Version 2.0 is now LIVE! news

It's hard to believe I've been working on this mod for a little over two years now. It's taken a long time (and a lot of going back on my word...) for me to really iron out features and get the mod in a state with which I can be satisfied.

With the start of a new year and several weeks of trying in vain to think of improvements only to come up with nothing aside from a few graphics options, I think it's finally time to put the gameplay side of the mod to bed. This is at least the third time I've said it, but there's no turning back this time. I'm out of ideas, anything more would be out of scope, and it's actually getting quite difficult and tedious to make new changes as things get more and more complex. I don't want this mod to turn into another QuakeStyle Unbound, where I overdid it to the point I no longer want to look at it any more.

And so, I introduce to you all, after many dumb ideas for update delivery and version numbering...
Ratchet & Clank: Hot and Bothered 2.0!

The link above will take you to the file page here on ModDB. The Google Drive repository will remain open while the maps are under construction so people can check those out, and I'll be posting preview screenshots when I have something worth showing.

For those who haven't kept up with the WIP builds, here are some videos to bring you up to speed.

FINAL WEAPON/GADGET DEMO

ENHANCED GFX COMPARISON (Two runs through The Crusher, first with all the GFX off, then with them all on.)

GAMEPLAY DEMO W/ MY PREFERRED SETTINGS (I turn XP Mode to "Auto", more so Annihilation Nation's later maps don't tank my framerate.)

So, what's next?

Maps, for the most part. I'll still be designing and modifying actors and scripts, but this will be limited to the things that only appear in Annihilation Nation. How long the maps will take to finish is anyone's guess. As usual, I have a lot on my plate when it comes to work, school, and my personal life.

Aside from that, I will be keeping up with bug fixes and making sure everything is compatible with the latest versions of GZDoom.

CHANGELOG

Below is a list of changes made going back to the beginning of v1.2. You'll find this changelog also posted on the file page. Those who kept up with the WIP builds have seen this thing grow steadily over time, and now it's really hard to keep track of changes without repeating myself or just making a mess of things.

ADDITIONS
-Three secret weapon pairs: Pyrocitor/Afterburner, Rift Inducer/Rift Ripper, and Spitting Hydra/Tempest.
-Option to toggle dynamic lights, Bloom, trails, debris, blood, Nash Gore, and breakable furniture in Enhanced GFX.
-Arena boss monsters: Overlord, Ogre, Arachnorb Queen, Motherdemon, Terminator.
-Secret difficulty, Highway to Heck. This appears invisible on the difficulty select screen.
-BOSSTEST map for... testing bosses.
-A punch for every weapon. Monsters killed with this have a 25% chance to drop a 5% ammo capsule. Said capsule is able to restore slot 8 and 9 weapons below V5.
-Auxiliary/altfire actions for most weapons that lack a scope or detonator. Harbinger and Supernova have gained a scope.
-Sets of prop and trap actors for use in Annihilation Nation. These are subject to being expanded at any time.
-Monster base health and damage scalars in Gameplay Mutators.
-Mutator option to disable the bolt pickup time limit.
-Mutator option to enable health regeneration or degeneration (or neither).
-Mutator options to force fast monsters, respawning monsters, jumping, crouching, and freelook.
-Mutator option to have Lost Souls spawn from gibbed Imps and Pinkies.
-Mutator option to turn random quips on or off.
-"Skin Of Your Teeth" mutator option. When exiting a level with 10 or less health, you'll start the next level with 200.
-Health bar display for Annihilation Nation bosses.
-Mutator option to select between dropped bolts for XP or an automatic reward.
-Random helpful or mocking messages that are shown upon death.
-Field of view slider in Enhanced GFX.
-Mutator option to adjust the maximum delay between button presses for the Thruster Pack.
-Enhanced GFX option for toggling persistent monster corpses.
-Enhanced GFX option for toggling between the standard lasers and bombshells for the Harbinger. This is purely for performance and will not be mentioned in-game.

AVAILABLE MAPS (These are the lump names you can use with "changemap" in the console.)
-NATION00
-NATION01
-NATION09
-NATION15
-NATION19
-NATION28
-NATION30
-NATION31
-NATION32
-NATION41

MONSTERS
-Made Blots immune to Dance-type damage.
-Ethereal Souls now take time to appear before attacking. They also do not disappear under standard behaviors.
-Poison souls spread less gas. Gas clouds do more damage initially, but this drops off with time as its radius increases.
-Homing Afrit balls are less aggressive.
-NEVERRESPAWN flag added to summoners and Lost Souls.
-NEVERFAST flag added to any monster projectile with a speed of 40 or greater. This prevents them from being impossible to dodge when fast monsters are enabled.
-Orange, green, and black Hellspawn firing patterns are easier to read.
-Fixed some projectiles still rolling a D8 when they should have been rolling a D5.
-Chaingunner fast-fire damage reduced.
-Monsters that can float up now check vertical position. They shouldn't float off into space any more.
-Arachnorb attacks reversed. It now fires a spread normally, and in bursts when hurt. Burst fire rate is decreased, but projectile speed is increased.
-Enemy turret sprites changed for better distinction. Idle sound added. Time between detecting the player and firing increased.
-Turning monsters with more than 250 health into chickens no longer results in an XP penalty.
-Monster behaviors have been overhauled for more variety and consistent "Aggressive" logic. In short, monsters that change attacks at low health have a separate pair of aggressive attacks.
-Satyr Lord's ground fire splash damage reduced.

WEAPONS
-Many, many audiovisual changes to weapons. We'd be here all day if I listed every single one. Suffice it to say that pretty much every weapon that isn't a glove gets its HUD sprites from something in the Ratchet & Clank games.
-Synthenoid reaction time decreases with each level. Self-destruct melee attack removed.
-Gave weapons the kickback they should have had from the beginning.
-Chopper/Hydra Saw changed to Buzz Blades/DoomBlades.
-Doom Blades damage reduced.
-V1 and V2 Buzz Blades fire rate reduced, V3 and V4 fire rate increased.
-Bomb Glove and Meteor Gun damage increases faster with each level.
-B6 Obliterator fire rate slightly increased, damage dramatically increased, reload sound and animation changed. Now fires in a horizontal line.
-Mini/Mega-Turret Launcher, Gravity Mine, Singularity, Feltzin Device bombs, Synthenoids, and Zurkons have restrictions on how many can be active at once. Detonator added for clearing the area of them. This is used by pressing the Auxiliary key and also applies to the Hoverbomb Gun and the HK22.
-Multiple Hoverbombs can be fired in succession.
-Singularity ripping damage reduced.
-Soaring Comet homes in on targets with each bounce. The meteors it breaks into have much more aggressive homing.
-Flux/Splitter Rifle adjustable zoom removed in favor of being able to move while aiming.
-Lava and LN2 Guns replaced by the Lacerator and Dual Cryolators.
-Combustor range increased.
-Tesla Claw and Thunderbolt range increased, spread decreased. Tesla Claw ammo capacity increased.
-The wrench can now deflect projectiles. Weapon switching is now possible while the wrench is in flight, as is punching.
-V3 and V4 Arbiter accuracy increased. One might actually be able to hit something now!
-Blitz Cannon charge shot uses less ammo. Primary fire does 50% more damage.
-N90 fires two shots for one unit of ammo, and its projectiles move much faster and do more damage, but accuracy is slightly reduced and homing is removed.
-Decoy Glove and Zapper replaced by the Nanoswarm Glove and Hive Hand.
-All altfire actions aside from punching (scope, detonator, etc.) have been moved to an "Auxiliary" key.
-Plasma Storm now fires single bolts of lightning at individual targets.
-Arbiter and Decimator damage increased.
-R.Y.N.O. II renamed to R.Y.N.O. V. Spreads of bullets now fire along with missiles.
-Omniwrench now has an array for its required XP to level up. It is no longer based on a formula.
-Omniwrench added to the weapon wheel.
-Mini-Turret sprites changed to match enemy turrets.
-Scorpion/Leviathan Flail changed to the Pulsar/Blackstar Cutlass. The Pulsar Cutlass behaves identically to the Scorpion Flail, but the Blackstar Cutlass throws an energy wave when swung. This always uses ammo, but the auxiliary remains the same.
-Blackstar Cutlass max ammo and fire rate increased. Damage decreased compared to the Leviathan Flail it replaced.
-Bindings for Auxiliary Fire and Punch have been swapped. Auxiliary is now on AltFire (as it should have been from the start), and Punch is on Zoom.
-Morph-O-Ray and Beakinator beam now emit rotating spirals in a lattice pattern. Rail core width reduced. Range reduced and now increases with each level.
-Combustor/Magmabustor now do all their damage in a low-radius splash to try and enhance their effectiveness.
-EXTREMEDEATH flag removed from most weapons.
-Mega-Turrets have a new set of sprites. This also applies to enemy rocket turrets.
-Blitz Cannon accuracy increased.
-Decimator auxiliary fire changed from a shotgun spread of rockets to a mini-nuke.

ITEMS
-Warp Pad beacons no longer factor in vertical distance when checking proximity (to account for the rare occurrence of them being stuck in walls) and make a sound when they disappear.
-Holoshield is now always forward-facing and has been recolored.
-Bolt pickup sounds are much softer and less obnoxious.
-If bolts fall into deep liquids, they will bypass their wait for contact with the floor and begin searching for a nearby player.
-Bolts no longer check for vertical position.
-Groovitron fires sound waves that carry its effect beyond walls.
-Warp Pad teleport fog changed to something less blinding.
-Premium and Ultra Nanotech changed to soda cans.
-50 and 100 XP denomination bolts added.
-Refractor has been changed to the Phaserator, offering the same partial invisibility, but also Heretic-style protection from physical projectiles.

OTHER
-Renamed the Enhanced GFX option to Smoke and Flames.
-Moved graphical options from Gameplay Mutators to Enhanced GFX.
-Fixed key display on the status bar.
-Updated and corrected typos in MENUDEF.
-Added custom help screen.
-Difficulties have been tweaked in order to remove changes to monster health.
-Maximum health in challenge mode increased to 800.
-Terrain definitions added to custom textures.
-XP mutators removed, as they would render Annihilation Nation unplayable.
-Option added in Enhanced GFX to reposition the gadget icons in the event the player's resolution causes issues with them. This doesn't always work though, sadly.
-Combined all arena assets excluding ACS, monsters, and laser traps into rc-AnnihilationNation.wad.
-Pressing reload only equips main weapon. It does not equip the wrench unless that is the selected main weapon.
-Overhauled the main and skill menus to use sprite patches instead of text. Mod Options removed, its contents added to the main menu.
-Evil Unleashed has been removed from MAPINFO since it clashes with SIGIL.
-Helpdesk voice lines have been reworked.
-Level scaling has been broken out into four settings: off, health, damage, and both.
-Both numbers shown on the scouter now adjust for scaled monster health.
-DOOMTEST added to rc.pk3 as RCTEST.
-Removed double ammo from Vindicator difficulty because it took me this long to realize it doesn't work and isn't necessary anyway.
-VR Training updated to better suit the weapons in their current state. Air combat room pillars have a darker texture, and the lava only does 10 slime damage instead of 20.
-Some errors were corrected in menus, and they've been reworked to generally look nicer.
-Many of the dynamic lights attached to projectiles have been softened considerably. Lights attached to furniture items remain bright.
-Lights have been attached to digistruct orbs.
-Letter grade added to ranking alongside the phrases already present.
-A space has been placed before and after the forward slash on the Scouter display.

BUGS FIXED
-Landing on solid objects would not reset the double jump script. Solution: Check for the player's vertical speed in addition to their distance from the floor.
-Sometimes, kill taunts play at the start of a map. Solution: Set the token's InterHubAmount to 0.
-Bolognese and ice deaths caused graphical conflicts. Solution: Use the player's damage type as a flag to prevent the spawning of Bolognese gore.
-If a holoshield was hit while raising, it would stop raising. Solution: Have shields spawn with the NOPAIN flag, then disable the flag once they're fully risen.