What powerups/items would you add or change for the original game?

For me, I would have the backpack stack rather than give an immediate full increase. So for each backpack you find the amount you carry goes up by a certain percentage.

Also wouldn't mind a powerup that allows you to convert a non-boss type enemy so it fights for you.

I would change the armor system: Make separate counters for green armor points and for blue armor points (if the player wore both, only the blue armor would take effect, until all blue points would be depleted, and then the green armor would take effect) while keeping the protection percentages as they are now (green 33%, blue 50%), make both green and blue armors give only 50 points each, and allow them to stack (each up to 200, or maybe just 150 or 100). There would also be 2 classes of armor bonuses, one that counts towards the green armor points, and one that counts towards the blue ones.

1) Blur artifact should make the player completely invisible, so that monsters won't be alerted unless the player shoots or bumps into them. And, of course, i would remove the random annoying monster spread feature (which makes current blur artifact a useless junk).
2) I'd remove those annoying powerup screen effects (invulnerability's negative vision, rad suit's green tint) and instead put some sort of small indicator at the bottom of the screen, that show that the powerup is active. I would also heavily reduce (but not remove completely) berserk's red tint.
3) I'd make light amp visor work like beast vision from Blood - it won't bright everything up, but only monsters. Also maybe make the visor permanent (until level ends)..
4) Backpacks should give more ammo.

I'd change the Invisibility Sphere to simply prevent monsters from using ranged attacks at all, making them just chase the player and attack only when in melee range (including monsters with ranged attack only).

I'd nerf the Berserk to only give 50 health points and make its fisting power effect only last 1 minute, with clear indication of the end of the effect.

I'd replace the Invulnerability Sphere with either a "receive 2x less damage" sphere or a "2x slowed down enemies" sphere, each of them lasting only 15 seconds, because even those effects make the player too overpowered.

I'd change the Radsuit to never leak damage even on lava, or alternatively, make it always leak damage on lava, but only deal 1% damage to the player.

I'd make the Light Goggles toggle-able on/off by a specific key on the keyboard (I mean by a legit key, not by a cheat code) when the player has it.

I'd also introduce a new powerup called Freezing Sight Sphere, which would last 15-30 seconds and would temporarily freeze any enemies in the player's current field of view (plus minus 45 degrees), which means that for example enemies behind him would be unaffected.

Finally, a Revenant Sphere, which would turn you into a Revenant for one minute, during which your only usable weapon would be a pair of homing missile launchers, automatically changing to a fisting attack when attacking enemies at close range. Also, you'd be immune to actual Revenant's missiles.

Agreed on invisibility making the player truly invisible much like how it behaves in ZDoom. I like sneaking around monsters.

I'd add smart bombs which would be as damaging as, I don't know, a BFG shot as if it "hit" the player and damaged outwards from there. They wouldn't be collectable, just activated instantly when touched. Would be fun for arena style levels.

Beserk pack - you can use ONLY your fists for a certain period, and no health replenishment but temporary higher resistance to damage.

Another cell weapon, weaker but more energy-effecient than the plasma rifle.

deadwolves said:

weaker but more energy-effecient than the plasma rifle.

Like a replica of the chaingun (roughly same fire rate and damage per shot) that consumes 0.25 plasma ammo per shot instead of bullets?

Aside from the Blursphere not sucking, it would be cool to have Quaddamage. That's hands down the best powerup in Quake, and I wish it existed in vanilla Doom. It would last only 30 seconds like the Invulnerability sphere, but it would be slightly less rare.

Crunchynut44 said:

For me, I would have the backpack stack rather than give an immediate full increase.

I'd do that with a limit on the number of backpacks, albeit one that can be doubled by collecting a meta-backpack.

I like Quake 2's armour system - if you have a higher class of armour, picking up a lower class adds some armour to it. You'd probably need to halve the values of the blue and green armour for this to work in Doom though.

Adrenaline in Q2 is also a nice item, gain +1 max health. Small bonus but it does add up by the end of the game.

And yeah of course the blur sphere sucks. The best idea I had for it is that it reduces the chances of enemies firing, and maybe shortens the maximum range for an enemy to fire at you by a large amount. Also if it made revenants unable to shoot homing missiles at you, that would be a nice touch.

plums said:

I like Quake 2's armour system - if you have a higher class of armour, picking up a lower class adds some armour to it. You'd probably need to halve the values of the blue and green armour for this to work in Doom though.

This and removing the visual effects of the invulnerability and radsuit with a icon indicator showing how much time is left.

Crunchynut44 said:

For me, I would have the backpack stack rather than give an immediate full increase. So for each backpack you find the amount you carry goes up by a certain percentage.

I can only imagine doomguy wearing 10 backpacks on his shoulder, I always thought he takes one backpack and shoves the ammo of the other backpacks into his first backpack.

I'd include some simple powerups.

Quad damage - would last for 30 seconds and have a grayscale vision on the player.

Ritalin - Some pills to make you shoot 2x times faster, powerup would last for a minute and have a white tint on the screen.

Bulletproof vest - You're invulnerable to 5 times of any attacks. (chaingunners can wear it out quickly)

Winged boots - Boots that make you 5x times lighter for a minute, there'll be a light blue tint onscreen.

Silencer - Your pistol is silent for the rest of the level.

Loudener - Your shotgun is so loud it damages everyone on screen like a BFG, only the damage is that of a bullet. This powerup lasts for the rest of the level.

Backpack - I would change it so that it would only last for one level, in the next level if ammo goes beyond maximum capability of a backpackless marine it would lower to that maximum.

Steroids - Run 2x times faster for 30 seconds, yellow tint onscreen.

Money - Throw a wad of cash on a monster, it won't do damage, but it will irritate it like a snowball.

Another pistol - 1.5x times faster than pistol, lasts for one level.

Another knuckle - Punch two times in a row, can be affected by berserk, lasts forever.

Spear of Destiny had a big bullet box that was so badass and satisfying to find... I wouldn't mind seeing it in Doom, it's much cooler than the default one.

I'd keep the berserk pack as is, with a more subtle tint, however.

Some ideas:

Projectile attractor sphere: All projectiles other than the cyber rocket home towards you. [30 seconds]

Repulsion sphere: Monsters can't move within a 128-mu radius of you, represented in-game by a glowing arc. If you move towards them, they are pushed back, assuming movement isn't blocked by something like a wall. [90 seconds]

Stealth sphere: Monsters aren't alerted by sight of the player but can still be awoken by sound. Alert monsters will also immediately shoot at you if you touch them. [60 seconds]

Flame-retardant suit: Fire-like attacks -- those of the imp, mancubus, archvile, etc. -- do a third of their usual damage. (Acts as a form of armor with 200 points and is considered first. So if an attack would have done 87 damage, it does 29 and takes 58 off your suit. It's then filtered through any armor you might have. So you lose 15 HP, 14 BA, and 58 off your FRS!)

Tracking confounder: Revenant missiles lose their ability to home at you. [120 seconds]

Brittle Glass: You take twice as much damage from enemy attacks and self-rockets but inflict twice as much. [60 seconds]

It would be cool to have lots of new item types so that secrets and optional sidequests can feel more special, instead of just rewarding you with some of the same old stuff. Ideally these items should have semi-niche and strategic uses during fights, instead of just being "cool".

scifista42 said:

Like a replica of the chaingun (roughly same fire rate and damage per shot) that consumes 0.25 plasma ammo per shot instead of bullets?

Yeah sort of, like a laser 'cutting tool' kind of weapon - one that emits a constant beam which drains cells slower than the plasma rifle. Doesn't do much damage, useful for smaller enemies because of the increased pain chance but not so useful against enemies like barons or archvilles with their higher pain threshold. Something that would be helpful for resource management of cells.

Playing through some E3 maps atm, it gets really crazy, something like this would have been so welcome! Cells just go too fast imo.

Making Nigh Vision toggle-able and the Rad Suit only expiring when traversing damaging floors like in Duke3D would be a good change. I'd also let the small HP/Armour bonuses stack above 200, like in Project Brutality.

Completionist placebo sphere - if you pick it up within a level, then after you exit the level, it will display 100% kills, items and secrets statistics, even if you didn't actually get them.

I guess an interesting change to the blur sphere would be if it adds a 50% chance of a projectile going through the player, rather than it's current effect. That could create all sorts of cool infighting scenarios too, with projectiles hitting enemies behind you if they went through.

Energy Sphere-increases the speed of the player, such as faster punching and quicker reloading. Not the player's running/walking/sprinting speed. Lasts throughout the level.

Quaddamge-really, what's to explain here? Lasts for 1-2 minutes.

Blur Sphere-makes the player 95% invisible (maybe a very thin outline), and monsters won't see you unless disturbed. Their attacks won't work properly(already present).

How about adding Guns Akimbo power up like the one from Blood? It would really be cool to fire 2 plasma rifles at once.

I'd add a 50 point Yellow Armour item, and a Quad Damage Powerup (with additional gibbing frames for various monsters.)

ChekaAgent said:

1) Blur artifact should make the player completely invisible, so that monsters won't be alerted unless the player shoots or bumps into them. And, of course, i would remove the random annoying monster spread feature (which makes current blur artifact a useless junk).

Cherry-picking your comment, but yes. The blur artifact is worthless. When I accidentally bump into one I take more damage than I would without it. I'm used to the projectile attacks, and their speed. When I have a blur artifact, more often than not I move backwards/forwards/left/right to avoid it, and I run into it. It is fine with hit-scan enemies, because if you've dodged them when they fire and run into the path of the shot, it's already registered on the wall behind you. But imps, cacodemons, barons, I've even walked into lost souls because of that damn artifact.

The only thing I could think that would make it workable is make it a 'notarget' effect. So even if you shoot one enemy, you would only have to worry about that enemy, instead of everyone within earshot start firing off projectiles at random angles.

ive experienced a few different custom-powerups in some GZDoom WADS and the key ones that stood out as cool were the quad(?) power-up (bloodsphere) and the turbo one which made you crazy fast.

Exploding shotgun shells just like in Duke Nukem 64.

"Time Freeze" .

scifista42 said:

I would change the armor system: Make separate counters for green armor points and for blue armor points (if the player wore both, only the blue armor would take effect, until all blue points would be depleted, and then the green armor would take effect) while keeping the protection percentages as they are now (green 33%, blue 50%), make both green and blue armors give only 50 points each, and allow them to stack (each up to 200, or maybe just 150 or 100). There would also be 2 classes of armor bonuses, one that counts towards the green armor points, and one that counts towards the blue ones.

How about the game just keep track of how much of the armor is green if you pick up green armor with blue protection but under 100%? For instance, say you have 85% of Blue Armor left and you pick up a Green suit, you'd have 15% Green and 85% Blue, almost as if Doom Guy used parts of the Green Armor to help patch up the Blue Armor.

One thing I find unusual is that the game will pick up Soul Spheres, Health and Armor bonuses even if you're at 200%. I think it would be more helpful if it was like the Stimpack/Medkit/Green/Blue Armors where, if it won't add anything, you can't pick it up.

I think it only does that so you can still get 100% items.

MetroidJunkie said:

How about the game just keep track of how much of the armor is green if you pick up green armor with blue protection but under 100%? For instance, say you have 85% of Blue Armor left and you pick up a Green suit, you'd have 15% Green and 85% Blue, almost as if Doom Guy used parts of the Green Armor to help patch up the Blue Armor.

Sounds good, but it would still better be paired with some on-screen indicator of how much blue armor AND how much green armor you currently have, otherwise you would end up confused about your current type of armor even more than you do with the real Doom armor system.

Maybe the number could be color coded as an indication of which armor you're using? Green/Blue?

That alone would not suffice to inform the player how much blue armor points he has left before it depletes and turns into a green armor.