Mod Idea -- (Wolfenstein 3D Assassination)

Hey everyone!

Here is the outline for a mod I'm currently working on (I may call it something other than Wolfenstein Assassination) for Wolf4SDL. It'll be a big project and it is hard to find the time to work on it. If I don't finished it (highly likely!) I'll release whatever I've done so others can use the code. I always enjoyed just playing the boss levels in Wolfenstein and to my knowledge I don't think that a lot of other FPS games have the cat and mouse style bosses battles that Wolf3d has so I decided to start a mod that will be based exclusively around that concept with randomized maps and randomized bosses to fight against. Here are some of the planned ideas:

Randomized Bosses: I have the general outline of how the random boss names, weapons, attributes and personalities will be coded with a bit of the work already done. The hardest part will be creating the random appearance but I haven't really thought too much about this part yet.

Player Stamina:
Regular enemies can't hurt the player directly but will drain stamina if you get shot by them. Stamina can also be lost by running or from certain attacks from bosses (ex- traps or a net launcher). Once your stamina reaches zero then your stunned and unable to move for a few moments making you a sitting duck for a boss.

Boss Weapons:
Capture Net Launcher (can instantly stun the player), Drone Launcher (fires robots that chase and attack the player), Landmines, etc.

Item System:
Items that the player can use (will be able to hold only one at a time). Health packs, speed boosting boots, stamina boosts (to heal yourself if you get stunned), radar jammer (to prevent the boss from knowing your location).

Here is what I have done so far:
Some code changes on one boss (Gretel Grosse) who now has a new
variable for how often she fires depending on the range from the player.
Gretel can run for a short time (but not quite as fast as the player),
will wait in one spot and shoot once the player comes into view, do a slow charging but more powerful aimed attack at the player, and
can walk/run and shoot at the same time. Some randomness on what attacks she uses.

That's about it! Thanks for any comments provided

Welcome to the forums! I see that you have only one post so far. Please post about yourself in the Front Desk section at https://wolf3d.darkbb.com/the-front-desk-f20/ or in The Warm Welcomes and Sad Goodbyes section.

Maybe you can use the new Gretel Grosse graphics. Go to The Dome News at http://www.wolfenstein3d.co.uk/news.htm and down to April 9th, 2010. There are sprite updates including for Gretel Grosse. You can edit out the skull above her head if you don’t like it.

I like the way that you say that Gretel will be able to run for a short period of time and that there will be a net attack.

How many things will be random? There’s a random level generator for Rise of The Triad and 2 for Wolfenstein 3D and Brian (“Schabbs”) won’t post them. I don’t think he likes them. Plus, maybe 3D Realms and The other sellers of Wolfenstein 3D won’t let him post them. I don’t like the random level generators anymore. Do you mean that the bosses will be random or that they will have some sort of artificial intelligence?

Hey!

stathmk wrote:Welcome to the forums! I see that you have only one post so far. Please post about yourself in the Front Desk section at https://wolf3d.darkbb.com/the-front-desk-f20/ or in The Warm Welcomes and Sad Goodbyes section.
Maybe you can use the new Gretel Grosse graphics. Go to The Dome News at http://www.wolfenstein3d.co.uk/news.htm and down to April 9th, 2010. There are sprite updates including for Gretel Grosse. You can edit out the skull above her head
if you don’t like it. I like the way that you say that Gretel will be able to run for a short period of time and that there will be a net attack. How many things will be random? There’s a random level generator for Rise of The Triad and 2 for Wolfenstein 3D and Brian (“Schabbs”) won’t post them. I don’t think he likes them. Plus, maybe 3D Realms and The other sellers of Wolfenstein 3D won’t let him post them. I don’t like the random level generators anymore. Do you mean that the bosses will be random or that they will have some sort of artificial intelligence?

Thanks for the comments! I have tried the random level generators for Wolf3d and Spear (Creator and Gamegen) and played though dozens of random boss levels. Most followed similar patterns (most of the time you'd find the boss in the second
room) but they we're pretty good otherwise. I was thinking on making a level generator that does the same thing but with more open areas, and without the long series of rooms that lead to a dead end. I haven't put too much effort or
thought into the level designing yet but I did want part of my mod to involve going though the levels and learning their layout, safe spots, ammo depots, etc, before trying to face the boss. You might find the boss early though and won't
have time for it.

Bosses will be created randomly (I guess this code will be run when the level starts up) with random attributes for the weapons they fire, their health, their AI and appearance (left shoulder mounted weapon, right shoulder mounted weapon, left arm weapon, right arm weapon, arms, legs, head, torso). But if it leads to the game being unbalanced I'll have to scale the randomness down a bit. For starters a boss might be waiting for you in one spot or be patrolling like a any guard and may or may not react to the sounds of gunfire. A charisma variable determines if they taunt you when they first spot you or during attacks. I'd like to have the bosses start partrolling again if they lose sight of the player for a bit. They may taunt while patrolling so you can get an idea for where they are before you fight them.

They will have up to four randomly selected weapons (or an item in the place of a weapon, such as a partial cloaking shield). Two that they carry and two shoulder mounted.
Bosses will have a ton of health. This will be slightly randomized but will be pretty much depend on the difficulty level selected. After losing so many hit-points (say around 1500) bosses will switch up weapons or maybe change their attack
percentages. There are multiple attacks that a boss can do and attack percentages (as well as range) determine the likely hood of doing a certain attack. Percentages are randomized for a particular boss. Below are the different
attacks:

Regular attack: Same as the vanilla Wolf3d. Boss will pause for a second before firing.
Aimed attacks: Boss will pause for a longer period of time before firing but it has a far greater chance of hitting the player than any other attack. Does more damage to the player the farther away the player is.
Sentry: Boss will sit in one spot (length of time is determined by bosses' sentry attribute) and fire as soon as the player is in view. Has a slightly better chance of hitting the player.
Walking attack: Similar to the regular attack but the boss is also walking (or running).
Frenzy: Boss will gain a big speed boost for a few moments and unleash all weapons. Accuracy goes down however.
Activate/Deactivate Running: Boss will increase speed (or decrease speed if already running).

All of these attacks have been coded and so far it has lead to some pretty interesting boss fights. Definitely more unpredictable with a lot more retreating. It needs some tuning though.

I haven't looked at how sprites are drawn in Wolf3D so I don't know yet how I am going to create a random appearance for a boss. I'm thinking of separating the boss sprites into different parts and having the engine draw everything
separate. It'll be a lot of graphic design work so I'll save that for last!

That is about it. There are a lot of other ideas such as different victory conditions for a particular level. but I've got my work cut out for me with what I have now

Hope that answers everything!