The Way Of Ira

[MariusArmand]

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Download

Get the last version at: https://www.moddb.com/mods/the-way-of-ira

The Story So Far

Years after dealing with the Cabal, Caleb lives on the outskirts of a small village.

After having been almost fully erradicated,
the last Cabal infiltrated the highest ranks of most religions and governments.
Years passed by, more Cabal got recruited and step by step the people got mentally prepared to obey what
was coming, one religion, one government, ruled by the Cabal.

Cramon, an occult high-priest and new leader of the Cabal envisions to become the next incarnation of
Tchernobog.

To free the essence of Tchernobog from Caleb's bones, Cramon wants to face Caleb where fear and
desperation rule, the Underworld.
In the Underworld, Cramon is able to take on a demonic form, in which he can surely kill Caleb.

To lure out Caleb, Cramon came up with a radical plan.
Those that were expected to resist the Cabal were listed to be purged.
Seeing how the Cabal would once again kill everybody around Caleb would surely trigger his rage.

On purge night, all homes of possible insurgents get bloodmarked by cultists.
That's the sign everyone in those homes can get killed by the Cabal legion.

Caleb hears screams of agony and a neighbour runs into his house.
Seconds later the whole door gets punched in and the neighbour gets shot, leaving bloody holes in the wall.

Caleb gets knocked out. A cultist sees Caleb's cat Cleo cowering in a corner and grabs her.

Things are about to get real bloody again.

Levels

IE1M01: PURGE NIGHT

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Caleb wakes up. He finds the door kicked in, his neighbour's dead body against the wall and no sight
of his cat Cleo.
Caleb decides to track down the cultists and their leader Cramon.


IE1M02: KNEE DEEP IN SLUDGE

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From the graveyard next to a converted church, Caleb finds himself in a swamp.
Shooting by a cabin, a manor and a swamp fort, he sets his way through a mountain pass.


IE1M03: CABAL TOWN

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Cabal Town shows that the Cabal have gained a lot of strength back.
Insurgents are being forced to mine iron. Those that don't work hard enough get sacrificed.

IE1M04: ASYLUM FOR CRITICS

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In the beginning of the Cabal's revival, those who doubted the upcoming leadership got locked up
in the Asylum For Critics. There's rumors that nobody ever got out alive.


IE1M05: DARK ABBEY

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Once so peaceful, but now converted to a Dark Abbey.
It's here that Cramon created a passage to the Underworld.


IE1M06: UNDERWORLD

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Lots of flesh, blood and lava. Not for the faint of heart but a walk in the park for Caleb.


IE1M07: RETRIBUTION

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Caleb arrives in a colloseum surrounded by lava. Cramon awaits but he is not alone.


IE1M08: LAKESIDE GENOCIDE

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Caleb finds himself passing through a town that just got purged.
The Cabal have completely taken over, violently, sparing nobody.
Nothing that can't be settled by rage.

[HenitoKisou]

Played couple of new maps by now. Despite some screens giving E3 vibes, actual episode is like E4 gameplay with Cryptic Passage art direction and difficulty is rather balanced on Well Done for the first blind run. ;p

[Dead Reckoner]

I have played through the episode two times and had a lot of fun on both runs. It lacks polish at times but it's definitely in the top ten of user episodes released for Blood. Some maps like "Asylum for Critics" were bland and may need more detail and fleshing out in future updates, while others like "Lakeside Genocide" stood out well. One thing that was definitely gotten right was the enemy placement, neither too cheap or too easy/predictable.

The bits of new art and references were also nice.

[MariusArmand]

Thanks for the feedback guys.
The Way Of Ira will keep getting updated, be it for fixes, polish or fleshing out here and there.

Stay tuned ^^.

[MariusArmand]

I've released v1.0.0. containing a new intro and patches based on almost all feedback I received.
https://www.moddb.com/mods/the-way-of-i ... -for-blood

---v1.0.0---
-New intro
-Fixed some track issues in the ini.
-Removed hitscan from props without surface type. (hitscan of underlying wall/ceiling/floor will take over).
-Tweaked the no-cabal poster sprite so it can be used as a floor sprite.-New custom sprites. (including eerie innocent picture by Phredreeke)
-Removed end level sprites of previous level.

-IRA01:
-Made big spiderweb blocking, pitchfork your way through.
-Caleb's house now has a chimney.
-Caleb can't get stuck behind the butchery anymore.
-Been planting some weeds.
-Did some small decorations here and there.
-Buried something.
-Fences can be shot through.

-IRA02_A, IRA02_B:
-Repositioned the phantasm in the swamp castle so it doesn't get the door in it's face.
-Fixed a ROR (room over room) glitch outside of the swamp mansion for Fresh Supply.
-Fixed some shading.
-The swamp zombies have some backup now.
-Planted some weeds.
-Made some sprites unblocking.
-Tweaked the graveyard a bit.
-Made underwater part more appealing.

-IRA03:
-Some people got trapped with Cheogh, having less than 10 health ^^.
There's a life seed now to make it a bit fair.
-Sometimes Cheogh wanted to go in the lava pit. He will no longer do that.
-There was a secret which you could keep triggering. That's over now.
-During the mining for iron, a burial chamber was discovered.
-Added some posters.
-There was a glass cultist in the dining hall..a glass cultist.

-IRA04:
-Fixed some textures.
-You can now shoot through the grate of the pharmacy..and all the other grates.
-Added some lights near the asylum entrance..and busted one in the male ward hallway.
-Added a gas container near the showers.
-There's now a hedgemaze behind the asylum.
-Made the scenery a bit more green.
-More propaganda to treat the critics.
-Repositioned some unreactive enemies.

-IRA05:
-Added a hint.
-Added some shade.
-The lightswitches in the dining hall and sleeping quarters are no longer placed at giant height.
-The gillbeast statue in the garden will no longer bleed.
It's also using an upscaled sprite by Phredreeke.
-Repositioned some unreactive enemies.

-IRA06:
-Made big spiderweb blocking.

-IRA07:
-Save Cleo properly, before exiting the Underworld.
-Lightsources were shaded..fixed.

-IRA08:
-Destructable lights now drop glass shards when shot.
-Made one of the traindoors properly locked.
-Train passengers can now easily find where to buy tickets.
-The gargoyles near the start decided to sit a bit lower.
-Fixed some texture inconsistencies.
-Underwatercave is now more cave.

[MariusArmand]

I have released v.1.0.2 of The Way Of Ira.
https://www.moddb.com/mods/the-way-of-i ... -for-blood

---v1.0.2---
-Cleo has a voxel and voice now!
-Updated the intro with Cleo's voxel.
-Resampled the intro audio.
-The ogv for Fresh Supply is now about half the size with almost no quality loss.
-Rotated more items to get that non-artificial look.
-Addon preparation is now done in WD(Work Directory).
To make this work with vanilla blood, I had to rename all TWOIRA instances to IRA.
-IRA01:
-More space between graves.
-IRA02:
-More space between graves.
-There was still an indestructable shovel in there..not anymore.
-The floating window in the castle is no longer floating.
-IRA03:
-Some texture fixes.
-IRA04:
-Some shading fixes.
-Some texture fixes.
-IRA05:
-Some shading fixes.
-There's now some ammmo in the barrels near the boat.
-A certain secret seems to cause a lot of problems to be found, so I added something to draw attention.
-Added a new window, which looks out to a ..
-IRA06:
-There was some overlapping ammo. Fixed.
-Some doors were missing their respective key symbol.
-Some shading fixes.
-Some texture fixes.
-An innocent would run himself stuck. No more.
-IRA07:
-Reworked RX/TX for Cleo.
-Cleo's cage is now built out of sectors instead of sprites.
-IRA08:
-You can now shoot through the grates of the train wagon.
-All locked doors are now interactive.

[MariusArmand]

I have released v.1.1.1 of The Way Of Ira.
https://www.moddb.com/mods/the-way-of-i ... -for-blood

---v1.1.1---
-Added a warning in the readme.
-Changed map names to align for the second episode.
-Added more ambient sounds in Chapter I + minor embellishments.
-Caleb is more vocal.
-IE1M02:
-You could still jump through the last gate "teeth". Closed teeth even more.
-IE1M04:
-The ravine is now a damage sector. Nobody should survive this. (I'm looking at you "some cultist")
-IE1M06:
-Some key hints were a bit confusing. Fixed.
-IE1M08:
-Fixed an unwanted slope.
-Some shutters didn't have the locked interaction yet. They do now.
-Added Chapter II.

CHAPTER II

IE2M01: ONSLAUGHT


After the events of Chapter I, Caleb claimed Cramon's castle.
When the Cabal appoint a new leader, Ursus, an offence get's called upon the castle.
It's late when Caleb hears uproar.

IE2M02: CRYPTIC RITUALS



After entering a tomb, Caleb finds himself in catacombs. It takes guns and skills to get out.

IE2M03: SINS OF FLESH



A besieged city, once known for its nightlife, is now a place of agony.

IE2M04: CONTINUITY EXPRESS



Caleb takes the Cabal Continuity Express to the Citadel.
This train was created to keep the Cabal on the move during all circumstances.

IE2M05: BEHIND CABAL LINES



After arriving at the outskirts of the Citadel,
Caleb fires himself a way through unfriendly streets.

IE2M06: CITADEL



The Citadel reveals what the Cabal have been up to.
Caleb cleans out the headquarters and continues to push back.

IE2M07: DESCENT



The further you go down, the bigger the challenge.
Something is waiting for Caleb, and it's not Ursus alone.

E2M08: DAMNED REPENTANCE



As ultimate feat of strength, the Cabal swallowed a whole city into the underground,
making their residents go through neverending torment.

[MariusArmand]

I have released v.1.1.2 of The Way Of Ira.
https://www.moddb.com/mods/the-way-of-i ... -for-blood

---v1.1.2---
-Added Raze support.
-There are now ambient sounds for big fires in Chapter I and Chapter II.
-Changed some sprite angles to support voxel pack.
-Fixed texture misalignments.
-Added some missing mirror interactions.
-Rotated some bodies to appear more "natural" with the voxel pack.

-IE2M01:
-One side of a crate was explodable. That was not the intention.
-IE2M02:
-Fixed bull skull voxel angle.
-IE2M03:
-Ceiling lights in station hallways can now be broken.
-IE2M04:
-Go ahead, shoot the Mother spiders out of the train. Skull key gets provided in another way now.
-IE2M05:
-There were some lighting FX sectors missing near the train. Fixed.
-IE2M06:
-Solved a lighting issue in the lab.
-IE2M08:
-You could get stuck outside the trap near the end of the level. Now you get stuck inside the trap, as intended.
-Tree props in opera are no longer voxelized. They should appear flat.
-Ceiling lights in safe under casino can now be broken.
-Fixed some floating sprites.
-Grates had wrong gib object. Fixed.

[Dimebog]

I don't like the temple designs much, but the exterior areas remind me of the minimalism of Craig Hubbard's levels, except perhaps not as expert in terms of scaling and texturing. Your shading skill has definitely improved a lot from where you started.

You should perhaps start fresh with an entirely new campaign and plan things more carefully and think about thematic consistency and things like that. Maybe look into Craig Hubbard's levels specifically for reference about scaling and enemy placement as well since his style seems to be compatible to what you are doing. The level flow in retail maps is pretty much a golden standard so you can't go wrong if you try to mimic that in your own fashion.

Overall your work is getting pretty solid. But I'd like to see a better opening to a campagin. Maybe do your best work on an episode and then make that the first chapter. But what I would do is call TWOI done and make a brand new thing, and maybe revisit this one later on when your skill has improved even further.

[patho]

Very good addon