Blogs - DarynS

It's been a bit quiet from us for the past couple of months. That said, we're still working on it in the background. There has been a lot of tweaks to every map. I've also been seeking out and fixing code bugs. I've already fixed a few issues with the powerups, as well as improved some of them.

There's also a new one in the works. Which ought to help give you a better chance of surviving the onslaught of baddies throughout the maps.

On top of that, I'm doing my best to get my head around implementing KAI. This ought to make the security assets you'll find throughout the maps more intelligent and easier to keep with you. So it's going to be fun to get those working the way we want them.

So, stay tuned. We've got some stuff coming. If you haven't played our maps yet, check it out below.

Dragon Sector (The Remake)

As BarefootMapMaker mentioned in his own blog, we've been working on powerups in the background. I thought I'd show the Item Magnet I've been working on.

You'll notice that when I pick it up, the nearest items fly up and get stopped. That's because of Monster Blocking lines. Helpful for testing stuff like this.

Because we're not specifically requiring Project Brutality for the maps to work (Though they are best with it.), I have to make sure that any system I add can work with other mods. To that end, I had to do some hoop-jumping to make that happen.

We haven't decided on how you'll acquire these items yet, but they will be one time pickups. Once you grab one, the effect persists across levels.

This, along with some of the other powerups we're planning definitely add an extra layer to Dragon Sector. Hopefully you all enjoy them when they're released in a future update.

In the meantime, if you have played the maps, drop by the Mod Page and cast your vote on which map you liked most. It seems like right now, Map 1 is running away with it!

That's it for now. Have a good one, all!

We were holding off on our update until we were satisfied that the update to Dragon Sector was substantive enough. Well, we're definitely there now, and I think the changes will be worth the download.

Head over to the mod's page and grab the update for yourself and give it a try.

On another note, we also put up a poll asking What your favorite map in the set is. We want to get an idea of which ones people seem to resonate with. Feel free to use the comments on the poll if you want to elaborate on why you like a particular map.

Which is Your Favorite Map? - Dragon Sector (The Remake) mod for Doom II - Mod DB

Now, I think I'm headed to bed. I'm beat!

I just wanted to post a few quick points to let you all know what I've been working on regarding Dragon Sector.

The railgun Arachnotron is getting some work done to it. We want to make it more of a threat, so we're tweaking its damage and making it a bit faster. It will still stun just as easily, though, so that won't change.

I've also been working on a suite of Documentation for the mapset. It's becoming big enough that just a single readme file doesn't cut it anymore, so this Documentation will be included in the zip file and should provide a lot more information on setting up, troubleshooting, and general information on the monsters. There will also be a complete credits document.

The maps are also getting another once-over, and there will be tweaks and fixes made to pretty much all of them as we get ready to really dig into Map 6.

Finally, I've been doing some research on the KAI library, and I plan to add this into the mod. This wil let the bots and drones move and target much more naturally and effectively. It's possible some of the monsters may get this treatment, too, but that's still up in the air.

That's it for now. BarefootMapMaker is due back home soon, and after some well-deserved R&R, things will get rolling again.

Have a good one, everyone.

Recently I've gone back to looking at some of the old code I've done for some of Dragon Sector's monsters. To say I was a bit shocked by what I saw is a bit of an understatement. Granted, I knew a lot less back then, so it does stand to reason that with experience I'd get to know how to do some things better. Well, I've been cleaning up some of those monsters for the release we'll be doing at the end of the week.

I've also been experimenting with compressing our textures. It seems like the experiment has been a success, reducing the filesize of the pk3 by a substantial margin, and to our eyes, at least, not really looking all that different. So, going forward, we're going to be doing this by default. This should make the download quicker, and be a bit easier on the GPU's Video RAM.

We will still keep the same quality textures as we're working on the mod, but when I create the pk3 for release, I will go through the compression stage. If people want the original uncompressed textures, I could put out a seperate pk3 with those.

All of that said, things are moving along. I've seen the beginnings of Map 6, and it's going to be QUITE something, hehe. :D

All the best, everyone. Thanks for downloading and enjoying our maps.

Hey, if you guys wouldn't mind voting for Dragon Sector to be part of the Mod of the Year vote, that'd be great!

Dragon Sector (The Remake) mod for Doom II - Mod DB

Since we got the 0.41a version of Dragon Sector out, we've been working on tweaking and tuning some stuff. I've learned quite a bit about ZScript, and I'm able to do stuff I didn't know how to before. That said, there's still a long way to go before I get to the point where I can whip out completely off-the-cuff code statements without using references.

Still, I'm making progress, and there's things I'm doing now that I didn't understand at all before. The hardest parts, really, are getting stuck on something and not being able to solve it. I like to try to work out how to do things on my own, but sometimes you just hit a wall. Agent Ash's ZScript guide has a good explanation of the basics, and I'm often going back to that to check whether what I wrote was correct. There's a lot, though, on the Wiki in particular that's not documented well at all, and gives you the functions and arguments, but doesn't explain how/where you'd use a particular function.

Ah well, it's all part of the process.

Take care, everyone!

Now that Dragon Sector (The Remake) is back in development, I'm getting to go over my past work with fresh perspective. There's a lot of stuff I worked out how to do before, that I now understand how to do better, so I'm in the process of fixing things up there.

BarefootMapMakermentioned the turrets weren't working quite right, so I've gone and had a look into that. Now that I understand a bit more how GZDoom works, I can now get the behaviour that I actually wanted for them in the first place. Basically, our friendly turrets aren't so single-minded now. They can pick and choose targets as they see fit.

I know it doesn't sound like much, but seeing how they work in-game now is much better than how I had them before.

Anyway, I just wanted to post this musing as we get things moving again. Thanks to everyone that's checked the maps out. Thanks also to those that have given me feedback on Discord. I've passed it along.

Take care, and stay safe.

Wow, I guess people are starting to like what we're doing.

Moddb.com

Dragon Sector (The Remake) was picked out.

I gotta admit, that feels pretty good.

I've been going through a ZScript guide on Github. It's taking me through the basics. I've been muddling through previously, but I didn't have a full grasp on how things really worked. Now, though, I feel like the holes in my knowledge are slowly being filled.

This is definitely a good thing. As I'm starting to grasp concepts and mechanics, I'm getting ideas on how I could apply those techniques. Maybe in a few months I'll have enough knowledge to do some really epic effects. For now, I'm still able to make stuff happen, and that's probably the most satisfying part.

Every day is progress, and I'm not going to stop learning.