Jimmy Posted December 24, 2017 (edited) I will make no bones about it. Kaitlyn Anne Fox was my best friend. Better than anyone I've ever known IRL. She taught me how to love and care for a human being going through an appalling personal life, and was incredibly helpful and supportive in return, in spite of everything she was going through. And now she's gone. Her sudden departure has punched a hole in my soul. The community has lost a beautiful imagination and an undeniable talent. I have no hope in eternity of giving a fitting tribute to her and everything that she did for me, her other friends, and the community at large - she had twice the capability of modding Doom in fun and zany ways in her little finger than I had in my whole body - but I suppose I can try. Therefore, here is a collection of small maps that I made for her, on three separate occasions, that I am officially releasing here as Project: Kate. I know it's nothing much, and scarcely makes up for the enormity of her loss, but it's really the best I can do right now. Putting this together has sort of helped me to deal with the grief, in a weird way. During the course of the 5 years that I came to know her personally, I made maps for her birthday on two occasions - these are the first two maps. She was always a bit funny about receiving gifts, so maddeningly I never got any definitive answer as to whether these were actually appropriate or not. But she enjoyed Doom, clearly, as she kept on playing it to the very end. I just find it such a shame that she grew so distant from the community. The third map in this set was made after her passing. An outpouring of emotion went into this map's creation, and it may be a bit "heavy", for want of a better word, especially for those who were at all close to her. Just a warning there, I guess. Below is the download. I have many people to thank for the resources I used herein: CREDITS: Jimmy - maps, MAP02 MIDI (CREDITS file in the pk3 says MAP01 MIDI, this is inaccurate) Baratus - MAP01 map layout supermatt314 - MAP01 MIDI (original song "Smile" by Daniel Ingram) stewboy - MAP03 MIDI Mechadon - MAP03 skies AD_79 - palette Fuzzball - new color for menu and message fonts rf` - Rainbow Laser sprites/code MTrop - base sprite for birthday candles zrrion the insect - medikit and stimpack (berserk recolor by Jimmy) NiGHTMARE - additional textures Cage - additional textures Cloud textures retrieved from this page. Kate Fox - for KATEA0, the RAINBLU texture, and for inspiring and supporting me and many others for so many years. I love you so much. DOWNLOAD: Download Project: Kate. (v1.1) (3.2MB)Dropbox MirrorGZDoom required. Demos/videos welcome. Just please don't use mods that break the gameplay. I'm not looking for livestreams. Name: Project: Kate Map Formats: Boom (MAP01), UDMF (MAP02-03) Ports Tested: GZDoom IWAD: Doom 2 Map(s): MAP01-MAP03 Gameplay: Single player/co-op Difficulty Settings: Yes Multiplayer Placement: No Build Time: Perhaps a week (or two) of mapping in total Requirements: No jumping, no crouching, no freelook - all disabled ===== THE MAPS: MAP01: Grand Galloping Garden Introduction to the general visual style I opted for. Was made for a birthday of hers back in 2015. I have my brother Baratus to thank for the basic layout, and ravagefox for the new weapon, which he made specially for this map. As for this map's name and midi choice, well, she loved the new MLP show, what can I say. A fully Boom-compatible map (including its ending sequence - done through DEHACKED) that I couldn't be bothered to convert to UDMF. Find the CACOMANY easter egg. (not that it's easy to miss) MAP02: The Heart Pad I also made this for her birthday - this one is from 2014. I stayed up all night to work on this. The music is something special I made for it as well. MAP03: For a Fallen Fox Made after her passing. The last map in this set, it was made for the recent Abyssal Speedmapping Session 32, which occurred the day after I heard the news. I wanted to get something done in the 2(-and-a-bit) hours that I had allotted, which I could then flesh out later. This turned out to be a Boom map that I then repurposed for UDMF, but have kept the nojump, nocrouch and nofreelook restrictions (these now run through the whole mapset). This map plays a little weirdly, yes. Believe me, every little design decision is intentional. From the arena geometry, to the lack of medikits, to the final fight, to the secret message secluded away in a private room. This is every bit my tribute to her. ===== IN CLOSING: I would just like to say that I fucking love this community. This last week has been the toughest time of my entire life. You've all been so supportive throughout this absolutely wretched time for me and her other closest companions, BouncyTEM especially, who has fallen upon the worst circumstances I can even begin to imagine. Have yourselves the most positive and reassuring 2018 imaginable, and let it be a year of recovery from the grief and strife that this spectacularly dismal year has brought about. And hug your loved ones this holiday season. Life is precious. Rest in peace, my sweet Kate. I already miss you like nothing else. I don't know when I'll stop dedicating my work to you. I loved you. I still do. I love you so fucking much. Edited February 15, 2018 by Jimmy 73 Share this post Link to post
Fletcher` Posted December 24, 2017 Stay strong and keep being awesome and helpful to everyone as you always do, and you'll keep her memory alive. I'll give these a playthrough when I get home. 6 Share this post Link to post
⇛Marnetmar⇛ Posted December 24, 2017 (edited) This post made me tear up. I'll play it as soon as I can. 3 Share this post Link to post
Nine Inch Heels Posted December 24, 2017 (edited) .-*EDIT*-. -> Some, or all of these demos may be outdated and will desync due to some recent updates to the maps! I hope somebody likes watching these demos. They're not great, but I chose to post them anyway, because it's all I can really do at the moment, and I just wanted to do something. -GZDoom 3.2.4 required- Map01:ProjectKate01_UVspd_NIH_59.zip ProjectKate01_UVmax_NIH_148.zip Map02: ProjectKate02_UVspd_NIH_102.zip ProjectKate02_UVmax_NIH_230.zip Map03: ProjectKate03_NIH_352.zip All these can easily be improved on, if somebody wants. I didn't manage to max map03, because I do not have it in me to replay that map as much as I'd need to at the moment. Perhaps I'll try again later. I wish I could do something more for you, Jimmy, and everybody else who is going through this just like you are. Edited December 29, 2017 by Nine Inch Heels 3 Share this post Link to post
Yugiboy85 Posted December 25, 2017 I did not know kate, be it irl or even online BUT, it is still saddening to lose someone from this wonderful community :( This is beautiful jimmy, stay strong and remember that we will always be there for you. I will play this later, i dont think ill be able to write up a review or something but, i will still play through it ;) May kate rest in piece. 1 Share this post Link to post
Jimmy Posted December 27, 2017 v1.1 of this has been uploaded, and this is the version that will go on the Doomworld database. Download Project: Kate. (v1.1) (3.2MB)Dropbox Mirror I didn't keep a changelog and quite frankly don't have the strength. If you play this at all, please play this version. Thanks. 4 Share this post Link to post
Jimmy Posted December 27, 2017 God damn it I swear every time I upload something I find a problem with the map(s). Just hotfixed v1.1, same download. All it does is change a couple of torches in MAP03 to be blue instead, since the palette change makes the dynamic lights look dumb if you have them on. Sorry. 0 Share this post Link to post
SuaveSteve Posted December 29, 2017 Nice looking maps. What exactly must I do in map 3 after the archvile fight? I'm stuck. Was I suppose to archvile jump out? 0 Share this post Link to post
Nine Inch Heels Posted December 29, 2017 9 minutes ago, SuaveSteve said: Was I suppose to archvile jump out? Yes. Gotta use the invul to press the two switches on those "ledges", then kill off the viles and imps in the centre. 0 Share this post Link to post
Obsidian Posted December 30, 2017 1 hour ago, NaturalTvventy said: Who was Kate? A member of the ZDoom forums well known for being an inventive modder and all-round good person. Beyond that I couldn't tell you, as I didn't know her all that well. 0 Share this post Link to post
Xaser Posted December 30, 2017 (edited) 1 hour ago, NaturalTvventy said: Who was Kate? She was mostly active on ZDoom-land and had kinda ducked out of the community a few years back, but she was super-close friends with a few folks here (myself included). More info here. I realize I hadn't commented on this publicly yet, but even independent of the backstory, this is a great set of maps. MAP03 is pretty durn tricky gameplaywise, but fittingly so. And once you add in the rest, this is just... exactly correct. Thank you so much once more, sir Jimmysir, for making this. :D 5 Share this post Link to post