>   No, ROTT doesn't have any curved walls.  ROTT essentially used a
 > tile-based system, with elevation changes.  Doom is a sector-based
 JS> It could have.  About 2 months before it was released, 
 JS> someone figured out how
 JS> to have non-orthagonal walls in ROTT, but it had been 
 JS> delayed enough, so we
 JS> just went with what we had.
  That didn't stop the delays in Duke 3D or (within 1-2 weeks?) Shadow 
Warrior though.  Mind you, those two are (and will be) incredible successes, 
while ROTT was kind of like Doom's little brother.  It was good in what it 
did, but it didn't do a whole lot.
 > But you forget that Doom's lighting was much more varied.  You could
 > switch it on and off, it could flicker at random, and it could even
 > pulse.  And since, as I said, it's a sector-based system, you don't
 JS> If you ever edited Wolf3D maps, ROTT used the same "sound zone" method 
f
 JS> sectors.  The reason for this is that ROTT started life as the 
Wolfenstein
 JS> engine.  ROTT is an example of how much something can be expanded.
  Oh, I edited Wolf maps alright.  That was my first piece of level building 
ever, actually.
  Yeah, ROTT was about as far as you could take the Wolf 3D engine (with the 
exception maybe of Shadowcaster).  Would you agree that Hexen did about the 
same for the Doom engine, and Shadow Warrior for the Build engine?
 >  But how many of those actually affect the essence of gameplay?  A
 JS> Virtually all of them.  This person is right.
  Not really, in my opinion.  All those flame traps and moving walls were 
pretty much the equivalent of crushing ceilings in Doom - all it is is 
timing.  ROTT enemies also tended to be fairly stiff, while in Doom you 
tended to do the tango just to stay alive.  Duke 3D fixed that disparity, by 
the way.
 > overcome anything ROTT can put out. Descent doesn't give you vertigo?
 JS> No, it doesn't.
  Man, you've got a strong stomach.  Of course, you may never have played 
Descent II with 3D acceleration or a VR helmet.  Either one ought to do the 
job quite nicely!  :-)
 JS> Descent is totally different than other 3D games.
  Plan to do anything similar to it, even if just as a part of a larger game? 
 A zero-g level (or individual room, even) in Prey would be fun.
 > bosses, the Cyberdemon (a true terror) and the Spiderdemon.
 JS> Spiderdemon was a wuss.  On the most difficult level, I could take him 
out
 JS> without god mode, and with only two shots from the BFG. 
 JS>   You have to bring it
 JS> in though.  THe level as is using only what's in the 
 JS> level is a bit harder, but
 JS> I don't think the final boss of the game should be taken out with only 
TWO
 JS> shots from the most powerful weapon in the game.
  Spidey is only partly wussy, I believe.  You CAN kill him easily, but 
that's assuming you have the terrain and weapon advantage.  Trying to kill 
him in Doom's E3M8 isn't that simple.  He'll more than likely get a bead on 
you well before you can get close enough to pull your two-shot trick.  And 
that's not considering the other monsters in the area...
  By the way, this brings up another suggestion - for Prey's bosses, don't 
make it a straight "empty your ammo" solution.  I'm not suggesting the 
relative simplicity of killing Quake's bosses (though killing Chthon on Hard+ 
isn't exactly easy); perhaps, you would need to lure the boss into a deadly 
situation, like being shot out a big airlock.
  Also, how about a boss similar to the ReaperBots of Quake?  Give him normal 
weaponry, but make him smart; trying to pump rockets into a boss is one 
thing, trying to avoid his circle-strafing is another.
 > That's very up for debate.  To me, ROTT seems to focus a lot on the
 > traps and other little "toys," rather than the actual technology.
 JS> EXACTLY!  That's the point.  We cared more for "game" 
 JS> than just showing off
 JS> technology.
  No, those things were "gadgets," not really new ideas for gameplay.  Now 
the exploding walls, underwater areas, etc. of Duke 3D - those were new 
eas.
--- Maximus 3.01
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