Doom3world

I'm pleased to announce the return of a Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy mod called "Gunslinger's Academy" (GSA) in a new id Tech 4 environment under the current codename "Gunslinger" (GSX for short). Since our previous project received little to no reception (however what we got was very positive) and we were restricted by the engine anyway, we've decided to move to id Tech 4 using Sikkmod as a working base for us, which shall be of use to us for graphical enhancements and a few other things. We intend to set our goals relatively modest for a first release, yet still have a great game and a master plan to update the game with further improvements. Of course, we want a community backing this up, and the recent GPL release of id Tech 4 helps us do just that.

Our goal is very simple here: We want to make Doom 3's multiplayer considerably better, and perhaps also give the singleplayer a few missions. Of course, we're also changing the game to have modern weapons, instead of your classic BFG and rocket launchers (Chainsaws on the other hand...well...I'll leave those to zombies... ). Believe me though, we're not going to give up the dark atmosphere of Doom 3. Instead, we're going to embrace that with additional artistic influences from F.E.A.R. games, SWAT 4, S.T.A.L.K.E.R, and gameplay influences from Rainbow Six games, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, Left 4 Dead, Modern Warfare games, Battlefield games. Don't expect another carbon copy FPS however; we intend to make our game break the FPS mold with a fast-paced multiplayer coupled with tough decisions and tactical options ready for the choosing.

Some of the major gameplay decisions are still to be decided and some of the finer details are still under wraps, however I can promise such features as:
- Fast paced and balanced multiplayer
- A wide variety of modern weapons including the M&P 40, MP-412 REX and M16 assault rifle, among many others, breaking the previously SDK-bound cap of 16 weapons
- Great visuals powered by Sikkmod
- A persistent stat tracking system with achievements and other goals to reach for
- A user-friendly yet compact UI with many options available

In Gunslinger's Academy, we created a number of minor features that we intend to bring over to id Tech 4, to name a few:
- Crosshair size based on spread (done)
- Firing Modes (press N to switch between semi automatic, burst fire and full automatic)
- Iron Sights
- Grenade indicators (Arrow that points to an incoming grenade)
- Killstreaks + Rewards

Here are what we need some help with:
- Mapping
- Animation (Including some simple rigging)
- Texturing (UV Unwrapping is a huge plus)
- Sound Design
- UI and Graphic Design
- Character Modeling

Here is what we could use a hand or two with (in order of priority):
- Coding (esp. Linux/Mac ports)
- Modeling
- Writing
- Voice Acting

To help seal the deal, here's some awesome screenshots of old work from Gunslinger's Academy and some new work for GSX for you:
Renders of models created by Silverfang and Zero

Note: Helicopter originally created by KoffeinFlummi, modified by Silverfang to fit into a video game environment.
In-game screenshots of (mostly) untextured weapons in Gunslinger's Academy



Renders of untextured weapons created for GSX

Renders of weapons/attachments created for Gunslinger's Academy but currently unused


Click on any of the screenshots above to get a full resolution view, also look on our ModDB page for plenty more content from Gunslinger's Academy.


I encourage you to give either me or my associate Eezstreet a message, using one of these methods:
- Forum PM
- On our forums, under the Applications section (http://www.gunslingersacademy.com/forum/)
- Through XFire (eezstreet / silverfang22)

Good luck.

Doom 3 is very hungry for art assets, especially high quality normal maps. Tools like "njob" have made things a little easier but there is lots of work ahead of you to make textures that work in non space colony settings. (Though folks like Lunaran have made some nice Id Tech 4 friendly texture sets.)

This is a very ambitious project. If its going to be a game then you will naturally be starting from scratch without any Doom 3 assets as they are proprietary. The assets you already have are going to need to be extensively reworked or remade for id tech 4.

Some advice:
1. The engine is slow enough already doing outdoor scenes without sikkmod. Sure etqw did it but from personal experience I'd recommend you keep them smallish and keep the light count down.

2. You need a committed programmer if you are going to be working with the source. Believe me, this is not optional and will make or break your project.

The doom 3 community needs to organise some sort of shared repository so we don't end up having 10 people model 10 different skeleton models. It just wastes everyone's time when they could be working on stuff specific to their mods. Lots of basic stuff can be kept interchangeable between mods, like furniture and most textures. Everyone wins.

Of course the Dark Mod and Hexen are going to have most to share, so a lot depends on their generosity.

I was thinking about that for a _long_ time and made suggestions here and there.
For the most part the idea was welcomed with applause from those who want to use the assets and it got taken down by those who think of share as theft of their assets.

I'd be more than willing to help along with a repository, including hosting the assets.
However, I'd demand strict rules how to set things up in order to prevent files from overwriting each other and generally messing up existing mods / base game installations.

I'll create a new topic dedicated to a repository and edit my post here with a backlink as soon as it's done.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=25183

Thanks for the replies, we know this is an ambitious project but we have plenty of past experience on other mods (albeit for different games). We do have a full-time programmer, eezstreet, and we're both quite dedicated to the project. We have two very good texture artists who will be able to create new assets including normal maps.

Thank you for your well-wishes (unless that was sarcasm, of course )

I plan on retaining a dark atmosphere similar (but not congruent to--Mine is modern, of course) to Doom 3's in terms of lighting. Someone once told me that id Tech 4 is unable to produce anything that isn't dark and scary. I merely laughed at him and said, "That bothers me why?"

Of course, as stated, there's a bit of an art barrier.



Of course. I understand exactly what I'm going to undertake in doing this. I can understand noobs taking on crazy tasks without any idea how to mod. It's quite frequent in any community out there. Obviously, it would be foolish to make the entire thing at once. Instead, we ought to focus our efforts on one area and really polish it to a degree, then move on. However, brainstorming design concepts for the future never hurts, unless done too much.

1 -> I'd like most maps to be indoors. For the ones that aren't, I can accept the fact that the engine is slow and adjust things for stability

2 -> This is the part where I come in and code crazy sh-t, right?
I've gotten some time to tinker with the source. Moving from id Tech 3->4 is quite a bit different structurally, but I've got a few things figured out and a smallnumber of features coded. I expect things to get better as I learn more about scripts, the physics system, and networking (these are three key areas for me)

Doom3 doesn't have any LOD support at all, nor does Quake 4 or Prey even. It still boggles my mind exactly why, because it's pretty damn important.

So, a good suggestion might be to make "a 'Dark Mod' mod"? Those guys did excellent things with the engine, including LOD support, which is a massive benefit to keeping polycounts interesting. You'd also get nice AI features, along with a bunch of other cool things. It almost became a different engine in some regards. I don't think the team would mind another project starting up using their stuff, but of course it's nice to ask them formally, first. Using that to make some modern/futuristic shooter project (in contrast to Thief universe) would be extremely exciting and, if done honourably, I can't see anyone objecting to it.