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Ol' Scratch

[BETA RELEASE] large oldschool single wad

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Pretty much done, just touching up some aesthetic things. Uses only stuff from the original doom2.wad, and shoots for the feel of the original, though I was unable to resist being slightly more detailed in a few of the ways allowed by doombuilder and Zdoom (I started this map using Doomcad in 1998). Please use Zdoom or better, as some of the rooms are too big and walls too close together for Vanilla.

 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6B9k9j54oGvNi1OalFYOGZHeEk


Screenshot_Doom_20170614_180631.png.ba44687eb7092134baaa134421b8dc76.pngScreenshot_Doom_20170614_185219.png.846374303d32463f769d60412284e796.pngScreenshot_Doom_20170623_123318.png.f3f00f270f005caa8f5dc58a708082b1.pngScreenshot_Doom_20170623_123925.png.77b26442f83f1868b8ef6e79c2747b79.pngScreenshot_Doom_20170623_124025.png.89305d4bec465b3e02ec429947673c6e.pngScreenshot_Doom_20170623_163120.png.c1df7b420a2defad137fa0ce3a182592.png

 

I'd be very grateful for any feedback by players of any skill level! So far the only testers have been me and my enthusiastic but very unskilled IRL friends. In particular I'm curious about the flow- when I designed this level I was obsessed with non-linearity, and many of my tweaks in the last few years have been aimed at preserving that and a puzzly feel while reducing frustration and confusion. So please let me know if you get stuck or if anything's too unintuitive, but really any feedback of any sort is appreciated.

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I was asked to review this, so here we go! This is in no particular order, just notes as I remember them.

 

First off, I didn't even come close to finding all 32 secrets. Even with a number of computer maps available, I think I might've found only half of them between by playthroughs. I'm not much of a secret-minded player, so grabbing even half of them might be considered decent: that said, a number of apparent secrets weren't all that enticing anyway (four backpacks?) and I think it's probably quite possible to complete the whole thing without finding even one. Most are pick-me-ups (e.g., supercharges) in case prior combat didn't go so well, and there are a couple cases of grabbing weapons faster than non-secret progression but not often in ways that work well (e.g., early rocket launcher but the next section is too cramped to use it). Then again, I only found half so I could be completely wrong about a lot of this.

 

The intended non-linearity of the level is quite apparent, as there is no obvious "way to go" for most of the map and routes that skip a section or two. On the other hand, in spite of using all three keys for various functions, the player ultimately has to collect them in a strict progression (yellow > red > blue) which lends itself to some superfluous handling:

  • The multikeyed pillar section can be done with yellow only but blue is required before that's relevant
  • There's a red door near the mastermind that is to my knowledge impossible to reach without already having the red key
  • The first key-door pairing exists in a straight path from one to the other; as this section is eventually blocked off entirely, this could simply be replaced with a switch that opens the door (there's exactly one other use for the key in this section and would work just as sensibly with the same switch)
  • It's possible to stumble past the first step in red key progression (revealing the bluelight barrel room), only to be locked out just after it anyway

I'm not saying any of these are necessarily problem areas to be addressed, only inconsistencies in the supposed nonlinear design. A curious player will choose to explore as much as they can regardless, and if others are fine playing through once having only discovered a quarter of it, that's their choice all the same. A major concern in nonlinearity is resource placement, such that the player not be left defenseless later on because of simple guesses earlier.

 

The very first section feels disjointed from the rest of the map (basically everything leading up to the yellow key), not in the sense of it being poor quality but aesthetically dissimilar. Perhaps you're going for a techbase-into-hell theme, but the mood swing is stark in between.

 

Warning icons are brilliant, definitely my favorite inclusion in the map. You may want to consider making their status more apparent early on so that the first time isn't a certain death, but other than that it's an incredibly standout quirk that I'll remember for a long time to come. Their associated setpiece is also probably the highlight of the map and appropriately adds anxiety to the section.

 

The first Archvile on UV (just after collecting the blue key) is in a room where it's entirely possible (this happened on my first playthrough) to kill it without activating any of the reveal monsters. At the time it was a disappointing battle, especially since it's the first usage of the SSG: having understood how it could have played out, I recommend increasing the scope of what triggers the reveal, maybe even changing to linedef triggers via monster so they're bound to happen relatively quickly between reveals. You could probably afford to make the enemies a little harder there, too, like a couple extra revenants.

 

Although I mentioned I've played through the map a couple times, I haven't been able to finish it: no idea what you're supposed to do about the barrels. On one occasion they exploded earlier than they were probably supposed to (might have been due to rocket splash). Am I supposed to be able to walk over them? (I was using infinite actor height at the time.)

 

Anyway, all in all an interesting map that plays very differently from the modern mode, one that I had fun with. A little cramped at times but it fits the ambience you were going for.

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Thanks! I really appreciate your time and comments. The key/switch issue is something I've been thinking about already, will stew on that some more and try to make it make more sense, this could entail some large fundamental changes.

 

Yes, the barrels are designed to be walked over. If you made it to the barrels, that was basically the end- the barrels are my way of making sure you can't exit without first killing the spider demon (although it is just barely possible to get the immortality to last long enough to blow them up and exit quickly, which was unintentional but I think is cool enough to keep in), so you did essentially beat it. I had not considered infinite-height actors, so thanks for bringing this to my attention. One of my goals is to make the wad function regardless of options (jump, crouch), so I will rework the end to make sure it works with infinite height actors as well.

 

I'll be working on everything else you mentioned, but I can't seem to find the red door near the mastermind- are you talking about the "gate" surrounding the teleporter in the rock cave by the slime waterfall?

 

And I have one more question- other than the barrels at the end, did you ever feel stuck or frustratingly confused? Like the natural flow of the level led you into a cul-de-sac or loop?

 

Also let me know if there's a way I can return the favor- do you map as well? I can't tell you how gratifying it is to receive real feedback from an experienced player.

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On 7/20/2017 at 1:16 PM, Ol' Scratch said:

One of my goals is to make the wad function regardless of options (jump, crouch), so I will rework the end to make sure it works with infinite height actors as well.

Heights aside, I didn't see anything that seemed particularly non-vanilla (other than static limitations). In fact I played through Crispy Doom and the only things that didn't seem to work were near the very end of the level: the wall bisecting the mastermind room (by the exit teleporter) never rose; and the switch that's supposed to open the area with the barrels refused to work. Tuning the map so it works in multiple ports would likely be considered a plus around here, as yours nearly seems to fit what is often called "limit-removing" (aka vanilla methods but irrespective of map size, enemy count, etc). That said, if you attempt said tuning and it ends up being far more work than anticipated, I would say don't worry about it unless you plan a similar approach with your next map.

 

On 7/20/2017 at 1:16 PM, Ol' Scratch said:

I'll be working on everything else you mentioned, but I can't seem to find the red door near the mastermind- are you talking about the "gate" surrounding the teleporter in the rock cave by the slime waterfall?

My mistake: when you go up the pillar elevator towards the mastermind, near the end of the level, the door opposite from the one you exit appears to require the red key, without actually requiring it. Possibly an artifact from a previous iteration, but either way it's potentially confusing (even if, as mentioned before, there's no way to get there without the red key).

 

On 7/20/2017 at 1:16 PM, Ol' Scratch said:

And I have one more question- other than the barrels at the end, did you ever feel stuck or frustratingly confused? Like the natural flow of the level led you into a cul-de-sac or loop?

For a non-linear level, I wouldn't say I felt especially confused: you have to pay attention at parts ("where did I need this key?") but otherwise it seemed okay. The arena toward the end took me a while to find progression, but seeing as there's little else to do it didn't require much effort to search around. (It might be more confusing and/or breakable with freelook though, due to the shootable switch.)

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Now Crispy compatible! Should not be broken by any particular set of play options (please let me know if you find an exception to this so I can fix it). Also all around spruced up, thanks to some fine suggestions and feedback from the community.

 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6B9k9j54oGvbjZfMDdTS01TNTg

 

Screenshot_Doom_20170727_213646.png.8035466aabf4f4b87bb230f2ccaa937b.pngScreenshot_Doom_20170727_213554.png.59b1762bd6f2faf78db5e65f815637ea.png

 

 

 

Please try it out and tell me what you think! I'd love some more feedback, particularly on difficulty and ammo placement, though all types are appreciated.

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