[PROTOTYPE] Ripper WIP

[Wail]

>>>DOWNLOAD HERE (Ripper v10)<<<
(Download Link last updated: Dec 17 2015.)


Map Authors looking to utilize the Ripper:

 

Spoiler

UAssets (v. beta 5): Download Here.
Last Uasset Update was on: Oct 22 2015. (Previous: Oct 18 2015.)
Basic install instructions: Unzip and place the Ripper folder in "Epic Games/UnrealTournamentEditor/UnrealTournament/Content/RestrictedAssets/Weapons/". Make sure the Ripper directory is called "Ripper" rather than "Ripper_Uasset_VERSION". Final directory path should look like "Epic Games/UnrealTournamentEditor/UnrealTournament/Content/RestrictedAssets/Weapons/Ripper"

VIDEO UPDATED OCT 18 2015

VIDEO UPDATED MARCH 16 2015

| |


Features of this Ripper:
Primary Fire: Rapid fire of bouncing razor discs. Discs can decapitate players. Numerous configuration options for handling balancing of bouncing behaviors.
Primary Fire (Melee Range): Fast slash / saw attack. Higher damage than a standard primary blade. Can also decapitate opponents with a headshot.
Alternate Fire: Explosive-charged discs.
Alternate Fire + Primary Fire: Enable guidance laser. Explosive-charged discs guide to the laser.

Discussion:
I am really happy with how the mix of features here plays out, but I'm still open to additional ideas on the alternate fire. I think for the most part this mix of features gives us a well rounded weapon that's rewarding to use and has some unique features (control space effectively with the primary, projectile-based headshots, guided fire projectiles on the secondary). I'm still open to new ideas on the secondary fire but I really do enjoy how this weapon brings both the Unreal Razorjack and the Unreal Tournament Ripper together into a cohesive whole.

That said, if you think you have a killer idea for the altfire feel free to suggest it and I might try it out.

 

Spoiler

Older Features Explored:

Primary Fire: Fires bouncing razor discs that can decapitate players
Alt Fire: Fires razor discs that explode in an AOE and splash a few minor shrapnel projectiles
Alt Fire + Primary Fire: Remotely trigger detonation of alt-fire discs.

Installation & Playing Instructions

There are two ways that the Ripper can be played with.

• Download and play the Weapons Testing Arena that I have created (Direct download to map). The Weapons Testing arena is a version of DM-ASDF that features some of my custom weapons. Simply load up the map and play. On this map, the BioRifle is replaced with the Ripper.
• Utilize the built-in "Weapon Replacement" mutator to replace another weapon of your choice with the Ripper.

As always please let me know if you have difficulties getting this working, find bugs, or just want to give feedback on the weapon.

[Karton]

Glad to see that we are both invested on the ripper !
I was beginning the source code when I saw your post.

Apparently you've made it mostly with blueprints.
I'll keep your setup, but work on a native C++ implementation if you are ok.


PS : That said, it's still dangerous to work without coordination.
If two person were providing implementations for the ripper, functionally similar but very different in their inner workings, wouldn't it be a lack of efficiency ?

[Wail]

Glad to see that we are both invested on the ripper !
I was beginning the source code when I saw your post.

Apparently you've made it mostly with blueprints.
I'll keep your setup, but work on a native C++ implementation if you are ok.


PS : That said, it's still dangerous to work without coordination.
If two person were providing implementations for the ripper, functionally similar but very different in their inner workings, wouldn't it be a lack of efficiency ?

As far as I know the way I have this set up is more in line with best practices in UE4. You can determine this by looking at how other weapons in the current UT codebase are set up. In prior working versions I was putting more into the C++ but doing so reduces flexibility when it comes to playtesting your prototypes.

[Wowbagger]

Ripper Secondary Fire

I would really love to see the Ripper back in UT.
I also agree that the secondary fire was very bland.

I have two suggestions for the Rippers secondary fire.

The Bolito
If you have seen Ridley Scotts The Counselor you know what im talking about (be careful when googling it though since its pretty gruesome)

Performing a closeup (were talking melee distance here) secondary fire to the head slips this line over the enemys head, in a loop, and turn the motor on. There’s no way of shutting it down once it’s started, and the wire just cuts through your neck.

To make this more fun (yea i know :-)) there could be achievements like "Player X killed nn players before he lost his head"

As a twist one could also let the device unlock if the victim manages to kill his "killer" before he dies (or a set amount of kills)
This could start some really crazy mayhem in DM.



The timed burst
Secondary fire "ejects the whole mag" attaching it to the surface(wall, floor, roof etc) you aim at.
At a set time (like 2s?) it bursts all the discs in the direction it faces.

If you find a 45degree surface in a corridor it bursts in a zigzag pattern through the corridor.

Good for surprising people hunting you in CTF and some mind games in 1vs1 maybe.

Im not sure about the time but thats easy to test using blueprints maybe?

[Wail]

I would really love to see the Ripper back in UT.
I also agree that the secondary fire was very bland.

I have two suggestions for the Rippers secondary fire.

The Bolito
If you have seen Ridley Scotts The Counselor you know what im talking about (be careful when googling it though since its pretty gruesome)

Performing a closeup (were talking melee distance here) secondary fire to the head slips this line over the enemys head, in a loop, and turn the motor on. There’s no way of shutting it down once it’s started, and the wire just cuts through your neck.

To make this more fun (yea i know :-)) there could be achievements like "Player X killed nn players before he lost his head"

As a twist one could also let the device unlock if the victim manages to kill his "killer" before he dies (or a set amount of kills)
This could start some really crazy mayhem in DM.



The timed burst
Secondary fire "ejects the whole mag" attaching it to the surface(wall, floor, roof etc) you aim at.
At a set time (like 2s?) it bursts all the discs in the direction it faces.

If you find a 45degree surface in a corridor it bursts in a zigzag pattern through the corridor.

Good for surprising people hunting you in CTF and some mind games in 1vs1 maybe.

Im not sure about the time but thats easy to test using blueprints maybe?

Hey, I like your ideas.
I remember back in the day thinking that it would be cool to have the Ripper act as a melee weapon as well. The viability of this kind of depends on what the weapon model ends up looking like, but it might be cool to have an option to do a trace while firing the Ripper (or maybe make it activated by Primary + Secondary?) to do a melee attack with the weapon. That's something I'll try to think about implementing.

Your secondary fire idea is one I've been considering too (assuming I'm reading it right!). Loading up on blades and then unleashing them one after another in a burst. I'm not totally sold on it though because I feel like it's not bringing a whole lot new to the table. Very reminiscent of Flak Primary / Rocket Launcher secondary depending on how it's implemented.

Edit:
My current idea to make the alt-fire a little bit more interesting is to make it such that you can detonate the secondary-fire disk in mid-air by tapping primary while secondary is depressed. This could unleash a spray of shrapnel in a circle. Will have to see how well this feels when implemented, as the inputs might be a little obtuse.

[Wowbagger]

I like the idea of tapping and unleashing a circle of disks (not a sphere).
Even better if you could change the angle of the circle somehow.

Maybe it needs some skill (like the SR combo) to pull off?

What if the Detonation occured after, lets say, 2 bounces? (no need for tapping)
That way you would have to think fast to time the detonation in a group of players.

[Kronos[X]]

I would love to see the ripper in the new UT, but it definitely needs some changes. I like the idea of it detonating after a couple of bounces, or maybe 3 or 4 seconds so it would work in the vehicle games too and not get kills five mins later. I like the idea of the secondary rounds being able to detonate like the grenade launcher. I was thinking maybe it could be similar to the RL charge. Keep RM held to charge up 2 or 3 disk then release(maybe its better to limit it to one disk), after release you can't shoot another one until you detonate it by pressing RM, causing minimal damage, so not to overpower the weapon, and also have a time out trigger on it. As I'm writing this I think maybe it would be better to limit the secondary to 1 disk, but you have to keep RM held to charge disk for detonation, maybe a second or two. Well I'm not sure if I'm way off the mark here, haven't use the ripper much so don't have much experience with the balance issues. BTW I like the placeholder art, and best of luck with your project.

[Hektoerr]

I hope if the ripper returns, it won't be like how it was in ut99.

Ripper secondary is redundant with rocket launcher. We can say its just a weak version of the RL.

The primary has too high fire rate and bounces too much. It is kinda OP in tight corridors but almost useless in open spaces. Fire rate and the amount of bounces must be limited.

[Wail]

I hope if the ripper returns, it won't be like how it was in ut99.

Ripper secondary is redundant with rocket launcher. We can say its just a weak version of the RL.

The primary has too high fire rate and bounces too much. It is kinda OP in tight corridors but almost useless in open spaces. Fire rate and the amount of bounces must be limited.

I hope the changes aren't that drastic, but I can see where you're coming from. Headshotting with this Ripper is actually quite tough since, unlike the UT99 Ripper, you don't just need to hit in the upper 1/3rd of the body area. In this version I also added the ability to entirely turn off headshot detection after so many bounces, and damage attenuation per bounce so that wildly bouncing blades are less effective. Reducing the ability to spam and fill a room with blades will make this weapon lose its unique character though.

(Also, the collision detection is much tigher around both the player pawn and the discs currently, so even some shots that seem like they should hit will not.)

[Hektoerr]

I hope the changes aren't that drastic, but I can see where you're coming from. Headshotting with this Ripper is actually quite tough since, unlike the UT99 Ripper, you don't just need to hit in the upper 1/3rd of the body area. In this version I also added the ability to entirely turn off headshot detection after so many bounces, and damage attenuation per bounce so that wildly bouncing blades are less effective. Reducing the ability to spam and fill a room with blades will make this weapon lose its unique character though.

(Also, the collision detection is much tigher around both the player pawn and the discs currently, so even some shots that seem like they should hit will not.)

The ut99 version of the gun is just imba. It was removed from later UT games with a reason. It doesnt make any sense that you can fill a room with ripper blades from the other side of the map without line of sight, just because the fire rate is that high, and the blades bounce so much. There has to be a logical limit.

I was thinking of a charing up mechanism for the primary. It would shoot a disc with bigger damage and speed and would bounce more, that would make up for my limitation suggestions. Also had an idea with the secondary. Charged up explosive secondary would stick to floor/ceiling/wall whatever and you could detonate it with primary or uncharged secondary shots (or other weapons?).

[Wail]

Since the Ripper has always been a bit of a second tier weapon, I'm not sure I agree with your assessments. I don't really want to get into an argument about it though as the version of the weapon presented here has plenty of customization options available through the blueprint for finding a good balance between retaining the flavorful characteristics of the weapon and making it fun on both sides of the gun.

[Hektoerr]

I'd rather have a more versatile and balanced weapon which isn't necessarily a second tier weapon.

[sneh]

I like the ideas for secondary

Throw full canister of blades into the air and detonate with another click (probably best to throw it through a door, and get out of there), or throw it at a wall / ceiling / ground and it sticks momentarily until auto detonate. Should have nice bright LED lights on it so you can notice it in a dark passage (moments before it blows metal shards into your face )

I assume this would use all your ammo in one go, or at least requires a large portion of ammo per shot. Depends how OP it is

[Wail]

Updated first post with a video demonstration recorded earlier today. Also did a small fix since I noticed MaxBounces property was not actually being utilized to stop bouncing behavior.

In the Blueprint you can easily configure a Maximum # of bounces before the primary blade projectile stops. Although personally I feel like this value should be left at "unlimited." Instead my ideal configuration is that each bounce subtracts (a configurable time) 1 second from the lifespan (default 8) so that when the projectile bounces around in tight areas it times out sooner. There's also a damage reduction on each bounce after the first, and headshot detection is disabled. This makes the weapon useful at long ranges (Epic employees have stated on numerous occasions that they don't mind it on CTF-Face, for example), but makes it so that if the projectile is rapidly bouncing around it just times out more quickly. They're still dangerous and spammy this way, which to me is an essential characteristic of the weapon, but you won't get free kills with stray ripper blades scoring headshots on guys you can't see.

I am hoping I'll have some more time over the next couple of days to implement a few of my secondary fire ideas.

[Wail]

In my most recent updates I implemented the ability to detonate the alternate fire projectiles in mid air using primary fire after secondary fire. Currently trying to decide whether this should be the same explosion that occurs on impact, or if it should be differentiated in some way. My current line of thought is a impact-explosion launches out X primary blade projectiles along the angle of reflection, whereas the mid-air explosion launches them out in circle. Although given that I'm seeing some kind of UFO-like disc that launches out smaller discs, I'm not totally sure on the angle of reflection bit (since it seems physically less plausible, but then again it's a game so maybe that doesn't matter).