• Retro shooters

    From boraxman@21:1/101 to All on Sun Feb 13 12:45:02 2022
    Just wondering here if anyone has played "retro shooters". These are ones which are made now, but are done in the style of 90's shooters, with limited graphics, only style gameplay and classic level design.

    Two I've got are Ion Fury and Dusk. Ion Fury is a build engine game (like Duke Nukem 3D, Blood, Shadow Warrior). It pushes the engine hard, though some visual tricks that were in Shadow Warrior such as transparent water weren't used. It had some modern FPS tropes in it, but ultimately quite fun and a blast.

    Playing through Dusk now, and it is clearly inspired by Quake, Hexen and horror based ones. It's built on a modern engine, but with the graphics and level design deliberately hobbled to make it look old-school. Perhaps they models are too chunky and amateurish for my liking, but its really immersive.

    There are other 'retro shooter' titles which I don't have yet, but I'm keen to explore them.

    Anyone else played these?

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  • From Gamgee@21:2/138 to boraxman on Sat Feb 12 22:18:00 2022
    boraxman wrote to All <=-

    Just wondering here if anyone has played "retro shooters". These
    are ones which are made now, but are done in the style of 90's
    shooters, with limited graphics, only style gameplay and classic
    level design.

    Two I've got are Ion Fury and Dusk. Ion Fury is a build engine
    game (like Duke Nukem 3D, Blood, Shadow Warrior). It pushes the
    engine hard, though some visual tricks that were in Shadow
    Warrior such as transparent water weren't used. It had some
    modern FPS tropes in it, but ultimately quite fun and a blast.

    Playing through Dusk now, and it is clearly inspired by Quake,
    Hexen and horror based ones. It's built on a modern engine, but
    with the graphics and level design deliberately hobbled to make
    it look old-school. Perhaps they models are too chunky and
    amateurish for my liking, but its really immersive.

    There are other 'retro shooter' titles which I don't have yet,
    but I'm keen to explore them.

    Anyone else played these?

    I have not, but would like to.

    What OS do they run on, and where can they be acquired? Free?



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  • From boraxman@21:1/101 to Gamgee on Sun Feb 13 20:36:05 2022
    I have not, but would like to.

    What OS do they run on, and where can they be acquired? Free?


    They aren't free, but they are relatively cheap for a game. They run on Windows and Linux and I think also Mac OS X.

    I have the Linux versions of these games.

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  • From Mewcenary@21:1/189 to boraxman on Sun Feb 13 09:19:00 2022
    boraxman wrote to All <=-

    Playing through Dusk now, and it is clearly inspired by Quake, Hexen
    and horror based ones. It's built on a modern engine, but with the graphics and level design deliberately hobbled to make it look
    old-school. Perhaps they models are too chunky and amateurish for my liking, but its really immersive.

    I've heard good things about Dusk! Will edge it further up my 'Play Next' list...

    I did enjoy playing through Black Mesa recently: A very well executed remake of Half Life. A lot of love has gone into this one.

    Mewcenary.


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  • From Nightfox@21:1/137 to boraxman on Tue Mar 1 14:25:55 2022
    Re: Retro shooters
    By: boraxman to All on Sun Feb 13 2022 12:45 pm

    Just wondering here if anyone has played "retro shooters". These are ones which are made now, but are done in the style of 90's shooters, with limited graphics, only style gameplay and classic level design.

    There's one I've played recently called Xonotic, which is an open-source arena shooter game styled after Unreal Tournament. It looks like it has been developed since 2011, but I just heard about it within the last year. One thing I think is cool about it is that it's cross-platform, and they have versions for Windows and Linux (and perhaps Mac too). And it's free. Sometimes I think it's fun to be able to go in and play a couple rounds of a game like that online.
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  • From Al@21:4/106 to Nightfox on Thu Mar 3 17:20:08 2022
    There's one I've played recently called Xonotic, which is an open-source arena shooter game styled after Unreal Tournament. It looks like it has been developed since 2011, but I just heard about it within the last year.

    Xonotic is pretty good. It is a continuation of Nexuiz when development stopped. Nexuiz is good also. Nexuiz is from before 2009 or so.

    I still play the original UT from time to time. :)

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  • From Nightfox@21:1/137 to Al on Thu Mar 3 18:27:53 2022
    Re: Retro shooters
    By: Al to Nightfox on Thu Mar 03 2022 05:20 pm

    Xonotic is pretty good. It is a continuation of Nexuiz when development stopped. Nexuiz is good also. Nexuiz is from before 2009 or so.

    I still play the original UT from time to time. :)

    I enjoyed the original UT when it first came out and played it for a while.
    I was playing Unreal Tournament 3 for quite a while, but after a while I logged in one day and most of the multiplayer servers I had been playing on were gone. I think they still appear occasionally though, but it seems online activity for UT3 has dropped quite a bit.

    Nightfox
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  • From Al@21:4/106 to Nightfox on Thu Mar 3 19:21:10 2022
    I enjoyed the original UT when it first came out and played it for a while.

    I installed UT again recently from a PKGBUILD I found on the Archlinux AUR. It includes a number of updates. I was surprised it was still being maintained.

    The maps from the game and bonus packs are well done, a lot of fun to play. I haven't checked out any online servers but will do that when time permits.

    I was playing Unreal Tournament 3 for quite a while, but after a while I logged in one day and most of the multiplayer servers I had been playing on were gone. I think they still appear occasionally though, but it seems online activity fo UT3 has dropped quite a bit.

    I bought UT3 right after it was released. It was said/thought at the time there would be linux binaries for UT3 but it never happened for some kind of legal reasons. They were not included on the DVD.

    I can play UT3 on steam but I never enjoyed it as much as the other UT offerings. I still play UT2003/2004 at times, also great fun.

    I see a PKGBUILD also for the new UT4 engine but I am not sure how to get any game data for it or what games it supports. I'll have to look into that more.

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  • From Nightfox@21:1/137 to Al on Fri Mar 4 09:28:31 2022
    Re: Retro shooters
    By: Al to Nightfox on Thu Mar 03 2022 07:21 pm

    I bought UT3 right after it was released. It was said/thought at the time there would be linux binaries for UT3 but it never happened for some kind of legal reasons. They were not included on the DVD.

    I can play UT3 on steam but I never enjoyed it as much as the other UT offerings. I still play UT2003/2004 at times, also great fun.

    I see a PKGBUILD also for the new UT4 engine but I am not sure how to get any game data for it or what games it supports. I'll have to look into that more.

    I don't really remember what differences there were between the original UT and UT3. Maybe a better graphics engine? I do remember the rocket launcher behaving differently - I think in later versions of UT, you couldn't load as many rockets to fire at the same time with the alternate fire button, I think?

    Also, I don't know if it was just me, but over time, I wasn't as good with the sniper rifle as I used to be. With the original UT, there were some maps that had spots that were good for using the sniper rifle, and I used to be pretty good at that even when the opponents were fairly far away.

    At one point, I found a couple UT3 servers that were playing some classic UT maps, and I enjoyed playing those.

    Also, I thought I had read somewhere that Steam supposedly allows playing some Windows games in Linux, but I'm not sure how well it works.

    Nightfox
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  • From Al@21:4/106 to Nightfox on Fri Mar 4 10:39:02 2022
    I don't really remember what differences there were between the original UT and UT3. Maybe a better graphics engine?

    It probably was an improved engine but I never liked the way the maps in UT3 looked so I haven't spent a lot of time in UT3.

    I do remember the rocket launcher behaving differently - I think in later versions of UT, you couldn't load as many rockets to fire at the same time with the alternate fire button, I think?

    The alternate fire in UT is a grenade launcher and in UT2003+ you can launch three rockets in a tight circle or a wider field. I don't remember if that changed in UT3.

    Also, I don't know if it was just me, but over time, I wasn't as good with the sniper rifle as I used to be. With the original UT, there were some maps that had spots that were good for using the sniper rifle, and I used to be pretty good at that even when the opponents were fairly far away.

    The sniper rifle is deadly but you become a sitting duck so you have to hide well!

    At one point, I found a couple UT3 servers that were playing some classic
    UT maps, and I enjoyed playing those.

    There are quite a few maps and map packs for the UT games. mapraider.com is a good source.

    One of my favourites is a DM-Roughinery (from UT2004) remake for UT. It is pretty much the same map but for UT. It's very well done.

    Also, I thought I had read somewhere that Steam supposedly allows playing some Windows games in Linux, but I'm not sure how well it works.

    When I log into steam with the native linux client I can only access games that run natively on linux, like the valve games.

    In order to run UT3 I have to log into steam with the windows steam client under wine. I haven't used wine for many things but UT3 works well with it.

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  • From Mewcenary@21:1/189 to Al on Fri Mar 4 20:28:49 2022
    Re: Retro shooters
    By: Al to Nightfox on Fri Mar 04 2022 10:39 am

    When I log into steam with the native linux client I can only access games that run natively on linux, like the valve games.

    In order to run UT3 I have to log into steam with the windows steam client under wine. I haven't used wine for many things but
    UT3 works well with it.

    Linux is also the underlying architecture of the incoming Steam Deck handheld console.

    Windows continues to be the dominant market, but more games over time are also targeting Linux. The modern game engines make this sort of targeting easier than it was before.

    Mewcenary.
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  • From Nightfox@21:1/137 to Al on Fri Mar 4 12:53:09 2022
    Re: Retro shooters
    By: Al to Nightfox on Fri Mar 04 2022 10:39 am

    I do remember the rocket launcher behaving differently - I think in
    later versions of UT, you couldn't load as many rockets to fire at the
    same time with the alternate fire button, I think?

    The alternate fire in UT is a grenade launcher and in UT2003+ you can launch three rockets in a tight circle or a wider field. I don't remember if that changed in UT3.

    I don't remember a grenade launcher in UT, but now I seem to remember the original UT would let you load up to 5 rockets, and it seemed they decreased that to 3 for UT3.

    When I log into steam with the native linux client I can only access games that run natively on linux, like the valve games.

    In order to run UT3 I have to log into steam with the windows steam client under wine. I haven't used wine for many things but UT3 works well with it.

    That's cool that UT3 runs under Wine.

    Nightfox
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  • From boraxman@21:1/101 to Al on Sun Mar 13 12:15:44 2022
    Xonotic is pretty good. It is a continuation of Nexuiz when development stopped. Nexuiz is good also. Nexuiz is from before 2009 or so.

    I still play the original UT from time to time. :)

    I have played that a little, though hard to find good games in Australia with others. Some nice addon levels for that which I think is the games real strength. Be sure to check them out.

    Cube is another one, the game is a little fast paced, but again, some interesting levels.

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  • From Al@21:4/106 to boraxman on Sat Mar 12 18:05:32 2022
    I still play the original UT from time to time. :)

    I have played that a little, though hard to find good games in Australia with others. Some nice addon levels for that which I think is the games real strength. Be sure to check them out.

    I am always amazed when I play UT at how well it still works and looks. I haven't played online in years, I'll have to check out the servers.

    Cube is another one, the game is a little fast paced, but again, some interesting levels.

    I few years ago I download and played cube from prebuilt binaries and was also suprised at how well it ran.

    assualtcube is another very fun game based on the cube engine.

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  • From bbsing@21:1/172 to boraxman on Mon Mar 21 20:45:57 2022
    Just wondering here if anyone has played "retro shooters". These are
    ones which are made now, but are done in the style of 90's shooters,
    with limited graphics, only style gameplay and classic level design.

    Hi boraxman,

    For the olden days Heretic is one I liked. It is a doom like game but as a magic user/wizard. Its levels are very nice looking. I think its free for the shareware. I have the shareware WAD file. I typically run it with chocolate-heretic for linux.

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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to bbsing on Mon Mar 21 20:21:58 2022
    Re: Re: Retro shooters
    By: bbsing to boraxman on Mon Mar 21 2022 08:45 pm

    Just wondering here if anyone has played "retro shooters". These are ones which are made now, but are done in the style of 90's shooters, with limited graphics, only style gameplay and classic level design.

    Hi boraxman,

    For the olden days Heretic is one I liked. It is a doom like game but as a magic user/wizard. Its levels are very nice looking. I think its free for th shareware. I have the shareware WAD file. I typically run it with chocolate-heretic for linux.

    Heretic is quite nice. I like it lots because it improves upon Doom without breaking havoc with the engine.

    The weapons feel a bit samey to me, which is a bit anti-thematic. In Doom, you could feel the difference between a shotgun, a machinegun and a rocketlauncher. In Heretic most weapons just feel like they are just another wand that zaps. However, the mechanics with the powerups were AMAZING since you could supercharge your weapon and THEN it would feel it was its own thing.

    The exception was the Gauntlet. The Gaunlet was also unique, but with a powerup it became a beast. You could defeat a freaking minotaur with that, without bodering to evade his beating.

    Heretic's expansion was great too.

    The only downside to Heretic is that its storyline does not end unti Heretic 2, which is a 3D game with not much in common with either Heretic or Hexen.

    Hexen is probably a better game, with its puzzles and survival horror theme, but Heretic always was nicer if you wanted brainless, crazy fun.

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  • From boraxman@21:1/101 to bbsing on Tue Mar 22 22:44:05 2022
    Hi boraxman,

    For the olden days Heretic is one I liked. It is a doom like game but as
    a magic user/wizard. Its levels are very nice looking. I think its free for the shareware. I have the shareware WAD file. I typically run it with chocolate-heretic for linux.


    It is very much Doom reskinned, I do mean to play it one day but the dark, gritty demonic Doom appealed more than Heretic, which appeared a bit colourful and the magic/wizard theme wasn't as appealing. Dooms guns boom, whereas with Heretic they go "pew pew pew".

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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to boraxman on Tue Mar 22 04:53:29 2022
    Re: Re: Retro shooters
    By: boraxman to bbsing on Tue Mar 22 2022 10:44 pm

    Hi boraxman,

    For the olden days Heretic is one I liked. It is a doom like game but a a magic user/wizard. Its levels are very nice looking. I think its free for the shareware. I have the shareware WAD file. I typically run it wi chocolate-heretic for linux.


    It is very much Doom reskinned, I do mean to play it one day but the dark, gritty demonic Doom appealed more than Heretic, which appeared a bit colourf and the magic/wizard theme wasn't as appealing. Dooms guns boom, whereas wi Heretic they go "pew pew pew".

    Heretic is dark as heck. It is a bit more colorful, but not that much. Some levels are crazy, and the boss fights are more memorable than Doom.

    Still I agree with you on the weapons. Hexen did a lot better with their weapon implementation. Each Hexen weapon felt unique. Bashing a bad dude with a glowing axe felt different than electrocuting him with an Arc of Death of crushing his face with a morning star.

    I loved the Wizzard because his base weapon could pass through enemies and hit many of them in a row. It felt like a cheap "pew pew pew" weapon but it was still great fun.

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  • From boraxman@21:1/101 to Arelor on Wed Mar 23 00:00:05 2022
    It is very much Doom reskinned, I do mean to play it one day but the da gritty demonic Doom appealed more than Heretic, which appeared a bit co and the magic/wizard theme wasn't as appealing. Dooms guns boom, where Heretic they go "pew pew pew".

    Heretic is dark as heck. It is a bit more colorful, but not that much. Some levels are crazy, and the boss fights are more memorable than Doom.

    Still I agree with you on the weapons. Hexen did a lot better with their weapon implementation. Each Hexen weapon felt unique. Bashing a bad dude with a glowing axe felt different than electrocuting him with an Arc of Death of crushing his face with a morning star.

    I loved the Wizzard because his base weapon could pass through enemies
    and hit many of them in a row. It felt like a cheap "pew pew pew" weapon but it was still great fun.


    Heretic is on my "to play" list. I did finish Hexen for the first time recently, having started it years ago and giving up because of the puzzles. I have played the first two or three levels of the shareware version, but it is time to give it a proper go.

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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to boraxman on Tue Mar 22 20:25:43 2022
    Re: Re: Retro shooters
    By: boraxman to Arelor on Wed Mar 23 2022 12:00 am

    It is very much Doom reskinned, I do mean to play it one day but the da gri
    demonic Doom appealed more than Heretic, which appeared a bit co and the
    magic/wizard theme wasn't as appealing. Dooms guns boom, where Heretic the
    go "pew pew pew".

    Heretic is dark as heck. It is a bit more colorful, but not that much. Some
    levels are crazy, and the boss fights are more memorable than Doom.

    Still I agree with you on the weapons. Hexen did a lot better with their weapo
    implementation. Each Hexen weapon felt unique. Bashing a bad dude with a glowi
    axe felt different than electrocuting him with an Arc of Death of crushing his
    face with a morning star.

    I loved the Wizzard because his base weapon could pass through enemies and hit many of them in a row. It felt like a cheap "pew pew pew" weapon but i
    was still great fun.


    Heretic is on my "to play" list. I did finish Hexen for the first time recently,
    having started it years ago and giving up because of the puzzles. I have played th
    first two or three levels of the shareware version, but it is time to give it a pro
    go.

    Did you beat the Hexen expansion too? I am still to beat that one. The expansion was
    brutal since it was not only Ettings which respawned, but more powerful monsters too.

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  • From bbsing@21:4/156 to Arelor on Wed Mar 23 02:35:45 2022

    Heretic is quite nice. I like it lots because it improves upon Doom withoutbreaking havoc with the engine.

    Heretic's expansion was great too.

    I've got to try the expansion, and really I think the entire game.
    Thinking about the HERETIC.WAD file I have, I can't tell if its the shareware. I got a few off steam with doom ultimate purchase. I needed the WAD files for chocolate-doom.

    Hexen is probably a better game, with its puzzles and
    survival horror Ar> theme,but Heretic always was nicer if you wanted brainless, crazy fun.

    One thing I like about the brainless aspects of doom and Heretic, is just that, no worries about spending XP or money, and dealing with those level up branches/trees.

    DCSS (dungeon crawl stone soup), I get tripped up with all the complexity sometimes. So a nice brainless shooter is a fun adventure.

    Today 3/22/2022 I saw some amazing expansion/custom levels for Quake, and Doom, on twitch. I've got to research where they are getting those.

    Keep gaming!
    Take care Arelor.

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  • From bbsing@21:4/156 to boraxman on Wed Mar 23 02:50:01 2022
    It is very much Doom reskinned, I do mean to play it one day but the
    dark, gritty demonic Doom appealed more than Heretic, which appeared a
    bit colourful and the magic/wizard theme wasn't as appealing. Dooms
    guns boom, whereas with Heretic they go "pew pew pew".

    Yeah the first weapon is certainly a pew pew weapon, they get a bit better for sure. Doom does have that color that makes a person want to puke a bit in some areas, which is perfect for it, perfect for the immersion of being in a bad place. Doom when it came out was just beyond any game world I've been in.

    I switch between Doom, Doom II, and Heretic.

    Ultima Underworld was good, but a bit clunky compared to Doom's smooth interface. I spent a lot of time in booth.

    I still haven't finished the version of Heretic I have. It gets pretty difficult.

    I've got to bring up Hexen and take a peak I have that back in my mind somewhere but I can't recall exactly what it looks like.

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  • From boraxman@21:1/101 to Arelor on Wed Mar 23 23:12:05 2022
    Heretic is on my "to play" list. I did finish Hexen for the first time recently,
    having started it years ago and giving up because of the puzzles. I ha played th
    first two or three levels of the shareware version, but it is time to g it a pro
    go.

    Did you beat the Hexen expansion too? I am still to beat that one. The expansion was
    brutal since it was not only Ettings which respawned, but more powerful monsters too.


    No, I don't have the expansion, am tempted to get it. I'm not sure whether I liked Hexen or not. It was often frustrating, tedious, at other times it was quite good. I found it a very uneven playing experience.

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  • From boraxman@21:1/101 to bbsing on Wed Mar 23 23:20:48 2022
    Yeah the first weapon is certainly a pew pew weapon, they get a bit
    better for sure. Doom does have that color that makes a person want to puke a bit in some areas, which is perfect for it, perfect for the immersion of being in a bad place. Doom when it came out was just beyond any game world I've been in.

    I switch between Doom, Doom II, and Heretic.

    Ultima Underworld was good, but a bit clunky compared to Doom's smooth interface. I spent a lot of time in booth.

    I still haven't finished the version of Heretic I have. It gets pretty difficult.

    I've got to bring up Hexen and take a peak I have that back in my mind somewhere but I can't recall exactly what it looks like.


    Doom was really immersive, the environment, the theme really drew me in. Doom II as well, though in the latter half of the game the level design got a bit sketchy, it lost the cohesiveness it had in the first half.

    Hexen looks much better than Heretic, at least to me. It has a darker pallet, it looks more organic, more natural, more realistic. Still has castles, but also swamps, caves, dungeons, etc. It is however a very different game to Doom, Doom2 and Heretic, in that it is puzzle based, and more focused on puzzles than combat. I don't really like puzzles, at least not those types, I find them a chore and I do admit, I did use a walkthrough in places when going through Hexen.

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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to bbsing on Wed Mar 23 10:21:55 2022
    Re: Re: Retro shooters
    By: bbsing to Arelor on Wed Mar 23 2022 02:35 am

    DCSS (dungeon crawl stone soup), I get tripped up with all the complexity sometimes. So a nice brainless shooter is a fun adventure.

    I prefer Brogue to DCSS myself :-) Not that DCSS is too complex. The dungeon branching and such is supposed to be part of the fun since you are supposed to figure out which branches you can
    visit and which branches will get you annihilated.

    What I don't like much about DCSS is that in latter versions there are not many winning strategies for each build. You just train your offensive until you can crush anything you run into then
    you train defense and then side abilities. Mostly.

    Hexen does not have character builds or complex stats, but it certainly has branching levels. A BIG part of the game is revisiting levels in order to find keys and items to progress through new
    areas of the game.

    So yeah, if you want to turn your brain off for half an hour, Doom and Heretic are much better :-P


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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to boraxman on Wed Mar 23 10:31:37 2022
    Re: Re: Retro shooters
    By: boraxman to Arelor on Wed Mar 23 2022 11:12 pm

    Heretic is on my "to play" list. I did finish Hexen for the first time recently,
    having started it years ago and giving up because of the puzzles. I ha played th
    first two or three levels of the shareware version, but it is time to g it a pro
    go.

    Did you beat the Hexen expansion too? I am still to beat that one. The expansion was
    brutal since it was not only Ettings which respawned, but more powerful monsters too.


    No, I don't have the expansion, am tempted to get it. I'm not sure whether I liked Hexen or not. It was often frustrating, tedious, at other times it was quite good. I found it a very unev
    playing experience.

    Hahaha, it is certainly like graphic adventures, in which if you got stuck it sucked and it all became a bit tedious.

    Then there is also the preasure that enemies keep respawning, but ammo and powerups are finite, so you know there is a soft time limit clocking away. I don't really like to play under preasure
    but in Hexen it worked somehow. Probably because most respawned enemies you could crush by depleting little or no resources.

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  • From boraxman@21:1/101 to Arelor on Thu Mar 24 22:01:06 2022
    Did you beat the Hexen expansion too? I am still to beat that one. expansion was
    brutal since it was not only Ettings which respawned, but more pow monsters too.


    No, I don't have the expansion, am tempted to get it. I'm not sure whe I liked Hexen or not. It was often frustrating, tedious, at other time was quite good. I found it a very unev
    playing experience.

    Hahaha, it is certainly like graphic adventures, in which if you got
    stuck it sucked and it all became a bit tedious.

    Then there is also the preasure that enemies keep respawning, but ammo
    and powerups are finite, so you know there is a soft time limit clocking away. I don't really like to play under preasure
    but in Hexen it worked somehow. Probably because most respawned enemies you could crush by depleting little or no resources.


    If you want to play under pressure, try Doom on Nightmare mode. Enemies always respawn 30 seconds after being killed. I did complete Episode 1 on nightmare back in 1994 or 1995, and on keyboard with a slow computer. It was hectic from start to finish.

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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to boraxman on Thu Mar 24 12:37:33 2022
    Re: Re: Retro shooters
    By: boraxman to Arelor on Thu Mar 24 2022 10:01 pm

    If you want to play under pressure, try Doom on Nightmare mode. Enemies alw respawn 30 seconds after being killed. I did complete Episode 1 on nightmar back in 1994 or 1995, and on keyboard with a slow computer. It was hectic f start to finish.

    The freaking one is Doom I's Episode 4. If you beat its first level you are definitively a God and have the right to demand temples and human sacrifices from your followers.

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  • From bbsing@21:4/156 to boraxman on Fri Mar 25 01:28:46 2022
    Hexen looks much better than Heretic, at least to me. It has a darker pallet, it looks more organic, more natural, more realistic. Still has castles, but also swamps, caves, dungeons, etc. It is however a very different game to Doom, Doom2 and Heretic, in that it is puzzle based,
    and more focused on puzzles than combat. I don't really like puzzles, at least not those types, I find them a chore and I do admit, I did use a walkthrough in places when going through Hexen.

    I think I'm going to try and get a look at Hexen this weekend. I can't recall seeing a puzzler 3d game. I clearly remember Eye of The Beholder, but .. got to check out Hexen. :)

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  • From bbsing@21:4/156 to Arelor on Fri Mar 25 01:39:25 2022
    I prefer Brogue to DCSS myself :-) Not that DCSS is too complex. The
    I used to love Nethack, and its still good to me. I found Zangband which was also pretty neat. I haven't beat any of them yet.

    I will have to look up Brogue as well. So looks like I've got some games to check out this weekend. Brogue and Hexen.

    I've seen Rouge before but never Brogue.

    dungeon branching and such is supposed to be part of the fun since you
    are supposed to figure out which branches you can
    visit and which branches will get you annihilated.

    DCSS just has a bit different interface that I liked in console mode. Later I saw Nethack 4, but it looks like its been halted for years. They updated their interface, although I think a tweak of settings can get an Nethack 3.4 to look similar to Nethack 4.

    I watch Ninthsettler and Ultraviolent play dcss.
    winning strategies for each build. You just train your offensive until
    you can crush anything you run into then
    you train defense and then side abilities. Mostly.

    I seen Ninthsettler just destroy everything with a few spells in what looks like the later half of the game.

    I've tried to pick up their tricks, and looks like the ones ULtraviolent published are not going to work as much, like stair dancing, and running around columns. They updated things so monsters get to hit you when you run from them.

    :)

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  • From boraxman@21:1/101 to Arelor on Fri Mar 25 21:31:39 2022
    The freaking one is Doom I's Episode 4. If you beat its first level you are definitively a God and have the right to demand temples and human sacrifices from your followers.


    When I've got some time, I'm going to try Episode 4 on nightmare. I'll let you know how I go, most likely not that well!

    It's still easier than Blood on a tough setting.

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  • From boraxman@21:1/101 to bbsing on Fri Mar 25 21:39:24 2022
    Hexen looks much better than Heretic, at least to me. It has a darke pallet, it looks more organic, more natural, more realistic. Still h castles, but also swamps, caves, dungeons, etc. It is however a very different game to Doom, Doom2 and Heretic, in that it is puzzle based and more focused on puzzles than combat. I don't really like puzzles, least not those types, I find them a chore and I do admit, I did use walkthrough in places when going through Hexen.

    I think I'm going to try and get a look at Hexen this weekend. I can't recall seeing a puzzler 3d game. I clearly remember Eye of The Beholder, but .. got to check out Hexen. :)


    The puzzles are mostly switch hunts, collecting things and bringing them to one place. The difficulty is really the obscurity of it all, hitting a switch then guessing what changed where.

    Enjoy!

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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to bbsing on Fri Mar 25 20:31:37 2022
    Re: Re: Retro shooters
    By: bbsing to Arelor on Fri Mar 25 2022 01:39 am

    I used to love Nethack, and its still good to me. I found Zangband which was also pretty neat. I haven't beat any of them yet.

    I will have to look up Brogue as well. So looks like I've got some games to check out this weekend. Brogue and Hexen.

    I've seen Rouge before but never Brogue.


    I actually have an SSH server where Brogue and Rogue are offered.

    ssh://dgamelaunch@operationalsecurity.es

    Password is "Yendor"

    I also have a compact version of Brogue, "Rapid Brogue", which is like Brogue except they have compressed the levels. You find as much loot and monsters in a Rapid Brogue level as you do in 6 Brogue levels :-) It is fun in the begining because you may run into a Depth 4 monster or whatever in the first floor.

    I have never played Nethack so much. A liiitle bit of Hack I have, because it comes by default with OpenBSD.

    The Angband likes are also nice but as of late I have been playing some Moria.

    It really gets to my nerves when they update these games so legitimate tactics that use to work no longer do. Or they remove legitimate fun play or themes because of reasons. Brogue itself nearly self-destructed in its days because it started nerfing itself until not many viable strategies remained. A lot of people still plays old versions for that reason. I think at some point you are better off putting the game in maintenance mode and releasing a new game inspired by the old one.

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  • From bbsing@21:4/156 to boraxman on Sat Mar 26 04:14:31 2022
    Hexen looks much better than Heretic, at least to me. It has a pallet, it looks more organic, more natural, more realistic. St


    I think I'm going to try and get a look at Hexen this weekend. I can' recall seeing a puzzler 3d game. I clearly remember Eye of The Behold but .. got to check out Hexen. :)


    I got a look at Hexen, and now I really have to try it out. It looks like Heretic sequel but I can't tell. It looks pretty nice! I did a search on youtube so ... I didn't get to experience it yet but I had to take a peak.

    Is it a sequel to Heretic?


    The puzzles are mostly switch hunts, collecting things and bringing them to one

    I did see a decent amount of carnage though, the start of the game I saw the weapons seemed a bit bigger in sound. Then there was the flame hands. Looks like a good game.

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  • From bbsing@21:4/156 to Arelor on Sat Mar 26 04:31:32 2022
    I will have to look up Brogue as well. So looks like I've got some game check out this weekend. Brogue and Hexen.


    WOW! I have a spot for rouges, specifically those I can play in the terminal. I saw youtube Brogue and it is awesome looking. The moving floor was really cool and the info provided in the interface is really nice.

    I bummed out I never seen Brogue or Hexen before.

    I actually have an SSH server where Brogue and Rogue are offered.

    I will certainly connect to your system and give it a go!


    ssh://dgamelaunch@operationalsecurity.es

    Did you build the dmgamelaunch!?

    I really want to build one myself so I can have nethack 3.4, nethack 4, DCSS, and I hope to find brogue!


    Password is "Yendor"

    I also have a compact version of Brogue, "Rapid Brogue", which is like Brogueexcept they have compressed the levels. You find as much loot and monsters in aRapid Brogue level as you do in 6 Brogue levels :-) It is
    fun in the beginingbecause you may run into a Depth 4 monster or
    whatever in the first floor.

    The Angband likes are also nice but as of late I have been playing some Moria.

    It really gets to my nerves when they update these games so legitimate tacticsthat use to work no longer do. Or they remove legitimate fun play

    Yes this kinda of gets on my nerves with DCSS. I was trying to get good with Vampire Necromancer. I chose that type because of my frustration with food clock and I thought the vampire would be a good way around that, and the vampire could see in the dark. I think this was back in version 19 or 21. I thought although I may be a bit mixed up here, but you could throw potions at enemies in earlier versions, and desinigrate walls.

    or themesbecause of reasons. Brogue itself nearly self-destructed in its days because itstarted nerfing itself until not many viable strategies remained. A lot ofpeople still plays old versions for that reason. I
    think at some point you arebetter off putting the game in maintenance
    mode and releasing a new gameinspired by the old one.


    I know single life games take some time to learn to win. For sure I'm not a serious gamer anymore I don't have time for it, and I haven't beat a traditional rouge like yet, and with them changing the main game all the time, its eh ... a bit annoying.

    I've got to get into Broque for a bit.

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  • From boraxman@21:1/101 to bbsing on Sun Mar 27 00:01:50 2022
    I got a look at Hexen, and now I really have to try it out. It looks like Heretic sequel but I can't tell. It looks pretty nice! I did a search on youtube so ... I didn't get to experience it yet but I had to take a
    peak.

    Is it a sequel to Heretic?


    Yes, it is a sequel to Heretic. It picks up the story from where Heretic finished. Hexen 2 continues that, than finally Heretic 2(?).

    Although it is a sequel of sorts, the gameplay is quite different. Heretic was a straightforward shooter, where Hexen is about puzzles, and hubs, (groups of levels where you can go back and forth between them).

    I did see a decent amount of carnage though, the start of the game I saw the weapons seemed a bit bigger in sound. Then there was the flame
    hands. Looks like a good game.


    There is plenty of carnage, and it is grittier, earthier than Heretic. You have multiple player classes, and each has their own set of weapons. But when you press a switch, and you get "One third of the puzzle has been solved", you are kind of left guessing.

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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to bbsing on Sat Mar 26 07:36:52 2022
    Re: Re: Retro shooters
    By: bbsing to boraxman on Sat Mar 26 2022 04:14 am

    I got a look at Hexen, and now I really have to try it out. It looks like Heretic sequel but I can't tell. It looks pretty nice! I did a search on youtube so ... I didn't get to experience it yet but I had to take a peak.

    Is it a sequel to Heretic?


    I think it is more of a parallel story than a sequel.

    In Hexen you find the brothers of Heretic's antagonist.

    The whole story arc was finished in Heretic 2, which sucks because it was a Windows game already. YOu cannot beat the whole story arc from MSDOS only :-(

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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to bbsing on Sat Mar 26 07:45:29 2022
    Re: Re: Retro shooters
    By: bbsing to Arelor on Sat Mar 26 2022 04:31 am

    Did you build the dmgamelaunch!?

    I really want to build one myself so I can have nethack 3.4, nethack 4, DCSS and I hope to find brogue!


    Dgamelaunch is an old program. I just picked the old source code up and ported it to OpenBSD. My version has some improvements over the original.

    First of all, user's passwords are stored and verified using OpenBSD's libc functions, which are so much safer than the original crypt() implementation.

    The server also uses the pledge() and unveil() facilities to place the players in their own sandbox, so if the server is somehow hacked the player can only mess up with his own games.

    The games I have currently installed on the dgamelaunch server alre also adapted to OpenBSD with extra sandboxing capabilities. Rogue in particular has a gameplay bugfix which plagued the original game from the 80s.

    If you want to play classic Roguelikes, the Early Roguelike Gallery is an awesome place to start. Elwin has Rogue 3, 4 and 5, in adition to XRogue, Advanced Rogue and Super Rogue. The latter three are close Rogue clones, with enough differentiation from the original to be worth visiting. Super Rogue is probably the most interesting of them.

    I should get off my lazy ass and port Rogue Clone III to my dgamelaunch setup one of these days :-(

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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to bbsing on Sat Mar 26 07:53:48 2022
    Re: Re: Retro shooters
    By: Arelor to bbsing on Sat Mar 26 2022 07:36 am

    Re: Re: Retro shooters
    By: bbsing to boraxman on Sat Mar 26 2022 04:14 am

    I got a look at Hexen, and now I really have to try it out. It looks like Heretic sequel but I can't tell. It looks pretty nice! I did a search on youtube so ... I didn't get to experience it yet but I had to take a peak

    Is it a sequel to Heretic?

    Also, don't forget to try Strife. Strife is not a great game but it is a hidden oddity worth playing.

    It is a shooter game with RPG-like elements and stealth elements, done with the modified ID 1 (Doom) engine. YOu may travel back and forth levels, taking quests and fulltilling them, talking to people, buying better gear and improving your character. The game features allies who aid you in the really big shotouts.

    The game lacks polish - it is easy to corner yourself and make the game unwinnable by making a deal with the wrong people, but you only are killed in story as a result of that decision an hour later... The stealth kill mechanic and the sneaking around mechanics are fine, but are underused. In the end of the day you always end up backstabbing as many bad guys as you easily can, then you pick up a flame thrower and break into the place you want to infiltrate raising all the alarms, because fuck it, we are in this for the thrill of the senseless violence!

    I enjoyed it pretty much, and appreciated what it tried to do. I just think the onther early ID games were a bit better.

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  • From bbsing@21:4/156 to boraxman on Sun Mar 27 02:59:53 2022
    I got a look at Hexen, and now I really have to try it out. It looks Heretic sequel but I can't tell. It looks pretty nice! I did a search

    Is it a sequel to Heretic?
    Yes, it is a sequel to Heretic. It picks up the story from where
    Thanks.
    Heretic finished. Hexen 2 continues that, than finally Heretic 2(?).

    I guess I better finish Heretic then since Hexen is a sequel.

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  • From bbsing@21:4/156 to Arelor on Sun Mar 27 03:07:32 2022
    Also, don't forget to try Strife. Strife is not a great game but it is a hiddenoddity worth playing.

    How long do you think the game takes to finish?
    better gear andimproving your character. The game features allies who
    aid you in the reallybig shotouts.

    That sounds interesting. I played Half Life 2, (way after it was released) and it was cool when the AI player joined in to help during part of the game.

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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to bbsing on Sun Mar 27 07:07:00 2022
    Re: Re: Retro shooters
    By: bbsing to Arelor on Sun Mar 27 2022 03:07 am

    Also, don't forget to try Strife. Strife is not a great game but it is hiddenoddity worth playing.

    How long do you think the game takes to finish?
    better gear andimproving your character. The game features allies who aid you in the reallybig shotouts.

    That sounds interesting. I played Half Life 2, (way after it was released) a it was cool when the AI player joined in to help during part of the game.

    Maybe you can run through it in a weekend or two.

    ·That is, assuming you don't go into dead ends - such as killing character X and discovering 5 hours later that you needed character X to advance the plot further, or striking a deal with some faction and then realizing the game sets you up for auto death 3 hours later because the choice you took was a trap :-)

    Listed playable time in gamefaqs is 22 to 24 hours.

    Don't get too excited about Strife's allies. They are in for color mostly. There is a moment in the game in which you lead an assault against a fortress with the help of an army, and the allies are thrown in so it looks like an actual battle. Sadly, your allies have pew-pew guns while enemies have giant robots with flamethrowers and rocket launchers and shit.

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  • From bbsing@21:1/172 to Arelor on Sun Mar 27 14:23:15 2022
    I actually have an SSH server where Brogue and Rogue are offered.

    ssh://dgamelaunch@operationalsecurity.es

    Arelor,
    I think the server is busy, or something.
    I was on last night or early in the AM today playing brogue (awesome) and so
    i know it was working.

    if you have a moment please take a look.
    I would send this private but I don't know the node address where you originated from.

    take care

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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to bbsing on Sun Mar 27 16:15:50 2022
    Re: Re: Retro shooters
    By: bbsing to Arelor on Sun Mar 27 2022 02:23 pm

    I actually have an SSH server where Brogue and Rogue are offered.

    ssh://dgamelaunch@operationalsecurity.es

    Arelor,
    I think the server is busy, or something.
    I was on last night or early in the AM today playing brogue (awesome) and so i know it was working.

    if you have a moment please take a look.
    I would send this private but I don't know the node address where you originated from.

    take care

    There was a power outage on the facility which hosts the server and, since it is sunday and the facility serves no critical purposes, it won't be up again until the technician (me) arrives the next monday morning :-)

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  • From bbsing@21:1/172 to Arelor on Sun Mar 27 19:42:49 2022

    There was a power outage on the facility which hosts the server and,
    since it is sunday and the facility serves no critical purposes, it
    won't be up again until the technician (me) arrives the next monday morning :-)


    AHh ... well that makes sense. OK ... I guess I'll have to take tomorrow off! :)

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  • From bbsing@21:1/172 to Arelor on Wed Apr 19 01:03:13 2023

    I actually have an SSH server where Brogue and Rogue are offered.

    ssh://dgamelaunch@operationalsecurity.es

    Hi Arelor,

    can you tell me the credentials to login?

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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to bbsing on Thu Apr 20 09:50:21 2023
    Re: Re: Retro shooters
    By: bbsing to Arelor on Wed Apr 19 2023 01:03 am


    I actually have an SSH server where Brogue and Rogue are offere

    ssh://dgamelaunch@operationalsecurity.es

    Hi Arelor,

    can you tell me the credentials to login?

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: The Bottomless Abyss BBS * bbs.bottomlessabyss.net (21:1/172)

    Hello:

    User is dgamelaunch

    Password is Yendor

    Once in you may create your personal account. Have fun!

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