Heretic: Quest for the Crystal Skulls - RELEASED

[neoworm]

I went in later and killed him in single try. I just had to take it easy, not try to tank him, but instead sniping him with whatever I could reliably hit him with. And mercilessly burning through my stash of Urns. I need to bind my artifacts to some keys next time. Or better get the GlovePie working again and map the artifacts to voice commands, that worked marvelously when I was playing Carnage galore for the first time some years ago.

[Jimmy]

How do you access the secret level? I've been looking all over the maps, got all the secrets in-game, and even looked in the editor. Baffled.

[Caleb13]

Accessing the secret level:

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From the hub level. When you collect all 6 skulls, drop down behind the teleporter to the boss, you will find Wings of Wrath there. Then you can fly to a small island with Invulnerability ring and you should see another island with a teleporter in the distance. That leads to the secret level.

Come prepared though, the secret level is actually challenging, 500+ monsters.

[Jimmy]

Oh good lord how did looking in the hub level completely evade me. Thanks.

[CaptainToenail]

it is possible to turn the new uber-wizards into chickens and thus save lots of ammo. Is that intentional?

Sure, why not? I have reduced their health slightly and made them more prevalent in the next beta however.

I expected some kind of worthwhile reward

Yeah I could spawn in a prize in the level hub after completing the secret level, that would be a good idea, though the real reward was getting to play a silly slaughter map

the first 6 maps or so are very easy, even on UV. I was practically drowning in ammo and armor most of the time and didn't even bother to use items. It got a bit harder in the later maps, but they were still rather easy.

How was everyone elses thoughts on the difficulty and amount of ammo? tbh I have only designed this to be played on 'smite-meister' so far.

[Gez]

Turning tough non-boss enemies into chickens is exactly what the morph ovum is for. What's the point of using it on gargoyles and golems?

It's kind of how in Duke Nukem 3D you keep the shrinkers for mini-battlelords and assault commanders, not for the basic troopers.

[CaptainToenail]

Beta 2 is here!

Main Changes;

• - The Firemace is now a grenade launcher (hope this isn't too cheeseable!)
  - Bossfight has been nerfed slightly and now has a health bar
  - Pod platforming sections are now more obvious with visual clues
  - New props and decal magic added to all maps to increase atmosphere (pretty flowers, furniture etc.)
  - Tweaked the DarkMaster (the red wizard). Less health but now more of them
  - Added new enemy - the HexPrism
  - New consistent texture for lifts
  - Added decals and gldefs for new projectiles and props. Load the lights wad after the default GZDoom one.
  - Fixed various texturing mistakes
  - Fixed enemy stuck in wall
  - Converted all graphics to PNG format to save some space and organised them better
  - Added deathmatch starts (don't really recommend this)
  - Removed jumping and crouching restrictions from MAPINFO (jumping and crouching is still cheating however! )
  - Updated credits in readme

Screenshots:

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[Caleb13]

I need to bind my artifacts to some keys next time.

Does GZdoom natively support this? I checked the Customize controls page, but there seems to be no way to do it via GUI. There is a mini-mod that adds it via KEYCONF lump, though: viewtopic.php?f=43&t=61095

Anyway, I gave Beta 2 try and there is a bug in ISLAND05: sectors 97 and 440 shoudn't be secret.

[Gez]

Does GZdoom natively support this?

Yes of course. You need to use the console, though.

Code: Select all

bind <key> "use <artifactname>"

[CaptainToenail]

Beta 3 is here:

Changes

• Long lift texture for tower on Azure Canals
  Fixed some texture alignment issues
  Stopped Dark Master and Wizard infighting
  Pushable furniture is now wider and less HP
  Wood debris sprites smaller to fit visual style of existing sprites
  Added deathmatch check to skip level 1 cutscene
  Fixed a missing scrolling sector in Undercrypt
  Added a teleport line in the level hub to prevent rocket jumping past the first area
  Added special effects to the Firemace's new grenade
  Fireplaces now have a proper flame
  Added wave sound effects to Dark Coast
  Added background textures to upper stain glass window texture
  Difficulty settings implemented (however ideally you should play on Smeitmeister for the full experience)
  Added some more random painting decals, and pruned a lot of them from the levels walls
  Added some extra ammo before final fight
  Completing secret level now spawns some extra items in the level hub as a reward
  Added new Chaos Serpent minibosses throughout episode

To do before final release:

• Fix serpent gibs not clipping in water and void sectors correctly
  Add toggle for weather effects
  Fix new macebomb not clipping through ghost enemies

Unless there are any major issues, I will be considering this the final release in a week or two. Your feedback is appreciated.

[CaptainToenail]

Here's a quick fix to resolve some issues picked up at Doomworld forums.

• Chaos Serpent now taller
  Added more ammo and items to secret level
  Several ammo backpacks now spawn in level hub after completing secret level

This replaces the main wad from the previous beta.

[ShadesMaster]

Began a playthrough of BETA 3:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_6oH0cVRqg

[Emmanuelexe]

It looks really great, i will play at v1 release! Thanks

[CaptainToenail]

I've been doing my own final playthrough and noticed a massive mistake in the latest beta - the Chaos Serpents minibosses on Dark Coast and Dreadhold are completely missing. Somehow I managed to untag them for Single player in the editor...

I have also noticed it's possible to rocket jump to the final boss and skip half the episode. Don't worry I will be removing this shortcut for the final release

Speaking of final releases... the plan was to upload the final build to idgames this weekend however I'll need to fix the above amongst other things. I've been busy with the whole Covid19 situation hence the delays. Hopefully should have this packaged and shipped by next weekend.

Began a playthrough of BETA 3:

Very cool I will be sure to check this out soon, thanks Shades.

[CaptainToenail]

Firstly, Happy Easter Weekend Everyone!

Secondly, Heretic: Quest for the Crystal Skulls has now been released!

Also a special thank you to everyone who playtested the betas and provided valuable feedback. I couldn't have done this without you!

Get it here:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/heretic-ques ... al-skulls1
https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/level ... s/her_qfcs

Have fun