Walpurgis 1.0A (For Doom/Heretic/Hexen) [FULL 1.0 Release]

[eharper256]

Have a great time and enjoy your well-deserved vacation!

Thanks!

[eharper256]

Hello everyone!

I'm back and had a super time; much refreshed. Hope you all had a nice week as well.

Work will resume shortly on 0.98 on Walpurgis (probably as soon as I've cleared any work backlog in my job, though I don't expect there to be much as I made sure to get ahead the week before).

[eharper256]

So I said work would resume; but the moment I got back, I caught Covid again! Typical of my luck, getting punished for having a nice time.

This has made me exhausted most of the week even though I'm working from home to avoid spreading it. Must have caught it in the port coming off the cruise since all my buddies who went with me also got symptoms this week. On my antivirals now and on the mend, so NOW work should resume.

[ArchDoomer]

Oh no. Get well soon. We remain patient.

[eharper256]

Oh no. Get well soon. We remain patient.

Thanks. I'm already a fair bit better (I mean last time I caught Covid I was in bed for a week; but this time I've been working from home, just coughing and tired).

[eharper256]

Preliminary Bardiche Preview!!

This is a design for the Myrmidon's new in-slot 3 alternative weapon, the (as yet un-named) Bardiche. I considered what colours I'd not really explored for the Myrmidon and weapon niche's he was lacking, and a reach weapon using Red and Blue contrast was the answer I came up with after fiddling with Photoshop for a while.

This does create a rather demonic weapon, doesn't it? I also deliberately designed that central gap to be the focus point for a potential magic circle for its powers. At the moment, given this, I'm thinking it's related to Haemomancy (blood) powers, possibly sapping small amounts of health to deal devastating hits; though this is open to debate and further design. As usual, obviously this sprite isn't final and is due for more tweaks and cleaning.

What do you think?

[ArchDoomer]

What can I say? Keep it up! I look forward to the new version.

[neto592]

Believing that this is not an April's Fool joke...


First I kind of sad that is not the big earth stomping Maul but Bardiche is cool too I think.


If I understood it would be a weapon somehow fast, close range/melee and oriented on doing a huge damage on a single target (and possible secondary damage to few near targets), or am I wrong?


Also I happy that is not lightning based!
Because already there are the Vorpal Axe and upgraded weapon 1 which doing lightning damage.


Could be possible on going toe to toe with a boss? At least a melee one like the Heretic Maulotaur boss (on a melee/evasion combat)?

I guess either would have a slow but stunning attack or simple hitting pretty hard I guess...

But then again in a long attrition combat (against a Maulotaur boss, for instance) that blood cost would likely come to bite its user unless maybe that weapon would also do a small but life draining damage I think.

Of course there also the weapon 2 for that but it demands a specific upgrade choice for that, meaning you are bound to that Vorpal Axe upgrade choice if you what to effective use the Bardiche, I believe.

Maybe I think it could be alternatively be charged by mana or even just time however slower (and blood only for fast charges), I guess...


I like the idea but I kind afraid that it could be too HP costly in order to be a viable option among the others weapons, meaning (I afraid) that a future nerfing action might be necessary due that in order to forceful make this "blood hunger" a viable option.

[eharper256]

Don't worry, not an April Fool's joke (it was posted March 30th for me). I personally hate the internet's thing for that anyways.

Also, yes, it may well have vampiric properties on top of life draining its user. This will all tested and fiddled with when I've got a full sprite selection. I don't expect all the attacks will be life-draining though. I'll always test it to make sure its viable weighted against the others.

[DarkQuill]

That thing looks awesome, hell yes.
Hope you are feeling better in the interim though~

[eharper256]

That thing looks awesome, hell yes.
Hope you are feeling better in the interim though~

Thanks!

Yeah, I'm finally recovered entirely now; still had a cough after COVID was over, but that's finally relinquished control as well.

Glad you like the Bardiche. It has a couple extra sprites done and some of the preliminary code written, though nothing exciting to show this week.

It's also a new Path of Exile season again so I'll be jumping on that for the easter weekend a bit. I usually announce this as it nearly always rips me away from modding for a few days.

[Avventis]

Good time of day for all. I've been playing with this mod since version 0.91.
I've already played a lot of wads with it. And although I didn’t like it very much with doom wads, but Walpurgis is amazing while playing heretic and hexen wads.
In general, the mod is really good. And now I would like to express my thoughts about all classes (each of their weapons and each of the upgrades for this weapons).
But I'm not sure if it's worth doing it in view of my not the best knowledge of the English language. However, I'll try. So far, there is thoughts only about the myrmidon, but... Let me know if these thoughts are useful, and then I will write about the rest of the classes.

And of course this is just my opinion. And it doesn't have to be the only right one.

____________________________________________________
Myrmidon
Let's start with myrmidon. This is a melee class. And the implementation of this class is really good. At this mod weapons are forms any class. But first things first.

Fists
Primary attack. Well, what can be said about the fists? It's just fists. You can hit the enemy. Or, for example, you can still hit the enemy. Or hit the enemy once more. Pretty decent damage for a starter weapon, relatively enjoyable to use (especially since fists won't be used anymore with any other weapon found).
Upgrade. To be honest, not a very useful upgrade. Attacks become slightly stronger and occasionally stun. Even a small increase in damage is always good, but the stuns are too unstable, which sometimes makes them even more harmful than useful. Especially when you hit while moving backwards.

Secondary attack. Chain. Pretty weird attack. The only way to get flying enemies at the start of the most wads. The concept of the chain is interesting, but the implementation is not very good. In total, the chain has two problems. The first problem is that it is very difficult to hit a flying target with a chain. The chain is homing to the target, but the angle and the speed of the chain make this homing rather weak.
The second problem shows up when the chain hits an enemy. When the enemy pulled to the myrmidon, it will almost always results in a hit from this enemy. And it's almost impossible to evade it.
Although, of course, throwing flying creatures to the floor by using chain is quite pleasant.
Upgrade. The upgrade certainly improves chain homing, but it's not makes chain much more useful. Moreover, blows to the face of the myrmidon after enemy being pulled still exists. The additional fire damage looks like a joke.

Tertiary attack. Kick and jump. Or more correctly - just a high jump. I'm not sure what it is for, but I dont know, how to use it properly. Unless in order to skip parts of the levels by jumping on high ledges.

Outcome. Fists are good for starting weapon, but it's definitely not worth to spending an upgrade on them, because the upgrade improvements are minor.


Axe
The axe is one of the best weapons in the mod in terms of style. It's attacks are well felt - both damage and visual effect.

Primary attack. Chopping your enemies. Average damage, average attack speed, nice distance, good animation. Simple and stylish.

Upgrade 1. Increased damage by 25% and a shiny visual effect when attacking. THIS IS THE BEST UPGRADE EVER! And it doesn’t even matter the damage improvements (although it is just in place here) !!! The most important thing is HOW the attacks now looks. And they looks and feels amazing! And damage, and impact, and visual - everything is on top. This is one of the most stylish weapons in the mod! Great upgrade. Must have upgrade. Oh yeah... And it doesn't cost mana!

Upgrade 2. Increase damage by consuming some mana. The damage impovement is a little more than the first upgrade does, but still, even in terms of efficiency - it's not worth it. 1 mana per 10-15% extra damage compared to the first upgrade. Blue mana already has a lot of useful ways to spend it - and therefore this upgrade does not looks so useful. Especially considering the excellent style of the first upgrade.

Secondary attack. A powerful swing that cuts through most medium enemies with a single hit. Pretty mana expensive, and pretty strong hit. A very useful addition to the primary attack. While the enemies are approaching one by one - chop them with primary attack. As soon as there are too many of them - use the secondary! Attack looks great and also feels good.
But this attack also has a downside. In narrow corridors, it sometimes deals almost no damage. From the point of view of logic, there is nowhere to swing an axe.
Thus, if this is a bug, then it would be nice to fix it. If this is a feature, then it would be worth adding sparks on the walls so that it is clear why the attack did not work.

Upgrade 1. Strongly increases the radius of attack. At the same time, the "narrow corridors" bug is triggered more often. Damage when at point blank range to the enemy feels lower than without the upgrade. The new attack visual effect is amazing. Is this upgrade worth spending the upgrade item? While there is a bug of "narrow corridors" - probably not. In any other case, yes, but not primarily.

Upgrade 2. Attack radius and mana consumption are greatly reduced. According to the description, the damage should be the same, but... In reality, the damage is not stable. It can hit as before, but in most cases the attack will be much weaker. With this upgrade, the secondary attack simply loses all meaning. The vorpal slash becomes only slightly stronger than the upgraded primary attack, while still draining 5 mana. Thus, it turns out that the upgrade makes this attack weaker than it was before, and gives almost nothing in return. Also, the visual of the attack is too similar to the first upgrade of the primary attack. Is this upgrade worth the cost of the upgrade item? No.

Tertiary attack. Just what myrmidon lacks so much is a distant attacks. This attack is expensive, and not very strong, but it does it's job. Great for taking out flying enemies or particularly pesky shooters. It has a pretty pleasing visual. A little HP leeching is also a nice bonus.

Upgrade 1. Just a nice upgrade. More damage, less mana cost, higher speed and range. Minor homing. In general, the upgrade has no disadvantages and is mostly convenient for shooting down flying targets. Is this upgrade worth it? Not primarily, but definitely worth it.

Upgrade 2. And... Just a nice upgrade again. Axes can be thrown quickly, albeit without leeching HP. Reducing the mana cost is also a strong side for this upgrade. The damage is slightly reduced, but this does not spoil this upgrade at all. Is this upgrade worth it? Just like the previous one - it's worth it, but in different situations. The first upgrade is suitable for dealing with a lot of flying enemies, and the second with shooting enemies at a great distances.

Outcome. The axe is an extremely pleasant and useful weapon, despite even a couple of not-so-useful upgrades. Is it worth it? Until you have a sword in your pockets - absolutely yes. It is perfect for both crowd control and single target combat. Good versatile weapon.


Gladius
Two short swords. Although not so great weapon as Axe, but it is still useful.

Primary attack. Almost the same as the axe, but with a slightly shorter distance, less damage and faster attack speed. In general, it is useful in the same situations as the primary axe attack. It looks pretty good, but still inferior in terms of style to the first hatchet upgrade (Gladius does not have a similar visual upgrade. And it is sorely lacking it.)

Upgrade 1. On the one hand it's a useful upgrade without any disadvantages, but on the other hand it is practically useless. Every attack after 4-6 another attacks will be enhanced. Most enemies simply won't survive this 4-6 attacks. The enemies, which have a chance to survive this attacks can usually bite back if myrmidon is still close to them. Thus, there are quite a few situations where this upgrade will be useful. Its only purpose is the ruble of a constantly advancing slow crowd without long-range attacks.

Upgrade 2. Suddenly almost the same as the first upgrade. The purpose and disadvantages are exactly the same. This upgrade has a small mana cost, but it compensates with a little more predictability than the first upgrade.

Is one of these upgrades worth spending an upgrade on it? If there are no other weapons left to upgrade, then yes. In any other case, no.

Secondary attack. Quite an unusual and interesting ranged attack. Allows you to knock back enemies, their projectiles, and sometimes yourself. The damage is generally worth the mana spent on it. It is possible to consider this attack as a means of dealing with shooting enemies - but it is not very convenient because of the knockback.

Upgrade 1. An upgrade that generally improves this attack. Attacks begin to pierce through the enemy and scatter them less to the sides, which makes the secondary attack much more convenient and more dangerous for the enemy. This upgrade is definitely useful and worth to spend an upgrade item, but not in the first place.

Upgrade 2. Gladius no more firing projectiles and launch whirlwinds instead. At first glance, the upgrade seems weak and inconvenient, but after some time of use, you begin to understand that the upgrade is very good and far from being as weak as it seemed at first. The upgrade provides both good control and more damage against dense clusters of enemies. Enemies hit by this whirlwinds attacks you less often. And this attack does not need to be aimed - it will find the enemy itself. Is this upgrade worth it? If you do not need a ranged attack, and there are usually a lot of enemies, then definitely yes.

Tertiary attack. An attack that has a charging and then deals heavy damage, even through the walls. The attack is inexpensive and quite powerful. Using it against strong single targets or tight groups of enemies is definitely a good idea.

Upgrade 1. Speed up the charging of the tertiary attack by half. Super useful upgrade. Now this attack can be used almost always and everywhere. Is this upgrade worth it? Yes, first of all!

Upgrade 2. Turns a tertiary attack into a ranged one. The attack becomes much more useful against crowds, but somewhat weaker against single targets. Should you take this upgrade instead of the first one? Only if there are practically no tenacious bosses in your wad, but there are huge crowds of enemies.

Outcome. Gladius are a great addition to the Myrmidon's arsenal. First of all, they are great for eliminating bosses due to their tertiary attack. And even though they are inferior in style to the axe, there are still quite a lot of situations where Gladius will be useful.



Hammer
The Hammer is primarily a medium-range weapon. And although it has some potential for close combat, it still most useful at some distance from enemies.

Primary attack. Although this attack has quite a lot of damage, but the slow attack speed and long swing make it an extremely auxiliary one. Basically, this attack serves to shrug off an ettin or gargoyle that suddenly runs up, without having to switch weapons.

Upgrade 1. This upgrade makes attack a little stronger and a little faster. In general, this will simply reduce the chance of getting an attack from the enemy before you hit them. Upgrade in general is worth to use, but not in the first place.

Upgrade 2. This upgrade adds a small AoE to the hit and increases the damage quite a bit, at the cost of 2 mana. And although with this upgrade, the main attack does not cease to be auxiliary, but there are much more sutuatuations to use primary attack now. This upgrade is worth to use, but not in the first place.

Secondary attack. Hammer throw. Relatively strong, but not very convenient ranged attack. At medium range, it will be useful against any enemies. Just throw a hammer in the enemy's face, and the day comes ok.

Upgrade 1. The hammer will split into small hammers when it hits an enemy. Increases hammer throw damage quite a bit. However, this upgrade will not deal additional damage in low ceiling rooms, which is a bit odd. This upgrade is worth to use, but not in the first place.

Upgrade 2. This upgrade also significantly increases the damage of the hammer throw, but requires some skill in using it. With this upgrade, the hammer should not be thrown at the enemy, but directly at his feet (or at the wall next to him). It's not always easy, but the outgoing damage is slightly higher than the first upgrade and is not limited to low ceilings. This upgrade is worth to use in the same cases as the first, but only if you are not too lazy to aim at the legs of your enemies.
This upgrade still has its limitations. If the enemy stands on the water away from the walls, then the upgrade loses all its properties. The hammer will simply sink if thrown at an enemy's feet, or only deal damage with a basic hit if thrown directly at an enemy.

Tertiary attack. Ground attack that deals damage in a line area. The attack looks great, but to be honest, it's absolutely not worth the mana spent on it. The damage radius is quite small, and the damage is not amazing.

Upgrade 1. This upgrade declares that three weaker waves will be released instead of one. This definitely makes this attack more effective, but overall, the tertiary attack is still not worth the mana spent on it. I do not recommend spending an upgrade on it.

Upgrade 2. With this upgrade, the wave will not crash into the enemy and deal damage on impact. Instead, it will continue on it's way and will sprinkle stones and magma along the entire path. Sounds better than it works in practice. This upgrade is only useful when attacking against a VERY large and dense crowd. Overall, this upgrade is not worth to use.

Outcome. The hammer is good for hitting targets at medium range due to the secondary attack. If desired, you can clap them in close combat, but at close combat it's still inferior to the "blue" weapons. Hammer upgrades are generally useful, except for the tertiary attack. Tretiary attack looks spectacular, but from the point of view of usefulness, it is very useless.


The SWORD
As soon as the myrmidon founds the sword, all other weapons become unnecessary. Even without upgrades, the sword is extremely good.

Primary attack. A strong attack that hits faster the longer the attack button is held down. Good sustained damage with good range. And it looks stylish and feels great every blow passed on the enemy.

Upgrade. Now attacks will not more accelerate, but instead will always hit at maximum speed. It's quality of life upgrade. Be sure to take it first as soon as you have a sword. It might even be worth saving one upgrade for this.

Secondary attack. The sword charges a green ball, which then flies in the direction of the crosshair. A useful attack, both for shooting every single little thing (with a minimum charge of 2 blue mana + 2 green mana), and for showdowns with crowds or bosses (with a full charge).

Upgrade. The upgrade adds an additional attack instance to charged attacks, dealing quite a lot of damage. The upgrade has no downsides - and therefore is always useful. It is worth taking immediately, after upgrading the primary attack.

Tertiary attack. Fires a fan of green flames that homing on targets. Deals surprisingly little damage, and half of the flames flies into the nothing. The attack is not worth the mana it costs.

Upgrade. Increases the number of flames. However, all the same, all the flames will almost certainly fly to the same target, which makes the upgrade quite useless. Take this upgrade only if there is nothing else to upgrade.

Outcome. The sword is wonderful. It is beautifully animated and looks stylish. Pretty strong and versatile. In reality, when you found a sword, you can forget about all other weapons, because the sword can do anything. I don't think it's bad. Rather, it's just a myrmidon's feature.


Summary. Myrmidon is a melee oriented class where each weapon has at least one attack that does not cost mana. As a myrmidon, you will rush into the crowd like a berserker, you will not care that you taking damage (thx to 150 max hp and better basic armor), because the most important thing is to CUT ENEMIES, WHILE YOU ALREADY CUTTING ENEMIES!!! And myrmidon copes well with this.
Problems for the myrmidon can only arise with shooting enemies in hard-to-reach places and a lot of flying enemies in large rooms.
Otherwise, if you choose myrmidon, then you will have fun. And don't forget nashgore. It is mandatory for myrmidon.



What could be improved.
1. Secondary attack at the fists. Perhaps it would be worth to remove the homing, and increase the speed of the chain. And with the upgrade, speed it up even more and add a microstun when pulling the enemy.
2. Tertiary attack at the fists - at that moment I do not see a real purpose for it. It's suitable only to high jump...
3. Primary axe attack - upgrade 2. Perhaps it's worth adding some kind of visual effect so that the attack does not lose in style to the first upgrade?
4. Axe secondary attack - "bug of narrow corridors". It is worth either fixing it, or adding some kind of visual when the attack does not pass adequately, so that the player immediately understands what the problem is.
5. Secondary axe attack - upgrade 2. It seems to me that this upgrade needs serious reworking, because it simply does not have any situation to use it.
6. Gladius definitely needs a permanent visual effect when attacking, similar to axe's upgrade 1. Perhaps it is worth adding this effect when applying some of the upgrades?
7. Upgrades to the primary attack of gladiuses have not enough situations to use it. Perhaps you should make them a little weaker, but let them proc more often? Or, for example, you can rework one of the upgrades so that it turns normal gladius attacks into a series of double attacks. One quick attack followed by a strong one, then a delay, and all over again. For variety, you can alternate the series, one starts with the left hand, the next with the right. This is just an example, but maybe it will be useful?
8. Tertiary sword attack. The damage of this attack is comparable to the mana spent, but the auto-targeting system sends most of the flames to the same target. For most purposes, this is too much. The flames left after the death of the target usually do no hit any target. It might be worth making the flames try to aim at as many targets as possible.


And a few thoughts about the upcoming weapon.
The Bardiche is a fairly large and heavy axe. This means that its attacks are likely to be slow and heavy.
As an example concept:
Not upgraded attack. Spending 2-2.5 seconds to turn the Bardiche over the head (or in front of the camera), and then a powerful horizontal attack. It will require some skill to use, but the result should be worth it.

Upgrade 1. Charge before hit becomes longer (+ 1-2 seconds), and the attack becomes top-down (or diagonal), which leads to increased damage, but a decrease in the angle of impact.

Upgrade 2. After a horizontal attack, a second one immediately occurs in the opposite direction with lower damage.

[eharper256]

Whoof, you've written a Myrm strategy guide there. I will get over unpicking it and give more detailed comments when I get back from work this evening. But glad you're enjoying it!

[eharper256]

Okay, so looking at your numbered list first:
1. So the chain is a funny thing; originally it didn't have homing; but to function right, it has to precisely hit centre mass of the hitbox. Even now you occasionally find it failing to pull once every so often (especially vs. enemies on ledges). I found in testing that adding weak homing allows it to work considerably more often (around 95% of the time, rather than it being a 50/50 gamble). Eventually, I'll probably re-write it entirely using a new ZScript function or something, but for now, this is as good as it gets really.

It actually does already stun on hit as well (and again when the kick happens); but pain duration for most monsters is only 6-14 frames. If it's at the lower end and the kick misses, they may immediately attack in your face like you describe. I could probably use a modified bleed stack to make this more reliable; just haven't got around to it.

2. This is one the things that keeps being put down in the to-do list. Eventually, it'll be replaced with the Myrmidon throwing a Pilum (which has a cooldown). At the moment, I don't deny the fact that his upgraded primary is probably the weakest of all those available. Probably because it was the first; and power creep happens even when you don't mean it to. It'll be reviewed in time.

3. Yeah this is a little undertuned. I forgot that the standard upgrade deals a little damage with the shiny effect as well, so it ends up being about 15% stronger rather than 25%. I'll buff it. I'll think about adding a thunderclap to the attack for style points since you asked as well.

4. This should be resolved as of 0.97. There should always be an attack now unless more than 1/2 of your screen is obscured by wall (up to your crosshair, just double checked in the testing map). Don't use it whilst retreating out of a narrow doorway, basically, and it should be fine. However, the backup attack, when it activates, may produce less damage purely due to how it works (it just spams area damage, which is less efficient than directly applying it to entities in contact with the projectile), so this may be why it feels less. That said, they balanced to each other to compensate and it shouldn't be too much less.

5. Its a very good upgrade for smacking Doom Hell Knights and Mancubus for cheap mana cost. You are losing mob control for much cheaper single target control, but need to be precise for it. All the second upgrades usually change how the attack functions and this is no exception.

6. I did add in a similar glow slash to it originally when making it; but as the gladius swings about 40% quicker than the axe it ends up not looking cool and being eye cancer instead. So for now, it'll stay like this. Maybe it will change later, but I think it's still plenty cool swing two gladius around.

7. Will think about it.

8. Sadly, homing in Doom does that. Since each projectile thinks independently, and always goes for the closest target it can see, this is the result. Try doing it when running through packs of enemies! You'll find it works fabulous up close like that. It's only a sniping weapon if there's only one target.

[eharper256]

New sprites for this week:

This is the ready/idle sprite for the new bardiche! The set is coming along quite nicely, got most of the melee swing stuff done and am just starting the secondary and tertiary fires.

We can also see the long awaited Pilum throw sprite, which will come as part of the tertiary fire upgrade for the Fists, replacing the rather strange jump kick that's currently there. This has been waiting to be done for quite awhile now. Since I'm on a polearm run at the moment, and it was mentioned above, I thought it was time to get to it.

What do you all think?