But what makes this one differ from the other (great) lightning guns? Well, this one has a genuinely random behaviour. Of course, it will usually go in the general direction of where you aim, but from there, it's impossible to tell where it will land, and how many times it will branch out. Yes, you heard right. It branches out, randomly. Sometimes, your shot won't branch at all, and at other times, it may branch as many as 5 times, resulting in six random lightning bolts sizzling around. The theoretical maximum branching possible would be 19 extra bolts, but seeing that there is 19 possibilities, and every one has roughly 10% chance of branching, it is really, really unlikely. I managed to capture three branches on a surprisingly straight shot on a gif, but remember, there is a very large amount of possible outcomes when firing it!



Now for some info about the properties of the gun... It shoots once every other second, and the damage caused by the bolts vary as wildly as their trajectory, but it can easily be quite fatal, especially in closed spaces, seeing that it bounces around like some kind of angry rubber ball when hitting something. Sometimes, the shot might get stuck in the ground, from where it will either explode violently, or just fade out normally. The bolts are rather short-lived though, and will end in a small blast, like the one seen on most collisions. And speaking of which, collisions can be rather weird. Sometimes, it just bounces off and redirects, other times it passes right through! But of course, it can also result in a number of discharges, which are generally quite dangerous. In some cases, it instakills, and in other cases, it just lightly wounds.
Like i said, completely and utterly unpredictable, but quite fun, in my opinion.

So without further ado, here's the download.

Update 1: Moar electrical looks, and bigger blast area.

The charging looks really cool. But the lightning looks like firework?

Sounds epic! Doesn't really look like lightning. Also, I've heard lightning doesn't behave like a rubber ball when colliding with something :p Will edit some more comments soon.
Edit: It looks and acts pretty nicely, but it is really hard to deal any damage with it. It's more like decoration now. You should up the damage by lots in my opinion.

Ball lightning. (Which may also explain why it isn't instant effect, but ehh...)
Also, might try to improve the looks of it later...

@TDS: Maybe, but i quite like it. That might be because i like fireworks, though. >.>

Oh, ball lightning. But you might want some normal lightning as decoration, to give it the 'electro' feel, which it is lacking right now.

I agree. Ball lightning is cool, but we need some electricity here

>.>

I think i got it now. Any other comments besides the fact that it doesn't actually look like lightning?...

Well, the spriting is nice, and the coding is quite interesting, too. I like how unpredictable it is.

You should increase the area effect of those lightning gibs. Atm they need to be really close when gibbing, and because of the randomness, you can't really aim either. Also, nice presetnames you have there
Also, maybe make those glows they emit move around a bit, might look a bit more electrical.

Better now? =)

Doesnt look like lightning at all; It's more like some energy blaster gun thingy.

I tried it and it sure was unpredictable. With a 10% chance of the lightning blowing up on my face each time I fire, it was sure risky to use this gun.

I tried to hit a dummy on my own team a few meters away from the lightning gun guy and I missed him 6 times before hitting while pointing the gun straight at him. One the missed shots nearly killed me. Thank goodness I was using a Pelian assault robot(tm).

Its one crazy gun I must say. Powerful and useful only if youre lucky enough.

At least it's possible to kill things with it now. I think it looks pretty cool, just not like lightning. A lightning gun doesn't really have to look like lightning if it's cool enough. Also, there's 4 branches on the gif. Just had to say it.

Sorry but I must agree, it doesn't look like a lightning.
What about make the glows look like a lightning (if possible) or something like that to make it look like a lightning.

About the danger, I think it's not easy to hold the power of lightning very tight and your playing whith electrisity so no wonder hazards keep coming

Well then, let's say that it's an Energy Blaster Gun Thingy With Ball Lightning Properties, eh?
But honestly, this is about as good as it gets from me without looking completely ♥♥♥♥ up. I tried with "sharper" glows, but really, it looked horrible. I suppose i can try again, but don't be expecting anything.
Also, the 10% chance isn't a chance to blow up in your face (however awesome it would be), but the chance for the shot to branch out in that given frame. It's probably slightly over 10% anyways. >.>
And the inaccuracy can be counted as a way of balancing it slightly... If it shot in a straight line, it would be a hella powerful gun. If you want lulz, use it in a closed enviroment, or point-blank someone. I tried, and i got turned into fudge, along with the gentleman i shot. Almost literally. There was a shapeless mass of green and red wounds where my heavy soldier was 3 seconds earlier, and the light soldier i shot was nowhere to be found. (Big block of text mostly directed at Nummie)

Btw, if you don't feel too lazy, you might want to make those triangle-like glows be rotated to different angles when they are emitted. They look too alike the way they are now. Tho' you don't really notice it ingame. Also, I like the new name