[WIP] Ballistics (Update 6/5/11 - Alpha 2)

[Woolie Wool]

UPDATE 6/5/11
Download Alpha 2
Changelog since Alpha 1:
-New assault rifle with never-before-seen sprites
-New SMALLFONT
-Sound, animation, and behavior tweaks




Ballistics is a mod many of you have probably heard about, and seen on YouTube, a pseudo-tactical mod using gameplay mechanics not unlike those of WildWeasel's Diaz mod, but in a "man-made" setting with no demons or hellish influence. True to the mod's name, all of the weapons are ballistic firearms with a firing pin striking a cartridge--no rockets or energy weapons. Though none of your enemies have supernatural powers, they are far deadlier than Doom enemies. They are fast, accurate, and highly aggressive. Ballistics is a tricky, unforgiving, but very fun mod to play.

General synopsis: The year is 2084 and you are Malcolm Greely, a CIA secret agent sent to investigate the Union Aerospace Corporation. The richest business entity in the world, the UAC uses its power and prestige to effectively operate outside of any legal or ethical boundaries. Your orders are to look into the reports of illegal genetic engineering and weaponized biotech experiments being conducted by the UAC with the aim of creating an invincible army of mutant super-soldiers.

Features:
-Challenging tactical gameplay with reloading, melee attacks, recoil, grenades, and player classes
-12 all-new ballistic weapons, including pistols, shotguns, assault rifles, and a minigun
-Three player classes, including a bonus character whom you might find familiar
-Legions of merciless human, robotic, and mutant enemies
-Custom crosshairs matched to each weapon

Note that this is an alpha. Expect to find inconsistencies, unfinished elements, and bugs. Ballistics is not yet complete and likely will not be for some time. An incomplete strategy guide and credits list is available as ballisticslore.txt. Make sure to bind the reload and grenade keys.

[bgraybr]

Honestly, using hitscan attacks for everything can be annoying on regular maps and unbearable on wide, open ones without enough cover. Would you consider replacing them projectiles of some sort? Or, would you try reducing the view distance of some monsters so that I don't get sniped as often (can be done via A_LookEx in Decorate I believe)?

Besides that, the only thing that bugged me was that some of the gun graphics aren't widescreen compatible.

[Woolie Wool]

Which ones aren't? I can't think of any that get cut off. The Turcotte may look like it is cut off, but the stock is actually shaped like that.

[bgraybr]

Which ones aren't? I can't think of any that get cut off. The Turcotte may look like it is cut off, but the stock is actually shaped like that.

That's the one I was talking about, my mistake. It does look a bit odd that way though.

[Ral22]

Very nice work. I has great potential and will be very nice when it is finished. While I did find some errors, I won't point them out since this is an early beta. In the next one, I'll examine it more closely. Keep up the good work.

[Estopolis]

Well this mod doesn't seem so bad so far.

One thing I am going to nitpick about though is the shotgun.
To me it feels like it's angled a tad too much and a bit too higher considering the crosshair.

I know it's an alpha but I was wondering if that's going to stay as is.

[Cyanosis]

Loved Mutiny and Diaz, so I will be checking this out for sure when I get back into ZDoom.

[Ethril]

Bugs/Issues:

---

-When you kill the tanks and fliers, sometimes a soldier pops out appearing to be dead (or invisible), but if you attack where the corpse landed (or would've landed) it turns out to actually be alive, but unsolid. I took a peek at the DECORATE and I'm 99% sure it's because you spawn the soldier via A_CustomMissile rather than PainAttack or SpawnItemEx, etc.

-You lose all your grenades (except one) after each level. There's an inventory flag that allows you to keep them but I can't remember what it is at the moment.

-If you find and pick up the other 2 9mm pistols, you are able to autoswitch to them but not select them manually... Not that you'd really want to use the cheapo one.

-I find it odd that the grenades (launcher, not hand) do no direct damage. On top of making no sense (A 40mm metal projectile, even if it doesn't explode, is going to *hurt*), it also makes them completely incapable of harming explosion-immune
monsters such as Cyberdemons. I would recommend either making the damage something other than zero, or give them the "force radius damage" flag.
-Speaking of Cyberdemons, I noticed you didn't replace those yet. Or Spider Masterminds, Pain Elementals, Archviles, and Nazis, for that matter... Are you looking for suggestions on those or do you already have it covered?

-The Enforcer, the P50, and the Obliterator don't leave bullet decals.

-Kind of weird that the kick always does more damage (always 60, or 180 with berserk) than the knife (40-55 or so, not effected by berserk(?)). I don't know about you, but I would probably take more damage from a combat knife than a boot to the chest (although that wouldn't be terribly pleasant either).

-The Krieger shotgun is too static. It's kind of like it's just hovering there on the screen.
-Also, it'd be nice if you could interrupt the reload. This applies to all weapons, but especially the shotgun.
-Speaking of reloads, it should only automatically reload if you release the fire button and press it again, instead of if you happen to still be holding the button when the last shot is fired. It's most problematic with the Turcotte in particular.

-When you zoom in with the sniper rifle, it actually "zooms", but when you zoom out, it just instantly jumps back to normal FOV, which I found a bit jarring the first time. Either one would be fine, as long as it's the same both ways.
-The text file mentioned the bullets piercing through targets, but I've yet to see this happen. At all. Ever. I've lined up the wimpy workmen to try and it never penetrates past the first one.

All that aside, it was still a blast to play. Felt a lot like Mutiny with reloads, right down to the shotgunners always losing their heads.

[CommanderZ]

- The tanks that replace Mancubi are just stuck and ignore me (seen on MAP07)
- The sniper rifle scope says "2X", does that mean I can change the zoom level somehow?
- What is the difference between the two pistols (except the laser)?
- The Spectre and Demon replacements hate each other (see the Demon room on MAP08).
- Laser triggers shootable walls
- No Pain Elemental and Archvile replacement
- The grenades throw energy is way too little, it is completely impossible to throw them into elevated locations (even as little as the Mancubi platforms on MAP07)
- The Flamethrower guy which replaces Baron of Hell is way too fragile

Good luck with this project!

[Ethril]

- The tanks that replace Mancubi are just stuck and ignore me (seen on MAP07)

Yeah, I saw that too, but I think the tanks are just taller than the fatties, so the ones on the platforms are stuck in the "ceiling".

- The sniper rifle scope says "2X", does that mean I can change the zoom level somehow?

I don't think so, but it'd be nice to be able to toggle between 1x (no scope), 2x, and 4x, for those REALLY big maps.

- What is the difference between the two pistols (except the laser)?

P50 has higher accuracy but more recoil. Shur-Fine Marauder is weaker and less accurate and sometimes "jams" into full-auto mode which also inflicts double damage. Stick to the Bragg or P50.

- The grenades throw energy is way too little, it is completely impossible to throw them into elevated locations (even as little as the Mancubi platforms on MAP07)

I haven't had much of a problem with it... Are you not using mouselook?

- The Flamethrower guy which replaces Baron of Hell is way too fragile

He only has 200 less hp (800 instead of 1000). I think that's fair considering he's more damaging.

[GuildNavigator]

The Pistol in the screen is so sexy..

[Shane]

From what I played, the gameplay was good. I think the kick's a little overpowered, I was able to get away with kicking most of my problems to death. Maybe reduce it to 45?

When you die, the death animation plays and then halts at the first animation of gibbing.


Also, the slide animation plays after kicking.

[marble]

One thing i'd like to point out is the lack of new sprites, i know they are hard to do, i can't make sprites myself, but it's nice to see some actually new guns once in a while.
anyways, i liked the menu.

now, for some crit:

some guns have gloves without fingers, like the enforcer, while some, like the pump shotty, have full gloves, also, the enforcer doesn't pull the slide when you equip it, yet the slide moves on it's own.
the blood shotgun has a brown glove. same with the assaul rifle.
the minigun has no raise animation.

that's all i have so far. i understand this is an alpha, but i'm mentioning these just in case.

[JimmyJ]

The Staplerfahrer Klaus reference made my day.

[Ethril]

Heh, I just noticed a typo. The nametag for the combat knife is spelled "cobmat knife".