Blood

Development Info Prototype Info Prerelease Info Revisional DifferencesFresh changelogs for the ever-growing army of the undead.

Bloodlust#

To do: See if there are any code-based remanets of this in the final. A quick look in the EXE with a hex editor and some fan-made decomp efforts seem to suggest something.

There are several remanets in the game of a cut mechanic called "Bloodlust".

This mechanic was described on the Blood Website:

One of the innovations we conceived early on was the idea of BloodLust. Each time you as the player kill a minion of the Dark God, your BloodLust meter climbs a notch. If your BloodLust climbs high enough, you metamorphose into the Beast. As the Beast, you are stronger and faster than a human, but you are also limited in your choice of weaponry. There's a compromise between raw physical strength and tactical flexibility. Of course, BloodLust wanes with time--if you don't kill frequently, you revert to human form. That way, methodical players can generally progress through the levels without ever taking Beast form, while "kill and collect" types can romp around as Beasts all they want.

Unused Graphics#

Graphic(s)	Animated	Tile Number	Description
		814-815	Two unused ammo boxes intended for the Tommy Gun; Box of bullets and Armor piercing bullets. Both of these have had their code stripped out in the final game. These can be found in several prototypes.
		818-819	Two unused ammo boxes for intended for the Flare Gun; Explosive flares and Burst flares. Much like the Tommy Gun pickups, these have also had their coding removed and can be found in several prototypes.
		1491-1994	Unused gliding graphics of the Gargoyle. The front facing graphic (shown below) is used on the help screen for the Donkey Kong gag but the other angles never get used anywhere.
		1495-1499	Unused attack frame. The Gargoyle is missing proper shading with its wings.
		1535-1537	Graphics for a Gargoyle Statue coming to life. Statues immediately turn into regular Gargoyles, so these don't get an opportunity to shine. Appears to be based on a less refined design due to lacking various details and shading.
		1655-1659	An unused pain state for the Gill Beast.
		1660-1664	An unused death animation. The first frame uses the same pose as the pain state.
		1850-1854	Tchernobog has some pain graphics which go unused.
		1940-1942	Graphics for the underside of a spider. Each graphic has the chelicerae oriented slightly differently. Death Wish uses the first graphic to represent the god Acheron.
		2360-2375	Graphics for the Beast Claw weapon associated with the cut BloodLust mechanic.
		2410-2414	Unused sprites for a fly. These seem to have been intended for a cut Fly creature that would buzz around dead bodies to showcase the game's 3D sound system. According to artist Keven Kilstrom, it was cut as "there was just too much other stuff that had to get done".
		2415-2419	Unused sprites for a fly, but with wings.
		2442-2445	Unused graphics for an animation for the Voodoo Doll falling apart exist, likely intended to be shown upon running out of ammo for it. There is no QAV for this in the game. An animation using these graphics would be added in the Fresh Supply and Refreshed Supply remasters.
		2890-2894	The Cultist enemies have a series of jumping graphics that go unused. While the Help screen does use the side-facing graphics (shown below), rotation sprites for every other angle aren't. The graphics to the left depict the beginning of the leap.
		2895-2899	Ditto, apex of the jump.
		2900-2904	Ditto, falling after reaching the apex.
		2905-2909	Ditto, landing.
		3131-3133	Graphics with blood on the pitchfork. These would probably have been overlaid on the actual sprites after killing an enemy, similar to the Katana in Shadow Warrior. The Fresh Supply and Refreshed Supply remasters repurpose the first graphic for the weapon selection wheel and for indicating when a player is holding it in multiplayer.
		3551-3557	Our favorite gunslinging protagonist teleporting away or dissolving? Who knows.
		3584-3603	There is no water in levels with the Beast in the Plasma Pak, so these aren't seen in the base game.
		3719-3723	Electrocution pain sprites. These would become re-used in the Fresh Supply and Refreshed Supply remasters.
		3729-3733	Electrocution pain sprites, likely caused by Tesla Cannon shots.
		3734-3738	Electrocution pain sprites. These would get re-used in the Fresh Supply and Refreshed Supply remasters
		3744-3748	Electrocution pain sprites. In the DOS version, these sprites can be seen under unusual circumstances. The sprites can be seen by firing the Tesla Cannon's alt-fire at the Beast, then firing the shotgun at it.
		3789-3743	Electrocution pain sprites caused by Tesla Cannon shots. The Death Wish expansion in Refreshed Supply makes use of these sprites for representing the god Ignus.
		3954-3958	As part of the cut BloodLust mechanic, there exist unused graphics of Caleb transforming into a Beast.
		3998-4017	Likely as part of the cut BloodLust mechanic, the Beast has some crawling animations.

Unused Music#

• PESTIS.MID (Pestis Cruento)

Some levels (particularly E1M3: Phantom Express, E3M2: The Siege which plays no music at all, E4M6: The Ganglion Depths and E4M7: In the Flesh) have a song option to play this music track per the BLOOD.INI file, only every line has been commented out leaving the track unused when either MIDI or AdLib/Soundblaster is setup. Discounting during CP02: Old Opera House in the Cryptic Passage expansion, only the RedBook CD version of the song is used in the final game.

Unused Items#

To do: Doppelganger, Wine Goblet, Wine Bottle, Skull Grail, Silver Grail, and Death Mask. Also, in-game screenshot showing off the Asbestos Armor HUD sprite and a general expansion on these. See if the prototypes show what the intended purpose for some of these were.

Blood contains a good number of items that never get used in any of the base game's levels. Most unused items have their coding intact, and they can be placed in maps using an editor although most will not have any effect.

Some of these date into the game's development as far back as the November 1994 prototype.

Asbestos Armor#

The Asbestos Armor protects the player from damaging floors, as well as minimizing fire damage.

Compared to many of the unused items, this is seemingly the most complete.

There is also unused HUD and inventory sprites associated with the suit. The Asbestos Suit is not an inventory item, so its icon goes unused. The inventory icon is seeming based on the design of the Suit seen in the prototypes.

Unused Sprite	Prototype Design
	file:BloodDec95-0837.png

Red Potion#

Red Potions provide 2 health upon walking over them. It can heal the player past 100 health.

Key 7#

A blue outline in the shape of a key. When tagged to doors, it will function like a normal key. Fresh Supply and Refreshed Supply have this defined as Key 7.

The prototypes, namely the February and April builds from 1996 show this was used as a glow effect for the keys.

The fan-made Death Wish scenario in Refreshed Supply makes use of this key for secret level access.

Decoy#

The following content is and has been hidden by default. Click to reveal content [Pixelated nude woman]:

The "Decoy" item has no effect in-game. In the Plasma Pak expansion, this graphic is used on one of the monitors in the Monolith Building 11 Bloodbath map.

This item's graphic was removed in Refreshed Supply and was censored in the included DOS version and prototypes.

Delirium Shroom#

The Delirium Shroom causes the screen to distort upon pickup, mimicking the effects of being bitten by a spider. Its effect lasts for approximately 8 seconds. In the Plasma Pak expansion, two invisible shrooms are placed in the men's bathroom of the Monolith Building 11 Bloodbath map.

Feather Fall#

Upon pickup, Feather Fall causes the player character to fall slower and take less fall damage. It is later used in Death Wish.

Medicine Pouch#

The Medicine Pouch restores 50 health. While this item is unused in the base game, it was later used in the Cryptic Passage expansion.

Gas Mask#

The Gas Mask negates choking damage. It also has an unused inventory icon.

Shadow Cloak#

This item has no effect in-game. It also has an unused inventory icon.

The graphics for this item are featured in a window at the end of E2M3: Rest for the Wicked. The item would later appear in Cryptic Passage, unchanged from the base game.

Clone#

The Clone has had its graphics deleted and overwritten with Tchernobog's death sprites in the final game, so it will appear as that. The only proper graphics it has left is an unused inventory icon in the ART files.

Useless Items#

There's a handful of items which can be picked up but don't do anything.

Unused Text#

Unused text grabbed from the executable.

Loading and saving games
not supported
in this demo version of Blood.

Presumably intended for a demo version that disabled save games. The January 1997 prototype (which was released as a demo), did have a slightly different version of this message but it was unused there too.

Buy the complete version of
Blood for three new episodes
plus eight BloodBath-only levels!

Leftover from the shareware release of the game.

Bundle of TNT*

Similar to the used version of the text for picking up TNT Bundles. Replaced the "Stick of TNT" text from various prototypes, seemingly to dummy it out.

OBSOLETE

Several instances of unused ammo type names as seen in the prototypes (namely the Armor piercing bullets, 6 speargun spears, Explosive spears, Explosive flares and Burst flares) have been replaced with this.

Unused Voxels#

A few unused voxels are present in the game, typically unused due to their associated sprite being the same.

To do: Along with images/proper documentation, add these and get their IDs (Kex remasters use different voxels): BOTTLE1 BOTTLE4 BOTTLE5 JAR1 JAR2 INVISIBL

Developer Challenge#

A plain text file in the install folder, MONOLITH.TXT, includes a message by then-Monolith CEO Jason Hall, thanking the development team for their hard work and challenging players to take him on in online multiplayer.

Hello, 

I'm Jason Hall, the Chief Executive Officer of Monolith Productions Inc. 
I just wanted to say that I speak for all of us here at Monolith when I say 
that we appreciate you playing our latest game, BLOOD.

Many here have made sacrifices to bring this awesome product to you, the gamer.
It is very important to us to deliver the type of quality game play players of 
today demand. We will continue to strive for the best in the name of good 
gaming, and perhaps product by product, we can ever-so-slightly help to bring 
our whole industry into a new level of immersive experiences.

Monolith's intent is to support the gamer. We are listening to the industry 
and will act upon what we hear. We understand clearly that without gamers,
game companies would not exist. You can rest assured that we won't forget this
fact, which is why you can expect Monolith to give all of our products the 
attention they deserve in order to make them an excellent experience.

Here are some special thanks I'd like to say:

1.) As with any game project being built, there were tons of things the 
Blood team would have loved to add. Time being the deciding factor in all 
cases, they only were able to add some of these things. I would personally 
like to thank them for making the tough decisions. The cool features that 
didn't make it into BLOOD will go into BLOOD 2...

2.) Thanks to the Blood team--I am not picking a specific person or 
persons to thank in this text file, but I do want to personally thank the 
entire Blood team for all of their incredible work. You have all been true to 
the Monolith spirit of "I-will-work-my-ass-off-until-it-is-the-best-damn-
product-ever." All of your fellow "Lithers" think that you are awesome (we 
are playing Blood all the time) and we are proud that you are part of the 
collective effort that IS Monolith. I am sure that the gaming world will 
appreciate you and your efforts as well.

3.) Thanks to Monolith itself--I'd just like to thank everyone here at 
Monolith for rallying together to support our internal teams (especially the 
Blood team). It is this kind of spirit and togetherness that will make the 
difference in our products and work environment. Keep the excitement!

Now for some final words:

[WARNING: the opinions expressed below are not necessarily those of Monolith 
Productions Inc. But since I'm the C.E.O, I'm going to rant for a second.]

As you play BLOOD and get better and better, you'll start getting into
BLOODBATHING... you know, calling up your friends and going head to head for some 
frag sessions. It's quite possible that you could become the best Blood player
on your block. Heck, you might even be he best in your neighborhood... or 
city... or state... or WORLD!!!!!! 

<<< STOP RIGHT THERE >>>

Before your "I'm the best at Blood ever" fantasy goes too far, make sure that 
you track me down and ask for a game. I'll be MORE THAN HAPPY to bring reality
to you by way of guns akimbo shotgun.

That's all I have to say about that...

Currently, the top players at Monolith (not in order) are:

Jason Hall (MESSIAH) hall@lith.com
Craig Hubbard (CROWEATER) craigh@lith.com
Jay Wilson (SHADE) shade@lith.com
Mike Dussault (GUTTERMOUTH) dussault@lith.com
Scott Pultz (PULTZAR) scott@lith.com
Spencer Maiers (MR. ELITE) spen@lith.com

Of course, before you even bother facing the gods of Blood, you'd better prove 
you're worthy by stepping into the arena with some of the archangels.

Daniel Leeks (SHADOW) daniel@lith.com
Nathan Hendrickson (DOGMAN) nathan@lith.com
Matt Hayhurst (DETHDEALER) matt@lith.com
Paul Butterfield (MAI) paulb@lith.com
Israel Evans (WOOD) israel@lith.com

When you are ready to learn the meaning of a proper BLOODBATH come see us.

Now for the Monolith GREETS to our friends at their many companies (in no 
particular order)

What's UP: LucasArts, Hipnotic Interactive, Microsoft, 3D Realms, Eclipse 
Software, GT Interactive, Mindscape, Broderbund, Zombie LLC, WhizBang!, The 
Silvermans, Activision, Reality Bytes, Nvidia, 3dFX, Rendition, Enix, 
HappyPuppy, SEGA, Nintendo, NEC, Intergraph, SoftImage, Maxis, Accolade, MGM 
Interactive,  Kinesoft, Tusker Corp., Takarajimasha, Computer and Net Player, 
Computer Games Strategy Plus, KALI, TEN, Mpath, DEC, Bad Animals, Wallace 
Creative, Intel, OGR, NANI, The Future Crew, Renaissance, Remedy, Strategic
Simulations, Inc., and TRITON.

Sincerely,

Jason Hall
Chief Executive Officer
Monolith Productions Inc.
Hall@lith.com
www.lith.com

Developer Credits#

Found in the game's .RFF files is a simple text file called COPYRITE.TXT, reading:

Copyright (c) 1997 by Monolith Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Unused Map#

This page or section needs more videos. There's a whole lotta words or pictures here, but not enough videos. Please fix this. Specifically: Get a video in DOS showing this map.

Present in BLOOD.RFF is BB9.MAP, an unused and seemingly early version of BB8: Fun With Heads. This is largely identical to the final version but is missing Jay Wilson's signature.

This map is not set up in the INI, so it is not possible to access this map in-game. It can only be accessed by launching the game with it.

Unused Map Content#

E1M1: Cradle to Grave#

The INI contains a commented-out, empty Message4. Message1 is also empty.

E1M8: House of Horrors#

The INI contains an empty Message1.

BB8: Fun With Heads#

If the multiplayer level Fun With Heads is loaded as a single player level (easily done by simply launching the game with blood bb8 at DOS or by using the MARIO cheat in single player), a lone Axe Zombie can be found near the scoreboard to the red side.

Since this map can only normally be played in multiplayer, this Zombie goes unused.

DM1: Monolith Building 11#

If the multiplayer level Monolith Building 11 is loaded as a single player level, a lone Beast can be found in the room with the monster miniatures.

Since this map can only normally be played in multiplayer, this Beast goes unused.

E6M7: Dungeon#

This map has an unused message (called Lockmessage in the INI) for the main locked door in the level, it just uses the generic message for locked doors in place of this. It goes unused due to being incorrectly defined.

You must complete the sequence to open this door.

Refreshed Supply would later implement and fix up this message.

Level Designer Signatures#

A vast majority of levels have a small signature made out of sectors from the person that made it placed somewhere that can only be seen with the noclip cheat or a level editor. Craig Hubbard's is "Croweater", James Wilson III's is a stylized "SHADE", Kevin L. Kilstrom's is "KLK" (this is also used on one of the tombstones in the game), Nick Newhard's is "nN" and Terry Hamel's is "T H".

The only levels lacking these are the ones in the Plasma Pak.

Oddities#

Voxel Names#

Some of the game's voxels have some rather peculiar names.

QAV File Naming#

The QAV files for the Life Leach are named with "STAF", which as noted above is a remnant of when it was known as the Hell Staff.

Voxel Design Inconsistencies#

The sprites of the Shotgun pickup and the Guns Akimbo powerup depict it with a dark barrel but the voxels and the held sprites are a light gray instead. This is likely a leftover from development when the shotgun (and several other weapons) had a darker color as seen in the prototypes.

The Fire Armor voxel appears to be based on an early design seen in the prototypes with different colorization near the bottom.

Early Post Mortem Title#

The game's BLOOD.INI file refers to Post Mortem in its episode 6 section as "Civilian Life", suggesting that was the episode's title at one point.

Cryptic Passage#

Much like the base game, all levels in Cryptic Passage have hidden signatures. This is of particular interest, seeing that none of the level designers that worked on Cryptic Passage were credited with what specific maps they worked on in CRYPTIC.INI.

Robert Travis's is "R. T." with a logo based on the Starfleet insignia from Star Trek, Michael Beaulieu's is "M Beaulieu" with a Canadian flag (Beaulieu was a native of Canada), Tyler Larsen's is "BLiSS", Charlie Weiderhold's is a stylized "Weider", Jeff Cleveland's is "JC 1997", Shawn Swift's is "SSWIFT@EARTHLINK.NET" (presumably an email address he was using at the time) and William "Bill" Buchalter's is "WBB" with a small room containing his name and a hanging zombie.

To do: Document the hidden room with Buchalter's signature and the hidden text in Beaulieu's in CP05: Steamboat.

References#