[RichardStorm]

Dear Dukers, i'm very proud of presenting my near-to-release mod:

KickAss Duke a.k.a. KA Duke

This is a gameplay modification , enriching vanilla Duke3d with a large amount of features.
The main core is the weapons-inventory-gore combination, featuring a huge amount of coded and recoded stuff, as i found my base engine to add as many pieces as i want, and violence got very improved with physics and more particles/effects.
Also, it gives D3D a bit of modern-rethinking, as the elements from which i took inspiration comes from many modern games, mods and tcs in last 10-15 years; at the same time it proposes to bring back some Lameduke scrapped materials and ideas.
For enjoying new content, pickups and encounters are randomized, plus some code-to-map discrete additions, with the idea to not touch any original map.
It keeps TILES014 and TILES015 free, so it would be compatible with the most part of all user map released in years.
Due to some new effects it's needed to be run on polymost mode, and is not compatible with HRP, but the appearance is 99% 8bit/software like.

Basing on the stuff i need to complete, it will be released this October (if not, before 2017 anyway)

The 1.0 release will contain so far:

- New/improved weapons, 22 in total atm.
among features: legit alien items, reloading, alfire, shared/multiple ammo, recoil, diminishing accuracy, better bobbing, status-inflicting
- New/improved inventory items, 11 in total, recoded from zero
- The "Brutal Engine" (customizable)
MORE blood, stayput jibs and pools, physics on corpses and jibs, hit loc. detection with injuries (headshots, for example)
- Improved melee fighting , replacing Knee with fists, kicks and WASD combos
- New sounds and visual effects
explosions, smoke, weapon effects mainly
- New HUD, customizable
- Various improvements to enemies
- Various gameplay enhancements
stepsounds, stamina, breath, double tap evade, lookleft/right, zoom view
- Few environmental improvements
new rats, new cactuses and trees, scraps'n'debris
- KA options menu
violence settings, hud/crosshair settings, item drop mode, movement features
- Various fixes

And here are some pics:















// I'll upload a video next week, too

This project is the way i found to dump what i worked on for years... and to be honest, releasing it is more like a gift for me, than for you.
I call it "The Mod" of mine, and it will be gradually enriched of many features i planned (and mostly done), like new enemies, behaviors/AI, items, maybe some maps, so several updates/packs are expected.

Just a bit of story:

This mod is actually my very old mod called Duke Nukem Again, started in 2007.
It featured all the stuff KickAss gots, but being a project planned for a campaign, it planned more than 10 maps and many map related objects or items, impossible to complete for a single person, i'm still not a mapper, indeed. And it was getting done with long pauses.
In 2013 i stopped DNA and i started to make projects with my friends Artem and JetNick, Duke Begins in primis, and other several ideas that never saw sunlight; in last two years we left and paused so many times our works, due to some debates and real life.
Last year, Artem gave me an idea on "Brutal Duke" (a sort of copy of brutal doom), which i accepted because i knew it can be done, because many features were already done in DNAgain and fixed or enhanced with time, but we abandoned it.
Now that some time passed, i decided that my ten years of (inefficient ) modding skills must not be wasted, and in June i resumed alone this project, with better aims and better ideas; this started as "Brutal Duke" with main focus on violence, then it went "KickAss", because the concept fits more the (cool?) stuff i worked on.
Basically: [DNAgain] - [Maps/story/environment] = [KA Duke]

I have a little help requests in fact of sprites:

Spoiler

Quote

I'm not a skilled spriter, the bigger obstacle to the release of 1.0 is a bunch of sprites for the base gore code, i mean some injuried death animations for all base organic enemies, like death without head, an arm or a leg. None of them is from scratch, as they are intended as edits over original death animations. Just for example, removing the chest hole from protector drone first and working over the rest is definitely not a work for me .
Also there is a priority based on the effort you can put, starting from ~20 sprites till ~80.
So i ask to some of you guys if you can help me, here is the list: HERE

Also, a little "disclaimer" :

Spoiler

I know that this mod could be not so original, or crappy, or it took many materials and ideas from other games/mods, but i got ENOUGH of keeping things suspended.
This project has a long and messed story, so once given right credits and kept apart some kind of critics, this s**t will be released.
And i'm sorry, english is not my main language.

Moreover, testers are well-accepted
// EDIT: i could work a bit on the mod name, but i found nothing satisfying at the moment


I hope you'll like this project and you'll pleased to play it once released, See Ya!

[BoowHow]

Judging by the Shreenshots it looks a little bit like a Duke version of Brutal Doom.
I like the Features so far.
22 Weapons in total! Groovy!

Edit: Realized it said that it is a Duke version of Brutal Doom in the Story part.

[TheDragonLiner]

Looks interesting, it feels like it will be some sort of DukePlus but more gameplay centered and more into violence, I especially like the fact you mention customisable HUD, I don't know how you did that but if it's not too complicated to apply then great !

I usually don't keep a close eye on mods but this shall be one of the exceptions ^^

[HiPolyBash]

This looks so fucking cool but one thing it does especially is highlight the possibilities of a fully fleshed out Brutal Duke type mod, imagine blowing the eyes out of the Octabrains, blasting off arms and legs of Pig Cops, what if the liztroopers got their arms shot off and ran at you to melee you - so many cool possibilities!

This looks fantastic. I can't wait to give it a spin

[RichardStorm]

This started as brutal duke as i said, but the work would be HEAVY in fact of sprites, about which i have low skills, so getting a violence level like the true Brutal Doom is pretty far, but i'll give a try. I'll talk about my idea on fatalities and injuries after the release

[HiPolyBash]

Awesome! Can't wait to get my hands on this as it looks great!

[Fantinaikos]

Smart reuse of the Alpha/Beta material

I'm just a little doubtful about mountable automatic turrets, they can have more sense if there is a consistent horde of enemies to repel at a certain point (and often in any multiplayer games they are just annoying, one of the most favorite zigmo of the cowards that calls them "defensive strategy"). But there is always the possibility that the enemies will be so powerful to totally justify the use.

[Jmoc]

Just out of curiosity, did you ever thought of a cooperation with DeeperThought to merge your mod with DukePlus? It would be really awesome, as some features overlap (additional weapons, reloading, randomize, smarter AI...)

[HiPolyBash]

Jmoc, on 31 August 2016 - 06:36 AM, said:

Just out of curiosity, did you ever thought of a cooperation with DeeperThought to merge your mod with DukePlus? It would be really awesome, as some features overlap (additional weapons, reloading, randomize, smarter AI...)

Maybe if PolymerNG works out this could be integrated into some sort of 'next-gen' version of DukePlus? That'd be pretty awesome.

[RichardStorm]

The coding process would result in an armageddon, due to the fact the things we coded, despite similar, should have be written in total different way.
To add difficulty, CON language is the opposite of the concept of modularity.
To add difficulty, tile number and #defines are a pain when adding/merging material.

But i'm enemy to no one, it could be a nice idea for a -far- future, though, i wonder what Dan could think...

[stumppy84]

Cool! We really need something similar to Brutal Doom

[necroslut]

Looks cool. Looking forward to trying it out.
I really think you should include a couple maps though, even if you think you're "not a mapper". IMO, a mod with a few flawed maps will always be more interesting than one with none. But maybe that's just me.

[Danukem]

This does indeed sound very kickass! I like the look of the jib explosions and new weapons and effects from the shots. I'm curious to find out more about some of the features, such as alien items, new inventory, enhanced melee, and some other stuff. Don't worry about people saying that it's a lot like DukePlus -- there's nothing wrong with that and it doesn't mean the projects need to be merged.

[xMobilemux]

Looking groovy! Can't wait to try this out!

[HiPolyBash]

Trooper Dan, on 31 August 2016 - 12:50 PM, said:

This does indeed sound very kickass! I like the look of the jib explosions and new weapons and effects from the shots. I'm curious to find out more about some of the features, such as alien items, new inventory, enhanced melee, and some other stuff. Don't worry about people saying that it's a lot like DukePlus -- there's nothing wrong with that and it doesn't mean the projects need to be merged.

I think it'd be cool if an expanded version of the mod were available in a PolymerNG style revamp of DukePlus if it were to ever happening given one of the main features of DukePlus was the improved gibs and gore. That is of course if PolymerNG works out given the main developers absence for the last few weeks.

[deuxsonic]

I like the return of the plasma rifle but perhaps you could keep it closer to how it looks in LameDuke rather than making it look like the one in DOOM 3?

[RichardStorm]

That's my favourite spritework in ages

[DNSkill]

Wow that M4/M-16 really looks like it was made for the original game!

[RichardStorm]

Thanks HMNuke93 for that

[HMNuke93]

RichardStorm, on 01 September 2016 - 03:33 AM, said:

Thanks HMNuke93 for that

I'm honored! I'm also working on some new monsters...I hope to finish them so you can use them in your mod

[LkMax]

Since DukePlus is long dead and bugged a.f., this is a very welcome mod, I just hope the excessive blood is tweakeable.
PS: I spot a Deus Ex bio-suit there.

deuxsonic, on 31 August 2016 - 10:06 PM, said:

I like the return of the plasma rifle but perhaps you could keep it closer to how it looks in LameDuke rather than making it look like the one in DOOM 3?

It would look way too similar with the ripper. The modded sprite was a nice touch.

[RichardStorm]

Yeah Max, in 6th pic you can see some violence options in the KA menu.

And again, you're right about DeusEx suit, that game inspired me so much !

As for plasma rifle, my idea is that both that weapon and the three-barrel ripper come from EDF industries

[Danukem]

LkMax, on 01 September 2016 - 04:54 AM, said:

Since DukePlus is long dead and bugged a.f., this is a very welcome mod

There's no need to be insulting and inaccurate: the most recent DukePlus update was July 21st, 2016 -- hardly "long dead", an update which fixed most of the bugs that had been introduced by EDuke32 and HRP revisions.

However, this is of course a very welcome mod, and it looks pretty damned cool!

[deuxsonic]

RichardStorm, on 01 September 2016 - 07:38 AM, said:

Yeah Max, in 6th pic you can see some violence options in the KA menu.

And again, you're right about DeusEx suit, that game inspired me so much !

As for plasma rifle, my idea is that both that weapon and the three-barrel ripper come from EDF industries

Perhaps 2 modes of the same gun, like the shrinker/expander? I've long thought the plasma looked really cool and that it was unfortunate that it was never used the way it looked. The chaingun it became with some changes but it doesn't quite look as cool. Maybe the gun has swappable parts?

The sprites based off the Deus Ex models and the HRP models look out of place I feel.

[LkMax]

RichardStorm, on 01 September 2016 - 07:38 AM, said:

And again, you're right about DeusEx suit, that game inspired me so much !

You have excellent taste. no bias here at all ;D

Trooper Dan, on 01 September 2016 - 08:34 AM, said:

There's no need to be insulting and inaccurate: the most recent DukePlus update was July 21st, 2016 -- hardly "long dead", an update which fixed most of the bugs that had been introduced by EDuke32 and HRP revisions.

Sorry about that, I stopped following it some time ago, but before the July update I suppose it was abandoned for a long time and I thought you only cared for Attrition (I never managed to make Duke Plus work properly again, but to be fair I didn't report bugs either so that's on me).

[xMobilemux]

You should talk to Sebab about character and enemy sprite variations for this mod, since he was interested in a mod that could have different variations like Doom's Project Brutality.
https://forums.duke4...prite-variants/

[RichardStorm]

Hi Guys, i'm obviously working every day on this project, my todolist get smaller and smaller.

Just for clearance, i'ts sure that future versions will include new enemies and NPCs as well (via randomization ofc), so i thank you for all suggestions and sprites you can bring to me, but these will not have place 1.0, sorry

Also, i made an help request in my first post, i'll bump it just in case someone did not read it, and because i actually need that effort that i cannot put:

Quote

I have a little help requests in fact of sprites:

Spoiler

Quote

I'm not a skilled spriter, the bigger obstacle to the release of 1.0 is a bunch of sprites for the base gore code, i mean some injuried death animations for all base organic enemies, like death without head, an arm or a leg. None of them is from scratch, as they are intended as edits over original death animations. Just for example, removing the chest hole from protector drone first and working over the rest is definitely not a work for me .
Also there is a priority based on the effort you can put, starting from ~20 sprites till ~80.
So i ask to some of you guys if you can help me, here is the list: HERE

See Ya !

[zykov eddy]

RichardStorm is a great programmer, and I'm sure KickAss Duke will be awesome. Can't wait!

[Jimmy]

You've got some neat effects in here, reminds me of some stuff I did with my old unfinished Return of the King mod.

[RichardStorm]

K Guys, just a bit of news on this project, i'm deciding to delay the release to nov/dec 2016 for several reasons:

- No gore sprites are ready besides the ones i have, i ask help again for that (see in my first post here) ;

- It would be obscured by Duke 20th Anniversary release, so better to put a rest in between;

- i decided to include some stuff planned for future versions in this version instead, mainly -spoiler- the "alien world" recognization, which identifies the type of map by checking textures picnums, and replacing most pickups with alien counterparts, which are in development.

Stay Tuned, CYA!