(Yes, I'm reviving my mod's topic since I want to make sure I'm running on all fronts. Sorry for being away for almost 10 months >_>)http://www.zxdware.net/NR - 5.12.01032009 Released! First release of 2009!
As a main note: the big selling point/feature of 5.12 is the new vehicle system. There's only a drivable riot tank, but you can toy with them by spawning "EMPTYTANK" in the console, or going to warp.map or !NR.map. Lemme know what you think. There are other things of note in here too, some mentioned below.
* CHANGELOG *
=SINCE 5.11=
+ Higa, ESSence, Cybanis and Nethra all have topographic sprite views for the overhead_map mode now.
+ Vehicles: Riot Tanks [Green, Blue and Red] can be found empty and drivable. They also have their own weapons and stats, and take most if not all damage that is directed at the character driving them. However ESSence and Cybanis cannot drive Riot Tanks due to them being too large[in storyline terms] to fit into them.
+ Toggles Menu: A New Toggle for Pickups/Buying items for vehicles. There are four options, one for just giving items to the character driving the vehicle, another for just giving items to the vehicle, a third for giving to both character and vehicle, but character first, and then finally a fourth that inverses the priority to vehicle, then character.
+ Inventory/Equip Menu: Items now have specialized plates behind them as well, and the icon and amount displays properly sized and centered based on thus.
+ Graphical Work: All of Lo Wang's sprites are imported properly to TILES033.ART
+ Graphical Work: BOSS1/BOSS2 now have jumping and crouching frames[used for ESSence and Cybanis mostly]
+ Character Menu: Characters now have specialized plates behind their stats. The "Vehicle in Use" also has it's own type of plate behind it's stats.
+ Character/Item/Skill: The 16th character slot is now the holder of your current vehicle's stats when driving one, and can also be used to distribute benficial items and character skills to the vehicle while in use.
+ New Features: Vehicles are on their way to NR! The first will be a drivable version of the Pigcop's Riot Tank, with normal and alt-fire modes of attack, and similar slow manuverability.
+ System Change: The quote display at the top of the screen is revised to use a smaller font[75% original size] to show longer quotes better and for other various reasons. Additionally, the quotes will zoom in and zoom out of existance.
"NOTICE: Using Your Friendly Neighborhood Riot Tank!
Some important bits to know when you drive your Riot Tank[regardless of colors].
Fire Button = Normal Attack.
Alt-Fire Button = Alternate Attack.
Turn-Around Button = Leave Riot Tank
- A Green Riot Tank shoots twin bullet shells for it's normal attack, and Laser Blasts as it's alternative attack.
- A Blue Riot Tank shoots twin shotgun pellet bursts for it's normal attack, and twin expander bursts as it's alterative attack.
- A Red Riot Tank shoots RPG Missiles for both it's normal attack and alternative attack[I plan to make a player-shootable version of MORTER someday to replace the alt-fire].
- You cannot strafe when inside a tank.
- Due to an issue with angle calculation in the CON code right now which has yet to be ironed out, if you plan to make very short, percise turns with the tank, you're gonna notice the tank will turn AWAY from the direction you're trying to move to for a brief moment and then normal directional control will kick in. I'm still trying to work this out.
- Riot Tanks will absorb all enemy damage for the character/player driving them EXCEPT Invulnerability Bio-Auras[unless the Tank itself has invulnerability of it's own], 'using' electrical sockets, the security damage of Hand-Scanners and Keypads, and being crushed.
- You cannot be attacked by Protozoid Slimers while in the tank[you technically 'run-them-down' when they try to get on your face].
- The Tank has it's own air supply, so using a Tank underwater can subsistute for a Scuba Tank, but do note that Tanks sink like stones in the water and you'll likely never be able to get them out of the water again if they fall under.
- Tanks are 75% less prone to hazard damage, and take less damage from hazards as well.
- If you want your Tank/Vehicle to benefit directly from pickups or buys in shops, make sure the proper setting is placed for it in the Toggles Submenu. Not all items can be used by your vehicle however.
"
@James: They already have their own footstep sounds. They're probably just hard to tell different from the other characters' versions, and the camera size thing is sorta there, but it's in debugging stages, so it's toggled off by default.
Also, I want to give a fair warning to people who do care about playing the game a lot to expect a change to the character-speed system in 5.13 when it comes out. This change means characters who start off with mid-range speed [Duke, Jack, Ted, etc] will move 30-45% faster than they used to.
Because the original engine has a very odd formula for determining speed based on the "runspeed" struct, I had to enforce some acceleration changes so the characters actually move at the speed they should be moving at for what their speed stat is depicting. In <5.13 versions, A character at 30 Speed moved less than 1/5 the Speed of a character at 100 Speed, and characters in the 50-65 speed range didn't move more than maybe 40% of a character at 100% speed. I had to redo calculations and acceleration to fix it that having 50 Speed is actually half the max movement speed of a character with 100 Speed.
Also, the good news about this, is that the Haste and Slow Status Ailments now have more prominence. Originally they originally affected weapon speeds, and only one character in your team could give haste to a character[Ami], while there's no attack yet in the game that can slow down a character. Now Haste is +25% speed, and Slow will be -25% Speed, and you'll see the visual changes on your stats and the respective character's status screens now. >_>;
And to think this whole idea spawned because Blade Nightflame asked me about Tanks and ramming enemies, and made me think over speed alterations like this. So if you end up liking [or hating] the new changes, Blade is the one you can thank for it. XD
