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K!r4 said:
Hey,
A french mate called wereabbit is working on a project for GZDoom, and has released his first map for a public betatest.
You can get it here : http://www.megaupload.com/fr/?d=9W9WF0SJ
(well it's megaupload but the file size is only 3.3MB)

For screenshots you can see them in the original thread here : http://lacommunaute.forum2jeux.com/...ase-t1201-0.htm (french forum sorry).
The screens on the first post aren't updated so you'll have to look in the others pages to see (few things have been removed, like the 3D model of a monster which was out of place).

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K!r4 said:
In fact one or two dudes were whinning about the lazy use of dynamic lighting, but the author has shut them up by his details skills.

GZDoom is the author's choice, and is his favorite sourceport anyway I believe :P

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Enjay said:
Well, I've got to say, I think that has to be one of the best uses of GZdoom that I have seen. It seamlessly integrates GZdoom features with a very Doom-like feel. There was no (or maybe very little use) of Hi-res textures or hi-color and there were only a handful of (appropriate) models. It feels like Doom+ rather than trying to be a next-generation engine mod or something. To me, that's a very good use of an advanced port of an old game.

The level has loads of lovely little touches, from the choking-looking atmosphere, to the glowing lava caves and little flames everywhere (it actually felt like it should be hot and sulphurous in those areas) to the very well executed ancient areas (complete with creepy ambient sounds). I especially loved the little touches like the crack in the floor allowing you to see through into an underground lava chamber with an impaled guy in it (that didn't affect gameplay at all, but it was a very nice use of 3D floors) and there was very good use of dead-body decorations (an almost forgotten art). Use of height and 3D space generally was excellent. Although it's a very strange place, it felt very real to me and I think the use of space was part of that. Both the base and the ancient tomb areas integrated perfectly with the natural terrain.

Complaints? Of course. ;) I found it quite, perhaps even very, confusing a lot of the time and, although I really liked the slimy brick texturing (I've always liked those textures) and the custom additions to them, the place became very "samey" and a lot of corridors could easily be confused with others. There were also a few switches which, after flicking them, it wasn't immediately apparent what they had done - never a good thing IMO, and another pet hate of mine is doors that require keys not having something to identify them with their key colour. I think only the yellow door was actually marked as such. I also spotted a model pipe that wasn't in the right place because it looked like it should be coming out of a wall and it wasn't. There was a (intentionally) broken 3D bridge that went out across a canyon. It looked good but, on looking at where the bridge would have been going had it not been broken, there was no obvious reason for the inhabitants of this base to have built the bridge in the first place. There was some quite dodgy looking texture alignment by some steps and I didn't like the very heavy use of doortrak on some of the lifts.

Something that would add to this mod (I don't think it was used - but my room wasn't quiet enough to be sure) is (G)Zdoom's handling of custom reverbs. If the caves had been given different sound handling to the open areas, to the bases, to the ancient tombs it would have been even more atmospheric. This is something I've only been aware of recently myself. It's been in Zdoom for ages but needed an EAX soundcard so mine didn't show the effect. However, recent SVN versions of Zdoom and recent official GZdoom versions use different sound code and custom reverbs work with any card.

Oh, and a nice piece of suitable music would have helped too. D_RUNNIN with its crazy scales in the background was certainly detracting from the mood until I turned it down.

Bottom line, IMO it's a great looking map with some very, very nice touches. Difficulty and ammo/health etc were absolutely fine for me - never too easy or hard or too generous or too tight and I really enjoyed playing it.

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wereabbit said:
About the sound, i have a problem( and i think that is a bug).
I have a RealtekHD chipset, and sounds don't play well.
An exemple: At the entry of the first temple, there was a little earthquake, the sound seams "choppy".

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wereabbit said:
For the "reverb", if you can give me more informations that will be heplfull.

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wereabbit said:
And, for those how wants, some screens of the other maps:

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esselfortium said:
I'm pretty sure it's a model, unless he decided to be completely masochistic with 3D slopes and flat alignments.

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Haloless0320 said:
Looks great,how did he implement Milkshape into Doombuilder or whatever he used?

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