Mod Interest 2: Mod Harder

6. If you can, make some blockades and doors or whatever something that you can destroy. It'll make for a more realistic environment, and a lot more complex strategies. (like the underground areas, wood blockades you can destroy for possible cave-ins or a shortcut)

7. So why the 5-6 second delay? I seriously doubt that a realistic person would wait that long to start swinging again. Double or triple the parry window, (I'd say a perk for that) and decrease the delay to 1.5-3 seconds. (again, part of the perk to increase the delay)

6. If you can, make some blockades and doors or whatever something that you can destroy. It'll make for a more realistic environment, and a lot more complex strategies. (like the underground areas, wood blockades you can destroy for possible cave-ins or a shortcut)

Well, I doubt the steel-reinforced concrete would cave in, but I can put blockades in the way easy. This is source, and barricades were common in the Half-Life series. And having to choose between breaking through with the flash-light (which could take a while, but you could see what you were doing), using a stronger melee weapon to get through faster (like the crowbar, which has the special side benefit of doing extra damage against inanimate objects as it is realistically the best tool for breaking down barricades) or trying to do it with your hand/knife/stock so you can keep your gun ready would make an interesting dilemma. Especially since you're making a LOT of noise doing this, and who knows what can hear you down there. (Crazy hobos, drug addict squatters, stray dogs, zombies? There's all of the above down there. And any of them could creep up on you in the dark.)

7. So why the 5-6 second delay? I seriously doubt that a realistic person would wait that long to start swinging again. Double or triple the parry window, (I'd say a perk for that) and decrease the delay to 1.5-3 seconds. (again, part of the perk to increase the delay)

A. That's for a perfect parry. Which if you remember, has an incredibly tight window but knocks the enemy down.

B. Really, you should play Dark Souls before you talk about the length of the windows. I went in for Dark Souls 1 and 2 and checked the parry windows against the frame rate. The frame rate is 30fps, and the window for parrying is three frames (that's 0.1 seconds), four frames for the parrying dagger (0.133 seconds). In Dark Souls 2, the game runs at 60fps, and here's the entirety of the information on the parry windows there. The shortest window for weapon parry is 4 frames (that's 0.067 seconds) and the longest is 18 frames (that's 0.3 seconds). I was pretty much right on the money with the estimates earlier. And all of these are totally doable, and by playing the game you'll be able to see how doable they really are. (I'd recommend Dark Souls 1 over Dark Souls 2, the PC port for Dark Souls 2 has issues with some computers. Including mine.)

http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Parry

1. The cave-in wasn't for the subway areas, but for the areas that were natural. (you mentioned natural caves)

2. First, the best gaming performance computer in my house is a laptop that can't even do HL2 at 60FPS when maxed. Second, you're likely going to come across a lot of people that will never use parrying in your mod simply because the window is too narrow. They are the casual gamers, like me, that don't have either the time or inclination to get good at using those narrow windows. They won't post anything about it, they'll just stop playing with it.

If you don't mind a significant portion of your mod becoming unused effort for a large portion of players, then those timings are fine. Otherwise you might want to consider changing those timings. (maybe have them linked to the difficulty levels)

1. The cave-in wasn't for the subway areas, but for the areas that were natural. (you mentioned natural caves)

Yeah, sorry, forgot about that. I guess I can include something similar.

2. First, the best gaming performance computer in my house is a laptop that can't even do HL2 at 60FPS when maxed.

Well, if you have a console, all three souls games are available PS3, Bloodborne is on PS4, Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2 are on 360 as well.

Second, you're likely going to come across a lot of people that will never use parrying in your mod simply because the window is too narrow. They are the casual gamers, like me, that don't have either the time or inclination to get good at using those narrow windows. They won't post anything about it, they'll just stop playing with it.

 

If you don't mind a significant portion of your mod becoming unused effort for a large portion of players, then those timings are fine. Otherwise you might want to consider changing those timings. (maybe have them linked to the difficulty levels)

That's fine. Not every mechanic in a game has to be used by everybody, especially not in an RPG or shooter, of which this is both. Parrying is there for the people who are willing to use it, and if you don't like parrying, you can just block. The block percentages are pretty high, and if your weapon is sufficiently faster than theirs you can block their attacks and hit them before they can attack again just fine. Or you could take an offhand knife to block and attack at the same time.

I thought you would've understood since I post everywhere... I REFUSE TO SPEND MONEY ON A CONSOLE BECAUSE A DESKTOP COMPUTER WITH EMULATOR CAN DO EVERYTHING THEY CAN FOR THE SAME PRICE!!! (just in case you didn't see the few hundred times I've posted that around the site)

As long as you don't focus the combat around parrying so much that it's like a real physical slap to the face difference between parrying and not. (like 99% of games and mods tend to do)

I thought you would've understood since I post everywhere... I REFUSE TO SPEND MONEY ON A CONSOLE BECAUSE A DESKTOP COMPUTER WITH EMULATOR CAN DO EVERYTHING THEY CAN FOR THE SAME PRICE!!! (just in case you didn't see the few hundred times I've posted that around the site)

Okay, calm down. I don't read all the posts on the site. I mostly stick to the threads I post in, and the threads for Ross's videos.

And I don't own a console either. The only thing that makes me want a console is exclusives, and I'm not one to dump that much money to play a couple good games I can't find on PC. (I'd rather just buy a game for my friend who has the console. Lets me play it without buying a console, and he gets a free game out of the deal. It's what I'm doing for Bloodborne and The Last of Us.)

As long as you don't focus the combat around parrying so much that it's like a real physical slap to the face difference between parrying and not. (like 99% of games and mods tend to do)

This is more like Dark Souls. Sure, parrying is hugely effective, but just blocking will get you through encounters. It'll take longer, but it's less risky and works well against multiple opponents. And it has an advantage in parrying that Dark Souls doesn't, in that it's part of blocking. You can try for it, aim for the early part of the window, and if you mess up you've just ended up blocking instead.

Also... I just noticed a couple things I failed to mention in the weapon listing post. Nothing worth going back for, though. The only two worth mentioning is the axe has an 85/15% block and 0.05s parry, and that animals behave radically differently from people. (Animals can have their attacks cancelled by hitting them during the animation, be stunned briefly by blocking, be knocked down by a parry and damaged by a perfect parry.)

Okay, in a bit of a scramble due to a last-minute schedule change, but I should have a basic design document by Monday, and I'll post a Mediafire link. I can't be sure about that because I don't know *exactly* what the plan is on my end, so no promises, but Monday is when I'll aim for.

EDIT:

Still no title. I can't think of a good title. I'd like just to call it "Ashes in the Fall", but stealing a title from Rage Against the Machine doesn't feel right.

EDIT 2:

This will not be done by Monday, but I should have it by Wednesday*.

*Valve Time.

I want to talk about something, but I don't have time to wait for the design document. This thing is the epilogue. You know the basics, city's destroyed, most of the population is dead, soldiers come through on occasion, the coastline is so full of marines you won't ever touch the water, that stuff is pretty well understood. But there's three things I must elaborate on.

I've already mentioned that there are some... "unique" enemies in the epilogue, but never explained what those were. Those are most of the enemies of Half-Life 2, the episodes and Black Mesa that were never used in the game. If I can, it'll also include all the Left 4 Dead special infected. But how can these appear in this setting, when it's not connected to the Half-Life/Portal or Counter-Strike/Left 4 Dead universes at all?

The simple answer is... They don't. It might be a bit suspicious that they all regenerate health, that the damage they deal slowly regens over time, the players are the only ones who can see them, they can't harm regular enemies (though they can be harmed by regular enemies should they get hit by an attack) and regular enemies can't detect them (though they do detect, and ignore, regular enemies). In case you hadn't guessed, they aren't actually there. These enemies are 100% figments of their imagination. There's also weapons that are imaginary available in the game. These are all the Half-Life 2 and Black Mesa weapons that didn't get included (except the gravity gun). They're all extremely powerful against imaginary enemies and every one has a unique special effect on them as well, but have absolutely no effect on real enemies. Imaginary enemies only spawn when your sanity is 0 (and thus, your perks are all inactive), and imaginary weapons and ammunition can also only be found in events that spawn when your sanity is 0 as well. I'll run down a list at the bottom of this post.

The coastline of the city is completely impregnable, because the closer you get to it the more marines show up. And if that wasn't enough, they have fortifications and vehicles out there. There are LAV-25s that are flat-out immune to every weapon in the game except the rocket launcher (only available in the epilogue) that can kill you straight through any armour in the game in just a couple shots from their 25mm cannons (though it could take a good number from their 7.62mm machine guns if your armour is good enough). There are Ah-64 apaches that will kill you even faster, in a single shot from its rockets if it uses them (no matter how much armour you have) and are vulnerable only to the rocket launcher (though they have MUCH less health than the LAV-25). There are even M1 Abrams tanks that are completely invulnerable (I mean it, nothing you have can hurt them in the slightest), one-shot anything with their main gun, and have heavy machine guns that will rip you right apart in no time flat. And towards the coast there are plenty of heavy machine gun and TOW emplacements. I said it before and I'll say it again: You'll never reach the water.

The third thing I wanted to clarify is that in the epilogue, and actually in the game as a whole though it's most noticeable here, there are two spawning categories for enemies: Placed and directed. Placed enemies are always on the map and respawn whenever you rest (they *do not* respawn in the main game). There aren't many of these (in the epilogue), and they tend to be weaker (in the epilogue). Directed enemies are controlled by an AI director, with a random chance to spawn at given intervals, at key events and so forth. These do not respawn, and the events that trigger them are all one-time only (and so is the loot available in these). There are real and imaginary enemies in both categories. Imaginary enemies only spawn when your sanity is at 0, and imaginary events only exist to be triggered at those times as well.

Pulse rifle: Slot 6 (Secondary Weapon). Primary attack discharges the rifle for 10 locational damage, 10 non-locational damage and a 20% chance to critically hit. Secondary attack strikes with this weapon's stock for 12 damage. Alien pulse ammo, 30 round capacity, fully automatic, 600 rounds/minute, very high recoil, high accuracy, highest (non-ballistic) penetration, 10% slowdown. This weapon only affects imaginary enemies. You may have this weapon in addition to your normal 6-slot weapon.

Hivehand: Slot 6 (Secondary Weapon). Primary attack fires a homing hornet for 1 non-locational damage and cannot critically hit. Secondary attack throws a left hook. This weapon replenishes its allotment of hornets upon rest. Chambers a single hornet each second. Enemies struck by this weapon are stunned for one second. May have ten hornets chambered and 100 hornets total, fully automatic, 600 hornets/minute, medium recoil, medium accuracy, does not stun enemies with armour points (and only deals 1 damage to their armour points) but otherwise ignores armour, 5% slowdown.

Tau cannon: Slot 7 (Primary weapon). Primary attack charges the weapon, and it deals damage on release equal to 10 per second of charging up to 100 damage at 10 seconds, with a 50% chance to critically hit. Secondary fire strikes with the weapon's stock for 6 damage. Uranium ammo, 100 unit capacity, charged, extraordinary recoil, extremely high accuracy, ignores hard and soft armour, 10/second uranium use, 20% slowdown. This weapon only affects imaginary enemies. You may have this weapon in addition to your normal 6-slot weapon, but not in addition to the pulse rifle.

Gluon gun: Slot 7 (Primary weapon). Primary attack fires a stream for 100 non-locational damage per second with no chance to critically hit. Secondary attack throws a left hook. Uranium ammo, 100 unit capacity, continuous stream, extreme recoil, shameful accuracy, ignores soft armour, 10/second uranium use, 40% slowdown. This weapon only affects imaginary enemies. You may have this weapon in addition to your normal 7-slot weapon, but not in addition to the Tau Cannon.

Snark: Slot 8 (Explosive). Primary attack throws the snark at the target, where it chases them down and bites repeatedly until killed. (Snark stats will be on the enemies list later.) Secondary attack throws a left hook. Max 10. This weapon only affects imaginary enemies. You may have this weapon in addition to your normal 8-slot weapon.

Bugbait: Slot 8 (Explosive). Primary attack throws the bait at the target, drawing a single antlion to attack them. (Antlion stats will be on the enemies list later.) Secondary attack throws a left hook. Max 10. This weapon only affects imaginary enemies. You may have this weapon in addition to your normal 8-slot weapon, but not in addition to the snarks.

Looks interesting, but why the 'shameful' accuracy of what amounts to a subatomic particle accelerator? (shouldn't that really be perfect accuracy instead?)

Because your character sprays with it like a Ghostbuster on crack? (Seriously, the animation is the same as in Black Mesa, check it out. The stream spiralling around in a 15 degree cone makes perfect sense with the way the thing moves when fired.)

Ah, so nothing like the original weapon... (BTW, I haven't played BM to that point yet)

Your character moves the muzzle in a little circle... But in BM somehow has perfect accuracy. Here though, the circle affects the stream... And the recoil shoves it out *hard*, so you hit all of everything. But it inflicts massive non-locational damage, so it basically fucks up everything in front of you if you can control it. (Where as the tau is way less damaging, but with perfect aim and a critical hit can one-shot anything imaginary at full charge. Literally, the crits do 500 before shot placement. Hitting the weakest area of an enemy, we're talking 1000-8000.)

I haven't had internet for a while, but while I didn't I sat down and started writing a design document for this and... The more I wrote, the less I wanted to actually make this mod. For a couple reasons.

1. Source is too restrictive, it'll be difficult to make it stick out mechanically. Most other engines would be better, and ultimately I settled on the Creation engine.

2. The HL2/Black Mesa resources are nice, but I was just going to the community too much and sometimes just for placeholders, and due to the plethora of Source games and the way the community operates the art styles vary wildly. Fallout 4 will have a better resource set, if I make the right mod, so I'm doing that.

3. I can do sci-fi and dystopian futures well enough, but I only chose that because it's easy to do in Source. I prefer dark fantasy and post-apocalypse, so that's what I'm doing.

4. The setting I was going to use I want to shelve for now. Not saying it'll be gone forever, I just want to focus on the settings of my tabletop game until it gets enough brand recognition. When more people know me as "One of the guys who makes Change." than "Seattleite", I'll consider making games in my old setting again.

So that's it. I'm scrapping this project entirely and switching to a Fallout 4 mod, with a modern dark fantasy setting. I'll upload a brief overview and the script (as in dialogue and stage notes, not code) for the intro sequence later today, in the appropriate forum.