Tesla Arm

Name: Tesla Arm
Class: Level 2
Type: Melee/Projectile
Palette: Custom
Summon: (Strife: TeslaarmS) (Doom: TeslaarmD)
Ammotype: TeslaCell (Custom)
AltFire: Yes
Powered Mode: No

Submitted: Doomedarchviledemon
Decorate: Doomedarchviledemon, BlueShadow
GLDEFs: None
Sprites: HacX, Hexen
Sprite Edit: None
Sounds: Quake, Half Life
Base Idea: Nothing in particullar. Just wanted to finally create something fun and unique.

Description:
The Tesla Arm is a glove-like tazer weapon used to stun and immobilize hostile beings both up close and from a distance. In close encounters the Tesla Arm's design allows for the user to quickly jab at the enemy and continue to shock them. When the user pulls their arm away the Tesla Arm will release a burst of electric particles that will stun enemies, giving the user time to attack again or make a quick escape.

At longer distances the user can force the weapon to output more energy towards the ends of the spikes. This focused energy then shoots out as large amounts of condensed electricity that forms in multiple blade-like projectiles. These projectiles travel at high speeds and can pass through enemies.



Download:

Tesla Arm

Note: This was uploaded previously before the Realm upgraded. I believe that there was something someone said to change but I have forgotten what it was. So if there is anything that should be changed please let me know.

At the risk of being "that guy", I'm not comfortable with the unedited HOIG Reznator sprites. There must be some distinctive new coloration you can give it, at the least.

I doubt that this is widescreen-friendly...

Ah! Sorry for not getting to this earlier. Eh, life came up and said hello for a bit. Anyway, I have started working on a re-color now. Here is what I have so far. Nothing spectacular but I think it makes it look different enough?



I will also try to figure out a way to make this weapon widescreen-friendly. Though after looking through the submission rules for weapons I did not see anything stating that weapons must be widescreen-friendly. Is this still the case? Either way I'll try my best to make it widescreen-friendly.

Well.. It's optional for you to make the weapon widescreen-friendly, most of the zdooms are using the square screen, not wide screen, anyways, the recolor's actually different in between,

UPDATE!

Finally I am able to get to this again. I have now fully implemented the recolor for both the Strife and Doom version of the Tesla Arm. In addition I have made it full-screen friendly. I also converted the pickup icon into a .png and recolored that as well. Not my best of work but I think it will do.

With the weapon now recolored, full-screen friendly, and pickup icon converted I believe this is fully finished. Any feedback for further improvements?

This thing came a long way since I last tried it.

A few minor-ish issues I found:

• The weapon can be selected even if you don't have ammo for it.
• The pickup sprite could use some more work.
• This is probably just me, but I feel that monsters shouldn't be pushed away when damaged by the chainsaw-style attack (the attack where you electrify an enemy).

Apart from that, it looks pretty good.

Oh, what's the difference between the Strife and Doom versions? I couldn't really tell.

In regards to your feedback I will do what I can to improve this weapon.

• I'll figure out how to make is to the weapons can not be selected when there is no more ammo for it.
• I'll try what I can to improve the pickup sprite with more detailed shading work.
• I'll see if I can make a version of the weapon where it doesn't push monsters back for a side-by-side comparison. Through that we can see which one actually feels better.

The difference between the Doom and Strife version are the hands. If you use the primary attack you'll see the different hands holding the weapon. It is a very small difference and usually goes unnoticed, even to me, but it is enough to make a change. Also since I had the access to both styles I might as well include both.

Thank you for your feedback, and as always I am looking forward to more.

Hi doomedarchviledemon, just to fast a bit your job concerning this beautiful Tesla Arm: I've polished a bit your sprites with PNGOUT through Slade (saved 800kb) and braces placement on decorate (more intuitive/polite).

A bit polished Tesla Arm

I wonder, could you do the weapon to turn like an enhanced fist with razors when its ammos are out? I mean that when there're no more cells on magazines the weapon turns out like a non-electrical enhanced wrist one.

PS: Fixed a minor typo - electrocuded to electrocuted now :wink:

The current pickup sprite is definitely a bit rough. How about trying this version?



Overall, I think this is pretty cool. I'm not sure I care for the "recoil" effect on the player when disengaging the primary fire, but that's a matter of personal taste. For the alt-fire, I find that not all the projectiles will launch successfully if you happen to be close to a wall when using it.