[WIP] Blaster Master DooM

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popguy12
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[WIP] Blaster Master DooM

Post by popguy12 »


A mod based on the NES classic, Blaster Master

This is a mod I've been working on for several months now at this point. It started with the idea of a Total Conversion to port Blaster Master into GZDooM, but I don't have the technical knowledge to do that yet. So instead I decided a gameplay mod would be what I would do for now to learn. As such, this mod was created. It's also inspired by Combine Kegan's Combined Arms, specifically the Blaster Master MK2 class, and the way how the weapons for that class functioned reminded me of the Gun Power system.

What is it?
The mod itself is aimed at a roster of Blaster Master enemies and weapons. The original games did not have other weapons besides the Blaster Rifle, as everything is handled via "Gun Power." As such I've decided to do something else, making more weapons than the single one in the games.

Please note
This mod is still a WIP and is kinda a playground for messing around with anything I can think of, but in its current state its still quite playable. Hand sprites are also still being worked on, as I'm still gathering the materials to make them (I couldn't find any that fit my needs, so I'm going to make some from scratch.) Some weapon animations are not complete either, most namely the pistol and revolver, and the shotgun shell insertion animation is on hold until the hand sprites are done. The credits file is also stored within the files itself, and I try to keep it updated as development continues, if I have missed something, please do tell me so I can get it in there.

On weapons
Spoiler:
On the HUD
Spoiler:
Known bugs
Spoiler:
What's next?
Spoiler:
Changelog
Spoiler:
Screenshots/Gameplay
Spoiler:
Now here is the download
Click

Version Archive will be kept here
Last edited by popguy12 on Sat Oct 10, 2020 9:38 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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JuliusKoolius
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Re: [WIP] Blaster Master DooM

Post by JuliusKoolius »

Pretty fun mod, but I have noticed some things:

Aren't the weapons supposed to be projectile based? also the weapons in my opinion are way to slow, so perhaps decrease the amount of tics. Also I find the zombiemen replacements a bit to difficult to take care of, so maybe nerf them a little? your speed is normally slow but when you strafe jump your character gets pretty fast, and I just want to know if this is intentional

So that's pretty all I have found wrong with it, but so far the mod is pretty good, and I am exited for the future of it as well!
popguy12
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Re: [WIP] Blaster Master DooM

Post by popguy12 »

Lets go through this one part at a time.
JuliusKoolius wrote: Aren't the weapons supposed to be projectile based?
Well, they technically are, bullets are a projectile with a speed set to 380. With this method I can get around the random(1,3) multiplication of damage.
JuliusKoolius wrote:also the weapons in my opinion are way to slow, so perhaps decrease the amount of tics.
Which ones? The Rifle and Shotgun used to be a bit slower, and I feel that making the shotgun any faster might take away the challenge. But please, do tell which weapons you think could be made a bit faster.
JuliusKoolius wrote:Also I find the zombiemen replacements a bit to difficult to take care of, so maybe nerf them a little?
Did you get unlucky and get a bunch of the Pink ones? Those enemies replace Zombiemen, ShotgunGuys, and Imps, but the three variants have different chances of spawning over each enemy. This is done to make a different experience through different playthroughs. Also, yea, I've considered changing the health values a bit as well.
JuliusKoolius wrote:your speed is normally slow but when you strafe jump your character gets pretty fast, and I just want to know if this is intentional
Hmm, I'm unable to replicate this, strafe jumping seems pretty fine other than a slight speed increase. I've noticed something similar though happen with some mappacks, I can remember the name of the one I noticed it with though. Do you think you could record it and show it?
JuliusKoolius wrote:So that's pretty all I have found wrong with it, but so far the mod is pretty good, and I am exited for the future of it as well!
Thank you.
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Captain J
 
 
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Re: [WIP] Blaster Master DooM

Post by Captain J »

Very interesting and promising gameplay mod. It's nice to see that Blaster Master is actually getting more of attention! But i wonder where's the SOPHIA? It's rather awkward without her. Granted, it's WIP mod, but would be nice if the mod has one just like Lizard Squad's.

So i would like to point out that both players' walk speed is so, so slow. It's hard to outsmart enemies anymore and the Revolver is weak and feels sluggish too. Ultimately making Amelia unnecessarily underpowered. Newly replaced enemies now take more hits to kill and the red one tend to spawn its hatchlings and they're quite a nuisance to deal with.

Also i just found out that i can lob Grenade infinitely. Intentional? And i wonder where's the protagonist in the intro?

Anyway darn good mod. This might need more sound, weapon and monster replacements then it'll be at least fine.
popguy12
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Re: [WIP] Blaster Master DooM

Post by popguy12 »

Captain J wrote:But i wonder where's the SOPHIA? It's rather awkward without her. Granted, it's WIP mod, but would be nice if the mod has one just like Lizard Squad's.
I haven't player Lizard Squad, so I don't know how a tank is implemented there, currently my idea is to either have a little RC car like companion that you can summon once you find it, or have a controllable one on the same idea, similar to Rainbow Six Siege camera bots. I actually made a voxel model a while back of the SOPHIA just to test it with Project Brutality's tanks to see how it would look and what not. I don't really want a full on tank, as it would only be usable on larger levels.
Captain J wrote:So i would like to point out that both players' walk speed is so, so slow. It's hard to outsmart enemies anymore and the Revolver is weak and feels sluggish too. Ultimately making Amelia unnecessarily underpowered.
Hmm, maybe I'll buff Amelia's speed then, I incorporated Nash Move mainly so movement isn't as slippery. Like I said to Julius though, maybe I'll change the health values around a bit. I did want it to be challenging after all.
Captain J wrote:Newly replaced enemies now take more hits to kill and the red one tend to spawn its hatchlings and they're quite a nuisance to deal with.
The other idea is for the mini-pink enemies to not collide with the player, but I'll have to keep thinking.
Captain J wrote:Also i just found out that i can lob Grenade infinitely. Intentional?
Yup, that is intentional, in the original games you can lob them infinitely as well, like I did note though, they will probably be nerfed in blast radius and/or damage in the future.
Captain J wrote:And i wonder where's the protagonist in the intro?
Alright, so originally the TITLEMAP was more of a coding practice for map ACS, I may keep it, I might not and instead make a new one, I have typed up some lore that might explain this though. The mod is supposed to take place before the events of the game, as the SOPHIA isn't developed yet. That opening cut scene is also not in the original Japanese release of the game, and the story for that release is vastly different.
Captain J wrote:Anyway darn good mod. This might need more sound, weapon and monster replacements then it'll be at least fine.
Thank you, I'm still working on sifting through all the sounds from the original game and Blaster Master Zero, also the Megaman games as well. If I can, I hope to find a download for the Zero 2 sounds and sprite sheets. I have a general idea for the Double Deuce, but the actual Blaster Rifle is still not really much other than mechanical ideas.
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Linz
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Re: [WIP] Blaster Master DooM

Post by Linz »

Ya kinda lost me at there no Sophia being in this mod,but this looks interesting I suppose
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Combine_Kegan
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Re: [WIP] Blaster Master DooM

Post by Combine_Kegan »

Well besides not being keen on the addition of the tilting and nashgore mods. I feel like your characters painfully slow movement speed is going to break a lot of maps and leave them unplayable. I can already tell neither of these two characters will be able to beat a specific map in Scythe that demands the player to run through it within a set time before dying. If you want the two of them to have different speeds, I recommend making the slower character normal doom run speed, and make your speedy character faster than the vanilla speed. That way they still feel different in terms of movement, but both can still handle maps demanding speed.

Your weapons are alright enough, though turning them into more conventional hitscans is a weird call given the main inspiration here. I strongly suggest backing off on the excessive motion blur when the weapons move however. The upgrade modules are a good idea, though as you said in your OP, those grenades definitely need a nerf. I'd suggest a cool down or maybe an overheat system to curb spam.

Keep at it though, seems like there's quite a few people doing Blaster Master Doom stuff.
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tsukiyomaru0
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Re: [WIP] Blaster Master DooM

Post by tsukiyomaru0 »

Honestly... So far this is nothing like the NES one by any mile. I'd advise taking your own twists and make the project something else entirely to prevent deception via name.

EDIT: No, I don't want you to quit your project or anything, before you think that. I want to see it improve but also avoid the possibility of deception.
popguy12
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Re: [WIP] Blaster Master DooM

Post by popguy12 »

Linz wrote:Ya kinda lost me at there no Sophia being in this mod,but this looks interesting I suppose
Thats understandable, I do plan to get it in somehow, as it is a key part of the games.
Combine_Kegan wrote:Well besides not being keen on the addition of the tilting and nashgore mods.
I mean, you can always disable the tilt (as I'm guessing you did), but I'll take this into account, I do want to make some sprites myself to replace some of the Nashgore sprites and tweak how the gore works. Would you mind elaborating on what you don't like about it so I have a better idea of what I could possibly change?
Combine_Kegan wrote:I feel like your characters painfully slow movement speed is going to break a lot of maps and leave them unplayable. I can already tell neither of these two characters will be able to beat a specific map in Scythe that demands the player to run through it within a set time before dying. If you want the two of them to have different speeds, I recommend making the slower character normal doom run speed, and make your speedy character faster than the vanilla speed. That way they still feel different in terms of movement, but both can still handle maps demanding speed.
Yes, I have already realized that, I attempted to help with this via the ledge grabbing mechanics. Ill see about maybe changing the speed somehow. What map of Scythe is that though? I want to look into that myself to better understand this issue.
Combine_Kegan wrote:Your weapons are alright enough, though turning them into more conventional hitscans is a weird call given the main inspiration here. I strongly suggest backing off on the excessive motion blur when the weapons move however.
Yea, the motion blur isn't exactly done the best, i might just remove it entirely and only use it on the firing frames. What would you consider excessive though? When I was doing the motion blur I don't think I went above 5 in PaintNET for the actual thing to add it. I do realize though that the blur on the shotgun is pretty garbage, and that for sure will get changed.
Combine_Kegan wrote:The upgrade modules are a good idea, though as you said in your OP, those grenades definitely need a nerf. I'd suggest a cool down or maybe an overheat system to curb spam.
I'm kinda against a cool down for the grenades, but I think I like that idea of an overheat system, of course, I still need to make animations for the hand throwing the grenade, so once that is in the actual speed at which you can throw the grenades will be a bit slower.
Combine_Kegan wrote:Keep at it though, seems like there's quite a few people doing Blaster Master Doom stuff.
Are there? I haven't seen anything.
tsukiyomaru0 wrote:Honestly... So far this is nothing like the NES one by any mile. I'd advise taking your own twists and make the project something else entirely to prevent deception via name.
I mean, I wouldn't consider it deception, and while I do know that it is nothing like the games currently, It is based on and inspired by the games and their mechanics. I do hope to bring it closer to the games a bit in the future though.
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tsukiyomaru0
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Re: [WIP] Blaster Master DooM

Post by tsukiyomaru0 »

popguy12 wrote:
tsukiyomaru0 wrote:Honestly... So far this is nothing like the NES one by any mile. I'd advise taking your own twists and make the project something else entirely to prevent deception via name.
I mean, I wouldn't consider it deception, and while I do know that it is nothing like the games currently, It is based on and inspired by the games and their mechanics. I do hope to bring it closer to the games a bit in the future though.
So then... Small idea: Look into Blaster Master: Blasting Again.
popguy12
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Re: [WIP] Blaster Master DooM

Post by popguy12 »

tsukiyomaru0 wrote:
popguy12 wrote:
tsukiyomaru0 wrote:Honestly... So far this is nothing like the NES one by any mile. I'd advise taking your own twists and make the project something else entirely to prevent deception via name.
I mean, I wouldn't consider it deception, and while I do know that it is nothing like the games currently, It is based on and inspired by the games and their mechanics. I do hope to bring it closer to the games a bit in the future though.
So then... Small idea: Look into Blaster Master: Blasting Again.
I actually have that game on an emulator, and I played a short bit of it to understand the general movement mechanics, I do want to actually play through it at some point though.
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Captain J
 
 
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Re: [WIP] Blaster Master DooM

Post by Captain J »

I mean, it's not really bad or deceiving since the mod still uses assets from the game. But some changes from the game might be required, plus some 8 bit effects.
popguy12
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Re: [WIP] Blaster Master DooM

Post by popguy12 »

Captain J wrote:I mean, it's not really bad or deceiving since the mod still uses assets from the game. But some changes from the game might be required, plus some 8 bit effects.
Yes, that is definitely something I plan to get in, maybe some explosion effects or something. I need to redo the grenade effect anyways, and I'm going to go back and record a a few seconds of an enemy death in the games to see what effects are actually used for enemy deaths.
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Re: [WIP] Blaster Master DooM

Post by popguy12 »

Update released, quite a few things changed in response to feedback, some other things being worked on in response to feedback.

V2A
-Compatibility toggle for player movement in settings
-Better grenade explosion effects
-Better enemy death effects
-Player now deals step damage to Pink Minion spawns, chance of Pink Minions spawning these may be reduced in the future
-Cleaned up player code for movement speed, as NashMove is in it was no longer needed, and the compatibility toggle made it useless to define.

Check original post for updated link, as well as a link to the version archive, where older versions will be uploaded.
Original post has also been updated with some spoiler tags to lessen the length of the post in preparation for some reformatting with images and some screenshots at some point A changelog as been added as well.

Also, is an image put in through imgur with transparency supposed to show up with the transparent pixels completely black in the post preview supposed to happen? Does ZDooM Forums handle such images correctly? I originally had a transparent logo, but I was worried that the black background would show.
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Re: [WIP] Blaster Master DooM

Post by bimshwel »

blaster master is an interesting, doom-compatible theme but only seems barely employed here. I don't know what nash-gore is and isn't, and perhaps consequently can't tell how much of this is original material and how much is from older wads or whatever we call them in pk3 format, but the blood flying all over the place, as impressive as it is for the doom engine, does seem incongruous with the pixelated, minimally animated nes sprites, especially since they look like robots. And then the guns look like real-ish guns with lots of frames and varied explosions. I think the monsters need to made to be look more like they belong in the environments or the environments and player arsenal need to be made to look more like they match those monsters. area 3 especially or even metroid would be good to plunder graphics from that can go over the existing doom textures. I have put metroid environment graphics on doom walls before out and they take to it pretty well.
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