Wrath of Magic : Demake mod for Heretic

The fate of this mod has been decided and reverted multiple times over the last 3 years, during which the situation was looking more and more grim for Wrath of Magic... But let's get back to the beginning. As far as 6 years ago. During those times, i had high hopes for this mod, mostly so because i was very pleased with my Hexen mod results, but that was soon to change. With each passing year - i was coming to a realization that my Hexen mods are far not where they should be, and so i set everything aside and directed my efforts to analyzing and studying stylistic design of different games that i hold in high regard. At the same time, i was building up my own stylistic and other design concepts, as well as learning and taking ideas from my betters. It was during this period (around 2018) - when Wrath of Magic was becoming a testing ground for all that. Essentially, i was using the mod as a training exercise for design concepts.

When i saw that Heretic with its limits - was no longer enough, i have switched to my Deathkings mod, and proceeded to do the same thing there. Since Deathkings is practically Hexen, so it was much better suited for serving as such training ground. As this was taking place, i saw that my work on Deathkings is taking a fine shape and i no longer need any Heretic project. My interest in that subject was fading with every passing week. And many times my hand was almost tempted to hit the dreaded "shift+del" and forget the whole thing altogether.

There were two other factors that didn't exactly help: trying Heretic in 2022, with superior mods that are available for this game - the gameplay of the vanilla left me heavily disappointed. Yet the greatest barrier to any further development of this mod was...Legend 9. Or precisely - the insurmountable gap of quality between the mod that was being made with years of careful planning and analysis and a mod that was for its greater part - based on somewhat ambitious attempts of a noob from over a decade and a half ago. There is no way in Hell, Heaven or Hexen - that i was going to bridge that gap. That would take a lifetime. And for a game that i was getting disappointed with - it wouldn't be worth a damn bit.

However, during a number of communications exchanges with various members of Moddb, i was moved to check out my old work. (it does pay off to speak up) And to cut to the chase, i decided not to let my old work go to waste. But for that, i needed a new plan. And the plan i came up with, is as follows: what is going to take place - is a sort of a de-make of a mod that was never released. Sounds strange doesn't it?! ;-) Well, what it means, that the mod WILL NOT try to ascend to the level of intricacies that Legend-9 is gunning for. It will, however, be polished to the same level. The de-make will essentially be a stylistic revision of my old work, fixing it in terms of design and polishing it to the degree that i expect of my present standards. A far simpler project than was originally intended - and just as far from Legend-9 as it ever was. So despite me making both mods, don't expect them to be the same. Although, since i am the style designer of both - you can expect the themes and trademarks to be obviously much alike.

Here are the new directives under which this demake is being developed:

1) Each episode will be a separate file, with its own level themes and they will not be interchangeable nor compatible with each other. This will allow me to circumvent Heretic's resource limitations to a reasonable degree.

2) Various stylistic and architectural upgrades are being applied, but the focus is on avoiding complexity (to a reasonable degree), so that the development of the 1st episode of the mod can be expedited.

3) With the point above in mind, the polish of the mod will not be compromised upon.

4) The gameplay of the mod, while possible to play "as is" in its vanilla state, yet the primary orientation is the usage of a gameplay mod such as Heretical Doom or Walpurgis. All the earlier developed concepts and changes of game mechanics (even good ones) - will be thus reverted back to vanilla.

5) Episode 1 has entered revision development 3 days ago. And it will be released first. I do hope that will be a strong enough combination (with gameplay mods) to motivate me to keep working on the episodes 2 and 3. Episodes 4 and 5 will not be addressed.

6) Unlike the vanilla game, all weapons and enemies will be present during each of the episodes.

7) The mod will go for....ARE YOU READY??? Cross-platform compatibility! Yes. Any engine, any sourceport. It will be tested with Doomsday and GZDoom. This means that a certain number of assets will be reverted back to vanilla, - so you can say goodbye to all the upgraded fire animations and other aesthetic extras. However, i do plan to add an extra package for Doomsday users where these enhancements are retained. Not certain regarding that one yet though. I might come up with some other alternative solution.

So yes, the mod is back to active development. And it's back with a new twist. ETA for the first episode: Summer 2023 or earlier. The mod does not take any precedence over my lead Hexen project and is still at the back of the bus. At the same time, the amount of work that it requires, - is while rather substantial, but nowhere near as much as Legend-9.

Stay tuned.