T.U.C.Q. Progess Thread

[ChexCommander]

I haven't been this excited to play a mod update in years!

[Boingo the Clown]

Progress Report: February 3, 2013

I have kind of lost track of what I have been doing over the last couple of days, but I have been working.

Most of what I have been doing (or remember) has been on E1M2.

Those secret areas that open without switches on the sides of crates and desks have been bothering me, so I made up a quickie switch textre to put on the back of the one crate and built a couplo of 3D switches for the others.

Now they make sense.



After all that time I spent working on transporter rooms I can't believe I actually went and built another one.

As of now E1M2 ends with a teleporter room as a way of transitioning into E1M3 instead of just the switch that was there before.

When you first enter the teleporter room the teleporters are turned off and are dark like the one you arrive on at the start of the level.



At the far end of the room is a console that you have to activate.  Until you activate it the teleporters remain dark and you can not exit the level. Once you do active it though ...



All is well.

I am amused at the console, largely because I created it in a test level quite a long time ago.

How long ago?

Long enough that it actually has a CRT monitor and I didn't think anything of it at the time.

[MajorSlime]

Nice. I love that transporter room!

[xbolt]

I remember poking around the extra levels and seeing that console.

Transport room looks awesome.

[Atariangamer]

I showed that to a friend, and he was mildly impressed...till I told him it was DooM engine

Very cool, Boingo!

[Boingo the Clown]

Progress Report: February 5, 2013

Not much to report here per sé.

I had been planning to do so for a very long time, and I finally got around to doing it. Way back in one of the betas (I don't remember which one) I changed the pit with the yellow key on E1M5 so that instead of having five cyclopti in it, I have five holes in the rock face and silent teleport five larvae in to the holes when the player falls into the pit. Up until now the holes have been rectangular, but I had intended to have hole textures to make them less regular. Last night I finally got around to fixing the problem.



It is quite nice watching the larvae emerging from these holes. Perhaps I will edit the hole textures a bit later so that there is some slime hanging around the edges.

I have been fiddling around with the textures on E2M4, mostly the cornerstone textures I made (I know they appear in CQ3, but I made them for T.U.C.Q. years ago.) to make the buildings look better, especially without windows sitting so close to the corners.



I have also been using thin sectors to remove inappropriate windows and  other textures that should not be there. The Chex Condominiums office now has a glass window.

I also made changes to the two windows on the top floor behind the yellow key door so that the windows appear as normal windows from the street, just as I had done with some other windows on the main street, but I am not satisfied with the results.

I did a little work on the diner on E2M1. I went to flamingtext.com and created a transparent neon sign patch. I am testing it out in the picture below.



Yes. I know it repeats.  I am just testing.

Is it too large? Is it too gawdy? What do you think?

I also made a brick texture for that bit of wall on the left. It is just a repaint and resize of the sewer wall texture, and looks fairly appropriate.  The formerly solid wall is just a sector now. I intend to cap the wall with grey stone or cement. Some fence posts are sticking out of the top of the wall and will eventually have a chainlink fence texture strung between them. The exterior of the large hangar is now visible in the backround.



Meanwhile, I made the mistake of going through the CQ3 version of CQ2. It was sort of a mistake, because I want to avoid copying anything Chuck has done, and the less I see it the less likely I am to end up copying something.   (It's a pride thing I guess.)

It was also kind of depressing to see such nice work done in CQ3 when work on T.U.C.Q. has been so slow. Development Hell sucks.  T.U.C.Q. is the Duke Nukem Forever of Chex Quest projects it seems at times like this.

Then I popped into the original Chex Quest 2 and got a good look at what I started with.



I feel much better now.

[MajorSlime]

LOL


Anyways, I think the Diner sign works quite nicely. Maybe just a tad bit smaller, but other than that, good. The brick wall on the other hand... I think it needs some brown/orange hints?

[TrueDude]

I love how much different The Ultimate Chex Quest looks in comparison to Chex Quest 3.

[Atariangamer]

I was feeling inspired to move my project forwards some...but then I realized alot of my content is CQ3 (and by inheritance, TUCQ) based...makes me hesitant to proceed because so much content will change in the next release.

Not a bad thing at all! I'd rather get a new TUCQ.
not to mention nobody will use my project even if I finished it <_<

[Boingo the Clown]

I am certain somebody will use your project if you finish it.    :whale

No progress report today. I have been working. You know how work ruins everything, and here is yet anotrher example.

[Orangestar]

I don't normally post twice in such a short time like this, but would the diner sign look cool as a scrolling texture? Just a thought.

[Boingo the Clown]

Progress Report: February 12, 2013

There is very little to report today.  I had extra work to do this past week  (in a snowstorm!), then some other stuff, et cetera, and so forth.  I did do a little bit today however.

The cereal munch is back!

I missed it.

I brought it back.


I altered the secret area in Hangar 12 oF E2M1. Instead of a pannel you just walk through, I changed it to a door that opens when shot.  I got the idea from the fact the crooked hallway had all of its lines set as a shootable door trigger, leading me to believe that might have been the original plan when the level was created. The texture misalignment is still left on the shootable door to draw the player's attention to it.

The crooked hallway has been changed to something a little more regular, albeit still zigzagged, and more appropriate textures have been put in place.

I made up some runway lights for Hangar 12, but I am not very satisfied with them.



They are not bad, but I am not satisfied with them. I am thinking I might redo them with animated flats or a script turning sector lighting on and off to create a chaser effect.

I am afraid that's all I am able to do for now.  There is more work to be done tomorrow and until the end of the week.

As usual, your thoughts and suggestions are appreciated.

[Replica]

It's hard to tell what I think about those lights, as I haven't seen them in action. I assume they blink right?

The runway seems rather empty to me. Too many shades of grey, but I guess that the whole level is like that. Perhaps adding some slime to the room? A puddle on the runway perhaps? Maybe even slimed spaceships? The ceiling textures are a bit off too, but I'm sure you know that.

What happened to the runway tower and things in the background? Those were really neat.

[MajorSlime]

I'd definitely say yes to the chaser effect. I'd recommend toggle-able lights and a script that runs them, as it may be a little easier to do, and you'd be able to use the lights in other scenarios.

[Orangestar]

What happened to the runway tower and things in the background? Those were really neat.

Oooooo! Put 'em in the skybox! Put 'em in the skybox!