Shrine II DEMO - A total conversion mod for Doom 2!

[scumhead]

Welcome to Shrine II!

This is a demo for the sequel to SHRINE.

Tusk is back, and he's ready to romp through a new and improved total conversion mod for doom 2!

Featuring....

-Over 15 strange weapons!
-Over 20 new horrific monsters!
-Boss Battles Galore!
-30 gnarly levels, and secret ones too!
-Embers of a world now broken, that you will put back together!
-Monstrous beings from beyond the cosmos betwixt!

After defeating his brother, the Old King, Tusk sits upon the throne of a broken world.
Yet, in his efforts to save the realm of man- his actions had angered the gods!
Thrown into the depths of the exile keep, Tusk will have to fight his way to the heaven's themselves
and deal with the ancient beings that slumber in it's depths.

Screenshots:

DEMO:

This is a demo containing the first episode- The Realm of Man.
Within the demo: Six labyrinthian levels and an eldritch boss fight from the depths of the Void itself!

IWAD- Doom 2
Made for use with the latest version of GZDOOM
-Jump and Mlook should be enabled

Download links:

Google Drive: http://bit.ly/2TVmA0n

Moddb: http://bit.ly/2RMdZKR
There is more to come soon! Please enjoy this demo as a small taste of what you can expect from Shrine II!
A special thank you to Scwibling, Skelegant, Primeval, _sink, and my patrons.

You can help to support my projects at patreon.com/scumhead  (And pay mengo)

A thank you from the Shrine II Zaibatsu-

-Scumhead and Mengo

[Fairweather]

Looks really stunning and unique as usual. I just hope the level design has been improved since last, I kinda stalled and bombed out of Shrine 1 because of how monotonous it ended up being.

[scumhead]

35 minutes ago, Fairweather said:

Looks really stunning and unique as usual. I just hope the level design has been improved since last, I kinda stalled and bombed out of Shrine 1 because of how monotonous it ended up being.

Give it a whirl and let me know what you think! I really tried to improve the level design and mechanics of the game, and I got a lot of help, too.

[Archanhell]

Y'know, I remember I never finished SHRINE due to my PC's problems, and I should play it again!

I still really love the fact this is Lovecraftian as hell and as someone who likes to write and do things of that kind and despite I haven't finished the first one yet, I will really look forward to this and wish you both luck and fun doing this!

[Doomenator]

Try compress sound. :D

[fahmizfx]

Before I make a lengthy comment on the mod, are the 6 levels from this demo actually a part of the Shrine II, or is this just another showcase demo?

Asking for clarification so that I don't wanna let it mix up and I can start posting the bugs and unintentional mapping mistakes/oversights.

[scumhead]

8 hours ago, fahmizfx said:

Before I make a lengthy comment on the mod, are the 6 levels from this demo actually a part of the Shrine II, or is this just another showcase demo?

Asking for clarification so that I don't wanna let it mix up and I can start posting the bugs and unintentional mapping mistakes/oversights.

They are the first six levels of Shrine 2, but are all subject to change. Lemme hear your thoughts homie

Edited January 26, 2020 by scumhead

[Redead-ITA]

Oh boy, this one seems to be doing well in terms of many things but it has a long way to go i have to say

here are some of the feedback from the demo:

Spoiler

Bone blade altfire doesn't really seem to attack multiple enemies as the animation implies
Cut in half shade lower bodies cannot seem to be walkable if they are in a higher surface than yours
Branded when frozen and shattered, respawn without the heads, also can infight with their headfull version of themselfs (usually fixable if they are on the same specie)
The green things containing the lil monsters share the same strategy as the one from the Pain elemental in terms to abort his babies (aside from freezing them that is)
Second level has some texture missalgniment in the barn
the amount of blood droplets is hilarious and all but does a lot of zenfight with other blood droplets.
Butchers, Fallen angels, Hangmans are way to healthy, untill you get the Odachi.
Map05 gives you the boneblade even when you have it already, (probably for testing purposes)
Odachi seems to make the wooden barrels and levers bleed (also fixable, probably look a way to remove the droplets from the lever/ barrel actor)
"You the cross, Holy Moly"
On map 5 where there are a lot of shades and maw on what seems to be a big gate with the crosses, one of the railings aren't impassable
Map06 as somewhat of an unfair fight in some areas with the chaingunner hitscanners, the boss will somewhat insta kill you at times,
and when the mouth lowers down it shows some missing textures (aka gives the Hall of mirrors effect)

 

Over all it is a great improvement from the previous, can't seem to find any sort of reference with R667 this time (even tho the freeze stuff somewhat reminds me)

Looking forward for the full thing once it's done

[BloodnBrain]

I like most of what i played, it was a fun first episode and sometimes i was thinking i play a NES game, hehe. :)
Shrine 1 is something i still have to play so i can not say what is better in Part 2.
Now to more feedback:
 

Spoiler

At no point i found the first episode to be unfair or to hard.
If i did die it was my own stupidness.

Map rankings: Map 3 -> 5 -> 2 -> 6 -> 1 -> 4

I like the talking at the start of the first map and i think it could help to bring the world more alive if the other maps have somehing like that too.
Maybe in map 2 aftter you fight the first Butchers some talk about the barn with the bodys inside.
Your world can stand on his own but i think it needs a little more ingame story.

Sometimes the text is hard to read, i think it could help if you put a small black border around the letter.

I love the textures and the design of the enemies, great stuff!
Some nice suprises with some of them like the Templer wo back up after death.
...oh, do they see you after they lost the head?

The Angel is a little bit extrem, you have to put so much ammo in him .... way to much and he kills you way to fast.
Maybe he is not thought to be killed by the player and his task is just to give the player a hard time than it is okay but a pain in the ass for 100% kill player!

This Butchers are great, i love everything about them and it is a lot of fun to duel with them even with this Boneblade.
Love them! :D

Was the idea of map 1 to feel alone and small?
All is so big and empty, all this massiv high walls and no decoration around.
If the idea was not to have the player feel alone and small you should change some parts of it.

I don't like map 4!
The map works fine but in comparison with the other maps it is just not good.

In the bossfight, his shooting parts go infight, is this right?
If you are in the mouth and hack the heart with the sword until it dies you get stuck there.
I try to get out of the door after the fight because they is visible again, the new exit did i not saw so i reloaded and killed the boss again, maybe there is some way to show the new exit better?

The cornfield in map 2 is right with the black background looks strange.

In map 3 down in the crypt in this ritualroom, some parts of the benches are solit for the player so you can not walk over them.

All the blood in all this colors is great! :D
Good fun to look at some heavy fight parts and all this colors, great!
... but sometimes it looks like there are some clipping errors with the different colors.

At the start of map 5 you get your boneblade again, why?

If you freeze the Templer and kill them they come back in there second form it this right?

I think i have some more but for now this is all i can remember so it must be the important things ( for me ). :)

[fahmizfx]

                                                                           SHRINE II DEMO REVIEW

   

Spoiler

 

I played this game on my first try on Sentinel difficulty if you wish to take that as a base for what I am saying in this review. I tried other difficulties with cheats on just to make sure that my point in bullet sponge monsters was not a mistake.

                               What I like about it

• Nice UI, where they have their own unique ammo count HUD.
• Interaction of certain weapons, like how the freeze staff can stop spawners from spawning in the Vermin when killed. Kinda Doom Eternal-ish.
• As always, cool atmosphere and interesting places. Especially at the end of Map 05, where you can see chapels and the ringing bell at the level end warp.
• Blood. So much blood. So much colour, that I thought I was a painter for a moment when the chaotic slaughtering stopped and I walk around and backtrack a bit.
• I now like frogs.
   

                                What I dislike

• Projectiles should differ in size and variety to show how damaging it can be. I think I at least see the same projectile on the same enemies.
• Weapon slots should follow the same slot as how Doom is. (3 for shotgun, 4 for repeaters, 5 for explosives etc etc). It's best to make familiar with the game; not to throw them off at the start and make them rebind keys. It's an unwritten rule, but you should be aware of it by now.
• This 'Spawner' enemy seems to be kinda useless as is. If you are going for avoidability, then you should make them die easily in one shot, as to make the player avoid unnecessary shooting. If you want it to be become a real threat, then it should either:

1. Spawn in a Vermin like ever 5 seconds or so, ala basically Pain Elemental
2. Give it a melee attack
3. Or suicidal. Like, when the player awakes it, it starts a 10 second timer before it explodes and release its Vermins.

• Somehow armor pickups earlier on the game are too abundant, while nearing the end they are almost non existent. Needs some balancing.
• Making enemies become bullet sponges when cranking up the difficulty is something that you should really, really avoid. Just stick with making them deadlier with their attacks.
• Corresponding to the above point, it will make most of the arsenal is just way too weak. When the meaty guns with their sound, quality animations and all... only for them to just blow out confetti, it's not a good feeling and does not give a good time.
• The Hiveslayer is just too weak.
• The Gore Blaster is weak too.
• The Cross is just as weak.
• Crossed out the above points because redundant as I have wrote the reason behind it.

                                  Bug reports

Main Menu:

• The sound effect when scrolling the menu is way too long, it gets especially bad when scrolling through the menu fast with arrow keys, where it gets clipped/layered with each other and gets progressively louder. Keep it to just 1 or 1.5 seconds; the shorter the better.

Weapons:

• You can still collect Gore Blaster ammo even though you are full of it.
• Can't fire the Adjudicator underwater. I guess intentional behaviour, since you need to fire them to make an ice path on water. 
• Adjudicator firing sound effect doesn't not play at times, especially when holding down the attack button
• Pod Bombs seems to be attached to autoaiming. Either that is fixed or it should be noted/mentioned in the beginning that playing this mod with the autoaim turned off, if that is the way this mod is intended to play.

Levels:
Map 06

• One way down spots and also wall stuck bug -- if you hug the wall of the bridge, you will suddenly accelerate and can't go off the wall, hitting a corner eventually. Sliding diagonally (left upwards) makes you move, but you will eventually die for some reason.
• Invisible wall
• 2nd platforming section is too dark. Should light it up a bit.

                           Something to ponder?/Extra stuff

Map 01

• I never knew that the first Pod Bomb which is located in the jail triggers the jailbreak sequence and makes the secret wall at the start of the level intractable, until I made this review on my critique playthrough. When I looked at first time perspective, it blends in so well with the green cement of the wall. 
       If it was actually intended secret as a whole (which pretty much looks like it)... then disregard this. Still, I would suggest that you should highlight the Pod Bomb -- like a little hole on ceiling brings the skylight and it highlights that said Pod Bomb (taking cue how you did with the hole where the Bone Saw was dropped).
   
• In the boss battle, you can make the enemy kill themselves and each other thanks to the grenade spitting Boss. If that was unintended, then maybe rearrange them so that they (kinda) avoid damaging each other? Or give them rocket/explosion splash immunity, just like a Cyberdemon. My suggestion on the rearrangement would be that the exploding one on the bottom, the other two on top of it. I would look like a upside down triangle in arrangement.
   
• Slicing an opponent in half should give a sound effect. It kinda lacks the feedback it gives from tearing an enemy's torso off from their hip. Maybe give the falling torsos a sound effect when they hit the ground like how Brutal Doom does it? Something that sounds like this...
   
• The first time I met the Suicide guy... was not the best experience. Got scared the shit outta me, and it was so unexpected. I hate you guys, lmao. Don't change it (unless, well... someone dies from a heart attack...)

 

 

 

                                      Conclusion 
 

I like where this mod is going and I can't wait for the full release... but, maybe waiting is better, because I'm seeing some rough edges still. Even so, it looks pretty promising and I'm sure you guys can do it! Hope that the next upcoming stuff whatever you guys have would be great!

Edited January 27, 2020 by fahmizfx

[Mengo]

Thanks for the feedback, we'll get cracking on this.

[Doomenator]

A few of my suggestions: 

Compress the sound, and make the music a separate file. The size of the mod will decrease significantly.

Modify the decals for weapons. They are not everywhere, and some look terrible. 

Make dynamic lighting for shots, explosions, and some objects (like lanterns). 

Add more interactive things. As destruction to tombstones, crosses, lanterns, and rotten trees.