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Hi,

I have done a mapset of four maps. My inclusion was to make a wad in the style of bauhaus-art.

I would like to have some impressions from you about the difficulty - is it too hard or too simple...

pictures (I hope it works):





the wad
http://www.file-upload.net/download-9857334/bauhaus.wad.html

boom compatible only (I forgot to say)

Awesome.

The difficulty: MAP01 and the first half of MAP02 were only slightly subpar in gameplay, each instance of a trap or a high-tier monster wasn't really threatening and instead they were just a little tedious - thankfully they weren't frequent. I thought it was just right to be okay - yes, the early maps actually played okay to me, anyway. I've enjoyed later MAP02 and specially MAP03 the most, they played pretty well (I believe that SSG and RL helped). I haven't played MAP04 yet.

I'm not a fan of the exit with a visible berserk in it. If I wanted to achieve that effect and restore player's health upon exit, I'd put a bunch of medikits on the other side of the exit teleporter, or well, a berserk, if you wanted the player to switch to a fist.

Again: The "semi-realism" is pretty great.

thanks scifista42,
your impression is exactly what I want to explain with this wad... I please you to go for map04...thanks

MAP04 had the best gameplay (and comparable to MAP03), I think. Well, areas were more cramped on average, but I didn't really mind it. Fun to play and also challenging at times. The exploration was still the main interesting thing for me. I liked the environment. Nice soulsphere puzzles. As for the E.X.I.T puzzle, I liked it too, but it took me ages before I finally discovered "E" and "X". Because you know, even though I like exploration, it's annoying when I had to re-explore the whole map whenever I press a switch, and some of the mandatory lifts / switches were very subtle and easy to overlook. Unobvious functions of switches were a definite downside. Great map, still. Many of the placed looked very impressive.

Jesus Christ man, get yourself an imgur and a DropBox account all these sketchy sites are gonna make me cry or something I guess. If you can't do DropBox, Mediafire is still pretty sane.

I'll be right back.

Agreed with the imgur and dropbox.

Anyway I played the first three maps and I really like the architecture. Gameplay was pretty good too. There's nothing about it that horribly needs a change. The "key switches" in MAP01 confused me at first though. Maybe use a different texture other than one that makes me think I need a key before using the switch?

@ scifista42
wow again,... "E" and "X" indead can be a problem. I didn't want the puzzles to be too easy on the other hand they shouldn't be too hard to solve - there are also indications... but going around for ages isn't what I wanted: Map04 is devided into four parts, and in every part you get a character,... finally to get out.

Thanks scifista42, you have shown me, that the concept itself is working, although maybe a bit too hard, thanks.

@Jaxxoon R
thanks for the tip, next time...

@ BlackFish
> The "key switches" in MAP01 confused me at first though. Maybe use a different texture other than one that makes me think I need a key before using the switch?

you are right, but I will not change it... still, you found the way...

Aight, so, I really like the houses in the first map, of course, I like urban maps in general. It's really cool when things actually look like a place people would live, but are still fun to play through. No bathrooms though, w0t the hell dude? :)

One thing I'd like to say though: You may want to darken/increase the contrast on the white texture a bit. Or at least make it more of an off-white. Also, although the MIDI is a good choice, it doesn't loop. This was pretty weird since I got lost and couldn't find the exit, so I spent the next few minutes wandering in silence.

I like the gunmetal-and-grey color scheme in map 2, very pleasing to the eye. I even liked the bar tricks. Well, at least, until I got trapped by them. I like the music for this map, and all around I really like the amount of foliage you can see scattered around.

The abstract paintings were cool. I don't know if it's just me being a pansy, but there is something creepy about abstract art in general. I also liked the floor trap in that one map. It was unexpected yet fair.

But I must be a 12-point-o on a ten-point scale of stupid, cuz these maps confuse the hell out of me. Color palettes are consistently nice, though.

I was gonna gripe at the thread title, but then I saw it was didy so now I can't be mad. D:

Looks great at any rate! Hope to give this a play when proper free time happens. :P

I saw a thread by didy. And the rest was history. Downloading now.

bela's undead

map01 is very easy, the pace is kind of slow since you only have the shotgun and chaingun to work with but you have plenty of room to dance with the revenants and other sundry beasts. it strikes me as pretty appropriate as an opener.

Interesting style.

http://i.imgur.com/ywoUeU9.png

It's possible to catch a HOM with a lift in MAP01.

Wow, didy's alive! Damn man, I'M obsessed with your works since he first damn time I saw a map from you!

Gonna make some Let's Play vids about this one, if I can.

I played through MAP04 last night and noticed there was no new music. I used Jimmy's Jukebox and this actually worked pretty well.

thanks for the replies,

@Jaxxon R
I think you don't mean it serious ;)... Doom is somewhat surreal - the real world including the bauhaus-style isn't. Combining both isn't/wasn't that easy... - so no bathroom, sorry! Bauhaus is art from 1920 which mainly influenced the architecure and design even up to date. My aim was to go for the style, not for for real things, and I wanted to get it done in a doomish enviorment...

@Da Werecat
thanks, you found o prob depending on what source port you are using - I've got a (cheap) idea how to solve it

@Blachfish
fantasic choice of music - exactly what I was looking for, but is this one midi music?

@Katamori
vids are hightly appreciated - a mapper (like me) can learn from it, thanks

This project is much more to be understood as something for what things can go for, not for what things are "have" to go for - so doomish: yes, new experience: also yes
...

Yes. Here's the midi

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bw8pcehrdb4xbhc/meso2.mid?dl=0

oh man, thanks a lot, I'll go for it, still I might work on it... thanks

didy said:

@Blachfish
fantasic choice of music - exactly what I was looking for, but is this one midi music?

All the songs in the Jukebox are MIDI music.

The original Hexen II MIDI, when ripped from the game, have long silences at the end (or was it the beginning? I forgot), that have been snipped off in the jukebox.

thanks, Gez, my problem is, that I don't know what I am allowed to use or what not,
as for textures, I take everything which is on idgame (I think that this is ok)
as for music, I hardly don't know... The song from Blackfish is very good, but am I allowed to use it?
I don't know!? Jukebox seams to be a recourse of freedeom, including of rearraging a song -?!-.... am I right?...

Yeah it's just from Hexen 2. If Jimmy's Jukebox has it I'm sure you can get away with it. (Hint: I don't think Activision even remembers what Hexen 2 is).

Also if you haven't found the Jukebox mod to begin with.

http://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=29117

Half of it is from Jimmy himself, but the other music is either from well known games from the era or PWADs with custom music. All of which can be used in a PWAD along as the text says where it came from afaik.

so, as far as my comprehension goes, using your song is no problem,...

It's not my song. But yeah it's fine.

I died on MAP02 because I'm bad at Doom, but wow, these levels look really snappy.

regarding map01, the only thing i would change is that teleport ambush at the switch that lowers the red bars (i think, its the last one you use). An imp in every corner just doesn't feel threatening enough to me in a level where you are throwing out harder monsters, but idk what I would use in their stead

MAP02 feels pretty appropriate from pistol start. I got the early SSG secret so the blue basement (very cool surreal opening) wasnt too bad. apart from getting caught between commandos the only real stunner down there is the cacodemon sneak attack but there is too much room to move around for dying to be an option unless you uh are still stuck with the shotgun.

coming out of the basement is a nice shock with all that white. the villa has a very cool layout, I dig all the little nooks and crannies and bits like that view into the adjacent building with that lost soul sneak attack. the only time i felt threatened was really the first trip outside because it takes a little while for me to figure out where all the imps are to snipe them and if you didnt take the rocket launcher the mancubus needs a little more attention but its a very chill level, just like the soundtrack.

i liked the finale, it was a good excuse to train some arachnotrons on dear ol' momma spider. i guess the revenant tunnel might throw some people off but there is too much room to eat a rocket there unless you are playing very sloppily.

I really love the aesthetic you're doing in these levels so far.

didy said:

Katamori
vids are hightly appreciated - a mapper (like me) can learn from it, thanks

This project is much more to be understood as something for what things can go for, not for what things are "have" to go for - so doomish: yes, new experience: also yes
...

Tried and recorded my walkthrough yesterday. MAP01 and MAP02 were breathtaking. The chilly and also modern atmosphere made my jaw dropped. I have no idea for how long I didn't feel such way.

The combination of this with the amazing and also realistic architecture, the creative layout and solid textures makes this WAD definitely outstanding.

I remember your additional maps too, which were also damn great, but with this stuff you made something even better.

My only problem is MAP04. Way too long and confusing, but that's still outstanding in design and creativity, and partiallyin layout as well. I couldn't finish in my vid properly cause I ran out of patience, but I saw the 80% of that map.

I was also a litle bit sad that you abandoned the building concept in MAP03. Still, that map also played well.

My recording about the first map (next one comes tomorrow, sadly I doubt I can post that here though)

Katamori, thanks for the vid. Showed me that the concept is working (maybe not in map04). And yes, map01 is just an easy opener.
>"I was also a litle bit sad that you abandoned the building concept in MAP03."
Ok. I wanted to go away from realism to a more surrealism. Actually there was a (now abandoned) map03, which is more realistic - with an urban style, but I thought it would make the whole wad a bit too boring and this map didn't fit to this kind of art (bauhaus) that much. I am looking for a CP where this map fits. Link, preview:
http://www.file-upload.net/download-9886744/bauhaus2old.wad.html

kmxexii, map02, the basement, yes it is too easy if you get the ssg first. hmm...?

Jaxxoon R, "You may want to darken/increase the contrast on the white texture a bit."
If you play with prboom or risen3d you can see a structure on the wall's texture, even when you are not that close to a wall. Indeed I was thinking about doing so, but I think it is ok this way.

Your answers show me that I should change at least two things. Map01 the colored textures beside the switches can irritate too much (what blackfish said). And as for the characters in map04 it could have been more obvious. I'll think about these issues. (and map02 the first ssg secret... I don't know yet)

thanks and ciao
Didy

and ... yes Katamori, the builing which you like so much is just an illusion - it is too far away ... you know what I mean...you got it, thanks (it is exactly what I wanted)

Hey, this is an ultra-stylish set of maps, very cool. Almost felt bad messing them up with demon corpses. Looks good and plays good, top notch stuff. I really like how the maps transform as you progress, very slick.

The only problem I encountered was on map04 when I managed to sneak behind the chess board before I was meant to, somehow I managed to kill the cyber while I was stuck in there, but had to noclip out after. Here's the gap I slipped through

thanks mouldy, you have done an extremly great work with your "Going Down"...
as for the cybie (skill4 only) you will be forced to go backward,
sorry, but I don't understand your prob, thanks for the pic, but it doesn't tell me much - did I miss something? hm... the pic shows me that you shouldn't have been there... I am a bit irritated... it seams that you were already in an area where you shouln't have been...? if it so, this would mean that there is a bug...!
anyway, you found out that this is a chess board... I love it....

this is very cool, i dig the art style. map03 and map04 feel about where this set hits its stride in terms of difficulty after a nice warm-up. i miss the outdoor sections from the first two maps but the bauhaus labyrinths are beautiful and very intricate. map03 is a bit simpler but the combat is good with archviles spicing things up. the entire section beyond the red key door is pretty treacherous.

i think that map04 will frustrate players due to its division into what i can only describe as layout puzzle boxes but i had a fun time exploring and unraveling its riddle. the area with the transport tubes was very cool, it took me a second to realize what the game was since another area i had visited used something similar as part of that soul sphere chute puzzle.