Hi everyone:
I've been porting Gloom to the Source Engine for the past year under the project name, Darkness: Source, and I would like to port it to Unvanquished now. Since most of the developers on IRC apparently haven't played Gloom before, I was wondering if we could try my mod together before I start porting.
Here's what I want to know from Unvanquished players/devs:
- What features, if any, would you want to put into mainline Unvanquished?
What features would not be easily implemented in Daemon?
Can we agree on features for a single game that brings in fun aspects of both gameplay styles, or would Gloom be better off as a separate mod?
If the games are too different and nobody really likes Gloom-style gameplay, I'd like to discuss potential ways to make the mods more compatible, perhaps instead of a separate VM, we could achieve the gameplay modes with conditionals...
You can download it on moddb or at the main site: http://darkness.dnbrown.net (mac/linux/windows: mac version of Source is a little broken, you won't be able to connect to the public server; linux = i don't know; Windows = works best). If you want to try all of the classes in a local game: map spacewreck; sv_cheats 1; join a team/pick a class; impulse 102 for 10 frags/points.. respawn to try other classes. dk_team_balance 0 to disable team balance enforcement. Can't claim that anyone would be playing on the one available server.
If I make it a mod for Unvanquished, how should I make it better?
Anyway, I promised honest feedback for Unvanquished as well. Please don't take this personally if you implemented these features, I like the game, I want to work with you. Also, feel free to tell me how much my mod sucks in return. Here goes:
- I couldn't get into the game.. wasn't fun enough. I know that's a complex and highly subjective comment, maybe it's due to my Gloom preference, but maybe there are some gameplay-level things that we can improve too.
The Engine doesn't look as good as Source: Looking forward to seeing the replacements for the Tremulous sounds/sprites. Also, circle shadows under players look funny
The netcode isn't predicted like the Source Engine, which feels different from most new games I've played (shoot a gun, don't see hit sprites until server response is received). Here's a description of how they might differ: https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wik ... Networking
Sticking to walls is really hard to do as a spider, the normals change too fast. As I've mentioned before, this is one feature I'd rather replace with a grappling hook-like functionality as you'd see in Darkness/Gloom. Grappling is a lot more fun.
Generally, not a fan of the NS style team thing, where you can't buy X unless your team is working well (which happens so rarely in online games). Much prefer the Gloom style.. Get a frag and you can spend it on a new class.. save up 5 frags to get the best class on either team.
Movement was really fast... it was really hard to hit the little bugs, even with the automatic rifle at range, where I should have the advantage as a human (the small ones should rely on stealth, no?)
Maps too bright
Spider/bug entities were not straight forward in use.. really have't seen most of them I suppose. Gloom had obstacles (smaller than Unv's, and stackable), spikers (easy to undertstand just by looking at them), gassers (also easy to understand), healers, and eggs.
Weapons not satisfying/fun for humans (except maybe the shotgun?). The lucifer canon's effects didn't make it feel dangerous.. charge was too fast, didn't do enough damage to friendly base structures/nearby units. Rifle didn't work well against even smallest spiders...
Player death was awkward looking/sounding for some reason.. I think I'm used to ragdolls in Source.
No flashlight/darkness game going on.. spiders have bug vision, but don't even need it in the maps i saw because there aren't many truly dark areas
Low framerate with the Rocket menus.. some menu glitchyness/unresponsiveness. UI was better than what I had in Source though.
Thanks!