Exus Base project - Alpha Released!

Hi all! :)

Exus Base Bible said:

In 2314, after massive attacks to Earth and Mars' bases have been repelled, it is time to fight for the rest of the Solar System! We didn't explore Neptune, Pluto enough and the Hellspawn is already trying to destroy the planets that weren't colonized to strand us in Earth and Mars for a final big attack that would destroy Humanity!

Many previous alien races have lost to Hell. But ours, Humanity, won't! For what it's worth - recognition, fame, money...maybe not money? - you go deep into the battle and kill the invasors and repel them from other planets!

You start in the Exus Base, the main scientific studies base on Neptune. Repel the enemy forces and keep this blue ice from being destroyed, and preserve yourself!

After a time the thing was in Pre-Alpha and only Silverwolf could comment on it (but she prob didn't want), now I am very happy to announce the Alpha released of Exus Base! The WAD has only 3 maps, but it will have as many as possible before Final release! :D

This has only THREE maps so far... :(

We are open to contributions from people, in the form of maps, music, textures, flats, ideas/suggestions, reviews, demos/FDAs, videos (preferably uploaded to Youtube) and even thoughs! :D
However this is NOT a community project. Community projects are hard to maintain as we saw in the Castle Dasbourg project. (yes, I have intents to revive Dasbourg!)

Punch this button now! Now a direct link! Show you can play a few hard maps!


Oh, and the link update often, so make sure to check for new updates daily! ;)

These maps were comparatively better than your other maps I've played, but still contain obvious amateurish problems:
-easily skippable fights
-tedious monster horde encounters
-prevailing monochromatic texturing and lighting
-overly linear progression
-some areas are cramped
-little height variation, even though I see you tried, your usage of it doesn't really affect gameplay much
-item imbalance, for example too much health/ammo/weaponry for the given situation

The important for me is that it is fun. Was it? :)

Hello there,

I tried out your 3 map preview. I take it you aim for short and hard approaches.

To start with, MAP01 looked bare and bland. I didn't understand the black squares for the outside textures, and the beginning squad of zombiemen were underwhelming. The shotgun Demon wasn't much of a surprise, the floor lowering gave me time to be ready. I would suggest switching to a fast door instead to offer a better surprise. The later Spectre was good, though. After that, though, the game ramped up, and the teleporter ambush was the setpiece of the map. It WAS pretty hard, but that ws the intent. The third and last encounter, however, just seemed tedious, just fight to a piece of cover and wait it out.

I would say MAP02 is the best of the three, and short yet impressive. The outside part of the map was a welcome change from MAP01, and the there was just enough aesthetics to look interesting yet simplistic. The change from spam to meaningful encounters was much better, I think, cumulating with the Arch-Vile encounter. I did notice that you are missing a texture on the conveyer belt lift, when it's lowered. It felt a little too short, however, and I wanted more.

MAP03 returned to the style of MAP01: bland textures, spam encounters, and little to no height variations (except for that one area). I did like the concept of those jump ladders, and the idea of fighting on different sides of a river, but... too bland. Needs more height difference, more details. The cieling in the raised area needs to be a little higher, because the Baron's head clips through the ceiling. The imp span was tedious, especially since they only teleported to one (two?) locations, and since I could funnel them all through the lift. If you are to keep the teleporter spam, add a third teleport location to the raised area, to incentivize the player to leave and enter the imp fray. Overall, this map was too easy and tedious.

The map theme appears to be the same, small maps with greenish textures and many enemies per encounter. However, the execution could be better. I wish the best of luck for your project.

Here are a few screenshots, since you are lazy to post them yourself:



And no, These maps are not fun.

I'm not going to lie: these were rough to get through, and not in a good way.

First off, let me say that you have definitely improved in certain qualities: aesthetics, etc.

That said, all three of these maps are still very basic and linear. Monsters can either be ran past all together or are so cluttered its difficult to even move around. This is especially true for traps full of hitscanners (like the Chaingunners and Demon teleports in map01), or huge clusters of sergeants or zombies here and there.

There's also a noticeable HOM on the lift to the blue key in map02, where the ARchvile spawns out. I will say, the beginning area of that map has some intriguing qualities to it, such as the openable window in the middle, and the outside area.

Personally, I would make these areas bigger, so that the beginning room and outside ledge with imps are more spacious, and the window to the outside much wider. This would give the imps better opportunity to target the player. I might make the openable window in the middle of the room larger as well, and maybe even have it a constant crusher, ala map04

The biggest thing to remember is: don't get discouraged! Be patient, and know that it takes time to improve. You're already better at mapping then when you started! :)

Edit: Oh, two more things that can be improved, both in map03: Have a monster closet with a Hellknight (or Baron, though most Doomers don't like Barons) open when you pick up the rocket launcher, instead of having a Baron blockading the players path to the RL. Fighting a Baron with even the SSG gets tedious. The second thing you'll want to do is perhaps add an extra lift connecting the outside area to the upper quarters. When all the imps were spawning in, I had no choice but to fall down the one lift, on top of imps heads.

If you want other people to play your WADs, please spend more than 10 minutes on a map.

Thanks guys :)

I updated the download links and now the Three Maps are improved well enough so that I can make MAP05 (MAP04 is Madcat's courtesy).

I don't want to spoiler, so play to see the changes :)

Or, if you are lazy:

And no, I wasn't too lazy to post a screenshot, I simply forgot. :P

Good Play!

(updated OP's download link)

In the meanwhile,Bump, another update, and more decent levels, better-decorated rooms, slight Revenant balancement in MAP03 and added difficulty levels in MAP01! :)

Now it only has MAP02 to add difficulty levels, balance MAP02 and then we discuss adding some map.

Megawad implies all maps replaced, so using that word is not needed.

Glaice said:

Megawad implies all maps replaced, so using that word is not needed.

Well, in the future this will be a megaWAD yes.

Gustavo, just a tip: Overambition can easily kill off a project. Do you actually think you have what it takes to pull off a megawad? If you do, by all means go ahead. Just keep in mind that megawads by new mappers can easily become an uneven whole as the author slowly and steadily improves.

Trust me, I know this from experience. May I recommend you turn it into an episodic release instead?

Of course! Episode 1 has 7 maps. 3 were worked on, and 2 are being worked on - one by me and one by Madcat.

Oh and I guess Madcat's level will be finished day 04 February this year, because he is going very well in progress! :)

I updated the link now and it has a better MAP01.

Bump, and updated download links and now we have MAP04 & MAP05! :) Hurr, this is going on very well!

Thanks to Madcat for MAP04!

Should I turn this into a community project? :/

Gustavo6046 said:

Should I turn this into a community project? :/

You are incorrigible.

Does that means yes? :)

Gustavo6046 said:

Does that means yes? :)

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/incorrigible

in·cor·ri·gi·ble
adjective
1.
(of a person or their tendencies) not able to be corrected, improved, or reformed.

EDIT: Ninja'd

I only accept Yes and No XD

My bad, I ain't very good at English.

I guess it is yes, since it can't be "improved".

Gustavo6046 said:

I only accept Yes and No XD

I guess it is yes, since it can't be "improved".

OK, how about this:

There is always room for improvement, by the way. No map or project is "perfect".

What I meant is that the DECISION can't be improved.

I think it's better myself to do it :P

Yes, its better to do it yourself. No reason to drag anyone else down with it.

Ok Played through the first 5 maps. I agree with what Scifista said, There is a lot of improvement compared to your past maps. I'm going to review all 5.

MAP01:

This one was pretty decent at first, The outside area actually looks well put together, I also liked how there were some skylights and stuff. The traps where you are surrounded were kind of meh though. Some of the indoor rooms need improvement.

MAP02:

This one should probably be the first level considering how short it was. Once again this one has good ideas but it needs more detailing. Some of the encounters also need improvement.

MAP03:

Ok this one was, meh. I liked some of the ideas here but the stair case thing was kind of weird looking imo. I feel like you need more in this map it's too empty.

MAP04:

This one is the best of the set but it's done by a different person from what I read here. The detailing here looks good the encounters were decent. This one should be a good example of how to detail the maps because it's actually pretty well done.

MAP05

This one is the worst, way too many revs and it feels like it was made in 5 minutes and is unfinished.

Map01, 02, 03, 05 were obvious amateur maps. No height variation, random texture choices, ill attempts at detailing and boring gameplay. Just keep practicing man, don't even worry about a full length Megawad, focus on getting your mapping skills up to scratch.

Map04 was very well detailed, however had absolutely no light variation and very little height variation which completely killed any atmosphere or exciting fight sequences. Lighting can go a long way (consult the Iwads), so make sure you carefully use it where it makes sense and adds depth to the map.

Additionally, with Map02 (this is the one only worth writing about) you have a cute outdoor area, why not let the player go out there to explore as well as giving it a purpose? This should add some length to the map and will open up the dynamics a bit. The blue sign texture is used as a switch for the door on the opposite side of the room, that needs to be changed as that is very unintuitive and pointless. Luckily the map is so small that there isn't any repercussions for doing so, but still, change it!

Bump! Updated, now with better MAP04 and some cool addons! :)

(INTERPIC inspired by Hell Revealed ;) )

Bump, added coop starts to MAP03 and DM starts $ MAP02-05. Yesterday I made a DM tournament in a Best-Ever server with this mapset (more specifically, MAP04).

Now, we also have a MAP05 replacement! Instead of that dull rev slaughter map, now a map with significant (and difficult!) encounters.

Does this map pack strives to a Hell Revealed similiar path of development?!? Would it be worthy of calling Hell Revealed III?!? Who knows! But someday, this project will be completed! Even if it don't become a megaWAD, that it become a fun WAD! ;)

Gustavo6046 said:

Would it be worthy of calling Hell Revealed III?!?

No.

I was not that serious, after all, I just said that because the map pack is having similiar development progression to HR1 (starts with bland, easy maps and then comes the harder, prettier ones) only that the curve's apex happens much sooner. I never played HR2 so I can't talk about it...

Will you stop trying to make megawads and community project and just try to improve your mapping untill you get respect and power needed to build something big and communitive?
It's getting sick with you constantly starting off huge projects when you can't make even one good map.

This may be a big project, but it isn't THAT big...

Also I don't think my maps are as bad as when I done Devile II. Just be warned things could be much worse!

Stop making threads for new ideas and random impulses that you have.

Hey mutt, this is not just another random idea that popped off my head and I wanted to tell everyone about it. This is a entire map pack! Episode Neptune's almost ready. MAP06 released, and MAP07 will be cleaning the last filth in Neptune to go to Uranus clear any vestige of Hell by there!

Later, the player will visit the moons of Saturn. One of them is infested of the strongest demonic forms you never saw before, like the Cyberpunk, and the Spiderpunk, and you will have to fight so that Io isn't destroyed!

Just a sketch of the plot. ;) Hope you liked it!

How old are you by the way?