Hi guys :)

I figured it was finally time to drop by and publicly announce my Quest for Glory IV 3D project. After years of tributing other peoples awesome QFG fan games at Blake's Sanctum I decided to have a go at making my own QFG fan game.

While I've been doing some rather large and fancy posts in other QFG forums, GoG don't seem to support images or embedded youtube videos so it's probably easier if I just link to my blog announcement post for fans who want pics, vids and all the details.

Full QFG4 3D Announcement
https://blakessanctum.wordpress.com/2016/11/26/quest-for-glory-iv-3d-zdoom-hexen-mod/

Blake's Sanctum - QFG Fan Games List
http://blakessanctum.x10.mx/Games/QFGSeries/

DISCLAIMER: QFG4 does not need to be in 3D & this project will never be a complete 3D conversion of QFG4. It's just a fun action game set in the story & world of QFG4. I made it for fun and not because I felt it was needed. If others happen to enjoy it too then that's a bonus. :)

I was so excited when I saw some of the screenshots of this two months ago or so. I'm excited! Out of curiosity, why Hexen?

I'm SO looking forward to this mod, you have no idea!

Hexen is definitely one of my top classic FPS games, and I've always loved how moddable it is. And now, it and my favorite game series are coming together in a wonderful blend!

Thank you so much for doing this!

Edit: I've got feedback for you!

I'm guessing that the Thief is still a work in progress? Because right now the only thing that makes him different from Hexen's cleric is that his starting weapon looks like a dagger. (Ironically, because the Cleric's starting mace's gimmick was that it had an unnaturally long range for a melee weapon, this means that the Thief's dagger has better range than the Paladin's battered sword)

It's a little strange that all three classes have an identical story, including going into the Thieves Guild. I don't know how possible it would be to change things, but it's a little odd that all *three* classes have the Paladin's danger sense.

I don't mind other changes (like Piotyr and such)

Being able to pick up the Blackbird in the Monastery would've been neat, but I don't know what you'd even be able to do with it.

Instead of using keys in the Thieves Guild, perhaps use puzzle items instead? Wouldn't be too hard to change them, I think. Then store a key in the thieves guild safe instead of a piece of fruit.

Speaking of which, I think that the various cutscenes should have more items in them, rather than having some things in cutscenes and some things on the field. For example, when meeting Katrina for the second time outside the town, she should give you a health potion (because it's something she can do in game). Sleeping at the inn or at Erana's Garden should give you some crystal vials and fruits to simulate the healing process of sleeping. (Also, perhaps make it possible to grab the fruit from the tree? It's floating just out of reach and I can't seem to actually climb the tree or anything)

I also think you should add death cutscenes. Like, say, you walk up to the Rusalka (ALL the way up to her, or maybe when you activate her), instead of taking damage from acid or something, you get teleported to a room with acid floor and the death message from the game. Same for walking up and *activating* the book in the monastery.

Also, a minor thing, all classes can pick up the fine sword in the adventurer's guild and get the message for getting it, even though all it does for them is give them mana (and presumably their second weapon if they somehow don't have it)

There are some things I do like that you did. It's a nice touch having the Paladin's second weapon be the Fine Sword *AND* the Zap Spell together. I like that his third weapon is the flame dart spell, but still includes using the Fine Sword as a melee weapon. And Piotyr's sword is MAGNIFICENT even if it's literally just a recolored Wraithverge. That being said, the sound effect when using Piotyr's Sword is a little overwhelming.

I kinda feel like the Wizard could use a little more personalization. the Frostbite spell should be named as such - go ahead and use the sound effect from Quest for Glory 5 for it as well.

Chain Lightning is unfortunately, most likely, stuck the way it is - I can't think of a good way to change the graphic, myself, in a way that would make it fit in better. Perhaps, however, instead of using the default graphic for it, grab the Tome of Power'd Quarterstaff graphic from Heretic and have the bolts from from it - according to the lore introduced in QFG5, firing lightning balls from staves *does* make them into lightning bolts instead, even if none of the previous games actually worked that way. Make the game say something along the lines of "You find an old staff that you can channel lightning through" or something.

Instead of the skull staff for the Wizard's ultimate weapon, perhaps make it Erana's Staff instead - and change the graphics for the blasts and explosions into something vaguely holy looking. It's not exactly accurate to lore but then we have to work with what we have.

At least that's my suggestions. If you already have a plan in mind, I'm fine with that, I was just thinking you might like a little bit of input there.

The Thief... good luck with that. Gonna have to invent some stuff to make him really fit into the Hexen's Cleric class.

All in all, though, the adventure was amazing, and I'm VERY happy for the demo. And whatever the end result is, I have a feeling I'll love it. I especially love how expanded Mordavia was! Each monster felt like it did in QFG4, and fiighting them was fun. Especially the Paladin gameplay.

I would ask that for the swamp, however, you turn down the fog a bit - it's so hard to see where ground is and isn't. Many times I thought I was stepping onto solid ground and, nope, it was swamp.

Thanks mate. Doom editing is the only game making and graphic work I've ever been good at however I quickly realised that Doom would not be the best platform for a medieval game, only a few very talented professional mod teams have every attempted it (Eg Hocus Pocus mod) and they're way more talented than me. However I remembered that Hexen was in the same engine (meaning I didn't have to learn anything new) and had many more similarities to QFG such a 3 character selection and a huge pallet of medieval textures and weapons requiring less modification. So I gave it go! Darn it! I should have known a pro player of both QFG AND Hexen would come along as only someone who's a guru with both would see all my bloody faults and lazy solutions to problems hahahaha. ;)

Thanks you very much for all this feedback mate. It'll be a while before I work on the level again but I've taken your notes and stuck them in a word doc for when that day comes.

Some of things you've asked about I've explained in my FAQ (on the website & in the ReadMe pdf that comes with the mod) but I'll explain some of them here too.

Thief is sort of work in progress as he was certainly the toughest to convert and weakest of the 3 characters effort wise. In QFG the thief just runs around with a Dagger and has no spells which isn't much good for Hexen so I figured I'd replace the mace with the dagger and then just find ways to have the character steal or find monster loot giving them the other 3 Hexen weapons (with minor graphical tweaks such as the hero's white sleeve).

Yeah at this stage there's next to no difference with the 3 characters story wise, the only difference is in how they kill things haha. While I certainly have thought about creating big differences down the track I decided that was a bit too much hard work for this first release.

To create a good story and atmosphere for all 3 characters I decided to change the Paladin's danger sense into more of a general magical Hero sense. That way I could convey more drama for each character especially for regular Doom/Hexen players not familiar with QFG's intricacies. But never say never to doing things in a more QFG way in a future version.

Annoyingly I just couldn't seem to master customisable Hexen inventory items. I knows its possible and I tried and tried but just couldn't master it. Read the various forums and wikis but just couldn't get it working. I'm sure I can if I keep at it but I ran out of patience lol so atm a lot of those QFG items (bonsai, blackbird, rope etc) are simply there as decorations to make locations feel more familiar.

I haven't experimented with Hexen puzzle items (eg how each one works, and how I could change them) but that's an interesting idea. At the time keys were really the only way I could think of to solve the thieves guild and Dr cranium puzzle sequences.

Ah yes I forgot about Katrina giving you the potion if you're injured. Invisible vials on the teleport spot where you wake up is an excellent idea!! Shame on me for not thinking of that haha.

The fruit in the tree is just part of the trees texture, the only grabbable fruit is on the ground. I tried to make the fruit float higher up in the tree however for some reason the engine always pulls them down to the ground. I'm sure if I make my own magic fruit and remove all gravity flags I can get around that though.

Death sequences is not something I've thought about and yeah perhaps I should in the future as that was always a big part of QFG games.

Yeah I figured there was no harm as the guild sword was visible in the original QFG4 to all characters and I knew other Hexen characters couldn't use the weapon if they picked it up. However perhaps I could make it only visible to fighters and then make a decoration (non-pick up) version of the sword thats only visible to the other 2 characters. That would be more QFG4 like.

Thanks yeah trying to find QFG universe replacements for the bloody flying flaming hammer and wizard spells was a nightmare lol! The biggest problem I have with weapons atm is that while I learned how to edit some properties in existing weapons I'm yet to master fully replacing one with an entirely different functioning weapon. As a result I had to find ways to convert the existing Hexen weapons and how they function into the QFG universe. Then make as many graphical changes as my limited artistic abilities would let me do lol. I tried to find a more nature based wizard staff to be Erana's staff however I couldn't find one meaning I'll have to draw my own *gulp* so that got put in the 'future to-do-list' lol, as an interim thing you can see I removed heaps of the evil stuff off the staff and gave it a wooden base (think I stole the wood from a crossbow mod lol) so almost none of the skull is visible.

Anyway cheers again for all the feedback, you clearly had a go with all 3 characters which I doubt anyone else has bothered to so thanks heaps, glad you still enjoyed it! :)

Actually, you succeeded on making the fruit float high up on the tree. The collectable fruit, that is. I couldn't reach it XD

Now that is interesting.. on all my tests in both zdoom and gzdoom they drop to the ground as soon as you enter the 'room'. If that's not happening for other people then yeah I'll need to adjust them.

Here's an attached screenshot of the floating fruit.

Also, if I might have some more suggestions...

You said you wanted the Thief to sort of revolve around stealing stuff from the enemies for his weapons... that gives me some ideas, actually, if you haven't come up with any yourself.

I could see the Thief actually wielding the Dark One Sign as a weapon in place fo the Serpent Staff - with the colors of the bolts changed to either match the Chernovy Wizards or changed black to match the dark magic the Dark One represents. After all, the Dark One Sign does kinda suck your warmth away if you touch it to your skin... imagine what it could do if you touched it to the enemy. If that fails, maybe change the Serpent Staff to have a Dark One inspired design, if possible - though I'm not sure how easily this could be accomplished.

The Firestorm spell is a tougher one, but I have a couple of ideas in mind. You get the third weapon from the Wraith fight, so perhaps instead of "Gloves of Fire", how about changing the visuals to appear cool, like you've stolen the power of the Wraith to use against your enemies. You could call it "Wraithfire Spell" (since you're no doubt gonna still be burning up dried up trees with it).

Finally, Wraithverge sounds tough... but I actually have what I think is clever idea for it. How about... Katrina's Staff. And instead of firing out ghosts, it fires out minor air elementals? Since, after all, Katrina knows the Whirlwind spell but it's not a spell you can normally obtain during the game. Or you can even directly make it into a spell instead of a staff, if you so choose, using the Firestorm graphics again just with a "windy" effect added to them. Whirlwind Spell.

Paladin already set a precedent for the player character knowing magic in all of their incarnations anyways, so why not the Thief, too?

Hehe, sorry if I'm offering too much input. You're free to disregard it as you choose. I just get so excited about projects like these that the creative juices start flowing too quickly.

Thanks man. I've added these to my plans document too, some good ideas there.

And cheers for the screenshot, yeah I'm guessing the fruit is dropping for people with the latest version of Zdoom as I'm using an older one, or there's some setting in mine that's different. Either way I'll make sure that's fixed in the next version.

All good, friendly constructive criticism & suggestions to problems are very welcome. :)

Comments like "Way to ruin a game by making it look even older than 1993." that was written on my youtube part 3 video today are not so welcome. :/

...Why do people gotta be so rude? >_>

Thin-skinned rude people like that shouldn't be allowed on the internet without parental supervision :P

I don't understand why. Personally I think QFG4 is perfect as it is and I'm a believer in "If it ain't broke don't fix it." That said, any new QFG project always somehow generates some interest from me. I just hope that this one isn't full of screen shots from other Sierra games like QFG 4.5 apparently is.

You could always try the demo and see for yourself, if you have Hexen.

Hmm I'm guessing by both these comments that you haven't read the announcement I linked to or look at the pics yet. The later part in particular sounds strange considering I've made a 1st person Hexen mod? It's not a QFG point & click game using stolen backgrounds from kings quest haha!
As for the other part I said in my blog announcement QFG4 does not need to be in 3D and this project will never be a complete 3D conversion of QFG4. It's just a fun action game set in the story and world of QFG4. I made it for fun and not because I felt it was needed. If others happen to enjoy it too then that's a bonus. There seems to this perception in some (eg that lovely fellow on youtube) that I'm trying to create some sort of replacement and that by doing this I'm ruining the original game. It's not a replacement, it's a tribute, and those that don't like it can simply ignore it if they wish. But of course they don't and insulting a year of work is much easier lol. Might have to put up some more disclaimers lol!

Don't worry about it at all. From the few conversations I've had with Corey and Lori, and I can say that they would be THRILLED that someone wanted to put this much effort into one of their games. For them, it's always been about the fans. :)

MODS UPDATED & FIXED! GZDoom's Graf Zahl has saved my bacon lol and helped me finally solve the mystery issues with my Mapinfo that affected my mod from GZDoom version 1.9 onwards. I've fixed the mod and it appears to work just fine with the latest versions of GZDoom! :) I've updated my download links with the updated demo files and documentation. :)

Thanks Man yeah they're both friends with me on fb and have been very supportive of my work. They've always been great with the fan community. :)