I'd say "no".
This way monsters will notice you before they even see you, and levels will basically consist of standing in a position, making some noise, killing the waves of curious monsters, go somewhere else and repeat it until all is cleared.
Now at least you have to clear out room per room, like Doom is supposed to be played.
EDIT: Also it'll be even more unfair for the player if he's playing with no sound. :|
...levels will basically consist of standing in a position, making some noise, killing the waves of curious monsters, go somewhere else and repeat it until all is cleared.I'm not sure what Doom you played, but I certainly remember using the fact that monsters will approach after you've shot your weapon (ie, the noise factor), then waiting at the side of the wall for them to come. This was almost mandatory in early levels when you lacked the big guns and/or ammo and the number of enemies were too great to handle simultaneously (particularly tons of formers with their insta-hits). The fact that you didn't have to do it often was due to either most enemies tracking you regardless or most projectiles were easily dodged.
Now at least you have to clear out room per room, like Doom is supposed to be played.
Rather than simply reacting to ONLY the most recent noise, I think there should be a rank in importance of noises for each creature....Basically, the higher the threat the noise is, the more likely the monster is to check it out. Choosing between a barrel moving noise and a BFG noise? Guess what I'd choose to concentrate on.The buffer sounds like a great idea. I would, however, categorize most monsters in the "stupid" category, leaving (potentially) Barons/HKs, Arch-Viles, and formers as the intelligentsia. Of these, I'd rank Viles as smartest, then Barons, commandos, HKs, then the other formers (probably captain/sergeant/human, if they aren't all equal). It leaves some actual tactical differences aside from their somewhat predictable pathings. We could, in fact, go as far as to say that intelligent monsters can lead stupid but follower-type monsters (demons and lost souls come to mind, and imps specifically would follow HKs and Barons).
In fact, I'd even say that there could be a buffer with each and every noise heard recently for each creature. Hear me out on this: You hear a pistol shot (+X importance), you head towards it. For every step, the importance to you drops (to zero) until you decide that whatever did it would have moved on already (item is removed from the buffer). Then you hear a shotgun blast (+Y importance), and while heading towards it you hear a pistol shot (+X importance). Each creature type may have a different decay of importance for each sound (and I can see some mods really working with this) so you might follow the shotgun sound, but eventually that nagging pistol shot you heard earlier could be a lot more important.
Perhaps a better reason for the buffer idea is this: Hearing that shotgun blast might not be terribly important since you're investigating someone with a rocket launcher, but when you get to around where you heard the rocket explode you're going to want to check out the shotgun's sound since the rocket is a dead end.
We could break it down even further: Some enemies are stupid. No buffer. Simply check the importance of a new noise event against the importance of the noise being investigated. If it's higher - that's what we check. If it's lower, we ignore it. Some enemies are smart - they get a buffer system. Baron's of Hell and ArchViles just got that much meaner. My target dissapeared!?! Why YES I did hear something like someone teleporting nearby me. Let's check it out!
Level's acoustic level. While in the cave you can precisely hear from where sound is coming, in the maze in could be definitely problematic. Acoustic level could be a complicated calculation that depends from the placement of walls and open space size, or dependent from the level type. If it's big then you can't precisely find the source of the sound, resulting in big variety of places to search (maze level). If it's low, you can almost "see" the location of the sound (caves or hell city).Acoustics of a particular area are a nice little nuance that I'd love to see. It makes caves and arenas more deadly, but also somewhat easier (given you have some decent cover). Arenas, for instance, tend to contain a number of barrels, any of which can easily create a noisy diversion while you run away from it.
I would, however, categorize most monsters in the "stupid" category, leaving (potentially) Barons/HKs, Arch-Viles, and formers as the intelligentsia. Of these, I'd rank Viles as smartest, then Barons, commandos, HKs, then the other formers (probably captain/sergeant/human, if they aren't all equal).I supposed that formers went crazy because of the demons so they should not be too smart. Also, spiders and revenants do not seem to be too stupid.
I supposed that formers went crazy because of the demons so they should not be too smart. Also, spiders and revenants do not seem to be too stupid.
I'm not sure what Doom you played, but I certainly remember using the fact that monsters will approach after you've shot your weapon (ie, the noise factor), then waiting at the side of the wall for them to come.True but I'm not talking about how Doom technically worked here, I'm talking about how it's played. In Doom you don't just say "yo I'm here!" and wait for the monsters to come check you out, it's pretty much the opposite.
If nothing else it could be an interesting (and code heavy) challenge mode.It could even be a very simple version: monsters have no non-hostile pathing and ONLY react to either the player's presence or noise. That would, at least, make it change the gameplay enough to warrant the challenge option.
Also, the monster's limited line of sight is there for a reason right?
The line of sight also brings the intresting question of cateye, considering it would get hell of a nerf here.Monsters have a limited line of sight for the same reason that players have a limited line of sight: there isn't much of a tactical anything if all objects in a given room are visible the moment you step inside. As it stands, there's an initiative to abuse the line-of-sight conditions within the game's parameters, something which is pretty "meh" as a tactical excuse (boring for me, at least). Cateye, in the most open of areas, is practically a hack right now: tiptoeing until you see an enemy and killing it before it has the chance to fire, cover be damned. The fact that other monsters do not notice that this is going on when it's in their line of sight troubles me.