NOVA: The Birth - v1.1 release now on idGames!

Springy said:

One minor nitpick with the ceilings, you're using lights for the ceiling coupled with other lower lights (referring to screenshots 1 and 3). I'd say maybe a bit more ceiling variation (personally) but this is looking grand for a first map Daiyu. Certainly better than what I can do and I've been mapping for a fair few years.

I already find the problem in Doombuilder, this is due to grids. However I am too lazy to redraw it again, so I will be careful for my next map(It will be a sewerage + Techbase + Hell map).

I made a remake of one of my earlier midis. It was originally intended for MajorRawne's level, but he hasn't posted here in a while. While making it, I imagined a wrecked city level with a slow start, but with later segments where the player feels overwhelmed and that his task is hopeless.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/39292814/hush2.mid

Any suggestions or comments?

Paul D said:

I made a remake of one of my earlier midis. It was originally intended for MajorRawne's level, but he hasn't posted here in a while. While making it, I imagined a wrecked city level with a slow start, but with later segments where the player feels overwhelmed and that his task is hopeless.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/39292814/hush2.mid

Any suggestions or comments?

Thats cool, really gives that hopelss feeling. What software did you use to make it?

Is this project still ongoing?? I'll make a map or two for this if it still is.

Flesh420 said:

Is this project still ongoing?? I'll make a map or two for this if it still is.

Yup, contributions currently welcome.

Nice midi Paul, I like the reverb on the cymbal hits. Very downtrodden; could work well on a moody hell oriented level.

If you're still around kildeth, when should we expect the next version of the alpha?

mouldy said:

Thats cool, really gives that hopelss feeling. What software did you use to make it?

Anvil Studio and FLstudio for slight touch up

Just started another map, mostly because of the lack of hellish stuff in this project. Also, it will be my first hell map, so it'll be interesting to see what comes off it.

Hi Paul, I replied to your PM. I'm re-making the map I originally intended for this project because it exceeded my abilities as a mapper (bloody city views! A thousand poxes upon them) and there were enemies you weren't supposed to fight, which did not seem to be a popular idea.

I'm working on this map now.

EDIT: Playtesting the downloadable alpha now. Some thoughts, being as critical (hopefully constructively) as possible:

Map 1: I ran out of ammo and had 12% health left at the end. Careful players will do better but the balance feels a bit tight. Liked the canyon at the end.

Map 2: Liked the music. This is a good-looking map. Found myself running around wondering where to go and you're in a world of hurt when your radsuit runs out, particularly in the tall chamber with the SUPPORT3 walls and the lifts where nuke damage seems inevitable. I just bypassed the ambush in the exit area and players will only know the bigger monster exists if they are slow and methodical. Ammo balance much better here even though I played straight through from map 1 and started in terrible condition.

Map 3: Big step-up in difficulty. Liked the consistent use of wall niches and how not all of them give you bonuses. The large battle at the top of the stairs just throws powerful monsters at you with no cover unless you keep falling back down the stairs, and you have to battle them with a single shotgun and some barrels.

Maps 1 and 3 had a lot of bare brown walls.

Map 4: I found the difficulty rather unfair here with a couple of chaingunner ambushes which most people will have to respond to with the shotgun. This is a big disadvantage when there is no cover. Monsters tend to be deployed in big blocks, which seems to be a modern thing coming in from all these new slaughtermaps. The music for this map is really good and it's the best-looking one so far with good use of shadows.

All the maps so far feel like Ultimate Doom maps designed for Doom 2, so they're short and fast-paced. Map 4 is a lot more difficult than any UDoom map I can think of.

Map 5: The music for this map is excellent. Not only does it lend a frantic feel, it's one of those rare tracks you can pause the game and listen to. As for the gameplay, the PE fight in the water tunnel is a huge ammo sink and I didn't have anything like enough ammo for the final battle, especially when the AV turned up, and I only just made it past the AV and an annoying Revenant to hit the exit switch before death.

dobugabumaru said:If you're still around kildeth, when should we expect the next version of the alpha? [/B]

I'm waiting on EvilNed to give me an ordered list of all the maps we have, but there's no rush. I won't even be working on my level until I get uni break next week and things seem to be moving along fine right now.

As it stands now, this is my suggestions;

MAP01 Outpost by PRIMEVAL
MAP02 Untitled/Admin.wad by Jaws in Space (Admin.wad)
MAP03 WTP.wad by mrthejoshmon (WTP.wad)
MAP04 Factory Factor by EvilNed (Map01 in EvilNedv5.wad)
Map05 Hazard Facility by kildeth
Map06 Sewage Processing by Arjak (sewage.wad)
Map07 Service Station Sick by EvilNed (Map02 in EvilNedv5.wad)
Map08 Suspend by Fuzzyfireball
Map09 Hell's Furnace by EvilNed (Map03 in EvilNedv5.wad)
Map10 Phobus Anamoly by Phobus
Map11 Roundtable by EVilNed (Map05 in EvilNedv5.wad)
Map12 Teleportarium by Paul D (telep3.wad)
Map13 Warehouse District by sgt Dopey
Map14 Cistern / Ring of Gyges by Stygian (cistern3.wad)
Map15 The Prisoner by cannonball
Map16 Man Cub Up by EvilNed (Map04 in EvilNedv5.wad)
Map17 Power Core by cannonball (Power Core.wad)
Map18 Bad Blood by Mouldy (badblood2.wad)
Map19 Sewer City by EvilNed (Map06 in EvilNedv5.wad)
Map20 Extorta Nova by fiend-o-hell

here's a .rar file with all the maps:
http://www.filmklubben.eu/wads/NOVA_Alpha.rar

I will need to ramp up the difficult if my map(s) are to fit into higher slots. Not really a problem, I'll just finish them as they are and then add in some super-tough monsters and a few new traps :P

My maps are:

1. HUSH - Making a sound gets you into real trouble, particularly on higher difficulties. You can run away from most threats.

2. ATHEISTS NIL - A base map whose configuration changes as you return to certain areas.

@MajorRawne

tougher maps are right now very welcomed. I'd say map 1-10 could easily be map 1-5 in many other megawads.

i'm working on a new hell map for this, based from PRIMEVAL's scrap map, it should be reasonably tricky.

ps, my maps are not final yet.

I've yet to add difficulties and coop support in some of them.

ok, so I made another quick map for this one:
inc.wad... I think I was going for incubator, not sure.
its a tek level based on what I would guess happening after my first map.

I got to admit, the last parts pretty lazy.

it has difficulty settings of:

easy (I'm too young to die/not too rough): a map based around my playstyle.

medium (hurt me plenty): a map designed to challenge me on how I play and actually made me switch my style a bit

hard (UV/ nightmare): a pretty challenging map (for me) that contains a lot of monsters

its in the map02 slot, but I could easily change it

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?fa9zafn6zd6ruaf
tell me what needs improving and I will get on it

For simplicity's sake, I've compiled EvilNed's list, added a dehacked, and threw in CWILV00 just to test out how it looks. Download Nova v4.1

MAPLIST
MAP01 Outpost by PRIMEVAL
MAP02 Admin by Jaws in Space -no midi-
MAP03 WTP by mrthejoshmon -no midi-
MAP04 Factory Factor by EvilNed -no midi-
Map05 Hazard Facility by kildeth
Map06 Sewage Processing by Arjak
Map07 Service Station Sick by EvilNed -no midi-
Map08 Suspend by Fuzzyfireball
Map09 Hell's Furnace by EvilNed -no midi-
Map10 Phobus Anamoly by Phobus
Map11 Roundtable by EvilNed -no midi-
Map12 Teleportarium by Paul D
Map13 Warehouse District by sgt Dopey
Map14 Ring of Gyges by Stygian
Map15 The Prisoner by cannonball
Map16 Man Cub Up by EvilNed -no midi-
Map17 Power Core by cannonball
Map18 Bad Blood by mouldy -no midi-
Map19 Sewer City by EvilNed -no midi-
Map20 Extorta Nova by fiend-o-hell

Also, here's our progress on the map front, only taking in recent contributors that are aiming for the first NOVA release.

===Alpha/Pending Maps===
Bad Blood by Death Egg (Download)
Immaterium by Paul D (Download)
(If Daiyu still wants to contribute) Mansion of Pinkies by Daiyu_Xiaoxiang (Download)
Incubator by mrthejoshmon (Download)

===Promised Maps===
Hush and Atheist's Nil by MajorRawne
Immmundum, Leaden Delve, and MAP31 by dobugabumaru
Untitled by yakfak
Untitled by moudly/PRIMEVAL
Untitled by EvilNed
Possible map by Flesh420

===Unused/Unclaimed midis===
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/39292814/brace2.mid
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/39292814/sangy2.mid
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/39292814/ingame4.mid
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/39292814/lands76.mid
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/39292814/qf4crlab.mid
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/39292814/hush2.mid (possibly still going to Major's map?)

Brings us to a whopping 32 maps (if Flesh joins, 33). Gentlemen, I think we might be release a full megawad soon.

EDIT: Thematically speaking, I think we have an overdose of E1/E2 maps, as Mansion of Pinkies, Incubator, Immundum and Hush (I think) are also non-hell levels. I wanted Immaterium to be the intro to hell (MAP21) but it's going to be weird afterwards to go back into a tech/city level. I know it doesn't really bother some people, but I like arranging map orders so this is a pickle for me. And we still need a telefrag-free MAP30.

Also, I have a sneaking suspicion that once we get to the hell maps, the difficulty is going to exponentially spike :P

Hey, guys.

I've started back to work on Castle Bloodletting, and I aim to finish it soon. I've already done some work today to fix bugs and try to get what I have so far at least somewhat balanced, and I plan to start work on the second-to-last section soon.

I'd really appreciate it if you guys gave me some time to try to wrap it up, if that's possible. I know I've been slow with this map, and that's because it's my biggest work yet, and I get frustrated easily. I apologize for any issues this may cause, but I really want to get this map in the bag and hopefully into the project.

Thank you.

For Hush, I can keep certain non-Hell segments and make the rest of the map Hellish.

Apart from the Silent Hill wad, I don't think I've seen any Hell maps where the player returns to our dimension for brief periods. It always seems to be maps set in our dimension where there are brief crossovers into Hell. Doing things the opposite way round is original and allows me to keep what I've already got without painful re-texturing.

I'll need some time to experiment.

@Arjak,

don´t worry. I think the general consensus right now seems to be to give this one (or two) more months.

However I'd really prefer it if we got this out by summertime. Say, end of June? For several reasons, but one of them being that I want the maps here to actually get released and played, rather than just stored.

@dobugabumaru

Nice job! I'll listen to some of those midis, and remember we can use some midis more than once.

Also, we should decide which map is set as MAP15, as that one will have the secret exits. Right now it's the Prisoner by @cannonball, and I think it's a pretty fitting map for a map 15.

Lets just see what new maps get made. If someone wants to claim map15/31/32 then go ahead I feel. If my map remains in map15 by default then I shall have to engineer a "clever" method of creating a secret exit haha

heres a song that can play in a hell map or wherever you like
http://www.mediafire.com/?n676sbtqm4s1n06

Re: This midi -

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/39292814/qf4crlab.mid

Anyone mind if I claim this for Sewer City?

also

@nub_hat

Nice song! I'm working on a hell map right now and would love to use it.

well feel free to use it thats what it is for
heres another song more of a high tempo metal thing hope it's usable
http://www.mediafire.com/?945qymrc11jqy5p
don't want you guys reusing songs when you can have 35 brand new songs solely for the wad, I saw you were missing a few
still trying to make a level for this I think I am getting close to something decent

dobugabumaru said:

I wanted Immaterium to be the intro to hell (MAP21).

If that's the case, should I perhaps lengthen Teleportarium or increase its difficulty?

nub_hat said:

heres a song that can play in a hell map or wherever you like
http://www.mediafire.com/?n676sbtqm4s1n06

regarding this midi:

This tune is really cool and sets a very foreboding atmosphere, I really like it. I really like what you've done with the drums, it really livens up the tune.
I was mucking around with it, changing instruments and a note here or there just for fun, and I think it would work really well with a distortion guitar one octave lower to perhaps replace the harpsichord. The harpsichord just feels a little "weak" to me, not sure how to describe it exactly.

What do you think?

ohno must delte thias

Paul D said:

If that's the case, should I perhaps lengthen Teleportarium or increase its difficulty?

Depends. It might be neat to have Teleportarium be an earlier map, having the player warp to other maps after finishing it and eventually returning to the same sinister complex at Immaterium, leaving them to recognize the area they're retracing. We'll also have to see what the other maps are like before we decide order of course, although I personally am fond of the idea of my map Immundum, Bad Blood, and then Immaterium right in a row (19-21).

End of June is a good deadline too... we should be at 32 by then.

Who wants to take the secret maps?

Also, question, I'm a bit confused, but don't we have two maps named Bad Blood?

mrthejoshmon said:

ok, so I made another quick map for this one:
inc.wad... I think I was going for incubator, not sure.
its a tek level based on what I would guess happening after my first map.

I got to admit, the last parts pretty lazy.

it has difficulty settings of:

easy (I'm too young to die/not too rough): a map based around my playstyle.

medium (hurt me plenty): a map designed to challenge me on how I play and actually made me switch my style a bit

hard (UV/ nightmare): a pretty challenging map (for me) that contains a lot of monsters

its in the map02 slot, but I could easily change it

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?fa9zafn6zd6ruaf
tell me what needs improving and I will get on it

Ok, just played this. Have a bit to say...

First off, played on UV and had to give myself a total of 170 extra shotgun shells via the console throughout the map, because there's just way too many monsters and way too little ammo.

Second off, in the earlier parts of the map there are a lot of demons/spectres, and many of them are placed in a way that they can easily be avoided. After you teleport, there's like 20 demons waiting for you, but they can't reach you so you can just snipe them off with ease. The same thing happens later, with the spectres down in the area below the stairs, with the imps.

Third off, monsters. Way too many monsters just placed around randomly. This would be OK had the map lended it's design too it, but it doesn't really. It's just a series of relatively tight corridors and rooms interconnected with each other, and behind each door there's a big baddie. So progress is a slow matter, because no matter where you go, you have to fight off some mancubus, or barons or pain elementals. Most of them are relatively easy and (sorry to say) tedious fights because they are all in the same scope: In tight corridors.

The mancubus fight with the three mancubus on pillars was good. That's where they shine. Keep those. Remove all other mancubus in the maps. Also, try to keep it a bit thematic. In one room there's a revenant, hell knight and mancubus, just standing around "waiting" for you behind some corner. Make them all into revenants.

Also, in the room behind the red door, there's like 8 - 10 mancubus. Remove them all and replace with lesser monsters. Shotgun guys, chaingun dudes, imps and demons. These are monsters that work best in corridors.

The same goes for the legion of revenants and lost souls. Also, try adding a few traps in the corridors. Keep you on your toe. One revenant in a trap is worth ten behind a corner. Make them suddenly pop out of inconvenient places (for the player).

Fourth, in the Mancubus fight by the pillars, remove the partial invisibility spheres. They're not much good. Replace them with something else, like ammo.

Fifth, the weapon room... Remove it and make it into something else. Everything in this map is rather flat and cubic. Try making it slightly bigger, with the prize waiting in the middle (let's say it's a soul sphere or plasma rifle) and design a way for the player to fight to get to it. Doesn't have to be a huge room. But what if the sphere is on a pillar, and you have to press four switches for it to get within reach? All the while, also triggering monsters?

Lastly, the map looks very clean. You did a good job with texture variation and a nice cleanup. I can't think of much visual to point out. Maybe add some light variation where you feel it's a bit flat? Also, expand the first room beyond the starting room a little. It feels cramped.

EvilNed said:

(a lot of improvements to make)

I will get straight to it, I began to rush the map for the release date, let me just change it up a bit... maybe a lot

EvilNed said:

Also, question, I'm a bit confused, but don't we have two maps named Bad Blood?

I think death egg's map is actually called river of blood, and mine is bad blood.

By the way, I'd welcome any suggestions for the music track to go with my map.