Doomworld Mega Project 2016 (v2 is on /idgames)

Played the rest: I really liked the manc that warps into the last area. Surprised me while I was fighting the pain elemental. Another highlight was the trio of sergeants that meets you on the way back from the YK, which now are likely to wander to more surprising locations.

One way to restore balance if you are giving away a powerful weapon (whose ammo is freely available) is to give it away as the reward for a very tough fight, or a sidequest involving a chain of fights or a puzzle or whatever, instead of handing it away freely in a secret. I feel like either the rocket launcher or plasma rifle would be a better no-strings-attached secret weapon in this map, because you can control specifically how much ammo you give away for it -- just enough to soften up one or two encounters, for instance.

That said, this map would be less fun with only the chaingun at best. There are quite a few mid-tiers and quite a few pinkies and chaingunners, which go down with the chaingun quickly enough, but when combined with the mid-tiers start to add up to a lot of meat.

rileymartin said:

Skindustrial District RC4

Old RC3

Will try this when I'm in the mood for something hard. Hmm, you can just use the "beta n" designation; "release candidate n" seems too fancy for a single map. Also if ToD of all people says that about your map, it might be overkill. :O

Thanks for testing! I've fixed the door bug and marked SSG entrance lines 1-sided. Here's the bugfixed version (i also updated the original post so that people won't download the bugged version): https://www.dropbox.com/s/axvuhoqt5r1lodr/lildevil2.wad?dl=0

As for the rest, maybe i'll have enough time to fix the balance and improve the map further, we'll see..

rdwpa said:

Will try this when I'm in the mood for something hard. Hmm, you can just use the "beta n" designation; "release candidate n" seems too fancy for a single map. Also if ToD of all people says that about your map, it might be overkill. :O

What can I say, I'm a fancy kind of guy. :P Hey, no shame in trying out HMP! I tested UV to make sure the last area is beatable in both GLBoom+ and GZDoom. If you can do the big arena fight in Sunlust map30 then UV should be fine there.

The first encounter is easier on UV because the chaingunners can reliably be used to distract things, and the DPS against the vile can add up.

lil'devil said:

Thanks for testing! I've fixed the door bug and marked SSG entrance lines 1-sided. Here's the bugfixed version (i also updated the original post so that people won't download the bugged version): https://www.dropbox.com/s/axvuhoqt5r1lodr/lildevil2.wad?dl=0

As for the rest, maybe i'll have enough time to fix the balance and improve the map further, we'll see..

Not bad. Minor issues.

Yellow Key room. I was able to grab the Yellow Key and exit the room before the Manc teleported in.

Yellow Armor room. The Lost Soul is stuck in his floor-level alcove and can't move.

Two Spectres in an offmap closet never teleported in.

I hate death exit maps, but otherwise, okay.

rdwpa said:

The first encounter is easier on UV because the chaingunners can reliably be used to distract things, and the DPS against the vile can add up.

Interesting. That hasn't been my experience as the Imps are much easier to ignore/punch out and don't have the tendency of killing you in seconds while you're trying to avoid a Vile blast. If it makes HMP feel harder I can switch the Imps out for Zombiemen or Sergeants like I had before. Not having hitscanners there makes it easier to grab the Berserk which feels like the best way to handle that encounter.

lil'devil said:

Also it would be cool if someone recorded a FDA or something, i just want to see how others play it. :)

Here's a 15 minute FDA of me playing extremely cautiously and spending too much time humping walls and stopping to check the automap. The maps plays well and I enjoy some of the looping layout. The pillar areas with ambushing monsters are also cool in an oldschool sort of way. Texture choice is good and I like the overall bleak atmosphere of the map. One suggestion is to add some more detailing and lighting variation to the map as it currently looks very minimalist, unless that's the intention. Didn't encounter any bugs that weren't mentioned already.

rileymartin said:

Here's a 15 minute FDA of me playing

Thank you, i'll watch that as soon as i get home.

Well, i've decided that i will update the map again. I think i should make a more climactic ending to the map (some sort of epic arena battle), and rework certain areas a bit lot (SSG secret in particular) and, of course, implement skill levels. I hope you people are not tired of playtesting my map over and over again (i, honestly, am tired a bit). :)

rileymartin said:

I tested UV to make sure the last area is beatable in both GLBoom+ and GZDoom.

Feel free to post your strategy in a demo.

lil'devil said:

Thank you, i'll watch that as soon as i get home.

Well, i've decided that i will update the map again. I think i should make a more climactic ending to the map (some sort of epic arena battle), and rework certain areas a bit lot (SSG secret in particular) and, of course, implement skill levels. I hope you people are not tired of playtesting my map over and over again (i, honestly, am tired a bit). :)

I think having the SSG as a non-secret and tuning up the fights slightly is the better way to go here if you want the weapon in your map. I'm not a fan of secret weapons that drastically change the gameplay depending on whether you find them or not.

TimeOfDeath said:

Feel free to post your strategy in a demo.

Well, part of the fun is figuring out the encounters. I wouldn't want to do the good people a disservice by spoiling the experience. ;)

I updated my Map "The Nephilim" cause i found a bug. The Chaingunner left to the red key stucked in the ceiling. The Link didnt change :)

greentiger's map: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9cpygwo6gcuejh7/doom2map01-luckygreentiger.zip?dl=0

MAP01 : CONFOUNDING
Single player: yes
Multi-player: yes
Deathmatch: yes but minimal support

ZDoom compat

@TimeOfDeath Incase you don't check doomworld blogs too often ; Lildevil and CheckaAgent are the same person, so only list one of them as a mapper. (Prefably Lildevil, since that one submitted a map)

joe-ilya said:

Lildevil and CheckaAgent are the same person, so only list one of them as a mapper. (Prefably Lildevil, since that one submitted a map)

Oh, really? Didn't knew that! Why he/she/it have a double account here?

walter confalonieri said:

Oh, really? Didn't knew that! Why he/she/it have a double account here?

To shitpost more, remember that "DoomHater" not too recently at the picture thread? It was ChekaAgent as well.

My map is ready for testing.

Map name: Infernal Tower
File Name: tower_v5.wad
Format: ZDoom, tested in Zandronum and ZDaemon.
Song: Mars, Bringer of War from Holst's The Planets, sequencer unknown

Screenshots (old):

Changelog:Downloads:
Latest version: tower_v5.wad
Old Versions:
tower_v4.wad
tower_v3.wad
tower_v1.wad
tower_v2.wad
The txt file is inside the wad as a WADINFO lump because the wad hosting site I am using doesn't allow zip files.

I'd consider this a release candidate, but that doesn't mean that changes can't happen.

eh why not, i most likely can have somthing nice ready by then

Empyre said:

Format: ZDoom, tested in Zandronum and ZDaemon.

This wad is broken in zdoom after version 2.5.0 (I tested 260, 271, 281). I don't know if you want to change it, but the way it is now it will be treated as a different format than just "zdoom".

TimeOfDeath said:

This wad is broken in zdoom after version 2.5.0 (I tested 260, 271, 281). I don't know if you want to change it, but the way it is now it will be treated as a different format than just "zdoom".

Fixed: tower_v2.wad, assuming that you were talking about being unable to leave the first building.

I'm not an experienced mapper but I can try something, I'm interested.

I'm signing out, probably won't make a map because of my small personal project.

rileymartin said:

Well, part of the fun is figuring out the encounters. I wouldn't want to do the good people a disservice by spoiling the experience. ;)

Cut it, this is a perfectly valid request, and if you're going to back off then you can't stand behind any claims about your map being balanced and fine-tuned and therefore make your potential good reputation (if it's ever going to be established in the first place) suffer a heavy blow. By providing a demo, you provide a clear proof of your words and thus push all complaints into the realm of subjective preferences which is totally fine; and those interested in figuring out the ecnounters on their own are under no obligation to watch it.

@rileymartin
After playing through your map here are my thoughts starting with part 1 (everything before the giant arena) and then part 2 (arena fight).

Part 1:
1. I dont feel ammo starved. You can handle the cacos and PEs in multiple ways so that was fun.

2. I found I skipped the line which is supposed to raise the cyb guarding the tele to the bfg/rsk a LOT.

I found this part of the map fun and fast paced.


Part 2:

I felt there is an rng element to the first section to this fight which may make running it annoying. I didn't practice the strategy I used to win so I would not rule out the possibility that rng would get iron'd out with practice. The fight this most reminded me of was a secret encounter in Dark Tartarus map05 (room starts with MMs and then cybs lower around outer most edges of room). The only reason I really think of this fight more than anythign else was because cyb rockets were the primary source of my demise. There is a max for Dark Tartarus map05 so I think this should be ok?

When getting to the PE cloud I had around 1300 cells to play around with (number includes cells I already picked up) and prolly close to 150 rockets. I ran out of both. Resorted to using ssg and chaingun to kill the remaining PEs. I didnt have the ammo to kill the MM at the exit switch (unless there were cells or something I missed at the top of the pyramid). I completed the PE section first try without breaking a sweat.


Pretty chaotic slaughter map I would say. I think the beginning was the most fun though.

Thanks for making the map!

Thanks for the feedback Killer5! I have an updated version of the map that I'll upload a bit later with some changes to the slaughter fight to hopefully make it more fun and reduce the RNG/improve the ammo aspect.

Map

Office By Night

Music

can't find the last slice of cake.mid from jmickle66666666s midi pack two

Media





Complete Gallery

Notes

Use ZDoom or GZDoom and the supplied cc4falls.wad when playing.

Looking good Pinchy. Really digging that custom city background.

Demonologist: Dead of Night
Starting area: ah, OK, so this is what the title is about. The Twilight II! A map inspired by one of my favourite Plutonia maps. The theme is more or less the same (lots of blood & metal), however, in Dead of Night the player has much more space to move around, so the map looked much easier at first. I dropped to the red key area without the rocket launcher, this was really the first intense combat (no camping possible), but I was lucky and I survived. I repeat: I was lucky. The map is not easy at all, looks nice (classic style) and plays well, also, there are many ways to play it.
Visually I really liked the imps / supply room (with a drop to the red key area): this wooden texture wasn't used in Plutonia's MAP15, but works well as a contrasting/complementing texture. And the wooden floor was there in the original.

Memfis: Memfis
This was surprising. I play without the HUD, so no info about the monster count, but judging from the beginning, I thought the map would be medium-smallish. And here the surprise: it is really vast, with plenty of verticality. Looks like a competent nineties map, I only read the .txt about inspiration after finishing the map, I thought initially it was inspired by Mr.Monti's works (which I don't know so well), but no. Also, at times I sensed NaturalTvventy's vibe (sector 290, Hell Knight switch with thin pillars).

Anyway, the map played like an adventure and I was in the right exploring mood, so I really enjoyed it. Some cool lift setups, in big areas the monster placement is a bit random, but in tight areas it felt really clever. A hell knight and a baron in the second zig-zag was my favourite. A shame about texture alignment, though. I'm not a perfectionist myself, but these marbles - linedefs 2458-2470 etc. are awful.

In my map, Infernal Tower, linked in this post, is anybody experiencing fps lag, and if so, where? Are you seeing weird effects in the sprites in the first building? Are there too many monsters? Too few? I need feedback to perfect the map (or at least improve it), so I asking for your help.

Empyre said:

In my map, Infernal Tower, linked in this post, is anybody experiencing fps lag, and if so, where? Are you seeing weird effects in the sprites in the first building? Are there too many monsters? Too few? I need feedback to perfect the map (or at least improve it), so I asking for your help.

Alright, I played through your map m8 and can give some feedback. FPS lag is most noticeable in the central tower area with all the green bridges going across. Didn't notice any weird sprite effects. Now, the gameplay is very strange, especially the weapon progression. There is basically infinite ammo for every weapon and only 156 enemies. The order weapons are acquired in is weird too since you grab a Plasma Rifle before the Chaingun or SSG and can spam it on everything. The outdoor area and making your way into the tower is pretty good but then the climb is highly repetitive and follows a climb stairs > melt a room with a few enemies with Plasma > cross bridge. The combat is very easy considering how well-armed you are and the amount of health and armour everywhere. The top section with the flesh looks quite cool but I don't think the Invul Sphere is needed at all as the monster density there is very low and it's trivial to BFG spam everything down. I did like the effect showing the exit bars lowering after flipping the eye switches.

I would suggest heavily rebalancing the weapon/ammo/overall difficulty progression. I mean, you grab the Rocket Launcher half-way up the tower but there are something like 300+ rockets that can be acquired below before. The visuals could also use some shadows/sector lighting since I didn't see much/any light level variation.

I excessive ammo is there because I hate running out of or low on ammo, so I make sure that never happens on my maps. You get rocket ammo before you get the launcher in case you were playing continuously and have a launcher from an earlier map.

The only thing I can think of to do about lag in the tower is to add a wall around the stairs so you can't see outside except through the front door. It won't look as cool, but it would reduce lag.

The repetitive rooms is the price I pay for having the cool criss-crossing bridges which is the map's gimmick. I will add more monsters but that will make it less easy, but still repetitive. I will also add more monsters in the final arena.

You can accomplish that by giving enough ammo to kill the monsters twice over. There's no real gameplay difference between having twice as much ammo as you need and ten+ times as much, because no one is running out in either case. There is a big aesthetic difference, however. The latter will look quite silly to most players.

FDA recorded in GZDoom 2.2: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ehvh5vu7p26uvq8/towerv2_demo.lmp?dl=0

Anyway, I thought the design itself was quite cool. Those interlacing 3D bridges must have taken a while to build.