RiftQuake

[Dutch]

Rift

Updated: 7/22/2014

Rift began as a modest mod for Quake, with the sole intention of upping the action and gore of Quake while maintaining the game mechanics. Over the last half year or so (the build began in early January of 2014), it has taken a lot of unexpected turns. Lately, I've been turning out a lot of solid additions and improvements.

In a nutshell, the biggest features of the mod are as follows:

1) Extreme, disgustingly satisfying gore.
2) An entirely new arsenal with a revamped weapon system.
3) New items and monsters.
4) An entire storyline and campaign.
5) Intense Multiplayer with several game modes and bots.

Approved engines thus far are QuakeSpasm (basic barebones version), to be followed by a dressed-up DarkPlaces and FTE build. A standalone executable for all three is a possibility at this point, as all original copywritten content is being replaced, but certain elements of the game will remain faithful to Quake, so this could complicate things. Only time will tell.

Recent work is still on the weapons system and arsenal, but major progress has been made. Here are some pictures. For more details, check out the latest posts at the end of the thread.








Stay tuned for more.

[Dutch]

RiftQuake

RiftQuake seeks to fulfill 3 goals:

1) Revamp the original Quake experience with new weapons, enhanced Single Player and Multiplayer, greater detail, and intense action.

2) Offer mappers a new entity set of items, monsters, and weapons.

3) Make this the absolute goriest and most blood-quenching mod the Quake world has ever seen.

In no particular order, the biggest features that RiftQuake boasts are:

* A new weapons arsenal that is meticulously detailed and coded to balance gameplay against the Rocket Launcher (which has been left untouched). 5 new weapons replace 5 of the old ones (the ones that pale in comparison to the RL...my goal is to balance DM play). The arsenal in order is:
1 ) Axe
2 ) 10-gauge Shotgun (now available as a place-able entity)
3 ) Flak Cannon
4 ) Assault Rifle
5 ) Scout Rifle
6 ) Grenade Launcher
7 ) Rocket Launcher
8 ) Rift Gun
9 ) (pending) Rift Rifle

* Incredibly detailed player models that depict the player, in all animations, holding their currently equipped weapon. Additionally, players have running and gunning animations, meaning no more "ice-skating" around while firing.

* Detailed offset weapon models, including the player's hand (which interacts with a pump-action shotgun) and spent shell casings for the shotgun and rifles.

* Extreme gore, including partial gib animations for all monsters and players, new gibbing parameters, entity specific gibbed limbs, weapon-specific death animations, and bloody skins for all monsters.

* (pending) Crouch function for players.

* Updated falling damage: fall from a large height and you will make a nice splatting effect on the ground...right after your character helplessly yells in free-fall.

* Updated monster behavior for all of id Software's classic uglies that increases AI, SP difficulty, and detail.

* New monsters (yet to be created)

* New power-ups (yet to be created)

* DM Spawning Weapons Load-out (spawn with the 10-gauge Shotgun or the Assault Rifle).

* FrikaC's FrikBot X for DM and Coop (formal recognition below).

* Dozens of other smaller features to polish the game experience.

Most of the list above has already been coded, modeled, tested, and polished, but everyday I find something new to mess with.

A major stipulation in my coding was to maintain the traditional "feel" and gameplay of Quake all while radically changing it. I am trying my best to take the weak spots of vanilla Quake and strengthen them, all the while leaving the best elements of id's game untouched. This means the player physics remain unchanged and there is no slow weapon switching (like in Q2...drove me insane) or reloading, among other things. There is, however, more realistic falling damage.

I plan to release RiftQuake in its entirety with a few custom DM maps tailored for the mod, as well as a Single Player campaign episode. The mod itself, however, does not focus exclusively on my own user-made map content. It is intended to allow anyone to map for it, much like Kell's Quoth mod does.

RiftQuake, although presenting tons of new content, is also designed to enhance the vanilla Quake gameplay. This means that the original Single Player experience will still be completely intact and is exponentially more difficult and action-packed.

For DM, the mod features FrikaC's FrikBot X mod, which I was able to inject into RiftQuake with relative ease and tailor it for the new weapons and features. I want to throw out a huge "Thank You" to FrikaC for FrikBot's ease of use in inserting it into RiftQuake, and for allowing others to use his creation. I want to make sure that he receives extensive credit for doing so. You are the man. FrikBot X allows everyone to enjoy RiftQuake's high-stakes action online even with the lack of a strong online community these days.

Still on the to-do list are new monsters and items, a few more tweaks to the original monsters, and possibly one more weapon, the Rift Rife. Additionally, DM and SP maps designed for RiftQuake need to be made. I'm sure I will find other things to do as well. Like I said, I cannot offer a final date of completion, but I'm so hyped about this I wanted to get it out there.

I will try to post up some pictures of the mod in action. Thanks for reading, I hope I can deliver a finished project soon enough.

[gnounc]

The mod sounds good, but if you're going to post media, please include a video!
I'd like to see what these weapons look like and do!

[Mindf!3ldzX]

The mod sounds good, but if you're going to post media, please include a video!
I'd like to see what these weapons look like and do!

Definitely post a video! Pictures and Videos can generate more interest than a wall of text!

I'm lookin forward to seeing some media!

[Dutch]

Ask and you shall receive! Well, sort of. These pictures will have to satisfy for now. They detail the weapons and different player models. I was having a helluva time recording a functioning video through DarkPlaces. Sorry guys, I will have to figure this out. In the meantime, though, here's the pics.

1: Shotgun - Firing 10-gauge single-aught buckshot shells, this weapon is incredibly powerful at close range, but has a slower rate of fire being a pump-action. This is your best friend in close-quarter combat. Never leave home without it.


2: Flak Cannon - Dubbed "The Tenderizer." Basically a hefty 'shotgun' that fires 8 randomly scattered nails. Another good close-quarter firearm with a fairly quick rate of fire, but does less damage than the shotgun. Fired nails have a 50% chance of ricocheting off surfaces.


3: Assault Rifle - A fully-automatic rifle chambered for a .300 Blackout round. What it lacks in overall punch it makes up for in range and the sheer volume of fired shots. Each round has the potential of passing through an enemy and hitting whatever is behind that enemy (the wall or another enemy).


4: Scout Rifle - Hands-down the most powerful weapon in the new arsenal. Firing a large .458 Winchester round, it will gib any small enemy (including your buddies online) and bring down medium to large enemies in just a few shots. It has 100% accuracy and unlimited range. The round will pass through up to seven enemies before hitting a wall or stopping in the eighth. The drawback? It's a manual-loading rifle, meaning an ungodly slow rate of fire.


5: Grenade Launcher - Old Thumpy hasn't changed much, except for the 30% increase in launch velocity and a slight loss of accuracy over large distances to make up for it. Additionally, RiftQuake now features grenade and rocket teleportation.


6: Rocket Launcher - Back by popular demand. The RL has been left untouched. Everyone seems to love what works. To compensate for its unbearable dominance in DM, all other weapons are designed to compete with it.


7: Rift Gun - A unique firearm that launches highly charged dark anti-matter. Contact with its projectiles causes any living thing to melt into a puddle of radioactive gelatinous mush. Disgustingly satisfying. Its shots and the firearm itself give off a purple glow that can help illuminate dark places...or make you an easy target.


These players are the FrikBots in coop mode. Thanks to FrikaC, modelling was incredibly easy to fine-tune by watching the bots.

Coming up next, some action shots of DM and various partial gib animations.

[Dutch]

As promised, here are some partial gib-specific action shots. I'll also mention real quick that the player death obituary has been tripled in size with lots of new and entertaining death messages.

1: Just one of several randomly generated partial gib death animations upon gibbing death of the player. Note that the Rocket Launcher will cause good-old fashioned whole-body gibs (only more detailed with entity specific body parts) and the Rift Gun will cause whole-body gibs of molten-hot body chunks.


2: Close-up of the partially gibbed player after all is said and done.


3: Another partially gibbed player after animation is over.


4: Grunt partial gib, randomly selected from 2 possible animations.


5: Grunt melting death from the Rift Gun. Either a steaming bubbling noise or a squishy gelatinous noise will accompany the animation. All monsters and players have a melting death animation.


6: 1 of 2 partial gib animations for the ogre. Almost all monsters have 2 partial gib animations that are randomly generated.


Up next are some DM action shots during an intense match with the FrikBots on DM6.

[Dutch]

Deathmatch on DM6 with the FrikBots:

1: Run 'n' Gun: Notice the running animation of the player during shooting frames. Also check out the spent shotgun shell ejections.


2: Lots of mayhem going on here. Notice the player on the left pumping the shotgun, the melted player on the floor from someone's Rift Gun, and the death scene of the other player that includes his currently equipped weapon.


3: More Rift Gun mayhem. I took the liberty of adding custom names, colors, and dialogues to the FrikBots, including pissed-off taunt messages when you team-kill them. I read on FrikaC's website that he was tired of everyone leaving the default settings of the bots in their mods. Lol.


4: Just more carnage.


5: Nice action shot of a player peeling apart during one of the partial gib animations.


6: Rift Gun and Flak Cannon in action.


7: Assault Rifle in action. Notice the shell casings. All spent casings are removed through code after 5 seconds to reduce entity load.


8: Sending a rocket through the teleport. Also works for grenades. Nothing as satisfying as sending one through and getting a confirmed kill through the obituary


9: One last carnage shot. Notice the spent Flak Packs ejecting from the front of the Flak Cannon after each shot.


These last couple posts should detail the weapons and gibs fairly well. They should also tell you I'm a bit disturbed and have too much time on my hands. Before anyone thinks this is all I do, I'm a part-time welder/machinist and a full-time college student, so don't judge haha.

Hopefully I can get a working video through DarkPlaces pretty soon, and maybe some more pics if y'all are up for it.

Thanks.

[Polarite]

Very nice project indeed !

[gdiddy62]

Nice feature set. Keep working on a video I'd like to see the gibs and rift gun in action!

[vegetous]

Looks promissing!

[gnounc]

I love that you added extra dying animations and gibs.
New animations are always welcome as well.
And I've always thought teleporters should teleport projectiles, so its nice to see it in a mod (I know its been in a few).

Good work, I'll be watching progress.

[Seven]

I love that you added extra dying animations and gibs.
New animations are always welcome as well.
And I've always thought teleporters should teleport projectiles, so its nice to see it in a mod (I know its been in a few).

Good work, I'll be watching progress.

dito

[OMacKnight]

interesting

will have to keep up with this

[Dutch]

Right on, thanks y'all!

Yesterday I added some code to teleport flak nails and rift channels (fired shots from the Flak Cannon and Rift Gun) alongside grenades and rockets. This was a job and a half for the Flak nails because of a conflict in self.think times regarding constantly updated trajectories for ricochets, but I figured it out.

I'm glad you guys like new animations, as I've started making a new Vore melee attack animation and will be coding it tonight. After that, she (or he, IDK) will be getting a leap attack and running animation with a lot more agility and new sounds. I wanted the Vore to be way more fierce and intimidating, rather than a slow dummy that can be easily dodged and dispatched of if you hug a tight corner.

I've done similar AI and threat enhancements to almost all of the monsters in one fashion or another. Before making totally custom monsters, I wanted to really polish up the ones id Software originally made. They're pretty creative creatures themselves, after all. With RiftQuake, the original Single Player campaign on Nightmare is damn near impossible, so for those you who have been thirsty for more difficulty, the mod should make you happy.

The Shambler's a real brute now, by the way And he'll be getting a big brother when I finish working on the original monsters.

Still no luck with the video, school and work just got real busy. I'll load up some pics of the vore attacks when it's done (shouldn't be long).

[Sza]

Nice work! make some video please