Spawn: Path to Damnation v1.3 (14/03/21)

[Ac!d]

One thing that confuses me about this mod is why the Shotgun gets replaced by the Boomstick and the Supershotgun by the Automatic Shotgun. Should it not be the other way around?

Since the Supershotgun is nowhere near as common as the Shotgun, I find myself having to rely mainly on the Boomstick, which can be a problem as it cannot fire single shots.

The difference is the rate of fire. The Boomstick take some time to refire, but not with the Automatic Shotgun. Also, the Automatic Shotgun is more precise than the Boomstick and can be dual-wield.
In my opinion, it's all about a question of balance.

[JohnnyTheWolf]

I suppose, but I still do not see why the Boomstick would replace the Shotgun and not the SSG; it is kind of annoying to have go through Ultimate Doom mapsets with only the Boomstick and it sucks to be forced to have to waste one shell every shot. And I admit I much prefer the look and the feel of the Automatic Shotgun, as the Boomstick's sprite looks a bit too cartoony for me.

Anyway, some more suggestions:

- Rather than just a single Scroll Spell key, give us Next Spell and Previous Spell so that we do not have to go through all the spell list. Heretic and Hexen already has a similar system for their inventory, so why can't this mod?

- It would be nice if Spawn had some defensive spells as well: since he does not have armor, how about removing an offensive spell to make room for one that creates a protective magic barrier that acts as an armor? This would further justify replacing armor pickups with necroplasm orbs. And maybe make the Necroguardian orbs able to absorb projectiles?

Finally, the Handcannon feels rather underwhelming: in theory, it is supposed to be more powerful and accurate than the Pistol, but in action, the difference is oftentimes hardly noticeable and as such its use of two bullets per shot does not feel justified. I wonder if giving its own ammo type and make it use only one bullet per shot would make it better.

Regardless, still a great mod - although Ultra Crispy remains my favorite!

[Dr_Cosmobyte]

Thanks for the suggestions Laid! Will take notes for the next update!

[Wolve]

Some suggestions.

-Will it be too much if we can also dual wield the Double Barrel Shotty too?

-Spawn needs like a gun enchantment spell, where he imbues his gun with necro then blasts it with chockful of damage. This would be great if each gun enchantment have a different function, kinda like an alt-fire. For example the enchantment for the Super Shotty would be a powerful explosive pellet blast, the revolver unloading 10 rounds of ricocheting projectiles, grenade launcher dealing like a wider AOE necro blast, and so on.

-A small one but I think Spawn needs a gliding mechanic like he does on MK11.

-I agree with the above comment, the handcannon feels underwhelming. Maybe beef it up and make it strictly a one-handed weapon with piercing rounds.

-Also would it be possible if Spawn's necro spells can be picked up instead of being available at the start? Maybe limit his starter spells to the dash and basic projectiles. Because some of these spells like the Necrobomb is basically Spawn's BFG fire. I get that it uses up Necropoints like in the comics, but his points are easily replenished. Maybe start him off with half for balance purposes, so that I would have the incentive to conserve NP and save the spells for situational use.

-Last, Spawn needs his sword. Maybe have that as the BFG replacement.

[Josko]

I don't like the look of the boomstick, it's ugly and the reload animation for it is weird. Otherwise top notch stuff!

The Hud ammo counter and the rest isn't on the edge of the screen on wide screens, maybe you can make a separate version for wide screen users so the HUD is correctly placed on the side of the screen?

[Dr_Cosmobyte]

So, after months and months (Last update was in 01/10/20!!!) without anything related to this, Spawn comes back!

There is tons of new stuff i want to show. I try to compile all the feedback and do whatever possible to satisfy you all. So, we have new weapons, a new spell, some new functions, new sprites, etc etc etc. To make it easier, The changelog will be categorized, so have a little read on it! Download link here or in the first page as always, have fun!

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Weapons
+ New weapon: Agony, the famous Axe wielded by Spawn! It currently fulfills melee purposes only.
+ New weapon: the Autogauge! Fires double shells automatically and at a fast firing rate!
+ The Boomstick can now be dual-wieldable!
+ New items: Ammo expanders! They increase your maximum ammo and are stackable. Pick certain weapons a lot of times and they'll appear.
+ Added a zoom mode for the rifle, so you have a reason for using it.
= Fixed pistols not being full bright when firing dual wielded
= New Boomstick sprites by DIMOSHunter
= New Pistol sprites by DIMOSHunter
= New Sniper pickup from Duke Nukem and Pillowblaster resources.
= Revolver uses its own ammo for balance matters.
= Weapons display some screen messages the first time they're picked up. ACS by YukesVonFaust.
= Fixed the inconsistencies between grenade projectiles, casings and pickup sprites.
= New explosion sprites by DBThanatos (Doomstorm)
- Rifle was removed from initial inventory, considering you now have Agony at your disposal.
- Chaingunners don't drop the Uzi, due to balancing the akimbo and expander pickups (might not work correctly in older LZDoom versions).
- 9mm ammo quantities lowered from 15/45 to 10/30.

Spells
+ Necrowarp spell was replaced with Necrokinesis, a spell that pulls enemies torwards Spawn. Coding by Marty Kirra, much more useful than Necrowarp.
+ Necromissile fires three projectiles at once to compensate damage and cost.
+ Necromissile extra projectiles are slower for better effect. Main projectile is even faster.
+ Necropunch now is pulled in/out faster, animation was tweaked.
= New necrobomb puff when it hits enemies
= Necrobomb screen blend was toned down.
= Necroguardian now emits a big light which might serve as the nightvision. Nightvision might be replaced in the future.
= Necroguardian now lasts 30 seconds, and is limited to one ball only.

Gameplay
+ Added an 'all clear' script by Spaceman333.
+ Added a command to switch to the previous spell! Bind it on the Mod Options.
= Removed the extra weapon icon from the SBARINFO when a gun was dual wielded.
= One of the iterations of SBARINFO has no weapon icons to open some clean space
= Status bar code has been reduced to less than half its size, and its almost the same.
= Alternate Titlemap is the standard now.
= Small tweaks in colors and menus
= Footsteps are now handled with ZScript (By DenisBelmondo)
= Footstep volume was toned down.
= New radiation sphere sprites.
= Some new plataform sounds.
- Footsteps volume and delay CVARS were removed due to the new scripts.
- "Pixel Debris" effect was removed to increase gameplay performance.

DOWNLOAD!

edit: reuploaded with some small but necessary fixes, sorry.

[Doctrine Gamer]

The mod is excellent! The idea of Spawn himself killing demons instead of Doomguy is a good one.

I noticed in Heretic and Hexen that the cursor to select the options does not exist, this problem does not occur with Doom or Chex.

It is not a serious problem in fact, it can disturb those who play on the joystick.

In addition, the supports you give your mods to be compatible with other wads are always welcome.

[Netheritor]

Why the dash still weird? Sometimes when I dash forward, it dash forward-right or forward-left instead. I experimented it, the dash will go weird based on where you look (horizontal).

For Necroguardian; maybe also add block projectiles?
Also, add 'necroplasm'? Invul, invis, intangibility, fly, but cannot attack? (like the SNES version where you fall down from the stage)

[Ac!d]

Found a scaling problem

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[Yebudoom]

Oh man! The changes/new additions sound awesome! Can't wait to try them later today.

Unfortunately I'm in the middle of recording a playthrough with Spawn and Going Down with the previous version of the mod. But I'd like to show the new additions in the videos, so maybe I'll just start over and skip to map 11 with cheats

Dr_Cosmo, I love many of your mods (most, in fact), but I think I adore Ultra Crispy and Spawn the most. They just have that special something, at least for me. Thank you and keep up the good work!

[Dr_Cosmobyte]

I noticed in Heretic and Hexen that the cursor to select the options does not exist, this problem does not occur with Doom or Chex.

It is not a serious problem in fact, it can disturb those who play on the joystick.

Thanks! I am on my way to find the solution to this problem, it's a common thing on my mods.

Why the dash still weird?

I'll find my way to fix that. I have a script by Keksdose that works just like in The Trailblazer, however i can't get it to behave like the actual dash (short distance, low slippering, fast stopping).

For Necroguardian; maybe also add block projectiles?

I am thinking on giving this property to melee weapons, but it's still a work in progress.

Also, add 'necroplasm'? Invul, invis, intangibility, fly, but cannot attack? (like the SNES version where you fall down from the stage)

Hmmm... way too OP. I also don't even have the idea on how to code something like this.

Found a scaling problem

Merci! I've tried defining the size with TEXTURES.txt, but the image refused to appear. I'll try ye'olde HiRes folder, and if nothing else, i'll just take the black part out.

Oh man! The changes/new additions sound awesome! Can't wait to try them later today.

Unfortunately I'm in the middle of recording a playthrough with Spawn and Going Down with the previous version of the mod. But I'd like to show the new additions in the videos, so maybe I'll just start over and skip to map 11 with cheats

Dr_Cosmo, I love many of your mods (most, in fact), but I think I adore Ultra Crispy and Spawn the most. They just have that special something, at least for me. Thank you and keep up the good work!

Thank you friend! I am very aware of your videos, i just haven't posted them yet! Have fun with the new additions, i look forward to see your thoughts on them.

[JohnnyTheWolf]

I honestly prefer the Autogauge as a supershotgun replacement and I still wish the Combat Shotgun would replace the regular shotgun, as it does not make any sense to me that the most commonly-found shotgun would use two shells per shot. Unless of course you could give the Boomstick an alternate fire mode that makes it fire one shot at a time?

[Ac!d]

+ Added a zoom mode for the rifle, so you have a reason for using it.

I also forgot to say that the mod doesn't have any controls for aiming with the rifle/sniper rifle.

[JohnnyTheWolf]

I can aim with the "Weapon Zoom" function.

[StraightWhiteMan]

Awesome update Dr C! The new Agony weapon is perfect and now it really feels like you're playing as Spawn. It does the perfect amount of damage too, not too op, but packs a nice punch. Thank you for adding the previous spell button as well, it was needed for sure. The updated and changed spells are all really good. The Necrokinesis is handy in almost every scenario and I love it. I pretty much like everything about the new update, besides a few minor things.

- The updated Boomstick sprite looks really cool, but it's positioned too far to the right of the screen and looks kind of weird. As are most of the other 2 handed weapons. It looks totally fine with pistols, but with the 2 handed weapons it looks odd and misplaced. Only by like 10-20 pixels though.
- Could you add an option to have dual wield weapons fire with just the primary fire button, instead of both?
- Also, would it be possible to have the dual wield weapons only available by pushing the duel wield button/key? It defeats the purpose of having that button if they show up when scrolling with the mouse wheel, and it also makes them show up when using a weapon wheel which creates a lot of bloat. Just a good old QoL request.
- Preferred the old title screen, but to each his own. Could you maybe provide a patch like you did with the previous version to have it show instead?