Why is Supercharge (mod) so popular with mappers here in DW?

[dmslr]

Cacowards 2020 featured 3 wads that use Supercharge as their gameplay basis. Tango created a gem that has won hearts of players and mappers. But how? What makes Supercharge so unique among other high-quality gameplay mods? Personally I have an answer why do I love it (even though I'm not prone to mods that change vanilla behaviour). But now I wonder if we all like this mod for the same reasons.

[RonnieJamesDiner]

I’d like to preface this by saying that... answering this question turned out to be far more challenging than I thought it would be. I think a lot of Supercharge’s quality comes from the sum of its parts, which can be discussed and picked apart, but that the overall “feel” of the mod is something quite extraordinary and extremely difficult to pinpoint.

 

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To me, the discussion definitely needs to begin with Mayan Mishap – Tango’s Cacoward winning set from 2014. A lot of the “ingredients” in Supercharge’s recipe seemed to be prepared during that project. Several monsters (the plasma zombie, Cyber-Baron, and Haedexebus), as well as the general tone of the custom sprites (which would carry on through to Supercharge), and the decision to start replacing even some of the weapon and item sprites, can be found in MM. At this point, after establishing a solid foundation, there’s a 5 year period where Tango clearly spent tremendous amounts of time and energy expanding that base and developing his custom recipe, because then in 2019...

 

Enter: Paradise.

 

Tango decided to double- nay, quadruple down on his partial conversion gameplay for this new set. And, after years of expanding and refining it since MM, Paradise plays like a total breath of fresh air. The shift from MBF-compatible (Mayan) to Zdoom (Paradise) brought a ton of new features, all of which seemed to combine with careful and loving precision. To the surprise of no one, another Cacoward was waiting.

 

And finally, we arrive at Supercharge (and Minicharge, for that matter) – the culmination of Tango honing his craft for 5+ years.

 

An important distinction is that, first and foremost, I fell in love with Paradise and its custom gameplay. There’s this visceral, gritty, fast-paced dog-fight action married beautifully with satisfying zdoom features (such as the incorporation of reloading, and morbidly entertaining gore). Extracted from that set as the standalone Supercharge mod, I’ll always have one foot planted in my nostalgia for Paradise regardless of where or how I'm using the mod.

 

But, even if you played around with Supercharge without ever experiencing Paradise, you’re still probably going to get a similar feeling. And, that’s where Tango’s refinement really shines.

 

Supercharge bounces between “classic” and “modern” with such frequency that the lines become blurred, and this is simultaneously what I believe to be both the winning recipe of the mod, as well as the main reason why I find it so hard to hold down and “define”. The classic Doom dance is still there, nearly intact, and yet it manages to sit comfortably alongside several “modern” features, including reloading, gore and dismemberment (being able to disarm a Cyber-Baron by literally shooting off his rocket arm is seriously badass), terrain effects, custom monsters, customized weapons, and a bevy of other additions and tweaks. I think it works because it’s a fresh, and at times exhilarating, new coat of paint on classic Doom without ever feeling bloated or disjointed – Tango added things very deliberately, and very meticulously. Of course... this opinion (and subsequent ones) won’t ring true for everyone, but it’s how I feel.

 

The choices for each and every custom monster sprite are perfect. I know, from speaking with Tango about this personally, how much painstaking effort went into drafting that lineup. There’s this intangible, enigmatic idea of what makes these sprites “work” together... and I don’t know what it is – I’m not sure Tango even knows, really. He just knew when it felt right. Between Mayan and Paradise, I think he slowly assembled the monster cast based on intuition and “gut feeling”, and he was right to trust his instinct. The Supercharge monsters have this incredible tone of barbaric and creepy, alien and demonic; all wrapped up in very high-quality sprite work and still impressively evocative of their original counterparts. The tone is consistent across the board, and despite some of the more visually-dissimilar outliers like the Revenant or Arachnotron sprites (from Hell-Forged, if I’m remembering correctly?), the vanilla sprites that are in fact still present in the mod (such as the Lost Soul, PE, and Cyberdemon) don’t feel conflicting. I think part of the success of that lies in the middle-ground monsters, like the Hellknight sprite, which comes across like an “updated” version of the original and really helps bridge the aesthetic gap between the old and new.

 

Next: the guns. Again, the sprite choices are excellent, as well as the addicting quality of the animations and sound effects – two of the most important aspects of an FPS arsenal. There’s been some disagreement over the consistency of the SFX, but by and large I think they’re solid. The updated weapons are, almost unanimously, designed to be faster and more precise, and this is why I think the bold decision to include reloading can so easily be forgiven (if not enjoyed). Between the pistol, rocket launcher, and plasma gun alone, the degree of DPS and accuracy afforded to the player in terms of firing speed, projectile speed, projectile hitbox radius (among other things, like the reduced rocket splash damage), turn the combat of the classic Doom dance into such a tight, high-octane form of aggressive offence, that it’s nearly impossible not to have fun if you’re at all a fan of killing demons. And, additions like the Scrapgun – the crystal meth of close-quarters combat, to the SSG’s cocaine – and the more recent Stomper, continue to flesh out some of the more fun and interesting niches available to the arsenal, and to potential encounter designs.

 

This leads directly into the overall “gameplay” of Supercharge. There’s something to be said about the custom monsters, like the Diabolist and Pyrodemon who throw some very engaging area-denial into combat, or the weaker green Cyberdemon who (like the Hellknight to the Baron) offers all the fun of his original counterpart with half the grind.

 

But, one of the key ingredients in Supercharge’s “secret sauce” (in my mind) is the fact that it outright buffs the player without actually buffing the enemies in return. You’re just genuinely stronger. Almost all of your weapons fire faster; you have more precision with your projectile weapons; weapon switching is nearly instantaneous; you can use the RL in extremely close quarters; RNG is gone and enemy damage is normalized, meaning no more lucky critical strikes from your foes; the hitscanner population is reduced from 4 types to 2 (Zombiemen and Masterminds now attack with projectiles); and, the newer additions to the arsenal simply obliterate most monsters. There are circumstances that see the player at a disadvantage, such as the long-time original AR being (generally) incapable of stun locking, or the reduced rocket splash damage turning some RL-centric slaughter fights into cruel charades, but in the vast majority of scenarios, maps, and sets, the Supercharge Guy is an absolute unit. And this works. Not only does it make you feel like a complete juggernaut in lighter situations, it also allows a mapper to create harsher environments without crossing that line into masochism quite as quickly/easily. It’s empowering on both fronts.

 

Supercharge reminds me of something Not Jabba discussed in Roots, talking about the more recent wave of zdoom/UDMF mapping being utilized to augment and expand upon classic gameplay, rather than trying to subvert it. Where mappers will employ things like 3D floors, sector portals, and ACS to breath new life and creativity into their “vanilla style” maps, I see Supercharge as Tango’s attempt to do a very similar thing with the gameplay at a foundational level. It’s still deeply rooted in the underlying principles that make classic Doom so replayable, but supplements it with just enough features to give it that modern edge, without being ostentatious. It’s very much a modern gameplay mod from someone who clearly loves the original game.

 

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Sorry for the wall of text, but I was glad to see someone ask this question. I too, found it particularly noteworthy to see 3 Cacoward winners who had built their maps around the same (partial conversion?) gameplay mod. Especially when that mod was born from a previous Cacoward winning mapset (technically two, honestly).

 

It speaks volumes to the commitment and talent that Tango poured into this mod, over several years.

Edited December 12, 2020 by RonnieJamesDiner

[Spectre01]

@RonnieJamesDiner probably covered all there is in that monster post, but I'll quickly chime in with my own thoughts. Now, this is from the perspective of it being a gameplay mod and not as a mapping resource. To start, Classic Doom's gameplay is not perfect. It's a solid base, but there is quite a bit of room for improvement from how it was in '94. Supercharge addresses a lot of fundamental issues with Doom's core gameplay without making an entirely new game on top of it, as many of the more feature intensive gameplay mods do.

 

The fist, chainsaw, pistol, and single shotgun all receive some much needed love. They remain useful  beyond the first few minutes of a map while searching for a "real weapon". This also means the SSG is no longer the weapon of choice 90% of the time, as it is not buffed compared to the other weapons.

 

The vanilla enemies act mostly as you expect them to, with the exception of the Pinky being significantly more dangerous. The vanilla Pinky sucks. He fails his job as the dedicated melee enemy and exists to take up space. In Supercharge, just like Valiant, the Mecha-Pinky is much more capable of closing distance and biting the player. 

 

Lastly, RNG damage is silly and consistent outcomes when you shoot an enemy X number of times make the weapons and combat feel better. Also, you can no longer complain about those 80 damage Rev rockets.

 

In short, Supercharge enhances vanilla gameplay and is, most of the time, flexible enough to be used with a multitude of vanilla wads without completely changing the balance.

[printz]

What? The Supercharge already exists in vanilla DOOM. It's the blue globe with a restless face, that makes you feel healthy.

 

My point to authors: please pick a name next time that doesn't conflict with something already established in the game. Now I'm off to either doomwiki or searching to understand what is this about. EDIT: predictably, the wiki only describes what I talked about.

Edited December 12, 2020 by printz

[dmslr]

 

But I agree that it deserves its own article on doomwiki.

[Tango]

1 hour ago, printz said:

My point to authors: please pick a name next time that doesn't conflict with something already established in the game.

 

oops

[baja blast rd.]

Mapwich 2 -- a collaboration project that pit two mappers together, working with Supercharge -- proved, definitively, that 

[coolshades] 

it takes two to Tango.

Edited December 12, 2020 by rd.

[Lucky_Edie]

For me its the one mod that doesn't feel imbalanced. Not surprising people want to use it in maps. 

[Biodegradable]

I fucking love Supercharge. :^)

[Gez]

I'm gonna say that having been introduced through Paradise really helped it find an audience among people who may otherwise not have cared about gameplay mods in general. The existence of the "Minicharge" variant that works with DEHACKED likely also helped.

 

It's not the only mod that has had mappers create maps for it -- I remember a few for Doom 4 Vanilla and yeah, Brutal Doom has had some too. But it's still something relatively rare.

[Bridgeburner56]

Supercharge is objectively good, well balanced and immensely fun.

But the as someone who has helped bring it to the fore, the best thing about supercharge?....

It's fun to map with

That is the true strength of the mod. You'll notice that all of the award winners didn't just jam Supercharge in as an afterthought, they built their projects around the inherent and novel gameplay elements that Supercharge brings. Supercharge not only alters the base enemies/weapons of Doom, it adds additional concepts that you can only truly explore if you are designing maps around these new entities. As an example, there is a Mapwich 2 map that has 300 Diabolists in a single fight and it is the absolute finest dumb as fuck fight ever made. This could not have been done without Supercharge and it is a work of art

Major Arlene, Kaito, Aurelius and 40+ Mapwich mappers all had an absolute blast using this resource. It is objectively awesome. @Tango has set the standard for mod excellence in a way that no one has done before. Bring on more Supercharge wads.

[lakersforce]

Since we are no longer limited to keyboard-only controls and 15 fps on our 386SX, Supercharge adds that component that has always been missing on modern computers: quick and good gunplay, without falling into the camp of ridiculousness, that complements the movement speed of Doom perfectly.

[Major Arlene]

I had an absolute blast mapping with Supercharge. it was close enough to vanilla while introducing some new ideas to make it fresh and fun- it really is a "beginner mapping with mods" kind of mod. it also adds great foliage and environmental effects.

[Aurelius]

To add a few personal specifics to what RJD already outlined in his spot on post:

 

• The faster fire rate on the regular shotgun makes it an even better alternative to the SSG than it was before. In vanilla, I use the shotgun when I don't want to waste shells and/or I am sniping stuff from afar. With Supercharge this aspect is emphasized even more with the faster rate of fire, making it perfect for clearing out individual low tier monsters from turreted positions with satisfying speed, and in some cases taking out mid tiers when I'm still waiting for the SSG.

 

• The RL projectile being faster is one of the key improvements you can make to an already excellent vanilla weapon. Even with the reduced splash damage, the quick and lethal sniping capabilities of the SC rocket launcher makes it just as deadly as the player is accurate with it. I generally enjoy when games give me weapons that can be super deadly from the get-go if used correctly and with appropriate mechanical skill, and that the only thing standing between good and bad use are my own skills as a player. That is not to say that the vanilla RL isn't like this, but the slow projectile speed gives more time for enemies to randomly move out of the way, which makes the SC RL much more consistent and controllable in that regard.

 

• The Diabolist is an amazing alternative to the AV, providing the same threat of resurrection but with a different sort of area denial capability that forces you to move, but not to hide behind corners. This can be used effectively when you want to that resurrection aspect to an encounter, but don't want to prevent the player from directly engaging the new horde. And since the area denial is of a more location specific sort compared to the line of sight variant of the AV, it can be combined well with pain sectors and limited movement availability to create open but precarious setups that still keep the player constantly moving.

 

• Tango is such an amazing guy to work with, humble and approachable, and one of the most chill dudes in the community in general. If you want to make a map/mapset with Supercharge, he's willing to lend a hand with implementing stuff the right way and if there are any problems he'll help you out. He's very open to feedback and has developed the mod with the community in mind, while still keeping the vision as close to his own as possible. When a mod author cares about the people who make maps using their mods as much as Tango does, you know you've chosen the right mod to support.

 

 

[RonnieJamesDiner]

33 minutes ago, Aurelius said:

Tango is such an amazing guy to work with, humble and approachable, and one of the most chill dudes in the community in general. If you want to make a map/mapset with Supercharge, he's willing to lend a hand with implementing stuff the right way and if there are any problems he'll help you out. He's very open to feedback and has developed the mod with the community in mind, while still keeping the vision as close to his own as possible. When a mod author cares about the people who make maps using their mods as much as Tango does, you know you've chosen the right mod to support.

 

This. 100 times this. 

[Vorpal]

Already been answered, but might as well chime in:

 

it's well balanced (i.e. works with all non-gameplay-modded wads)

it's a discrete gameplay mod (another "standard" but important point for working with all non-gameplay-modded wads, e.g. it's troublesome to map for say Astrostein where it contains maps and music and everything else)

quite a few user configurable options if you don't like something 

it's regularly maintained and improved upon

it takes a lot of the high polish methods/ideas from other mods and combines them into one (it has its own unique ideas too, of course)

[reflex17]

tell the truth, we all know it's the skull bouncing sound effect that everyone loves

Alas, poor Draugr. I knew him, Hellknightio