Jump to content
Search In
  • More options...
Find results that contain...
Find results in...
fiend-o-hell

PANOPHOBIA - Community Project (Let's get this going again shall we! )

Recommended Posts

Better screenies:








Still heavily work in progress with bare areas and a HOM visible, but coming along better than Spiderland ;)

Share this post


Link to post

Just a personal opinion Major, but if you're doing a "fear of the past" map, I think it's best to stick as closely to the similar shape and structures of Doom 1 & 2 as possible. For instance, in your fourth screenshot you have a wire connecting the two tech thingies, but that's something you'd never see in the original dooms so it identifies with the player as strange. Also in that screenshot you have a circular ceiling cut above, and circles (or anything more complicated than an octagon) were considerably rare in the original IWADs.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't be creative, but when it comes to big "homage" rooms, I think the beauty lies in the mimicry, not in various alterations.

Share this post


Link to post

Hi, thanks for the feedback. My thought process was like this:

If I make the areas as close to the originals as possible, I'd get criticised by reviewers for copying the originals or accused of copy-pasting, which I have NOT done - each area was painstakingly built from scratch using inspiration, and in some cases sidedef and sector size measurements, from Romero et al's maps.

Alternatively, people might skip the map as they've played the originals a million times.

It's also very difficult to weave all of the elements from these maps into one cohesive whole; if you thought The House That Fear Built was fractured, this would be a nightmare. You can do an E1 tribute map no problem. Things get difficult when you're encompassing Doom 2 and Alien Vendetta. Why would some areas be so detailed and some so bland? Why would the style of gameplay change from area to area? Also, all of the other mappers have way more skill and experience than me, and I didn't want to be the only one churning out those 1994-style maps that I sometimes criticise.

I also struck on a rather powerful idea. What if the player explores these areas, wondering why there are so many differences from the original, but as they're preparing to criticise this, they realise the originals have not stayed static for 20 years - they've changed, they've been upgraded, they've moved on. It's the player who hasn't moved on from those days!

This is probably too subtle for most people, so would need referring to in the text file... but when you think about it, people don't just fear their past because something bad happened in it. Maybe they fear it because they know that everyone and everything from it has grown up and moved on, but they themselves are still hanging on to old feelings that should have long since been resolved.

That, to me, is a lot scarier than simply looking back on something that happened decades ago.

Share this post


Link to post

Providing an update: my progress has halted for now for presumably reaching the segs limit (or my map is too big). Trying to find workarounds, because I foolishly still haven't built most of the last area :/

There's a lesson to learn somewhere from this. I'll try and get it done within the next few weeks, but its going to be harder knowing I have to delete linedefs just to make more linedefs.

Share this post


Link to post

Almost finished; need playtesting on the IoS battle. Here is the final section of my map: [link removed]

There's not going to be any major additions other than more decoration/detail on the roof of the temple. Let me know how you guys deal with it, whether it's too extreme or is a fitting explosive end. There's a lot of cybies, I know, but I really like the hectic nature they provide to the large arena.

Share this post


Link to post

I'm not getting that comment when I try to download my own map, so I dunno what to tell you. It's a sorely outdated version of the map anyway, I should be providing the updated & near final version soon enough. I worked out the final battle enough so that it's plenty doable (if not somewhat exhausting) and I've just been playtesting the whole thing repeatedly to make sure it all works out.

Share this post


Link to post

I'll try it again tomorrow. I'm not a fan of Icon of Sin maps so I will only be able to give you an idea of how it looks; maps with ever-increasing monsters stress me out too much :)

Share this post


Link to post

I'll get around to playing your map tomorrow dobugabumaru. From the pics you posted and what you describe on your post, it really looks awesome! Can't wait to play.

Share this post


Link to post

Don't play the version I posted a while back, it's quite outdated and toned down. I play through it once every few days and find more corrections. I'll be posting the near complete version soon: that's the one you should play.

Share this post


Link to post

Update on my progress: I am hoping to post complete and final versions of Welcome to Hell (panophobia) and Temple of Forgotten Gods (aquaphobia) by the end of this week.

Welcome To Hell: I am planning on visual tweaks as gameplay is pretty solid. The map's scale and complexity may prevent me from making visual changes. I believe this to be a strong entry for map 01 and I have tried to sum the project up within it. Also the music is frigging awesome :D

Temple of Forgotten Gods: I haven't incorporated all of Dobugabumaru's suggestions due to concentrating on my writing and real life for the last couple of months. I could probably get all the suggested changes in within a single day. I haven't played it through from start to finish yet and I have concerns about how the final area secretly links to the start.

Acid Reign (fear of the past): Overall I am very pleased with how this map is going. I'm trying to cut down on its size so I can get it finished. Some of the tributes are more subtle, such as the Hell Knight battle which is supposed to remind players of Twilight Descends and will therefore not be recognisable to everyone. The joy of discovering Acid Reign's little nods can be fully experienced by someone who has played a lot of Doom.

Nightmare in Spiderland (arachnophobia): This map has become a metaphorical albatross for me. I kind of panic whenever I think about trying to sort it out. I may just build a small island with intense and focused fighting, as opposed to the sprawling exploration map. The original also looked too similar to Welcome To Hell (half of which was actually ripped from Spiderland) and I thought people would tire of the relentless brown theme.

Gillian's Island (fear of love): I've customised the Crazy For You midi to make it faster. It sounds awesome. This map came from a strange idea I had when I was head over heels for a girl back in 1998, which tells me something about how weird I was back then. The original intention was to make a deathmatch map. I'll need a starry night sky texture, preferably the one from PSX Final Doom. This will effectively be a Cyberdemon battle.

Share this post


Link to post

Just an idea : macrophobia - the fear of waiting
map16 - romero is waiting

this will be about long elevators which spawns monsters on the way

another example is : HR2 map31

Share this post


Link to post
joe-ilya said:

Just an idea


Unless someone drops out, all map slots are filled and accounted for.

Played your alpha Major. Really liked what I saw, I think it might be your most visually impressive level. Gameplay is pretty nice too, although there are minor grievances as always on my part (SSG is easy to miss since it's so close to the green walls, Berserk in red courtyard is easy to miss letting the player waste ammo on the pinkies, textures need alignment in the blue key stairway, enemies that pop out of the floor in that one room leaves the floor bumpy with HOMs, baron trap has HOMS on the walls, and too many HKs flood the elevator when picking up the red key, leading to a pretty boring sniping battle), but you have a pretty good sense of pacing and direction in this level; I'd say it's even better than your other two efforts (mainly because the bigger the map->more issues it'll have). Really enjoyed all the zombie fodder that teleports back into the E1M1 room, and having to be mindful of the windows while shooting down the HKs in the RL hallway. Arachnatrons are especially devious there.

I'm running through the Sigil once every two days and continuously tweaking every time I have a gripe. I could post it now but I'd rather wait until I feel content with it before it undergoes scrutiny. In the meantime, I still haven't gotten any feedback on my last map and it'd be helpful to receive some so I can add in difficulties and call it a night.

An here's a screenshot just for the hell of it.

Share this post


Link to post

Aren't half the map slots currently empty? At least in the OP.

Wow, thank you mate, that feedback has made my day. I just "knew" as I was making it that Acid Reign had some kind of quality, although I hope it's not just because I borrowed ideas from good maps. I like to think the way it's put together is fun and engaging, which was always the underlying theme.

It does make my older maps look more basic. As you said, those are much bigger with a lot of open space, so perhaps they were a bit much for me to start with.

I'll move some items around. I don't know how to fix the Imp HOMs and wonder if this is simply a feature of maps which have pop-up attacks as it only occurs if you are lower than the trapped sector after the trap is sprung. Mine is the only map I've played which puts the player in this situation. I might need to make this a beam-in ambush instead, which takes some of the Speed of Doom vibe out of it.

Your screenshot looks really good. I'm checking your other map now - rather than double post I may edit this one so keep your eyes peeled :)

Share this post


Link to post
dobugabumaru said:

Sanguinary Chamber is now finished, with 100% more needless details.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?14so2eq9kc2u4oc


holy detailing batman! here's an fda. There is an over-abundance of health, but I wouldn't tone it down too much unless your target audience is slaughter fans :p. The only things I would change:

- teleporters outside should be block-monster tagged imo
- baron at end... eh.

Share this post


Link to post

I'm still alive! I just finished mid terms today, so I'll be getting back on mapping.

Share this post


Link to post
MajorRawne said:

I don't know how to fix the Imp HOMs and wonder...


Personally, I'd say just mark them deaf and take out the raising floor, as the popout there is somewhat unnecessary IMO. I guess it's okay if you're trying to emulate SoD, but I don't know how to properly do a popout so I can't help ya.

Ribbiks fda


Impressive play as always, fun to watch you squash a level I still struggle with. I intentionally made the monsters able to use the tele because it's very easy to camp in one of the rooms with a beam and let the mancs infight with everyone, and it spices up gameplay by bringing baddies into almost every room once the end-fight is triggered. Also, barons are necessary IMO, because while they are super boring once the whole fight is over, it was way, way too easy to just run around the mancs, flip one of the switches you need to exit, and speed past to the end, especially since you could skip the AVs entirely by doing that. Perhaps I could switch them to HKs to tone down the monotony.

Share this post


Link to post

ahh ok, those choices make sense then.

on a side note the music has a large chunk of silence at the end, removing that would make it loop nicer.

Share this post


Link to post

Welp. It's about as done as it's going to be without feedback. No other difficulties added yet.

Download Sigil v1.0

MajorRawne said:

Aren't half the map slots currently empty? At least in the OP.


Forgot to address this. Presumably, every other map slot will be filled with a "Running Scared" segment, where the player merely runs from one arena to the next. Fiend was initially working on it, but I don't know how they're coming along now.

Share this post


Link to post

Alright so your project leader is back from a brief hiatus. Sorry for the inactivity for last half year or so. All's I can promise at this point is that I'll put effort into it everyday from now on so we put this project back track and well on its way to completion.

One thing I don't want to do is get so hung up on a release date just yet. I want to make absolutely sure that these maps are exceptional beyond a shadow of a doubt. A release date putting on the pressure will only serve to make us loose sight of that. Ideally though, I would like us to be finished sometime this year.

Any who, there is still plenty of work to be done, maps to be tested and made. I realize I've been gone for quite sometime, but hopefully all the original authors are still around to put in some more work on their maps.

I'm just giving everybody a heads up at this point as I try to pickup where we left off and get the gears working their magic again. I'll have an itinerary out tomorrow as well as my status update on each map.

Share this post


Link to post

Okay so i'm just gonna touch ground here quickly on the maps we have out so far as of our second compilation release (alpha 2):

MAP02 Welcome to Fear - needs work
MAP04 Spellbound - needs play testing
MAP06 Spider Island - needs work
MAP08 Water God - needs work
MAP10 House that Fear Built - needs work
MAP12 Pain Consumes - needs play testing
MAP14 Blood Urge - needs serious work
MAP16 Sanguinary Chamber - needs play testing
MAP18 Meat Train - needs serious work
MAP20 Misfortune’s Playground - needs play testing
MAP22 Whispers in the Dark - needs finishing touches
MAP24 Ruin Me - needs play testing
MAP26 At the Mercy of Sin - needs serious work
MAP28 Vertigo Limit - needs to be finalized
MAP30 The Sigil - needs play testing
MAP31 Cacophobia - needs work

At this stage non of the maps are done by any means as some still need quite more work and I still need to play through them entirely.

Additionally, there are still a lot of running scared levels left to make. If anybody wants to claim a spot, go right ahead.

pt1 (into Welcome to Fear) - FoH
pt2 (into Spellbound) - FoH
pt3 (into SpiderIsland) - FoH
pt4 (into Watergod)
pt5 (into House that Fear Built)
pt6 (into Pain Consumes)
pt7 (into Blood Urge)
pt8 (into Sanguinary Chamber)
pt9 (into Misfortunes Playground)
pt10 (into Whispers in the Dark)
pt11 (into Ruin Me)
pt12 (into At the Mercy of Sin)
pt13 (into Vertigo Limit)
pt14 (into The Sigil)
pt15 (secret)

The criteria for making a running scared map is at follows:
1)The level should not take longer then 5 minutes to beat
3)Outside area must be pitch black (brightness set to 25)
4)Instead of a sky use (flat MFLR8_4)
5)Use ROCKRED1 texture as your primary texture
6)The level should end with the next level's phobia written out for the player to see

@Dobug: I did play the revised Sigil map a while back but I've lost the demos I made of it. Out of all the levels, this one seems the most refined. I'll be playing this one and Senguinary for the next couple of days. I'll post up some comments as I go along.

I'll be working on MAP14 and play testing every bodies for the next couple of weeks or so.

Share this post


Link to post

I'm guessing MAP32 will be MAP15, but with the secret area blocked off so that you don't get stuck in an endless loop? (Not that most players would but still... maybe even have a different monster setup?)

EDIT: I just noticed your list of Running Scared maps forgot Meat Train. You may want to fix that.

Share this post


Link to post

^ Or it could be a new one, whatever the author who claims it intends.

Also fiend, I know you don't see eye to eye with Major's design a lot of the time, but last I recall he's basically done with Welcome to Fear and Temple of the Water God, so unless he's willing to revamp some of the areas, my concern is that most of the "work" needed on these maps are going to be revisions you have to do yourself (and there's already a lot of work you've devoted yourself to). While I'm not opposed to gameplay tweaks/additions, I do think those two maps are reasonably okay as is, especially the latter.

Otherwise, when I'm finished with my maps for MAYhem and NOVA I can sign up for a couple running scared slots as soon as I get good ideas.

Share this post


Link to post

After several attempts at playing through The Sigil and continually loosing my demos, I was finally able to beat it. Here is my play through.


Overall I was impressed. Many areas were streamlined while others received a boost in the details department which is always nice. Difficulty wise it is excruciating, which suits this project just fine. The final boss battle in particular and the moments leading right up to it are astonishing. Props on making a fine level dobug.

@Death Egg: oh! Thanks for letting me know. I'll revise the list!

@Dobug: Hmm I'll give Major's maps another try to see what I think about them. Its been a while since I've played them truth be told X D.

Share this post


Link to post
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×