Hexen: Cult of Despair - A WoC campaign (New 1.4A Version!)

[Nightgaunt]

The new screenshots are incredible!
I also hope Thetis releases the new final new version of WoC soon, can't wait to see the new stuff.

[Exeor]

yeeah I'm knee-deeping into it, the level design, plot, monsters, events everything is awesome, what an excellent work!!!

At this point once finished, I would like to replay it with my cousin in the future, I've done a quick co-op test on gzdoom and everything seems working good so far, the only problem I got, wich is hardly "workaroundable", is that when changing map, the spawn point is the same of each other, causing the death of both players, and I think for the same reason the game goes mad sometimes not changing level at all and make it crashing if trying to pass the point again,

Would you please try to look into this issue in next update if not bothering too much? I really would like to involve my cousin and maybe friends all together in this campaign!
in the end I guess it's just the problem of the spawn point. other little issues like doors shut after respawining I think we could easily get around them.,..

Thank you very much for your work

I'm glad to see more people playing my campaign despite the poor quality of the first few dungeons that I'm trying to improve right now! Thank you for the feedback

Sure, it is easy, I will add more spawn points for the two, three and four player in every map. I only did this for the first village because I wasn't sure if WoC is compatible to play on multiplayer/coop, I remember that some players tried it using zandronum and they reported some crashes here and there.

The new screenshots are incredible!
I also hope Thetis releases the new final new version of WoC soon, can't wait to see the new stuff.

Me too, it has been more than a year since the last update. That beta build (3.1.4 version if I recall correctly) worked perfectly with my campaign with no issues so I hope that the next official version continues without breaking anything

By the way, I did some small changes these two days. Now the normal Undead Knight shows the green axe in his sprite while the ghost version uses the red one, it is just a visual thing that I found cool to add.

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I also balanced two areas: All Gargoyles from the Swamp Temple were replaced by Poison Gargoyles and Rocky Pathway has Ettin Commanders and Afrit Leaders instead of Gargoyles and Golems now (since they are no longer a challenge for the player and are very simple enemies to continue appearing at that point in the campaign) other enemies in that area like Nitrogolems, Centaurs or Satyrs are still there.
I know that they are silly changes, but I want to make sure the campaign offers a good experience for the player with new and harder enemies the more you progress in your adventure regardless of your class

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Also, the Direwood Castle is finished so my next plan is improving the level design of the Hidden Basement.

[Colerx]

You did really great improvements there, looking forward to this a lot, keep on the good work!!! and thank you for your willingness!

[Colerx]

Finished until "thanks for playing"

https://i.ibb.co/tmYLr1R/Screenshot-Hex ... 195958.png

I really enjoyed this campaign!
reached level 33 at skill 4 with xp multiplier at default 100 , Barbarian class
played 10 hours and 50 minutes, without count of those thousands of time I quickloaded , was very challenging!!

Loved this, can't wait to see it finished and play it with my cousin!!!

Thank you, it has really filled my evenings with this damn lockdown.

[Tresto]

Hello!
I am 7 hours through the campain and have some questions.
1. Where can I find the key to the gaveyard chapel, mentioned by the NPC at the eand of the graveyard? By the gaveyard I mean the optional gaveyard map near the Direwood Castle?
2. In the Greenleaf Village Graveyard I have found a skull that says that I have found the second skull so the curse has been lifted. But I don't know where is the first skull?
I am having a lot of fun with your mod and I will give some feedback after finishing! Thanks

Edit:
So I have finished the campain until the "thanks for playing" screen. I would like to add some feedback. I think that this is a very good mod, that when finished would be at my personal top list of Hexen/Heretic maps.
What I liked the most:
- variety of enemies and their attacks. I think that you have done a great job in desining and coding those enemies.
- boss fights - I really enjoyed how differnet they were form each other, but I think more focus on boss arena desing (different than square shapes of arena, obstacles arising during second phase etc.) could enhance the experience,
- side quests and Heretic arenas!
What I think could be improved. I would say that Cult of Despair is good in the first half and great in the second half.
- Some of the optional dungeons could benefit from adding a little bit of lore explaining their setting and what has happened there.
- During the first half of the game you can explore a lot of smal underground caves. It reminded me a little bit of Zelda world. But I think these caves are a bad idea - their design is a little bit boring and unchallenging. I think the overall level design would benefit if you reduce the amount of holes in the ground and focus on building 2/3 of more diverse ones (house basement, underwater secrets etc.).
- The black passage could have a little more light - You are forced to use torches or proceed in complete darkness, either way the beautiful desing is lost.
- The lonely den design is somewhat boring, especially in comparison to other dungeons like cultist fortress.

[Exeor]

Finished until "thanks for playing"

https://i.ibb.co/tmYLr1R/Screenshot-Hex ... 195958.png

I really enjoyed this campaign!
reached level 33 at skill 4 with xp multiplier at default 100 , Barbarian class
played 10 hours and 50 minutes, without count of those thousands of time I quickloaded , was very challenging!!

Loved this, can't wait to see it finished and play it with my cousin!!!

Thank you, it has really filled my evenings with this damn lockdown.

Glad to hear that! Hope you like the new improvements and redesigns in various dungeons in the next update, also multiplayer coop is now supported!

Hello!
I am 7 hours through the campain and have some questions.
1. Where can I find the key to the gaveyard chapel, mentioned by the NPC at the eand of the graveyard? By the gaveyard I mean the optional gaveyard map near the Direwood Castle?
2. In the Greenleaf Village Graveyard I have found a skull that says that I have found the second skull so the curse has been lifted. But I don't know where is the first skull?
I am having a lot of fun with your mod and I will give some feedback after finishing! Thanks

Edit:
So I have finished the campain until the "thanks for playing" screen. I would like to add some feedback. I think that this is a very good mod, that when finished would be at my personal top list of Hexen/Heretic maps.
What I liked the most:
- variety of enemies and their attacks. I think that you have done a great job in desining and coding those enemies.
- boss fights - I really enjoyed how differnet they were form each other, but I think more focus on boss arena desing (different than square shapes of arena, obstacles arising during second phase etc.) could enhance the experience,
- side quests and Heretic arenas!
What I think could be improved. I would say that Cult of Despair is good in the first half and great in the second half.
- Some of the optional dungeons could benefit from adding a little bit of lore explaining their setting and what has happened there.
- During the first half of the game you can explore a lot of smal underground caves. It reminded me a little bit of Zelda world. But I think these caves are a bad idea - their design is a little bit boring and unchallenging. I think the overall level design would benefit if you reduce the amount of holes in the ground and focus on building 2/3 of more diverse ones (house basement, underwater secrets etc.).
- The black passage could have a little more light - You are forced to use torches or proceed in complete darkness, either way the beautiful desing is lost.
- The lonely den design is somewhat boring, especially in comparison to other dungeons like cultist fortress.

· The key for the chapel in the crossbone graveyard still doesn't appear in the campaign, same for the emerald key in the swamp (where a soldier tells you that a friend had it and the last time he heard from him was in the Wasteland), those are areas for the late game where you will return. I will make sure to warn when those important items are available in the mod!
· I can't talk about that yet , but you are the first person to find the secret
· Thanks! I always try to add every kind of enemy in three different areas at least, and make them to fit in the place or dungeon. Some spawns may change in some updates to find a good balance, but I think I did a good job in this section.
· I want to revisit some boss arenas like the optional Giant Sludge Golem to improve it a bit, but changing the design of the arena depending on the health of the boss gives me good ideas!
· There are more side quests on the way, also there will be a new Heretic arena in the Wasteland in the next update. I plan to do a total of six (two have appeared so far). Every two arenas, the design changes, so the third and fourth will have a different geometry compared to the first and second ones (which were the same)
· Sure, in the next update some dungeons like the Direwood Castle have some books that explain the origin of the buildings, but I always want to leave room for the player to imagine their original purpose of such ruins and castles.
· Yeah, in fact, those underground holes are a little less common the more you progress in the campaign, so I will improve the current ones and focus in potential dungeons with more diversity of textures and challenges (by the way, those caves are heavily inspired by zelda games, specially Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask)
· Thanks for the feedback, I will increase the light a little in all sectors of the black passage!
· That is strange, I always liked how Lonely Den turned out, sure, some rooms could be improved, but still like the idea that it isn't a lineal dungeon when you have to search the three keys or the underwater section with the big piranhas and the switches.

[Colerx]

Thanks for coop support, I'm very pleased about that! and for improving the maps of course!!!
Indeed I noticed that there was something missing, I've tought about that key but keeping slashing enemies and proceeding in the campaign then slipped my mind.
the only part that I missed is the hole in front of direwood castle if I'm not mistaken. I tried to remember it for once got out from there but was full of cultists
About Lonely Den I didn't find it boring, it was good imho!

I fully trust Exeor decisions, I like his way of designing levels, much better than han I could do
Just a little thing, for the black passage, as the horror grotto (wich I liked a bunch!) torch may be necessary as a little challenge as part of the campaign, I won't increase light too much It could loose the "black" mark of its name..

By the way, as my very first mod attempt of wich got inpiration exactly from these levels, I'm currently working on an equippable torch using dynamic lights, plus editing the artitorch working in the same way but with this one instead you can use weapons while lighting up the place! I don't like the vanilla hexen light effect very much so I wanted to do this edit, Still haven't finished it because I want to improve the effect, most surely increase light effect, maybe improve graphics, and making it more user friendly as possible, here's some screens of black passage also using darkdoom lite

Imho could a be kind of a improvement for these dark places! what you think about it?

Equippable torch

Artifact torch

Without torch
PS EDIT: oh I forgot to mention, maybe i get a little unwanted light effect with the chandeliers.. they are like flickering weird, I mean, the stay "off" for too long let's say. Is doing the same for you or they are flickering normally?
Was my fault due some wrong oder mod mixes!

[Nightgaunt]

Any new progress to show us?

[Exeor]

Thanks for coop support, I'm very pleased about that! and for improving the maps of course!!!
Indeed I noticed that there was something missing, I've tought about that key but keeping slashing enemies and proceeding in the campaign then slipped my mind.
the only part that I missed is the hole in front of direwood castle if I'm not mistaken. I tried to remember it for once got out from there but was full of cultists
About Lonely Den I didn't find it boring, it was good imho!

I fully trust Exeor decisions, I like his way of designing levels, much better than han I could do
Just a little thing, for the black passage, as the horror grotto (wich I liked a bunch!) torch may be necessary as a little challenge as part of the campaign, I won't increase light too much It could loose the "black" mark of its name..

By the way, as my very first mod attempt of wich got inpiration exactly from these levels, I'm currently working on an equippable torch using dynamic lights, plus editing the artitorch working in the same way but with this one instead you can use weapons while lighting up the place! I don't like the vanilla hexen light effect very much so I wanted to do this edit, Still haven't finished it because I want to improve the effect, most surely increase light effect, maybe improve graphics, and making it more user friendly as possible, here's some screens of black passage also using darkdoom lite

Imho could a be kind of a improvement for these dark places! what you think about it?

Equippable torch

Artifact torch

Without torch
PS EDIT: oh I forgot to mention, maybe i get a little unwanted light effect with the chandeliers.. they are like flickering weird, I mean, the stay "off" for too long let's say. Is doing the same for you or they are flickering normally?
Was my fault due some wrong oder mod mixes!

Lonely Den still needs a few more details here and there without touching the layout of the rooms, right now I'm still improving the hidden basement and making the new desert crypt in the wasteland.
Also, don't forget to change the sector light mode in the gzdoom options from the hardware renderer if you see everything too dark! I think vanilla/standard is pretty ok.
That could be a nice torch addon and looks good indeed, I will keep the torch function as in the original game/wrath of cronos (even if I don't like so much at the moment) but in the future I will think about whether to change it.

Any new progress to show us?

I have been working in the new desert crypt which I really enjoyed to design, some new screenshots of the dungeon:





I coded two new enemies from scratch: the sand stalker and the sand stalker leader (which throws a rock at you):



Also designed a funny trap where you are morphed into a chicken a few seconds, after all, it is an old and dangerous crypt, what do you expect?

https://gyazo.com/0593355d8aea109bc7e9734c2d0274c0

[Nightgaunt]

Ha, that's cool!

I see you got some sprites from Blood, can't go wrong with that!

[Exeor]

Ha, that's cool!

I see you got some sprites from Blood, can't go wrong with that!

In fact, I coded the Flesh Gargoyles from Blood as enemies in the mod (I think the sprites and the creature itself fit for the Hexen universe), same for the Blood spiders that were already coded in WoC by Tethis.

Btw, both of them (the big poisonous spiders) have a different death animation if you burn them with fire attacks, just in case you haven't checked it

[Colerx]

Really nice progress Exeor! definetely can't wait to replay this with the next update!
if you want to try the torch and maybe include it, here it is, I still have to properly set the artifact-torch (such as the timer) but as a preview should be good for the moment:
Torch.pk3

[Tresto]

That is strange, I always liked how Lonely Den turned out, sure, some rooms could be improved, but still like the idea that it isn't a lineal dungeon when you have to search the three keys or the underwater section with the big piranhas and the switches.

By somewhat boring desing I ment the visual style rather than gameplay. I think I was really inovative with those underwater rooms but when you compare it to the other dungeons it has just a little bit dull artstyle. It's by no means a harsh critique, probably I would not notice it playing many other mods but your other dungeons give a high level of expectations

[Nightgaunt]

Has anyone took a closer look to the new WoC build uploaded by Thetis?

I am really curious about the new stuff added.

[Exeor]

Really nice progress Exeor! definetely can't wait to replay this with the next update!
if you want to try the torch and maybe include it, here it is, I still have to properly set the artifact-torch (such as the timer) but as a preview should be good for the moment:
Torch.pk3

Sure, it gives a better mood and ambience for some caves, and specially for the Black Passage! There is also another addon sprite compatible with my mod (which was obviously made to work with WoC) where the assassin's weapons have a better smooth pixels overall.
Made by Craneo:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5geqielo9nu8r ... f.pk3?dl=0

That is strange, I always liked how Lonely Den turned out, sure, some rooms could be improved, but still like the idea that it isn't a lineal dungeon when you have to search the three keys or the underwater section with the big piranhas and the switches.

By somewhat boring desing I ment the visual style rather than gameplay. I think I was really inovative with those underwater rooms but when you compare it to the other dungeons it has just a little bit dull artstyle. It's by no means a harsh critique, probably I would not notice it playing many other mods but your other dungeons give a high level of expectations

That criticism actually helps me to realize that those specific areas lack some quality in details and diversity of textures when compared to other areas. I will make some slight changes in the next update for that dungeon too.

Has anyone took a closer look to the new WoC build uploaded by Thetis?

I am really curious about the new stuff added.

I noticed that you can see corpses of the different WoC classes replacing dead marines when playing with Doom in that version, also there is a new wooden explosive barrel instead of the classic explosive pod from Heretic (which I will probably use in my campaign too, even if I already have a TNT barrel).
Also some enemies from the "doom extra monsters" file were modified a bit like the Roach or the Blood Satyr (and for some reason, others ones like the Magma Chaos Serpent were removed). These changes will not affect the campaign, since if Tethis deletes some of those monsters, I will incorporate them myself with new updated stats. I need to check more about this build when I have some more time, but if you find something interesting tell us