Strife megawad... or something.

[bgraybr]

I searched the /idgames database, and, astoundingly, found only four Strife wads. Four.

So, anyways, I thought it would be cool if some people got together and made a giant Strife megawad to make up for this, anyone who owns Strife is welcome to join, I was thinking something like 5 maps per person (plus all of the "rooms" in the level- if that makes any sense) and possibly additional people for scripting. The map format will be the original Strife format, but new textures can be added (only if needed).

So, I don't know to much about mapping for Strife, but according to the wiki the only levels with any special effects associated with them are maps 10 and 30. Map 10 replaces map 7 after the Programmer dies, and map 30 replaces map 3 (again, after the programmer dies).

Before anyone begins mapping, we need to plan the map layouts and styles- so that the game seems continuous and connected- like the original Strife. Closely related maps should be done by the same person.

Edit: from the responses I don't think this project is going to go anywhere, but I guess I'll leave the post here in case a few people want to pick it up later.

[printz]

Strife is one giant hub... How are you going to integrate the story, characters and progress in a community project? It will take a while.

[Vermil]

One could always divide it into smaller hubs ala HeXen.

Player drives the Order out of Town 1 (hub1), then Town2 (hub2) before finally attacking the main Order stronghold (hub3) etc etc...

[bgraybr]

Vermil said:

One could always divide it into smaller hubs ala HeXen.

Player drives the Order out of Town 1 (hub1), then Town2 (hub2) before finally attacking the main Order stronghold (hub3) etc etc...

I think that this is probably the best way to do it- still would require some planning- but that shouldn't be to much of a problem.

Or, we could just ditch the RPG elements altogether and make 30 levels. I always thought that the RPG elements of the game were somewhat... dissapointing anyways- but I'm guessing that most of the people here won't like that idea.

[Khorus]

Why not just make your own 5 map episode? Trying to reach the magic "megawad" mark on a community project for a game with 4 releases is going to go nowhere.

[printz]

I wouldn't abandon the NPC element though. I think NPCs in Strife are best used as merchants. Not just storekeepers, but anyone who'd want to trade something. Considering the multitude of prop items, you could have fun trading junk.

[Philnemba]

I agree with Khorus, Its best to start off making a 5 map hub first before going to makea megawad. Some months ago, I was was in the process in making a 3 map Strife hub but I stop after making half finish layout for map02 but I'll eventually start on it again one day :)

[Clonehunter]

While Megawad is kinda far, like everyone is stating, Just a couple Strife maps would be just kinda cool. Heck, I would make more strife maps myself if Doom Builder showed the Strife sprites. They don't show up for me.

[duvel]

I would much rather see a constructed wad in Strife style: a plot that follows through with plenty of silly dialogue (like the Ketrick dialogue in the Power Center, or the warden, etc.) and some neat interconnected levels. I don't know what Strife scripting was like, but did the map effects happen as part of the game exe or was it a script? Also I'd go with UDMF format for this, but that's just me and my preference for new standards (or standards in general).

Actually this sounds like a great idea now. I kinda want to do this, and maybe if I do it as a group project I'll actually get some work done on it :D.

Edit: Oh and voice, I'd LOVE to see some voices for a Strife wad. Voices made the game for me, with the sometimes bad and sometimes goofy voice acting.

Edit 2: I just realized I said ZDoom instead of UDMF :P. Mostly I meant the features of ZDoom.

[GreyGhost]

Clonehunter said:

Heck, I would make more strife maps myself if Doom Builder showed the Strife sprites. They don't show up for me.

Try this config file. There's a handful of things I've yet to identify sprites for and some that appear too often (re-colours of base sprites, I don't know if there's any way around that) but if you can live with those issues it should suit your purpose. Let me know if you find any errors.

[Clonehunter]

Hey, thanks :) That does help. Doesn't seem to be any errors at all, the fact that the recoloured acolytes and such don't appear (As recoulerd) dont bother me at all. Thank you!

[bgraybr]

ler said:

I would much rather see a constructed wad in Strife style: a plot that follows through with plenty of silly dialogue (like the Ketrick dialogue in the Power Center, or the warden, etc.) and some neat interconnected levels. I don't know what Strife scripting was like, but did the map effects happen as part of the game exe or was it a script? Also I'd go with UDMF format for this, but that's just me and my preference for new standards (or standards in general).

Strife used scripting, this is the format for dialog boxes. I think for other things Strife might have used some form of ACS, but I'm not sure.

[duvel]

bgraybr said:

I think for other things Strife might have used some form of ACS, but I'm not sure.

No, ACS was only owned by Raven for Hexen and was only adapted for ZDoom with the Raven source. As far as I know Strife used only its custom scripting. Apparently the dialogue scripting was mostly items, so I guess it had to be some sort of exe thing or something I don't know.

[Gez]

Yeah, despite the presence of features in common (inventory, hub), they're a duplication effort.

Strife scripting is based on their conversation system and the presence or not of token items in the inventory. The script format is binary and detailed here.

Of course, a Strife mod for ZDoom can make use of ACS and be a lot less hacky. It can even try to be multiplayer-friendly, since ZDoom allows conversations not to freeze the game in multiplayer.

[duvel]

Yeah exactly my thoughts. I think Kaiser made that decent Strife hub for SvStrife a while back, but I'd like to see or make something that uses stuff like ACS or DECORATE to greatly enhance the game. It sure would be nice to have some more varied grunts and stuff, after all.

On a random thought, would it be possible to create a bunch of separate scenarios for co-op in the same maps? Like, use ACS to determine the number of players and then switch to the appropriate conversations and stuff for co-op? That way you could play singleplayer as a crafted experience but then co-op could throw out a lot of the extra fluff in favor of gameplay optimizations as well as all the extra ammo and such. Actually I think it's definitely possible but only has a use in creating a Strife singleplayer/co-op map. I think Strife already had a few extra rules for deathmatch but I can't really see using single-player Strife maps for dm being much fun.