Everything points to an inevitable fact: one last delay is unavoidable. Even with the temporary concessions that i am willing to make for the sake of expediting this release. While my estimate is that 4 weeks should be enough to take care of everything, - i have officially stated 6 weeks, just to be on the safe side and not to have to delay things any further.
What we do know about this interim release, is that it's not the full game, while at least 3 times(ish) more content than the demo. Some ultimate weapons are still missing for some characters. Some weapon animations are incomplete. Some levels in hub 3 are not yet properly upgraded. Story graphics are missing for hub 2 and hub 3 (but not the story itself!). Balance and enemy arrays in hub 2 and especially in hub 3 is NOT final. On the plus side, - hub 1 balance has been greatly improved in some stages. And, beautiful new MP3 soundtrack (which you might or might not choose to use), but it adds to the atmosphere tremendously. I have had it with those boring midis (or their equally boring counterparts on the CD) since day one, yet now i have finally compiled a soundtrack worthy of the game.
Streamlined - is also a matter of perspective. I have counted 12 action steps to take in this level in order to complete it. So the idea is that you no longer are plagued with those samey-same-same looking corridors that could not be fixed, unless simply deleted. You have the starting area, Ice Arena, Pyramid Arena, Execution Square, The Lake and the Final Fight. Traversing between them is really straightforward, no boring corridors of the original. But, there are new switches, going back and forth a little and such stuff.
While the foresty entrance is still under construction, - this unique Pyramid Arena is already finished. Detail and everything. The one last part to do - is have some dangerous enemies occupy that dual balcony on the left, and give them some multi-layered backup :-)
View from a distance. It appears empty, cause everyone is dead. Rest assured, it is not the case in-game. Also, the fight (as usual) is structured so that leaving enemies alive is not an option. And yeah, the Shock Lance has moved to the Warrior's arsenal, i mentioned it in my earlier post. Both it and Mage's Sapphire Wand's action have been reworked. While either weapon can do rapid fire, Shock Lance is both the weaker and slower (comparatively) weapon, which also has no close-range bonuses. That is to offset the power increase for the Flaming Sword. However, the Shock Lance also consumes much less mana than the Sapphire Wand. The Wand has received more power, to make up for the Wizard's low damage output with his basic weapon (Shock Spell).
P.S. Here is the link to the Legend9-like Doom map, in case you haven't tried it yet.
Mod link: Moddb.com
<3
Doing some extra effort to finish this level. I modded and added numerous tree sprites, but not all of them look good. Hexen color palette is rather hard to please. Also, some polish needed here and there, but overall it all works without any issues. So at least that, which is not too shabby, - cause i have deleted almost all the original level actions and scripts, and such bold steps have a tendency to cause a random crash.
A little more mana, a little more enemies on the return paths
and i am that much closer to being done with the second hub.