Zakos for (GZ)Doom (Release) (1 Viewer)

[MZZ]

some updates to the designs
and more importantly, guns guns guns ;)

 

[MZZ]

I've setup a Pixiv account to upload some renderings that are not necessarily development related.
E.g. showcasing sprite models or the episode pics in higher resolution.

About the follow up mod, I'm still in "pre-production". Not enough details on the models and guns.
Want to iron that out before I jump into posing and rendering.

 

[MZZ]

An Experiment with more frames for the firing animation.

The ususal is walk, aim, fire, aim.
As a test, the cycle is walk, raise, aim, fire, recoil, lower (same as raise)
See it in motion here: test wad
What do you think? Is the effect worth the extra frames?

Also, some guns before and after modification:

Gun props are from Porsimo

 

[Weoooo]

I mean it all depends if YOU think it's worth the extra frames, cause I don't think anyone on this side is gonna go "nah, I want less animation."

I think it's great, not only because it smooths out the animation, but also because it gives more of a tell that the shot is going to be fired or is done firing. The raising of the gun makes it easier to see that a shot is coming, and since they now fire a projectile it's a good indicator that something's gonna be coming your way.

 

[MZZ]

I mean it all depends if YOU think it's worth the extra frames, cause I don't think anyone on this side is gonna go "nah, I want less animation."

I think it's great, not only because it smooths out the animation, but also because it gives more of a tell that the shot is going to be fired or is done firing. The raising of the gun makes it easier to see that a shot is coming, and since they now fire a projectile it's a good indicator that something's gonna be coming your way.

I've heard the argument that sometimes fewer frames, but with distinct poses can have a better effect.
E.g. the jumping of Mario or Megaman is very recognizable and feels instand repsonsive,
but are basically only one frame of "animation".

For this model I think it works well, because the gap between walking and aiming is otherwise quite wide.
The soldier models will probably carry their rifles much more "ready" and won't need an intermedeate "raise/lower" frame.
Also, they will light you up much quicker than the bridge bunnies ;)


I'm close to finish fine-tuning the models, so I can start posing & rendering (and scripting) soon.

 

[MZZ]

Being busy, but I learned 2 new tricks in scripting:
- Randomize death states,
when dieing there is a chance to jump to the xdeath animation. (or other death animations, if I had some)
So for example, if I have 4 death animations, I could evenly choose between all 4 on the death event.
But currently I have only Death and XDeath on my plate.
- Mirroring animation.
if an animation is distinctivly "falling to left or right" I can randomly mirror the animation to make the enemy fall to the other side.
A cheap way to give more variety :)

And I nearly finished with a new enemy, the nurse.

Weak, nearly defenseless, but revives dead enemies.
The attack animation could use more frames (slashing wildly about, not just one swipe)
try it with a complete useless map

 

[Weoooo]

Oh god she's adorable

You're KILLING me here

She seems a little too skittish for her own good. I think you're trying to make it so she runs away from the player, which I think is a cute touch that means only a horrible monster would ever shoot her; but she seems to rarely do her job of rezzing because of it.
The crew and solders also have a REAL bad relationship. I donno if you can mess with that AI, but they shoot each other all the time and will go straight for each other because of it. It makes sense for demons, and is a key part of high level play, but it seems... odd here.

 

[MZZ]

Oh god she's adorable

You're KILLING me here

Happy you like her :)

She seems a little too skittish for her own good. I think you're trying to make it so she runs away from the player, which I think is a cute touch that means only a horrible monster would ever shoot her; but she seems to rarely do her job of rezzing because of it.

I'm using the Archvile "trait" for the reviving, which seems to be the only easy way to have the effect. But even the original Archvile only revived monsters when stumbling on one while seeking the player. The nurse has the "frightend" tag which inverts the pathfinding to get away from the player. In both cases, actively seeking dead monsters is not part of the pathfinding routine.
What I gathered is: either I use the provided in-engine routines and flags/parameters, or I have to use advanced scripting for making my own AI pathfinding routines. Which way above & beyond my skill level ;) Best bet would to find a script that someone already written for that purpose.
(With the disadvantage that bolted on scripting is way slower than original engine routines)

The crew and solders also have a REAL bad relationship. I donno if you can mess with that AI, but they shoot each other all the time and will go straight for each other because of it. It makes sense for demons, and is a key part of high level play, but it seems... odd here.

Yeah, the Doom monsters just don't care for a clear line of fire...
I would wish for a Monster x Monster table where I could define the "takes damage" & "retaliates" behaviour, but the system is way simpler.
On paper, my intent is that the retaliation is dependend on assumed disclipine.
E.g. the Soldiers and Officers don't return fire, but lowly crew does (panic, confusion, etc).
But I'll have to see what can be done with the simple system or find a script pack that does the job.

 

[Hentai_Master_Hand_44]

Indeed the nurse is super sweet She's wallpaper material. Your ideas sound good so far I do not have suggestions/ideas to post but the nurse display and your work deserves some feedback. Good stuff (again)

Not only the nurse is super cute all gals are ^^

 

[MZZ]

Well, besides being a grade-a slowpoke, my priority is to finish the sprite sheets and then delve into making the enemies work.
The scripting so far is a mixture of placeholder & curiosity :) And it helps to see the sprites in motion.

Indeed the nurse is super sweet She's wallpaper material.

Glad you like it :) I'll post somethimes stuff on Pixiv, maybe theres some more that you like :)

 

[MZZ]

I've updated the Zako Mod:

- Enemies now have full rotations and no sprite mirroring. (Except symetrical enemies)
That means weapons don't jump from left hand to right hand while moving about.
- Enemies can be completly flipped, meaning left or right handed in all animations.
50/50 chance for Normal or flipped version. Gives a bit of variety.

 

[Weoooo]

Oh, interesting! Was it a lot of work? I figured that's why you mirrored in the first place, because it was too much dang work to make each sprite face the right way.

 

[MZZ]

Well, when I started I followed the best practices Id Software did. They mirrored alot to save space on disk and ram.
But seeing how well GZDoom handles the sprites, even a thousand monsters dead or alive onscreen meant nothing to the framerate,
my concerns were unfounded. So no need to skimp on rotations. (Archvile now weighs 344 sprites :D )
Replacing the mirrors with unique sprites is just a bit of administrative work, re-arranging keyframes and adding rotations to the 3d files.
I'm currently making a batch of new flinch frames for the bloodless version, everything else I can copy over.
Flipping the whole enemy is not even real work, just a flag in the enemy scripting.
The engine handles everything else, like choosing the right rotation view for a flipped enemy.

 

[西北望射天狼]

非常感谢。 作者的分享

 

[西北望射天狼]

试图画了作者MOD 的同人。画的并不太好

 

[MZZ]

试图画了作者MOD 的同人。画的并不太好

I like it :) Nice facial expressions!

 

[Kayfabe]

Dude, I love this mod. Not only is it extremely my shit, it's also just really well done in general. I know you used like, Poser or something, but you clearly put some thought into making the monsters... IDK, aesthetically cohesive? Like, I buy them as all belonging to the same army. They're not just a menagerie of random crap, is what I'm saying. Also, I'm really glad you took the cute/anime/stylized route, because "realistic" Poser models can be... not good. Just IMO. I'm looking forward to the follow-up mod, and I wish you all the luck with it!

Can I ask you to post the sprite sheets somewhere? I really like the transitional sprites you've done, but I'm only getting a frame of them, lol. Like, NP if not, just... if it's not too much trouble!

 

[MZZ]

Dude, I love this mod. Not only is it extremely my shit, it's also just really well done in general. I know you used like, Poser or something, but you clearly put some thought into making the monsters... IDK, aesthetically cohesive? Like, I buy them as all belonging to the same army. They're not just a menagerie of random crap, is what I'm saying. Also, I'm really glad you took the cute/anime/stylized route, because "realistic" Poser models can be... not good. Just IMO. I'm looking forward to the follow-up mod, and I wish you all the luck with it!

Thanks, Glad you like it :)
Yes it's Poser and Aiko3. I got a soft spot for her...

Can I ask you to post the sprite sheets somewhere? I really like the transitional sprites you've done, but I'm only getting a frame of them, lol. Like, NP if not, just... if it's not too much trouble!

The sprites are quite easy to extract with Slade. Open the Zako.wad, filter for graphics, select all and right-click to export as PNG. :)

They are single images, not actual sprite sheets.

 

[Kayfabe]

Oh man, thanks! You're the best! :)

 

[MZZ]

Speaking of the follow up mod, I've redone (again) some sprites & animations.
Basic Crewman, Nurse and Soldier have now 6 walking frames and some more/changed attack animation.
All units will get 6 walking frames, it just looks nicer :) You can compare the old walkcycle of the crewman with the blue and normal chick.
Still just a testbed though: Link

Edit:
oh and the heal/rise animation are still missing. The nurse needs some frames for healing a downed unit and all units need some "getting up" animation. just playing the death sequence backwards is a bit strange in a non-magic/demonic setting.