Occult Library (updated)

Edit: I've made a new version that fixes the things that the people in this thread found. If nothing's terribly broken I'll submit this IDGames soon.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/qm183b9aobp40od/vile_lib2.zip

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After not mapping for several years I've suddenly developed the urge to get back into it. I had a bad habit of going overboard with the complexity of my levels before, so I kept this map fairly small and gave myself only a month to finish it.

I wanted to post the wad here to get some feedback before I send it to /newstuff. A limit removing port is all that's required. The map itself is non-linear but should be fairly easy to navigate, and it should provide a decent challenge.

How do you guys pick out music for your wads? I'm having a hard time thinking of a song that fits the atmosphere.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/ineav3kbbchb86m/vile_lib.zip

Great looking map. Did find this small texture error in the starting hallway by walking up the yellow skull thing on the left.

http://i.imgur.com/LGXqcJh.png?1

There's a small bit of sequence breaking that can be done by strafe running off of the yellow key elevator, but that might be intentional. I'll post more thoughts when I actually reach the exit, but my initial thoughts are very positive indeed. Although I would say the map is relatively complex, at least compared to some of the other maps I've been playing recently.

Not a bad level at all. The AVs all suddenly appearing was a good scare. Supplies are kind of low a lot of the time, especially if you don't know where to look, but I got through it in the end.

FDA: http://www.doomworld.com/vb/attachment.php?postid=1236808

I goof around a bit after hitting the blue key switches and get stuck, which is bad. Also a small HOM/texture bug. One death at the start, very little health for all those hitscanners early on.

Red key fight was good but the Spiderdemon got stuck somehow, made it quite easy. Not sure why, I went back to try a 2nd time and everything went fine.

The visuals are sort of weird, I can tell there's a lot of work put into them but there's unaligned textures everywhere and some bits look kind of crude, for lack of a better word. Since you haven't mapped for a while, what editor are you using? It's not bad overall, just oddly rough in places.

Don't know what to suggest for music, D_E1M7 from Doom might work. I think most people get their music from other games, either from games that use MIDI directly or from the stuff at http://www.vgmusic.com/ - a lot of crap there, get ready to invest some time looking for a properly arranged file.

Just finished it. Very good, especially the Arch-Viles, a nice constant threat. The map is non-linear but nothing really complex, as you said. Besides what plums and paymentplan said, I just have a couple of questions:

-It's kinda weird to see a map of this size/style with no secrets, any reason why you didn't put a couple of them? It would certainly make it more interesting (and ammo is tight, so it could help players with not-so-good skills if you put some extra ammo or health in them).

And another thing:

Overall, very nice. Just fix those minor things and I think it's ready for idgames.

There's a small bit of sequence breaking that can be done by strafe running off of the yellow key elevator

Were you able to actually land on the platforms? I tried to prevent that from being possible. (edit, yes it is possible. I'll fix that in the release, but you're not supposed to be able to get to the platforms by jumping off the elevator)

The visuals are sort of weird, I can tell there's a lot of work put into them but there's unaligned textures everywhere and some bits look kind of crude, for lack of a better word. Since you haven't mapped for a while, what editor are you using? It's not bad overall, just oddly rough in places.

Yeah I keep on finding more unalignments, I'll get those all lined up before this hits /newstuff. I'm using DoomBuilder, has the community moved on to a better editor?

-It's kinda weird to see a map of this size/style with no secrets, any reason why you didn't put a couple of them? It would certainly make it more interesting (and ammo is tight, so it could help players with not-so-good skills if you put some extra ammo or health in them).

It only just dawned on me that my map has no secrets. I'll add a few in. Not to mention a little extra health at the start. And for your spoiler question: because why not?

Vile1011 said:

Yeah I keep on finding more unalignments, I'll get those all lined up before this hits /newstuff. I'm using DoomBuilder, has the community moved on to a better editor?

Well, DoomBuilder 2, mostly. Don't know if that's what you meant. I only ask because it's pretty good at quickly or automatically aligning things, for the most part.

plums said:

Well, DoomBuilder 2, mostly. Don't know if that's what you meant. I only ask because it's pretty good at quickly or automatically aligning things, for the most part.

Yeah, that's it. It's just a matter of finding all these misalignments.

Btw in honor of getting stuck by getting onto a ledge looking for secrets, I will put a secret there. And also make it so you can't get stuck.

FDA in prboom -complevel 9. I found it a nice idea and had its moments, but it's got a lot of work to do, mostly in making sure border detail doesn't get in the way; for example the left yellow key path from start with the hallways leading to a stairway has a small 16 high border detail that causes some stair ice, if that line was impassable it'd make fighting in that room much better. Same with the 16 high decorative ledges in the manc alcoves. I know that clashes with the 'surprise' in the megasphere room, but it brings down the quality of the map not to have it. At least make them 25 high so you don't run up them. Another point is the railing in the room with the red wraparound stair, that whole overlook just snags the hell out of me in boom, the posts should be rounded and take less space.

The overall idea of the archviles covering the center room is interesting, but the two at the top of the lift reeeeeeally suck to deal with, like my fda shows. I think I took at least 5 minutes to deal with just the two of them. Those should be revenants, or just taken out. Or have a crusher switch somewhere (secret?). The other archviles make it challenging to move around sometimes, but pose little threat when there's nothing alive. Maybe release one or two every few minutes, though you'd have to make the map with scripting of some form.

The spidermastermind is stuck, I'd suggest widening her(?) area a little, it made for a really boring minute of rocketing/ssg. For music, I just idmused randomly to 20, and it sorta fit. If you don't find anything else that'd be a pretty good choice.

Found this little HOM over there.

ArmouredBlood said:

FDA in prboom -complevel 9. I found it a nice idea and had its moments, but it's got a lot of work to do

Good advice, the snagging borders will definitely be fixed, among other things.

I think I fixed most of these problems. Thanks everyone for playtesting!

http://www.mediafire.com/download/qm183b9aobp40od/vile_lib2.zip