TODO.txt

OBLIGE TODO
===========

( see BUGS.txt )


______________________________________________________________________

  HIGH PRIORITY
______________________________________________________________________


*  min_weapon for guard monsters

*  support for Traps and free-standing Cages

*  add in more scenery: trees, computers etc

*  fix lighting with 3D floors


______________________________________________________________________

  LOWER PRIORITY
______________________________________________________________________


----------------------------------------------
  OTHER GAMES
----------------------------------------------

+  Heretic support

+  Quake support
   -  ability to load .map files
   -  ability to scale, rotate, mirror them
   -  ability to replace textures and entities
   -  build maps with external tools, bundle them for each OS

-  Hexen support

-  Duke Nukem 3D

?  HacX
?  Chex Quest 3
?  Harmony


----------------------------------------------
  V6 STUFF
----------------------------------------------


+  a secret exit may not be possible due to reserved room
   becoming surrounded by scenic rooms (from connection logic).
   
   Need to review/rework connection logic.

+  improve connection logic out of cave rooms
   (primary criterion should be distance from other conns)

+  intrusions: like "junking" a side, but connects two other rooms
   (they are really just a hallway, but merging itself with the
    neighboring room as much as possible)

+  sky-halls (variation of the above, no?)

+  get stairwells working again, have outdoor version w/ rails

+  scenic rooms which player can fall into should have escape


-  ability to centre doors (on two seeds)

-  if room before exit room (a) has no locked doors (b) is not small
   and (c) exit room is small, then put guard monster there.


-  certain cases in DM_AlignTextures don't work well, especially
   an upper where a crate straddles the periph (but does not directly
   overlap any linedefs).

-  in 2x2 rooms, place key/switch in middle of room
   [ monster/item spots are the hard part ]

-  outdoor fences should straddle both rooms
   (but need to handle corners and T junctions)

-  ensure normal doors are usually monster-openable, secret doors not

+  apply nice items gotten in normal rooms to the HMODEL

-  wad-fab: "outside bbox" pieces via sector type #987


3D Floors:
+  thick support beam intersects with 3D floor => wrong side texture
   [ CSG issue ]

-  proper handling of windows (eval each combo of floors)

-  proper handling of pictures (decide which floor to use)

-  64x64 middle beams for some 3D floors
   (which disables the corner supports)


Fences:
-  support dropping them between rooms  [ honor STYLE ]


Border pieces:
-  only 25% chance of corner cage [apply style]


Bridges:
-  have an actual bridge [Urban theme]
-  bridges : check two/three seeds for LONG bridges
-  add mon/item spots to prefabs


----------------------------------------------
  LEVEL STUFF
----------------------------------------------


"onion" layouting :
   patterns which do something to one (or more) sides of a room
   and recurse for the remaining part.


-  review Dante's ideas : doc/DANTE.txt


Closets:
!!  get them working again

-  support START_SKY_CLOSET, need to recognise when a closet lies
   between two outdoor border prefabs.

-  put exclusion zones in front of START and TELEPORTER closets

+  set 'floor' material to match touching area

-  START closets 
-  EXIT closets
-  SECRET closets
-  ITEM closets
-  TELEPORTER closets
-  GATE closets for Hexen
-  HALL closets
-  MONSTER closets


Prefab system:
-  x_repeat, y_repeat

+  type of prefab is from the NAME

-  mirror (horizontally) a 'T' or 'P' shaped hallway piece or big junction

-  do mirroring in prefab space (only really need X)

+  priority for spots  (skill flag)
       if EASY set OR nothing set --> priority = 1
       elseif MEDIUM --> priority = 2
       else              priority = 3

   ALWAYS prefer a higher priority over a lower one.


New Starting Logic

-  three main kinds:

   CLOSET : you begin in a very small room, which is connected to a
            larger room, often by a door.  The closet would only
            contain one or two pickups, e.g. a nice health item and
            (if you're lucky) a weapon.

   SIDE :   you begin in the side or corner of a large-ish room,
            with nothing particularly special about the start position
            (except say a pedestal).
            
            There are no monsters which can see you (and usually none you
            can see either).  Again, only a couple of items nearby.
            The starting weapon and ammo will be further away.

   MIDDLE : you begin in the middle of a large room, and often have
            to get moving to fight or avoid the monsters scattered
            around.  There is usually some useful pickups nearby,
            especially a starting weapon. 


V5 STUFF:

-  see why some traps or cages are empty

+  Need logic to decide how to light up a room (windows vs wall
   lights vs ceilings lights etc).

+  'action' field in a switch prefab, must match door used
   values can be: "raise", "lower", "stair"

-  get 'height' value into 'env' pick_skin() tables

-  IDEA: 'override' value for prefabs, default is zero.
         when > 0, remove all other possible prefabs from the list
         which have a lower value

-  ability to enter room via an elevator

-  Fight simulator: adjust monster 'damage' value based on Ambush
   usage, Cage usage, dark rooms, hitscanners/Archies in low cover
   rooms -- and lower values if killed by BFG or rocket launcher

-  Mons: sometimes look toward important item (esp. keys)


Caves:
+  ability to make prefabs in caves
   (a) replacement walls (e.g. cages)
   (b) middle of a step

-  handle solid islands, sometimes make pools, or become a step

-  caves with steps: have two floor materials, pick randomly

-  support Cross-Overs
   -  respect the Room's height limitations
   -  create channels by lowering the floor cells
   -  for bridges, ensure ceiling cells are high enough


Street Mode:
!!  get it working again

+  fix bug : if one room surrounds another one, the "streets"
   between them are isolated from the rest.  Need to make multiple
   "street" rooms.

+  limit number of locked rooms:
   (a) if too many rooms, merge some
   (b) make some rooms be optional (storehouses or weapon)
   (c) connect some rooms via bridges

-  better looking "streets" (via prefabs)

-  a raised outdoory room might be cool

-   5% of the time  : keep the outer ring
   35% of the time  : expand all rooms into outer ring
   rest of the time : expand corner rooms 65%, side rooms 35%

-  allow big monsters in the street [c.f. MAP12]


Outdoor room IDEA:
  -  begin with whole space as "natural", create "constructed"
     intrusions into that space.


Outdoor Idioms:

+  Porches: this is 3 or more seeds around a door from outside->inside
   with a non-sky ceiling and some pillars and a raised floor.

+  overhangs (building extensions with pillars, non-different floor)

+  at edge of map, have rocky/jagged shape
   (needed where caves border outdoor room too)

+  grassy area with water pool

+  large areas with water/blood, must be lowest area
   (especially good for Heretic maps)

+  bridge over a river of lava/nukage

+  tower in corner of map (monster cage, possibly enterable)

+  gazebo in centre with a nice item (or purpose)


Theme System:
-  IDEA: fairly rare "mix in" themes, e.g. Egypt for TNT

-  "Mostly Original" theme

+  proper themes for QUAKE

-  if keys are left over, can use them for non-Zone locks


Hallways:
+  use a wad-fab for each part of a hallway

+  support for stairs in hallways

+  double halls : detect a 6x4 or larger room with one or two exits
   and place the hallway around it

+  flat mismatch where hallways meet rooms
   (a) have a step (ideally not flush with wall)
   (b) put a door there
   (c) use floor texture in hallway (only works at one end)


CrossOvers:
+  get them working again!

+  support "Crossover Junctions" which have a low path from S -> N
   and a bridge (etc) going E -> W.

-  automatically create bridges over channels

+  build the bridges / channels using prefabs

-  sometimes make a dramatic height difference

-  fix hallway vertical gaps

+  make a moving platform in Quake 1/2 maps

-  a version with arches underneath

-  pillars holding up the bridge

-  channels which decrease height  [via prefab??]

-  exclude some areas from height limitation.
   These areas must be outside a certain bbox, a bbox including the
   starting area and all crossovers chunks.

   Better yet, give these areas a less restrictive limitation
   (based on how far the player may jump/fall from a high height)
   For channels, can remove the limitation.


Hollow IDEA:
   a "hollow" is an open space under the floor of a normal AREA,
   turning that AREA into a 3D platform.
   
   The floor needs to match a touching AREA, perhaps the hollow
   chunks become part of that AREA.

   The walls can/should have different thickness to the
   above chunks -- could have own pictures/lights/etc.

   The ceiling should be kept simple -- assume top chunk
   provides the bare structure, can add a light prefab.

   Both chunks can support monsters and items [unless
   the hollow has LAVA/WATER for the floor]


Intrusions:
-  this idea is that part of a room is reserved for the player
   to travel through in an earlier or later quest.  If the
   quest is earlier, then the player is prevented from entering
   that room (due to blocking railings or being too low down).

   It's like a kind of window, except the intrusion is built
   as if it were part of the room you look into.  It may work
   best in Quake games where the intrusion is a 3D walkway.


Facades:
-  would be nice to "smooth" any odd-one-outs

-  ability to ensure both inner/outer are the same
   [perhaps a room_theme setting]
   [or: special keyword in building_walls]


Quests:
-  sometimes lock another connection (ESP: symmetry)
   with the same lock as one we just added
   [ESP: when new lock goes to leaf or semi-leaf]

-  Lock postponing:
     after decided all locked conns, pick one and if next room is a
     stalk, then can move the lock to the next door (and the next room
     becomes part of the earlier quest).

     [especially when next "room" is a hallway]


Planner:
-  review / improve 'emergency' connections


Sub-rooms:
-  plus shape : a 2x2 room in each corner


Cycles:
+  get them working again [ esp. for CO-OP ]

+  cycles: fix the "excess" height problem

-  cycles: limit number of same-lock cycles e.g. 3 for heaps, 2 some, 1 few

-  allow joiners _iff_ the height diff is zero

+  less chance if R2 (skipped room) is large

-  create "teleporter cycles" i.e. if R1 -> R2 -> R3 and one
   connection is a teleporter, try add teleporter from R1 -> R3.

-  prevent using section next door to existing conn & same direction
   [maybe prevent same dir altogether except in "heaps"]


Mazes:
-  invert maze + thin_out + cave_render --> interesting walkway
                                            (e.g. over lava)


----------------------------------------------
  MONSTERS / ITEMS
----------------------------------------------

+  in later levels, low-level monsters should be used in bigger swarms

-  support "Swarms" : a group of 3-N monsters (either a
   single monster or 2-3 of a certain class), and place
   all the monsters close to each other, perhaps even
   have swarm patterns.


----------------------------------------------
  MISCELLANEOUS
----------------------------------------------

+  when traversibility in a room is poor (exit near entrance),
   make the exit into a switched door and put a switch at other
   end of room.

+  One-way Routes (see doc/Various_Notes.txt)

IDEA: GAME.SCOPED_VARS table which is like styles but (a) fields can
      be used in prefabs (b) a _scope field can be "zone", "level",
      "room", "episode" -- value remains constant over that scope.

IDEA: "weak texturing" (especially on floors) which will try to
      use a texturing from adjoining floor (via a certain side).

-  a mode to use dynamic lights instead of sector lighting
   (for ports like EDGE and GZDoom).  Basically just convert
   the candle thing in prefabs to light-emitting entities.

-  outdoor wall extender: 64x64 block with torch on top

-  "mini stairs" : two areas have largish height diff (2-4 * step)
   and the "stair" is a short intrusion in the side of the lower
   chunk (say no more than 32 units deep, a prefab).

-  3D stairs

-  IDEA: recursive room patterns could say that floor '0' should
         build walls (windows/fences/etc) into other sub-areas


-  double or triple switches: each one raises a 24 unit stair,
   but player can only traverse stairs when ALL are raised.
   Might work best if stairs are parallel to height diff.

-  ensure sky heights are higher than neighboring indoor rooms.

-  prefab with window above archway (for Quake etc)

-  smarter choosing health items, especially when health target is very high

-  rarity for bfg10k and railgun for Skulltag

-  IDEA: STYLE to control # of lifts

+  ability to replace music using MUS/OGG/MP3 from a bunch of files
   placed in a certain folder (e.g. "music/").  Needs a Lua API to
   read a directory.


-  exit via teleporter pad or holes in floor

-  raising bridges (activate by a switch)

-  cage monsters: don't put hitscan snipers up really high.

-  a module to randomly change DOOM monster / weapon stats via
   DEHACKED / DDF / DECORATE.


If one engine "extends" another, and both have an 'all_done' hook
(for example), then only the extended engine's hook is called.
Should it be like that, OR call both ???


Warzone Mode:
-  player progresses from one side to the other of the map.
   it is fairly open and interconnected, and monsters form the
   main obstacles (instead of a key hunt).


Batch Mode:
+  detect invalid game=XXX (etc) keywords


Secrets:
-  fix battle simulator to ignore stuff got in secrets
   (push state onto stack, pop afterwards).


Co-op IDEA:
-  "checkpoint" areas that players pass through, with loads of
   ammunition or health, enough to allow players to restock


Name generator:
-  create random weird-looking words for names of Bosses, planets
   or whatever.  Use them multiple times over an episode or game
   to make it seem like there is a actual story to the maps.

-  random output filenames (as an option)


----------------------------------------------
  PIPE DREAMS
----------------------------------------------

+  generate the Boss maps (don't use prebuilt)
   -  controlled via a module

+  generate random music (incorporate SoundHelix ?)

-  make Oblige easier to mod

-  deathmatch and CTF maps
      5130 = "Blue flag"
      5131 = "Red flag"
      5080 = "Blue Start"      
      5081 = "Red Start"

-  "Horror" mode: fewer but tougher monsters, fewer ammo, darker levels.

-  more Oblige logos, higher resolution ones too

-  Rooms that lock you in and you have to find the switch on
   the other side of the room to get out.  All "normal" exits
   would be closed off by a line trigger near the entry way.

-  Pop-up Traps
   you make a sector, lower it enough so monsters cannot see
   the player but are facing him when it springs. The trap walls have
   no lower texture and you set the trigger line to action 19 ( W1
   floor lower to highest floor) and you set the trap monsters deaf so
   they aren't awakened by player gunshots.

   When the player trips the linedef, the floors instantly pop up to
   the nearest floor height without the rising delay of some other
   linedef actions. Another thing is to make sure the line that
   triggers the trap can't be bypassed and thus the player can get
   stuck in the hole if he falls in.

-  Surprise Lifts:
   It is a hallway/room section that looks normal but when the player
   crosses the Lift-Lower-Wait-Rise linedef, it lowers to surprise the
   player with monsters on one or both sides of the lift.


----------------------------------------------
  GUI and C++ CODE
----------------------------------------------

+  rename m_spots.cc --> csg_spots, tidy up duplications

-  use fl_utf8.h functions (fl_fopen, etc) for file handling
   [ BUT : glBSP, ajpoly, etc.... would need to use them too ]

-  use OpenMP to speed up lighting stuff (etc ?)

-  option to save log to same base filename (TEST.wad + TEST.log)

-  ability to specify log file: --log option

Console:
  -  display lists better

Cancellation:
  -  can abort monster code (Fight sim) midstream 
  -  can abort CSG_BSP() midstream
  -  can abort DOOM / Duke processing midstream
  -  can abort Quake I / II BSP generation midstream
  -  can abort Q1_ClippingHull() midstream


----------------------------------------------
  DOCUMENTATION / WEB SITE
----------------------------------------------

+  manpage for the Debian package

+  Usage page: new section: BATCH MODE

+  need new screenshots for website

-  Usage page: document the 'Options' window

-  modding guide: information about creating prefabs

-  modding guide : code stuff:
   - Lua
   - OB_CONFIG, OB_GAMES, OB_MODULES, OB_THEMES
   - things, monsters, weapons, pickups
   - materials, themes

-  transfer Lua_Extended.txt document to the website
   (part of modding guide).

IDEA:  new "RUNNING THE MAPS" section (on Usage page)


----------------------------------------------
  DOOM and DOOM II
----------------------------------------------

+  move stuff in data/ into games/doom/ (etc)

+  support MAPINFO lumps (especially for ZDoom ports).

-  support for the DECORATE lump

-  better starting scenarios (e.g. fix raising_starts)

-  MAP32: find and kill all the Keens to open the door to the exit.
          perhaps use Psychedelic theme and a lower qty Crazy mode.

-  support BOOM's 242 linetype for liquids and fake 3D floors

-  Legacy liquids are different (ceiling height is surface)
   (use legacy method for GZDoom and Skulltag)

-  support per-map Fog via sourceport features (MAPINFO etc)
-  support lightning in ZDoom etc (via MAPINFO)

-  use separated in/out teleporters in very large rooms
   (especially in Quake maps)

-  log-print CSG stats (e.g. linedef count, plane count, etc)


-  IDEA: generate end-of-episode texts

-  IDEA: generate a TITLEPIC

+  Dead/gibbed player corpses sprinkled around on each level (Just
   like Doom episode 1) with the chance of a weapon near their
   remains (Shotgun 35%, chaingun 30%, Supershot 15%, rocket
   launcher 15% and plasmagun 5%?)? Of course the weapon placement
   by the body is at a chance (15-20% chance?)

-  ZDoom slopes:
   340 = 0,   Plane_Align (1, 0)  // Slope front floor
   341 = 0,   Plane_Align (0, 1)  // Slope front ceiling
   342 = 0,   Plane_Align (1, 1)  // Slope front floor and ceiling
   343 = 0,   Plane_Align (2, 0)  // Slope back floor
   344 = 0,   Plane_Align (0, 2)  // Slope back ceiling
   345 = 0,   Plane_Align (2, 2)  // Slope back floor and ceiling
   346 = 0,   Plane_Align (2, 1)  // Slope b.f. and f.c.
   347 = 0,   Plane_Align (1, 2)  // Slope f.f. and b.c.

EDGE: gui.property("solid_exfloor", 400)
      gui.property("liquid_exfloor", 406)
      gui.property("thing_exfloor_flags", "true")

LEGACY: gui.property("solid_exfloor", 281)
        gui.property("liquid_exfloor", 280)  -- 301


----------------------------------------------
  FINAL DOOM
----------------------------------------------

+  support some of the TNT and Plutonia textures

-  TNT Evilution textures that have been changed:
     BLODGR1..4  SLADRIP1..3  SW1GSTON    SW1SKULL

-  Plutonia textures that have been changed:
     DBRAIN1..4  FIREBLU1..2  SW1SKULL


----------------------------------------------
  HERETIC
----------------------------------------------

!!  get it working again
    -  games/heretic directory
    -  separate files for Lua info (entities.lua, levels.lua, etc) 
    -  minimal set of prefabs

+  new 'damage' values for monsters

-  don't build Blaze doors into maps.

-  monsters: not mixed enough (too repetitive), no bosses.

-  weapons: firemace no good for SP/COOP ??

Sam's suggestions:
  for Heretic caves should be rare in E1, common in E2, and somewhat common
  in E3. I would, if going along with the “Egypt Sand” theme I made for
  ObHack’s E4 in Heretic, make caverns about as common as they are in E3.

  I would give E2 caverns pretty much the same theme as they have in ObHack;
  E3 should be pretty much like E1, but I would make the occasional cavern in
  E3 be very watery (water flowing down walls and the floor being full of
  pools), or be like some areas in the original E3M7.


----------------------------------------------
  HEXEN
----------------------------------------------

!!  get it working again

+  new 'damage' values for monsters

+  BOSS map : require the 2/3 hub keys to access boss room
               NOTE: could use them to restrict progress along chain

+  BOSS map : actually add the bosses (whatever else is needed)

+  fix weapons, which should be spawned for each class 
   -  put 'fighter only' bit on fighter's weapons, etc..

+  proper hub system
   -  need exit teleporter in final Hub

+  separate prefab for switched vs locked doors
   [why?]

-  support teleporters (flat X_012)

-  support more skies


 _____________________
|                     |
|KEY:                 |
|    !!  critical     |
|    +   important    |
|    -   normal       |
|    >>  in progress  |
|    ??  not sure     |
|_____________________|