Madfox, maybe see if you can video the monster models using this:

http://www.chasmaction.com/files/demos/1.02%201996-07-04/MONSTERS/ 

It would be awesome to see some "living" guns 

 

A medieval map, between 30-45min of play, ~230 monsters on hard, ~120 on normal, less on easy. 

 

if that's what you mean by "very" hard. 

...I haven't been able to offer much to the community for quite some time, but if you need an 'easy' tester then my hand is in the air. 

 

thanks for the file.

Fact is that most programs only work under DOS6.4. So to have acces I have to try them on another computer. I've managed to extract the textures, sounds and most other files, but for *.ani files there are no editors anymore. Also the *.30 files are hardly editable. I tried the editor but it's an advantage to get it working.

It reminds me of the first Doom editor which also gave me a hard challenge. I don't think I can get a grip on them, but at least it's worth trying. 

People keep mentioning it, are you trying to actually convert them to Quake? That would be fairly awesome if true! 

What is something you want to see in this type of game?
Honestly all I'd recommend is ensure the overall style and feel isn't simply a quake replica; art direction will go a long way here too. Personally I'd start with the weaponary as an example, maybe focus more on the arcane (since Quake's were very normal/techy) or some combination of two styles like that shotgun shown in the video with the... glyphs?

What is something you do not want to see?
Walking into a room, forced to backpeddle to gun them down, progress forward, rinse repeat. Common mistake I see in "retro fps" attempts. I'm perfectly fine being forced to keep on the move, area denial and such, but that's done through varied enemy types and properly designed encounters.

Art related suggestion
I understand its probably too early to bring up art related stuff, but I feel this is still worth mentioning so it can be thought about earlier than later in regards to, not only visual style but also gameplay;

Don't be afraid to get bold even with something as simple as ammo sprite pickups. I'm assuming those pixel shells on the floor are temporary, but do ensure even these item types look visually appealing and have distinctive silhouettes which can be recognised from across any room/distance, even if the item art needs to be larger than you currently have it. A few pixellated blocks will eventually be lost amongst the scenery I fear. Here's a rough example I whipped together to showcase exactly what I'm thinking. 

Doom-era retro is not my personal taste, but in the context of that, your stuff looks very good and pisses all over most of the so-called retro stuff that actually gets released. Simply because of the theme, consistency, art style, atmosphere, etc. Everything about that little test video is completely harmonious from the gun to the trees and rain etc. The semi-modern effects are nice in it too. 

Looks really cool killpixel, love the little touches like the subtle colored lighting, reflective blood, blood running in the grout, and lightning.

Is this Darkplaces ran or something else? 

@quakis - Excellent feedback, thank you. I strongly agree with all your points.

I understand its probably too early to bring up art related stuff

Is it ever too early? :P

You're example is precisely what I had in mind. The small scale of item pickups is an artifact of early paper designs where *everything* was intended to be as close to a realistic scale as possible. I quickly found out that this does not work in practice, at all. And yes, most of the art in the demo is temp. The next demonstration will have, aside from actual gameplay, a more unique, cohesive and functional aesthetic.

@Shambler - I appreciate the kind words! Still, what's in the video is very basic, I'm confident that later iterations will be much better!

@Qmaster - Thanks! Yes, it's running in DP currently. 

 

For what you are doing, should work nicely. Do you plan to/do use csqc for the hud? 

It does the trick. Yeah, the hud is csqc. The game is retro to the core, literally! 

Finally watched this all the way through today. Looks great even at this early stage. 

Will you be doing mostly realistic layouts or go for more Quake style fantastical levels?

Gameplay feels like Doom, looks like AD mixed with Hexen. Nice! 

WRATH. I keep going back and watching the video again. Keep it up killpixel. 

So I just watched your test compilation video. One thing I've noticed is that the game seems to require items (soul tethers) to allow saving. IMHO free (and perhaps more importantly quick) saves are preferable in an FPS, especially if you're aiming for oldschool. 

@Qmaster - Levels are fantastic/abstract, much like Doom and Quake, since gameplay largely dictates the shape of the level. I'm refraining from writing 4 paragraphs detailing the enemy mechanics, weapons, artifacts and level design as I think those are the coolest aspects the entire project :P Just be assured that gameplay is the core pillar of Wrath and everything about the game is designed to that end. Glad you dig the project!

@Mugwump - Yeah, I realize that is a bit weird. As someone who uses quicksaves liberally and appreciates the option, I do think unlimited saving has a couple problems: 1) quicksave spam or 'save scumming', which fundamentally undermines the game itself and 2) saving is fairly disintegrated from the game, especially for being such an intrinsic part of it. My solution to this is to integrate saving both thematically and mechanically.

In Wrath, there are two forms of saving: Shrines and Soul Tethers. Shrines are checkpoints. When a shrine is 'illuminated', progress is saved and the player receives a boon (such as full health). Depending on level size, there can be 1-3 shrines in a given level. Soul Tethers are item-based quicksaves and are one of the 8 artifacts found in the game. Their rarity is such that the player will have enough to save when needed, but not enough to savescum. They are also valuable items that further incentivize exploration and completion of various areas/challenges. I think this is a reasonable fix, though I understand why others may feel differently. 

That is fine, but you should still allow the player to save whenever they want, it is about giving the player a choice like old school shooters 

That is fine, but you should still allow the player to save whenever they want, it is about giving the player a choice like old school shooters

I'd say include a hard save option at least. Some of us have to play in short spurts when we can grab a few minutes here and there. You could limit the amount of saves or give the player a budget of soul tethers to begin with. I'd be very careful with making players frustrated. 

I'd be very careful with making players frustrated.
My point exactly. The soul tether system could be fine, provided these items aren't too scarcely distributed. This will require a fair amount of balancing for each level and difficulty setting.