The Ascension Of Vigil

Post by **Tyne** » Wed May 10, 2006 4:46 pm

Slot machine eh, that'd be kinda cool but wouldn't fit in really ..

I'm going to release a new version soon, you'll notice the controls have improved a lot and tons of other tweaks / fixes, etc. All I have to do is fix the camera up and it's ready!

emptythought · Post by **emptythought** » Wed May 10, 2006 7:15 pm

I finally tried this out the other day. It was pretty good, I wasn't expecting anything like that, especially from a Quake mod.

Post by **Tyne** » Fri May 12, 2006 2:20 pm

New version released

What's new?
---------------

NOTE: Relics are auto-enabled in this version as they haven't been scattered around the TAoV levels, and also money does nothing as of yet except for collecting...

- Relics are coded in
- Updated a few levels
- Vigil can run back and forth between castle and castle 2 with proper spawning, this isn't finalized however but it's there and it works
- All documented camera styles are now included (mappers)
- New maps included: tower.bsp (Alpha), village.bsp (Alpha), boss1.bsp (nearly complete), cathdral.bsp
- Included a small custom campaign created by neg from Terrafusion: ruins.bsp map will start it
- Castle 2 is finishable
- New music for the tower (will be changed once bl1tz composes new music), and village
- Vigil's flaming head smash requires the "Spin Slash" relic to perform, I've also changed it so it must be executed DURING the double jump instead of any time after it
- Vigil can now block after a double jump
- Vigil no longer loses air mobility after a double jump
- Infinite weird angle wall run glitch fixed
- Rare ledge grab bug fixed
- Red shadows are now back
- Fixed a bug where it was possble to double jump out of a death sequence meaning you gain full health and you do not lose a life
- Vigils animation has been cut and optimized (no more repeated frames in his model), animation cuts aren't noticable except he no longer has a 3rd idle stance
- Vigil has a new attack "Cyclone Crush" which is executed by down, forward + attack, cannot be done in mid air!
- Vigil can now execute his round house kick after a double jump allowing an even larger air combo potential
- Double jump will no longer hurt enemies while you're invunerable after death
- Vigil has a totally new run animation, and ledge grabbing animation
- New enemies: Ghouls 'n Ghosts

- Wraiths become ghosts when killed
- Oriented Vigil's double jump animation properly
- Enemy AI has become smarter
- Knights can now block- The blocking random frequency is also increased properly with difficulty levels
- Spin attack doesn't waste mana hitting flying corpses
- Transparent hud in GLTAoV (Darkplaces)
- New sound effects, Vigil breathes heavily when tired and blood splatter sounds
- I rewrote some of the blocking code, Vigil will now always look properly face the opponent to block .. this includes fireballs coming at him, and the right side of the first boss

I may of missed a few tweaks/changes but it's most likely nothing important! Enjoy this new version because I've worked hard on it for a while (so much that I needed a break!); be sure to deathmatch / coop sometime too eh?

Politiko · Post by **Politiko** » Fri May 12, 2006 3:31 pm

Any idea when is this going to be playable on the DC?

Post by **Tyne** » Fri May 12, 2006 5:15 pm

When I get a batch of CDRs? When Dreamcast has more available memory to work with? When the framerate is stable?

No idea, however these are ALL issues. I think RADQuake may actually run it as sad as that is...

Politiko · Post by **Politiko** » Fri May 12, 2006 8:18 pm

When I get to the end of map1 when it is loading map2, it says it is unable to load map2.

Post by **Tyne** » Fri May 12, 2006 9:07 pm

Right, map02 isn't released but it's almost done.. however I have it, and I've never released screenshots either! Why? It's RPG's request that I do not release anything on it until he gives the word too and all the coding and entities are done for it.

If you want to continue playing, after defeating the hell knight in the first level, bring the console down and do "changelevel castle" or whatever map you prefer. The levels may not connect physically but you can still keep playing ... (some levels DO connect physically)

I've said this from the beginning however keep in mind that,
TAoV is NOT a complete game, it's a constantly work in progress till it's reached completion that the public is intended to view and give input and improve on - within my own scope of how it should turn out.

Basically it boils down to me working on a game that I view as super freaking awesome within TAoV's genre (side scrolling 3D beat em up), you guys give suggestions for improving it even more and I take into consideration on wether or not I implement your ideas.

Hope that clears it all up

Politiko · Post by **Politiko** » Fri May 12, 2006 10:11 pm

Yes, it does clear it up a lot, thanks!

Post by **Tyne** » Sat May 13, 2006 11:06 pm

Took a TAoV screenshot with:

Real time dynamic shadowing (Doom 3 lighting), Bloom, Bump mapped textures, Gloss enabled, and a custom gloss mapped skin for Vigil. Good, or ugly? You decide!

Imerion · Post by **Imerion** » Sun May 14, 2006 9:22 am

Id say it looks fabulous! The first pic's fantastic. Its amazing to see what those tricks can do.

Politiko · Post by **Politiko** » Sun May 14, 2006 9:39 am

I think the first two are pretty awesome.

Post by **Tyne** » Mon May 15, 2006 8:05 pm

Redrew Vigils Mug Shot at the bottom of the screen since the old one was terrible...

Ingame comparison shot:

SeGaFrEaK NL · Post by **SeGaFrEaK NL** » Tue May 16, 2006 3:44 pm

That's an improvement!

As for the pics above; I don't like them (the effects on them that is). It's all way too plastic-like and too bright in places.

Also I think the background the of flask should be black as well.

---

Now for some general questions that bugged me for a while;
-What map-editor do you use?
-Textures. Custom or are the originals free to use in a 'TC' project?
-The camera position is obviously different. Do you need to create camera pathways?
(I did some mapping for Duke Nukem Manhattan project which had camera paths)

DaMadFiddler · Post by **DaMadFiddler** » Tue May 16, 2006 5:58 pm

I tend to agree with the above statement. While it does make the game look very nifty in some respects, overuse of generic lighting effects tends to make the world look like it's laminated.

Post by **Tyne** » Tue May 16, 2006 6:27 pm

I just turned it on for the fun of it since not a lot of people can enable all those effects at once. I like TAoV with a 45+ framerate personally!

Anyways, I've added rain to TAoV; it's animated and also moves properly by the engine and it works in both Darkplaces (looks better due to NODEPTHTEST effect) and regular Quake engines.

The cursor you're seeing is if a piece of geometry blocks the camera, the cursor will help give you an idea of where Vigil is currently standing behind it and is a great visual aid; unfortunately this only works in Darkplaces as Makaqu is lacking the EF_NODEPTHTEST; effect as I mentioned above.

Rain!

zman · Post by **zman** » Sat May 20, 2006 8:10 pm

That is seriously a great piece of work. The revamped images and the rain makes it all good. I liked the effects on the previous images. They look really cool and is an easy to see environment. It's like this though. Either you get Star Wars or you get Star Trek. I mean Star Wars was a gritty and dirty with little shine (until the new movies came out.) Star Trek has always been shinny and sparkly, even in the worst of battles. So I would go with the effects that resemble the real world most. Add spiderwebs and dirt and grime to the walls. Make things broken and sloppy looking, like they've existed and been used. The universe isn't clean and shinny.

It's cool your seeing this project through. I'll enjoy the day when a complete copy is play on my dreamcast.

Post by **Tyne** » Mon May 29, 2006 4:31 pm

Alright guys, I'm not a 2D artist at all really so I've decided to post some images from TAoV and it would be great if a graphic artist or anyone could either redraw these competely, or retouch em so they're aren't so ugly:

Keep in mind that these images must remain the same dimension/pixel size, and the pink is transparency in Quake! Feel free to use any pallet colours you wish but they will be downgraded to Quakes pallete (as that's required)...

TAoV's horribly ugly title screen:

This one isn't so ugly but is just plain outdated as you can tell with the old Vigil model:

Ofcourse you would get a full credit and perhaps access to secret TAoV betas if you wish... Thanks!

Vash*The*Stampede · Post by **Vash*The*Stampede** » Mon May 29, 2006 6:07 pm

Tyne wrote:This one isn't so ugly but is just plain outdated as you can tell with the old Vigil model:

Tyne; I don't know if you noticed but with the word 'ascension' in that image (I think it was used for loading?), the spelling is incorrect. I figure that whole image should be redone.

Post by **Tyne** » Mon May 29, 2006 7:00 pm

Vash*The*Stampede wrote:
Tyne wrote:This one isn't so ugly but is just plain outdated as you can tell with the old Vigil model:

Tyne; I don't know if you noticed but with the word 'ascension' in that image (I think it was used for loading?), the spelling is incorrect. I figure that whole image should be redone.

Oh god, you're right.. :P Thanks for pointing that out!
Redraw needed stat! umm any takers? perhaps friends? family? pets?

Politiko · Post by **Politiko** » Tue May 30, 2006 12:16 am

Since I am no graphical artist, I'll ask around and see who can help.