Developer's Month Log - October 2017 news

Hello again arena warriors, today is a day for another log report about the long path the mod still have to follow to reach its true identity.

First of all, i apologize for saying Version 2.9.2 would be released in celebration for Zandronum 3.0 the past month since i broke my promise by one week of delay as well only the GZDoom version being released, currently Zandronum 3.0 is still unable to read all the features the mod has in its GZDoom version and code still needs to be adapted properly.

Anyways first the sad news:

Given the actual feedback from players across these last 3 years and taking the long development the mod has passed since 2011, it is time to readjust few things and the first and hard decision i took is that the actual Baerhon's Lair Dungeon is not representing well the true intentions i want with the mod, surely some people may have experienced some fun on those maps with the giant bosses they possess, but i can't hold them in the mod anymore after so many players proving to have computers not powerful enough to have playable framerate on them and those maps are pretty old already for the new ideas i have with the true Campaign.

Rarlocan Main Base was made across 6 months in 2016 and this is the only Dungeon which will probably stay in the Map Pack after 3.0 update, but unfortunately, Baerhon's Lair Part 1 and 2 will be scrapped as the old Demo map will be again after me still not having nice ideas to keep the flow of that map, all the 3 maps has been made from 2012 to 2015, i discovered things about GZDoom in the process that cannot be avoided since it is a natural thing of the engine and i can't simply ignore the fact that probably half of the people who plays the mod doesn't have a decent computer to run those maps properly, specially Baerhon's Lair Part 1 great corridor which is a total FPS killer for many people.

So the deal is play those maps while they are in the map pack, they will probably stay on it for the rest of this year, but there will be an update to the map pack which they will simply disappear and probably not coming back ever again, if you want to keep a backup of an old version of the map pack to keep these maps saved, it is completely fine, however keep in mind they can break with newer versions of the mod since they will be deprecated as well.

"But what about the bosses? Will they be scrapped as well?"
No, definetely not, Veltanir and Mehanir will not make their departure from the mod, they will be moved to newer maps, probably maps which is part of the true Campaign instead of the Dungeons.

Now what's on the horizon so far:

Updates inside Version 2.9 will be made until the mod is ready to be entitled 3.0, so expect a Version 2.9.3, 2.9.4, 2.9.5 and on, these small updates will serve to i finish the remaining content that is pending to be added into the mod:

• 3D models replacements to all solid decorations of the game, as everyone knows, many decorations are still sprites.
• Add the Alliance soldiers to start producing the Campaign maps as well make them as a fair help reinforcement other than an overpowered Tamer Of The Dark.
• Add abilities in all playable characters, so the players will have a reason to play them other than pure visual preference as by now many people may have been playing Doomslayer due to his Berserk Mode now.
• Tutorial map to teach new players how the mod works, the proper use of the weaponry, their tricks and how each monster threat is mitigated with them as well a brief introduction of the main lore, about the Temple Of The Portals, the Multiversal War, the Alliance of The Eldest Universe, Hell and the Tamers Of The Dark.
• A Menu Codex like the one present in DOOM 2016 to explain a deeper lore about every bit of the mod that will not be mentioned directly in the true Campaign when it arrives.
• The complete rework of the remaining Tamers Of The Dark, Ranerion and Veridion as they are still using the old ripped model and add the last remaining Tamer, Kadrenon to the beastiary.
• Rework of Berserk monster, and add Doom 2016 Pinky variant.
• Versus mode.

It's not a long roadmap anymore, the mod already reached halfway of the entire plans i had for it, the only thing that remains to be done for sure now is make the story and explanations for everything as by now, i know the mod is suffering a review negativity due to the lack of documentation, help, hints and tips about all of its features as well the performance issues in the dungeon maps.

In case anyone missed:

The Map Pack has been updated in the same day of the Version 2.9.2 release, all the 3 packages required to run the maps properly is now merged into a single one, currently i reorganized the play order of the maps and Rarlocan Main Base is now the first map when you start the Temple's Dungeons since that map is smaller, and alot more linear than the other two, as for Baerhon's Lair Part 1, the great corridor lost its forcefields in favor of some fps boost but this does not save this map from being removed from the map pack in the near future.

That's it for this month people, have a nice fragging.