Ninjas!

[Smoke39]

So my new roommates an' I were wanting to play something with multiplayer, and I brought my copy of Unreal Gold, so we all installed it and played it a bit. Afterword, we all thought that the dispersion pistol was lameness, so I got the idea to replace it with shuriken (which darken you and make you faster'n'stuff) while watching one of them play Ninja Gaiden.

One thing kinda led to another, and now there's a kaginawa (grappling hook), tetsu-bishi (calthrops), smoke bomb, and bow. We tried it out on our network, and it was rather fun. One of them actually managed to escape me a few times with the smoke bomb, which was cool, 'cause it actually worked and was effective. I think the only network-related error was with the rope graphic for the kaginawa only being updated on my computer (edit: they also couldn't make key binds to exec functions in the inventory items work). I changed a couple of simulated functions to non-simulated functions to see if that would fix it, but we haven't tested it yet; none of my 'mates are real big on FPSs. So I've been tweaking it an' stuff, trying to teach bots to use the weapons and adding custom meshes.

I'm thinking of adding a fukiya (blow gun) with poison darts, an antidote inventory item (or maybe a first aid kit that can either heal or detoxify once), and either a kunai or tanto (dagger weapons). Maybe make poison a limited inventory item that can be activated to make any ninja weapon poisonous, with varying costs for different weapons and being free and automatic for the fukiya.

I d'know if anyone really even cares about a mod for ancient Unreal, but I find it amusing. Here's a snazzy pic of a ninja using the kaginawa to hide in the shadows with his bow equiped for sniping.

Anyway, I wouldn't mind if anyone wanted to help me test the network code every once in a while. :b

 

[Postal]

As for execs, unreal had 4 extra buttons you could bind too. Button bExtra0 through bExtra3

Cool to see someone still editing for U1.

Dont forget flash powder and the Ninja Dust.

 

[Smoke39]

Four might be enough, but why wouldn't mine work? They worked on my computer. :\

What's ninja dust? Crap you throw in someone's eyes to blind them? I might add one or both of those, but I'm not sure how to implement it. How can I get access to their canvas?

 

[Postal]

Yup, we sometimes yell ninja dust when we throw snow in someones eyes.

if (Pawn(Owner).bextra2!=0) or some code like that

Yea, you can blind people, but I dont recall how. ClientViewFlash, or tint or something.

 

[Postal]

class Blinder expands Actor;

var PlayerPawn targ;
var int Count;

function PostBeginPlay()
{
	Super.PostBeginPlay();

	SetTimer(0.1, true);
	Count = 0;
}

function Timer()
{
	if (targ == none)
		Destroy();
	else if (Count == 0)
	{
		targ.ClientAdjustGlow(+0.5, vect(1000,1000,1000));
		Count++;
		SetTimer(0.3, true);
	}
	else if (Count++ > 20)
		Destroy();
	else
		targ.ClientAdjustGlow(0.5, vect(-50,-50,-50));
}

defaultproperties
{
     DrawType=DT_None
}

 

[Smoke39]

That view glow stuff is really inconsistent for me. Like, if I go underwater, the blue component of the view fog will come on, but it'll take a while for the green component to work or something. By the way, I made an inventory item for the tetsu-bishi and bow leg damage slowing effect. That way you don't have to constantly check if Owner == none, since inventory is destroyed when someone dies, and it can be checked for without having to iterate through all actors, just go through the inventory linked list with FindInventoryType() or whatever it is.

 

[Postal]

Well thats some old code. Its cool that you have updated it, hope it works out for you.

 

[Smoke39]

I realized that I could make a new HUD, since this is a game type. So I messed with that. The first shot shows something I did that makes the game a bit brighter, but doesn't wash out the graphics and make them greyish like increasing the brightness does. Yay. The other two are of the flash blind effect fading.

 

[Postal]

Damn you, first you make me reinstall DX, soon it will be U1 too.

 

[Smoke39]

Haha, thank you. XD

The flash bomb is fully implemented as an item now. That makes five items now, so I couldn't use the bExtras even if I wanted to. I also put the kusuribin (medicine can) in. Currently, it restores 25 health and cures leg damage (cause by a bow leg shot or stepping on tetsu-bishi). It'll also heal poison, once the fukiya's in.

I've been thinking about the fukiya and possible melee weapons. I can't think of a secondary fire for the fukiya. D: As for melee weapons, I've mildly considered a bokken/ninja-to/wakizashi progression (maybe dispersion pistol upgrades upgrade your sword). I think I can make a sword different enough from the tanto/kunai to warrent its inclusion, but I'm not sure about the upgrading deal. As for the tanto/kunai, I'm considering having you wield two at once, with primary being a rapid slashing normally or a lethal backstab if you're behind someone, and secondary causing you to jump over someone, spinning midair to face them, the idea being to get behind them quickly for a backstab. Another idea for kunai would be to have your shuriken upgrade to kunai, and making the slash/backstab weapon a tanto.

 

[Postal]

Well, you could do the slash/stab deal

Slash does more damage, but is slower
stab is better against armor, and is faster

Or, perhaps make the altfire the shurikens?

 

[Smoke39]

Slash/stab for the sword? I was thinking of making primary attack, and secondary defend. It would be lower-risk than the dagger, but with perhaps less damage potential, or with a lower speed bonus so actually getting close enough would be tougher, making the defending more important.

I think shuriken work pretty well as their own weapon. Primary throws single shuriken rapidly, and secondary throws five in a fan pattern.

I think I may make secondary of the fukiya shoot metsubishi (your "ninja dust"). At first, it seems pointless; why blind them when you can just poison them and leave? But the poison is delayed, and can also be healed if they haven't used their kusuribin. So you might blind them as well for a one-two punch, or maybe it could be used to develop even more strategies, I don't know. The metsubishi would be harder to use than the flash bomb, so I think it hopefully won't make the flashbomb irrelevant. Perhaps I'll try it and see. It would be nice if bots were more... human. @_@

 

[Postal]

How about a spear too? Thrust and Throw.

 

[debucode]

Hey, I was just sitting around thinking what I want to do with my own ninja mod, and what kind of future things might be possible with UT2K7, now you guys are going retro...!

It sounds like you have a pretty cool weapon set. I like the idea of doing upgrades, and being able to appy poison to different weapons.

 

[Postal]

Posion could be done like the damage amp, turn it on and off, and when its on, you do posion damage.

 

[Smoke39]

Yis, that's the idea.

The fukiya is difficult to balance. I think the gameplay of Unreal doesn't really suit the use of subtle, stealthy weapons. I may ditch the weapon. The poison effect is good, though, I think, so implementing poison as an item may be sufficient for keeing the spirit of poisoning enemies in the mod.

 

[Postal]

make it so youre cloaked if you crouch + fukiya, slightly visable when you walk and hold it.

 

[Smoke39]

Why would you ever use anything else if it made you invisible?

The poison item is implemented. I'll probably be messing with the poison cost of different weapons for quite a while.

 

[Smoke39]

Bots know how to use poison (nothing fancy, they just use it automatically on every shot until it runs out), and will sometimes heal themselves if poisoned, based on their skill (based on skill because it's HARD to react quickly enough to heal yourself :b). Maybe I'll see if I can get bots to use the kusuribin or smoke bomb when low on health, and maybe the flash bomb every once in a while.

Is there any way to 1: make bots honor the Visibility variable better, and 2: change how well bots see, aim, and navigate? Aiming I could probably find, which might be good enough.

Also, all your inventory items are drawn down the right side of the HUD now, instead of only three (at least until it runs out of space, which is unlikely). Once I figure out how the messages are displayed, I'll make it so the death messages etc. and player communications don't overlap anymore, and add a background behind them to make them easier to read.

 

[Psycho_Leech]

A few ideas if you're still working on this:

Perhaps a Bakuhatsugama? (A scyth weapon with a weighted chain attached to it, which could be swung as an altfire, possibly trapping an opponent's weapon.)

Tekagi for climbing walls, might be pointless with the grappling hook, but it would handle more like walking on the wall, perhaps giving better control in that respect.

The ability to play as a Samurai instead, perhaps with a team of ninjas against a team of Samurai, the Samurai would have superior swords and armour, but the ninjas would have gadgets and stealth to balance it out.