Alice: Toys of Madness

Alice: Toys of Madness

Author	Jekyll Grim Payne
Port	GZDoom
IWAD	Doom
Year	2024
Link	ZDoom forums thread
	This mod received one of the 2024 Cacowards on Doomworld in the Gameplay Mod category!

Alice: Toys of Madness is a gameplay mod for the GZDoom source port by Jekyll Grim Payne (aka Agent_Ash) that aims to recreate a number of weapons and mechanics from the video games American McGee's Alice and Alice: Madness Returns.

Alice: Toys of Madness was awarded one of the 2024 Cacowards for best gameplay mod.

Features[edit]

Release trailer for Alice: Toys of Madness version 1.1.0

Alice: Toys of Madness is a gameplay-only mod that, similarly to Painslayer, an earlier work by the same author, aims to be compatible with any map set or monster pack. The mod makes a heavy use of ZScript as well as some features of GZDoom 4.12, such as the .IQM model format that supports skeletal animations decoupled from actor states.

Some of the features include:

A mix of weapons from American McGee's Alice and Alice: Madness Returns. Not all weapons are recreated, but they mostly fulfill the roles necessitated by Doom's level design.
Custom first-person sprites made by positioning and rendering 3D models, then painting them over manually.
An optional third-person mode with a fully animated Alice model from American McGee's Alice (including a number of animations made specifically for the mod).
Player character's legs visible in first person. They are animated to reflect when the player is moving or performing a kick/stomp attack.
A number of tweaks to the movement system such as a double jump and a feature that prevents slippery movement when landing after a jump.
A number of small features such as a new animated main menu, a custom HUD, and sounds from both Alice games.

Weapons[edit]

Weapons from both Alice games are used mainly because neither game individually has an arsenal that would work in Doom as-is (the first game lacks "workhorse"-type weapons that could replace the shotgun or the chaingun, while the second game has only two weapons that could be classified as "firearms"). The weapons are tweaked and rebalanced in various ways to further make them fit Doom's gameplay better, while some are given alternative attacks that weren't present in the original games.

Vorpal knife: A fairly powerful melee weapon that combines quick slash combos from Alice: Madness Returns and the ability to throw it at an enemy from American McGee's Alice. Unique to the mod, the thrown knife can be manually recalled by pressing the secondary attack button again. Functions as a replacement for both the fist and the pistol. When thrown, the knife can stick into an enemy and will deal damage-over-time to them until it gets recalled.

Hobby horse: A chainsaw replacement that offers a stronger, but slower melee option with a larger range compared to the vorpal knife. Functioning like a club, the hobby horse can temporarily stun enemies and also builds up an invisible combo meter that increases the likelihood and the duration of stun with every hit landed. The secondary attack performs a leap, crashing the weapon into the floor, with the attack's damage and force increasing based on how long the player was falling through the air before landing (the visual effects increase in intensity to highlight this). This weapon originates from Alice: Madness Returns, using the model of its Level 3 variation but in a Level 2-inspired color scheme.

Playing cards: A shotgun replacement that aims to be a middle ground between the pistol and the shotgun. Fires card-shaped, slightly homing projectiles fairly quickly. The secondary attack fires a fan-shaped volley of cards that start homing after a delay, making this attack more efficient at medium-to-long ranges. While not particularly powerful, this weapon is a good option for sniping faraway targets due to its seeking behavior.

Jacks: The primary super shotgun replacement and secondary chaingun and shotgun replacement (the player needs to have a primary replacement for chaingun/shotgun to have this one spawn). The primary fire launches a fairly short-ranged volley of piercing bouncing projectiles. The secondary attack also fires a volley, but in this mode projectiles seek a specific target and start attacking it, bouncing off and back into it, until either it dies or an internal timer runs out, after which they return back to the player. Notably, in secondary fire mode the weapon cannot be used again until the jacks return to the player. This weapon is very similar to how it behaves in American McGee's Alice, but the primary/secondary modes are swapped compared to the original. Also, similar to the original (and to the toy this weapon is based on), a purely visual toy ball will spawn and bounce next to the player when the secondary mode is used, until the jacks return.

Pepper grinder: A chaingun replacement that functions fairly similar to it in primary mode. This weapon originated in Alice: Madness Returns but, in contrast to its original incarnation, does not have an overheat mechanic, and also comes with a secondary attack that fires a shotgun-like burst of pepper. In secondary mode, pepper projectiles are affected by gravity and can pierce enemies, but lose the damage they can deal with every enemy pierced (if the damage potential is exhausted this way, the projectile will immediately dissipate).

Notably, in primary mode this weapon fires hitscan attacks (with purely visual projectiles to highlight them), and this is the only hitscan attack in the mod's arsenal aside from Jabberwock's eye staff beam. In contrast to Doom, however, it cannot be used for sniping because randomized spread is applied to every shot (the playing cards are intended to fulfill the sniping role).

Teapot cannon: The primary rocket launcher replacement that functions like a grenade launcher, firing globules of hot tea. Aside from dealing explosive damage like Doom's rockets, it also poisons the victims hit by it by applying a short damage-over-time effect on them. This weapon originates from Alice: Madness Returns and, like in the original game, features an overheat mechanic (indicated in the HUD and through changes of the weapon's sprite: the lid of the teapot starts moving, with vapour rising from below it). In the mod, however, it also gets a secondary attack: if enough heat is accumulated, it can be expelled in the form of a short-ranged burst of steam that pushes enemies away and disorients them (this does not consume ammo but requires a certain heat level).

Ice wand: A secondary replacement for the super shotgun, rocket launcher and plasma rifle (the player needs to already have the primary replacement for those slots to have this one to spawn). A faithful recreation of the weapon from American McGee's Alice: the primary attack emits an icy stream that damages and slows enemies down (upon death they are encased in a block of ice and melt, leaving no corpse behind). The secondary attack creates a temporary wall of ice that blocks incoming attacks, including explosions, but melts after a short period of time. The only difference from the original is that an already placed ice wall can be hit with the primary attack to effectively repair it, restoring its duration.

Jabberwock's eye staff: The primary replacement for the plasma rifle, originating from American McGee's Alice, but with significant tweaks for balance and convenience. The primary attack fires an instant laser beam that deals significant damage and efficiently stun-locks enemies. The weapon features a short charge-up time, but that charge is not immediately lost if the attack is interrupted, allowing to quickly refire the weapon, attacking in short bursts. If the beam is channeled without interruption long enough, the weapon will start emitting a red light; once the attack button is let go in this state, the weapon will fire a powerful rocket-like projectile and also flush all the previously accumulated charge. This is in contrast to the original game, where the projectile was always fired, and the charge time was fixed. The secondary attack creates a large in-world aiming indicator; the attack can be charged by holding the attack button (the aiming indicator can be moved during that time). Once the button is let go, the aiming indicator's position will become fixed, and a rain of projectiles will be fired from above onto that area.

Blunderbuss: A BFG9000 replacement, and mechanically the simplest weapon: upon pressing either of the attack buttons, it will perform a short charge up and then fire a large projectile that produces a huge explosion. In contrast to its behavior in American McGee's Alice, this does not consume the whole ammo reserve, but also is not guaranteed to insta-kill any enemy, instead just offering a large amount of damage.

Jackbomb: rather than a weapon, this is a usable item that does not occupy a weapon slot. Upon use, throws a bouncy jack-in-the-box. After coming to a rest (or after a delay) the box will open, and Jack will pop out and start spewing flames around itself before exploding. The flames can set enemies on fire, dealing damage over time. In contrast to usable items in Heretic for example, the jackbomb has a delay between repeated uses, indicated in the HUD.

Quick kick: available at all times with a press of a dedicated button, the kick performs a simple melee attack that not only damages enemies but can also push them away and upwards (tilting the camera upwards can increase the victim's vertical momentum).

The melee weapons in the mod (the vorpal knife and the hobby horse) come with 2 unique mechanics:

Both weapons can hit multiple enemies per swing. When swinging the weapon, it will draw lines of particles in the world; these particles indicate the exact direction and area of "collision" of the weapon.
An "input buffering" system intended to make it easier to pull off melee combos. While the player cannot attack with these weapons continuously by just holding the attack button, they are also not required to press the attack button again within a specific short animation window. Instead, multiple sequential inputs are cached and queued so that, for example, a quick double click of the attack button guarantees that the weapon will perform two strikes.

Power-ups[edit]

Delicious cake: An invulnerability sphere replacement that increases Alice's size, makes her invulnerable, and replaces her quick kick with a powerful stomp that deals radius damage.
Rage box: A berserk replacement that appears in the world as an ominous lamp. When interacted with, emits a stream of red mist in Alice's face (with a dedicated first- and third-person animation), heals her up to 100 health, and switches her into rage mode. In this mode Alice is locked to using her vorpal knife but gains increased damage, incoming damage reduction and regeneration.
Looking-glass mirror: A partial invisibility replacement that, after a short animation makes Alice almost truly invisible: enemies lose sight of her and forget about her. Performing any weapon attack, however, will temporarily draw their attention, but they will only attack the area from which the sounds came, so, if the player moves into a different place, enemies will not be able to track them.

Movement[edit]

While the movement in the mod overall feels fairly close to Doom, there are some special features:

Double jumping: Alice can perform a second jump in the air, somewhat similarly to how it works in Alice: Madness Returns. The second mid-air jump very briefly gives the player full air control, allowing them completely change their direction. This, of course, can easily lead to sequence breaking in certain maps.
Anti-slip system: a system that prevents Doom's slippery movement in certain conditions. Its primary purpose is to allow for better platforming and better control over how quickly the player can change their direction of movement. When the system is active, if the player does not press any movement keys, their horizontal velocity is quickly reduced, preventing the usual Doom sliding; alternatively, if the player is pressing movement keys in the direction opposite to their current velocity (such as pressing "back" while sliding forward), their direction of movement will be changed almost instantly. The system is always active in third person camera views, allowing to quickly change direction, while in first person it only triggers briefly when the player lands on the floor after performing a jump.
"Coyote time": another system designed to improve platforming. For the first 10 tics after walking over a ledge the player will be able to perform a jump as if they were still standing on solid ground.
Reduced gravity after jumping: if the player is falling down after performing a jump, they will only be affected by 50% of gravity. This is meant to make falling feel more floaty and provide a higher degree of control, similar to Alice: Madness Returns. This does not change how the gravity is applied on regular falls, such as when simply walking over a ledge.

Third-person view[edit]

Alice: Toys of Madness features some optional changes to GZDoom's standard chasecam feature:

Players can choose from several styles of third-person camera: "Standard chasecam" (no changes), "classic" (imitates the camera position from American McGee's Alice), "over the shoulder" (over-the-shoulder camera common for later third-person action games), or "custom" (allows the player to manually adjust the camera's distance and offsets in the Mod settings menu). This third-person camera is still activated with the chasecam button.
When using over-the-shoulder camera, a shoulder swap button is available.
There is also an optional American McGee's Alice-styled crosshair, presenting itself as a glowing in-world object. By default it only becomes active in third person, but it can be enabled or disabled in all modes.
The player character uses Alice's model from American McGee's Alice with many of its original animations and a number of new ones. The weapon in Alice's hands will also change to reflect the currently selected weapon. However, Alice will only display movement animations while the player is not attacking with a weapon, whereas during an attack animation the model's legs will not move due to the current limitations of the .IQM model format in GZDoom.

External links[edit]