[WIP] Sun Damage Omen : Version 0.7c

[dawnbreez]

So, I like that all monsters have 100% pain chance, but I also understand that the player being able to consistently stunlock every boss in the game is kind of overpowered. To that end, I'd recommend some kind of Stun Counter for boss enemies!
Basically:

• Each boss has a "Pain" state that actually just gives them a Stun inventory item and then jumps back to normal states.
• After accruing enough Stun, the boss enters a special state that leaves it frozen in pain for a bit, possibly with some kind of fancy particle effect that says "SHOOT ME NOW"
• After leaving the stunned state, the boss loses all of its Stun and you repeat the cycle.

It's kind of like how Legend of Zelda bosses (since Ocarina of Time) work. You hit the monster enough/in the right places while it's attacking, and then you deal the heavy damage while it's flopped over with its Massive Weak Point exposed.
Bonus points if some weapons are better at giving out Stun than others (i.e., since the shotgun's pellets tend to hit all at once, the monster only goes into pain once per shotgun blast, and so the shotgun isn't very good for stunning the boss).

[Matt]

That pain state would still interrupt an attack (or walking or any other animation including another pain state). Still better to go with DamageMobj or making the projectile (or saw puff) give that inventory item (or just doing it right there in ZScript) to whatever it's hitting.

[DoukDouk]

The boss counter seems really, really fun. I might keep that idea for gigantic bosses, like maybe Cyberdemon or Spider Mastermind.

Version 0.5f (for FLAMETHROWER) has been uploaded! Bask in its solar glory!



Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6y8i7 ... hWUWM/view

Changelog:

---

- Classes have been renamed
- Lost soul has been given new code, sprites, and sounds (with updated credits)

- After a long and troubled history, the weapon balance is finally all better!

• Each weapon gives slot # when picked up
• Shredder untouched, still in slot #1
• SMG, closest thing to pistol-equivalent, has been put in slot #2
• Both shotguns are now in slot #3
• The gatling gun has been restored to its FULL METAL GLORY, now uses/fires bullets and occupies slot #4
• Rocket launcher untouched, slot #5
• A new weapon awaits you in slot #6! I smell barbecue...
• Solar propulsor also untouched, slot #7

- MIGHTY BOOT has been given a great overall buff:

• No longer propels you and takes away player control, though still slows player down slightly
• Kickback greatly increased
• Initial delay greatly decreased, although speed is slightly slower after actually kicking
• No health gained upon a successful enemy hit. Considered cheap when you could bully a hell-knight to restore to full health

Before, the kick had a lot of risk (relinquishing player control), with very little reward (a few health points).
Now it can hopefully serve better as a quick enemy finisher or a "fuck get off me" emergency melee button.

Playing through with the new kick is a difference between night and day. At first when I added the inverse recoil to the kick, I thought it'd be a great way to boost your speed to an enemy, but now I can see how you can just catapult yourself into a shitty situation. Now it just slows down the player a bit, but it has a much better knockback and doesn't take control away at all, leaving you much less vulnerable. Hope it's better!

The next major updates will be a long and painful wrestling session with ZScript. You may see me wandering the forums like a vagrant begging for change or ZScript assistance.

But, now with this version out, I can finally say I'm satisfied with the weapon balance. All that's left with the weapons is tweaking and tidying up the effects.

This is GZDoom only?

That's what I've been using and what I recommend. I'm using the developer builds especially.

[Mr.Enchanter]

Here's a preview of that Nailgun I plan on adding.

NGUNA0.PNG

[DoukDouk]

That looks awesome! Totally industrial. I love the NIN logo at the base.

[-Ghost-]

I'm happy to see you're adding a couple more weapons! I always felt like at the least a gameplay mod should have the basic 1-7 Doom weapon roles filled; it always feels weird to missing a plasma rifle or BFG or chaingun or something.

Also the shotgun in particular looks really nice, I don't think I've seen the pump shotgun sprited that way before, it goes really well with the mod aesthetic.

[Matt]

Oh, this is much smoother than the last version!

What with the new kick and weaponslots maybe it's a bit too ea--

TNT map03: :)

.............no, it's fine.


Weapon balance definitely feels right for the most part, though perhaps the rockets could do a bit more damage? It's possible to hit a pinky (brownie?) at point blank and for it to survive and continue attacking, and the acceleration makes it noticeably more challenging to land a direct hit at all.


Would like to be able to set lingering fires with the thrower but I assume that's part of the ZScript update!


Seconding Ghost re: shotgun.

[Gideon020]

The solar flamethrower is a thing of beauty, and I look forward to the Nailgun in a future update.

[Someone64]

I love how the flamethrower actually throws flames over an arc allowing it to partially keep the long ranged ability of its vanilla counterpart.

[SiFi270]

If more weapons are being added, I feel like a hand grenade of some kind would fit, especially if it had a "quick throw" button to go with it.

[dawnbreez]

I get the idea behind changing the kick, but I also liked having a risky attack that gives health but can leave the player open. Maybe a quick-stab with a syringe, bound to the Reload or Zoom keys, that behaves like the old kick?

[Chloroxite]

I enjoy this mod a lot, but I would really prefer if you didn't buff enemies at higher difficulties. The player already has to deal with MORE of them, there is no need for them to be more powerful. Just my thoughts on it.

[-Ghost-]

I enjoy this mod a lot, but I would really prefer if you didn't buff enemies at higher difficulties. The player already has to deal with MORE of them, there is no need for them to be more powerful. Just my thoughts on it.

I've seen some mods do regular difficulties from HMP-UV, then add a couple extras on with more powerful enemies as well, might be a better way to do it.

[DoukDouk]

Good news! Thanks to ZScript, the hit flashing now occurs regardless of pain state! Check it out here:

https://i.imgur.com/T7wuEmc.mp4

A weird side effect now is that when you use "MDK" or "Kill Monsters" in the console to kill monsters, they no longer make any sort of death sound. They die perfectly fine by conventional means though, so whatever.

Also the shotgun in particular looks really nice, I don't think I've seen the pump shotgun sprited that way before, it goes really well with the mod aesthetic.

Thank you! I can't take the credit though, that's NMN's work. I think it's my favorite Doom shotgun though. It's so unique and cool and trench gun looking while still being the classic Doom look.

Weapon balance definitely feels right for the most part, though perhaps the rockets could do a bit more damage? It's possible to hit a pinky (brownie?) at point blank and for it to survive and continue attacking, and the acceleration makes it noticeably more challenging to land a direct hit at all.

Would like to be able to set lingering fires with the thrower but I assume that's part of the ZScript update!

Ah, yes, the rockets are a bit underpowered. I copied the damage formula from Final Doomer's TNT rockets, which go at a LOT faster rate. Rocket damage will be sure to be buffed in the next update.

Ultimately for humanoid enemies I want the flamethrower to cause them to combust upon dying, and I think in the future the flamethrower will absolutely get a shine-job, with lingering damage and all that good stuff. The lingering damage would have to mean that the initial damage would get nerfed a bit, but the lingering flame would cancel it out by dealing constant damage over time.

If more weapons are being added, I feel like a hand grenade of some kind would fit, especially if it had a "quick throw" button to go with it.

To be honest, I wanted to add a quick grenade button in in the beginning, but I can't seem to find a good item to replace in the vanilla Doom world to have it. Hmm... Could appear in the dedicated levelset.

I enjoy this mod a lot, but I would really prefer if you didn't buff enemies at higher difficulties. The player already has to deal with MORE of them, there is no need for them to be more powerful. Just my thoughts on it.

Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit. I forgot to affect monster health when it came to the damage dished out in the harder difficulties! My apologies.

I recall playing through levels under the UV difficult thinking I was dealing more damage, but it's clear with the damage numbers mod that I wasn't. Placebo effect I suppose. Will be taken care of, thanks!

I get the idea behind changing the kick, but I also liked having a risky attack that gives health but can leave the player open. Maybe a quick-stab with a syringe, bound to the Reload or Zoom keys, that behaves like the old kick?

I'm also a huge fan of high risk/reward in games. A syringe could be a possible Soulsphere/Megasphere replacement, but we'll see in the future. #1 goal is plug-and-play for vanilla Doom levels.

[Matt]

Dual-purpose hand-grenade rockets? (fin pins!)

EDIT: Or possibly use cells as "~solar flares~"...