[WIP] Doomgeon Crawler 0.2

[Sami]

EDIT 6/2/2013: I released a new version (0.2) and I made it compatible with Zandronum. I tested it singleplayer but not in multiplayer and there is a problem with the HUD: When I run the mod in Zdoom, the flag "forcescaled" seems to work and the hud shows the same size in all resolutions but when I run it in Zandronum the flag doesn't seem to work, can anyone help me with this?

As it will be compatible with Zandronum I don't know what to do. I mean, I would like to make a single player campaing with voxels and 3D floors but I would like to make a cooperative-based wad. I'm considering of making two sets of maps for singleplayer and multiplayer in different wad files, but I have to think about it.

The range of the melee weapons has changed and know the mod it's not absurdly difficult. The cleric and mage have changed their abilities, an so the warrior. The cleric can buff his weapon with a spell so he can now fire from afar for a limited time, the mage now launches a magic missile that resembles the traditional rocket launcher (but doesn't damages the player) also the warrior now has a magic shield that auto-repairs slowly and his special ability consist in a powerup of invulnerability that lasts for 5 seconds and fully repairs his shield. The rogue now doesn't go traslucent because the "Traslucent" effect in the invisibility power up is not implemented in Zandronum (I had an error running it). I'm thinking about making another set of weapons for the characters. They will be more powerfull but they will consume ammo and their secondary attack skill points as well.

I need some advice with ACS, also. I would like to learn how to execute a script independently of the map. The skill point/armor (for the warrior) regeneration is possible with an ACS script but the scripts are ENTER and attached to the map that I implement them so I would like to call that script for every player in every map. I tried with an ACS_Execute in the Spawn state of the playerclasses but it seems not to work. Can you help me with that, too? I would appreciate very much your help.

I encourage you to give it a try

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First Post:

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Come in and take a look guys! Since Zdoom 2.6.0 was finished and I read all the new features I thought it was the time I had to try out ACS and Decorate at last and make a mod for the community (because I only made a few maps), and I started to read the wiki Documentacion so I can measure how could my ideas be fully implemented or not in a mod. In the boredom of a classroom in the university my head lamp lit on and I have the idea to make a dungeon crawler mod, also I think there are only few mods medieval-related, so I gave a chance. The result is a fast, difficult and tactical action mod you need to think with haste how to proceed in each situation.

The mod has:

• Medieval fantastic ambience.
• Realistic gameplay parameters (so its difficult).
• Mostly close combat fightings.
• Many player classes to choose from, with unique skills and styles of playing.
• Lots of (mostly melee medieval) monsters from Doom, Hexen, Heretic and Realm667.

There are some things to do for a final release:

• A number (that I don't know) of dungeon maps where crawl in.
• Random monster generation in the maps (which is done but not implemented due the lack of maps).
• A cutom HUD, as Doom's HUD has a lot useless information in this mod.

Also I plan to add many things that I need to learn how to do or they aren't critical:

• A drop system of gold and item shops.
• A tittle map like Half Life 2.
• Decoration using voxels.
• Cooperative support (using Zdoom or most likely Zandronum).

The mod has only all the player classes done, with their weapons and skills (although they need some improvement in sounds), and a lot of monsters in the wad. There is a shitty map to show how the mod is going to be, with the close-combat fighting and other crap in dungeons, etc. Now I will explain how the classes work:

Barbarian: The most brutal melee guy, attacks and runs very fast. He has twin axes and his skill is a charge with a final smashing double blow.

Warrior: A balanced class without any skill. Can do a lot of damage with his sword and can protect himself with his shield. This character should take the most advance of monster infighting due to his capacity of absorbing damage.

Rogue: A homeless outcast, weak in direct combat and very fast, his strenght lies on his critical attacks and his ability to melt in the shadows to stab the back of his foes. He attacks silently.

Cleric: The most weak of the melee characters, can heal himself with his heal spell.

Mage: Can throw magic missiles to his enemies at a distance. His ability consists in a small magic shield that protects him from all damage taken.

Mod basics: All the player classes have only one weapon with two fires, the primary attack and the secondary attack which leads to activate their abilities. All the abilities cost 1 skill point, excluding the warrior, that have no need to consume skill points protecting with the shield. You can only have 3 skill points and you get 1 every 15 seconds. Also, all the characters have a 5% chance to land a critical hit with more damage (you will notice when you hear grunts attacking or thrusting enemies). The rogue has 25% chance to get a critical hit though.

The mod is natively widescreen, 16:9 specifically. I hadn't tested it in 16:10 and use 4:3 resolutions can cause the sprites of the weapons leak out of the screen, but still is playable. I recommend start playing with the Mage, because it's the easiest player class. The other classes following in increased difficulty are the Barbarian, the Cleric, the Rogue and the Warrior. I tested it in "Hurt me plenty" and, indeed, it's very difficult, but just the action I wanted to.

Some screenshots:

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Character selection



The Rogue




The Warrior




The Barbarian




The Cleric




The Mage

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And there is the download:

Mediafire:

http://www.mediafire.com/?761k7czia751h59

Mirror in Dropbox:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/05cflipfhu9gd9h/dc0.2.pk3

I hope you test it, tell me your opinions and feedback and you like it.

PD: I recommend to play it with this background music

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[Mav3rick]

Try it... and...

Will need more weapons... dont want to be in a 32 wad with always the same weapon.
Nice addition of diferent monsters.
No idea but some times the attack were almost fatal, it was mean on purpose or the caracter have a low defence against all and yes all the caracter seem that way.
Some weapons feel akward and no feel space between them and the enemy.

But so far is a nice start let see what else will be added.

[Sami]

My intention is to edit all the parameters of life and damage for the classes and monsters. I published this beta so I can have some feedback because basically the playstyle of the mod is this, but with a more minimalist style in the numbers. Firstly I thgought about some weapons for the classes, then about improve weapons with enchantments but I don't know exactly what to do. The mod is in a young state, even in my mind, I think the time I spent to make this is about two or three weeks...

I have doubts about the maps too: A new game would be only one random map making the dungeon crawling totally random (thinking of reelism), or I could make a set of three or four maps in a row to make a mini-adventure, which set would be selected random from various map sets, or just all the maps in the wad to make an epic battle...

I appreciate your reply Mav3rick. Thank you for give it a chance

[XutaWoo]

The Barbarian and the Mage feel good, although the latter could be packing more heat and his altfire could be better suited to his role. Namely, to get any use out of it he needs to be in the middle of everything when he's the only one with ranged weaponry. Feels a bit odd.

The others, however, really don't feel effective at all. The Rouge and Cleric's weapons seemed to miss randomly and the Cleric's altfire seems somewhat useless. The Warrior just felt sluggish, and you can keep your shield up even after it "breaks."

Here's some things that I can think that'd improve them:

Warrior
Has shield up by default, which regenerates when you haven't taken damage in a while. If you lose all the armor, it breaks and it takes longer to regenerate but regenerates instantly. This way, he's free to have an altfire power just like everyone else. Probably something like 90% damage reduction or just plain temporary invincibility. He's definitely a tank, but maybe improving his sword's speed or damage is in order so that he doesn't take forever when battling in singleplayer.

Cleric
Could be changed so that he's either the hybrid character (regens altfire fast and has a projectile for it) or give him a more effect version of the mage's current altfire (either by improving the bullet density or by just making it AoE damage). The former would make him a jack of all trades, while the latter would make him good for crowd control.

Rouge
He's kind of terrible in total, lacking in defense and his weapon really seems horrible. He may have stealth and backstab, but that just means he has to wait around forever and he can't really do well in skirmishes. You could, however, make him pack multiple weapon if you don't give the Cleric a projectile altfire, and make him the jack of all trades. Like, say, improve his dagger's attack speed by a ton, give him a bow for an alternate weapon, and maybe some sort of bombs for his altfire. That way he can always be useful, even when against tough melee opponents or against crowds of enemies.

I do like the critical hit system, though! Even if only noticed it with the Mage; perhaps adding animations for the other weapons is in order? I don't really feel like each class needs other weapons to pickup for this style of gameplay; it feels like Gauntlet, in a way, and the single weapon (unless otherwise unique to a class's traits) helps that feeling.

The beastiary is something else I have to mention, though. Don't use small, fast enemies like the hornets or flesh spawn. They are a pain to hit normally, and especially with melee weapons that have a wind-up time. Also, avoid heavy projectile users, mainly using them as support for the melee horde. Going up against a ton of ranged monsters with only a melee weapon isn't fun, especially in tight corridors where you just have to tank the blows. Other than that, I'd say that you have your heart in a good concept, even if it's got several flaws.

Oh, yes, it might be a good idea to swap from a skill system to a mana system, from 0 to 100. That way, you can have finer control over how fast a class gets its skill and how many they can store in stock; for example, the idea I suggested for the Rouge's new skill could be cheap and easily stored, using only like 20 mana or so, while the Warrior idea would requires a full 100 - or, at least, 80 or 90, to make sure it's something the only comes up once in a while and you can't keep two of them.

[Sami]

Thank you for your reply, I'll consider what you said, seriously. The idea of have alt-weapons or utility equipment (but very limited) is something that I was thinking about too, and make the mana/skill points pool percentage friendly could make the balance issues more easy to set.

With the cleric I tried to imitate the behavior of the original mace but that attack and the rogue's somewhat smell bad and now that I checked the range of the original mace, I noticed that it has double range compared to my cleric's mace! Even the warrior with his longsword has less range compared to the original mace. I have to fix it for the next release, thank you for helping me to realize of that

[Mav3rick]

My intention is to edit all the parameters of life and damage for the classes and monsters. I published this beta so I can have some feedback because basically the playstyle of the mod is this, but with a more minimalist style in the numbers. Firstly I thgought about some weapons for the classes, then about improve weapons with enchantments but I don't know exactly what to do. The mod is in a young state, even in my mind, I think the time I spent to make this is about two or three weeks...

I have doubts about the maps too: A new game would be only one random map making the dungeon crawling totally random (thinking of reelism), or I could make a set of three or four maps in a row to make a mini-adventure, which set would be selected random from various map sets, or just all the maps in the wad to make an epic battle...

I appreciate your reply Mav3rick. Thank you for give it a chance

No problem willl check and see the progress and give more info in any way i can and dont worry all will work step by step

[TiberiumSoul]

with this someone could probably remake Waxworks for DOS with this

[Sami]

I come along with a HUD I made, graphical and simple. Also I fixed rogue's and cleric's weapon range.

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I'm still in doubt if would be useful to draw a mark in the skillpoint bar to report if you can use your skill, at least one mark showing how long your bar need to be to activate it.

[Crudux Cruo]

Its enjoyable, but heres a few things...

1.) http://zandronum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=1224
This mod offers alot of different weapons, but each one is unique, with two attacks usually, and the character has upgradeable stats. it also has alot of monster variations, and it works in multiple games.

2.) this mod must have more attack options than two per weapon. perhaps you can do a sequence with the primary and altfire. examples:

Cleric: 1-mace swing 2-heal self, 1+2 = fire wave and sweeping mace attack, 2+1 = heal friendly (if this ever goes online) 1+1 swing combo, 2+2 = bless spell (take less damage, deal more damage for a short while)

3.) is this singleplayer? you may consider zandronum if you want more people to play it, say on a server.

Things like this can be great, but you must be careful what the end result looks like. this is not a beta, this is an ALPHA. i really enjoyed the ALPHA though.

ALSO: there is a pack for diablo monsters released that you can add that would work great. also, diablo 1 music would fit this very well.

[Sami]

The mod you linked it's awesome! I didn't know of it, it's very well made and fun besides it has a lot of things, but so many things that I would never use playing the mod. It remembers me AEoD, so many weapons that finally I only used two or three... my intention is not to do a complex mod with a lot of weapons, items and skills, only some roles to play, a few weapons and some skills. That mod could help me how to port my mod to Zandronum and to add functions to the weapons I have now so I thank you for the info and for give it a chance

[jpalomo]

Well, this is a nice start. Unfortunately, this mod suffers from a few of the same issues that Hexen's weapon and class design have. No matter how satisfying any single weapon is, you will need multiple weapons with different roles to keep the player entertained. As it is now, all but one of your classes is melee only, and all 5 classes have only one weapon. The skill system is also a little flawed. Besides not working in any map besides the first one (you didn't use a library), I honestly think that your skill shouldn't be available only after a set amount of time. It would be better if you earned it after killing a certain number of monsters. That way, the Cleric can't just sit there and heal up to full health.

The weapons are aesthetically pleasing at least. I noticed that you used sounds from Warcraft II in there.

[Crudux Cruo]

I do understand what you are trying to go for, and i think this has the potential of being a fun, light hearted romp for online; but you should at least have three weapons per player; some sort of starter, a primary weapon, and an alternate weapon.

[Tapwave]

Having more weapons isn't an absolute necessity, if you can make an upgrade system for the base ones.
Looks interesting, at first i thought it'd be something like Nash's Dungeondoom-ish prototype.

[Crudux Cruo]

http://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f= ... 9&start=30

monster wad i was talking about earlier

[Sami]

Well, this is a nice start. Unfortunately, this mod suffers from a few of the same issues that Hexen's weapon and class design have. No matter how satisfying any single weapon is, you will need multiple weapons with different roles to keep the player entertained. As it is now, all but one of your classes is melee only, and all 5 classes have only one weapon. The skill system is also a little flawed. Besides not working in any map besides the first one (you didn't use a library), I honestly think that your skill shouldn't be available only after a set amount of time. It would be better if you earned it after killing a certain number of monsters. That way, the Cleric can't just sit there and heal up to full health.

The weapons are aesthetically pleasing at least. I noticed that you used sounds from Warcraft II in there.

¿What do you mean by using a library? I know that if you use a library you can import ACS code and make it modular so it can be more understandable for others but, ¿how can I have a script executing at the start of every map without scripting it? I mean, you have the script A that gives you skillpoints (ammo) over time that has te "ENTER" type (for every player) but in the MAP2 or any map of the original iwad of Doom2, how can I execute that script A of the map01 or the library that I want? I don't know how to have a starting condition. Maybe I can try with an ACS_NamedExecute in the Spawn state of the player actors, I'll try it tomorrow.

Thanks for try it

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=32169&start=30

monster wad i was talking about earlier

I'll check it soon, thank you for the link.

I've been busy with exams but by tomorrow I will be free. There will be updates soon, specifically a secondary weapon for every class and a remake of the skills of the primary weapons of Mage, Cleric and Warrior. The Mage now calls a ball of lightning that explodes (rather like a rocket, basically), the Cleric will be able to buff his mace to attack from afar during a short time and the warrior now will be able to have the shield all the time like a common fps-regeneration-shield, but will be slow. His skill now can make him recover all the shield and to be invulnerable for 4 or 5 seconds, I'm considering it.

When I have a better structured selection of character classes and the posibility to play every map without explicit scripting (porting the scripts) I will try to port it to Zandronum so it can be played online.