Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
JMan, if your player weapon handling routines are as robust as the FFC routines, most of this slowdown can be eliminated. Not completely - some of the weapons using area effects like the Leo Lazer need to stay as FFCs - but many other weapons can be modified to just use link weapons.
Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Some interesting stuff: I redid the fight in 718 after realizing that the renderer + playing in big mode would probably cause some problems as far as slowdown went. In 718 at 320x240 res windowed, the Taurus boss averaged out at about 55-60 FPS, but dropped down to as low as 45-50 once he started shooting fire. It was obviously about as bad at the end of the fight.
With some changes to the renderer + a big speed change in the scripting engine, at 320x240 the entire boss goes at full speed, not counting a few hiccups because of my computer. Hopefully this will improve scripted quests across the board.
Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Some how I beat the new Taurus boss,it is so strong!!:sick:
But the program often ends when useing a repair kit.
My CPU is PentiumⅢ 644Mhz...
I would like to fight the new Libra boss,but I don't know cheat code.
Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
So I've revamped the weapon system to take advantage of Jman's new lweapon manipulation. Here's what I'm thinking now. The arsenal is a series of overlapping weapons that are good for different situations. My goal is to simplify (that is, fewer weapons) and make each weapon stand out for different things.
1. Primary
Primary weapons don't cost anything to use. They include the short range Pulse Hammer and Disentigrator, and the Zodiac weapons.
2. Sidearm
The sidearm fires energy bullets that cost energy. The sidearm has three attributes (handled by global variable): Power, Speed, and Energy. Throughout the game, you'll find choose-only-one rooms where you can elect to upgrade one of the three. The effect of upgrading Power and Speed is obvious. As these two upgrade, however, the energy cost for the sidearm increases. Upgrading Energy reduces the cost. There will also be Rapid Fire, and 8-Direction upgrades.
3. Missiles
Missiles run on ammunition. They are single-shot weapons that deal great damage. There are three levels of missiles. The first level is just a powerful arrow-type projectile. The second level explodes on contact. The third level explodes as well, but in a massive explosion.
4. Bombs
Bombs drop and explode. Just two levels of bomb, regular and remote, handled using ZScript's normal commands. However, I'd eventually like bombs to act like they do in Metroid, bumping the player up a little bit if they're caught in the explosion. Unlimited ammunition.
5. Discharge
Discharge attack uses up energy AND missile ammunition. Amount used increases with level. Explosive discharges of lots of energy at once. The labyrinth equivilant to the ship's bomb attacks. First level: Black Hole Bomb, deals damage in a wide area around the player. Second level: Super Nova, deals more damage to a wider area. Third level: Quasar Attack, deals continious damage to all on-screen enemies over a few seconds of time.
The rest of the usable items will be relegated to the Tools section. (Torch, Plasma Key, Grappling Beam, Scanner, Life Tank, Energy Tank).
Once they fix the item script random crashing bug, I'll release a version that lets you check out the new weapon system.
Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Cool, the upgrades to the standard gun sound really interesting! I can't wait for that bug to be fixed. I wonder what Rapid Fire combined with really high speed will do to most bosses, (prepares for Pheagon with Rapid Fire.)
Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Din
Cool, the upgrades to the standard gun sound really interesting! I can't wait for that bug to be fixed. I wonder what Rapid Fire combined with really high speed will do to most bosses, (prepares for Pheagon with Rapid Fire.)
Not really. With custom ffc weapons, the enemy gets damaged as long as it touches the ffc, regardless of the engine's invulnerability period. But the Sidearm weapon fires arrow-type projectiles. That means even enemies that normally have no invulnerability period (Libra and Pieces bosses, for instance) will be breifly invulnerable to Sidearm attacks. So you can't spam them to death like you're thinking.
You can, of course, spam them with certain Zodiac weapons. Hence your primary is going to usually be better for bosses.
And, since you can only carry one type of Zodiac weapon at a time, the idea is you can balance your arsenal. Going to be relying on Dash attack, which takes energy? Better carry a general purpose Zoidac weapon so you don't use up your energy. Don't need to dash? Maybe get one of the short-range powerhouse Zodiac weapons and rely on the Sidearm for distance attacks.
Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Ooh, looks good. I was curious to see how you were going to slightly balance the Zodiac weapons out. Well, you know me; More weapons = more better, hehe you can't argue with that logic! I'm waiting for it.
Oh, also what about a dash upgrade? So you can refill your energy from dashing faster. Or a lv2 dash that uses up less energy so you can dash for a bit longer? That would be my two cents. I noticed in the side area's that apart from destroying everything in your path as fast as possible, the dash is a good conservative tactic to employ, especially in some of your 'trap' screens.
Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
There is a level 2 dash that moves faster and takes MORE energy than the level 1 dash. It also lets you punch right through walls that are exactly one tile thick.
And there is an Energy Dynamo (magic ring) that significantly boosts your energy refill. Might put a lower level Dynamo somewhere, too. But the idea is that Energy should be your endurance. Not a real limit on your capabilities, but just enough to stop you from spamming something constantly.
Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Good news! The bug has just been fixed. Now all we need to do is wait for a new version to test out that this bug is fixed. Hope it comes soon.
Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Okay. They fixed the bugs, so here's the newest quest file.
New things to check out:
- New Taurus boss in the corridors, but you have to cheat to get there.
- Pieces boss (Tentaplus, remember him?) now complete. Bottom right corner of Pieces.
- Revamped weapons (still working on the missiles)
Uses Beta 798
http://users.sephiroth.ws/C-Dawg/zodiac%205-6-8.zip