MrFlibble

Actually I like most of Freedoom's current music. Some pieces certainly need to be balanced for loudness, and maybe indeed rearranged as it was suggested above by Doomhuntress. New tracks would also be welcome of course :) Another thing is that the music in Freedoom indeed tends to be much more varied than that in Doom. Perhaps we could start by just naming tracks that feel inappropriate to gameplay in general or to the particular level they're used in?

Thanks!!!

I agree, that's a good idea.

I've just tried the experimental build, and the new levels and monsters are really nice! However, there's a couple of things to be noted. First, the new wand's appearance is such that it may seem to be pointing upwards, rather than away from the player: I'm not sure why I get this impression, but the previous version of the wand was clearly made in a perspective that implies it being wielded horizontally. Another thing of note is that even on medium difficulty, there's a lot of monsters in the first map. While their numbers are certainly not beyond manageable, I think the difficulty could be toned down for the early maps. Other than that, there's some great progress, and the level design seems to capture the atmosphere of the original game quite well.

BTW, have the extra city-themed textures that were submitted recently by wesleyjohnson been added to the project?

It is my understanding that Red Hat/Fedora Linux distribution is a good example of how a commercial open source operating system may exist in the software market.

Thanks!

Back to the OP's question, here's some titles that use engines comparable to those of Wolfenstein 3-D or Doom while not being "pure" FPS games: I guess The Elder Scrolls: Arena should be the most well known example among first-person RPGs. It's confined to 90 degree walls only, but can have floor/wall/ceiling variations within a single level, allowing for pits and waterways in the dungeons. Its sequel, Daggerfall, while using sprites for monsters and many other things, employs a true 3D engine (the XnGine). Legends of Valour is an earlier medieval/fantasy RPG that actually inspired Bethesda to create Arena, which is similar in many aspects. Thor's Hammer is a shareware action/RPG (with emphasis on action), again using a Wolfenstein 3-D like engine with orthogonal walls. Amulets & Armor runs on a Doom-like engine and is also a medieval fantasy action RPG. Hexx: Heresy of the Wizard is another fantasy RPG example, unlike the above titles the player controls a party of four characters in this. Note that all these games have free movement like in a typical 2.5D FPS, as opposed to RPG games with grid-based movement. Also, some sections of Birthright: The Gorgon's Alliance are rendered in a 2.5D perspective.

Indeed many if not most of the humanoid monsters on that page are derived from the default enemies incldued with Pie in the Sky's 3D Game Creation System (which leileilol's site is about). Some might be even based on modified Wolfenstein 3-D art, and one seems like it's derived from a Ken's Labyrinth monster. Not sure though. Yes, that would be wonderful. Perhaps someone with a ZDoom Forums account can do that?

Quality issues aside, I just believe that it would be generally a good idea to move all complete submissions that have been contributed here to the attic so that they might be available if not for the main IWAD, then for a mod at least. I hate the idea that people spent time and effort on something to add to the project and it ends up being neglected with a risk of becoming completely unavailable due to technical issues like expired file hosting. After all, even if a resource that is submitted isn't in a perfect condition or of excellent quality, there's a chance it can be improved by another artist, or serve as a basis for something else. Or maybe someone subjectively likes that asset anyway and wants to use it in their mod. If Freedoom is indeed to be a Doom modding resource and not just a TC, then I think it makes sense to archive all contributions if there are no legal issues against that (basically, what I suggested here). That said, I have not yet tested the elemental monsters in-game but they could work as some kind of ad hoc substitution of partial invisibility counterparts to regular monsters. It does have issues with bright pixels at sprite borders, noticeable at close-up. Well, I guess it could be brightened a bit?

I completely agree. It's better to revert to older attic assets if needed at a later date than risk these contributions disappear because of expired file hosting or something. BTW, I would also suggest adding Maz Hades' recolour of the Baron found here. And maybe luckypunk's "elemental" Baron edit could be used as the Knight? (he also has the elemental version of the Knight in a different colour in the same WAD but blue seems kind of better suited for this). I'm not sure if I'm right on this but I find v0.10 coming after v0.9 a bit confusing. I would expect v0.10 to come after v0.09 and before versions 0.20, 0.30... 0.90.

But hopefully we can expect milestone releases like 0.91, 0.92 etc. (or 0.901, 0.902 etc. if a longer development cycle is expected) in the near term?

Thanks, I didn't know that (I assumed that ECWolf would have a menu option for bobbing). As for the project, I suppose that kinkyfriend's status bar face would be a nice BJ replacement?

I guess the shadows should be removed though, as to not hint at any light source, which might not coincide with the lighting of the level areas where this sprite may be positioned.

I've just checked the test build. The HUD face offset needs to be fixed so that it is centred, but everything else works fine: The menu font will need to be sized down or replaced altogether. BTW, what software did you use to convert the graphics? On another note (more of ECWolf related), I haven't found the option to turn off weapon bobbing.

The bullet puffs are also an important contribution, as the currently used ones are very bright. Here's a comparison (currently used puffs are below): This has actually been reported a while ago.

I'd also vote to add robotdog1's submissions: As for your POISON sign, perhaps change the text to DANGER or TOXIC? Otherwise it is too similar to the original sign.

Indeed this makes them less visible but the dark serpent is a libre equivalent to a Zandronum monster which uses a simalar coulour scheme. That certainly is a lot better!

That's some great art ^_^

How about making the serpent generally darker? I've thought before that reducing the contrast could help conceal or reduce the clunkyness of the sprites, and indeed it does seem to work with your recolour. Perhaps giving it a shade similar to the Revenant replacement would improve it even more? There are also certain frames which have "stray" single pixels that stick out of the shape quite noticeably.

Thanks! What about the maps? Did you create a test map yourself? Perhaps someone from the Wolf3D mapping community would donate their maps to the project? As for the palette, is it possible to use the Freedoom palette (or adapt/rearrange it to work in lieu of the Wolf3D one)? Or will that break mod compatibility?

Yes, please no references to real life nations (past or present). IIRC, Wolfenstein 3-D is still on the banlist in Germany (because of the use of NSDAP references which are illegal in Germany). It wouldn't do for a free open source, open content game to allow for even a theoretical possibility of a similar situation. While I find the time travel plot an interesting concept which may very well be worth exploring, it seems reasonable to keep the details sketchy. That would also be in line with many late 80s/early 90s action games that relied on excuse plots to pit the main character against an overwhelming nondescript (para)military organization. If MarlboroMike2100 agrees to donate his art to the project, he also has some robots there, which I hope do not resemble the Terminator too much to be potentially copyright infringing. Some of those could be used as bosses and/or episode 2 zombies, providing for a theme of some clandestine organization bend on world domination that is building a doomsday robot army (at least, in one episode). That would also be somewhat of a reference to the plot/setting of Rise of the Triad. As for the dungeon/medieval setting suggestion, perhaps save that for secret levels? After all, there are the Catacomb series games running on the same engine. In fact, I guess there could be references to the other Wolf3D engine games as themes for secret levels, with fantasy and sci-fi settings. Glad to hear new weapons are possible. Perhaps the Polaric Energy Cannon could be edited into a flamethrower?

Recently I learned about a game called Sublevel Zero, which is presented as something in the style of the original Descent and Descent II. The game is available from Steam and GOG.com. I checked if a playable demo was available, and found out that Sublevel Zero was originally created for Ludum Dare as a Descent clone with procedurally generated random levels. The Ludum Dare entry page with download links is located here. After the initial release, the game received several updates, including Oculus Rift support. The Sublevel Zero prototype features infinite procedurally generated levels, random bonuses that boost various stats of the player's ship and weapons, 7 enemy ships and 5 weapons. The core gameplay tries to closely follow the original Descent. Eventually the developers decided to turn the game into a commercial project, with the end result being quite different from the prototype. Here's a couple of videos for comparison: Ludum Dare version Commercial version

I've got a few questions. 1. One of ECWolf's features listed on the website is "Support for high resolution textures and mixed definition". Does this mean that the "recycled" Freedoom textures and sprites don't have to be downscaled to work with the replacement data set, and using them will not disrupt theoretical mod compatibility? 2. Would it be possible to (optionally) use digitized sounds instead of synthesized sound effects (wall bumping, item pickup etc.)? 3. Is there a possibility of MIDI music support? IIRC there's some MIDI related code that has been discovered with the reconstruction of the DOS executable of Super 3D Noah's Ark. 4. What about Blake Stone enhancements to the engine, like floor/ceiling textures, diminishing lighting and friendly NPCs? Can this be implemented as optional features? 5. I remember a certain official console port (or ports) added two new weapons to Wolfenstein 3-D. Is any code for those weapons available (or has it been recreated) in ECWolf or other PC port? Also, do you think that the Wolf3D community people would cooperate on this, perhaps provide some original art or other assets? On a different note, I just thought that fredrik's old centred shotgun could be used as an MP-40 replacement (or at least a base for one), if a more suitable alternative is not found: https://github.com/freedoom/attic/blob/master/fredrik/oldshotgun/shtga0.gif?raw=true https://github.com/freedoom/attic/blob/master/fredrik/oldshotgun/shtfa0.gif?raw=true https://github.com/freedoom/attic/blob/master/fredrik/oldshotgun/shtfb0.gif?raw=true BTW, IIRC one of the console ports actually does use edited Doom weapons.

I also like the idea of using an enhanced port in this case. There doesn't seem to be a real reason to support all existing ports, especially since the original game does not feature flexible mod support unlike Doom. I think that more advanced features like floor and ceiling textures, or open area levels, would be quite welcome as well. Sticking to the original game's restrictions would probably make the result too limited. I wonder if folks from the Wolf3D modding communities would be interested in joining the project. Granted, many mods use edits or original Wolf3D assets and/or assets from other games, but there should be some interesting original art as well.