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Dragonfly

Skulldash - A Fast-Paced Speedrun Arcade Mod - OFFICIAL SERVER NOW LIVE!

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Hello everyone!

Today, after over seven years of development, I am proud to announce the release of Skulldash, a fast-paced speedrun arcade mod for Doom II!

The objective in Skulldash is to collect the Skulltokens scattered around each level to unlock the exit. While collecting the Skulltokens you have to race against the clock, as there is a time limit to beat – all while defending yourself from the hordes of monsters from hell.





While on the hunt for the hundreds of Skulltokens scattered across the various realms, you’re having to race against the clock! Failure to beat the level in the permitted time will cause you, the player, to be splattered into many pieces.

Fear not, however, hidden throughout most levels are many secret areas containing blue Skulltokens, which add a precious five seconds to the clock.





With twenty standard levels, four boss levels, five bonus levels, a giant level-hub (and a tutorial) you’ve got plenty of hours of gameplay available!

Skulldash takes you to many realms & locations, including but not limited to technical bases, aztec temples, icy caverns, in a submarine, on a series of treetops, in hell, a haunted mansion, a medieval castle, a jungle altar, high in the sky and even in space!

Take a look at each of the levels, read descriptions & see screenshots of them all at the Skulldash Website.





Every level has a plethora of secret areas, containing bonus equipment and Skulltokens – keep your eye out if you want to go for 100% completion – when you 100% a full tier of levels, you unlock a bonus level!

At the end of each Tier (except the 1st) there is an action packed boss map. Each boss is found in an environment crafted around their strengths and weaknesses. Bosses are often accompanied by hordes of hellspawn to assist them in taking you out. Prepare yourself to face the Lava Golem, the Dark Inquisitor, the Gate Keeper & the Overlord!





To download, please visit the Downloads Page of the Skulldash Website!

An IDGames mirror will come in due time.





Below is just a small collection of screenshots. If you want to see more, please visit the Skulldash Website!











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There's something deeply satisfying about the age-old trend of picking up shiny trinkets in video games - it's like the gamer's achilles heel, and I'm just as big a sucker for that sort of thing as the next guy. This looks to be a well-refined labour of love and deserves a look-in, so I'll report back when I'm done ogling or when my ass gets numb, whichever comes first.

Was multiplayer a primary focus in designing this mod?

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*Sniff sniff* I smell cacoward in the air...

The screenshots looks nice, I'll make sure to load it up sometime in this weekend.

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Alfonzo said:

There's something deeply satisfying about the age-old trend of picking up shiny trinkets in video games - it's like the gamer's achilles heel, and I'm just as big a sucker for that sort of thing as the next guy.


Indeed! Personally I get a similar feeling from picking up the gems in HocusDoom.

I'll give this a go when I get home from school, it looks right interesting.

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General Rainbow Bacon said:

This looks awesome, now I have something to do this weekend :D


I hope you enjoy your weekend! :D

Obsidian said:

Indeed! Personally I get a similar feeling from picking up the gems in HocusDoom.

I'll give this a go when I get home from school, it looks right interesting.


I've not played HocusDoom, perhaps I should check it out. I hope you enjoy playing Skulldash!

Alfonzo said:

There's something deeply satisfying about the age-old trend of picking up shiny trinkets in video games - it's like the gamer's achilles heel, and I'm just as big a sucker for that sort of thing as the next guy. This looks to be a well-refined labour of love and deserves a look-in, so I'll report back when I'm done ogling or when my ass gets numb, whichever comes first.

Was multiplayer a primary focus in designing this mod?


Thanks for your interest Alfonzo! I've got the same "Gamer's Magpie Syndrome", a game which passively inspired me would definitely be the early (read:PS1 era) Spyro series - collecting sparkly gems while running rampant on a collection of different realms. :)

Multiplayer was not the primary focus, but it is supported. Multiplayer makes the overall experience noticeably easier; if there's enough interest in multiplayer I may release a 'multiplayer hard-mode' or a couple of multiplayer exclusive maps as an 'expansion pack' of sorts.

SFoZ911 said:

*Sniff sniff* I smell cacoward in the air...

The screenshots looks nice, I'll make sure to load it up sometime in this weekend.


I hope you enjoy playing Skulldash! As for a Cacoward, well, one can only dream, right? :)

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I can see multiple fancy shades of blue in the screenshots. Is this wad meant to be played with OpenGL (truecolor) renderer, or will standard software (paletted) renderer suffice?

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scifista42 said:

I can see multiple fancy shades of blue in the screenshots. Is this wad meant to be played with OpenGL (truecolor) renderer, or will standard software (paletted) renderer suffice?


Both are suitable. There is a new PLAYPAL lump changing the blues. :)

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I took a look at the custom PLAYPAL, then at your screenshots again, and screenshots 3 and 4 show colors that are not in the PLAYPAL (original Doom's blue). Hope they'll display acceptably when paletted.

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Always wanted something like this. All these Skulltag textures are delish so yay for a throwback, I will begin playing NOW.

Thanks for this :D

EDITx3.7: Is there a reward for getting a good green checkmark on all maps? Would like that extra incentive. Also I don't know how to get to those golden skulls. I rocket jumped to one but didn't know how to get that platform to lower. So yeah I don't know how to get to the one inside the ice wall with the rail gun, maybe I just didn't explore hard enough :S

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the website is pretty neato :D and the shots of course look great. I'll certainly be playing it this weekend too!

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After playing the first 2 maps offline on UV, I kind of feel like the alloted time should change with skills. I didn't break a sweat, and I know that most people would expect that from the first 2 maps but I feel like early maps should be challenging on higher skills and lower skills should be utilized for a more casual\less strenous playthrough.

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Just beat the first boss, and by the god, this one is really unique. It's a good mix of first person shooter and coin collecting arcade. I'm so glad that I play this arcade-style maps instead of slaughter maps. I still need to beat tier three, but first two tiers are really enjoyable. I believe speedrunners gonna love this one, although myself is not a professional speedrunner.

One thing I wanted is this; It would be better if there's an indicating message to inform the remaining time, such as "TEN SECONDS REMAINING!!" with a sound effect(alarm sound or clock ticking sound). I know that there's a timer at the top-right corner, but sometimes I couldn't pay attention to timer while I search a map to find secrets.

Overall, It's one of the best Arcade mods for doom. If anyone is still hesitate to play this one, just give it a try.

P.S.: Was it intention to freeze all monsters in MAP07 until I press the bonus time button? At first, I thought It was a glitch.

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I just reached the credits on UV, and I enjoyed this for the most part. Haven't gotten 100% completion yet, which is something I want to aim for :) (Edit: found a bug that might make that impossible right now; see below.)

There's some bugs:
* The blue skulltokens on Level 6 ("Abandonment") don't seem to give any extra time.
* On Level 16 ("Maltreatment"), there's a HOM on the side of the slope near (2549, -1290, -76).
* The scripting doesn't seem to acknowledge that the player completed or got 100% tokens on the final boss map; there's still a red X next to its portal afterwards. This makes getting 100% completion impossible without cheating.

And some things that can be improved, in my opinion:
* Most of the maps with bottomless pits teleport the player, but in Level 3 ("Clifftop Base") and Level 20 ("Strength"), the player is killed upon falling off the map instead. It might be best to be consistent and teleport the player in those maps since losing time is enough punishment already.
* Regarding a bonus level:

Spoiler

The second bonus level ("The Shocker") is annoying and I had to save constantly on it. Adding to the frustration is how the player doesn't get propelled upwards sometimes if they land on the edges of the platforms. The gameplay might differ between software and OpenGL users as well since the latter group can look straight down.

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Tango said:

the website is pretty neato :D and the shots of course look great. I'll certainly be playing it this weekend too!


As a web designer I'm glad you said that, heh. I hope you enjoy playing Skulldash!

kmxexii said:

whoa


:)

Breezeep said:

This is actually a unique idea for a wad! Definitely some cacoward material right here!


Another person saying this? Well, I hope you enjoy Skulldash!

SuperCupcakeTactics said:

Always wanted something like this. All these Skulltag textures are delish so yay for a throwback, I will begin playing NOW.

Thanks for this :D

EDITx3.7: Is there a reward for getting a good green checkmark on all maps? Would like that extra incentive. Also I don't know how to get to those golden skulls. I rocket jumped to one but didn't know how to get that platform to lower. So yeah I don't know how to get to the one inside the ice wall with the rail gun, maybe I just didn't explore hard enough :S


Thank you for the good comments SCT! In regards to your question - when you gain 100% tokens somewhere in the level a soulsphere or megasphere will appear / become available, and you should gain a few seconds on the timer to hopefully provide you enough time to collect the bonus item. As for the ice level:

Spoiler

Get 75%+ of the tokens, then return to the 'first brickwork area' - the teleporter which had the metal bars in front is now open!

scifista42 said:

I took a look at the custom PLAYPAL, then at your screenshots again, and screenshots 3 and 4 show colors that are not in the PLAYPAL (original Doom's blue). Hope they'll display acceptably when paletted.


Good catch. I think OpenGL ignores some of the Skulltag's resources in the use of the PLAYPAL lump, but only sometimes? It was an odd issue. I know it always displays the intended colours on software.

Jjp said:

I just reached the credits on UV, and I enjoyed this for the most part. Haven't gotten 100% completion yet, which is something I want to aim for :) (Edit: found a bug that might make that impossible right now; see below.)

There's some bugs:
* The blue skulltokens on Level 6 ("Abandonment") don't seem to give any extra time.
* On Level 16 ("Maltreatment"), there's a HOM on the side of the slope near (2549, -1290, -76).
* The scripting doesn't seem to acknowledge that the player completed or got 100% tokens on the final boss map; there's still a red X next to its portal afterwards. This makes getting 100% completion impossible without cheating.

And some things that can be improved, in my opinion:
* Most of the maps with bottomless pits teleport the player, but in Level 3 ("Clifftop Base") and Level 20 ("Strength"), the player is killed upon falling off the map instead. It might be best to be consistent and teleport the player in those maps since losing time is enough punishment already.
* Regarding a bonus level:

Spoiler

The second bonus level ("The Shocker") is annoying and I had to save constantly on it. Adding to the frustration is how the player doesn't get propelled upwards sometimes if they land on the edges of the platforms. The gameplay might differ between software and OpenGL users as well since the latter group can look straight down.


Wow, you played it fast! I'm glad you enjoyed it, and good luck on your quest for 100%! If you are struggling on any maps in particular, drop me a PM and I can guide you through it. I'll (eventually) release a 100% walkthrough on Youtube.

Thanks for the bug reports. I guess I will be releasing version 1.1 at some point!

I must have slipped up on the bottomless pit thing - I was updating the maps to all teleport. I confess that on the two mentioned levels I've not fallen off while testing for a long, long time. Otherwise i'd have patched it!

As for the 2nd bonus level, I did question that exact same issue (GL vs soft) and at the time decided it's not my fault the software renderer has that limitation and since it doesn't cause it to be impossible to beat by any means I decided to leave it. I think if I release v1.1 I'll make the map have a lot more rest points around the outer ring.

Spoiler

If you can deal with the feeling of cheating, leave your aim centred and activate the fly console command. You can breeze through the map then.

Marcaek said:

After playing the first 2 maps offline on UV, I kind of feel like the alloted time should change with skills. I didn't break a sweat, and I know that most people would expect that from the first 2 maps but I feel like early maps should be challenging on higher skills and lower skills should be utilized for a more casual\less strenous playthrough.


As stated I think I'll be making Version 1.1; I'll look to have an additional difficulty for both 'pro players' and for multiplayer. For the 'pro player' times I'll play the levels 100% and add 15 seconds to my time, or something to that effect.


antares031 said:

Just beat the first boss, and by the god, this one is really unique. It's a good mix of first person shooter and coin collecting arcade. I'm so glad that I play this arcade-style maps instead of slaughter maps. I still need to beat tier three, but first two tiers are really enjoyable. I believe speedrunners gonna love this one, although myself is not a professional speedrunner.

One thing I wanted is this; It would be better if there's an indicating message to inform the remaining time, such as "TEN SECONDS REMAINING!!" with a sound effect(alarm sound or clock ticking sound). I know that there's a timer at the top-right corner, but sometimes I couldn't pay attention to timer while I search a map to find secrets.

Overall, It's one of the best Arcade mods for doom. If anyone is still hesitate to play this one, just give it a try.

P.S.: Was it intention to freeze all monsters in MAP07 until I press the bonus time button? At first, I thought It was a glitch.


I'm glad you're enjoying this! And your idea of a ten second remaining alert is a fantastic one, I'll definitely look to implement this in v1.1.

Regarding map07, yes, the idea is that time is frozen. Note how the only thing stopping you walking to the exit is a baron who's frozen in time? :)

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Dragonfly said:

Good catch. I think OpenGL ignores some of the Skulltag's resources in the use of the PLAYPAL lump, but only sometimes? It was an odd issue. I know it always displays the intended colours on software.

It is no odd issue, it's the fact that these Skulltag resources are in PNG format. OpenGL displays PNG graphics as truecolor. Software renderer converts them to the game's current PLAYPAL at runtime. They surely won't display as Doom's original blue shades with your PLAYPAL in software renderer, they will be *somehow* palettized to your PLAYPAL, presumably by finding the palette index with nearest RGB match for each pixel, not sure how well the graphics would look then.

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scifista42 said:

It is no odd issue, it's the fact that these Skulltag resources are in PNG format. OpenGL displays PNG graphics as truecolor. Software renderer converts them to the game's current PLAYPAL at runtime. They surely won't display as Doom's original blue shades with your PLAYPAL in software renderer, they will be *somehow* palettized to your PLAYPAL, presumably by finding the palette index with nearest RGB match for each pixel, not sure how well the graphics would look then.


The odd part of the issue was that it sometimes was palletted in OpenGL. Either way, I would be looking to remove the dependency on the Skulltag Data if and when I make v1.1, during that process I'd look to fix the colours up. :)

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Doomkid said:

Looks simply fantastic!


Thank you very much DoomKid. I hope you get/had the chance to play it, rather than just look at it! ;)

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Dreadopp said:

Congratulations on the release, Dragonfly! :)


Thank you Dreadopp! And thanks again for being a consistent betatester from the very early days of this project. I've appreciated all the feedback! :)

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"UV-collector: The Megawad", or perhaps "Pacman Doom"?

just beat this. very fun stuff. I like the hub layout, the tier system reminded me of crash team racing. the null-space-esque maps were my favorite (13. 20), though I can't say there was any map I didn't enjoy. the times all seemed reasonable, which suggests quite a bit of playtesting went into it.

Overall it's a really fun gimmick, I think it works best with short punchy maps. some of the larger ones (with ~100 tokens) occasionally felt discouraging to replay if you died a decent chunk into it. On a side note, in software graphics some of the colored fogs look like a hot mess, maybe it would be best to have those enabled only for gl (assuming that's possible)?

Anyhow, cool stuff. grats on the release :D

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Ribbiks said:

"UV-collector: The Megawad", or perhaps "Pacman Doom"?

just beat this. very fun stuff. I like the hub layout, the tier system reminded me of crash team racing. the null-space-esque maps were my favorite (13. 20), though I can't say there was any map I didn't enjoy. the times all seemed reasonable, which suggests quite a bit of playtesting went into it.

Overall it's a really fun gimmick, I think it works best with short punchy maps. some of the larger ones (with ~100 tokens) occasionally felt discouraging to replay if you died a decent chunk into it. On a side note, in software graphics some of the colored fogs look like a hot mess, maybe it would be best to have those enabled only for gl (assuming that's possible)?

Anyhow, cool stuff. grats on the release :D


I'm glad you took the time to play through and beat Skulldash, and more importantly, enjoy it!

That's a fair comment about the fog colours. I'm not entirely sure choosing a GL-Only fog is an option, but if someone knows otherwise, do let me know. Alternately I could choose a different colour/thickness.

A lot of play testing did indeed go into this. I must've done over 100+ 100% runs of the game, and that's not counting the time of the betatesters.

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This makes me oddly nostalgic of 2009/10 when Skulltag was a thing. And then annoyed that those fucking Blood Demons don't go down in one shot.

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I need clarification if jumping is intended seeing as some parts seem impossible without it.

Also that part where you get attacked by 4 belphegors before the exit lowers at the end where you have to change liquid colour(???), I got stuck after killing them since neither the door would open or the exit would lower. It fixed after I inevitably died and restarted though.

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