[slow WIP] Shadows of Apocalypse - BETA public DEMO

[ramon.dexter]

Hey Capt'n, what about this?

And some info for update: Actually, I had to take a little break from SoA. After a year and a half, I feel I'm little bit exhausted on this project. Also, I had some other ideas in my mind, so I started working on something little bit different (in the means of setting). So the previously announced release times will change. The demo/beta will be released this year, but the rest will be released when it's done.

I know I should focus on one project, but as I said. After a year and a half, I'm feeling more that exhausted. And I know myself. When I start to feel like exhausted on one thing, I'm very close to dropping it. So I had to take a break and focus on something little bit different.

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[Vostyok]

For the demo, I'd focus on finishing one small area. If you take Fallout for example, the first "part", might be the trip to Vault15, the various quests in Shady Sands, the raider camp and scorpion nest, and finally a major confrontation in Junk Town. Limited enemy and weapon types to worry about, and you can concentrate on this small segment of the plot till you are happy with it.

Either way, I wish you luck in your project. Don't feel bad about clearing your head now and again, either. A break can give you a new perspective or some fresh ideas.

[ramon.dexter]

Yeah, I'm planning to release one finished map as demo. I already have a quest with mechanics (like the journal), but I want to add at least two smaller ones. Plus some dialogues. Then I have to re-pack all the resources into pk3, which is the worst part...

[ramon.dexter]

Sooo, here is small pics update. I got an idea - Hey, I got an postapo mod, but without any kind of power plant (which is a nice to look to location). So I made this nuclear powerplant. And as other maps, this one is too inspired by old Falluot games. This one is inspired by the Gecko location in Fallout 2 - mainly by the Gecko nuclear powerplant (simply said, it's adapatation of Gecko nucl.pwp).

Here are the screenies.

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[Captain J]

That reactor facility and yellow sky is really gives the special post-apocalyptic atmosphere yet amazing!

[Vostyok]

Cool idea. I've put a hydro-electric dam in mine, since it could also (theoretically) be still active.

I hope you stick with these projects. A lot of work you've given yourself (although, I have an idea for a Heretic mod i really, really want to work on. It'll have to wait though)

[ramon.dexter]

Yeah. Sometimes, I'm searching for some new skyboxes, but then realize, that this is the best I can find anywhere So I will stick to it.

Development is reallly slow, beacuse right now I'm in fantasy mood, so this will be developed only when I have some brand new ideas.

But I have one question in mind: What is resource demanding in means og gzDoom engine? Big maps? High ceiling (meaning tall map)? Lots of 3D sectors-objects? Because I have bigger maps than this one. The bigger maps are handled way better, than this map. It's not so big, not so many 3d objects, not so many voxels...but man, this map is slow! Especially when you come from map02, it's a frame-killer. And I cannot figure out why

[Caligari87]

Long sight-lines with lots of "visible" lines/sectors are a common culprit for slowdowns. Since the Doom engine doesn't do proper view culling, I'd say try "breaking up" your levels with voids somehow, to prevent walls from being drawn when not necessary.

Voxels and 3D models can also be quite demanding, but if you're not using many then it's unlikely to be the problem.

AI calls are also quite costly, especially at long ranges, so try to avoid having tons of active actors. Lots of actors/things in general can sometimes be expensive, so make sure non-essential things like particles and grass have +NOINTERACTION set where possible, to avoid unnecessary collision checking, etc.

[Blake00]

This looks really great. I find myself thinking of Fallout, Dune, and Mad Max as I look through the impressive pictures.

[ramon.dexter]

Finally made myselft to create a new player sprite for the SoA.

I've made this so far. Frankenspriting in progress

[Captain J]

Looks awesome and great! SF Post-Apocalyptic style is outta this world!

[ramon.dexter]

Sooo, I can say spriting is half-complete. Walking&shooting frames with full 8 rotations finished. Now I need to fit a weapon on it, make a pain&death states and we are done, I think!
Also, I thinking about some more customization - make a frames for each weapon. How complicated is that, besides making sprite set for each weapon? What's the coding behind that? I have a very vague idea that it could be done in zscript, but I know too few to actually make this happen. Would anyone help me, please?

I'm actually thinking 'bout making some new mutants. Spriting is pretty easy, when I have a good idea

[Vostyok]

Quake2 style view-sweapon scripts are usually a mass of decorate "A_jumpifinventory" states. I think someone did one using the player skins system once, but I haven't been able to track it down for you. Looks pretty cool though, although dat helmet reminds me of someone...

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lol sorry

[ramon.dexter]

And the player sprite is complete, with walking and shooting fullrotations. Pain rotations are mirrored (I'm lazy), Death animation is standard of 8 frames.
Now I just need to fit a weapon over it and it is fully complete. It is made up from Strife's HMN1&BEGR, with the helmet made from Hunter Skin for Quake II. Little bit of spriting magic and I have a new player sprite. It will also be used for the Rangers.

[ramon.dexter]

Sooo, I'm in a good mood, so here is a pre-alpha demo. Just first two maps. But it playable, and I think most of the things are translated using language lump.

Link is here and in the first post also.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9x-D ... kJtY2lVZmM

And some gameplay info:

Weapon slot system has been overhauled. Instead of 8 slots, player has three slots.
1. slot - pistols - pistol, autopistol, sawedoff shotgun, pump shotgun
2. slot - rifles - smg, blaster staff, hunting rifle, pulse rifle
3. slot - heavier guns - minigun, nailgun, gatling shotgun, grenade launcher, plasma beam
(weapons cannot be obtained by idkfa or give weapons - all weapons have +weapon.cheatnotweapon flag, so don't even try explanation below )

When picked up, weapons now go to inventory. Player has to activate (==equip) them from inventory. One thing to notice - when weapon is equipped, the inventory item stays in inv, so player can re-activate it. When player activates another weapon, it replaces the currently equipped weapon, if it belongs to the same slot. If you want to try all weapons, just use "give inventory" or "give all" instead of "idkfa" or "give weapons".

So, it's early alpha. Testing revelaed that "give weapons" gives you plasma gun, bfg and rocket laucnher >> will be fixed But not in this relase.