The /newstuff Chronicles #191

Amaster said:

A Warm Place: Ugh.

Do you say that because of the silly crusher early on? If so, stick with it - it's really kind of cool otherwise.

A Warm Place...now I've got another one of those lying around somewhere. It's a classic map but not on the archives.

MasterOFDeath said:

You are talking about episode III of it, right Xaser? ;) :P

What else? :P

Anyway, I'd better wait until the week after next to upload my map so maybe someone might play it. :P

Grazza said:

Do you say that because of the silly crusher early on? If so, stick with it - it's really kind of cool otherwise.

I quit and deleted the wad as soon as the crusher got me. Majorly lame :p

Grazza said:

Do you say that because of the silly crusher early on? If so, stick with it - it's really kind of cool otherwise.

I did, and then I got to the low-gravity room. Ugh again. I'll probably give it another go after I beat the latest DtCA installemnt.

Hello.

It has been brought to my attention that my ZDoom project, "A Warm Place" has been uploaded to the idgames archives. I never previously uploaded it myself because when I made it I think there was a lower file size limit or something.

This got me to thinking that this will subject the wad to a review in the /newsuff Chronicles. I just wanted to point out that it's nearly 3 years old now and when I tested it with the most recent version of ZDoom (63a) just now it screwed up big-time near the end. I then re-tested it with version 47i (the oldest I could find on http://www.zdoom.org/files/lars/), and it seemed to work fine save a few superficial glitches.

In any case, I happen to be very fond of my first and only Doom project, and I would rather not see it reviewed poorly based on something out of my control such as this. It was compatible with the latest version of ZDoom when it was released, and why someone chose to upload it to the archives now is beyond me.

So if you wouldn't mind keeping this in mind when you look at AWP and when you review it (assuming you do), I would much appreciate it.

Thanks,

Richo Rosai

This Is Your Life, Miss Communication.

I almost feel bad about that.

DtCA is nice, but I hate how it freezes you up when there's dialogue. I also dislike how you have to go back to that Red guy and 'use' him after getting keys..

I liked Xaser's lasers mod. Very nice.

mystery8 said:

DTCA is nice, but I hate how it freezes you up when there's dialogue.

Then I have good news for you. After I finish the actual megawad I intend to make a special mod called the "Speedrunner's version" that will completly elminate cut-scenes and other disturbances that would freeze you. However the side effect will be that if you have not played the original the puzzles might be much more difficult to figure out.

Sounds good. But I don't mind the dialogue itself, I actually think its nice. I just dislike how it freezes you up. Good work.

MasterOFDeath said:

I had a map I uploaded on I think tuesday. It was accepted, but you said you had some missing links, so you must have never seen it. here is a link to it, for those of you interested.

Dude... its just a room with a switch. And if that was supposed to be funny, well it wasn't.

Dittohead said:

Dude... its just a room with a switch. And if that was supposed to be funny, well it wasn't.

Heh, that one got reviewed.

Dittohead said:

Dude... its just a room with a switch. And if that was supposed to be funny, well it wasn't.

Its called a JOKEWAD! :P I showed it to tons of people, and they loved it. You just have no sense of humor.

MasterOFDeath said:

Its called a JOKEWAD! :P I showed it to tons of people, and they loved it. You just have no sense of humor.

What? Its a room with a switch. That's it. OH WAIT THAT'S HILARIOUS HAHAHAHA.... I want my 2 fucking minutes back that I spent downloading and playing that.

Maybe if there was some real effort put in to make it funny. Maybe.

I was actually suprised that it wasn't some sort of error, which is why I posted it. I thought maybe you accidently deleted the rest of the map... but nope, I wasn't even that lucky.

No Daniel this week. Is he all right?

MasterOFDeath said:

Its called a JOKEWAD! :P I showed it to tons of people, and they loved it. You just have no sense of humor.

This is like a stand-up comic coming on stage, blowing a raspberry and then pissing off. And then complaining when he gets pelted with rotten tomatoes.

Kapt'nMullet: I don't think anyone cares.

I don't know what A Warm Place is doing in the archives. I never uploaded back in the day because there either was or I thought there was a prohibitive file size limit, and I haven't touched it for a couple of years. I tried it and it does not work with the latest ZDoom. I would hate for anyone to dislike the WAD for that reason since I had no control over it, and I also hate that it works fine right up to the end. And even worse, the final boss is what is broken. I have to say I was always very proud of AWP's final boss sequence. Unfortunately it doesn't seem upgradable very easily, especially with my next-to-evaporated knowledge of Zdoom editing (this was the first and only real WAD I ever made). Anyway, just don't cry "DRE" because my wad worked with the latest ZDoom when it was released.

Also, I personally don't agree with the idea that the wad is a "wonderful wad for less experienced Doomers". There are no hugely populated Plutonia-esque sequences, but I like to think that some of the enemies (like the revenants on the catwalk, especially with the gates nearby) provide a serious challenge. In any case, I think that anyone who can beat AWP on UV would have to qualify as experienced.

And as for things like the crusher (which, by the way has some blood paste to warn you) and the floaty room (try walking instead of running), I intended this wad to be very hard. I like the old games where you had to do a series of things just right in order to proceed, although with unlimited saving capabilities AWP admittedly doesn't emulate that very well. Although now that I think of it, I should have gone back and added scripted saving after the long cinemas. Sorry.

Kapt'nMullet said:

No Daniel this week. Is he all right?

He said he was going on vacation IIRC.

Richo Rosai: Your text file makes it clear that it was designed for ZDoom 1.23b33, so people can't complain if they use something else and hit problems. The current Zdoom betas are very different from the 1.23 betas.

The uploader shouldn't have remained anonymous of course (to comply with the archive's rules if nothing else), and it would have been useful if he had tested it with more recent versions (and put in a comment stressing that ZDoom 1.23b33 should be used), but otherwise this is a wad that belongs in the archive (and your textfile granted permission for it to be distributed in this manner).

Anyway, I really liked AWP (I recommended it here and here, for instance) and didn't find it easy or especially annoying. IIRC, the crusher got me once, and I only needed to watch the intro twice before making a save just after it. The low-gravity area was fine IMO, though it took me a while to find one of the switches in one of the side areas.

Grazza: Thanks for the kind words. It's good to know somebody besides me enjoyed something I worked hard on. And I didn't mean to imply that I didn't think it ought to be in the archives, just that I literally didn't know why it was there.

Richo, your wad was very good, if only for it's time. However, I was not aware of two things: first, the upload controversy nor any e-mails regarding your notes about the date of the wad and it's size. Nevertheless I feel that the rest of my statements that were of a critical nature were legitimate, from my point of view, anyway. Apologies for any defamation of name or character by this misunderstanding.

No apologies needed. You and the others provide a service to the rest of us by reviewing, which I'm sure takes plenty of time and effort, and I appreciate the criticism. And either way, a truly great wad would stand the test of time, wouldn't it? :)