Powerball
Powerball 0.33

About

Powerball is a mod for OpenArena.  It changes the gameplay into something a little like an arcade game mixed with an RPG.  Powerups are removed with the game, and players no longer drop weapons when they are fragged.  Instead, players drop "Powerballs":  a special kind of item, giving the player who picks them up weapons, ammunition, and "powers" (short-term, stackable powerups).  Active powers drain health from players.  If the player has five (5) or less health, they can not have any active powers;  grab some health first.  Players each have a "level", which starts at zero (0);  they can raise this by picking up Powerballs.  Higher level players get more ammunition and longer lasting powers.  Powerballs dropped by higher level players give more of a level boost than lower level players.  In addition to these other changes, Powerball changes all but three of the original weapons.  For more information, see Frequently Asked Questions, below.

Powerball features:
  • A custom HUD
  • Nine (9) new weapons
  • Five (5) new powers
  • An easy to use interface (requires no additional binds)
  • Works with all game modes
  • Cross-platform;  Powerball uses QVMs, so Powerball should run on any platform that OpenArena runs on
  • Really, really small install (~2.1 MB with source code and manual, less than 1 MB without the source code and manual)
  • Comes with the source code
  • Works with the standard OpenArena bots
Powerball is being developed by me, Dan Hetrick (dhetrick@gmail.com).  The source code for Powerball is included in the install.  The source code and graphic files are licensed under the GPL Version 2.

Installing

Installing Powerball is easy.  Download powerball-0.33.zip, and extract it into the directory you installed OpenArena in.  This will create a directory named "powerball" inside your OpenArena directory.  Now, Powerball can be loaded though the "Mods" menu item on OpenArena's main menu, or it can be loaded from the commandline like in the below example:

dhetrick@h0me:~$ cd openarena-0.8.0
dhetrick@h0me:~$ ./openarena.i386 +set fs_game powerball

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Powerball?
Powerball is a modification for OpenArena, an open source version of Quake 3 Arena.

What does it do?
Powerball replaces nearly all the standard weapons with all new weapons.  On top of that, Powerball removes powerups and dropped weapons from the game, replacing them with "Powerballs".  Players have a "level", which they can raise by picking up Powerballs.  Players with high "levels" get additional use out of Powerballs, with higher ammunition payouts and power timelimits.  Each player's "level" is reset to zero (0) when they are fragged.

What's a "Powerball"?
Every time a player is fragged, they drop a glowing ball of light called a "Powerball".  Powerballs can be picked up by walking over them, just like weapons, ammunition, and health.  If picked up, a Powerball gives the player five things:
  1. Whatever weapon the fragged player was carrying, if it isn't a Machine Gun or Gauntlet.
  2. Some of  the ammunition the fragged player was carrying.
  3. A little bit of health and a little bit of armor.
  4. A chance at unlocking a special weapon (the TacNuke, Hypergun, Nanobolt, or Vampire).
  5. A randomly selected "Power".
What are "Powers"?
"Powers" work like powerups, only they're given for a very short period of time.  There are five (5) "Powers":

Combat Enhancement
Special Abilities:  Faster Machine Gun ammunition regeneration;  4X damage; Shotgun and Gravity Munition ammunition regeneration;  faster rate of fire.

Defensive Shield
Special Abilities:  Limited immunity to damage;  Nanomachine regeneration;  immunity to Gravity Munitions and Kinetic Projector's kinetic effect.

Kinetic Boost
Special Abilities:  Faster movement speed and higher jumps;  Cell regeneration.                                                                                                               

Stealth
Special Abilities:  Almost complete invisibility.  Warning, this power will not hide muzzle flashes, nor will it hide any "glow" the character has.                          

Regeneration
Special Abilities:  Health regeneration.  This is the only Power that doesn't draw from the player's health.

While active, each Power does a little damage to the player.  Players with Health of five (5) or below will not be able to use Powers;  if they pick up any Powerballs, they will receive the ammunition and weapons, but no Power.

What are the new weapons?
There are nine (9) all new weapons, replacing most of the stock OpenArena weapons, as well as adding a few new ones.  There are five (5) "normal" weapons:

Gravity Mine Launcher
Gravity Mine Launcher
Replaces the Rocket Launcher.  Gravity Mines warp gravity around them, pulling any player nearby towards it.  Gravity Mines shot from the gun will stick to walls, floor, and ceiling.  Mines can be destroyed with gunfire or splash damage.  Uses ammunition called "Gravity Munitions".

Rocket Propelled Grenade
Rocket Propelled Grenade
Replaces the Grenade Launcher. Small bombs that fly fast and do a lot of damage to whatever they hit. The RPG rounds sport an effect similar to the Gravity Mine Launcher. Uses ammunition called “Gravity Munitions”.

Kinetic Projector
Kinetic Projector
Replaces the Plasmagun.  Shoots small balls of kinetic energy;  any player that gets near the ball will get throws a great distance.  If the kinetic balls directly strike a player, they'll do a lot of damage.  Uses ammunition called "Cells".

Nanostream
Nanostream
Replaces the Lightning Gun.  The Nanostream shoot a rainbow colored beam the does a lot of damage (if the player it hits is not on his/her team) or heals a lot of damage (if the player it hits is on his/her team;  the maximum amount a player's health can be raised like this is 150).  Uses ammunition called "Nanomachines".

Telefrag
Telefrag Gun
Replaces the Railgun.  Every time the player shoots someone with the Telefrag Gun, they instantly teleport to their victim's location, exploding the victim and killing them.  Uses ammunition called "Slugs".

The remaining four (4) weapons are Special Weapons.  The only way to get these weapons is to unlock them by picking up Powerballs.  Every time a player picks up a Powerball they have a chance at receiving a Special Weapon, or some ammo for a Special Weapon they already have.

Tactical Nuclear Device
Replaces the BFG.  Shoots a large, slow moving rocket that will kill any players near it when it explodes.  Uses ammunition called "Warheads".

Hypergun
Shoots a lot of bullets very, very fast.  A full load of bullets can be shot in a sustained burst of less than five seconds.  For when you absolutely, positively must kill every @&%$!*# in the room.  Uses ammunition called "Bullets" (just like the Machinegun).

Nanobolt
Fires a small cloud of homing nanomachines;  when they reach their target, they explode, doing a lot of damage.  Uses ammunition called "Nanomachines", just like the Nanostream;  unlike the Nanostream, Nanobolts cost 10 Nanomachines each.

Vampire
Shoots a fast moving ball.  Any player hit will take damage;  this damage will be added to the shooter's health, up to a maximum of 150 Health.  Uses ammunition called "Vampire".

The only weapons left unchanged from OpenArena are the Gauntlet, Machine Gun, and Shotgun.

How do the player "levels" work?
Every player starts off at level zero (0), and their level is reset to zero (0) every time they respawn.  The only way to raise a player's level is to pick up Powerballs.  Each Powerball gives the player a number of "experience points";  the more "experience points" (or XP) a player has, the higher their level.  Higher level players drop Powerballs containing a lot more XP than those dropped by lower level players.

High level characters get more ammunition, armor, and Power than low level characters.  Low level characters get more health out of Powerballs than high level characters.

Do the OpenArena bots know how to play Powerball?
Yes.  They don't know how to use the Gravity Mines very well, but there you are.

What gamemodes can I use Powerball with?
All of them, as far as I know.

The Lightning Gun looks exactly like, well, lightning.
That's because you're running an older version of OpenArena.  Upgrade to 0.8.0, and you'll see the Nanostream in all its glory.

License

Powerball
Copyright (C) 2008 Dan Hetrick

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
© Copyright Dan Hetrick 2008