New reality maps

Download: newreal.zip [-complevel 2]
Screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/nMLpeGi.png

I made 3 reality maps intended for recording UV-Max movies (beat all three with 100% kills in one go). Before playing on UV you need to learn the maps first (there are no weapons on maps 02 and 03, so if you die on 02 you're screwed). For learning you can play on HMP (pistol start support: you are given the weapons you're supposed to have at the start of each map) or lower skills (pistol start support + 100 hp and armor on spawn).

I want to thank the authors of used resources and especially TimeOfDeath for his inspiring works. Also, if someone can remove the silence at the beginning of map01 midi and make the map03 midi loop smoothly (no fadeout) I would be grateful. :) Also also, perhaps someone will identify the song in the map03 midi?

I do not plan to change anything in the levels so you can post your max movies in the demos forum and get props.

Memfis said:

if someone can remove the silence at the beginning of map01 midi and make the map03 midi loop smoothly (no fadeout) I would be grateful. :)

You can very easily do it yourself in Sekaiju or another midi editor. It's as simple as deleting a section of the song.

what complevel?

Oops, I forgot to mention it. Complevel 2 (added in the post).

I'll try Sekaiju, thanks scifista. But I doubt I'll be able to "fix" the map03 midi...

I'll take a look at 03. Hopefully the fadeout is done the simple way.

Done. Well kind of. It doesn't fade out though it might still be a bit jarring, not entirely sure how you could get around that.

As a non-speedrunner, I'm not going to punish myself with a max movie. I've recorded a HMP FDA of MAP01, but I guess that it wouldn't be any useful for you. I just wanted to say that the maps look very nice and the challenging gameplay with customizable difficulties is fun and I like the wad.

Hm, why there is berserk on map02 and soulsphere on map03? I liked especially the first two maps, will beat map01+02+03 for sure on UV by 2038.

Thanks Eris, this is good enough for me. :)

I'm interested in any demos, it should be fun to see what strategies people come up with. I made it so every fight begins with the monsters looking away from you, so you can observe the whole area and think how to act. This was partially "inspired" by all these traps in wads that are dangerous for the first time but completely trivial when you already know about them. I wanted to remove element of surprise completely.

vdgg: There is also a medikit on map01. :) These are just little jokes or easter eggs, I thought it would be funny to tease the players a bit.

Well i was kinda skepitcal as you mentioned this on Suite's stream but now i have to admit thats it's actually very enjoyable. Maps are very short so it's nota big deal to die, think 03 is my favorite.
Go ahead, make some more maps.

@Memfis: Well, in that case, have my FDA of MAP01 on HMP difficulty. Can't provide FDAs of other maps because I've already played (/ died / cheated through) them without recording. :D

HMP and UV FDAs.
I really liked the idea. It's a good and fun dodging and strategy training. Also the design is pretty neat and atmospheric.

Good job beating map01 and map02 on the first try! Now a successful UV FDA begins to seem realistic (I mean without learning the maps first).

awesome maps. I absolutely loved these! The small scale of everything was nice, felt like all the monster and item placement was surgical and required precise movement, very enjoyable style of difficulty for me, was having fun the entire time I was recording attempts. Only balance critique is that I felt like there was a bit too much ammo in map03 (though maybe the excess was incase the AVs got messy and rez a lot?)

also lols at the health placed in inaccessible areas :D.

obligatory demos: https://www.mediafire.com/?21h548jxsofjlbo

I didn't really have any detailed plans for the encounters, I just sort of played through once with iddqd so I'd know what happens, then started recording attempts. the two lmps included are the two times I got to the last level, which incidentally were my first attempt and the run where I eventually beat it (probably took me a dozen or so tries).

anyways, great stuff. Thinking about it, reality maps almost perfectly encapsulate everything I enjoy playing: it's very satisfying to "perfectly" beat something, feels elegant, single mistake punishable by death, yee, actually purposeful hitscanner usage... When done well it really highlights the 'mobility as defense' that doom is great at. I'm actually considering making some maps like this now

I have never hated Archviles or Revenants more... It took me about 5-6 tries but I beat map1 on UV.. I finished the other 2 with godmode as I didn't see any possible way to win. I love short action filled doom levels though, I think you've created a good thing here.

I'll try to record a demo but I think my shitty laptop will prevent that.

JCB said:

It took me about 5-6 tries but I beat map1 on UV.. I finished the other 2 with godmode as I didn't see any possible way to win.

You know, as Memfis explained, this is a not-so-typical wad for casual playthroughs, but rather a "reality gamemode" exercise (mainly for demoers, I assume).

JCB said:

I'll try to record a demo but I think my shitty laptop will prevent that.

What? Recording demos in the standard way ("-record xxx" parameter when launching the source port) is as smooth as a standard game.

Thanks Ribbiks, I hoped you'll like it. :) I was thinking about you a bit while making map02.

I think you're right about map03's balance: even for bad arch-vile behavior there is a little more ammo than necessary. But I won't change it now because of demo compatibility and, well, maybe it's nice to have a forgiving final map in a reality episode (it's already scary enough when you reach that far).

I would definitely like to see something like this from you!

JCB: Yeah, this thing is a bit hardcore-oriented so don't be ashamed to try 2nd skill where you spawn on a green armor and a pile of medikits on every map.

Just want to echo all the praise in this thread and i'd love to see more wads in this style. I really enjoyed it and had a lot of fun trying to get to the end. The encounters are challenging without ever feeling unfair which is quite a feat. I found myself making silly mistakes with rocket splash in map3 far more times than i'd like to admit.

The glut of ammo in map3 was of help to me because I lost my nerve and let one of the viles get out of control.

Here's a demo: http://www.doomworld.com/vb/attachment.php?postid=1344785

Memfis said:

Good job beating map01 and map02 on the first try! Now a successful UV FDA begins to seem realistic (I mean without learning the maps first).

;)

Total fluke, though. I haven't been able to replicate it trying to play with any real kind of speed instead of like a skulking troll-ninja (inevitably one of the map 03 revenants gets me and/or I blow myself up, and one time a pistol zombie used bullet-time or some shit to get me), at any rate.

Lots of fun, I think the reality playstyle suits your style of architecture/design rather well. Usually it's just sort of a novelty bonus mode with no real sense of balance for most existing maps (kind of like Nightmare!, I guess), so it's really cool to see more maps designed for it. Would certainly like to see more, by you, Ribbiks, anybody really.

koren: Nice run. Probably should have picked up all rockets before the final fight unless you wanted to save some time, which didn't work hehe. I guess you're Korendian199 on YouTube? I really enjoyed your demo commentaries, very few such videos exist.

DotW: Lol, that's really impressive. I admit I was a bit annoyed by the infighting abuse because that's not what I envisioned, but that just means that you outsmarted me so GJ. :) Very funny silent comedy moments too (trying to reach the soulsphere with your hand, or looking at the monsters and then at the corpse on the wall like saying "this is what I'm about to become").

At the moment I want to concentrate on other mapping stuff but I'll keep the reality theme in mind and maybe will come back to it.

btw guys I recommend to check out Reality Maps by TimeOfDeath if you haven't already, that's pretty much where I got the idea from (and the medikit stuff on lower skills as well).

scifista42 said:

You know, as Memfis explained, this is a not-so-typical wad for casual playthroughs, but rather a "reality gamemode" exercise (mainly for demoers, I assume).
What? Recording demos in the standard way ("-record xxx" parameter when launching the source port) is as smooth as a standard game.

Yes? Starting with 1 hp on a map set named Reality made it pretty obvious that this is not casual gameplay.

Haven't recorded anything yet, but in every other engine i've ever recorded in, it dips into my finite resources. I'll see how it does soon.

I watched the Ribbiks and DotW demos. Great stuff. I love watching players who are truly good at this game. Ribbiks went the Rambo route, and damn, there were a lot of close calls! DotW handled it like Aristotle calculating a syllogism. Absolute masterpiece of infight promotion.

Cheers to Memfis. These are some nice-looking little maps. Love the sky texture, and the MIDI in Map02 is brilliant.

I'll be running through these myself . . . on HMP. ;)

OMG I finished this! After about 1000 tries, really. I really don't know what to say about Demon of the Well's achievement.

newreal-uv636-vdgg.zip

Yeah, Demon is crazy good at FDAs. :) But beating this keyboard-only is a pretty nice achievement as well I think. Reality can be very demanding in terms of movement.

Map 02's music is orgasmically good, especially in the context of Doom. I think I recognize it from somewhere. Source?

map02 music is Chrono Cross OST - Forest of Cutting Shadows. I first heard it in 64lemons.wad and absolutely loved it too.

I did a first/last exit max movie in 3:10. Fun/tough maps for reality. Thumbs up.

played yesterday, cool mapset! Also i've heard that you put that music from animus.wad, nice touch!

Played it a bit, died a lot. Tons of fun. I'll try to see if I can get a complete demo sometime :D

Thanks guys. Pretty nice time by TimeOfDeath. I'm trying to compete but so far I can't manage to survive on map03 while playing for speed, just I get too nervous. :)