Wolfing Time

WE'VE TOTALLY MOVED!

2008-09-09T20:38:00.003+09:30

In the name of IM SO TOTALLY AWESOME THAT I SHOULD BOTTLE THE AWESOMENESS AND SELL IT, WolfingTime has been moved to a way cooler location.

Update your links and I'll see you there.

Klooni (Long Overdue)

2008-08-02T14:32:00.001+09:30

JAMES! YOU'RE LATE!

Prior to it's release, I was sent a preview copy of Codetech84 and Megabyte's 'Doom Clone', with the intention of having an article written and posted before the public started playing it.
Alas, I ran into trouble running Wolfenstein games, so the blog went on the backburner.
Now, obviously, I can write stuff again! So, here's Klooni!

---

So we start with the derogatory comment towards the maker of the game in respect to something that I found wrong with the game, or blow something out of proportion, James-style?

Can't do that. For what this is, it's fair good stuff.

Klooni is another game to join the ranks of other doom-based wolf mods, but what sets it apart from it's brothers is the sheer level of quality. Codetech84 and Megabyte went to great lengths to make the game as much like the original Doom as possible. And dammit if they didn't succeed. While Klooni doesn't cover things like "higher walls", (or as I found) utilizing the left shift key, the attention to detail in other area's is amazing.
I was completely infatuated with, of all things, the way bullets hit the walls if they missed an enemy. I sat there for a few solid minutes, just shooting the walls.

Vertical doors, toxic floor, and the range of enemies (not to mention how well Codetech84 got their behaviours to match the original Doom), all just enrich the Doom experience. I mean, they even got the automap implemented. I love automap.

Speaking of automaps (weeeee segue), I found the actual maps to be fair fun to explore. While I did get lost sometimes, it wasn't like a never-ending maze (TRICOB >:( ).

I know that I've only really touched the surface with this, but hey, I'm actually still playing this as I type (it's paused on the other computer approximately 20cm to the left), and I can't wait to see what else I find.

Since Klooni was made with the idea of being used as a base for mapsets, I might talk to CodeTech84 about giving it ago. I just wish that this might of come out earlier, so other people might of had the benefit of a quality base for their Doom remakes.

So you're shaking your head and brushing this aside while murmuring "Well, it's too bad this game's been out for AGES and I've FINISHED it TWICE.", to that I say calm down with the random capitalization, and who cares? I only just got around to playing it.

Return Of Dragons

2008-07-29T20:35:00.001+09:30

Ok, two things were pointed out to me by someone who will remain unnamed*. First off, I've been getting a little too into Nine Inch Nails, seemingly writing them into everything somehow. I promise that will stop.
Second off, that I'm in love with the idea of margin notes and those little explanation things at the bottom of pages and articles**. I can't promise I'll stop those.

Joshua Waight. This guy is a Wolf machine (like a sex machine, but with less sex and more DOS games). He just can't seem to stop bringing out and announcing new mods.

His latest released effort is in the form of Return Of Dragons, where you play a Dragon Moonbeast which is just called a Moonbeast. Here's something:

It's full powers come out on a full moon.
Some can transform at will.
Silver kills them.

Sounds like a Dragon Moonbeast is just a werewolf...a scaly werewolf.

Anyway, for this one I just gave it a quick run through because I have had a killer headache for two days (still have it***).

MAZES! CURSEEEEEEEEEE YOUUUUUUUUUUUUU! PET HATE PET HATE PET HATE!

"I WILL BATH IN YOUR BLOOD!"

Why is everything I pick up drank? I picked up ammo, drank. I picked up drink, drank.

I got annoyed that he makes all these mods, but never thought of expanding some of the gameplay. Your starting weapon would look so much better if it actually shot projectiles instead of the shrinking sprite effect. Much more fun.
However, I guess he's allo-wait, my opinion, I can complain if I want!

PROJECTILESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

I swear, I might actually write something more legible later...just not tonight. HEADACHE. Forgive me.

*Spoiler: It was me.
**I love you little explanation thingies
***ARRRGGGGH!

The Lost World Part 8 (Demo)

2008-07-27T15:38:00.001+09:30

Oh god. Richter Belmont. I remember when he went by the name of Kyo Kusanagi, and all the Wolfenstein mods he pumped out faster than Nine Inch Nails pumps out albums*. Resident Evil, The Rise Of Jason (and the next subsequent 69 versions of it), and all the Spear Of Dreams series.
The maps were ripped off, the coding sloppily done, and the sprites taken from other games without permission. It was terrible.

As Richter Belmont, he has released a number of games under the heading of the "Lost World Saga". The games seem a lot better. Much higher quality, though still not the best.

The modder has released his first effort on the Wolf4SDL engine; a test version of The Lost World Part 8.

The game is two levels which sees you walking through a forest with relative ease; walk a fair bit, shoot the one enemy, then repeat. Collect souls which seem to make up sets, but which I never really worked out the purpose of (mainly because I finished the level by accident before collecting them all >_>).
Also it seems Richter has BJ talking to himself. First step on the way to madness if you ask me.

Well, next to fighting weird gun wielding monsters who aren't nearly as graphically refined as the weapons that have been borrowed for the game.

So I wander through a snowy maze and there are monsters everywher- WHY IS THERE AN OFFICER WANDERING AROUND WITH THE MONSTERS?!?

This is the only human character in the two level demo. What the? Well, he WAS the only human character in there...I didn't have the chance to take a screen shot before killing him. It was all so sudden. Just, "BAM LOOK AT ME IM A BAD GUY WHO ISN'T A MONS-" *BLAM*.

I really, truly, wished these two levels were a bit more entertaining. They were very un-thrilling and didn't give me anything to look forward to, except for maybe a manual so I can find out what the hell the game is meant to be about.

As a final note, I laughed when I was able to start playing Episode 2 of the original Wolfenstein. Richter, it helps to disable the other episodes when making a demo :P

*Three albums in 6 months. Wow.

Resistant

2008-07-18T20:50:00.001+09:30

First off, love the use of a Nine Inch Nails song on the menu. Good taste son, good taste.

Second thing I actually noticed was the lack of several menu items; Where on Earth do I go to set my view size? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME!
But when I got into the game I immediately saw why that option was gone; the game is made to be full screen, with no status bar apparent at all. Instead, Warthower has opted for using simple printed numbers on the left and right bottom corners to represent health and ammo. Nice.

So apparently, the objective is to kill a heap of Christianity-hating monks as they run around and shoot their guns off. Racist as this may be, but I immediately thought Taliban for some reason. God I'm a freak.

I found the game nice but a bit offputting, maybe because I'm still feeling the aftershock of WolfDX, or because I'm mildly frustrated I can't get normal Wolf4SDL to play. I don't know, but that doesn't change anything.

---

Looking back through the DHW threads, it saddens me that alot of old threads from 2006 and earlier appears to be gone. Some of the best discussions happened back then, and while they need to be trimmed to keep the server working and all that, it sucks that I can't say, go back to an old thread and have a laugh at the things that people (read: me) used to say.

WolfDX

2008-07-18T13:37:00.001+09:30

I love this.

I decided as my first mod to try, to give Tricob's WolfDX a whirl. I really got into it.

It's my first time playing a Wolf4SDL game, so I wasn't sure what to expect apart from "HO HO HO THIS PLAYS ON VISTA WEEEEEEEEEEE". Maybe some improved handling? Smoother play? I had no idea.

So, loading it up, the first thing I noticed was the menu in a way, seemed smaller; like it didn't take up the whole screen. That was interesting.

When I loaded up the game, the actual game screen seemed larger; much larger.
The gameplay for WolfDX was pretty fun for me. I absolutely loved the idea of putting items on tables, and the hint bubbles were a fair unique way to get across new game features and such for the first level. The new features managed to improve the game, But it still felt alot like Wolf3D...in a good way.
For the record, if you're reading this Tricob; I hate mazes. I spent at least 10 minutes roaming the massive maze, collecting treasure, eventually stumbling upon the gatling gun, and so forth, before finally finding my way out. EVIL!

The wierd thing is, halfway through the maze, the game's colours went haywire, and everything was rainbow. The only way it seemed to overcome this was to either minimize and maximize the game (although the colours eventually warped again), or to go to the menu then back again. I'm not sure if this is a Wolf4SDL problem with my computer or if it's WolfDX, but it was interesting none the less.

Anyway, if the full version is even as slightly entertaining as this, I cannot wait.

IT IS TIME!!!

2008-07-17T19:53:00.001+09:30

YES! I have the new (old) computer:

Check it out! Here it is set up on my desk alongside my laptop. It's a little cramped, but still :)

Yes, I read Questionable Content. Yes, I have pink curtains. Yes, I rock.
Unbelievably awesome. Anyway, Once the computer is cleaned of all the useless shit on it, be prepared for some ACTUAL WOLFENSTEIN ON THIS THING.

TIME TO GET THIS PARTY STARTED.

Yet another pointless post about progress to getting to writing about Wolfenstein again and I don't think I can make this title any longerrrrrrr

2008-07-14T23:07:00.001+09:30

*Cough*

So, I've moved back to the Mother's domain. At the end of the week, I shall have the fabled computer capable of playing Wolfenstein and all your mods, so stay tuned! I'll get back to it once it's all set up.
I'll probably finish these uneventful posts off with a picture of the computer once it's set up.
Didn't really need to post this, but I really feel I need to get back into the habit of posting a bit more often.

Onto a mildly more Wolf-related topic, it's interesting to see how much the Wolf community is evolving. I've only been visiting the DieHardWolfer occasionally, but despite the community growing smaller, it's great to see the way the ability to mod the game is growing and that the game is becoming more sophisticated (particularly thanks to Ripper's converting the game to SDL), and that the message board's administrators are accommodating for it. It's awesome.

Long Time No See

2008-06-24T22:23:00.002+09:30

WOAH! A POST! AN UPDATE! OMG!

I hate making excuses, but the reason for the lack of updates for the past few months was due to an inability to get Wolfenstein and it's modifications to run on either of my computers.

Now it's running on one of them (it runs on this one but without sound >_< THAT SOUNDS ABOUT RIGHT), so chances are you'll see some new articles.

Go me, I am your god.

Oh yes, god.

Bow.

On a completely unrelated topic, listening to some music from SongSwap.

<_<
>_>

NO I AM NOT ADVERTISING!

Triumph Of The Will

2007-10-22T22:02:00.001+09:30

Surprisingly, apart from a graphical patch (which isn't really that effective), I've never really played a game that used a majority of MAC sprites. Triumph Of The Will, is apparently the third in a series of "Mac-enstein" mods. This part of the series was made by the team of Andy Nonymous and ponz, and was released at the end of August.

Enough formal introductions! The first thing that was apparent upon beginning (apart from OMG THEY USED MAC SPRITES! WHO'D OF THOUGHT), was that the game utilized High Resolution sprites, giving off a more polished look. 10 more seconds into the game:

I'm sorry, but no matter how often I see out-of-place wall tiles, it just never ceases to irritate me. While it is of course up to the author, I would of much rather seen the whole room wooden, or maybe edited sprites so those images are on the stone; so at least its consistent. Despite that I found the maziness (a new word!) of it intriguing. Looping pushwalls seem a bit unnecessary but I'm not sure of what Andy and ponz were aiming for.
Anyway, continuing on, the enemies are plentiful, and there's alot of ammo. However, there is no alert as to the fact you're taking damage. Your character is completely oblivious to the bullets entering your body; it seems someone *glares* removed the red flash you see when you get damaged. This forced me to try to keep an eye on my statusbar, which is hard when I'm trying to concentrate on the gunfight I am in the middle of.
Also, this is probably a bug present in the Wolfenstein Engine ITSELF, but I found on multiple occasions the doors literally disappeared when I ventured to open it at the same time as an enemy.
Unfortunately I'm making this brief as I have work tomorrow, I'm sorry to anyone who wanted to see a full blown review with tonnes of screenshots and fireworks and references to google, but yeah, more next time I promise.

In closing, I would like to mention that due to the design of level 1, and my own moronic-ness (I believe I just coined ANOTHER new word, GO ME), it took me close to 15 minutes to find the key needed to progress through to the next level.

DooM: Death Doesn't Wait (Full)

2007-10-21T00:10:00.001+09:30

The full version was released within the last 24 hours, and I THANK GOD there was a ReadMe file. It cleared up the purpose of the game for me; a remake of the original Doom levels. Playing the first level now I'm able to go OH! Mainly because it has changed ALOT. The basics of the level are the same but the enemy placements match the original Doom more. However moving on from that, lets go through what I mentioned when I played the demo:

B.J References. Looks like our friend Franz actually went and eliminated references to B.J:

Good job to hi-WHOOPS missed a spot

But we can blame that on the fact that no real menu editing went on; the original Signon screen, Wolfenstein music, and overall menu, remain. Only things like the episode menu and the "title" of each section have changed.
The little ammo bug has been fixed and I can't pick up ammo when I have 99, but each clip gives me TWELVE shots. As such reaching 99 ammo takes almost no time at all.
Second grade effects; ALL UNCHANGED. Running across killer slime has never been easier, since it DOESNT HURT YOU :D
Still minor code changes. No attempt was actually made to fix up scenarios like the one pointed out in the last entry:

Also I noticed if I stood at the angle needed for those "wall" sprites (STRAIGH 90 DEGREES LOL) to look even slightly decent, it becomes apparent that he forgot to implement a certain fix making the effect look wrong no matter what angle my character stood at. SHOCKING.

I checked the readme to see who was responsible for the shocking coding:

++++++Credits++++++

Thanks to Id Software for DooM.

Thanks to:
Lollo93
Mr.Glue
as beta-testers.

Me for source code editing.

HAHA! It was ME! Me was responsible! We must eliminate me from the Wolfing Comm-wait...NO! Not me, Me. Since I wasn't sure who this illusive Me was, since he is not an active member of DHW. If anyone has any details about Me, please contact me, so we can use the information sent to me to talk to Me and attempt to resolve the lack of coding done by Me in Death Doesn't Wait.

Door images were changed without thought and now they open the wrong way; meaning the door handle is on the right and the door opens as if it were on the left. Crazy.
A couple of things before I finish (this is brief and unfulfilling I know, but its 15 minutes from midnight so slack shall be cut) Franz made the effort to swap the OVERSIZED chaingun back to slot 4 and the single-barreled shotgun (which happens to shoot two shots in a row) to slot 3.
Oversized they are, with the weapons WAY too big to be held by the hero...To match it the enemies are too small for some reason, with the imp being a tiny thing half the size it should be.

To exit, I ask if anyone finds this "Google" item mentioned in the Readme please take a screenshot, I'd be interested to see it. Rumor has it the item looks like:

Any information on the whereabouts is welcomed.

OH GOD CORNY JOKES?

Wolfenstein Reloaded

2007-10-14T21:57:00.001+09:30

The people at id first planned to create Wolf 3D as a more complex game. They were considering more tactical features like dragging dead bodies, stripping and changing uniforms, silent attacks, etc.. I guess the creators at id really liked the original Wolfenstein 2D games and wanted their 3D versions to have the same intellectual appeal as their predecessors. They say that although the above feature codes were completed, they nevertheless dropped it because they drastically slowed down the gameplay and made the controls too sophisticated for a mouse or joystick.

That interesting tidbit is found here. It creates a picture of a more sophisticated game, with more strategy than run and shoot. However as also pointed out, these and more features (other sources mention things like planting mines) were dropped because they made the game too complicated.

I always wondered if someone would get around to basically REMAKING the game, with pretty much the same storyline and all that, but with all the features that hit the cutting room floor, and then some.

While it has been released for over a year, I had never really gotten around to playing Codetech and Megabyte's mod Wolfenstein Reloaded. I had followed production since it was announced on the DHW Forums, but after release it was like "I'll download it later".

Later evidently meant 13 months, as I only just downloaded the game last week. Playing it, I was blown away by some of the "original" features. It was apparent that this was a remake of the original Wolfenstein storyline, but almost everything else had changed. You start in a jail cell where a guard walks in to check on you. Killing him, you attempt to escape your nazi-captors clutches.

While it starts similarly, there are many substantial differences. For example, in Wolf3d you start off with just the basic guards stopping you, and the game gets more difficult as time goes on, with new enemies as you get deeper. In Reloaded, you are thrown straight into the action, with many types of enemy within the first 2 minutes. The maps occasionally seem reminiscent of the original (mainly in E1L1 with the jails), but they are really engaging and interesting.

Even though you could easily go in guns blazing, the game is obviously made with strategy and stealth tactics in mind. Ammo is surprisingly scarce in that I found myself more often than not running out of SMG ammo and having to rely solely on the rifle for awhile. One of the great things about the game is Codetech added the ability to pick up the dead bodies of your victims and dump them elsewhere, to prevent patrolling guards from being alerted by your presence. This is a great feature and I am personally surprised it took until this mod for it to be implemented; it adds a great element to gameplay.

Weapons were really well thought out too. While the pistol and SMG seem normal as compared to other mods, the rifle and chaingun have been given disadvantages to combat their power, such as taking awhile to load between shots. I would talk more but there are no doubt others who haven't played yet who don't want it ruined for them.

I'm yet to complete the game, but I can see myself sticking with it. I haven't enjoyed playing a mod this much since Orb.

As an added note:

We think we should tell that we will expand our "Reloaded" theme with two more titles. We decided to remake Spear of Destiny and it's first mission pack Return to Danger. Key maps have allready been designed in our minds and you will definately see some interesting new features.
So as of now, we reserve titles Spear of Destiny Reloaded and Return to Danger Reloaded...

That is some good news from April 2007 from Codetech, which leaves me waiting expectantly. If WR was good, surely SODR will be just as excellent.

As yet another added note while I'm here, another quote from yesterday by Codetech:

But it has not been all quiet after WR, there's something that not many know about but it should become public next weekend. Spare your questions though, my lips are sealed.

No clues on what this secret is, but I can't wait to find out.

NB: No screenshots this time, I'm trying to work out why they wouldn't work.

Evil Dead Trailer

2007-10-14T00:15:00.001+09:30

A trailer I found on Youtube for a Wolfenstein mod based on the "Evil Dead" movies. Its pretty well animated for something done in MS Paint. The author of the video and game is Mäx (maker of Sensenmann and the newly released Northern Darkness). Being a lover of horror movies, I'm excited to see what comes of it. According to comments posted to the video, Mäx believes it'll be ready and released next year.

Youtube It Up!

2007-10-13T23:19:00.001+09:30

Just a good video to watch of the first level of Blake Stone. Whoever is playing, played well. Well, until he died anyway.

DooM: Death Doesn't Wait (Demo)

2007-10-13T20:56:00.001+09:30

I downloaded this and it's been sitting on my desktop for a few days, so I finally decided to give it a whirl.

The first thing I noticed was that while the statusbar character had been changed to that of the DOOM counterpart, it seems that Z. Franz forgot to remove/replace other B.J Blazkowicz references:

Shave and a haircut (and a dye) two bits. ANYWAY actual gameplay. Once again I found ammo placement to be WAY too generous, not that it did anything since ammo gets collected regardless of whether I hold max ammo or not. There were lots of enemies which sometimes made things a bit frantic and I almost died more than once which was actually pretty cool, having to be more careful and such. I was disappointed that the author hasn't tried to make it look closer to doom, opting for second grade effects:

I gather that's an attempt at sludgy water. not only does it look clumsy, but unlike what former-doom players expect, the "sludge" sprites do no damage.

In one or two of the large areas you find that there are so many objects in view that some of them disappear.

Playing the game, it's obvious that there are only minor code changes implemented so far, however with some of the scenes that have been attempted, it seems that Franz might want to do some more if he wants them to look good:

The above screenshot is a perfect example of this point; if this is to look decent, Death Doesn't Wait needs to have directional sprites installed, or the scene needs to be thought out differently.

I'd almost accuse Franz of rushing this mod, but once again, being a demo, I'm hoping this is an EXTREMELY early version. In these days of easily implemented visual and gameplay related enhancements, one would think that modders would take advantage of all these discoveries.

Fingers crossed that Franz does. For now, I'm going to go shoot some midget-imps with my strangely double firing single barreled shotgun which sounds alot like the chaingun from the original Wolfenstein.

Super Shooter Demo

2007-10-07T15:14:00.001+09:30

I decided to give this demo by 'Dzialo' a go. Unfortunately it takes a bit to impress me, and on the whole Super Shooter didn't really take my fancy.

While I mostly enjoyed the level layouts, ammo and health placement seemed a little over the top, which would be to cater the over the top ammunition and health limited of 999 and 300 respectively. I gathered that these unusual limits were to cater for the large clusters of enemies that filled sections of the levels. However I found that such ammo levels were unnecessary; Dzialo's enemies had little health and took only a few shots each to kill. Even the bosses (which I assume were mini bosses) were fairly easy to kill.
I found the classic disappearing door-sides problem came up a few times, and some of what I assume to be the jail cells had inconsistent back walls (grey stone everywhere but the backwalls of a fair few cells were a neat blue bricked panel) which wrecked the atmosphere of the areas.

I found it unusual that of all things, BJ would end up fighting himself countless times, and with a lack of readme, ReadThis!, or manual, there is no explanation offered apart from all the polish, which I am unable to read and as such have no idea what it is all about.
Personally I found the recycled graphics seeming lack of plot and randomless unfulfilling, but I guess that's what you would expect with such a short game. I can only hope that if and when the full game is released such things are improved.

Hi me!

Hi me...again. You seem to have gained a little weight.