No overhauls, no revamps, just moving forward
This past development cycle, I've been diving into multiple aspects of core elements that makes the game almost ready for an alpha release to test intended gameplay mechanics. This has involved lots of shooting a base roblox avatar wearing a marine outfit(what you see in the video), lots of deaths, and lots of rocket jumping. Here's some more specific implementation details:
When you shoot and successfully hit other players, you'll hear and see a hit marker similar to Quake 3.
When damaged by other players, you'll see a red UI indicator letting you know which general direction it came from.
When players die, limited ragdolls physics are enabled.
When explosions occur, there is a blast force that can push the player.
When using the Sniper Rifle or Rail Gun, the bullet can shoot through multiple players in a single shot.
When a player is hurt, the roblox class outfit changes after 50% and their hurt sound adjusts to match Q2WF.
Bloody vs Ragdoll Physics
The nature of weapons factory is a first person shooter. A player will get shot and die. These deaths can be brutal or not brutal. A death in Quake 2 Weapons Factory is brutal. Players explode into blood particles when you get a headshot.
WFR leans toward a more non-brutal death(if that's a thing), using ragdoll physics. See difference below.
It's a thing of beauty for the 90's and really speaks to me as a grungy quake style body blood explosion. The sound makes it even more inviting for some (no sound in above vid). Now, For a kid friendly Roblox game aiming to reach out to a younger generation.. I'd prefer not to limit my audience. So, I had to choose the next best thing... and that's Player Ragdoll Physics on death.
Blast Radial Force from Explosions
When rockets explode, you see an explosion. When there is an explosion, should be a blast force that push the player in the opposite vector direction they are standing relative to the blast point. This blast force will push players around when applicable.
Currently, a rocket hitting another player only applies blast force when they die, or if they are in the air. This means the current player can blast force themselves into a rocket jump, which can be used to their advantage in many situations.
What's a hit marker for?
Hit Markers tell you as the shooter, that your shot towards a player successfully registered as a hit or not. Many games do it differently. Some, not at all. While originally q2wf did not have hit markers during its time, after some evaluation of Quake 3 having a hit marker + sound and Quake 2 Remastered providing this as well to some capacity.. It's become pretty standard to want know if you hit the player or not in modern first person shooters. So here you have it, hit markers in WFR.
It uses a remixed q3wfa hit marker sound and a custom red X billboard at the location you hit the other player. This is your client only, so other players will not see or here it. For those of you that do not like this, it will be an optional toggle in the player options (on by default). Turn it off if you think it's distracting.
So.. When is Alpha Release?
Depends. There are a list of features still core to the gameplay loop that need to exist, along with some extra potential detail work about each.
Quake 2 Weapons Factory in Roblox
Here's what's on the roadmap before an alpha release
Respawn On Death
What does player see on Death?
Auto respawn after death? or choose when to Respawn?
Respawn UI with a countdown?
Allow going back to main menu?
See Player and Team Stats
What stats should show?
Kills, Deaths, Flag Captures, Flag Kills, Assists, K/D Ratio, Shot Accuracy?
Button and Hot Key (Tab) to show player stats of current game?
Show team player stats on death?
Map Cycle
Maps need to respect a timer, default will be ... 10 minutes?
Time completes means end of the map.
Show stats on timer end
Map UI with a time gated vote option
Cleanup previous map/terrain, load new map/terrain with waiting music.
Or switch to new space with map.
Tracked Player and Team Stats
Lifetime Leaderboards?
What stats should show?
Where is this accessible? in a WFR Lobby? Or part of the UI?
Player Movement Tweaks
There are still at some times, different player movement during certain situations that need to be tweaked, that don't 100% match how quake 2's player physics work. It's about 95% there, but not 100%. Will this be OK for alpha release? probably, but I'll likely do yet another pass on player movement.
Should we make strafe jumping easier for new players?
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