a dark place

Here's a quick map i made tonight.

Warning: It's very difficult. Enjoy!

http://www.mediafire.com/download/oh7ttkemri9908k/adarkplace.wad


UPDATE: Now has a second map. Even more brutal than the first.

Mmh, for some reason can't download it. I'll try later with another PC, but in the meantime, have you considered uploading it to idgames?

hmm, i'll reupload, i had to fix a few things and a broken link might still be there.

EDIT: Try the link now

Still no luck. But don't worry, I'm sure the problem is my old PC. I'll try later and will give you my impressions. Thanks and good night.

Nobody gonna play this? It's high end plutonia style if that changes anyone's mind.

I finally downloaded it. You are right. It's dark, and it's difficult. When I first saw the monster count, well below 100, I thought "this is gonna be a piece of cake". Oh boy. That first Pain Elemental is a bitch. Good work man.

I just gave this a shot and whew, was it brutal! I somehow managed to beat it without cheats, although, I was out of ammo at the end. I played through most of it with very low health. And you're right--it's extremely dark, but I liked that aspect of it--made it scarier.

I do have a question, though. Is crouching allowed in your map? I was able to use crouch by default...

No, crouching isn't supposed to be allowed, but killing them early is, it's just more fun to let them out at the end. I think I'll make a sequel tonight actually.

UPDATE: Check OP

I played through only map 2 (since I beat map 1 already). It was actually not that bad--I almost found it easier than map 1...until after I got the blue skull key. After obtaining that and returning to where I needed to use it, it just got crazy! I ran out of ammo and had to cheat to finish :(. I suppose I need to be more careful with my ammo as I was doing all right until the final stretch...

I think that this sort of "very difficult and brutal but not a slaughter-fest" type of gameplay will appeal greatly to a certain group of mayhem enthusiasts. But even I have to admit, while I don't usually go for psychotic stuff like this, I still enjoyed it quite a bit.

Keep up the good work! Maybe you should just turn this into a full-fledged project with 5+ maps or something?

fullmetalvaran33 said:

Maybe you should just turn this into a full-fledged project with 5+ maps or something?

No, that's not good enough. He should make a 32 maps Megawad.

Hmm. I was planning another map anyway, so I'll see what I can do.

E: If I don't run out of ideas I'll continue as far as I can.

Neat map this second one. Here's the FDA:

http://www.mediafire.com/?mk0uc4k67jl5576

Nice job, guess I'll have to make 3 harder ;)

Quite good, though personally it's a little hard for me to want to play a whole bunch of these in a row. Don't let that stop you though. I liked the layout of the second one a lot. I thought it was kind of easier than the first, because you have a lot more room to run around, and you can avoid some enemies and get them to infight easier.

Actually the hardest part of either map for me was the start of the first, especially in a port with infinitely tall enemies. Don't know whether it's best to try to pick off what's there and avoid releasing the chaingunners, or just to free them as early as possible and hope to get that ssg without too much life lost. After that I found the rest of the level "only" very hard, and not agonizingly hard.

Edit to add: you can get locked out while going for the blue key in map 2, if you retreat in time from the door closing.

General Rainbow Bacon said:

Nice job, guess I'll have to make 3 harder ;)

Awww dang! You're gonna kill me!

But keep going. I'm curious to see where this goes.

Yeah, the start of the first map is pretty difficult but fun to try and conquer. I opted to thin out a few of the initial enemies (mainly the pain elemental) then let the chaingunners out and grab the SSG and blue armor. The spectres are surprisingly vicious here in the cramped conditions and darkness. The rest of the map is pretty easy up to the red key. The red key battle is only difficult because the darkness can hide a chaingunner who'll rip into you. After the switch though, the last battle felt impossible simply because all the monsters sat at the top of the lift and between an AV and a mancubus it was impossible to get by. Oh well.

Not a fan of inescapable pits, either - the ones with revenants at the bottom (if infinitely tall monsters aren't on) and the one with the revenant and archvile in the blood pool by the hallway to the red switch.

Magnusblitz said:

After the switch though, the last battle felt impossible simply because all the monsters sat at the top of the lift and between an AV and a mancubus it was impossible to get by. Oh well.

I must've gotten lucky, the viles didn't resurrect that mancubus near the lift and just all hung out in the starting area when I played. I know exactly which one you're talking about, that would have made it much harder...

anyone try NM yet? :>

Your guys ready? Here it is: the final version:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/oh7ttkemri9908k/adarkplace.wad

Good luck!

Cant people please learn to post screenshots?

Here's a quick map i made tonight.

...just aint gonna cut it, boy.

Darkreaver:

I can post screenshots, but I don't do super detailing, I don't really care that much about how a level looks (I do care a little), and these levels are so small that posting even one screenshot would give away a lot about the challenges. Seriously guys, pull your head out of your ass and just play the maps, you'll see them when you load them. Doesn't gameplay matter more than looks, it's Doom, we don't play it for looks.

E: I know you want a screenshot to know whether or not a map is worth you r time BASED ON LOOKS. Guess what, if the gameplay sucks, it's not worth your time and that's not something a screenshot can tell you. I've seen your maps darkreaver and it's obvious you care about looks, but I don't. Good luck with your projects and I'll play them when you release them. Peace out.

After reading the above comment, i thought i'd give the author the benefit of the doubt.

I was disappointed.

There's very little to no detailing and a lot of texture misalignment. The lighting in almost all sectors of each map are fixed at a low brightness of 80 to 96 so there's very little variation, and i suppose the low lighting is your way to cheat out of alignment/detailing? It comes across that way anyway. You say detailing isn't everything and gameplay should be the main priority and in some instances its true, but even then it wasn't all too brilliant unfortunately. It's more or less 'place x number of high tier enemies here', it's not quite slaughter map, but not all too coordinated either, it's a little bit messy. Plus it's so dark that fighting in certain areas is borderline frustrating than fun. Also Map one's cramped corridors can go to hell.

Screenshots wouldn't be all to beneficial anyway considering that the maps are so dark you'll make out very little.

All in all (and this is just my opinion, so take it as you please), it really wasn't for me. I just found it very uninteresting and resembles too much like a 1994 PWAD.

It's high end plutonia style if that changes anyone's mind.

Strongly disagree with this, sorry.

Okay, thank you for playing. Sorry this one wasn't for you.

You don't have to apologize for not liking my maps, they're usually hit or miss for people. As for the darkness of the maps, it's in the title, you should have guessed :P

I expected low lighting, but the sight handicap does wear thin fairly quickly when its distributed over the entire map. If i could be constructive, you could variate the lighting. Granted you want it dark, but spot lighting effects in dark areas (like glowing or synchronized blinking) can make a hell of a difference. It could even create better suspense.

Enemy management can improve and i feel should be a gradual process from player start. It creates better pacing. A mixture of strong enemies right from the start is something i personally find off putting and more of a nuisance unless you intended this to be slaughter mapish.

Map detailing can't hurt. Appearance isn't everything but it's a contributing factor and it still matters. A boxy room with well placed enemies and items is still an unappealing boxy room at the end of the day.

If you're not after criticism then by all means disregard this.

Maybe I'll work on this 3 map set more, but I gotta put it down for a little while. Which rooms in particular would you have liked to see more variation in? Also, for boxy rooms, most of the time I either make rooms boxy or rounded and there isn't much in between for me, what should I do to get away from this habit?

It's hard to pick specifically, but the majority could use some work. My approach to mapping is to make sure several rooms aren't completely symmetrical. Symmetry is best when you want to make a room easily memorable (eg: E3M5 center room), but for better variation, the best way to do this is when making a room, draw the corners in a multitude of angles and add additional sectors into the walls to differentiate from the surrounding ones. When this is done, improvise. This is when you can test your creative abilities. Don't be afraid to experiment with floor and ceiling heights/depths as well, this can make a whole world of difference to an otherwise flat room.

Whenever you find yourself making a square room, just remind yourself that you can do all sorts of crazy shit to the walls, corners, and even within the room itself. Never be afraid to think outside the box.

Don't confuse subtle detail with hyper detail as well. The latter winds up looking like a cluster fuck whilst the former is easy on the eyes and nice to look at.

I clicked on this expecting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpdgEv9us5A but sadly this was not the case.