[RELEASE] 'That Amazing Space Amazon' by RSL

Hi everybody,

just wanting to show off a new gameplay mod / weaponset of mine that recently hit the IDGames shelf:



'That Amazing Space Amazon' (requires GZDOOM 1.6.00)

Download here: http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/?id=17215.

Basically a modification that lets you impersonate a female space marine, who can exploit an arsenal made up of both old classics and brand new designs.
The weapon roster includes:

TazerFang (slot 1): your melee weapon.
PRIMARY FIRE: tap for a quick knife slash, hold for a stronger one-two combo. Berserk boosts both power and speed.
ALTFIRE: paralyze your opponent with electricity for about one second, so that you can finish it with the knife. Its battery autorecharges when idle; if you use this tool without enough energy, you'll have the shock handed back to you.

Unicorn rifle (slot 2): like the default peashoteer, but less so.
PRIMARY FIRE: shoot an accurate round, that is roughly twice as powerful as the default pistol. Do not hold the trigger, because it doesn't work!
ALTFIRE: launch an acid streak on the enemy; if you consume up to four rounds, take a little time to reload (automatically). Works wonders on former humans...

Hydra shotgun (slot 3): multi-stage pump-action beast.
PRIMARY FIRE: shoot all shells you have loaded at the moment. Blasting zombies and imps with three shells gives extra satisfaction points... ;-)
ALTFIRE: pump one shell in the shotgun, up to a maximum of three.

Phoenix rifle (slot 4): a weird-but-powerful stunner thing.
PRIMARY FIRE: hold to electrocute and stun enemies, until the autorechargeable battery permits.
ALTFIRE: sacrifice a full battery and a few health points to create an electricity ball that travels ahead for a short time, then starts to shoot lightning like crazy - beware not to get caught by your own attack.

Manticore hybrid gun (slot 5): a combination of a Nordenfelt gun and a rocket launcher.
PRIMARY FIRE: hold to fire the three barrels in various (random) combinations.
ALTFIRE: shoot one Torpedo missile. These missiles can avoid collisions with floor or ceiling, if their pitch permits.

Basilisk grenade launcher (slot 6): acid explosives. 'Nuff said.
PRIMARY FIRE: launch a gyroscopic grenade. This thing starts bouncing around like crazy, and treats foes as pinball bumpers, dealing damage after each hit. Explodes spontaneously after a while, leaving a cloud of acid gas that melts former humans.
ALTFIRE: trigger immediate detonation of all released grenades via remote signal.

Gryphon energy cannon (slot 7): take a plasma rifle and a BFG, stick them together, mix up their feats. Then serve.
PRIMARY FIRE: fire according to the selected mode. 'BOLT' mode works like a plasma rifle, except with faster and deadlier bolts, at the cost of a little windup time. 'WAVE' mode works like a BFG, the ball is weaker and faster, but the time between rounds is reduced.
ALTFIRE: toggle between 'BOLT' and 'WAVE' fire modes.

The mod also sports a custom HUD (complete with a proximity radar system), and a few extra gameplay feats that I won't spoil here (but you can read about in the textfile).

The obligatory screenshots roundup:

http://imageshack.us/scaled/medium/268/01idle.png
The starting idle stance of the Space Amazon. And please drool over the rounded health/armor fullscreen gauges! :-D

http://imageshack.us/scaled/medium/15/02tazershock.png
Shocking a zombie with the tazer.

http://imageshack.us/scaled/medium/198/03abrupthydra.png
A fully loaded Hydra shotgun - see what it does?

http://imageshack.us/scaled/medium/694/04normalhydra.png
Same Hydra firing (quicker) in normal mode.

http://imageshack.us/scaled/medium/803/05phoenixelectrocute.png
Flashing your opponent with Phoenix.

http://imageshack.us/scaled/medium/835/06phoenixpoweraccu.png
Remember to stay at a safe distance when invoking a "power accumulation"!

http://imageshack.us/scaled/medium/585/07manticoregunning.png
Firing the Manticore Nordenfelt gun.

http://imageshack.us/scaled/medium/827/08manticoretorpedo.png
That Torpedo missile won't crash on the floor...

http://imageshack.us/scaled/medium/404/09basilisklobbounce.png
Scoring a strike with a single Basilisk lob.

http://imageshack.us/scaled/medium/832/10basiliskdetonate.png
The nice toxic cloud spawned by a detonated Gyroscopic grenade.

http://imageshack.us/scaled/medium/17/11gryphonbolt.png
Gryphon's primary plasma stream...

http://imageshack.us/scaled/medium/547/12gryphonwave.png
...and its secondary "Wave" attack!

http://imageshack.us/scaled/medium/542/13whatisthata.png
What is that mech thing on the right? Also, I'm going to die...

http://imageshack.us/scaled/medium/69/14whatisthatb.png
...And that rotating symbol on the top right?

http://imageshack.us/scaled/medium/21/15goreabundance.png
I hope you like gore, because this mod is choked full of it. >-D



Bottom line: give it a spin, and drop me a line on /IDGames if you feel to! :-)

Will try out on some megawad I never played before!

You're welcome!

Also, keep in mind that if you need you can load the effects limiter just after the main mod, to reduce lag on the most monster-intensive maps.

So... Enjoy! :-)

Trying it out with Interception.

http://www.doomworld.com/vb/wads-mods/56724-interception-update-v1-2-2-released/

I picked the megawad out at random, but it's quite a fitting choice.

The Megawad relies on enemies dropping weaponry for the player to pickup, but in this gameplay mod the enemies don't drop weapons, making the first map quite a challenge as I'm left with the "peashooter".

I don't really like the Unicorn rifle, mostly because of the semi-automatic firing mode. The game doesn't seem to respond that well with my trigger and the rate of fire is almost random. Kinda awkward. The alternative mode is great, but I rarely get a chance to use it because of the recharge.

The Hydra Shotgun is great, but I would add an automatic cock if fired in primary mode. Having to click one extra time for a reload can be annoying. The alternative mode is awesome, however. Love it.

Love the Manticore. Awesome primary mode, awesome secondary mode. Cleans out rooms quickly.

So far I am lacking a weapon that can take out chaingunners at a great distance.

A couple hints on what you've spotted so far:

The Hydra Shotgun is great, but I would add an automatic cock if fired in primary mode. (...)

You can trigger automatic cocking of a single shell for Hydra; check out the custom configurable "Space Amazon" keys section at the bottom of GZDOOM's list (Options > Customize Controls).

So far I am lacking a weapon that can take out chaingunners at a great distance.

The only suitable thing I can think of is Manticore's single shot fire - the first round is more powerful and accurate. At least, until I beef up Unicorn enough... ;-) You might find a valid helper for this in the Phoenix rifle - helps you keep stunned these dudes until death, at least one at a time... :-)

Thanks for your feedback! :-D Keep 'em coming...

Tried with some oblige maps,the automatic cocking mode doesn't seem to work if you keep the fire button pressed.

I feel its lacking some kind of rocket launcher weapon,the missiles from the manticore are too weak and there isnt enough ammo.

But aside from that i dont have any problems.

Thanks for trying out the mod! :-)

Tried with some oblige maps,the automatic cocking mode doesn't seem to work if you keep the fire button pressed.

Yeah, I thought it was a reasonable constraint at first (have the shotgun cock automatically only if you tap fire and immediately release it), but now I plan on fixing this in an updated release. Thanks for pointing out! :-)

I feel its lacking some kind of rocket launcher weapon,the missiles from the manticore are too weak and there isnt enough ammo.

Have you tried the Basilisk grenade launcher? Once you find it, that should cover the role of a heavy explosive weapon - remember that you need to time the altfire correctly to detonate grenades, though.

rsl said:

remember that you need to time the altfire correctly to detonate grenades, though.

oh i didn't know that,it should be better now

anyway,great mod

The automatic cock doesn't work for me at all. Playing GzDoom 1.7.1.

Still haven't found any new weapons. Interesting megawad... Hasn't even treated me to weapon #4 yet. :p

Remember that with the current version, if you have Hydra automatic pumping on you need not to hold fire after the shot, or the auto-pumping function shall be skipped (this shall be fixed in the next update).
Just be sure to tap the trigger. :-)

As for the weapons spawning rate, I have adjusted a bit the spawners to grant the player more possibilities to get a 'Phoenix' rifle. This tool should ease things a bit before acquiring the top-tier weapons... ;-)

That's the most unique and complete gameplay+weapons mod with female heroine up to date. Will try it now with some old stuff. ;-)

I'll try this out so I can use "automatic cock" as part of a sentence.

Looks fun too.

That's the most unique and complete gameplay+weapons mod with female heroine up to date. ;-)

Thank you! :-D

If you like female protagonists, I can also point you to a couple mods I created in the past:

She-Redux: centered on peculiar altfires for every weapon. Also, uses reload (less Vanilla-friendly).
Pagan: a limited arsenal of five weapons, but you get powerups allowing you to morph into supernatural deities for a limited time.

I'll try this out so I can use "automatic cock" as part of a sentence.

LOL! Didn't think about that! :-D

Kept on playing.

So far my suggestions stand, as well as:

1) Hydra Shotgun should automaticly cock after every shell, pressing trigger or no. Just like the Doom shotgun. It kinda slows down the gameplay as it stands now.

2) The Phoenix Rifle should be less of a drain on the battery, so that a burst can be maintained longer. The Battery should also recharge automaticly even if the weapon is not selected. It's kinda useless as it is now compared to every other weapon.

I think the Grenades flying speed need to be reduced just a little bit. It's kinda tough to use them as it is, because they fly off so fast and have often had time to bounce away from whatever target I'm aiming to detonate it on.

Still loving it, tho. Love the new BFG.

Hi EvilNed, and thanks for the feedback!
Here are my replies point by point:

Hydra Shotgun should automaticly cock after every shell (...)

Yeah, in fact I already fixed the behaviour of Hydra with auto-pumping on. Automatic reloading of one shell should now happen even if you keep the fire button pressed - as soon as you release it, the pumping sequence shall start automatically.

The Phoenix Rifle should be less of a drain on the battery, so that a burst can be maintained longer. The Battery should also recharge automaticly even if the weapon is not selected. (...)

Good point. Although I decided to keep battery consumption quite the same on Phoenix purely for balance reasons, I also made the battery auto-recharge even when TazerFang or Phoenix are not selected (it's more reasonable even for DOOM-realism! ;-) ).

I think the Grenades flying speed need to be reduced just a little bit. It's kinda tough to use them as it is, because they fly off so fast and have often had time to bounce away from whatever target I'm aiming to detonate it on.

Heh :-) To be honest, I just did the exact opposite by boosting their speed up a bit in this in-progress version... I did it because speed and rebound were intended to be the main peculiarities of these grenades, and I thought they had to be highlighted somehow, also to ease the "pinball effect" on monsters a bit more.

Nevertheless, consider that you have a *small* time window to remotely detonate a grenade just after launching it - the weapon design is done on purpose to posticipate the barrels rotation sequence after each shot, whenever remote control detonation is used during that time lapse.

Still loving it, tho. Love the new BFG.

Thanks a lot! I'm happy to hear this!! :-D

Oh!

And some thoughts on the Unicorn Rifle.

I'm fairly unsatisfied with the sniping options left for the player. I find both the Manticore and Unicorn to be pretty inaccurate weapons. But the Unicorn rifle has great potential to be a sniper option. But two things need to be fixed:

1) Automatic firing when holding down the trigger (OR fix it so that the weapon responds to every mouseclick, right now the weapon is almost dangerous to use as it's so unstable. It's as if every third round jams the rifle?)

2) Every first shot should be very accurate, just as with the chaingun in vanilla doom.

On a sidenote, I've gotten used to the grenade launcher. I'm sceptical to a higher projectile speed, but will gladly give it a shot.

Also, Re: the Phoenix Rifle, maybe I haven't figured it out yet, but as it stands now I think it's pretty useless.

It does nothing the Manticore can't do except that it's on battery rather than bullets. The stun effect from the Phoenix Rifle is gone by the time you've switched weapons, and the health drain caused by firing it for too long is such a nuisance it makes the weapon very unattractive to use. I simply don't use it. I whip it out sometimes just to test it out again, but I never keep it selected longer than a battery or two (and that drains fast, as I've pointed out).

It should either cost much less battery, or give it some other feature that's useful. Like having the alt-fire being the previously-mentioned sniper option of the weaponry. Like an accurate powerful hitscan burst that drains half the battery. That'd be neato.

Thanks for all the good feedback! :-D

A couple hints on what I've modified so far, according to your input:

Unicorn now fires as much as you press your trigger; its accuracy has also been increased about three times with respect to the original one.

Phoenix now has primary fire lasting longer due to halved battery consumption per round - also, battery is recharged even when you are not holding a battery-fed weapon. Each round does more damage because of a new, slightly radius-affecting electrical puff. On the other hand, now only the Tazer guarantees a full stun effect to any kind of monster - Phoenix only works well against former humans and imps, since all other monsters become progressively more resilient to stunning attacks.

I should be able to upload the new version by tomorrow (June 11th), then only a few days to see it available from the IDGames archive and you might want to try it again! ;-)

Sounds awesome. Looking forward to it.

Just realized the Phoenix alt-fire could potentially be exploited with a consistant recharging battery. Maybe it should have a separate cooldown time?

This is just to let you know that an updated version of the mod is available from the IDGames link in the first post:

http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/?id=17215

A brief changelog of fixes and updates:

- fixed offsets for 11 mm. bullets pickup sprites.
- fixed appearance for 'Gryphon' ammunition.
- beefed up 'Unicorn' primary fire power, improved its accuracy, and granted free-trigger use on the weapon (thanks EvilNed!).
- fixed auto-cocking of 'Hydra' (does not require tap-only anymore).
- made gyroscopic grenades (even) more erratic.
- improved 'Phoenix' spawning rate.
- made battery autorecharge even with related weapons deselected.
- reduced 'Phoenix' primary fire ammo consumption, improved its effectiveness, reduced its stunning chance (now monster-dependent).
- reviewed monster shock coefficients - now harder to stun with 'Phoenix' only (TazerFang uses FORCEPAIN anyway).

Enjoy! :-)

Lyin'_ass_rectangle.png

Flashing your opponent with Phoenix.

Dang! And here I thought I was gonna turn into a bird.

The Unicorn Rifle is much better now, great work. It's something I can whip out and use for taking out imps and chaingunners at distance.

I still notice that compared to regular Doom, ammo is somewhat low. Probably easily explained by the fact that the top cap on ammo is lower than in Doom, and you get less from ammo pickups.

Dang! And here I thought I was gonna turn into a bird.

Heheheh! :-D That'd be a cool effect for sure.
Yeah, the weapon aesthetics mustn't be very reminiscent of a Phoenix... But I liked the "mythical creatures" name trend I had set, and I just had to use that one... ;-)

The Unicorn Rifle is much better now, great work. It's something I can whip out and use for taking out imps and chaingunners at distance.

Glad to hear that! :-D

I still notice that compared to regular Doom, ammo is somewhat low. Probably easily explained by the fact that the top cap on ammo is lower than in Doom, and you get less from ammo pickups.

Exactly that. And since the average power of the weapons that you get is higher, I intended to leave ammo slightly less abundant to balance this fact a bit.