Battle for Mars demo released

justin023 · Post by **justin023** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 23:12

I thought I would announce it here too. This is the original thread.

TheDarkArchon · Post by **TheDarkArchon** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 23:50

A perfect example of style (A large amount of) over substance - The gameplay is terrible: An open arena with lots of hitscan enemies (A dislike of mine to begin with) and the player is armed with a weak, extermely slow firing dartgun, which makes getting anywhere VERY frustrating. Then there's the sharks who are extremely adept at going stupid amounts of damage and because of this and the aforementioned dart gun, the imps in the next room can easily overwhelm the player. I gave up after being imp-owned for the 5th time.

EDIT: Got past that bit, Gameplay goes up for a couple of minutes with the aquisition of the shotgun before halting because of the red key. Where is it?

Post by **Enjay** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 0:37

Much as I hate to say it, because I know how much work has gone into it, I agree entirely with TDA. At times its a fantastic looking piece of work, yet strangely contrasting with some very sparse and basic areas, but the biggest problem is gameplay. Most of the time it's frustrating or just not much fun. Too much time spent watching intros that can't be skipped (I liked the marine possession effect BTW). Too much time spent with underpowered weaponry, outnumbered and outgunned in a not fun way. Too much time wondering what to do next - even with objectives, prompts, cameras and so on. Too much use of features for the sake of them to the point where they interfere with the game. Texture use was better than the last preview, though still inconsistent somehow.

I also had some problems. One door displays an "unknown script (29 I think - I forget which level though)" and I completely managed to bork the elevator at the front of the mono-rail car. I jumped off half way up its rise and the 3D floor seemed to loose synch with the central normal platform making it impossible to get on or off.

I also couldn't figure out what to do on that level. I went to the front, was told to destroy the brake controls. I shot 2 things that looked a bit like office garbage bins and dynamic lights may have gone off around them. I went downstairs and shot a hell-knight and... nothing. Mind you, I've just remembered, I was cheating in god mode by this time. Perhaps that was a factor?

Anyway, you have some great ideas (the monorail, recessed switches, reasonable story, some cunning use of architecture, models etc etc) some of the effects work really well and must have taken some time to figure through. However, there is a marked inconsistency in the appearance of the place - ranging from ultra detailed terrain to plain, featureless 128-tall walls and an odd mix of sprite sources - Doom, Hexen, Doom64 and Half-life do not sit that well together IMO. Some things are a matter of taste - eg I don't like the shotgun decals (too bright). But worst of all is the gameplay. It really falls down in that department. "Style over substance" does, I'm afraid, cover it IMO.

YouTube · Post by **Nash** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 3:28

I don't like how to the cutscene dialogue is at the top of the screen.

Please move it to the middle or slightly to the bottom of the screen. Not too low though.

It sucks because I have to read the text quickly before it disappears, then readjust my focus to the background, then having to constantly "check" the top of the screen for text.

You don't want to put all that actor scripting to waste, don't you? You want the player to be able to see everything that you've scripted. The way it is now, it's either the text or the scripted actors. Please fix that.

Also, why are you distributing the GZDoom executable along with this? Any source changes? It's using an old version - the "white dot" bug is still present (in your wad's case, it's bright orange dots heh).

GeeDougg · Post by **GeeDougg** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 4:36

Am I the only one who can't do anything while playing this? I can't open any doors at all, for example, or flip any switches. Also, there's a whole bunch'a those red diamonds with yellow exclamation marks inside them floating around everywhere. Why can't it show these items?

Post by **Enjay** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 4:47

It worked for meâ„¢.

I unzipped, um, unrared the archive into it's own folder, copied Doom2.wad into that folder and double clicked the exe that came with it. Are you doing something different?

GeeDougg · Post by **GeeDougg** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 5:07

Hey Enjay.

No mate, mine didn't come with an exe actually. Weird. The only exe included with mine is regular GZDooM....

YouTube · Post by **Nash** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 5:07

GeeDougg - UnRAR the archive and put it in any folder, copy Doom2.wad into the same folder, then drag TBFM.ZIP into GZDoom.exe.

Now for some odd reason I don't know why Justin included a GZDoom.exe - he still hasn't answered whether he made any source modifications or whatever. I'm no programmer so I don't know how to check.

At any rate, just use the EXE provided in the distribution. You'll have to copy doom2.wad into that folder, then drag TBFM.zip into gzdoom.exe

GeeDougg · Post by **GeeDougg** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 5:10

Nash: Tried that, but it says: Script Error, "Decorate" line 789: Invalid state parameter a_deathchunks ....

YouTube · Post by **Nash** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 5:30

Checklist:

Try using the latest version of GZDoom (0.9.25).

And also try using the GZDoom EXE that the author provided.

Both don't work? Remember, do NOT extract TBFM.ZIP. Just drag that file and drop it on to GZDoom.exe.

Extract TBFM.RAR into a folder on your hard disk but NOT TBFM.ZIP! Leave the ZIP file as it is.

GeeDougg · Post by **GeeDougg** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 5:35

I did, and I already am using 0.9.25.... Not sure what else to try. It's possible that I'm actually not using the same GZDooM that came with the package, but I'm too tired to even try it anymore (that very well might be the problem). I'll just try it tomorrow and tell you how it went. Thanks for the help, Nash and Enjay.

Post by **Enjay** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 5:36

As for checking the source changes, I noticed Justin included source in his rar, but it's only a few files rather than the entire source. Presumably those are the ones he altered.

YouTube · Post by **Nash** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 5:37

That might be the problem then.

Best to use the EXE that Justin provided.

Justin if you're reading this: for God's sake please switch to the latest GZDoom executable. The white dot bug is annoying!

(And the mirrored models

)

YouTube · Post by **Nash** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 5:54

There also seems to be tons of broken scripts and things not working as they are supposed to.

You need a team of testers.

Post by **Graf Zahl** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 11:07

He added 2 DECORATE code pointers. And it's nearly a perfect case why adding this stuff for such minor effect is a bad idea. Now he is stuck with an old EXE - unless he updates each time he releases the thing.