Castle death race updates

[lgb3d]

I have been working on a few aspects that make the gameplay more challenging as well as interesting.

Watch this!

www.dropbox.com/s/36or4e6bnsp1r25/20220215_195620.mp4?dl=0

Just threw this guy together this evening, in ways obvious similar to projectile firing enemies. For his main animation I almost used all 40 frames. Every time you shoot and injure him he's stunned for a moment, but if you don't follow it up quick he returns back to frame zero. So he can continue attacking you and you've gained no ground... so if the player was becoming familiar with the game play, this animation mixes it up. Challenge as well as entertainment.

The interesting thing is what I did to create him is possible to achieve with the original dos editor. As well these techniques I'm demonstrating could really make for interesting gameplay, notice the other animations that spring from him,... Animations can become inventory items.

So although in the original Doss editor you could not get your guard set to drop inventory items like version 1.3 does... you could use a clever animation like this and Achieve that aspect in gameplay..

[lgb3d]

A little bit at a time... tonight I hit it again got a good three hours in. Still filling in a few voids. The first animation you see in this clip was from map 2, he makes his final appearance here on map 12. I am definitely going to hunt down or make a better pistol sound effect

www.dropbox.com/s/8ki76fvjlmqrtrl/20220218_012435.mp4?dl=0

Mature audiences only ;p

I'm sure when I'm finished with this project Kevin Stokes will personally congratulate me.

[lgb3d]

A new obstacle to make gameplay more interesting. Just like the fire in the lava pit, will kill both player and enemies, but as well and simply wound or maim player as he has the ability to escape it unlike a fiery pit.


Sorry about picture quality. Firefox is no longer providing updates for Windows XP and Dropbox will not allow me to upload files using my computer... One of these days I'm going to have to break down and buy a modern computer.


I have wanted to make this animation ever since my youth when I first played rise of the Triad.

I do believe at some point in the game other than setting these up as a fence to funnel the player through a narrow passage, I will set a few of them up using frame position so they travel back and forth across the room and the player will have to dodge a moving obstacle.

www.dropbox.com/s/aewb6qfll2uoaia/20220306_170336_001.mp4?dl=0

To achieve good effect I applied both invisible blast and damage player. The invisible blast is a tight radius of 200 units so you have to be very close for instant death, but I put a branch if player close in the animation that jumps to images of blood flying off the blades, if this is triggered, the damage player tagged is engaged oh, and it slowly chips away at your health points. It has a constant sound effect of the blade wisping through the air, as well as chopping sound when player is being damaged.

[lgb3d]

Okay... So this post demonstrates something not possible with the original dos editor. And because it has to do with guard movement sound effects and animation topics, I'm only including a video.

www.dropbox.com/s/kexlnsvmcfs3law/20220306_171317.mp4?dl=0

My floating head enemy... I really did not like his base attack program, it's the same as a gun but he doesn't possess a gun.. I like that he has a flash when he's attacking, but in this case I chose to script it out.

First to make his base characteristics, movement World size xcetera I altered his guardsrc.4th

I tried to make him only employ a melee attack using that document, but it does not work all the time and sometimes he was still attacking at a distance. I believe in the original dos editor this document functions better although some of the polar bears in xmas directory were pulling their melee attack successfully from quite a great distance ;p And I don't want to go so deep into the storyline that I have to explain to the player these heads are shooting invisible lasers or microwaving you from a distance... It has to visibly explain itself, ideally I would have liked them to employ a projectile. But using version 1.3 the feature is not incorporated into the engine. I do not believe that function worked until version 2.1..

So I created a script, GEXT00.4th.. the two 0's represent your level number.. this document made its first appearance on gcs v1.3.. In this document you can define characteristics and set various programs for entire groups of enemies as well as individuals.

I've already experimented with it, creating scripts for single 4th guards, where i did not want to simply employ an animation .fld file.. I thought it was cool because it allows various enemies to be triggered by the actions of another.

So with a little more experience and two evenings figuring out what to what not to... I've become pretty confident with the parameters of scripting this document.

Okay back to the point..

So the head... To avoid him ever using his base attack from a distance I made him a friendly character, and he blows himself up when he gets within a radius of you. In his individual guardsrc. 4th I've already altered his movement type where he takes very long steps and has a odd bobbing condition. So even as a friendly character his approach is aggressive and fast, and when he's zigzagging it is difficult to shoot him. Makes him a priority once you learn he explodes on contact.

So enemies who have guns and stop to shoot do not pose as much of a threat as this difficult to shoot fast moving coming for you head loaded with TNT.. but if you're distracted by him any of those guards standing there aiming and shooting at you are pulling off some good shots, definitely adds speed in gameplay as well as difficulty. Distracts from The Suicide Squad with bare minimum artificial intelligence in their favor.

A cool thing I have not employed but plan on doing with this character. Since they are explosive oh, they disappear from the world entirely when they explode but if they are killed their bodies remain. So if you were to kill one of these, it would reward you with something explosive.

So I thought to myself this would be my opportunity to utilize the landmine instead of bomb, and after rehashing the chapter on inventory items, I come to discover either with my version of g c s or the system I'm running it on land mines do not function. So I'm either going to have the floating head reward the player with a bomb... Or a grenade if I can ever get the grenades animation to function correctly.

As well in his s r c. 4th I disabled any of the sounds, so all sounds are under my control in gext.4th.. originally they played now and then but where not frequent oh, so there was a large periods of quiet and you would really have to alert or trigger an enemy to hear it make sound.
With gext.4th you can program and Define at what frequency how often in what exact conditions or situations different sound files would be played by the enemy. As well his interaction with you.

For example if guard with a gun to say something when he shoots you, or if a sound file plays representing the players damage. So if he was far away and he said something when he shoots you it would be a distant sound that's broadcast at a lower volume, but you can program it to be at full volume so even if he's across the room and shoots you, at full volume the player would grunt or make whatever sound effect for damage you want.

As well the sound effects do not have to play every time an action is called, you could set it for 20% of the time 5% of the time 90% of the time... And even cooler oh, you can put a list of sound effects under an action and when the situation calls on it it would factor in what the chances that any of the sound effects play as well it would select one at random so it doesn't keep playing the exact same sound effect. Giving characters more character right?

So in this video you will hear the flying heads make weird cackling sounds, zombies make alert I see you sounds, the nonchalant roaming around grunting and moaning zombie sounds the zombie who was shot by a shotgun sound, as well as the player being damaged by Firearms sounds.

I always wanted more sound diversity as well as greater sound frequency with my gcs games over the years.. some of which was possible with different guard sets utilizing Src.4th, but gext.4th really open that door. For example if everyone was dead you wouldn't hear any sound, and as you approach a room you hear that there's enemies in there even when they have not been alerted to your presents.


So much that doesn't work.. I truly enjoy what does .. but really I'm going to need to get a retro machine to test this out before I call it done, so far I've identified jumping does not work, Rockets only travel horizontally when you aim up they barely travel higher than the normal shot, grenades travel about three feet in front of you and explode in the air immediately no bouncing like they do in old d o s editor, landmines do not work... and sadly wav files only play when I test level. After I make final that will only play MIDI, no wav files.. as well recently I learnt inventory objects can make VGA files appear on screen, but after thoroughly testing it, that does not function either. So it might truly be a hardware or driver issue... or perhaps a simple frame rate issue that's something like vsync could fix...? Yes I'm going to need to test this on a different type of machine before I call it done.. but shoot thank you mr. Kevin Stokes, I'm short of 40 years on Earth and still thoroughly entertained with the toy my parents purchased for me from you.

[Saturdaynight]

I think we all have had something like that happen to us in our past. So many project I worked on and new computer in between and always something got overlooked. It's frustrating to say the least. I know that I have several backups of Mod-G at this point, just for that reason.

[lgb3d]

Been a while since my last update.

Things are going phenomenal, I had no idea when I set out on this project I could get a GCS game so tight..

Other than entertaining, the game has become very fast paced as well as challenging.

We are all familiar with how retro gcs games play. When I'm finished with my project this one is going to be different.

Learning the enemy scripting technique for Windows is a game changer.

(%chance)

Instead of placing inventory items to assist the player throughout the level. I'm making the player work for them. Yes here and there I put emergency supplies.

When an enemy dies he drops his form of weapon with a minimum amount of ammo.

When an enemy is wounded he drops a health pack with a minimum amount of health.

Utilizing %chance as a condition in these functions, teaches the player he can't always rely on it.

I think I set my first level up pretty good where the player can learn how the game will play there's many features in the first level. As well I made %chance 99.. so it's not very difficult he's virtually always going to receive Health when he wounds the enemy.. example an enemy is walking and the player shoots the enemy at four different locations now there's four health packs in an area with potentially more enemies. So he doesn't want to rush in there and pick them up because he's likely going to take more damage, he has to use logic and clear the room the best he can before he's rewarded.

On the second level I reduce the chance, and again reduced chance on the third level. At that point I think it's where it needs to be throughout the rest of the game. So I give the player a little Grace with the learning curve.

The player sees as long as I don't kill the enemy and shoot the enemy from a distance I might be running through some bullets but I'm going to be generating some health. But the player quickly learns ammunition is sparse so there's a bit of a balance.

As well one shot kills, The Goo-gun or grenade explosions do not wound the enemy, so it will never result in receiving a health pack.

As well not all enemy types produce health Packs.

I've made some enemies sturdy as a tank, being able to take multiple rounds at close range. And if you get that close to him they're going to kill you in a few seconds. Other enemies I made one shot kill, but they are fast and Zig and zag. Moving target hard to hit.. shotgun enemies you can get a little closer to, they fire a little slower they move a little slower. But the machine gun enemies can pin you down quick.. with machine gun enemy other than guardscr.4th "shoot.flag" i adjusted the start and end frame for continue firing loop so it only uses 2 frames.. d**n them bullets slip fast, and the sound effect reverberating sounds ferocious. If a crowd of machine Gunners come up on you do what you can to keep distance and a wall between you.

Throw a couple different enemy behaviors in a level with different types of architecture and the player has to figure out a plan. And with that %chance condition each time it's a little different..

So my game has become quite a bit more fast-paced as well as challenging, and I keep testing wanting to make sure it's not an impossible game. And I find when I'm rushing and not thinking yeah I'm going to be dead by level three. But when I play methodically I can get through the levels. I have to pace myself and use the architecture at times to Shield myself. Enemies pinching me from two different directions a large crowd moving toward me, I pull a couple shots off a little Health Falls. But I know if I let them get on top of me it's game over in a matter of seconds. So I toss a grenade and duck back behind the wall.

380=full health..
First level health packs =20
Rest of the game health packs =15
For reference the default healthpac placed with the Doss editor has a value =80

So the player definitely learns I need to avoid getting hit, and each combat scenario becomes unique with the various enemy Behavior Scripts, and unique architecture.

I am still working on a few more enemy types one which I definitely have a concept for And theory of how I will script it.

As well a few more booby trap pitfall obstacles, brainstorming how to convincingly pull them off.

I know I have a lot of work before I'm finished but every time I test my game I Come Away with a bigger grin.

[lgb3d]

Recently I made a fireball projectile animation similar to other projectiles demonstrated in this thread.

To increase the difficulty, if you can dodge one how are you at dodging 3?


( FYI I overloaded my Dropbox, video storage is something else.. so I'm going to start using YouTube for video storage. I need to weed out material in my Dropbox that could be stored on YouTube to make room. As well I think that makes the video part more visible to people who might be searching for this topic in YouTube. So I'm tagging my videos with p3d GCS Etc. Hopefully if people are searching for that topic some of my material might pop up in their results )


youtu.be/m3n2U5MxJGM

All of these animation frames have delay of one. The second Fireball has a single frame with a delay of two before it appears on screen. The third Fireball has a delay of three before it appears on screen.

So at first you will see they all hit the wall at about the same time. But then from furthest to closest it starts a pattern of 1 2 3, but within a few runs the pattern becomes unique each time as all three animations are within their own timing. You will notice the last frame when the video pauses the order has become 321. Sometimes 231.. I'm pretty proud of how this came out.

So this becomes difficult A new challenge obstacle for the player to navigate, every time he enters the room the pattern will be a little bit different.

At first when I devised this it was impossible to pass through, I reduced the difficulty a little but still at that point in the game it would be very frustrating.. so I reduce the difficulty a little more where it's more likely these Fireballs will maim the player. Whereas before a single shot would kill the player.

I placed this in an area that is already made narrow by a pitfall, so the player must travel through these. As well when he gets across them around the corner there's a whole herd of enemies that will alert when they see him. There is a small section of wall he can use for cover, but he does not want to step back too far because he will be in contact with the fireball. I think they call it a pinch play.

Something I discovered with this animation I did not understand before. When using frame position, it always asks you for a reference point. The reference point is the location which any sound files will be broadcast from. Initially my reference point was at the origin of the fireball and I was confused as why the sound was occurring at the opposite end when the explosion graphic is where the sound occurs..

So I put my position reference point where the explosion occurs and then set the animation frame positions where I wanted them to occur. Flawless. And now instead of using the origin of the fireball as the location for placement, I placed the animation where the explosion occurs.

I can't believe I did not already know this, shedding a little knowledge through experience.

FYI still hopeful to complete project in 2022, but it might be 2023.. if I'm still working on this by 2030 somebody slap me.

[lgb3d]

Spinning blades that travel back and forth across a room reminiscent of Rise of the Triad.

Could not help but call the first test The Killing Floor
youtu.be/rG-NkSpC_wY

Second test was interesting because one guard was able to navigate the obstacle at least momentarily.. Don't Turn back
youtu.be/h_PgNu2ynEw

If the room was not so wide it would be easier to fit all the goodies "sound fx gore graphics" in the animation, still tinkering with that. As is it is a 22 frame loop.


In this case each frame has a delay of 2. In these videos there are two animations present but three placed, the two on the outside are identical they keep Pace with each other perfect. But the one in the center has a single frame with a delay of 3. It takes a couple minutes for them to work their way apart, but since they're traveling such a great distance it takes the oddball forever to catch up and balance with the other two. So rarely is the gate wide open.