Chaosforge Forum

DoomRL => Bug Reports => Topic started by: Karry on February 12, 2011, 19:43

Title: [0.9.9.2] BFG ball sequence
Post by: Karry on February 12, 2011, 19:43
Not 100% sure its a bug, only 99,9% sure, but in this version BFG works in exactly opposite manner than the previous one. When i shoot it, all the barrels and walls and enemies around the supposed point of impact blow up/die, and THEN the plasma ball comes out and flies to the target point, creating a wave.
Title: Re: [0.9.9.2] BFG ball sequence
Post by: Gargulec on February 12, 2011, 19:50
Not as much a bug as a quirk of the asynchronous animation system as it is written now- it has been like that from its earliest days.
Title: Re: [0.9.9.2] BFG ball sequence
Post by: Karry on February 12, 2011, 20:05
Call it what you will, if in any FPS i shot a missile and an enemy died before actual projectile even spawned - i'd call it a bug.
Title: Re: [0.9.9.2] BFG ball sequence
Post by: Kornel Kisielewicz on February 12, 2011, 22:40
in any FPS

Apparently DoomRL is not an FPS. Not the last time I checked ;).

This is not a bug, but an effect of overlaying animations over a turnbased game. If we are to have DoomRL's relatively balanced combat system unchanged, then the effects of a end of turn need to be calculated in full before we start animating them. That in turn due to screen update makes the animations overlay over a end of turn situation.
Title: Re: [0.9.9.2] BFG ball sequence
Post by: Glu Petrovan on February 12, 2011, 23:59
It correctly implemented. The truth will have to get used to the changes in gameplay.
Title: Re: [0.9.9.2] BFG ball sequence
Post by: Karry on February 13, 2011, 23:21
Okay, depending on circumstances this effect can be explicitly present for all weapons. Mostly its pretty obvious on BFG, but at times even pistols will kill an enemy before shots are spawned.

Did ANYONE playtested this before putting it out ? At least yourself, Kornel ?  No ? Such an obvious bug, and it was simply ignored ?
Title: Re: [0.9.9.2] BFG ball sequence
Post by: Kornel Kisielewicz on February 13, 2011, 23:31
Karry, did you even try to read my reply?
Title: Re: [0.9.9.2] BFG ball sequence
Post by: rchandra on February 13, 2011, 23:37
is it possible to calculate the result, then animate, then show the result / refresh map?
Title: Re: [0.9.9.2] BFG ball sequence
Post by: Game Hunter on February 14, 2011, 08:20
The asynchronous animation is kinda weird, yeah, but it's a lot better than the first draft, which was pretty much always the result happening, recording, and appearing before the action. Personally I like the new style better just because things can play out a lot faster than they used to (such as Arachnotrons firing all at the same time) and the animation after/during the calculation is something you get used to. It's "buggy" in a visual sense but it's running as intended right now: if Kornel thinks he can improve on the engine, that's probably another big project.

It's pretty awkward when you die before you hear the bullet that killed you, though. (Basically you hear the projectile just as the mortem comes into view. Given the unique nature of death, this case might be "fixable" if you wanted to try.)
Title: Re: [0.9.9.2] BFG ball sequence
Post by: Kamikaze14 on February 14, 2011, 11:15
I'm assuming this probably was already thought, but you never know.  Would it be possible to give different types of actions different...let's call them priority levels and make it so all animations of a high priority would happen, then the next highest level, and so on?
Title: Re: [0.9.9.2] BFG ball sequence
Post by: RogerN on February 14, 2011, 12:47
One of the nice qualities of the old, synchronous animation system was cause-and-effect were visually obvious.  Imp fireball explodes barrel X, which explodes barrel Y, which blasts a hole in the wall, which gives LOS to an Arch-Vile who then kills you.  Without knowing the order of events which cause the ultimate result, players may end up thinking to themselves "How the heck did THAT just happen?"  Learning from your mistakes becomes harder because causality is no longer obvious.

Also, I used to really like shooting stuff in levels full of barrels and then watching explosions go off for 30 seconds in a giant chain reaction :)

Finally, I just noticed that Dual Gunner is a little tough to use with asynchronous animation.  Both pistols animate at the same time, so there's no visual indication of whether you just fired one bullet or two.
Title: Re: [0.9.9.2] BFG ball sequence
Post by: rchandra on February 14, 2011, 21:28
On the plus side of the new system, Mancubi and barrels (individually or together) can be absolutely terrifying - it's so much more startling!  My last run needed more breaks to calm down than usual.