EXTREME LEVELS OF DEMON KILLING AWESOMENESS INCOMING
First log. First, I should probably explain what LACERATOR is. Lacerator is a classic DOOM-inspired FPS made using the Easy FPS Editor (EFPSE) Engine. I chose this engine mainly because it requires very little programming knowledge to make stuff with, and I just like how games made with it look. The engine has its own programming language which the entire syntax of fits within 2 pages. The engine has quite a few limitations, but they don't matter much for the type of project I'm making.
Anyways, enough about the engine. What actually IS LACERATOR??? Well like I said, LACERATOR (also yes, I am going to spell it all caps. Every time.) is heavily inspired by the original DOOM games. I absolutely love the original DOOMs. Something about the crustiness, the unique enemies, maze-like levels and just the genuinely good design made it so fun.
So with LACERATOR, I'm taking my love of DOOM, 3D modeling, and game design to make something that people will hopefully like! Right now, progress is going relatively smoothly. I've created the first level (it isn't very detailed but it works!) 2 weapons: The Drill and The Revolver. And 2 enemies: The Paleskin and The Brute.
The Paleskin is a pretty standard demon. Just shoots projectiles at you. Their backstory is way more interesting than their gameplay, though. I've had this idea floating around my head for a while about a monster that has it's skeleton on the outside, and guts on the inside. And they have a ton of holes in them they can dig into so they can grab that flesh and fling it at any unsuspecting bystander. That essentially became the Paleskin. I'm also gonna use this opportunity to explain how I make the sprites for these nasty creatures. I start off by sculpting a 3D model of the enemy (even the parts that will literally never be seen) using Blender. I then texture it using Substance 3D Painter. As much as adobe sucks, this is a pretty good product. After that I reimport the model back into Blender, give it a rig so it can move its arms and legs and all that, then create different poses for things like attacking, walking, dying, etc.
THE BRUTES!!! The Brutes are these big stupid mouthbreathers that run at you and try to bite you. I created them to make Paleskin encounters more interesting. Since you can easily just sidestep to avoid their projectiles, the brutes force you to run around avoiding them, making predicting Paleskin projectiles harder, and making aiming harder. Theres basically no story behind them, I just drew it once, thought it looked cool and added it to the game.
I should probably talk about the story of this game now. Its not too complicated. You're playing as a good Christian boy named Mark. Demons invade your city and start killing everyone, God wants you to stop them! Now grab a Drill and start gutting those demons! Its slightly more in-depth than that but that's basically what it is.
Now I think you're caught up with all of whats happening. The plan for the future is basically to just finish the first episode. 8 levels and 1 secret, just like DOOM. I plan on releasing the first episode for free on itch.io or steam or whatever. Then finishing up the last 2 episodes and making that paid. Anyways, thanks for reading this long! I hope to see you again! Bye!!!
Hello! In this log I'm gonna talk about enemies. Right now the only 2 completed enemies are the Paleskin and the Brute, as I said in the previous log. I realized that a very important enemy type was missing. Hitscanners! Hitscanners are the backbone of enemy placement in DOOM. They are what is going to do the most damage to you. Imp fireballs and Pinky bites might hurt, but it's a shotgunner that's gonna get you killed. Now I did have another hitscan enemy concept that I'll talk about later but I needed some sort of gunner guy, and eventually I came up with...
The Cultist! These are the guys who caused the demon invasion and now they're possessed by demons and want to stop you! I gave them some placeholder sprites I made in MS paint (these unfortunately will be replaced by the model renders) and they're basically fully functional. They walk up to you, try to shoot you, repeat. They arent meant to be too complex so yeah.
Now to talk about things that don't exist yet. Enemy ideas!!! First, let's start off with the Illithid. The Illithid is a giant brain flesh thing with a huge eyeball attached to a stem, with big spikes at the roots. He is a hitscanner enemy that uses his MIND POWERS to psychically damage you. This only works if he has direct line of sight though. He also cant move so hiding behind a wall is a very good option against him. He's also pretty beefy so combat encounters can wildly change if he's there.
The Mechanoids are Illithids that broke away from their stems, so they can't use their MIND POWERS anymore. But that doesn't mean the demons wont use them! This Illithid was shoved into a mech suit with a gatling gun attached to it and now he can rip you to shreds in seconds! Hes essentially a super beefed up Illithid. Same hitscanning, faster fire speed and more health. Still can't walk though!
I can't spoil too much, so I'm finishing up this log. I hope you enjoyed and I hope to see you again! Bye!!!
It's like almost 4 AM for me because I needed to finish the cultists, but I did it! The Cultist's sounds, animations, and stats are done! I'm not sure if I should place some Cultists in the first level or save them for the next one. Whatever. This is a really short log but I just wanted to let you know that I made the Cultists. Here's a gif of them in action
I have had the first real game design problem since I started working on LACERATOR. I saw that playtesters (My brother and friend) kept using the drill melee weapon even when they weren't having fun using it. I think it came down to 2 things. Introduction and gameplay. The way the drill is introduced isn't too great. It has a memorable introduction, with a kind of long empty walk, which would be good. But it makes the player feel like the drill is important and needs to be used. The revolver has a very different introduction. It appears right after a small fight, which might make it seem less grand, and since the drill is more powerful than the revolver and doesn't use ammo, it makes the player want to use their new, cool gun less.
Now, the gameplay. Like I said before, the drill does more damage than the revolver and uses zero ammo. And since you don't need to fight the enemies at long range, the drill is almost always used. Yet players seem to hate the drill. I think its because the player makes the drill their go-to option for combat encounters, rather than the revolver. Which makes sense! Since it is stronger and more versatile. But the way you use it just isn't very engaging. You go up to and enemy, click a few times in their general direction, they die. Contrast this with the revolver, a pretty basic gun but it has so many parts when you use it. Aiming at the enemy, moving to dodge attacks, deciding who to fight, etc. With the drill you just walk up to the closest bad guy and click. And the problem with it is that it works! The drill is almost always more effective against enemies!
So I ask the golden question: What did DOOM do? Well, DOOM made it very clear that you should NEVER use the fists. They do terrible damage, you'll get shredded by enemies if you use it on them, and they obviously have terrible range. It's incredibly clear that the fist's sole purpose is to let you get more ammo when you're out of it for all weapons. Literally a last resort. But there is another melee weapon in DOOM... The Chainsaw! This item doesn't appear often, and when it does, its hidden away in a secret zone. It's treated sort of as a prize for finding a secret, like "Hey, here's this cool weapon! Go shred some demons!". It isn't meant to be used for an entire level, and if you try to, it's gonna be miserable.
So with all of this information, what did I do? Well, it's pretty simple. I just made it do less damage than the revolver and make it the weapon you always start with. This solves the problem with its introduction, since you always have it, it doesn't seem that important. And it's gameplay, not making it better than the revolver, but a substitute when you can't use it. Anyways, that was the log! I hope you liked reading it! Bye!!!
Hey! Sorry for the lack of logs, don't worry though. Even though I haven't been posting about it, I have been working on this game almost daily! I've finished blocking out level 2, polished level 1, made a new enemy, and made a new weapon! The Flaregun! This thing is basically an alternative to the revolver that uses projectiles instead of hitscanning bullets. It also does double the damage! But it has half the fire rate... Right now I'm using placeholder sprites so yeah. See you later!
