Devblog #7 - Hell

[kristus]

It has finally come down to Hell. One can't help but feel that Hell is the most sought after piece of Phobos. The Hell portion of Doom3 was criminally short for most people's tastes. I however found it to be rather dull the first time around. It actually ended up feeling like several maps instead of just one. While I have come to appreciate that one map a whole lot more over the years, I still think it was a bit of a failure.

So, what does that mean for the Hell of Phobos?  To begin with, colors are a more prominent member of Hell in Phobos (but still not to the level of the original Doom mind you). After all, we are trying to stay true to the source. It will be a lot more varied and vivid than the caves and plateaus you explored in Doom3.



A lot of the level design for hell stems from original Doom level design principals. While we're not trying to mimic the game play of Doom (since we find that pointless), we are doing our very best to rival the quality and variety of it, and carry over things that we think fit well with the game we are making. 

The story will be cut down for this episode as well. It will keep on until the end of course, but since being in Hell is mostly about getting out, survival will be the No.1 component. You expect to get hell, and you will get it.



Building Hell

Hell is naturally a lot more organic than the cold steel of Mars and Phobos space bases. This means we have to work in a drastically different way for most of the time.

A major component of the world is made up of models instead of brushes and patch meshes common to the Quake-Doom3 engines. Most of it can be built using low polygon models, but anything that is of special character needs extra work in getting properly fitted assets (textures, normalmaps, etc). For instance, every demonic face needs a high and low polygon mesh to complete the process.

This is, naturally, not a process that is limited to Hell alone; the other episodes will have these things too.  Sometimes the regular level editing capabilities just aren't enough.

[Tetzlaff]

Those screenshots are a bit tiny, but so far it looks really good. I like that you didn´t use a cliched crimson red hell sky, but an eerie green one.

[kristus]

Well, I was the one putting this one together and I thought 800x600 was good for the screenshots. :) There are many different skies in Phobos' Hell maps BTW. (We're even using one or two crimson red ones *bows head in shame* )

[Gzegzolka85]

That's not a shame original hell from D3 was design in great way, yes it was very short (minus for game), but it was fun to see all that psychedelic lava landscape and dark corners and castle corridors with flying black things and living tentacles and flesh in cages. I don't mind creating new lands in hell, it will be very nice to see them. Hell it is not only desert full of lava and caves, it is absence of God, so it could be everything sad from some kind of graveyard to empty hospital.
I wonder if Bertruger after he enter hell and get power try to experiment with hell beings, try to make them better using his scientific knowledge, try to create better and more dangerous imps (just bit change skin and add more health).
It was very nice surprise to  me to see this journal :)

[Ivan_the_B]

Looks awesome as always. :)

[MundaneRaptor]

Will we have tortured npc's that you can talk to in hell? Mutilated people who are melted into the walls where they're semi-responsive but insane and speak in tongues; they may give you clues as to where to go or mislead you horribly down paths that end in death or take you around in circles. They may warn you of large demons or yell at you for your stupidity, and some of them may just scream in terror without stopping. Some may be more responsive while others may be semi-possessed and attack you if you get too close to them. A few may beg you to kill them, but no matter how much you shoot you can't kill them because they are already dead and in hell.

Picture a narrow corridor with bloody waving hands reaching out on either side and a cacophony of voices crying out for some release from the torment but none will come.

And then in a corny cinematic at the end of a level you could run into one guy who's happy to be in hell... lol... some kind of creepy masochist who strikes up a conversation with you. He comments that the imps always growl at him when he greets them but they sometimes show him hell stones they collect. Doom guy looks at the guy in disdain and then moves forward into the darkness.

[Gzegzolka85]

Very interesting, You have amazed me, I think it is possible to be. There is also another good game that show how hell could look - I mean Painkiller, simple fps shooter from my country, very psychedelic. In d3 I wish to see hell as a battlefield - full of dead soldiers, undead in armors with old guns, full of spikes, flames, explosion, bunkers, minefields, ruined installations and destroyed vehicles, maybe some medieval ruins like in Jerycho.   

[Ivan_the_B]

Will ROE hunters be in the game?
I know they've been already killed in ROE, but who says that they are the only ones of their species? :)

Well, if you want, I've already rewrote their AI in the past in order to make they behave like any other monster...
Same for Guardian and Sabaoth.

I know some could not like the idea to face the old bosses as common enemies, but it really helps variety.
You could also reskin them so they'll look different. :) :)

[kristus]

I dunno. We've considered it though.

[tintin]

No I wouldn't like the hunters in phobos, they are gone.......reskining and making them common sounds cheap, we have more talent than that.

[Tetzlaff]

We're even using one or two crimson red ones *bows head in shame*

Well there is nothing wrong with crimson skies in general, I just meant when there is a hell level designed and it has inevitably a crimson sky and lava it´s a bit boring. And often typical hell levels are way too saturated in red (red sky, red lava, red rivers of blood and whatnot). Also from the diversion aspect, the Mars scenario already has reddish skies, so it´s a good idea to have a different colour scheme in the otherworldly levels to set it apart.

No I wouldn't like the hunters in phobos, they are gone.......reskining and making them common sounds cheap, we have more talent than that.

Why not? I think especially that electric hunter could be turned into a very cool regular monster, comparable to the Quake shambler. It wouldn´t be cheap if it would be executed well.

[tintin]

No...first if we wanted a electric type shambler creature (quake) we would have it concepted and modeled..something new to look at.

[Gzegzolka85]

And we start little off-topic about monsters :) I don't mind putting old ones bosses to game (like SoulCube guardian, Kelly tank or Roe hunters), and I like idea with re-texture them, but not using as common enemy they are too much special. I believe hunters were created by doctor Malcolm B after he reach hell and get full powers of this place.  Maybe creating ares for them in hell and try to make something like "boss rush" - unlockable mode after finishing game, unlocking more hard mode in original d3 was dull thing, boring for me. Or why not make unlockable gallery of sketches and concept art and test ares or museum of models?

Personally I wish to see in D3 mod (maybe not Phobos) zombie like in Quake 4, that one who attack player with his stomach acid, or zombies that evolve in more fast and dangerous creatures like those from Dead Space, walking body with additional limbs ended with blades.

[Ivan_the_B]

You could also resize them (there is a program to resize md5mesh and anims) to make a weaker version.

But if you don't want to, that's ok.
It was just an idea. ^^

[Gzegzolka85]

I don't think that changing size is good idea, small version of hunters would look more funny than scary, and if You make them too big they will look awful. Some details look better if their size isn't changed.