[Boom/Doom 2] Techbase 69666 (Feedback/Criticism Please!)

WAD Title: Techbase 69666

Intro: I haven't made anything Doom-related in at least 15 years. Although I only ever shared my creations within my gaming circle, WADs/Mods used to be a huge creative outlet for me. I love the limitations of the Doom engine, I find them inspiring. So here I am, I'm back at it and made a Doom thing. While fully playable, this is a work in progress. With your help, I hope to polish this thing off into a decent finished WAD soon. Any feedback and/or criticism on my comeback WAD would be great. Don't hold back, I can take it.

Quick Overview/Features:

• Doom 2 IWAD (MAP01)
• Built from scratch (including assets)
• Compatible/tested with GZDoom (g3.1.0), prboom+/glboom+ (2.5.1.4). Boom-compatible source ports should be OK.
• Mouselook and jumping are not required (but won't break anything either, I like mouselook)
• 1 huge map containing a minimum of 35 minutes of single player, vanilla-flavored gameplay (as well as 35 secrets)
• ~200 brand new custom/hand-made textures/flats (in both 24bit PNG and Doom-Paletted 8bit formats)
• A few new sprites (and a new weapon with embedded dehacked patch and sfx)
• Previously unheard/"official" MIDI versions of songs off of progressive/instrumental metal band Divinex's latest album, "Create. Affect. Repeat."

Logline:

Screenshots (I had ketchup on for these, oops):

Download Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/pzdhmqjj05syr4w/TB69666.wad?dl=1

The screenshots in the post above show the 24bit textures in action (running in GZDoom specifically, but glboom+ would look similar). I figured I'd share what the map looks like in other ports too.

Doom Palette Screenshots (prboom+):

I'll take a look tommorrow, it looks promising. Maybe I'll record demo on prboom+ if I'll find time for it. Also, this wad is created on boom format or limit removing format? It's quite confusing for me. Quick tip: you can change download link ending dl=0 into dl=1, so file will be downloaded automatically. 

48 minutes ago, Myst.Haruko said:

Also, this wad is created on boom format or limit removing format? It's quite confusing for me.

My understanding of source port terminology is spotty. Here's what I can tell you:

- I used boom stuff: SWITCHES/ANIMATED lumps

- The map contains over 36,000 linedefs (for example), so I think whatever port used needs to be limit removing.

If I am being confusing/redundant, I apologize. What would be a better way to explain compatibility in this situation?

Edit: I did a little more reading and I believe that this would be considered just "boom compatible." Sorry for the confusion

48 minutes ago, Myst.Haruko said:

Quick tip: you can change download link ending dl=0 into dl=1, so file will be downloaded automatically. 

Thanks and done.

Very nice map. Big and confusing. Someone may think that the maps are too large and complex in structure, too tiresome\quickly get bored, but not for me. I like challenging levels. The moments when I was lost and did not know where to go was a lot, but exploring the map, I always without much effort found the right way. I noticed that there was a shortage of health items. Their location literally has to be remembered, and from time to time player needs to return for them. Even with my not-so-perfect playing style, I was not even killed at the first pass. 35 secrets? I found quite a bit ...

The gameplay is quite dynamic, but it is replaced by calm moments with research. Remember episodes, when suddenly nose to nose, you meet a whole crowd of opponents. We have to retreat sharply, change weapons, inevitably make mistakes. All this has a positive effect on the gameplay, making it unpredictable and diverse. The level structure is very branchy and compact, you never know where the enemy will come from. And yes, I'm going through the map for over an hour. 35 minutes, really? :D

The visuals created by the new textures came in handy, but still there is too much gray in it. Perhaps, he would have looked more diverse, being diluted with dark metal. The architecture of the hellish location is done brightly and successfully, but ... too little. I was hoping to run around the full hell in such scenery.

  First Demo Attempt 1 h 12 mins, GZDoom 2.4.0

In my collection:

- Visuals (4 / 5)
- Detailing (5 / 5)
- Gameplay (4 / 5)
- Atmosphere (4 / 5)
- Difficulty (3 / 5)

- Overall Rating (4 / 5)

Great start. Not everyone starts with such good maps. Good luck in the future!

@StormCatcher.77 I have question, why you still use Gzdoom 2.4.0 for demo recordings if newest version of that port is already in 3.0.2? I'm just curious, no harm mean. 

@Myst.Haruko I don't know why stormcatcher does it, but I also still use GZDoom 2.4 because it was the last stable port I downloaded before 3.x.x came out, which seemed to have some problems. Since setting up folders, and copying files, and setting up the controls, and writing .bats for demos takes a bit of time, I thought I'd save myself the effort and wait for when an upgrade would become a necessity for me personally, which has not yet happened.

@Myst.Haruko

In fact, everything is simple: I'm too lazy to follow the updates ... This works - and OK. :3

I did not think that it's really uncomfortable, to have a bunch of versions, just to watch demos.

It's good that you reminded me. I will update now (otherwise, I will forget again ...)

7 hours ago, StormCatcher.77 said:

Very nice map. Big and confusing. Someone may think that the maps are too large and complex in structure, too tiresome\quickly get bored, but not for me. I like challenging levels. The moments when I was lost and did not know where to go was a lot, but exploring the map, I always without much effort found the right way. I noticed that there was a shortage of health items. Their location literally has to be remembered, and from time to time player needs to return for them. Even with my not-so-perfect playing style, I was not even killed at the first pass. 35 secrets? I found quite a bit ...

 

The gameplay is quite dynamic, but it is replaced by calm moments with research. Remember episodes, when suddenly nose to nose, you meet a whole crowd of opponents. We have to retreat sharply, change weapons, inevitably make mistakes. All this has a positive effect on the gameplay, making it unpredictable and diverse.

I appreciate this in-depth analysis, I think you are describing what I wanted the player to get out of playing this map. I wanted a large, sprawling (but logical), diverse environment that evokes a bit of exploration, paired with interesting enemy encounters. I may need to work on the "logical" part to minimize the amount of time the player feels lost, but I'm glad that you felt that it wasn't too hard to get back on track.

Ramping up the difficulty is tough for me to balance, I'm pretty bad at Doom. I tried to create something that was beatable for a player like me, but right at the edge of my skill level. I tested everything primarily on HMP difficulty, any suggestions for making the map more difficult to a seasoned player on UV would be super helpful.

7 hours ago, StormCatcher.77 said:

The level structure is very branchy and compact, you never know where the enemy will come from. And yes, I'm going through the map for over an hour. 35 minutes, really? :D

Haha, the 35 minute mark was the fastest I was able to get through the thing without collecting any secrets or sneaking through one of the secret shortcut paths. Most of my runs were ~39-45 minutes, but I know where everything is.

7 hours ago, StormCatcher.77 said:

The visuals created by the new textures came in handy, but still there is too much gray in it. Perhaps, he would have looked more diverse, being diluted with dark metal. The architecture of the hellish location is done brightly and successfully, but ... too little. I was hoping to run around the full hell in such scenery.

Yeah, you're speaking to one of my concerns here. I was finding it difficult to balance a bleak/concrete research facility environment with more diversity in texturing/color on the walls. I tried to spruce it up with beams, posters, signage, etc. on the walls, but really, 60% of the map may be overly built out of slabs of concrete. This is something I want to dig into and see if I can come up with some kind of solution in the coming weeks. Mixing in some more dark metal is a great suggestion, thank you! In terms of the Hell environment, I was initially planning on building it out into an "exploreable" section, but after dumping hours into this thing every day for the last month and a half, I kind of just ran out of steam. What I've got there does look cool though, huh? Haha.

7 hours ago, StormCatcher.77 said:

  First Demo Attempt 1 h 12 mins, GZDoom 2.4.0

Watching this demo is very illuminating, I can start to parse out what progression paths need a little extra highlighting to point the player where to go next. Unfortunately my crappy computer decided to lock up 1/3rd of the way through and I couldn't watch the entire thing. I'll have to make other arrangements to finish the demo. Thank you so much for recording it though, this is extremely helpful!

7 hours ago, StormCatcher.77 said:

In my collection:

 

- Visuals (4 / 5)
- Detailing (5 / 5)
- Gameplay (4 / 5)
- Atmosphere (4 / 5)
- Difficulty (3 / 5)

 

- Overall Rating (4 / 5)

 

Great start. Not everyone starts with such good maps. Good luck in the future!

Thanks for the generous rating! While this isn't actually my first map, it's my first map in many years so I have a bit of a leg up on other newcomers. Hopefully with some further tweaks, I can get this thing closer to a 5/5. Thanks for giving this map a spin!

10 hours ago, StormCatcher.77 said:

  First Demo Attempt 1 h 12 mins, GZDoom 2.4.0

I was able to watch this demo. For the most part you progressed through the level in the way I had intended, which is awesome! I don't think you were as lost as you felt that you were. There were 3 spots where you appeared a little more lost than I was comfortable with, I'll summarize them in the spoiler tag below. Don't feel obligated, the demo itself is already extremely invaluable, but any suggestions to make these points clearer would be super helpful.

Awkward spots:

I also noticed that half of my dehacked patch was not working, I fixed it and updated the link in my original post. It was minor stuff (incorrect text displayed when items were picked up, and the new weapon is supposed to be way more powerful than what you were dealt. Props for completing the level regardless). I also noticed a missing monster or 2, since my testing on UV has not been as rigorous as HMP. I re-added them, but watching your playthrough has given me a few more ideas to beef up one of the level sections. I hope to get to that done over the next few days. Again, thank you for recording this! SUPER HELPFUL!

this has multiplayer features. Will host this tonight.

Just now, grrfield said:

this has multiplayer features. Will host this tonight.

 

Yes! I put some spawns in for coop, but you may still find the balance is off. Multiplayer is completely untested.

we'll see (if i get visitors ofc). I will have my share of the fun anywayz.

but i'm watching a football game at the same time, lol

anyway, this looks good, but my pi is having some trouble with the enemy count

no visitors, no wonder, you changed it

Consider uploading this level to /idgames/ archive once all bugs/glitches/quirks have been worked out just so your fabulous level has a more permanent hosting spot.

41 minutes ago, Glaice said:

Consider uploading this level to /idgames/ archive once all bugs/glitches/quirks have been worked out just so your fabulous level has a more permanent hosting spot.

And then UV Max will be open.

17 hours ago, Glaice said:

Consider uploading this level to /idgames/ archive once all bugs/glitches/quirks have been worked out just so your fabulous level has a more permanent hosting spot.

Will do! Thanks for the suggestion!