Information:
Name: Phantom Sphere
Type: Flight + Invisibility, Damage by the player is halved.
Palette: 256 color Png with white transparency
Summon: PhantomSphere
Use type: Powerup / Instant
Duration: 60 Seconds / One minute
Added States: None
ACS: None

Credits:
Submitted: Megaherz
Decorate: Megaherz
GLDefs: Megaherz
Sounds: None (Doom Default)
Sprites: Sphere base by Gothic, Doom Alpha lost soul by Id Software
Sprite Edit: Megaherz
Idea Base: Heretic's Wings of Wrath, Doom's Blur Sphere

Description:
This powerup gives the player ghost-like properties, making them both partially invisible and giving them the ability to fly, but, at the same time, their weapons become incorporeal and deal only half damage. The player's vision becomes grayscale for the duration of the effect, which will also make it possible to easily spot stealth monsters.

Needs to be placed carefully in order to not break a map, but can otherwise provide a very refreshing change of pace in the action. A good use for it would be in a massive closed space with little cover, or maybe with only pillars that hang from a tall ceiling and don't connect to the floor, for example.

Sprite:


Download Link:
http://files.drdteam.org/index.php/file ... herev3.zip

Although it's basically a 4-in-1 power-up and the behaviour isn't particularly special, it's still a decent item. It does what it says on the tin, so to speak, and the sprite is nice.

Two things to note though, the animation duration of the item is slow, IMO, and the revenant scream has got to go, honestly, since it makes no sense and is not needed.

I agree with pretty much everything Blue Shadow said above. I don't personally mind the slow animation of the item pickup, but it could be considered a bit out-of-place compared to "stock" items which animate faster.

One thing I do want to point out that I like is the way the screen flashes and glows blue for a moment before fading to grayscale--looks pretty cool. The duration of the blue glow might be a touch too long, but that's a matter of opinion. And the sprite itself looks great!

Also, maybe it's just me, but I kind of get the feeling that this should be an inventory item, rather than an instant-use item--but then again, I might simply be used to the effects of the Wings of Wrath.

I wanted to give the impression that you're drowning in the sphere's blue ectoplasm for a moment, glad you liked it. I agree that it could be a little shorter though, since with the current duration, if you grabbed it on the go, it would obscure your vision for a bit too long for comfort.

I've made the following changes:
Animation speed is the same as the Blur sphere's (6), shortened the blue tint duration by a third and got rid of the Revenant scream. The link in the first post has been updated.

I've got a suggestion for this, though I don't know if you'll find it beneficial for the item or not in terms of behaviour. It depends on how you see it I think.

This item acts as a collective powerup as we already know. The player receives four abilites upon pickup, which is kind of a lot, IMO. Not to mention making other powerups somewhat obsolete (Partial invisiblity, Light amplification googles, Flight sphere (Repository), etc). So, some kind of penalty, I would say, could be introduced here to balance things out a little.

The idea is simply weakening the player's weapons (i.e, reducing their damage. Probably by half?) for the duration of the power, since he/she is in this unmaterialized form. This way, the item can be used more in line as a means to get out of hairy situations where the player is surrounded from all sides and the only way to escape an agonizing and painful death is by going up. The the player now has two options; either fly away to safety and wait for the power to wear out, or stay in the area and fight, however, since the powerup is in effect he/she will waste more ammo than usual, and got to question whether it's really worth using that much of ammo or just flee and wait for it to wear out.

I admit, this is probably not what you had in mind for the item, but adding such quirks could potentially improve the item and make it more interesting.

Your thoughts...

I definitely like Blue Shadow's idea, since the reduced attack damage reinforces the "unmaterialized" or "Phantom" state that the item bestows. Another alternative option for balancing could be to simply shorten the duration of the effects.

Agreed. Something in the 20-40 seconds range perhaps.

I don't know about you guys, but flying makes dodging way, way too easy as is for me.
And if you add a speed boost to that..

Very nice idea, Blue Shadow! I actually really like it. I'm going to add the damage reduction later today.

The speed boost is very mild, btw, It's only 1.2 of the standard speed. I suppose maybe it's not necessary for Vanilla doom, though. I may have decided that it's needed because I play with fast monsters on...

Edit: Added the damage reduction and removed the bonus speed. It now takes 4 point-blank super shotgun blasts to kill a Revenant under the effect of the sphere. The updated link is in the first post.

Wow, it's been a while since I checked here. Is there a reason why the submission is not being approved or rejected?