[Newbie Mapper WAD!!] NOVA III Sign Up & Planning

Well I haven't published anything yet (first map will be uploaded tomorrow for the DoomWorld mega project thread) so I'll throw my name down for making a map for this project too, I have a couple of ideas for room layouts in my head that I've been meaning to use anyway, just need the rest of a map to go with them. Having a deadline should help that.

I'm interested in contributing to NOVA again. I like the enthusiasm and themes I am seeing. I've just taken the month off of Dooming.

Alright, mutt and I were discussing earlier about having Hell as a possible episode 1 theme. Personally, I don't think there's enough mapsets that do this (Resurgence and Memento Mori 2 in parts come to mind, not much else). Also, the Plutonia/Congo theme previously mentioned could be expanded on to be more of a general "earthy jungle" sort of deal. Any thoughts/opinions on this?

Hell as the beginning is a good idea, second episode could be a jungle and the last one would take place on the moon. I think it would be more interesting than the usual tech --> temples --> hell progression.

AnonimVio said:

Hell as the beginning is a good idea, second episode could be a jungle and the last one would take place on the moon. I think it would be more interesting than the usual tech --> temples --> hell progression.

You know, I was thinking the same thing; you're progressing farther away from Hell towards, say, the Sun to do something (kill some sort of boss, perhaps?) to stop it from going supernova. Also you'd stop by the Moon for a reason which ofc isn't decided.

Having the last stage on a techbase for me gives the vibes that whatever base it was is now under the final bosses control and dominion. Starting in hell is not done nearly at all, titan2 and resurgence are the only ones I know of that do that I know of. Being exiled into hell to find your way back home to liberate hell from it is a nice concept by the thought of it.


AnonimVio's suggestion I think would be an awesome approach.

Adding a Hell-themed episode at some point in the progression would add to the appeal for me as neither the Plutonia/Congo theme nor the Moon theme already discussed entirely tickle me.

I'd like to put my name forward as a mapper for this as, outside of a half-dozen screenshots posted in February, none of my mapping efforts have ever seen the light of day.

Count me in, I am still technically a noob :)

I guess I could make a map for this, would give me an actual goal and theme. Also, signups seem to be going by fast.

I really like the idea of the hell->jungle->moon progression. It looks also quite interesting to delevop some story.

Alright folks, so I've updated the opening two posts so that they are actually readable. I've also added more names to the OP in terms of who is interested in taking part.

On that note, AD_79 and myself are both very excited with the idea of a megawad progression which goes Hell -> Swamp/Jungle/Temples/etc. -> The Moon, and I'll confirming this as the episodic progression for NOVA III.

Like I said earlier in the thread, I'll be quite busy until the 12th of January at the earliest, so I'm going to be holding off from confirming the resource pack until then. AD has volunteered his services to handle it, so he's your guy to get in touch with if you have any suggestions or questions, I guess! I will also be helping out with it, obviously, and I'm shooting for starting the full project thread after the 23rd of January, so you can all begin working on your maps and posting whatever you need feedback on then.

I'll do a map :)

Good to see many newbies signing up for this so far!

Sign me up as a mapper.
I'm interested in this project :D

One thought for the main thread when it comes to it... will there be a guide as to weapon introduction (especially the BFG) for specific map numbers? It might help structure the wad more nicely in both map planning, difficulty curves etc etc. At least for me in my limited experience, deciding what weapons will be available is an utterly cruicial part of the mapping process.

Also any theme stipulations for the secret levels? Might be a cool opportunity for something really leftfield...

AD and I have been discussing what should be done with the two secret map slots - as to whether they should do anything different to what the rest of the mapset is doing in terms of who can participate, etc. We've been going over collaborative efforts, breaking the project rules to let NOVA alumni take part in these mapslots*, a Meggido 3 map with several of the new mappers all contributing to it, just putting the most unusual newbie contributions here, and so on.

I'm really not sure on where to go with this and honestly feel like it would be more productive for y'all to discuss any potential ideas on what to do with Maps 31 and 32 yourselves, so I'm being a lazy weak-spined bastard and letting all you guys figure it out instead!

On a similar note, I've contacted Obsidian in regards to a potential custom boss monster for Map 30. If there's anybody here who is really interested in working on the final map and trying something different with a shiny new boss monster then please send myself or Obsidian a private message letting us know. Discussing things here will probably be more messy and disruptive than helpful, and I want to make sure that only mappers who are genuinely interested in contributing for the Map 30 slot get in touch. I would very much not like for Obsidian's time to be wasted in working with someone who chooses to just drop the slot at some point in the monster's creation. For the record, I will not be restricting the Map 30 slot to a single mapper: if multiple mappers are able to contribute, they will be allowed to do so. Map 30 of NOVA I was a large collaborative effort, after all.

Whilst I'm on the topic of reserving specific map slots, only Map 30 will be available for claiming at this point. To be bluntly honest, regarding Map 07, I don't want to see a Dead Simple rip-off take up a slot that can just as easily be taken up by a regular map. The actions within the 666/667 tags can easily be replicated with other line actions. Let's not add Dead Simple clone #395728294 to the obscenely large pile of garbage Dead Simple clones that already exist, just for the sake of doing so.

Regarding Map 15, seeing as I'm talking about every other important map slot, I'm not going to stop anyone from designing their map for the map 15 slot**. However, if we get more than one map for this slot then obviously only one can make it in the final release: all secret exits will have to be deleted from any maps not in the Map 15 slot. I'm more making this point just to ensure that everyone is aware of it, as these issues would clearly need resolving should they ever arise.

* This is probably the least likely outcome, but I figure I would put it out there. And no, I would not be looking to contribute to them myself! :~>
** I'm aware that the Map 31 slot also exists, but as I already mentioned, I'm willing to do something a little outside the box on this mapslot in terms of the regular mapset rules.

Suitepee said:

Good to see many newbies signing up for this so far!

*winks eyelashes* Will you be signing up yourself, Suitepee? *continues to wink eyelashes*

I'm interested in what scotty is saying as well. Obviously we can't really decide until everyone's got their allocated slots, but it would be a good guideline to set in regards to difficulty curve scaling I'd say.

It is really nice to see so many newbies throwing their hats into the ring. At this point all I will say is once the ball starts rolling I will try and playtest all the maps submitted and give as much advice as possible.
One thing I will say is that unless there is active objection to it then a Meggido 3 should happen. It is a Nova tradition after all ;)

cannonball said:

One thing I will say is that unless there is active objection to it then a Meggido 3 should happen. It is a Nova tradition after all ;)

I'll echo this point. It can be a headache to put together but it gives some mappers a second shot at putting a map into the project. Plus it's a fun exercise to design a short & difficult vignette designed for all weapons.

And I agree with continuing to bar the alumni from contributing—maybe after NOVA IV or something, I'd be up for hosting a NOVA REUNION episode/megawad for a collaboration of NOVA all-stars.

cannonball said:

Meggido 3 should happen

It would be really cool. How did it work in the previous Novas? Did the interested mappers just volunteered to make a part?

gaspe said:

How did it work in the previous Novas? Did the interested mappers just volunteered to make a part?

FYI for NOVA 1 I pitched the collab idea and mouldy + cannonball signed up first (dunno when Arjak + kildeth attached themselves... was much later), and for NOVA 2 I handpicked each of the authors.

Sign me up as a mapper

Oh man, this is perfect! I'm a new mapper who would absolutely love to make a map for this project. Are there still slots open? Also, is now the time to choose which episode we want to make a map for, or is that for the main project thread?

I've lost interest in mapping so I'm out.

I don't know if I am a newby or not, but you can count me on this.

AnonimVio said:

I've lost interest in mapping so I'm out.

That's too bad. Toxic Graveyard is one of the best maps I've played in the Mega Project so far, such a cool concept and neat atmosphere!

If you ever do make maps again, I'll be there to play them. :)

Please sign me up. Also, will there be a texture pack? I have extracted resources from Requiem, and both Memento Moris.

Superluigieth1 said:

Please sign me up. Also, will there be a texture pack? I have extracted resources from Requiem, and both Memento Moris.

There is indeed a texture pack in the works.

AD_79 said:

There is indeed a texture pack in the works.

Well, do you know when we can see the release?

Superluigieth1 said:

Well, do you know when we can see the release?

an_mutt said:

Like I said earlier in the thread, I'll be quite busy until the 12th of January at the earliest, so I'm going to be holding off from confirming the resource pack until then.

I'm shooting for starting the full project thread after the 23rd of January, so you can all begin working on your maps and posting whatever you need feedback on then.

You'll be able to use the resource wad when the actual project thread goes up.