First complete DECORATE weapon, how to improve?

[Double(Super)Shotgun]

Hey guys, I apologize if I'm breaking any rules I missed but this is my first DECORATE weapon, a Wolf3D-style chaingun. It's meant to be styled after the Wolfenstein chaingun, but it's not an attempt at an exact replication, rather trying to capture the feel or spirit of that weapon, while hopefully making it something fun and useful as a gun in its own right. Here's the link to the wad file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/gw28o75w9lqws ... g.wad?dl=0

While I'm definitely proud of it ("Hello world!"), being my first one and all, I'm mostly curious to know what's WRONG with it, if anyone wouldn't mind throwing me some advice in that regard. What is inefficient, what can be done in a better or simpler way, what makes no sense, poor design in general etc.

What else I'd like to do with it:
- Would like to find a better muzzle flash, since this is basically just a rip from the original.
- Also think I can find something a bit better than the current firing sound. I like it a lot, but I would like to find something that really "roars". The original Wolf3D chaingun did this very well (in Masters of Doom, there's a story recounted where Romero laughs his ass off the first time he tests the chaingun), but of course that SFX is a bit oudated.
- Find a 'hissing' sound for the HardSpindown state
- Also, also: Does anyone know if there's a way to increase the rate of fire a bit more? As it stands, I have: WCGN DE 2 A_FireBullets(0, 0, 2, 20) for the main firing animation, but when I drop the frame tics down to 1, it's just TOO fast. Is there any way to get "1.5"?

Here is the DECORATE code for anyone who doesn't wish to download the wad:

Code: Select all

ACTOR WolfChaingun : Chaingun
{
	weapon.AmmoUse 2
	weapon.SlotNumber 4
	weapon.bobStyle alpha
	weapon.bobSpeed 1.4
	weapon.bobRangeX 0.3
	weapon.bobRangeY 0.3
	AttackSound "weapons/wolfcgfire"

	states
	{
		Spawn:
			WCGN P -1
			Stop
		Ready:
			WCGN A 1 A_WeaponReady
			Loop
		Deselect:
			WCGN A 0 A_Lower
			WCGN A 1 A_Lower
			Loop
		Select:
			WCGN A 0 A_Raise
			WCGN A 1 A_Raise
			Loop
		Fire:
			WCGN C 2
			WCGN BC 1
			TNT1 A 0 A_GunFlash
			WCGN DE 2 A_FireBullets(0, 0, 2, 20)
			TNT1 A 0 A_Recoil(0.5)
			TNT1 A 0 A_SetPitch(pitch - 1.5)
			TNT1 A 0 A_ReFire
			goto Spindown
		Hold:
			TNT1 A 0 A_Recoil(0.5)
			TNT1 A 0 A_GunFlash
			WCGN DE 2 A_FireBullets(2, 0, 2, 20)
			TNT1 A 0 A_SetAngle(angle - random(1, -1))
			TNT1 A 0 A_SetPitch(pitch - 1)
			TNT1 A 0 A_Refire("Hold2")
			goto Spindown
		Hold2:
			TNT1 A 0 A_Recoil(0.5)
			TNT1 A 0 A_GunFlash
			WCGN DE 2 A_FireBullets(2, 1, 2, 20)
			TNT1 A 0 A_SetAngle(angle - random(1, -1))
			TNT1 A 0 A_SetPitch(pitch - 1)
			TNT1 A 0 A_Refire("Hold3")
			goto Spindown
		Hold3:
			TNT1 A 0 A_Recoil(0.5)
			TNT1 A 0 A_GunFlash
			WCGN DE 2 A_FireBullets(3, 2, 2, 20)
			TNT1 A 0 A_SetAngle(angle - random(2, -2))
			TNT1 A 0 A_SetPitch(pitch - 2)
			TNT1 A 0 A_Refire("Hold4")
			goto Spindown
		Hold4:
			TNT1 A 0 A_Recoil(0.5)
			TNT1 A 0 A_GunFlash
			WCGN DE 2 A_FireBullets(5, 4, 2, 20)
			TNT1 A 0 A_SetAngle(angle - random(3, -3))
			TNT1 A 0 A_SetPitch(pitch - 3)
			TNT1 A 0 A_Refire("Hold5")
			goto Spindown
		Hold5:
			TNT1 A 0 A_Jump
			TNT1 A 0 A_Recoil(1)
			TNT1 A 0 A_GunFlash
			WCGN DE 2 A_FireBullets(12, 7, 2, 20)
			TNT1 A 0 A_SetAngle(angle - random(12, -12))
			TNT1 A 0 A_SetPitch(pitch - 5)
			TNT1 A 0 A_Jump(8, "Jam")
			TNT1 A 0 A_Refire("Hold5")
			goto HardSpindown
		Spindown:
			TNT1 A 0 A_SetPitch (pitch + 0.5)
			WCGN BC 2 A_SetPitch(pitch + 0.25)
			WCGN BC 4 Offset(0,40) A_ReFire
			WCGN BC 8 Offset(0,42) A_ReFire
			Goto Ready
			//END ON 'CHIK' SOUND
		HardSpindown:
			TNT1 A 0 A_SetPitch (pitch + 5)
			WCGN BC 2 Offset(0,38) A_SetPitch(pitch + 2)
			WCGN BC 4 Offset(0,40) A_ReFire
			WCGN BC 8 Offset(0,42) A_ReFire
			Goto Ready
			//END ON 'CLUNK' SOUND
			//FIND 'HISSING' SOUND FOR THIS STATE
		Jam:
			TNT1 A 0 A_PlaySound("weapons/wolfcgfire")
			TNT1 A 0 A_Recoil(0.1)
			TNT1 A 0 A_GunFlash("Flash2")
			WCGN DE 1 A_FireBullets(12, 7, 2, 20)
			TNT1 A 0 A_SetAngle(angle - 15)
			TNT1 A 0 A_SetPitch(pitch - 5)
			TNT1 A 0 A_Jump(4, "HardSpindown")
			TNT1 A 0 A_JumpIfNoAmmo("HardSpindown")
			Loop
		Flash:
			WCGN DE 2 BRIGHT A_Light2
			Goto LightDone
		Flash2:
			WCGN DE 1 BRIGHT A_Light2
			Goto LightDone
	}
}

[Tapwave]

Don't worry too much, that's technically a mod release and you're off to a fairly good start.

- Have some "jam" state, where randomly (though most likely it will only be able happen in the fifth Hold state) the gun will go completely out-of-control. I imagine having the volume of the firing get louder, maybe increase the rate of fire some. 1) I'd like to discourage absolute constant use of the chaingun, balance it a bit in favor of the machine gun and pistol and 2) seems logical if we assume the hand-held minigun was an experimental Nazi weapon, and still being in development, prone to malfunctions now and then. I'm not sure how to do this yet.

Use token inventory items that are added every time the gun goes into the hold frame. Then when the amount is sufficient, perform a random jump to a Jam state. Increased volume is likely to need a different soundfile, firerate increase isn't too hard, you found a way to do it in your last question anyway.

- Also think I can find something a bit better than the current firing sound. I like it a lot, but I would like to find something that really "roars". The original Wolf3D chaingun did this very well (in Masters of Doom, there's a story recounted where Romero laughs his ass off the first time he tests the chaingun), but of course that SFX is a bit oudated.

Check other weapon mods like ARSENAL, Aeons of Death and so on. They often have tons of resources and I'm sure you'll find something you like in there.

- Also, also: Does anyone know if there's a way to increase the rate of fire a bit more? As it stands, I have: WCGN DE 2 A_FireBullets(0, 0, 2, 20) for the main firing animation, but when I drop the frame tics down to 1, it's just TOO fast. Is there any way to get "1.5"?

Sadly, no. It's either 1 or 2, but what you can do, is add a 0-duration firing frame once in a while, it could work the way you want.

[phantombeta]

Sadly, no. It's either 1 or 2, but what you can do, is add a 0-duration firing frame once in a while, it could work the way you want.

That's not exactly true. One can still fake it.

[Double(Super)Shotgun]

Use token inventory items that are added every time the gun goes into the hold frame. Then when the amount is sufficient, perform a random jump to a Jam state. Increased volume is likely to need a different soundfile, firerate increase isn't too hard, you found a way to do it in your last question anyway.

Thank you so much, this got me going in the right direction and now there's a working Jam state Code and wad download updated.

[osjclatchford]

I have taken the liberty of improving the muzzle-flashes for you, making heavy use of blurring and transparency:

I've not tested it but it should look rather fancy in-game...

[Double(Super)Shotgun]

Wow, awesome! PM fired.

[doony]

: ) thanks, this weapon is amazing

[noonecares]

This looks pretty nice for a first dec. weapon. You're off to a great start man; Even though I'd lower the recoil a bit (kicks like 2 mules!) and reduce the fire rate (Eats up ammo supply like my cat eats up my entire fridge.) I wish you nothing but improvement from now on