In other news, Space Station Omega is shaping up quite well. I have made a manual for it which might provide people with a bit of an entertaining read, but then again you might think it's just me rambling on about a whole lotta bullshit. I'll let you decide when it's released.
Other than that, I've been writing up a manual of sorts for The Gateway Experiments. I've decided to set it in the universe I'm recreating with Doom - The Arcade Game. It is set 10 years after Russell killed the Icon of Sin. I've been filling in the character backgrounds, and I realised that I really want to finish at least the current chapter I'm working on for The Doom Chronicles, as the storyline of chapter 4 is an important part of one of the character's histories. I've given a brief explanation in the manual, but it would be really cool to be able to play that character's history. People who have played the level in it's current state would be aware of the character Elaine. I've decided that she will be the main character in chapter 5 of the Doom Chronicles. Chapter 5 will be a rather cool chapter by the way, it's another chapter that I would really like to get done. Perhaps I might approach someone like Enjay and ask him if he'd like to work on the Doom Chronicles (that is if he's not busy with other stuff).
Anyway, I've had enough talking, go do something more worthy of your time :P
Cool, huh? :)
That is all for now.
As the title suggests, I am going to get back in to some Doom editing (or at least try to get back in to it). I really want to finish The Gateway Experiments Episode 1, and two beta testers always ask me when the next D-TAG map is ready so I owe it to the faithful to get a working version up and running.
That is all for now.
In other news, I have started work on an Arena creator for the fighting game idea. Perhaps it could be easilly ported to a Doom editor? I am not too sure about that as I have only just started work on it (I still don't know how I'm going to save the file format, just playing around with a renderer first).
That is all.
In other news, I have started the course I got a scholarship for (Diploma of Information Technology (Software Development) - Specialising In Games). Yesterday we learnt the basics of flash and did a grand total of this:
Fun, huh? Today, we got spoken to by the creator of Capitalism and the Seven Kingdoms series. His studio, Enlight Software, is looking at setting up a studio in Australia. Brisbane and Melbourne are the candidates for it.
That is all for now.
Anyway, the whole point of this post is to update on what's going on with my current projects. Doom Chronicles is still sitting idle and not going anywhere. The Gateway Experiments is going rather slow because I haven't been in the mood to do much more on it. Doom - The Arcade Game is getting a new bonus stage. You probably won't be able to access it till at least 2/3 of the way through KDITD, but I plan on finishing it within the next couple of days and uploading it to /newstuff so that everyone can have a look at it. On another note, I will be looking in to fixing up my 3ddownloads login so that I can finally move the downloads to a server that doesn't close down every now and then because it's possible that it might exceed the 3gig/month downstream policy.
That's it from me.
In other news, many people have seen my skybox example wad which has a small demonstration of the player viewing a ship docking inside a space station from inside the ship. I have decided to expand on this initial idea to create a new series of WADs I plan on regularly uploading to /newstuff. The title of the series is The Gateway Experiments, or Doesn't The Military Ever Learn?, and it will be heavilly scripted and story driven. I like to think of the first map, Space Station Omega, as the pilot for a TV show. It sets up the main characters and the basic idea behind the show. Not only that, I plan on putting multiple paths through the maps. While (at the moment) the series will have one outcome, there will be plenty of ways to get to that outcome. To further proove that I am a Scripting Nut (Ling and someone else has called me that), this series will require some key binds. That's all I'm going to say about the binding at the moment, but needless to say it will definately make sure my label of Scripting Nut is deserved.
Heh, this was supposed to be a small update but it's gone on longer than the last post. Oh well, that's it from me.
I've been getting a great response from the first release. Everyone likes it alot. Linguica likes it alot, and he offered me hosting on Doomworld before I had a chance to ask, so pretty soon this project will have a new home. Cool, huh? :)
Now that everyone's had a bit of a play around with it, I'll now ask a question, did anyone spot the architectural reference I made to one of the original E1 levels? The architecture isn't exactly the same, but it is reminiscent of it. Here's two screenshots to show what I mean, the original E1 shot on the left, and the D-TAG shot on the right.
Thank you everyone, expect bigger and better things for this project soon :)
The first map took me way too long to make in my opinion. Not only that, but it was really just a few ideas slapped together to try and make some sort of a playable and enjoyable map. The testers say that the map is good, but I know I can do much better.
MAP90 was one of the original ideas I had for this project. Originally it was going to be a case of run through the maps completing the set objectives within a time limit, but then I thought it would be cooler to remake the entire Doom and Doom 2 experience in the mould of an arcade game. The original idea will live on in the form of bonus levels, and MAP90 is the first of such ideas.
In a community where everyone is making a continuation of the story of Doom or a Total Conversion to provide a whole new gaming experience, I am doing the exact opposite and rewriting Doom. Hopefully it's as fun to play as it has been to watch my brother go through it and have the shit scared out of him when something unexpected is around a corner he was just at. This project is only going to get bigger and better, and if you've read the project overview you will know just how big of a project I've set myself up for. It took me long enough to do these first few maps (and even then a few things need some more work on them), so I will be looking for anyone at all who can provide maps for this project. Scripting knowledge is neccessary, and if you don't know anything about scripting and you really want to help out, scripting isn't really that hard to learn so get cracking and learn how to script :)
Releated to rewriting Doom, I was making a Partial Conversion before I got sidetracked on this project called The Doom Chronicles. The aim of the project was to fill in the gaps in the story left by id software. I started this project before the Fan Fiction forum was invented over at Doomworld, and since then there have been many attempts to fill in the holes. I am considering abandoning the project and just writing up the ideas I had as a piece of fan fiction. It all depends on how well received this project is, and whether anyone would like to see DC finished. I only got feedback from one person on the thing when it was released (as is mentioned in the file that comes with the Doom - The Arcade Game zip files), and while the feedback was optimistic, I never really had the initiative to do much more on it. I have only added a bit of detail to some areas, but I haven't added any new sections. Check out the link in the Quit section of this site and download the WIP. If you like it and if you think it has potential, send me an email. If you want to help on that project, send me an email and you'll probably get a whole chapter to yourself.
OK, that's about all I have to say at the moment. I can't wait to hear the feedback on this project because if what the testers say is true, this could very well end out being one of the best mods ever when it is completed (it won't be if I keep on just throwing ideas together in to a map though :P A bit more planning is required on my part from now on methinks).
Lots more detail to do in the first map... I might even max out the segs limit yet :)
Also, I might have to take my old screenshots off, as they are taking up too much room on Geoshitties. Either that, or find another server.
Don't despair just yet, I will be working on a way to get it fully automated and have it as MAP01 or something similar. MAP01 you say? Well, I've decided to change the project from Doom to Doom 2 as I have more enemies and dead bodies to play around with in Doom 2 (which means more marine types for cutscenes). The SS soldiers now have Doom Guy frames, and certain dead monsters are now different coloured marines (the only one I have at the moment is a Dead Lost Soul Marine, but I plan on adding the remaining two marine colours). I have had to use the SS soldier because the normal Doom Guy's frames won't let me change the code pointers.
Anyway, I will now treat you to a few screenshots of the intro. I only have about half of it done, so expect a release soon (I've only been working on it for 2-3 days).
Quick note: You might notice that the Deimos sky is not red. My reasoning is that at the time of the intro, Deimos wasn't floating above hell. The hell sky in Episode 3 was red, so logically the only reason the Deimos sky is red would be that it's picking up the colour from hell. When you get to the Deimos stages, however, the sky will be red.
On another note, if any of you have visited the Old News page and tried to access the screenshots, you will have noticed that it doesn't work. I have since fixed this, and as a result all screenshots are viewable.
Wow, that sounds cool.
Actually, I contemplated doing that myself, but kinda making a 'Robotron Doom' (I love the game) - but didn't because I thought I'd be the only one that would go for it.
Nice thinking there, I'm game! >:)
Cool, huh? Damned if I can remember Robotron though... maybe I can find it emulated somewhere and try it out...
And now for the random ramblings...
DeepSea 11.2 has been released. I don't use DeepSea (I tried it once, and although it has a DEU-like interface I found it a bit clumsy to use - nice error checkers though). I learnt Doom editing using DEU back in the day when I didn't have a net connection and had to rely on a CD full of Doom stuff my dad bought once (it took me forever to understand how to use it and how Doom editing worked but it was worth it in the end). The closest I'll get to using DEU these days though is DETH, and it's counterpart that I use for ZDoom editing, ZETH. I tried using DEU once just for the fun of it after living in DETH for a while - and proceded to delete DEU as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, my ISP is being a bitch as always, so this update will probably hit the site an hour or so after I save and generate the HTML file on my HD (a program written by myself if anyone is interested in buying a copy). So adios for now, and hopefully the map will be ready very soon.
Current progress on E1M1 is at about 60%. I need to lay down the basic design for a few more areas in the map, then put in some more detail, add quite a few more monsters (the monster count is something like 20 on UV at the moment, so it's pretty much dead quiet), and then it should be ready for release.
On a bit of a side note, how many other maps out there rely exclusively on the monsters to be able to finish a stage instead of using them as fillers (apart from obvious ones like Dead Simple etc etc)?
Oh, and go download No Hope For Life. It's worth it just for the rather interesting E1M3 remake, and then there's another 8 maps on top of that...
That's it from me.
Perhaps next post I might have the map up...
There, have fun, expect more soon.
Go back to the latest news