[WIP] Selaco - a brand new standalone shooter running on GZDoom

[SelacoDev]

Just now, AtticTelephone said:

Why not customize and optimize the original GZDoom to work better with Selaco? Like, Selaco's own customized GZDoom that works better, unless you guys aren't good at source port building.

 

Lack of resources mostly. With a team our size, having to make massive engine changes will push the game back even further. But I agree, making changes to the engine itself would be ideal. Hopefully when funding is available, we can get a programmer on board to help out with that.

 

To be continued, as I do like this idea.

[DCG Retrowave]

3 hours ago, nexxtic28 said:

 

Performance is taken into consideration with every decision we make, no worries! Levels are broken up into smaller segments just like Ion Fury and Half Life, where a short tiny loading screen pops up when you enter a hallway that loads the contents at the other side. Secrets are shared across each segment until you complete the level. Effects are also handled cleverly where multiple alpha effects (like smoke) merge together when in close proximity to become a single thicker smoke cloud rather than having everything be an individual object.

 

On top of that, we have many settings to change. Besides GZDoom's default options, we also have particle count and lifespan, smoke quantity, voxel detail (which removes less ''important'' voxels from the game world like tea cups and paperstacks), reflections and Game Detail.

 

I think a GZDoom game should be able to run on a lower-end machine.

 

Thank you for the kind words!

Fun fact: The True Color Software Renderer in GZDoom has worse performance on my basic modernish PC than the OpenGL hardware renderer :O

 

That doesn't bother me though since I like the DOOM Software Renderer the most :D

 

This project is the kind of thing I can actually see myself using GZDoom for.  GZDoom is fantastic as a retro-style game engine, but it has some issues maintaining full compatibility with the original DOS games.  As a vanilla DOOM mapper who plays on a DOS PC, I prefer to use GZDoom only for content that really takes advantage of it and Selaco is definitely one that I'm excited to try out.  I'm very glad to hear that performance is a priority!  That dedication deserves so much credit in my opinion :)

 

Silly question: Will classic DOOM-style vertical autoaim be an option?  Since this isn't classic DOOM, I'll be more than happy to use freelook, but I am still very curious :D

[SelacoDev]

57 minutes ago, DCG Retrowave said:

Fun fact: The True Color Software Renderer in GZDoom has worse performance on my basic modernish PC than the OpenGL hardware renderer :O

 

That doesn't bother me though since I like the DOOM Software Renderer the most :D

 

This project is the kind of thing I can actually see myself using GZDoom for.  GZDoom is fantastic as a retro-style game engine, but it has some issues maintaining full compatibility with the original DOS games.  As a vanilla DOOM mapper who plays on a DOS PC, I prefer to use GZDoom only for content that really takes advantage of it and Selaco is definitely one that I'm excited to try out.  I'm very glad to hear that performance is a priority!  That dedication deserves so much credit in my opinion :)

 

Silly question: Will classic DOOM-style vertical autoaim be an option?  Since this isn't classic DOOM, I'll be more than happy to use freelook, but I am still very curious :D

 

Many thanks!

 

People often made the argument with Selaco that its 'dumb' to use GZDoom when we (in their words) use this many graphical effects. I cannot disagree more. Despite there being a decent chunk of effects on the screen, I still feel like we are remaining mostly faithful to Doom's aesthetic. We have a lot of rules in place when it comes to our visual style to not go overboard. I think it looks great, but there are some flaws that we are currently working on (one of which is the way the weapon sprites look. They appear far too 3D and should look more like actual sprites). Either way, thank you!

 

About the 'silly' question; I'm not kidding, I was considering something like that at some point. I once played the game using keyboard only for shits & giggles and thought ''What if there's an option to make the AI more friendly to people who aim using a keyboard?" as in, make them dodge less and appear more stationary. Eventually decided against it, but its a fun 'Could Have' to keep in mind :P 

 

There is something oddly nostalgic about playing with nothing but arrow keys / horizontal aiming only.

[P41R47]

3 hours ago, nexxtic28 said:

 

Lack of resources mostly. With a team our size, having to make massive engine changes will push the game back even further. But I agree, making changes to the engine itself would be ideal. Hopefully when funding is available, we can get a programmer on board to help out with that.

 

To be continued, as I do like this idea.

Hope you can afford for something like this.

GZDoom is a great engine that can also run Doom and has a lot of features.

But i think that there is no sane way to use all of them, so maybe cutting the unneeded would make for a big performance improvement... maybe?

Probably talking nonsenses ;P

About the character, i'm totally good with female protagonist.
Time for hard chicks kicking some men butts.
 

The actress you guys choose remind me of Blackbird from Strife.

Good choice ;)

 

If you need more VA, i can recommend @Kokoro Hane.
She have a lovely voice and experience at voice acting.

Only thing i would be against off is a male counterpart of Alma from F.E.A.R.
Just remembering the last scene of FEAR 2 made me wanna puke...so no that same scene but with an AlmO, please?

[Rudolph]

Is "Selaco" supposed to be an Aliens reference?

[Gez]

The same question was asked in the previous thread, with the answer:

On mardi 15 décembre 2020 at 3:12 AM, nexxtic28 said:

Yeah, pure coincidence actually! But we loved the name so much that we just decided to go with it.

So it's not meant to be a reference to the Sulaco.

[SelacoDev]

18 minutes ago, Rudolph said:

Is "Selaco" supposed to be an Aliens reference?

 

I quote from a tweet I posted a while back:

 

Quote

Aliens is so good that, when we were thinking of a name for our game, it coincidentally ended up sounding a lot like a certain space ship in Aliens. We didn't figure that out until we've been using it for a while

 

We were honestly just jumbling a bunch of letters around to find a name that sounds fun and catchy. ''Sulaco'' was probably in my subconscious and it unintentionally slipped its way into the game. Which is surprising, given that we are all massive fans of the Alien movies and it took a damn long time for someone to pick up on that.

 

I personally don't think its a problem. In fact, I always chuckle when someone actually manages to pick up on that :P Hopefully it wont bother anyone so a name change wont be necessary. 

[D4NUK1]

7 hours ago, Master O said:

 

Ion Fury vs Saleco when?  (joking)

Quick Shitpost to when this happens.

 

[Master O]

30 minutes ago, jamondemarnatural said:

Quick Shitpost to when this happens.

 

 

"That's just like one of my Japanese Animes!" (sarcasm)

[SelacoDev]

31 minutes ago, jamondemarnatural said:

Quick Shitpost to when this happens.

 

 

Just now, Master O said:

 

"That's just like one of my Japanese Animes!" (sarcasm)

 

Thank you so much for this :P Shared it with the team, gave us a good chuckle! 

[DCG Retrowave]

2 hours ago, nexxtic28 said:

 

Many thanks!

 

People often made the argument with Selaco that its 'dumb' to use GZDoom when we (in their words) use this many graphical effects. I cannot disagree more. Despite there being a decent chunk of effects on the screen, I still feel like we are remaining mostly faithful to Doom's aesthetic. We have a lot of rules in place when it comes to our visual style to not go overboard. I think it looks great, but there are some flaws that we are currently working on (one of which is the way the weapon sprites look. They appear far too 3D and should look more like actual sprites). Either way, thank you!

 

About the 'silly' question; I'm not kidding, I was considering something like that at some point. I once played the game using keyboard only for shits & giggles and thought ''What if there's an option to make the AI more friendly to people who aim using a keyboard?" as in, make them dodge less and appear more stationary. Eventually decided against it, but its a fun 'Could Have' to keep in mind :P 

 

There is something oddly nostalgic about playing with nothing but arrow keys / horizontal aiming only.

The keyboard-only thing sounds pretty neat!  I played DOOM like that at first because I didn't know about NOVERT (it's a DOS TSR that disables vertical mouse movement in games like DOOM) and my 1993 Compaq PS/2 ball mouse wasn't very precise :D.  I'm using an optical mouse on DOS now, but I still think keyboard-only is a fine way to play the game if that's what someone is more comfortable with :)

 

I think GZDoom is a good choice for this project.  The engine is very capable and depending on the configuration, it can have a classic DOOM look and feel.  When you said that things should appear more like actual sprites, does that mean this can be run in software mode? :O

 

GZDoom 4.4.2 was the last version with a 32-Bit build.  I'm using 32-Bit Windows 10 for better support for legacy hardware and software.  Will Selaco be available for both x86 and x64 platforms?  I guess that all depends on the version of GZDoom that this is designed for.

 

P.S. If you're in need of playtesters, especially regarding performance on lower-end hardware, I've got 44 computers with my oldest two being manufactured in 1993 so I could definitely test a wide range of outdated hardware (not quite THAT outdated though XD).

 

 

[inkoalawetrust]

11 hours ago, nexxtic28 said:

If you google Selaco, you might come across a forum that really dislikes the project because it has a female protag. Claiming its a ''cash grab'' while being very hostile around Selaco for that sole reason. It truly baffles me how this is such a big deal to some people,

I found the thread you are talking about and I can pretty easily say that even outside of the usual virtue signalling and woman = far left plot stuff, the people in that thread quite literally have no idea what they are even talking about such as this gem from someone who clearly knows nothing about Doom modding and source ports/forks:
 

Quote

 

a fps running on buzzword engine inspired by buzzwords

Though to their credit several people knew that for it could be made in GZDoom because it's really easy to make stuff for it and it may simply be what the devs of the game best know how to use such as this post.

 

Quote

 

It's extremely easy to map and script for Doom - (Gz)doom builder is easily one of the most accessible and well documented mapping tools around. Plus the people starting these projects tend to have loads of prior experience with Doom mapping/modding without necessarily having any gamedev/programing background outside it. It's as simple as that.

As for the game itself, is there any chance that the AI code could be standalone mod/library that could be used for other projects ? Also is there any projected release date or known system requirements yet ?

[NonniR]

Awesome design of Dawn. Too bad she isn't an over-aggressive, ultra-masculine man with 32-inch $$$$ and baritone voice because we all know that's how real FPSs are like.

 

Honestly, though this looks amazing and definitely something I will be waiting for. I have never understood the issues people have by having an attractive, good-looking character as the main character. Ultra-ripped, muscular guys are totally fine and nobody bats an eyelid (seriously, have you ever seen a man like that in real life? I doubt it) but an attractive female lead is somehow the end of the world? It's ridiculous (and sad).

 

Regardless, kinda Prodeus feeling from it so I can't wait. Will there be wall-humping for secrets? If so, GOTY right there.

[AtticTelephone]

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/selaco-a-doom-engine-fps-inspired-by-fear-and-the-classics.136639/

Goddamn, the salt is deadly.

[ReaperAA]

4 hours ago, AtticTelephone said:

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/selaco-a-doom-engine-fps-inspired-by-fear-and-the-classics.136639/

Goddamn, the salt is deadly.

 

 

"Why protagonist is wahman" is the biggest complaint I see on that thread.

 

And thus that site in now in my "avoid like plague" list.

 

[SelacoDev]

15 hours ago, P41R47 said:

Hope you can afford for something like this.

GZDoom is a great engine that can also run Doom and has a lot of features.

But i think that there is no sane way to use all of them, so maybe cutting the unneeded would make for a big performance improvement... maybe?

Probably talking nonsenses ;P

About the character, i'm totally good with female protagonist.
Time for hard chicks kicking some men butts.
 

The actress you guys choose remind me of Blackbird from Strife.

Good choice ;)

 

If you need more VA, i can recommend @Kokoro Hane.
She have a lovely voice and experience at voice acting.

Only thing i would be against off is a male counterpart of Alma from F.E.A.R.
Just remembering the last scene of FEAR 2 made me wanna puke...so no that same scene but with an AlmO, please?

 

Thanks for the suggestion. Can you ask her to send a demo reel or portfolio (if she has one) to playselaco@gmail.com? Curious to hear more. Selaco is quite heavy on the voice acting so we're always looking :)

 

Hehe, Selaco does not have horror elements like that. There will be suspense here and there, but all supernatural elements have been cut. FEAR inspirations only come from gameplay. The horror we had was cringy at best so decided to cut that.

 

The ending of FEAR 2 was all kinds of messed up. Caught me completely by surprise. No AlmO in this game.

 

10 hours ago, NonniR said:

Awesome design of Dawn. Too bad she isn't an over-aggressive, ultra-masculine man with 32-inch $$$$ and baritone voice because we all know that's how real FPSs are like.

 

Honestly, though this looks amazing and definitely something I will be waiting for. I have never understood the issues people have by having an attractive, good-looking character as the main character. Ultra-ripped, muscular guys are totally fine and nobody bats an eyelid (seriously, have you ever seen a man like that in real life? I doubt it) but an attractive female lead is somehow the end of the world? It's ridiculous (and sad).

 

Regardless, kinda Prodeus feeling from it so I can't wait. Will there be wall-humping for secrets? If so, GOTY right there.

 

Can't have a retro FPS without wallhumps! Not a big fan of secrets that aren't telegraphed in some way, though. I dont consider running around the map humping a bunch of walls to be very exciting :( I'm sure running around wallhumping random walls will result to something, but secrets usually have visual cues.

Thanks for the compliments about Dawn's design! 

 

11 hours ago, inkoalawetrust said:

As for the game itself, is there any chance that the AI code could be standalone mod/library that could be used for other projects ? Also is there any projected release date or known system requirements yet ?

 

Source code will be released alongside the game. But our AI relies heavily on specific nodes that have to be placed in the game world. Simply copying it to an existing Doom level wont do much unless you handplace AI nodes with the editor first.

 

13 hours ago, DCG Retrowave said:

P.S. If you're in need of playtesters, especially regarding performance on lower-end hardware, I've got 44 computers with my oldest two being manufactured in 1993 so I could definitely test a wide range of outdated hardware (not quite THAT outdated though XD).

 

 

Noted! Thanks for the offer :)

 

[seed]

It looks very good so far, digging what I'm seeing for sure.

 

It's a shame to see the reactions it caused in some obscure places on the internet, but what can you do. All I can say on that is, don't take it to heart, these people were probably never going to be part of your fan or player base anyway - and good riddance, I don't think anyone would want them around.

[Deadwing]

The project looks really amazing and well done, the voice acting looked quite good too! Also, loved the protagonist!

[Biodegradable]

Itching with anticipation for a playable demo!

[Rudolph]

2 hours ago, nexxtic28 said:

The ending of FEAR 2 was all kinds of messed up. Caught me completely by surprise. No AlmO in this game.

 

Even without the sexual assault (I am spoiling this so that those who have yet to play the game do not get the same nasty surprise), I would argue that F.E.A.R. 2's ending was on par with the rest of the series in the sense that it ultimately kind of sucks. I know it is a staple of the horror genre, but I do not particularly like it when a story ends up telling us that the protagonist's involvement has been for nothing.

Spoiler

 

In F.E.A.R. 1, the Pointman is always too late 

In F.E.A.R. 2, Becket is doomed the moment he gets operated on

In F.E.A.R. 3, Alma was always going to die from childbirth

 

 

In that regard, I can only hope that Selaco does not make that same mistake.

[inkoalawetrust]

9 hours ago, nexxtic28 said:

Source code will be released alongside the game. But our AI relies heavily on specific nodes that have to be placed in the game world. Simply copying it to an existing Doom level wont do much unless you handplace AI nodes with the editor first.

Yeah I figured so, which is why I asked if it'll be released as a standalone mod or a library of sorts with nodes that mapmakers can place down on their maps (And possibly make custom monsters for or modify existing ones.).

[SelacoDev]

11 minutes ago, inkoalawetrust said:

Yeah I figured so, which is why I asked if it'll be released as a standalone mod or a library of sorts with nodes that mapmakers can place down on their maps (And possibly make custom monsters for or modify existing ones.).

 

 

Its a full standalone release and the source code will be bundled in, including uncompiled ACS.

 

There a bit of an awkward middle ground however. Quite a bit of budget went into this project to get the music, artwork and other assets done. I'm not going to talk budget numbers, but I strongly feel like Selaco deserves to be a standalone title with the insane amount of work that has been involved. I'm fine with people using some of Selaco's assets for their own Doom mods because most of us are fanatic modders outselfs and are more than fine with sharing, but people should not straight up rip the entire game and release it as a free mod, if you know what I mean? I think we have put as much effort into this as Voidpoint did with Ion Fury.

 

Its a hard subject and I trust the Doom Community enough to play nice and respect the work we put into the game. But its still somewhat scary.

[Gez]

I think @inkoalawetrust was talking about getting to reuse the custom AI rather than the graphics, sound, and music assets.

[SelacoDev]

More than fine!

[Kokoro Hane]

This game looks really awesome so far! Haha, I love how Earth's memorial day is August 25th (happens to be my birthday). 

[Valhen]

The game looks great! Specially for the Doom engine (I know it uses GzDoom, but to me, it's all magic :P). I would love to play it, but sadly I have a toaster, so I doubt it will be able to run :( Still though, keep it up!

[SelacoDev]

1 hour ago, Kokoro Hane said:

This game looks really awesome so far! Haha, I love how Earth's memorial day is August 25th (happens to be my birthday). 

 

Thank you! I'll get back to you on that other thing later!

 

8 minutes ago, Valhen said:

The game looks great! Specially for the Doom engine (I know it uses GzDoom, but to me, it's all magic :P). I would love to play it, but sadly I have a toaster, so I doubt it will be able to run :( Still though, keep it up!

 

You might be surprised! Like I mentioned above, Selaco is designed to be customizable to a point that it should run on slower computers. You can turn off most of the effects and the segmented level system keeps things small enough to keep performance high. 

[Azuris]

Looks overall nice :)

Artstylewise it seems better than much Stuff selled today.

 

[SelacoDev]

 

Who doesn't love a good destructible voxel!?

[Pirx]

looking forward to playing this. love the f.e.a.r. influence, one of my favorite games.