Arch-vile wake up sound

[Memfis]

Sometimes I'll make a fight where an arch-vile opens somewhere but what worries me is that it seems like the player doesn't always hear the wake up sound. So there is a chance of the arch-vile suddenly attacking an unprepared player, which is a bit too evil maybe (or what do you think?). What does this depend on, like maybe the distance to the monster as well as the number of other monsters that also wake up? Can it be reasonably controlled? I guess you could also try to make sure that the player sees the vile at some point before it's too late, but that can be tricky in some situations.

[scifista42]

I think it happens because his active sound (DSVILACT) overrides his wake up sound (DSVILSIT). The active sound is triggered at random while a monster chases the player (with probability about 3/256), and nothing else than the low probability prevents it from being triggered sooner than the wake up sound ends.

[Quineotio]

If you're using an advanced port you could use a script to trigger the sound so that the player definitely hears it.

[40oz]

Silly workaround: Try putting the archvile behind a corner, or instantly risen out of the floor close enough for the player to hear, then surround the archvile with teleport lines to move the archvile where you originally had him.

Then the player will know he's being chased Hunted-style.

[Dragonfly]

40oz said:

What I was going to say.

One particular thing I like is when you hit a switch and the switch itself lowers to reveal an Archvile which insta-teleports.

Puts the player (or me, at least) on edge instantly, as I'm not sure when it's teleported to, providing that little adrenaline boost from the fear factor! :)

[Memfis]

Thanks, I guess that works. Although I've developed a rather strong dislike for teleporting monsters lately and try to avoid using them at all costs. One of the few cases where I'm ok with them is when the player sees some teleport pads beforehand, so he can guess in advance that some enemies will appear there and it won't look terribly lazy and contrived when they do.

[Bauul]

40oz said:

Silly workaround: Try putting the archvile behind a corner, or instantly risen out of the floor close enough for the player to hear, then surround the archvile with teleport lines to move the archvile where you originally had him.

Then the player will know he's being chased Hunted-style.

I did exactly this in my last map, and I think it worked well. Player opens the door, sees the Arch-Vile who takes one step forwards and then vanishes (teleports). As the player explored the maze they just entered, I discretely teleported the AV back into the map and had it hunt the player down.

I'm not sure if it worked as well in practice as it did in my head, but I personally felt it provided a great "shit I'm being hunted" feeling.