Blogs - SanttuPesonen

This post isn't likely to catch the interest of a whole lot of people, but I was inspired to write up an update after a small eternity, so eh.

So what's on the bill today? Well, I released v1.1 of my GZDoom randomizer mod Vandomizer a while back, completing the Heretic compatibility implementation and bringing some minor tweaks. I'm also - somewhat unexpectedly - working on a v2.2 update for Satanic Gameshow Deluxe. In fact, it may not be too far from seeing a release, though nothing has been set in stone date-wise as of yet.

The biggest update of the day, though, regards yet another gameplay mod that I started working on the other week. Said mod goes by the working title Nocturnist.

My initial idea with Nocturnist was to make it an action-oriented mod akin to SGD, with a unique weapon arsenal and an ability set that would make the player feel almost like a ninja, but I'm beginning to lean more towards a survival horror-inspired gameplay loop. The mod is still in a very early stage anyway, with only some basic test code having been made so far, so I still have time to decide on the exact direction I want it to take. We'll see which way it ends up going.

Also, a dedicated mapset for SGD may or may not become a thing at some point.

That's all for today. Thanks for reading and have a good day.

- Santtu Pesonen

Or, well, technically my second, but my first attempt at making such a thing was merely a collection of minor tweaks for the weapons.

This new one, though, is slightly more complex than that. I've been working on it almost obsessively over the past month and a half-ish, and things have shaped up to the point where I feel confident enough to announce the thing. So, without further ado, I hereby announce Satanic Gameshow Deluxe!

At this stage, the mod features a brand new weapon set consisting of 10 weapons. The enemies have also been tweaked - most of them have had their lethality increased by different means. For instance, the speeds of most enemy projectiles have been increased. My personal favorite feature, though, is definitely the "feat"/reward system - the player obtains weapon upgrades by killing certain numbers of specific enemies. Finally, there's a custom powerup that turns the player into an unstoppable killing machine for a minute, in a fashion similar to Doom 3's Berserk.

Other planned features are finishers á la Wrack and more custom powerups. What kinds of powerups I'll have in the mod, however, has yet to be decided upon.

Either way, I hope you're as excited to play the mod as I am to develop it. It's been immensely fun for sure.

Stay tuned!

- Santtu Pesonen

Geez, it's been a while, hasn't it?

Anyhow, I just wanted to talk about some future plans regarding Deliverance 2600, my love-child over the past three years or so. July 8th - which is either today or tomorrow depending on the time zone you're on - marks the release of v1.3 of the mod. I released a teaser trailer for the upcoming build a while back. You can watch said teaser either here or here, and the new features are detailed therein.

Now, when I started working on D2600 three years ago, I initially intended for it to be drastically bigger than what the final product ended up being. Features were planned but eventually scrapped - for better or worse - and the mod's nature was intended to be much closer to a "true" FPS Metroidvania experience. I dare say my original vision for the mod was downright overambitious.

I once toyed around with the idea of making an expansion pack for D2600 that would expand upon it and, in a sense, make up for what the original mod lacks. In fact, I even started working on one but scrapped the idea not long afterwards. Now, however, I have newfound inspiration, and so I'd like to semi-announce the as-of-yet-untitled Deliverance 2600 Expansion Pack!

I haven't gotten any substantial work done on the expansion pack yet - it's quite literally in its beginning stages - but what I can say for the time being is that it'll feature new enemies and weapons, as well as a new campaign (obviously) with a multi-map hub. The powerup system will also be reworked in order to bring the experience closer to how a FPS Metroidvania would play.

Also, it's going to be stand-alone, meaning that the original mod won't be required in order to play the expansion pack.

Stay tuned.

- Santtu Pesonen

Love Xenogears? How about its soundtrack? Well, have I got the opportunity for you!

I'm conducting a survey with the purpose of gauging interest towards a Xenogears metal tribute album. If you're interested, feel free to take the survey by heading to the link below. (Also, any shares will be greatly appreciated.)

Docs.google.com

So I only realized this right now when I was about to release the latest Alpha build (0.6), but I've been developing Deliverance 2600 for a whole year now. Slightly more than a year, in fact. And now it's at the halfway point of its development cycle.

It feels crazy to think how much that thing has developed in the last 400-ish days. It all began with me messing around in Doom Builder, barely having any idea what I was doing. And then, like a lightning, the idea struck me - the idea to make a Metroidvania-style Doom mod. It didn't take much longer for that idea to develop into that of a full-fledged total conversion.

Just like the mod itself has grown, so has my motivation to bring it to the end it deserves. To create a mod that supercedes everything I've made until now. To make Deliverance 2600 not only a solid gameplay experience, but an experience that excites and begs for a revisit.

It's no doubt at this point that Deliverance 2600 is the most elaborate Doom mod I've worked on yet. That's exactly why I want to do it justice. That's exactly why I want to remember it as my magnum opus 10 years from now.

Anyhow, so what comes after Alpha 0.6? Essentially two more Alpha builds, respectively numbered 0.7 and 0.8, and from v0.9 onwards, the beta stage. The main things left to implement are the second half of the bosses. My plan is to implement the 3rd boss in 0.7 and the 4th and final boss in 0.8, respectively. Then the mod is ready to enter the beta stage with Beta 0.9, where more or less everything else left to add should be added. From there on out, it's nothing but bug-fixing and tweaking.

And after the beta stage... The final version.

Stay tuned.

- Santtu Pesonen

Like surveys? How about Doom? Then I've got just the opportunity for you!

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, chances are you noticed me posting about a survey I’m conducting. But if you didn’t, I will now briefly talk about it.

The idea of the survey is to function as a means of background research for an essay I’m writing. The essay will present a pseudo-religious take on the demons of Doom, a recurring theme throughout the franchise. That’s honestly all I can say about it at this point.

The survey is fairly straightforward, so if you’re interested, you can find it here. If the survey gets 99 more responses in the next 15 hours, I'll try and advertise the essay to my university professors.

Thank you in advance for your contribution!

- Santtu Pesonen

So I just happened to take a look at my last blog post and figured I should update a few things again...

Regarding the Doom meets Unreal meets Metal Gear Solid partial conversion idea, chances are it'll still happen at some point. Truth is, though, I scrapped it pretty early on into the development. I'll see if I'm able to develop the concept any further. If I am, then it might become a thing.

I've also gotten another project idea since my last blog post. This one would be an FPS/dungeon crawler TC comprising a whopping 64 levels in 8 "tiers". Gosh, my brain just never stops, does it?

Anyway, then for the kind-of-semi-regular Deliverance 2600 update. I had the project on hiatus for about three weeks after releasing Alpha 0.4 but resumed work yesterday. For the next build (which will of course be Alpha 0.5), I hope to implement the second boss. My original plan was to have the second boss implemented by Alpha 0.4, but... Well, either way, it'll surely be implemented in Alpha 0.5.

That's it for today then.

- Santtu Pesonen

So here's an announcement thingamajig...

Over the past two days, I've been gathering and compiling resources for a new project. The project would basically be an atmospheric Doom mod (probably closer to a partial conversion) with a blend of old-school and modern gameplay elements, as well as some stealth. Other features I've planned for the mod include objective-based progression and logs that open up the backstory.

Speaking of the backstory, I don't have a solid draft for it yet, but there are a few ideas I've been throwing around. As per the usual Doom shenanigans, it would involve the UAC... only a slightly different kind of UAC.

Now although this is an announcement, the project doesn't have a name yet. But once I make more substantial progress on it, I'll start thinking up possible names.

Stay tuned.

- Santtu Pesonen

It appears as though I've got some updating to do, since it's been a good while since my last blog post.

So this'll mainly concern the Doom RPG mod project I semi-announced a few weeks ago. Truth is, I sort of ran out of inspiration as soon as I started. I did manage to write a prototype ACS script for the level-up/XP system, but after that, it went nowhere fast.

I won't go as far as to say the project is cancelled just yet, though. Chances are I'll regain the inspiration I had three weeks ago, but I'm not exactly counting on it. So as of now, that project will be indefinitely on hold.

As for Deliverance 2600, progress has been rather slow on it lately. I used to work on it on a nearly daily basis, but that rate has seen a significant drop in the past weeks. Whether it's lack of inspiration or just the need to take a general creative break, I can't say for sure. But I hope to be able to work on it again soon enough.

And that's it for today.

I guess you could think of this as an announcement, but not really.

So last night, while thinking up enemy type and boss names for Deliverance 2600 and writing them down, I happened to come up with the idea of an RPG-inspired Doom mod. The mod would include a fully fledged experience/level-up system, NPCs you could talk to, a dynamic day-night cycle, randomly spawning monsters, main and side quests and, most essentially, non-linear progression.

The idea did sound interesting enough that I decided to see where I could go with it. This isn't a formal announcement yet, though, but I'll probably be working on some test stuff for the thing alongside Deliverance 2600. If it actually goes somewhere, I might announce another project.

I'll try my best not to let my focus bounce around the projects like a super ball. :P

Anyway, bye for now.

- Santtu Pesonen