Contents:
The world of Rezex, so big, with vast lands which can be so similar yet so different to what we are used to, then there's the Legend of Rezex, the secret to ultimate power or control, but great foes guard these secrets and the ways to uncover them, Rezex is your world to explore how you want, but all in all, there are only two endings...
As my project has changed so much lately, my plans have too... Basically, everything below explains my plans of this game.
To round up what this project is going to be, it is an RPG FPS! Themed like Vaultar II but much more open and way bigger using the latest GZDoom features, the main one being md2 model support. Once complete, I intend to notch up the maps, add and edit creatures, spells, anything and to then make more projects out of this one, maybe RDoom 3 and other projects. See the RDoom 2 page page details on the maybe Project 6: RDoom 3...
Now that development has advanced a bit I can recreate this list adding, subtracting and changing what Project 5 WILL have:
Models: MD2s are working and most of them are looking great.
Dialog: Speech is still a bit buggy but works well enough. (See Strife by ID Software.)
ACS Maps: I don't know everything about ACS scripts or maps but enough.
Hi Res Textures: Work fine, look fine.
ZDoom, SkullTag and Legacy features: GZDoom supports them all, just about.
Expansive: When the main lot of this project is done, there will be more to come.
As progress advances, so does my grasp of how this project will play. Country sized levels were too big and there's not enough map space either, so instead I've had to split up these maps into about 20 each, which means well over 100 maps, so far I've counted over 170 maps! Because maps will be smaller, more detail will be put in and stories can be added as dialog scripts can be used more 'uniquely'. If successful, this has got to be a mapping record!? Well on first release things won't be perfect, especially the maps, but once they're all set up there's nothing stopping me from tweaking them to perfection. There're plenty of creatures to keep the game new and loads of places to explore and the whole game's one hub, so it's a free jouney, it is up to the player to find out whether they're going the right way or not (there're people to talk to for a glims of what to do, but how it's done and in what order is up to the player.) Some places are more dangerous than others, but as time gets on, you get better armor and greater magic and weapons making this project a full open choice rpg, with obviously one place being hellish, there's always Doom somewhere!
Comments are mostly enough for help but any tips, ideas, even contributions would be nice, although I do prefer to work independantly, ideas are very welcome so are resources, I'm a perfectionist, so everything (file, script) must follow a pattern, this makes the game much easier to edit 'on the go' and to understand, when it's done, I might release 'templates' if anyone wants to contribute, but thats a long time away, or is it? Whatever the case if you have a fully animated md2 and skin texture, that's enough. (Full animation includes: Idle, Walk/Run/Fly/etc, Pain, Missile and/or Melee and Death.)
29/06/2007
Yep, my decision is final, Project 5 is now named The Legend of Rezex, named after the world the player must explore through. The titles a little plain at the minute, but near completion, a much better one will made. Also, RDDR is born, check it out now, its got its own place on the menu. It's got a lot of work to do, but there it is anyways. Files will be up later on today hopefully, keep check if you're interested.
28/06/2007
Name coming very soon...
Things have changed a lot during development, and my future plans have also, at first, I was going to use this project as a base for future projects (mods for my mod!) by now my plans have altered, again. I've decided to split this project into 2, one half being the story, maps, theme, the actual mod sort of. The second half will be a resource pack that includes everything and more of what this project needs, this means as I make new projects, they will all use the same resource pack, therefore, the resource pack must grow to support newer projects, this means I can then mix projects together to make newer, larger and greater ones! So be expecting a new page to be added to the 'Reaver Dragon Games' section. Also check out RDoom 2, as it reveals more future plans, concerning this resource pack.
System Log: I've got speech workng in Strife Dialog, the problem was I had to speech files (.wavs) in the Sounds folder where Strife Dialog Sounds are supposed to go into a Voices folder!
Demon Log: I've had another go with the Cyberdemon, no luck, there is still 1 method to try, using 3DS Max, if that doesn't work (probably won't) then I'lll have to reanimate the md5s myself, which once seemed hard, but I'm getting better at animating. I descovered my new skills when creating an Abaddon which uses the Fury model out of Dungeon Siege and a modified Malwrath skin. As the 'rules' go, a credits.txt file is included.
23/06/2007
I've decided to adjust the way I log my project, just a little organization thats all. The big news is (well not that big, less that the 1mb file size limit big!) I've uploaded a small spack containing a very few of some monsters for this project, I might upload a demon preview as well, just so you can see from GZDoom in 3D instead of these shitty PNG8 screenshots (file size limit remember, but it's all free so I'm not complaining!) Head over to the Downloads page and there should be a new link in the Project 5 box called Monster Preview Pack Availible. (Or be lazy and link to it from here, but when I expire the file this link will die and not be removed, so if it's the year 2008 or something, don't bother, get the full thing, if you can, I hope so! Before you download you must have gzdoom load 'demosystem.zip' at startup before any other packs, you mustn't unzip the demo system but you must unzip the preview pack and have gzdoom load all the pk3s within that zip AFTER it loads the demo system zip file. You can get all files from the downloads page or use these links: Demo System | Monster Preview Pack.
Map Log: Did another map today, 3/about 200 done! Although, to save numbers, I might be able to whack it down to 150-odd by making multiple maps in one using different spawn spots and music change, thats if I'm gonna run low, which I doubt I'd be making over 255 maps! Along with that map comes some strife dialog and a story is brewing.
Monster Log: Half of the Manticore complete, just major animations and scripts need doing.
Obstacle Log: Had to disable trees and plants for now, their poly counts are too high and are killing GZDoom!
22/06/2007
Nothing much has changed, except, a new TITLEMAP, more demon and monsters and some GL Lights prepared. Things are going steady but are slowing down a little bit, this is all due to the f*****g md5 draw back, I might give up and reanimate my self, though there are still a few things to test out... Above is a Mancubus, Archviles, Beholder (Doom 2 Pain Elemental), Malwrath (Doom 2 Cacodemon) -Yes, these names are from the Doom RPG but I did think up the Beholder name before it was made, this goes back to RDoom 1. In the background are 3 monsters, a Hydralisk, Eechetik and an Arix all the way in the distance (left of the cliffs above the fern tree!
17/06/2007
Demons! Well I've added plenty of demons, still got lots to add though, then there's that huge list of monsters. I tidied up all the decorate scripts, modeldefs and sndinfos, getting them ready for the 'PainChance 'DamageType', 'Chance'' code (decorate will soon provide the ability to set the pain chance for each individual damage type. I've also set up most monster and demon attack (not the projectiles yet, but when made the monsters will use them.) So far I've made 26 enemies, which is a fair amout, plus creation speed is getting faster now, but I still cant convert md5s! Once I can, there will be a load of new demons coming in. Anyway, I've added a new file to each enemy and hopefully everything eventually, called Credits.txt and obviously, these files contain the names of who did what, all of them have my name under scripts, because, I did the scripts, this does not mean I'm taking credit over everything though, Credit files state the modeler and animater, the skin texture artist, the sound artist and the scripts editor, along with other details, these files are distributed within a monsters .pk3 file.
16/06/2007
Well it looks like a dead end for md5anim into md2, I guess I'll have to animate myself, unless I contact that guy who managed to do the Doom 3 Imp for instructions. Anywho, above is a screen shot taken in Doom 2's map12 of a Doom 2 arachnotron and my much larger, stronger Arachnotron with an extra dimension! A load of people complain about models replacing sprites, some are crap, but that above is art. The only thing that makes them look different in that screen shot above is the 3D model looks more wider, but this is just because I've taken it from an angle. The model and skins were from the jDRP pack, I just did a few things to the textures and I slapped the seperate dmds into two md2s, the second being for his death states.
I joined the DRD forums yesterday, I prefer to find things out for myself but I need help with this md5anim crap, I'll contact this Doom 3 Imp guy... Looking back on the previous screenshots, the Doom element is lost, however, I intend to keep the hell atmosphere for some certain maps and will be making RDoom 3 using this project as a base. (Only weapons and maps will change.)
13/06/2007
No screenshots for today (I need to cut down on them anyway!) but I have made a little progress, I've tidied and updated all Decorate file up to notch (organized, unwanted flags deleted, new flags added and summon spell actors added.) I was wanting it to be so that 1 pk3 file could hold everything to get 1 enemy working but I'm using inheritance now for summon spells (so if I need to change something all creatures will be updated at the same time.) Everythings working fine except for summon effects being invisible but this is because GZDoom doesn't support 3D alpha yet, it's either opaqu or completely transparent and is 'renderstyle "add"' is used with an alpha property which is not 1.0 the model will become invisible. All this is for Graph to fix! (The GZDoom producer.)
Anyway, something important about the future of the project: Doom 3 models will work, I've successfully created a Doom 3 Cyberdemon in md2 format, only problem being, without animation, this is Blenders fault, it will load .md5mesh and .md5anim all perfectly but wont export the animation into a .md2 file without the wierdest of reasults (ever seen the Cyberdemon wrap up into a ball, good for an implosion death!) Anyway, at least I can get the mesh through, even if I have to reanimate it, although the animations I've made are pretty shite!
11/06/2007
Progress has gone far, many items are done, this includes Health, Ammunition, Gold, Map, Backpack, Armor, Crests and Essence. I've also added the first demon, an Impling (the blue guy) and a load of other monsters, above shows an Impling, Gargoyle and a Phooter! Ambient sounds have been added, the maps have been notched up, trees and plants are now 3D, the only problems are, things run too slow and GZDoom doesn't support HUD models, yet but it does support a bit of SkullTag now, so, there's a load of powerups (crests) added. I'd say thats not a bad 'alpha' screenshot. It wont be long before the name is revealed, and a demo may follow.
03/06/2007
Well, this is just to say, there's no limit in size, stay away from the Sphinxes!
02/06/2007
Production's moving more quickly now, plus I've had a lot of spare time, production is moving at an 'at least one monster a day' rate! My latest additions to the 'crew' is the Rockette which bobs through the sky at the back of the screenshots above and the Lobber, a lava guy with a mischeifous smile, you should be able to pick him out of the chaotic croud!
31/05/2007
Finally, a program that handles MD2s properly! Misfit Model 3D is a god send, it animates, sets textures and saves md2 models perfectly. I still use Blender 3d to design, then export from Blender as an OBJ file which I load into Misfit 3D to add animation and save as a md2! Above is a dump of all the 'Lightning Monsters' made so far, two of them made from scratch today, pretty basic models though...
29/05/2007
More screenshots! I've done a load of work on the first map, I aim to do at least 16 countries and then another episode which is more doom-like. If you've played Vaultar II, 16 may mean something to you...
A Tropical Village 
The pyramid, exterior
The swamp cesspit. 
Wasteland with village yonder.
The Pyramid, interior, still under a lot of developement.
So apart from a load of map updates, what else have I done? I've still to fathom out how to export md2s in blender with animation in order to, well, create more models, I mifght end up buying real software at this rate! Apart from that, I've been setting up the doom builder config, steadying decorate files and adding trees, I was going to have rock as objects but zdoom slopes are much better, less hassle and rocks can be changed indivually. The main thing is, the way this project works has been almost finished, just need a good font for doom 2, easy to find or make, then a few pics and the title of this project. All that remains then is monster production which will become ever expansive anyway and weapon and spell creation, also kinda expansive, but not as much. Once the ammunition, powerups and other pickups etc are done, then the 'main frame' is ready for these beasts.
28/05/2007
As you can see, I've been doing some work to the landscape and I've added peasants and shopkeepers, etc, who talk.
Just showing off a forest in progress, trees have been added, but are 2D.
A first major building, the pyramid...
As I said, speech, for some reason, the voice sound doesn't play, but at least one can still read what is being said... And yes, they are 're-skins' of the jDRP Zombie Men, but I haven't any other desent md2 human models, at present.
23/05/2007:
Well, not to my suprise, I coudn't export the Doom 3 Cyberdemon into an md2, nor could I import any Hexen 2 models, however, I will overcome these problems in time, also, if I can get the Blender importer for it, I'll be adding a load of Dungeon Siege monsters. Meanwhile, I've added in 5 more monsters, and I've resized the shade as it was too big, there are still a few problems regarding offsets and missing transparency in model skins, but these are easily fixed, I hope. So the screenshot above now has over half the amout of monsters that were in Vaultar II: Golem, Clink, Afrit, Arix, Minotaur, Ettin, Ophidian, Shatzex, Shade and Korax. So this isn't so bad, Project 5 has 10 monsters so far, in what, 2-3 days?!
21/05/2007:
3D! The test map is made, works fine as most of my maps do and finally got some md2 models working, I've looked into Blender 3d and I can make my own models, but thats after I get some from over games and packs, such as jDRP/jHRP/jXRP/XCCP, Doom 3!, Hexen 2, Return To Castle Wolfenstien, Dungeon Siege and loads more! Once this Project is under way I'll send out 'templates' or whatever so others can add to it if they want, but thats after I make over a dozon maps, add over 50 monster/demons/whatever elses! And all this is possible and quite easy for me to do! I was expecting trouble but alls working fine so far, I can only add more... Behold, the above screen shot consists of a level, where the behavior isn't scripted right and the 'tide' of the sea only goes up! Anyways, in the screen shot are 5 monsters, one maybe a bit big, easily changed, these monsters use the jHRP, jXRP and XCCP, well, were ripped out of them, I haven't asked permission yet, but I'm not distributing the mod yet either. As you can see, the sea water uses the warp effect, the sky is hi-res and moves and the monsters are in full 3d, NO flaws, except for a few offsets, fixable with time. I'll be putting in that wicked Doom 3 Cyberdemon in next!
30/04/2007:
Yes, there's yet another mod, no rest for the wicked! It's my birthday tomorrow, so this project (which techniqually starts tomorrow) will be born and will grow on my birthday!
Well I hope you like this idea, I do, so, that's why I make these mods, to suit my needs, it's not like I'm selling this game, this mod is for my own entertainment prior to others, not that I'm iggronant or out, ideas and opinions are welcome. -Just don't be smashing my heart with a hammer or out!
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