immune to Poison type dmg? Noticed because I have some poison atk monsters in my monster mod.

And yes, I made the Druid immune to "Poison" so that she can't kill herself with her own Poison Gas (she could in earlier versions lol).

In any case, would you mind if I make compatibility patch for your mod when I release mine? Mostly taking care of elemental damage (if I even have to), I designed every monster to have counter elements using "vanilla" elements: None, Poison, Ice, Electric, Fire: https://i.imgur.com/Nq5yrkX.png

I'm happy for you to create that, and if you remind me when its done, I'll add it the front post (along with the Z-Movement patch there already).

All actual Walpurgis poison sources from monsters are changed to 'Venom' as a new damage type, so if you make a compatibility mod, do that as a switch over; and also add around 33% more health as a balance compared to Doom. The players also use a special version of Fire Damage called 'Blast', again to prevent self-damage from their own fire whilst still being affected by Monster based 'Fire'. A simple call from your monsters states like

Code: Select all

Death.Blast:
Goto Burn

Is how I use this, and its easy to add.

In terms of your elements:
Myrmidon uses mostly Physical and Blast (Hammer and Flechettes, and Quietus has a special flag that uses Fire Damage but causes enemies to erupt in Green Fire).
Crusader uses mostly Light, Holy, and Blast
Magister uses Ice (Algor), Blast (Aestus), Electric (Fulgur) and Hellfire (The Purple Fire of Agnus, and the Flechette).
Druid uses Water, Ice (Wolf Form), Poison (Hebiko Sceptre), and Light (The Ichival bow)[/size]

PS. The projectiles you made for your monsters are sooooo pretty, I am totally jealous

Thanks! I spent quite a few hours tweaking all the code and re-doing parts of the sprites for alot of them. I get a bit of mad perfectionist when I get going. Fun Fact: I loaded GZDoom 53 times and made 6 different sprite variations (rejecting 2 of them in the final version) when testing the various looks of Dagon's Cane Water-Ball when I first made that.

And once again, thank you for the great mod, I'm having a blast, especially with Myrmidon and Druid.

And thankyou for commenting! Glad you're liking it!

[rayburn]

Thanks for the video! Do you want me to add it to the front page or would you prefer to keep it there?

This video is very low effort tbh, I wasn't even going to post it to public because it literally has Slack noises in it (lol) and music is too quiet. I'll be posting more vids of Walpurgis + MMDoom in time, I'll be sure to send best stuff your way

Heh, I see in this video you managed to activate the upgrade for the Dagon's Cane

Oh yes, it's totally unfair, kind of makes even the bow obsolete, sheer fire.. eh, waterpower of it... The geyser attack seems pretty weak tho, but maybe that's just in comparison to other two.

And yes, I made the Druid immune to "Poison" so that she can't kill herself with her own Poison Gas (she could in earlier versions lol).

Wow that's a bummer, and "Blast" too, I though flags like +DONTHARMCLASS effectively take care of such issues (this is my first ZDoom mod, I still have a lot to learn). But as long as I make specific patches for mods I feel go best with Might & Magic monsters, I can handle it. UPD. I love the "universal states" stuff tho, that would surely add to visual fidelity, gotta play more of your mod w/o my monsters to see all of the stuff you added.

I'm happy for you to create that, and if you remind me when its done, I'll add it the front post (along with the Z-Movement patch there already)

I'll be sure to! Thank you so much.

[eharper256]

This video is very low effort tbh, I wasn't even going to post it to public because it literally has Slack noises in it (lol) and music is too quiet. I'll be posting more vids of Walpurgis + MMDoom in time, I'll be sure to send best stuff your way

Fair enough, I'll leave it for now. Thanks anyways!

Oh yes, it's totally unfair, kind of makes even the bow obsolete, sheer fire.. eh, waterpower of it... The geyser attack seems pretty weak tho, but maybe that's just in comparison to other two.

Geyser's strengths lie in it's two unique properties: namely that it throws monsters up into the air for a while (usually rendering them helpless, as A_Chase briefly doesn't function whilst at that velocity), and secondly, that it has smite targeting: it will always erupt at the first blocking wall or monster in a straight line in front of you, regardless of elevation or cover or your vertical aim. It also has a wide blast radius.

And yeah, its also being compared to an unfinished upgrade here (the upgrade will likely be entirely different; this test was literally me copy-pasting the lightbringers code to ensure the upgrades were working alright with the Dagon's Cane and I forgot to comment it out again).

Wow that's a bummer, and "Blast" too, I though flags like +DONTHARMCLASS effectively take care of such issues (this is my first ZDoom mod, I still have a lot to learn). But as long as I make specific patches for mods I feel go best with Might & Magic monsters, I can handle it. UPD. I love the "universal states" stuff tho, that would surely add to visual fidelity, gotta play more of your mod w/o my monsters to see all of the stuff you added.

Unfortunately that flag falls apart in a few instances, because some attacks used by Walp technically generate 'fake' monsters and use monster attacks, or use sub-explosions and particle effects that handle the damage side of things, and flags can't always be inherited. So yeah, damage types become a neccessity.

[eharper256]

For this weeks video; I tried a mapset called Azazel's Second Descent, by Bloodbath Giraffe, which is a pretty darn challenging wad using OTEX. For a difficulty perspective it really doesn't hold back, as you can tell from this video (which is of Map 1!) so this one's a good one for you thrillseekers out there.

You can get it here: https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/1 ... 5-out-now/

Had a bit of nightmare on the recording for whatever reason this time; and this is actually the third playthrough of this map... first time, OBS managed to somehow record my desktop for 10 mins, and second time it created some horrific earrape level echo on my audio for some bizarre reason. Bit of a shame, because there was some very cool action going on in the second playthrough with the RNG smashing me with lots of Unique monsters.

[eharper256]

One snowy night, just before a capitalist holiday, a Druid decided to bring gifts to all and sundry. And murder lots of demons in the interim.


Getting into the Xmas Spirit, I thought I'd cover this lovely little Christmas map by DreadOpp and Lord_Z. You can find it here: https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/1 ... open-slay/

EDIT: And also, a NICE number of views; which I've screencapped for posterity.


I hope everyone has a Merry Xmas, and a Happy New Year!

[eharper256]

Big thanks to JohnSuitepee for covering Walpurgis on stream!!!

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1244962629

[eharper256]

Here's John Suitepee's full stream of playing the base Hexen iwad as Druid in Walpurgis:


I show up to watch in the second part and make a few comments and answer a few questions! (unfortunately I couldn't make the first part due to visiting grandparents for Xmas).

[eharper256]

Happy New Year of the Tiger, everyone! Hope you had a relaxing festive season and didn't throttle too many of your family members. ;D



Anyway, here we are with the first map of a new megawad called BlueAge just released by Skronkidonk and DCGRetrowave. It has a blue/gray/brown palette theming, as you might expect.

You can get it here: https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/1 ... w-megawad/