Things that (ideally) must happen before a Tournament is held

I have mentioned on many occasions that I'd like to run a ZDoom Wars tournament at some point. I have not before provided an actual time frame, as there are certain things I'd like to have done first.

-Each Retrofitted unit needs its own sprite set.

-I must feel that each faction is balanced enough to be fair in a competitive environment, and that each unit pulls its weight and is used by players. The same goes for the Special abilities.

-I want to have the older maps visually rehauled.

-I want all the maps to have up-to-date gameplay and a similar fun factor, with all known bugs fixed.

So, basically, once these things are well and truly done, I'll be willing to have a tournament. And really, the last two are up to Mik57 and Damage, while the second is up to me. None of us are particularly capable or willing to do the first.

oman

I don't believe I've actually mentioned this, but Damage is officially a mapper for ZDoom Wars, and is working in Concert with Mik57 on the map pack.

As is, Mik57 first makes gameplay changes, and then sends the pack to Damage, who will be doing detail work. At this point, the map pack is in Damage's hands, so 2.6 shouldn't be too far off, and as mentioned before, will pack some tasy map changes as well as balancing and some bug fixes.

I've been at a gaming convention here in San Antonio called Chimaeracon this past weekend, thus the inactivity on ZDWars servers. Now that I'm again able to work on this in my freetime, I may toss out the Heretic monster pack or something.

Anyway, I received yet another Map Pack 4 submission this weekend, but there are still open slots, and there can always be another pack! Just don't count on seeing your map in action within the next... the next, uh... long time span. The good news is that I'm feeling more and more confident about the wad's balance, and there are a couple other handy developments at hand as far as the map pack and such that can help set the stage for the long-promised tournament at some future date. :D

Tournament Participation Poll Results

Alright, so 22 people, 4 of which might get lag killed or DC in the middle of a match. That's alright. It won't be a long tournament, but it should work out fine. The tournament won't actually occur for a while. I want you fellows to be familiar with map pack 3 first.

You may have noticed a new entry in the Index, "Mapping for ZDoom Wars". If you want to make a ZDWars map, go ahead and read that, and if you still have questions, contact me however.

Anyway, Mik is presumably working on map pack 3, and once I receive it, I'll put a couple spoilers, etc to tide you over until release. Until that point, how about a list of the general gameplay and cosmetic changes coming in 2.5?

-Ghost Units are overall more useful
-Heretic, Hexen, and Strife summoners now use png graphics for the monster images
- New, custom ZDoom Wars HUD, by Firewolf. It displays health and both types of mana, with both bars and numerical values visible. It also works in Widescreen, and is easier to read than the default HUD at high resolutions.
-Mana items will now blink for a few seconds before vanishing.
-Player footstep sounds were broken.
-Some classes used incorrect frames in their HeroSuppression.Pain state.
-Each class now has game-appropriate blood.
-Hero indicators weren't moving at the right speed, and so were inaccurate.

The total list of changes to the Factions themselves will just have to wait until release! ;)

Two new things to stare at

You'll see a new "Index" thingy on the sidebar, leading to two new pages, a Frequently Asked Questions page, and a currently blank page that will contain info on whoever wins the first and future ZDWars tournaments.