Hello dear lads, this is Soulcrusher, a mod that is somewhat between a partial and total conversion for gzdoom. The public beta 2 is out now! Link: http://www.mediafire.com/?2m2vk28mem3d868
2a (contains some minor bugfixes for map file): https://www.dropbox.com/s/tefspvbk4qo2v6l/X3Main.wad
Just as a warning i'll have to mention few things about public beta 2 so you know what to expect:
- It's gonna feature all the main content. Meaning 9 levels, 6 bosses.
- It is not gonna feature additional content and will be lacking some graphics for enemies because it's time-consuming to find fitting sprites for everything.
- It will be playable from start to end, so if you are not interesed in waiting for some side content that won't change your view on the mod a bit, don't bother waiting.
This mod won't be up on /idgames until I say it is ready, meaning that to reach it. All the content I have in mind must be complete, refined and all enemies must have their own custom graphics.
Maps, gameplay and various stuff was designed by me
Weapon graphics/some enemy graphics/music were done by Nmn while we still worked together, actually it was his work that inspired me to start something overwhelmingly big like this.
Here's the trailer for public beta 2/final version
Spoiler: ScreeniesAlso here have two new screenshots!
Spoiler: NewEnjoy!
Here's a little extra FAQ for fans!
Q: How long has it been in works?
A: If we are talking about super-early stuff then I would say the idea came to my head back in late 2007 when I was still a relative newcomer with a bunch of crap maps on /idgames however I haven't begun working on prototypes back in mid of 2008. The prototypes were how to put it... largely different from what I released here, it was just originally meant to be an average zdoom mod with Nmncorp textures and realm667 stuff all over it, simply nothing noteworthy.
The second level here, STGATE was the level in the prototypes, eventually it was made playable thus a proper prototype, the major difference is that the underground bit in STGATE was originally... fully underwater, it seemed cool at first but later on it became annoying both for me and the testers so I sorta removed that element of gameplay to keep constant flow.
It wasn't until 2009/2010 that I started working properly on this mod with Nmn while he still had time, the mod was intended to be a 7-act epic (technically this covers only 3 acts from the old concept) that would play like Strife but expand on that, make it so you can beat every level in 3 ways outside boss levels, as we know, nothing came of this concept as I wasn't able to do something this complex at the time. Still Nmn made a bunch of textures (including giving me the nmncorp3 leftovers!), the entire soundtrack, guns and some enemies but due certain life circumstances, I was forced to quit the total conversion concept.
The mod was constantly going through concept changes until mid-2011 when I more or less settled for the final concept, although there was one thing i'll mention in the next question.
Q: There's a big plothole when you leave STADMIN and begin STCITY, why is that?
A: You see, originally in the final concept there were meant to be 13 levels but because Nmn could'nt maintain working on so much stuff, I had to remove half the characters from the story and unfortunately drop 4 levels that were between STADMIN and STCITY (originally known as STCITY2), that also meant removing 2 planned boss fights.
BUT! There's a chance I might take a stab at adding back the missing content starting March 2013, which may take somewhere between 6 months and 9 months depending how I will be busy at college, unfortunately I can't promise anything because I dislike failing people. Plus... having worked on this for a long time, i'm worn out entirely temporarily.
Q: Since you mentioned there were meant to be 7 acts of the entire story. Who was the real villain?
A: As far as I remember it was called something like Izariat, a computer virus that was so intelligent that it was capable of manifesting itself in real life, the final fight was originally meant to be against him, he was meant to be sort of a godzilla-sized piece of junk but as we know, because of time and life constraints, this will not happen also because there are no fitting sprites for something like him anywhere.
Q: Do you plan to make a sequel filling the last 4 acts of the intended story?
A: Unlikely at this point because there are lots of factors preventing me from doing this:
- I am a college student, meaning starting 5th semester and ownards I will be extremely busy trying to get my IT engineer certificate.
- I'm not sure if people would be able to handle a sequel that is not much different from the original due resource limitations.
- I would need to use music from newgrounds because as we know, Nmn's out for good from Doom meaning chances of him composing a new soundtrack are zero.
- Right now I am very tired of doom modding in general and I need a decent break before doing anything new. The only new work you can look forward to are Map15, map17, map27 and parts of Map30 on TNT2 which is bound to come out sometime.
I'm not saying no but I need time, lots of time to do anything at this point.
Thank you for reading this and watching this thread since it was invented (and thanks to those who tested it and watched me progress with it).