[Danukem]

Sixty Four, on 06 November 2015 - 08:10 AM, said:

I have a question are we planning to use custom textures? If so I don't want to start making a map yet. After I prepare a few maps for Attrition my weekend is halfway open for mapping. I am going to watch the Empire Strikes back and Ewoks again just for this occasion.

Right now in my development folder I have it running on Duke 3D textures and I'm planning to add all the Dark Forces textures, which I have converted to PNGs. What I'm not sure about is whether to replace Duke textures, or whether to add the new ones while keeping all the original textures. It sounds like you would prefer to keep the Duke textures, yes? I can understand that because mappers are familiar with how to use them and where they are in the tileset. However, I would expect that mappers would want to use mostly Dark Forces textures. We can also add other custom ones, of course.

Also, in case it's not clear: this is a TC. It will have new weapons, enemies, inventory, map effects and game mechanics. I don't plan on keeping any of the Duke 3D enemies, and if any of them are kept, they should be modified. For example, if there are pigcops, then they should be edited to dress more like Gamorrean guards. All the hardcoded Build effects will stay intact, but I will add some new ones. So, if you plan on doing some early mapping, don't try to add any gameplay aside from the very basics, since all that is going to change during development.

[Danukem]

Over 800 Dark Forces textures are now in-game and looking good.

Does anyone know where I could find some good Star Wars skyboxes that will work with EDuke32? I found these for KOTOR, but when I opened the rar it looks like they won't work.

[blizzart]

Trooper Dan, on 10 November 2015 - 12:12 AM, said:

Over 800 Dark Forces textures are now in-game and looking good.

Does anyone know where I could find some good Star Wars skyboxes that will work with EDuke32? I found these for KOTOR, but when I opened the rar it looks like they won't work.

The link seems to be broken.

[Mark]

I backspaced the long link down to this and it works.
http://deadlystream.com/forum/files/

[xenoxols]

I may be able to help with weapon sprites, if you are in need.

[Danukem]

xenoxols, on 10 November 2015 - 01:59 PM, said:

I may be able to help with weapon sprites, if you are in need.

Great to hear -- I won't know what is needed until next month.

[Danukem]

A video showing some progress on my upcoming Duke Forces TC. Here we see the Bryar pistol, the stormtrooper rifle (sprites ripped from Dark Forces I), and the Cryobow.

About the Cryobow: sprites/animation by some guys from the Doom community by the names of ZZrionTheInsect, Bloax, and Xaser. I've never seen it in a Doom mod, though, I just grabbed the sprites and sounds and did what felt right. I wanted a bowcaster, but Darkforces II used terrible low-poly models. When I found this I realized I could use it as a sort of bowcaster but also keep the Duke 3D freezing effect.

[Sixty Four]

Looking good though man, my phone was going off cuz you uploaded a video hehe. Hope to see more progress soon with textures

[Danukem]

Sixty Four, on 13 November 2015 - 03:51 PM, said:

Looking good though man, my phone was going off cuz you uploaded a video hehe. Hope to see more progress soon with textures

I have a complete texture set already in game. You just don't see them in the video because it is a Duke map. The textures are on tiles 5120-5975. I will probably add more, but it's certainly enough to make some maps.

[MusicallyInspired]

Nice to see the full pistol throughout gameplay. In Dark Forces it was always masked and you had to look down to see the whole thing. Not a fan of the sounds, though. You're not using the sounds from DF? I particularly like the Blaster Rifle sound better than the other DF/JK games and the movies itself. Sounds more meaty and powerful.

[Danukem]

MusicallyInspired, on 13 November 2015 - 08:26 PM, said:

Nice to see the full pistol throughout gameplay. In Dark Forces it was always masked and you had to look down to see the whole thing.

You can actually see more of the gun by looking down? That's pretty sophisticated for a fps from 1995. I have to play it again and check that.

MusicallyInspired, on 13 November 2015 - 08:26 PM, said:

Not a fan of the sounds, though. You're not using the sounds from DF? I particularly like the Blaster Rifle sound better than the other DF/JK games and the movies itself. Sounds more meaty and powerful.

Right now the pistol is using a movie sound (ANH I think) and the rifle is using a DF sound. The sounds seem fine to me at the moment, but they should be considered placeholders since the TC is only about 5% done.

[MusicallyInspired]

I think the blaster rifle sound you're using right now from DF is actually the pistol sound.

Very nice work though! Looking forward to this.

[xenoxols]

I'm going to have to object to the use of the cryobow, as it is centered and shaded differently.

[Danukem]

xenoxols, on 14 November 2015 - 12:25 PM, said:

I'm going to have to object to the use of the cryobow, as it is centered and shaded differently.

Do you think that is fixable with sprite edits, or is it hopeless in your opinion?

EDIT: And that leads me to my next question. Would it make more sense to go in the other direction? What if the Dark Forces guns were edited to make them more Doom-ish? I would be good to have a consistent graphical style, but I never said this TC had to be a copy of Dark Forces.

[Jimmy]

xenoxols, on 14 November 2015 - 12:25 PM, said:

I'm going to have to object to the use of the cryobow, as it is centered and shaded differently.

It's also lazy coding and not a Star Wars weapon.

[Danukem]

Jimmy Gnosis, on 14 November 2015 - 09:28 PM, said:

It's also lazy coding and not a Star Wars weapon.

xonoxols posted constructive criticism and you are just trolling. This was the only weapon I have added so far that actually required serious coding. All I started with was a set of sprites. Getting the animation to display correctly, timing it with the shots, changing the weapon properties to match the weapon etc. requires work. The projectile that it fires is completely custom. It piggybacks on the Duke 3D freezing effect, but it freezes based on a blast radius that doesn't harm the player.

Anyway, don't troll or you will lose the ability to troll around here.

[Jblade]

Out of all the people you could accuse of being a lazy coder Dan isn't one of them.

[xenoxols]

I think that you should stick to dark forces, or duke style weapons. And just to clarify, is this a Star-Wars or Duke/Star Wars mod?

[Mark]

Posts #6 and #31 made it clear to me.

[Danukem]

xenoxols, on 15 November 2015 - 08:42 AM, said:

I think that you should stick to dark forces, or duke style weapons. And just to clarify, is this a Star-Wars or Duke/Star Wars mod?

It's Duke/Star Wars. That's why it's called Duke Forces and not Dark Forces. Sorry I didn't make that clear enough. I want it to have that Duke Nukem humor and raunchiness, but a lot of Star Wars content as well.

[xenoxols]

Then perhaps this would be of use?

[Danukem]

xenoxols, on 15 November 2015 - 07:23 PM, said:

Then perhaps this would be of use?

Yes, thank you! But...I can't use that unless we have Duke arms with no gloves on all of the other DF weapons as well. Plus, the stormtrooper rifle also has a firing frame with lighting applied to it.

In other words, it's all or nothing with the gloves. So, if you are volunteering to edit in Duke arms on all that stuff, that's awesome.

[Fantinaikos]

I'm pretty surprised that no one has mentioned the most obvious source yet...

https://web.archive..../www.df-21.net/

https://web.archive.....net/downloads/

Even if it is reachable only by webarchive, all links and downloads still working.

It's an opportunity to add more enemies and weapons that were not in original game. We gonna see a lightsaber as a melee weapon?

[xenoxols]

I saw the video, and I'd like to add a few suggestion:
1. Smoother weapon animations.
2. Recoil, like in AMC TC or Nuclear showdown. It really helps make mods more fun, IMO.

[Danukem]

xenoxols, on 17 November 2015 - 07:08 AM, said:

I saw the video, and I'd like to add a few suggestion:
1. Smoother weapon animations.
2. Recoil, like in AMC TC or Nuclear showdown. It really helps make mods more fun, IMO.

I think the weapon animations are coming along nicely -- I have made a few tweaks since the last video was posted. In the absence of additional animation frames, smoother animations means moving the hud sprites to intermediate positions at various points in the firing sequence. When it comes to recoil, I believe the first movement should be instantaneous. That's how it is when you fire a gun -- the recoil moves the gun faster than the eye can see, then it can gradually falls back into position after that.

I don't recall which recoil features in AMC TC and Nuclear Showdown you are referring to. If the weapon is very powerful, recoil could push the player backwards a little, or at least slow his forward momentum. Another gameplay feature would be making the crosshair jump up (moving the player's view upward). I've tried both of those in other mods, and I'm not keen on adding either of them to Duke Forces at this time. But it's still very early.

One feature I have considered, though, is making the player's shots more accurate if he is standing still, and gain accuracy while he is not firing. The crosshair sprite could change to reflect this, so the player knows how accurate his next shot will be.

[MusicallyInspired]

Make it a bit more accurate when you're crouching, too.

[The Mechanic]

Trooper Dan, on 18 November 2015 - 11:21 AM, said:

One feature I have considered, though, is making the player's shots more accurate if he is standing still, and gain accuracy while he is not firing. The crosshair sprite could change to reflect this, so the player knows how accurate his next shot will be.

Hmm, dont think in general I'd like this. If you are moving about and generally steering, then isn't it enough that you are also aiming as well without added random "missing" because you are moving. As it is, if an enemy is much above Duke then they are difficult to hit with anything less than an RPG, even with the crosshairs slap bang on the middle of the enemy; anything that made that situation worse could make it unplayable. Half the fun is ducking out from cover, firing and ducking back again, or running around in an open area full of enemies, picking them off.

Having said that, it could depend on weapon type - a sniper rifle is exactly the type of weapon where the player should only expect accuracy if they are stationary.

Ah, just re-read your paragraph - if you mean accuracy whilst moving is same as standard game but you gain additional accuracy when stationary, then that's different, bring it on !

TTFN,
Jon

[Danukem]

The Mechanic, on 18 November 2015 - 02:34 PM, said:

Ah, just re-read your paragraph - if you mean accuracy whilst moving is same as standard game but you gain additional accuracy when stationary, then that's different, bring it on !

Yes, that is what I meant. Some weapons will have a certain starting inaccuracy (quite high for the stormtrooper rifle), which can be reduced by aiming. Other weapons will not have any starting inaccuracy.

[Danukem]

I've made some good progress, but I don't want to show any more yet. Right now I'm thinking about weapons: The Dark Forces arsenal leaves me uninspired in some places. It lacks hitscan and it has too much redundancy, while not filling all the niches I would like it to. So I'm going to change it up in some places. Here are my current thoughts:

WEAPONS:

1: fists, lightsaber

The lightsaber you will get in mid-game, and it will be limited by ammo (unlike a regular lightsaber). This will prevent it from dominating the game. For both fists and lightsaber, holding alt-fire will guard (although fists guarding against most attacks will be useless).

2: blaster pistol

Pretty much like Dark Forces, but more powerful, and quite accurate, so it will remain a viable weapon through the whole game.

3: blaster rifle

The stormtrooper rifle. Primary fire is rapid and inaccurate. But alt-fire will use the scope for sniping (accurate, more damage and uses more energy cell).

4: repeater

Here is where I feel that Dark Forces falls flat -- I'm not inspired by shooting a stream of blue dots. I'm thinking about making this a hitscan gun, maybe like the regular chaingun.

5: mortar gun

Shoots bouncing grenades and I'm happy with it. Doesn't need an alt-fire.

6: thermal detonator

Pretty much like Duke's pipebombs except that primary fire detonates on contact, while secondary will detonate on a timer. As in my other mods, holding down the fire button will extend the range and will show you the trajectory on-screen. This seems a little redundant with the mortar gun, though. Perhaps these can have the additional effect of making enemies burn.

7: concussion rifle

This can work like in Dark Forces. I don't see a need for secondary fire but I can add a mode if a good one presents itself.

8: assault cannon

Primary fire can be a flak cannon, while secondary shoots heet-seeking missiles. Ammo for the two modes is separate (otherwise the player would only use missiles).

9: proximity mines

Pretty much like in Dark Forces, but primary would be the proximity mode and secondary would be the timed mode.

10: currently cryobow, may change

Not sure what to put on this slot. I'm not interested in using the plasma cutter from Dark Forces. A sniper rifle/crossbow is possible, or something that freezes (as it is currently)

Any thoughts or feedback would be appreciated.

[Darkus]

Trooper Dan, on 20 November 2015 - 01:45 PM, said:

1: fists, lightsaber

The lightsaber you will get in mid-game, and it will be limited by ammo (unlike a regular lightsaber). This will prevent it from dominating the game. For both fists and lightsaber, holding alt-fire will guard (although fists guarding against most attacks will be useless).

I like the idea of the limited ammo for the lightsaber, maybe you can make it work like an inventory item and when activated, you can use it for a limited time (like the steroids in DN3D, you can't disable it).

Trooper Dan, on 20 November 2015 - 01:45 PM, said:

4: repeater

Here is where I feel that Dark Forces falls flat -- I'm not inspired by shooting a stream of blue dots. I'm thinking about making this a hitscan gun, maybe like the regular chaingun.

Probably a good idea to make a hitscan weapon but I've also thought to make the blue dots faster than the regular laser to distiguish from others weapons (don't know if that works).

Trooper Dan, on 20 November 2015 - 01:45 PM, said:

7: concussion rifle

This can work like in Dark Forces. I don't see a need for secondary fire but I can add a mode if a good one presents itself.

In the sequels, this weapon has an alt-fire, which shoot a powerful hitscan projectile, similar to the railgun.

Trooper Dan, on 20 November 2015 - 01:45 PM, said:

10: currently cryobow, may change

Not sure what to put on this slot. I'm not interested in using the plasma cutter from Dark Forces. A sniper rifle/crossbow is possible, or something that freezes (as it is currently)

I don't know either, maybe you can keep the plasma cutter sprite, and make it shoot the regular FREEZEBLAST, so you have a 'bouncing projectiles' weapon type.
Or keep the cryobow with explosive freezing arrows but the sniper weapon type is already with the blaster rifle.