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purist

Progressive Fiction (Hadephobia now on /idgames)

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My brain just works and I usually follow my previsions. But then, even if MAP06's ending will turn out to be somewhere else far from the basics, I'll have to do that in that way (does the twist between MAP06 and MAP07 count so much??), and maybe cancel the name "Death Government".

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Cell said:

(does the twist between MAP06 and MAP07 count so much??)


Same rules apply as any of the other slots. If MAP06 takes place on the ship maybe Vaporizer won't state it's destination, in which case you'll have a bit more freedom but that would be up to him.

My map set it up so MAP05 would be a dock, MAP06 would be a ship and MAP07 would be the destination but that's not set in stone. If magicsofa and Vaporizer can make it seemless in both story and maps that could still change.

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purist said:

Same rules apply as any of the other slots. If MAP06 takes place on the ship maybe Vaporizer won't state it's destination, in which case you'll have a bit more freedom but that would be up to him.

Actually, I'll have to at last make the ship visible from somewhere in MAP07, but only then when the story Magicsofa and Vaporizer continue is applicable with it so.

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The thread seems to be quite dead nowadays. Is Magicsofa working so hard on MAP05 that he couldn't make a status report about his map since now?...

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I've not heard from him since he posted that he'd started work on Monday. Hopefully he is in a position to upload a first draft and story at some point today so Vaporizer can start MAP06 on time.

I don't really expect that much thread activity until a map is uploaded.

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Whatever. In the progress of the previous maps, something was always on topic. But if nothing matters you and the others, I won't say a word either.

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Cell said:

The thread seems to be quite dead nowadays. Is Magicsofa working so hard on MAP05 that he couldn't make a status report about his map since now?...



Actually I haven't been working very hard on it at all, until today mostly. Right now I'm crashing and burning through the last two weeks of school. BUT - I do have a prototype level and story. I intended the largest ship in the map to be the end. If Vaporizer wants to make an on-the-ship map, I encourage him to change it or make his own entirely different design, which I could retroactively put into my map. Or, if Vap wants to make a map of the place you end up after taking the ship, I can include the deck of the ship as part of my map. I just have a really simple couple of sectors for it anyway so I don't care which way it goes.

Anyway, I really have to get some sleep (yeah I know it's 10:30 pm shut up). Sorry about the pseudo-delay...alright well here is the map:

http://www.mediafire.com/?91bekmjop4vo8bo

and here is the story:

MAP05
Title:
Music:
Author: magicsofa
Story:

...You listen to the comforting seal of the door kissing the ground. But then, you're struck by the following silence. All you hear are your own lungs, your heart exploding, the echoes of battle still ringing in your ears.

A strangeness creeps over you. A tangible dread sends you reeling suddenly, and you feel as if you may be sick. Then thoughts begin to pour out...you begin to wonder who you are, and whether any of this is real. Your eyes betray a plastic sheen on the walls and the ground you seem to be standing on. It's not real.

As the door ahead of you opens you feel a refreshing cool breeze. You remember that one time, you might have enjoyed playing on the beach. Now the shore just makes you feel vulnerable. There's nowhere to hide on the shores of hell.

What you find outside the door is baffling, but for some reason you feel familiar with it. You feel as if you're on some kind of drug, and you're watching yourself go through the motions of being a soldier.

Progressing among the docks, you start to think the sky is telling you something. You realize you're in a place that nobody can take you out of. The only way is through, through this distorted mess. It doesn't seem to make sense, but you can't help yourself. A primal urgency pulls you forward, while you cut down the demons in a daze. Finally you give up any semblance of restraint and decide to pilot your own ship. Setting sail with no destination, you accept the chaos that seems to be lying ahead of you, on the edge of the earth.

EDIT: PS: In case you didn't know I'm going to keep working on this, although next time will probably be in a few days

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magicsofa said:

Actually I haven't been working very hard on it at all, until today mostly. Right now I'm crashing and burning through the last two weeks of school.

Same here, man, same here. I was just nervous because I couldn't concentrate on my homework well while waiting for the final result, as the end seems to influence even my map. I couldn't download it, though, cuz' I'm writing from an asshole school computer that prevents everyone from downloading anything - and Doom isn't installed here either.

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Things became better as soon as I got home... let's see the map.

I hope this is just a first draft or something else. The concept is cool and I'm really liking some of the designs. The design of the light corridor after the blue key door seems to be quite classic, it's not bad at all. But then, I've noticed that the broken surfaces of those dock piles are untextured and the other thing - what's that huge infestation in the ship crash? The intestines of all deads gathered there or what?

Anything else are just ignorable mistakes. At last Vaporizer can go on with the story...

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Vaporizer said:

So, does the level end inside that big ship with a lone mancubus?


Yes. You will have to get inside that front cabin or whatever and flip the "exit" switch which presumably is you driving the ship away

Like I said before, if you want you can design your own ship or build on my little prototype and I will place that in my map. I could also have the level end when you board the ship. Or, if you don't want to include being on the ship as part of your level, you can place my finished ship in your level.

Cell said:

I've noticed that the broken surfaces of those dock piles are untextured and the other thing - what's that huge infestation in the ship crash? The intestines of all deads gathered there or what?


I literally threw those platforms in right before uploading, just to see how they looked. It'll be fixed don't worry :)

I'm not entirely sure what is on the crashed ship...it's just an infestation :P What I was going for in the story was to suggest that doomguy is having some kind of mental episode, and doesn't know what is real. So maybe that thing is just a hallucination! As I build the map I'm planning to have stuff that is wildly distorted, to make the player wonder if hell is messing with reality or just doomguy's mind...

Cell said:

I hope this is just a first draft or something else


YES I consider this to be about 3% finished!!

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I've downloaded and played through your map. You've already said that you struggled to find time to work on it last week and what you've uploaded is only a very rough early draft so I won't niggle.

It looks like you've spent most of your time on the area directly leading from mine as it appears the most neat and 'finished' area. I like how my map continues into yours.

From here on it gets a bit psychedelic. Your story and the demonic influence in parts of the map suggests our Doomguy's grip on reality is slipping. This is perhaps inevitable seeing as he starts in an asylum. At the moment the transition jars but there's enough scope for interesting ideas from this so the jury is still out.

I'm not sure how much freedom of the dock you were planning on giving the player but from early impressions giving the player access to the sea might cause problems as the player has too much space. I didn't see a lot of scope for fun gameplay in most of the outdoor areas.

In general it feels like you maybe bit off more than you could chew for what a map you effectively had a week to work on. MAP04 was initially designed to include the dock and a view of the boat. I cut both of these out as I realised I'd never get finished in time, certainly not with quality I'd be satisfied with. I anticipated your map starting in a series of warehouse like base areas that look like they're used for loading/unloading, perhaps some control rooms with occasional sea views and ending on the dock itself. You've started with an open view of the whole dock, included two ships and thrown in a bent reality subplot. Obviously the theme of your map is your own perogative and I applaud your ambition but it might have paid dividends to think a little smaller unless you now have an abundance of free time or can map particulary fast. This is not a speedmapping exercise and I'm happy for you to continue tweaking your map but the project is all about an evolving community megawad being completed a map at a time. I would really like MAP05 to be completed or as near as damn it before MAP06 is finished.

Finally, two suggestions to solve the question of how to include the boat Vaporizer will be placing his map on:

1. Put the boat in the 'distance'. I used this method for the hospital at the start of MAP04. It's not actually in the distance it's just smaller but perspective gives an illusion of distance. The good thing about this is it is quick to make, generic enough so that Vaporizer is not limited to basing his map on it and it looks kinda cute I think. The downside is that my cute is another man's naff, there must be no way the player should be able to get near it or the illusion is ruined and you will have to explain in the story how the player will board it (perhaps he swims, perhaps the boat docks).

2. Have the player board the ship via a tunnel. This way the boat is never actually seen. Problem here is the difficulty of providing visual clues that you're docking a boat and not just walking down a generic tunnel and that your map is very open so it would be difficult to hide the ship without appearing contrived.

In either case I think Vaporizer should do his map however he pleases and allowances can be made in your map if need be. It's the opposite way around to how I intended things to work but it at least prevents us running behind schedule.

Please keep us posted on your progress with MAP05, I'm keen to see how it develops from the snippets you've shown so far.

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purist said:

I didn't see a lot of scope for fun gameplay in most of the outdoor areas.


I agree - I began realizing I had to give the player something to do on those huge platforms and such, and I plan to generally restrict the player from being able to run full speed across long distances.


In general it feels like you maybe bit off more than you could chew for what a map you effectively had a week to work on.


Perhaps! Actually, I had more than a week if I remember right, and if I had worked on it consistently through then it probably would be 95% complete. Instead I drew a few sectors and then forgot about it until the due date :/

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Cool, it's good to see we're thinking along the same lines.

You're right you had the weekend before your slot was due as well but I wanted that point to double as a word of warning to Vaporizer and the other mappers. A week can soon be eaten up so it's best to start small and you can always build on or add areas if you find you've finished with time to spare. Going back to my MAP04 example I intended the rocky area to be a bigger and more reminiscent of E3M2, I had bigger plans for the dam and cavern zone and I was going to include the dock and boat. Once I got started I realised I would have to chop those plans considerably. So I concentrated on the essential areas. It irked me that I was compromising at first but now that map's finished I'm glad I did it as otherwise I don't think I'd be as happy with the map as a whole.

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As I was reading through your story - you didn't mention how Doomguy will be getting on the board of the ship... and maybe Vaporizer won't want to start a new map on that huge empty ship surface. So, here's an idea: Doomguy must have climbed on the ship through hiding between/inside some cargo stuff. This idea doesn't sound bad either, and then, Vaporizer could find an alibi how to fill that deck with some boxes that doesn't give such an "empty" feeling.

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Your choice, but that would be a bit disappointing for ones who wanted to know what's inside the ship.

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Its cliche, but you could have the ship wreck. Then you could have the level be the inside of the ship and the destination.

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Ehm... does Boom format support that teleport type which allows you to "jump dimension" without the teleport animation? Then, you could do the ship's inside and also the deck without problems.

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Vaporizer said:

I'll make the story more detailed later. I want to name it "Run To The Hills".

Please tell me that you're going to use the same-titled music track from Iron Maiden for the music.

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Vaporizer said:

Nah, a level inside the level inside the ship would be too cramped, I'll just go with magicsofa's idea of having the map start with the destination of the ship.


That's a shame, I was looking forward to seeing what you would do with a map on a ship. Since magicsofa was being flexible about the end of his map you can pretty much pick your own dimensions. It was also a neat way of finishing episode 1 to have the player journeying to an unknown destination.

Will you be able to finish your map so that takes the player to a whole new place? I always think the intermission screens should represent an episode shift.

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Well, I'm clueless either as I've planned "Death Government" as the destination of the ship. Not only because it's practical as the beginning of the next 5-level episode, but also, we haven't gone too hellish yet (even though that brainf*ck caused poor marine to see a huge infestation in the ship crash), and I could do it still in something basic style. I don't have a single clue what I'll do after that wooden gate mentioned above.

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Heh, I did warn you :-)

I'm sure you'll be inspired when MAP06 is finished. You'll just have to be creative. Vaporizer is up after you again isn't he? You could be funny and have your level finish at the entrance to another ship haha.

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Well, the next available slot is not until 14th March so as long as you're free that week you're good.

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Well, I have an idea of making a mountainous base behind. I'm not that keen on making huge outside maps a la E3M2, E3M6 or something else, but if only an open area amongst the rocks does its job as well, I'm up to it.
And Vaporizer, you shouldn't worry. I won't give it back what you've given...

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