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kristus

Hexen : Curse of the demon lord. (A sequel)

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A bit of an status update.

Map03 is now completable. Ading monsters and working on adjusting game play specific parts of the map.
And Khorus has made a secret level for the project. I'm thinking of asking different people to make different secret maps scattered around the episode.

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So, I figured it was time for me to make some sort of status update again. Although there's been progress since the last time I made a fuss about this project. It's really not been a whole lot. For the moment the project is pretty much resting. I lack the drive to work on it at the moment and I'm gonna direct my attention elsewhere while I take a break from it. I think I may have gone a bit overboard on this one. The maps are all pretty much on massive scales. But I've yet to abandon any personal project. So, it's most likely just a temporary thing. Likely I'll get back to it on a day of boredom with lots of new energy and ideas. But right now, I cant really be bothered.

EDIT: Corrected spelling and grammar induced from writing this post from a touch keyboard.

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Hey I know that feeling Kristus. A break will probably do you some good (it works for me). I'm definitely looking forward to some new progress once you jump back on it :)

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Yeah, it's something that happens. Usually I bounce back right after making some commitment to stay away like this. I really want to get the project going again and there's a lot of things I have planned that I want to get working on. But there's a lot of things to do before I can get to that point. And like I said. I just lack the drive right now.

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kristus said:

Yeah, it's something that happens. Usually I bounce back right after making some commitment to stay away like this. I really want to get the project going again and there's a lot of things I have planned that I want to get working on. But there's a lot of things to do before I can get to that point. And like I said. I just lack the drive right now.

I'd urge you not to give up. I don't have much of a clue about DooM mapping but I can appreciate the time and effort it takes to complete a whole project having spent a good hour or two on two basic rooms and a corridor joining them in DB, when I'd hoped to have almost a whole map down in that time. There's a real lack of (good) wads for Heretic and Hexen, the original games are already brilliant and the 1st Curse showed an idea of how far Heretic could be pushed in terms of ambitious map design and detail, and for the Hexen equivalent to languish unfinished would be a real shame imo.

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Well, I've decided to start polishing and tweaking what is already there at least. It doesn't requite inspiration or much effort so I find it that I can do that decently. One thing I am working on is making skill levels and tweaking the game play of the first two maps. To help with that. I am looking for someone who is new to Hexen game play or just not very confident in his play to help me test the low difficulty level. If someone of a more medium skill would want to test on that skill level, that would be nice as well.

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Hey Ebola. I can test it. I've barely touched Heretic/ Hexen, and I can barely tell them apart (I know Hexen is the sequel). I'd be happy to test it, however.

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Thanks. Though anyone that tests must be willing to write a (detailed) report on what they experiences were. Or be available to talk about it via chat like IRC or similar.

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Curious. I was gonna send out that beta and then I completely got other things on my mind and I didn't think of it again. While there's been some progress since last, there hasn't been a lot. I'm struggling with some of the maps that I don't find as stimulating to work on. And another that I find complicated to round up.

But progress IS being made. Only at an extremely slow pace.

http://www.doglike.org/temp/Screenshot_Hexen_20121213_013317.png
http://www.doglike.org/temp/Screenshot_Hexen_20121212_220247.png
http://www.doglike.org/temp/Screenshot_Hexen_20121213_012741.png

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Really nice stuff. I really like the rooftop architecture on the right in shot 1.

The fog-void area with the arches has some colormap banding visible on the solid-color arch innards. I might be wrong (I've never messed much with fog) but I think it might be avoidable by setting the solid color inside the arches to the same color that the fog is fading to, like how you would use black in a map with standard black fog.

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Essel: I've tried some shades, not for the arches but for the background. But it doesn't really work all that well. Technically, it does work. You get rid of the banding. And that is something that would be very nice to get rid of for the sake of the 3d effect's credibility. But estetically, the scene loses a bit of it's weight/impact as the "blackness" is lost from it.

Anyway, I've actually had a bit of progress here. The third map is now complete enough to play through from start to finish. There's three areas that still got a few things I need to take care of to tie some lose ends up. But those are outside of the necessary path. And it's possible I'll just tie them up and be done with it. This map has become something I feel is out of the ordinary of what I usualy do, though at the same time it reminds me of previous maps like Map07 of Nimrod and Map04 of Curse of D'sparil. Also it's technically spanning three seperate maps. It's not massive or anything, just that some of the designs in it has proven to be pretty expensive as far as sidedefs are concerned.

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Curse of D'sparil was awesome, I have high hopes for this one (even if there is a long wait). You never disappoint Kristus.

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Well, if you want to admire the scenery when it's released, there's always -nomonsters.

Anyways, this is looking really good as always, kristus. It's nice to see that talented mappers have been looking at Heretic and Hexen in the past couple of years with a tad more frequency than the the past, and I think Curse had a decent role in that.

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Map03 is pretty much done as of today. Needs to have skill levels added though and testing it until the cows come home. But I had Khorus play through a previous version during christmas and he gave it a thumbs up so far. Been working on Map04 and 06 these last couple of days as well. So progress is being made. People looking for a release still got to calm down though as it's quite a far bit away.

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A bit of a status update. Sent out a version for testing to Gemini, (still waiting for a response to my PM from Marnetmar) and I've also been in touch with a couple of friends about making cameo secret levels.

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Working on a map where you're basically running the gauntlet. You got a long way and a shitload of monsters to mow down. It has proven difficult to balance it though. With the Cleric, it's pretty easy, with the wraithverge you lay them down like ikt was nobodys business. The Mage isn't too phased by this either. Though not quite as proficient as the bloodscourge actually requires some positioning compared to the cleric's "aim wherever and watch everything die" weapon.

Biggest problem, or how you like to put it though is the tank, the fighter. Who basically gets stonewalled by the massive onslaught of neverending enemies. While the mage and cleric can penetrate the forces with their weapons, the fighter merely itch the nose of them with it's more melee like Queitus.Also the flechettes are in the favor of the cleric and mage. They can lay them down and have the enemies swarm them, while the fighter's is a lot more situational and while often useful in sticky situations. They become very difficult to use in situations such as swarms.

Now it'd be easy to just balance it based on class and call it a day. Problem is that this shines a light on the differences between the classes. And it really makes a point of how important it is to make sure that the coop experience is tested properly.

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I don't know the layout of the map, but it might be interesting to set it up so that the fighter's greater speed and jumping ability, combined with greater health, allow him to actually *run* the gauntlet, i.e. outmaneuver the enemy instead of outgunning them like the mage and cleric do. For instance, if the level traverses the edge of a chasm, have a bunch of ledges that can only be reached by the fighter's jump that make useful stepping stones in avoiding the swarms. You could even put some artifacts out there that would be helpful for him if he ends up plunged back into the midst of the enemies. As long as the enemies aren't primarily melee, this could still present the player with a good level of challenge.

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No, that's not what this area is for. Running and dodging is something you get to do all the time And the fighter already get to njoy his agility in the previous maps. Map03 in particular where he can use his skill to find a different path for instance. This area is built around a bottle neck and the player's mission is to overcome it. The players in hexen are the most poweful players of all the doom engine games. (except for possibly the Strife guy) And this area is the first in a buildup through the last part where you will be facing seemingly impossible odds. It'll require you to understand the game though, rather than how to dodge.

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Just posting to point out that I am going on TangoTV this weekend and get to discuss my favorit topic, ME. If anyone got any questions that they want to bring up for discussion you can submit that to st.Alponzo.

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This looks really awesome. I was always fascinated by Hexen, but never really got around to playing it a lot. I used to have it for Playstation when it first came out on that console in 1997, but I never got past the second level.

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