psy-pbt4.wad

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    - psYchIc -

.Public Beta Test #004.

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  Psychic is a wacky gameplay mod for Doom(2). As the first "hybrid mod", Psychic will feature both an original "Campaign Mode" with a storyline and epic maps as well as a classic "Arcade Mode" in which you can use the Psychic arsenal in your favorite classic Doom maps. It will also feature a unique class-based online multiplayer mode in which you can battle against friends and foes to prove once and for all which elemental power reigns supreme. Go psycho, get Psychic!

  This beta release consists of only the gameplay portion of the Psychic Engine. It features the aforementioned "Arcade" gameplay mode, and can be run with any classic mapset to add a little spice into the ordinary scheme of things. Compatibility with many ZDoom-specific and ACS-heavy mods is not guaranteed. Future releases will eventually include custom maps for both singleplayer and multiplayer alike, but will still allow the player to load up his or her favorite maps and go psycho!


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. Play Info .

  - Gameplay in Psychic is, naturally, quite a bit different from Doom. There is no ammo; all guns are infinite and psychic attacks feed from your PSI (the meter on the bottom-right of your HUD). Primary fire uses guns, secondary fire uses psychic powers. Cycle psychic powers using inventory keys (be sure and hit "invuse" to select the one you want) and combine them to your will.

  - A relatively hidden feature is the ability to change between two distinct playstyles: Normal and Automatic. Normal mode, selected by default, requires you to fire all weapons semi-automatically (i.e. press the fire button once for each attack). Conversely, using Automatic mode will allow for fully-automatic fire when holding down the fire button, with a slight sacrifice of maximum firing speed. Neither mode is superior, and it's all down to preference. To switch playstyles, go to the Player Setup menu and change the "Class" field to the desired setting.

  - Starting from scratch is tough. With only basic weapons, it's often a struggle to mass enough cash to buy yourself something worth having. Don't be surprised if you have some trouble pistol-starting an exceptionally difficult map. For reference, E4M1 can be ungodly difficult at times. Good luck, and may the force be with you.


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. Buy System .

  - Before you begin, you'll want to assign a "Buy items" key -- check ZDoom's Customize Controls menu under Options and look at the bottom of the list, if you're new to this sort of thing. ;)

  - Upgrading weapons and purchasing new psychic powers is done through the buy menu. Press the aforementioned "Buy Items" key to bring up or quickly close the menu. Navigation is done through movement controls and confirming a selection is done by pressing either jump, use, or fire. "Blood money" dropped by fallen enemies (and often scattered about on the ground) is used as currency in the menu. Note that all purchases are non-refundable, so choose accordingly. Experiment a bit and you'll find out which powers and weapons are right for you.

 - In addition to using the menu, you can assign two "Quickbuy" keys, which can be used to quickly buy powerup items instantly (with an extra 20-BM shipping cost). To assign a QuickBuy slot to an item, press the desired QuickBuy key when selecting the powerup in the Buy menu. To use, simply hit the same key during normal gameplay and you'll buy and use it immediately. Perfect for emergency situations.


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. Recommended Wads .

  Though Psychic is intended to run on almost any mapset (especially good ol' megawads), here's a quick listing of some of the ones we've played and really liked:

  -av.wad	: "Alien Vendetta"
  -dv2.wad	: "Deus Vult II"
  -equinox.wad	: "Equinox"
  -icarus.wad	: "Icarus: Alien Vanguard" (or "Psycarus," as one tester put it)
  -pl2.wad	: "Plutonia II"
  -tvr!.wad	: "Revolution!"

  If it's not listed here, don't be shy to try it anyway. Tell us what you think!


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. Changelog .


 <Public Beta Versions>

  PbT.4

 + New player skins! Say hello to PsyGuy and PsyGirl, complete with graphics, mugshot, and some spiffy new animations.
 + Brand-new glow effects when firing and switching Psychic powers. More Spiffy!
 + A couple of new item sprites. Thanks to Cory Whittle for the shamelessly-ripped bonuses, which sit alongside a few modded armors/healthpacks by Xaser.
 * Fixed Buy system/QuickBuy to work in multiplayer now. INSANE thanks to Kate for figuring out how to do it and pulling the lion's share of the work. :)
 * Revamped Grenades! While they have the same max. power as before, the explosive effect is not only much more effective (enemies on the outside of the blast get damaged more) but also much less harmful to the player. The 'danger zone' is now merely the same as that of a rocket. Hopefully the G-Gun will actually be useful now. ;)
 * Overhauled Gravity. Now there's a reason to max it out... ;)
 * Grenades and non-underwater needles now have a slight arc to them, so they actually shoot where you point them at short to medium range. Additionally, grenades now fire from the center, so they can be correctly fired while hugging walls now. ;)
 * Needlegun projectiles re-balanced a bit. Lvl. 1 now does slightly less damage and Lvl. 3 a little more, so there's an incentive to actually upgrade it if you're using it exclusively for submarine operations.
 * Plasma's Overcharge fire has been redone. Instead of a rail, a destructive hitscan explosion is spawned. Note that although it still *looks* like a rail, the attack does not penetrate through enemies, so be sure not to fire in a pissed-off baron's face, else you'll be sorry.
 * Plasma is now green, by popular demand. The PsyCaco variants remain the same, however, for anyone who is possibly interested in still using the rather-obscure enemy.
 * Ice's Overcharge is much more likely to stick to enemies now. If it hits someone, it's gonna stay there now. ;)
 * Items now flash fullbright, for easy visibility n' whatnot.
 * Different BM pickups actually have unique names now, things like "Blood Gem" and "Frost Token" instead of just seeing "Blood Money" all the time -- thanks Jimmy!
 * Better handgun sprites -- recoil frames are no longer 'bent' and psychic firing animation has a much better looking sprite. Looks like the player is actually holding the gun this time. ;)
 * Improved pickups for handguns, shotgun, and grenadegun. Also tweaked the handgun pickup message a little bit to make more sense in arcade mode (what are *your* custom-built handguns doing lying all over the place?).
 * HUD now displays health and armor over 200% as an overlay bar (simlar to the PP meter).
 - Disabled dropping of weapons, levels, upgrades, and the like, to prevent any potential major screwups that might have resulted by doing so. A bit unfortunate, but necessary.
 - Fixed a minor bug in firing level 2 or 3 Lightning. Before, when suffering maximum burnout, the attack would still be fired despite being out of PSI energy.
 - Fixed 'twitchy' buymenu-item switching. Unavailable/maxed-out items will no longer display their full contents for an errant tic. Cursor animation fixed as well.
 - Vaporized enemies now make correct sounds.


  PbT.3

 + New player sounds for male and female both (from Painkiller and Jedi Outcast, respectively)
 * Renumbered the ACS Buy system scripts higher (749-753) so hopefully they won't conflict with maps any more. KDiZD should run "flawlessly" now.
 - Major fix regarding multiplayer and items. Co-op actually works now!
 - Fire deaths now make sounds in Doom 1.
 - Nightmare shots no longer spawn blue plasma effects when bouncing around.
 - Burned/Vaporized corpses are no longer solid.
 - Fixed a quick display bug regarding blue armor on the HUD.


  PbT.2

 + New "Automatic" Gameplay mode, which sacrifices weapon fire-rate for fully-automatic capability. Select under "Class" in Player Setup menu.
 + New pickup sprites for all eight psychic powers.
 + Grenades now damage boss creatures normally immune to splash damage.
 + Bosses now "bleed" Bloodmoney when damaged, in addition to the cash they drop when killed. A new reward for risky players who fight them in close quarters.
 + New sounds for intermission tally screen & quitting.
 * Item costs in the buy menu are cut in half when playing on "Tame" (ITYTD) skill.
 * Nazis no longer drop obscene amounts of cash, since some mods actually use them in maps (usually reskinned, but still).
 * Increased the time Bloodmoney lingers before disappearing (again) once someone realized how generous Devil May Cry is about the time you have to collect orbs. ;)
 * Mugshot now appears in the center of the screen rather than the left edge.
 * Improved plasma spiral effect, using more precise coordinates.
 * Improved shotgun sound. Much cleaner now.
 - Revenant fireballs no longer make ricochet sounds (and have cool new trail).
 - Bullet/shell casings no longer get stuck on lifts or in walls.
 - Burned and vaporized corpses respawn correctly now.


  PbT.1

 + "Proper" textfile written, though it's quite incomplete, still.
 * Improved Nightmare behavior. It is now possible to 'hold' a fully-charged shot, a la Metroid. Higher levels also increase charge speed and the charge animation has been revamped a bit.
 * Tweaked Needlegun a bit. Range and projectile speed are slightly increased for all levels and upgrades cost much less. Hopefully it should be useful now. ;)
 - Fullscreen (minimalist) hud didn't show the currently-selected psychic power.
 - A few minor bugfixes in the code thanks to Doomrater's too-keen eye. ;)


 <Gameplay Test Versions>

  GpT.4

 + Scoring system! Kill foes and collect cash to earn points and compete for the high score!
 + New automap screen. Shows score, keys, and character info (name & "level"). Works on all supported resolutions.
 + New menu graphics, instead of the silly HacX-rip placeholders.
 + New behavior for Overcharged Lightning. Acts like a BFG blast and won't backfire!
 + Scalable HUDs. Statusbar, Buy Menu, and Automap screen work on all resolutions and are affected by hud_scale now.
 + Missing Psypower buymenu images added.
 - Fixed QuickBuy hotkeys being forgotten between maps. Psyshop Alzheimer's?
 - Fixed major Buymenu initialization problem that made it possible to purchase QuickBuy items for "free" (only 20-BM shipping) at map start (before opening menu).
 - Precognition item "fixed" -- it can no longer be bought without a computer map.
 - Exiting the menu formerly erased all hudmessages with IDs onscreen. It's "fixed", but any maps that use a hudmessage ID between 40 and 90 will conflict with the menu. Hopefully not too many maps will reach that high... but who knows?
 * Stealth Monsters now drop Bloodmoney (can't believe I missed this). Currently they only drop the same amount as regular monsters, but I might increase the values if the testers deem it worth the trouble.


  GpT.3

 + QuickBuy system! Adds two new bindable hotkeys to buy powerups in Arcade mode. 
 + Status bar now supports widescreen (16:9 and 16:10) modes.
 + New teleport sound (the Quake 4 one from Zero Tolerance)
 - Fixed status bar glitch when posessing the Psychocharge powerup.
 - Fixed a silly typo in the buy menu's description of the Timefreezer ("offsensive")
 - Fixed Gravity being impossibly powerful against Arachnotrons and Masterminds.
 * 'Instant' items are now actually instantly given when purchasing instead of waiting until the player quits the menu (useful as hell for a quick health buy).
 * Plasma Overcharge effects now actually face where the player faces (thanks Kate!)
 * No longer able to accidentally buy Instant items that are maxed out.
 * Toned down Earth Overcharge again. Still too powerful.
 * Nerfed Fire a bit. Too useful at low levels.
 * Exploding barrels no longer leave barrel debris. This way, Radioactive Bonuses can actually be seen. Also, Radbonuses don't count toward the item percentage any more.


  GpT.2

 + Pressing the "Buy Items" key when the menu is already open will now instantly close the menu (and give purchased powerups). Good for quick escapes.
 + Shotgun now has level-ups. Previous version had none.
 + Cacos and Barons now have appropriate blood colors (and drop BloodMoney to match). Barons of Hell now shoot and bleed red (a la Doom64), but are otherwise the same.
 * Toned down Ice, Earth, and Dark. They were far too out of balance before.
 * Fire no longer constantly sends enemies into their pain states. Before, it was far too easy to stun them into submission and pick them off with guns.
 * Gravity's Overcharge fire is more effective (similar to Hexen's Disc of Repulsion).
 * Increased performance of blood splats and puffs (added +NOBLOCKMAP).
 * Removed smoke from Psychocharge puff actors, again for performance.
 * Bloodmoney now stays a little longer before disappearing. Much better...


  GpT.1

 + Initial gameplay test release. Buggy and unbalanced as hell, naturally.


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. Feedback questions .

  - Any general thoughts on the mod? Good idea, bad idea?

  - What map(s) did you play this with, and how did you fare? Easy, hard, fun, not?

  - Were the firearm weapons well-balanced, or did you find yourself shying away from one or two of them?

  - How about the psychic powers? Were there any that seemed rather "meh" and others that blew the competition to ribbons?

  - Was the Psyshop menu easy to navigate? Any suggestions regarding it?

  - Any other questions, comments, ideas, flames, or other sorts of feedback?


  You don't need to answer all these directly, but they're good guidelines at least. Just pass along any ideas and concerns to <Xaser> and everything will be all right.
DO IT OR ELSE


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. Credits .

  .psYchIc team.
<Xaser> - Concept, weapons, design, insanity
<Zero.Prophet> - HUD, menus, buy system, ghostwriting
<Kate> - Early testing, hacking, constant support, mysteriousness
<SIR Belfin> - Accidental co-founder, ideas&support, future mapping

  .beta testers.
<Wildweasel> - > Crazedrodent
<Project Dark Fox> - The Sin of Awesome
<Chopkinsca> - I do hope there's a level pack. :P
<DoomRater> - Broken the wad yet? Hehe...
<Snarboo> - CAPTAIN'S LOG SIGN OFF
<Bashe> - I thought Megakat City was in Vegas :O
<Jimmy> - No gonad-kickings were intentional. :(
<Marty Kirra> - TREEEES!

   and special thanks to all those who volunteered to betatest
  after I'd already closed off the distributions:
 Mortarion, ProjectAngel, CrazyKool, LizardCommando.
Hope you've all been having fun with the public versions. :)

  .resource origins.
<NMN> - Custom Nightmare sprites (we miss you!)
<Enjay> - TERRAIN from njsplash, once again
<Corwin> - Semi-co-author of njsplash -- he did the original splash3, and all follow!
<Virgill> - Killer Music: ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/virgill/
<Capcom> - for Devil May Cry, huge inspiration + resource fest
<Banjo Software> - HacX fonts
<Raven Software> - Obligatory stolen Hexen stuff (ice, fire, earth)
<Rogue Software> - Strife stuff (vaporize death)
<Apogee> - ROTT resources (overcharged dark shot)
<Blzut3> - for repeatedly fixing SBARINFO when Zero & I broke it again and again
<Huy Pham> - Stylish mugshot
<Xenophon> - Original casing code -- he needs more recognition for it!
<Chronoteeth> - Handgun rip
<Mortarion> - Handgun hand
<Scuba Steve> - da Shotgun
<Eriance> - Powerup sprites (almost all of them)
<Caligari_87> - The original Puff2s that everyone has ripped all to hell :(
<Russel Pearson> - Needlegun projectile graphics from Doom Raider
<MofoOfSpades> - Nightmare projectile graphics
<Vegeta and the Doom 2.5 Guys> - Various smoke effects

...and YOU. Bet you weren't expecting that! :P

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. Contact Info .

 Xaser can be reached through (e)mail at xaser(dot)88(at)gmail(dot)com, or via private message or public post on the forums at http://www.zdoom.org . Don't be shy about saying whatever you feel about the mod, as long as you think it may be somewhat useful. Until then, have fun with it!

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That is all for now.
 Peace, love, and
  annihilation!

  -sign.off-