Gameplay Mod Walpurgis- 0.99 (For Doom, Heretic, Hexen) [NEW RELEASE!!!]

[eharper256]

Also played Sucker Punch II by Rook today. Here's the video:

Pretty good mapset if you like short and sweet levels (like me!), go check it out!

[eharper256]

New video to show off a few changes to Lightbringer's sprite!

This is two levels from "2048 units of /vr/", a megawad created by various contributors to the 4chan Retro Games board, which you can download here:

http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/megawads/2048vr_v1.6g

 

For some reason the recording derped out a few times for this, so this is actually two different videos from two different runs duct-taped together with a couple of cutoffs, unfortunately. Still, I didn't want to let the footage go to waste!

[eharper256]

After his PM request; here's a video of my playtest of the first two levels of:

 

[eharper256]

Here's the followup video for the above; Map 4 of DNA by Kan3:

 

[eharper256]

Here's a preview of what Dagon's Cane looks like in-game (finally!):

This is the primary fire for the Druid's alternative in-slot-2 replacement.
 

As you can tell, it fires super-pressurised blasts of water. I might tone down the damage and make other tweaks, of course, but visually the primary fire is basically ready at this point. I put alot of effort into the splattering and bubbles sprites! Let me know what you think!!
 

Secondary still needs a re-work (the sprite ended up too big for the screen lol).

[eharper256]

At last, here's the short preview of Dagon's Cane for the Druid; showing all three of its cool Fire modes: Hydro-Blast, Geyser, and Aqua-Charge, which are now all fully animated!

I've put quite a bit of work into this sucker (as much as I've done with the Agnus Abyssus and Fulgur, for sure, if not more); but I'm finally done with my coral mythos staff, whee.

[eharper256]

Another really short video to show off a new monster that will be in 0.94, the Cardinal, who is the Elite version of the D'Sparil Disciple and Bishop of Korax, and can appear as a replacer for either of those guys in Heretic and Hexen.

 

He has menacing black robes, and fires deadly blasts of light. Whereas normal floating cultists have a tendency to wander around, if the Cardinal locks on, he exhibits behaviour similar to a Doom Chaingunner, continually firing shots until you're out of sight, making him an annoying priority in a crowded room!

[eharper256]

HERE'S THE MYRMIDON'S DUAL-WIELDED GLADIUS!!

Though most of the art was ready, I finally programmed the damn things this week! And I'm happy with how its shaping up as a nice alternative to the Axe.

What do you all think?

[Guydoom]

incredible mod! i've had such a blast with it that it's become one of my go-tos when i just wanna mess shit up

[Doomenator]

On 7/20/2021 at 3:22 AM, eharper256 said:

At last, here's the short preview of Dagon's Cane for the Druid; showing all three of its cool Fire modes: Hydro-Blast, Geyser, and Aqua-Charge, which are now all fully animated!

I have already mentioned this in other mods, but I will try to say more. This tilting of the camera up will be very disorienting during the fight, especially when aiming up or down. In reality, you look with your eyes, and not with a camera attached to a weapon, and your gaze is always directed at one point. It doesn't matter if you shoot or swing a stick. Why do you think that in the game should be different? Any involuntary change in the direction of the view, contradicts realism, greatly spoils the game perception and the overall impression of the mod.

[eharper256]

23 hours ago, Doomenator said:

Yadda yadda

Doomenator, I've already fired you, you do nothing but complain. And you do it everywhere. Its fine if you don't like my artistic direction, but I don't care. So get out of my thread.

 

On 8/21/2021 at 8:31 AM, Guydoom said:

incredible mod! i've had such a blast with it that it's become one of my go-tos when i just wanna mess shit up

Thanks man! 0.94 should be out in the next week as soon as I polish off a few more things.

[eharper256]

And here we go, here's 0.94, just in time for the weekend. :)
Get it HERE from MEGA

Or Get it HERE from GoogleDrive

Here's the Changelog:

 [0.94]
'Key To The Armory'
--------------------
27/08/2021
+New!:	The Druid gets her alternate in-slot (2) weapon, Dagon's Cane! 
This is the second one to go in. Right now, it cannot be upgraded, so
Azurintine Fruits used on it will be wasted. 
	> Primary fire shoots High Pressure Water Blasts at good velocity.
	> Secondary fire slams the ground with the cane. The first enemy in a
	direct line from your position will have a boiling geyser erupt at
	their feet. This ignores elevation and cliffs but has no effect on
	flying enemies. Enemies near and on the geyser will be blown away.
	> Tertiary fire briefly turns you into a tidal wave and makes you 
	surge forwards. You'll blast through enemies on the way, dealing some
	damage to them; and knock foes away on arrival, making it an ideal
	panic and escape button (and likely a speedrunners best friend, ha!). 
	By default, it will spawn randomly along with Lupin Charms, but you
	disable either of them in the Walpurgis Options if preferred.
+New!:	The Myrmidon gets his alternate in-slot (2) weapon, the Ventus Gladii! 
	This is the third one to go in. Right now, it cannot be upgraded, so
	Whetstones used on it will be wasted. 
	> Primary fire swings and stabs the dual swords rapidly to dice up foes.
	> Secondary fire invokes the Ventus runes, allowing you to rapidly 
	swing to shoot shearing wind blades at distant foes. The blades cause
	erupt on impact, throwing nearby things backwards (including you, and
	any stray projectiles), so you can use them to clear gaps, but be
	careful if you're fighting with you back to a cliff!
	> Tertiary fire is a charge-up attack. When you release, you'll stab with
	both swords, also unleashing a localised explosion of air. Though
	slow, the AOE and damage delivered at the high end of the charge is 
	quite good, and can gib multiple low and some mid-tier enemies.
	By default, it will spawn randomly along with Timons Vorpal Axe, but you
	disable either of them in the Walpurgis Options if preferred.
+New!:	Upgrades for Aestus!
	+ Primary Fire shoots flame darts much quicker. The darts themselves
	also move faster and deal mildly (about 7%) more damage.
	+ Secondary changes the Molten Ball into a proper Meteor Blast,
	allowing it to fly. It can also bounce off floors and ceilings
	but will detonate on walls. It still flies quite slowly, mind.
	+ Tertiary's Fire Whip also fires out additional bouncing molten 
	balls after detonation, and has a greater Area of Effect.		
+New!:	[Doomed Souls Mode] - A new special challenge mode for Walpurgis.
	In this mode, normal health pickups do not spawn in levels, ever. 
	You start the game with a special Kestus Flask, which has a fixed 
	amount of HP in it; and which can only be re-filled (by 75) by finding
	where super-health pickups would normally be (Soul Spheres, Urns etc.)
	You can set its starting amount in the Walpurgis Options, as well as
	assign it a hotkey.
+New!:	New Elite: The Cardinal- Replaces the D'Sparil Disciple and the Korax
	Bishop in Heretic/Hexen respectively. Whereas normal floating cultists 
	have a tendency to wander around, if the Cardinal locks on, he exhibits 
	behaviour similar to a Doom Chaingunner, continually firing shots until 
	you're out of sight, making him an annoying priority in a crowded room!
+New!:	New Elite: The Pulsarach- Replaces Doom Arachnotrons. Fires Red Laser
	Pulses at a rapid rate. Similar to its base type, but its harder to hide
	from and the lasers are very dangerous. 
+New!:	Smart Flasks: Quartz Flasks have gotten smart (OH NO!). Now, if you run
	over one, it will auto-check your HP, and if its missing 25+, you'll just
	instantly use it off the ground like a Doom Health Item. If its not, 
	you'll grab the Flask as normal to inventory. It will never waste healing
	as Doom Items do, so don't worry about that. But if you want to revert
	to the old behaviour, you may change it in the menu (as with many things!).
+Tweak:	You can now adjust the Percentage (%) spawning chance for Elite enemies
	from the Bestiary tweaks menu. By default, this is 10% but can be set
	at any 5% interval between 0% and 100% if you like.
+Tweak:	More reactive catching for the Vorpal Axe when its thrown- so if you're
	about to throw a punch but the axe makes it back you'll catch it 
	dramatically and immediately slash. Radical. May still not react
	perfectly if you're in the midst of Shoryuken or Kick, but even there
	it will be alot better than before.
+Tweak:	The Lightbringer got revised ready/firing sprites to make it a new
	model that's more unique to Walpurgis. This joins the earlier overlay
	additions to make it pretty awesome looking!
+Tweak:	Aestus now has an additonal magic circle animation when using the
	secondary fire, which makes it look alot better (IMHO). 
+Fixed:	Various weird behaviours with the Crusader Mace Tertiary Attack fixed,
	The charge should now be a fairly reliable attack most of the time.
+Fixed:	Upgraded Druid Werewolf Primary no longer damages you if you punch a
	wall by mistake.
+Balance:	The Druid gains +1 to her base AC so its now equivalent to the 
	Magister's AC. Still very squishy, but no more rounding errors on
	damage.
+Balance:	Range on Druid's Baselard Swipes/Stabs increased by about 15% so its
	a bit easier to 'fence' enemies rather than needing to get so close
	since she doesn't have the endurance of the Myrmidon.
+Balance:	Druid is now immune to her own poison-gas from her Flechettes and
	the Hebiko Sceptre (finally, lol). 
+Balance:	The swing of the Aestus firewhip is now about 20% faster, and it also
	causes more AOE detonations to make it more worthwhile. However, it
	now also costs +2 more Aetherial Mana (for a total of 12). 
+Balance:	Firestorm Flamethrower (Primary) Damage increased by around 5%.
+Balance:	Boots of Speed in Hexen now spawn Upgrade items, since in general
	you would only get 2 upgrade items in the whole vanilla game.

 

[eharper256]

New video! Here's me playing the Manor level of Chainworm Kommando with the Druid, showing off some of the uses of new Dagon's Cane actually in levels, like the stunning use of the geyser and the advancing power of the Tidal Charge.

 

Chainworm is one of my favourite Doom Megawads, lots of varied levels, huge amounts of cute details, and fair and balanced combat. You can get it here: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/a-c/chnworm

That said, I've clearly forgotten the layout of this map at the end and go for a bit of a faff lol (sorry about that!).

[eharper256]

And it wouldn't be right to have a video about the new Dagon's Cane without us also showing off the also new Ventus Gladii in use in Zone 400 by Paul Corfiatis, which I recently discovered came out last month. I like alot of PCorf's work, notably WoS, for its fast flowing levels, and Zone 400 doesn't dissapoint. You can get it here:

 

[eharper256]

Just want to also bring to people's attention this Hexen WAD called Talparun that I discovered through chance browsing through idgames's Hexen wads, which was released completely silently last week:

Pretty good set of three levels (this shows 9 mins of the third). You can get this here:

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/hexen/s-u/talparun

You also get to see the upgraded primary of Aestus from 0.94 in action with its faster fire-rate!

[eharper256]

Back from my designated downtime not looking at Doom for awhile to prevent burnout; and the current planned direction for the 0.95 version is looking to be "The Big Bad Bestiary" Update.

For that, the primary idea I'm playing with is Dimensional Instability Mode that I'll be adding as an optional toggle. Sort of like Shades of Doom's Chaos Mode in theory, but not quite, what it will do is to allow Doom, Heretic, and Hexen's bestiary to cross-spawn with similar creatures. For example, when playing Doom, a cloud of cacodemons might become a swarm of Heretic Fireball Imps, with 3 Imps per Caco. Or in Hexen, a Centaur might become a pair of Doom Pinkies. Or in Heretic, a Nitrogolem might become a Revenant. On top of that, those spawns will also be subject to the usual possibilities of being Elites.

Which of course, should get more than than usual two per version in this version: I'm looking at ideally at least covering ten new elites for this update; as well as adding new behaviours for bosses for Heretic and Doom to match the already changed Hexen Three Lords. And maybe Korax too, if we can work around the scripts that hold his boss fight level together.

This will maybe be the update that I try to add in some new items, like scrolls, ring and amulets, again as optional replacement drops.

The Crusader may, possibly, get his alternate in-slot weapon as well, but not certain since I was not happy with the sprites I started and may go back to the drawing board.

---
If you have any thoughts about these plans and other ideas for what you'd like to see, remember to let me know and discuss away!

[eharper256]

New video! Playing as the Magister in DBK 01.

Do not adjust your set, it's meant to be silent at the start!

 

I've always liked the DBP series for their fantastic creativity for awhile; and the fact they constantly slap out quality multi-level projects on a monthly basis is pretty crazy. Here's a video from another new series of wads they've started, DBK 1, Dungeon Synths. This level, [Setting the Tone] has a fun use of silent greyscale areas that only regain colour and sound when you find the synth keys and run over them.

[eharper256]

New video, playing as the Crusader in Vow of Vengeance by BRI:

We get to see all of the slot 2, 3, and 4 weapons in action in a single level which is pretty neat. Its a nice set of levels from what I've played so far. Check it out here:

 

[kalensar]

Nifty mod! I like the animation work on the playable characters. That is really well done. I've been meaning to try this mod for awhile just on a test drive and it's pretty good!

 

I have some mods that similar in spirit and genre of Fantasy Doom but of a different flavor. Kinda like comparing Legend of Zelda to Crystalis . 

[eharper256]

10 hours ago, kalensar said:

Nifty mod! I like the animation work on the playable characters. That is really well done. I've been meaning to try this mod for awhile just on a test drive and it's pretty good!

 

I have some mods that similar in spirit and genre of Fantasy Doom but of a different flavor. Kinda like comparing Legend of Zelda to Crystalis . 

Thanks for checking it out!

Heh, as you can probably tell, I'm decent at spriting, so I've created quite alot of unique sprites over the last year for Walpurgis. I'm especially proud of the new weapons added in 0.94 (the Gladius and Dagon's Cane) though the one people always notice is Fulgur (the Magister's Lightning) since hey, it lets live the Emperor Palpatine dream and hose lightning from your hands after all (haha).

[eharper256]

Bugfix Update 0.94A.
All the main links are updated with this one. It's not absolutely essential to update from 0.94, but who doesn't want bug fixes?

Get at MEGA HERE

Or at GoogleDrive HERE

 

Quote

 [0.94A]
'The Only Good Bug'
--------------------
25/09/2021
Is a dead bug. This mini-update quashes a wad of minor issues that have been
reported to me about 0.94 along with a couple of balance tweaks.

+Tweak:    Doom Mancubus given better looking projectiles with flame trail.
+Tweak:    Vrock made slightly less deadly in melee range (it could simultaneously
        slash and deliver a wind blade shotgun for about 70 damage!)
+Tweak:    Aestus Molten Stone damage tweaked (30% more on direct impact, but 40%
        less damage over time from flames). Due to this, its more dangerous to
        you if you detonate it in your own face!
+Tweak:    Aestus Flamewhip bomblets damage increased by 20%.
+Tweak:    Maulotaurs summoned from artifacts are now smaller and blue (lol)
        so that they can be summoned in smaller spaces to be more useful and can
        be differenciated from their breathrens in Heretic.
+Fixed:    Fulgur should no longer cause you to mysteriously bleed if you walk into
        the primary fire (though it didn't do damage before anyway).
+Fixed:    Levels with ResetInventory set in ZMAPINFO should no longer mess up
        various Walpurgis weapons (i.e. Your shield/grappling hook dissappearing).
+Fixed:    Fixed an issue with some weapon spawners not inheriting the flags
        and TID a map may have given them.
+Fixed:    Your own Algor Ice Spears could be blasted away and out of sync by you
        using a Repulsion disc whilst you were charging them up. Fixed.
+Fixed:    Agnus could sometimes work briefly without Verdant Mana if you held
        down the alt-fire button and had Aether Mana (and vice versa). Fixed.
+Fixed:    Setting things on fire made to not generate blood-splatters, because
        it was always a bit weird before like that.
+Fixed:    Lightbringer Prism Upgrade (Tertiary) said it cost less mana but it didn't
        due to a missing bit of code. It now costs 12 (20% less) as it should.

 

Edited September 25, 2021 by eharper256

[Guydoom]

i suppose this mod isn't multiplayer compatible? me and my buddies just keep getting a black screen when we connect to each other and gzdoom's memory usage starts spiraling out of control

[eharper256]

12 hours ago, Guydoom said:

i suppose this mod isn't multiplayer compatible? me and my buddies just keep getting a black screen when we connect to each other and gzdoom's memory usage starts spiraling out of control

Other players over at the ZDoom forums have said CO-OP works fine with two players. Make sure everyone's GZDoom and Walpurgis is the same version and there are no other mod or map mismatches.

Basically, its untested by me; but there is some limited support framework in place since 0.92 when it was requested. Some weapon spawners may not work. I'll try to make sure its fully multiplayer compatible for co-op by 1.0, though it'll require a bit more spaghetti code lol.

I'm not sure about DM; though I don't expect it to be very fun in DM honestly as its tuned for monster HP's lol.

I am very interested in your experiences if you do get it working, though.

Edited September 30, 2021 by eharper256

[eharper256]

This weeks progress: doing all the "Burning to death" animations for enemies from all three games.

Long overdue, really, but a suitable thing to be adding on this monster focused update, eh?

[UnknDoomer]

Recently finished Tower of Chaos, https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=36663, (part of the series of four) with the mod, combines fine. It has add-on that add 3 new classes - Necromancer, Elementalist and Invoker, can be found here: https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=69714 Perhaps you can use it as inspiration for new classes in Walpurgis, if any planned anyway.

 

If I remember right in Faithless Trilogy for Heretic there was an possibility to spawn temporary friendly minotaur by specific item. In one mod there was an ability to call crowns for help. I did not see that anywhere there was an opportunity to summon a mud / sand / stone golem. Might be split for 3 levels of such. It would be nice fit into the overall atmosphere.

Edited October 30, 2021 by UnknDoomer

[eharper256]

2 hours ago, UnknDoomer said:

Recently finished Tower of Chaos, https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=36663, (part of the series of four) with the mod, combines fine. It has add-on that add 3 new classes - Necromancer, Elementalist and Invoker, can be found here: https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=69714 Perhaps you can use it as inspiration for new classes in Walpurgis, if any planned anyway.

 

If I remember right in Faithless Trilogy for Heretic there was an possibility to spawn temporary friendly minotaur by specific item. In one mod there was an ability to call crowns for help. I did not see that anywhere there was an opportunity to summon a mud / sand / stone golem. Might be split for 3 levels of such. It would be nice fit into the overall atmosphere.

Interesting to hear that this works fine. I see that there's a recent update to a new special edition so I might give it a try at some point.

 

At this time, I'm not planning a fifth class, though a few other ideas have been on the drawing board for ages.

 

Similarly, more summon items might happen, but if they do, it'll be in a later patch.

0.95 is still in the works, by and the by, for those interested (I tend to do weekly updates over at the ZDoom forums since this forum moves way too quickly).

Edited October 30, 2021 by eharper256

[UnknDoomer]

Quote

At this time, I'm not planning a fifth class, though a few other ideas have been on the drawing board for ages.

Current pack is fine enough. But adding a necromancer in one form or another might not be a bad idea for sort of complete classes roster. Diablo II one to compare:

 

 

Currently you mostly cover all other onces.

 

Quote

Similarly, more summon items might happen, but if they do, it'll be in a later patch.

I usually stick to Baratus and Llitheya. Will be good if each class will be able to use those items.

Edited October 30, 2021 by UnknDoomer

[eharper256]

Well, I'm not trying to copy Diablo II, lol. More of a Path of Exile guy myself. XD

 

If you're interested, the other drawing board classes were a female soldier, and a male archer, although these ideas transferred over to the others (The Dual-Gladius was originally for the soldier and was moved to Baratus, and the Ichival was for the Archer, but became Illitheya's Ultimate). I don't intend to do a Necromancer, because minion classes in Doom is making the game play itself (lol).

 

New classes are HUGE amounts of work though, considering I make all my own sprites for the most part. Hence the 'not for now' assertion.

Edited October 31, 2021 by eharper256

[UnknDoomer]

I understand. Just have posted it as a close example. Hexen II have had Necromancer class too. Also, as I remember, demoness. Which might be the same in Walpurgis. Anyhow. Just an idea.

 

Have finished A New World (https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=47060) here today also. Perhaps it's a wad thing, because I've played Sitnalta for Heretic without mods also, and it have here and there similar feeling, but still. Have used difficulty 4/5 and 50% instead of 10% of elite enemies spawn + tweak on. Still game was sort of easy in total in compare, for example, Doom on UV / Doom on UV + Complex Doom (https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?t=58535; no add-ons). Perhaps because of tonns of flasks around that the author probably have put it in... but by other hand perhaps because weapons might be too powerful in latest build and enemies are too weak, especially if some of them can come from Heretic. In this example vampire kind mages still can kill you in seconds, if you will not react fast / use items, but in total fact is. It is also possible to kill the boss in seconds, if you have tower of defence in your inventory not used with combination of the last weapon.

 

I can't pick 5/5 in case of then enemy will respawn, which I don't like in overall, same as, by other hand, If will need to stick to Dark Souls like gameplay and pick up one flask mode only then game will become too hard. Unless determine the default value to be more acceptable empirically... Anyhow. Overall point is that perhaps some more research need to be find here to have, well, more middle balance thing for random PWAD. Before, as you know, I've already played some PWADs with your mod, version 0.93 and earlier and, it seems, picture was look like fine. Not sure something wrong / not with 0.94A in that case, but...

BTW. That flask has icon that +/- fit in the game style. More pixelated one would be better. Like here, for example:
 

 

Edited October 31, 2021 by UnknDoomer

[eharper256]

Heretic's enemies probably do need more tweaking; I'll admit I have much less familiarity with it than I do Doom or Hexen. I appreciate any tweaking suggestions anyone may have on the bestiary front.

 

As a general rule of Thumb, Walp does make Vanilla Hexen a bit easier, which is why I added the Elites and the Doomed Souls mode for those that like big challenges.

 

And Doom is by default is going to be harder, as there alot more levels that make assumptions about the players precise arsenal and abilities. A certain set-piece might be extremely tightly balanced around using a Shotgun; switch this out for Aestus, or for the Lightbringer, and of course that fight will play out considerably differently.

 

It's an impossible task to make a mod fully 100% balanced for any and all levels you might run. Especially in Doom, which does not normally allow you to carry your items with you.

 

If you actually manage to carry an Icon of the Defender in Hexen or Heretic to the finale in the base game, alot of it is trivialised, so that's not really changed. I consider that a reward for you managing to hold it all that time myself. But of course in Doom, if you managed to survive an area with invincibility without using the Icon you get as a replacement in Walp, you'll have something crazy to pull out later where it would never be intended.

 

RE: sprites, yeah I'll admit I was a little lazy with Kestus Flask; I took that from an icon collection so it does look a little out of place. Its one of those things I'll eventually get around to spriting myself rather than using a placeholder.