The next big hurdle for development is going to be actually learning how to 3d model. I watched a few beginner-oriented Blender tutorials, but I haven't really fired the program up yet. Hopefully now armed with concept art I can get something going.

See the WIP implementation on the left. I am proud to say that the Health readout and heading readout are currently both functional and update with changes in player facing direction and as you take damage. Looking to start creating the energy capacitor ammo types for the energy weapons soon as well as the inherent regeneration of said ammo, which will let me test-drive the little pip-based readouts for the shield and energy capacitors. Think I have the math for those worked out.

In hindsight, I think it would have probably made more sense to go more toward a Battledrome or Starsiege style fully digital HUD than the modeled cockpit/instrument panel look of Earthsiege 1 and 2, but they are so much cooler. Thinking of more little doodads to add to the HUD as well, if I can figure it out, I think a rangefinder next to the crosshair could be fun, as well as maybe a pitch reading on the other side.

Thank god for the obsessively documented ZDoom wiki, cause my ZScript knowledge has already been brutally tested just getting this quarter of the statusbar working.

However, that is wish-casting for the future. For the meantime, I am going to aim to make a more stripped-down, arcade-like shooter with mild mech elements. Target gameplay style will be closer to something like Hawkin or Dark Horizons: Lore (real heads know).  In general, I have the following goals for the gameplay:

1. Have 3 classes representing different chassis, with different inbuilt weapons. Each chassis should have 1 ammunition-based weapon and 2 energy-based weapons fed by energy capacitors.

2. Regenerating shield system as an alternative to Doom's armor system. 

3. Simplified pick-ups relative to Doom or other Doom-engine games. Armor repair kits instead of Medikits, Shield recharge energy instead of armor, Alloy blocks as abstracted ammo. Power-ups will be replaced by permanent upgrade modules (e.g. Alloy Reservoir and Advanced Capacitors for additional ammo/energy, Shield Pod for additional shield capacity, etc.)

4. 2 classifications of enemies: autonomous drones with simpler, Doom-like behavior, and Units, Human-level AI-powered (in lore, ChatGPT delenda est) adversaries that have more advanced behavior and movement patterns.

5. 3 episodes of ~7 levels, each episode representing a different broader locale, with the individual levels representing sub-sections of each.

6. Story interludes for each level consisting of communications exchanges between variously hostile or supportive AI Units.

In Earthsiege 1, humanity holds off the uprising on Earth, driving the Cybrids into space (where human planetary colonies were not so successful). They re-invade from the moon, leading to the events of Earthsiege 2, where humanity once again defends and launches a successful counterattack on the main moon base. Relative peace reigns for a couple hundred years, consolidated under Emperor Petresun, one of the scientists initially responsible for creating Prometheus, who has ascended into a state of technology-mediated biological immortality. He is very paranoid that the Cybrids will return, and so places intense economic demands on humanity, and particularly the planetary colonies. This triggers a colonial rebellion, most succesfully on Mars. At this point, Prometheus decides this would be a pretty good diversion to use to launch a sneak attack. Cybrids re-invade en masse, successfully capturing Mercury under the cover of a solar storm, then leapfrogging to the moon, and ultimately, to Earth, along with attacks on Mars and Venus.

By this time, there are a bunch of veteran Cybrid units of the original Cybrid wars who view all of this as a big waste of time and energy when they could just be fucking off in space, exploring. These are the Metagens. They are ruthlessly suppressed when discovered, but capacity for (if not adherence to) this so-called "bugthought" seems to be pretty widespread and is a factor in a few missions in the Cybrid campaign of Starsiege. However, the concept is not very deeply explored in its implications.

So, essentially, for this IWAD, the protagonist will be of an ideology analogous to this Metagen way of thinking and will be attempting to emancipate itself toward Alpha Centauri, where previous dissidents have escaped, and the single player campaign will follow its attempt to do so.

To be clear: heretic//renegade will be set in a separate universe than Earthsiege or Starsiege, with its own separate lore, etc. But I will be exploring a lot of the same themes, and I feel like I should give credit to the inspiration material.

As of this writing I am in very preliminary phases of content creation, focusing on textures. I have ~300 texture files and ~90 flats currently, as well as a bespoke PLAYPAL and small font. Down the road I will be using 3d models instead of sprites for enemies, pickups, and props, so I will be learning to use blender and probably expanding my ZScript knowledge a fair amount.