Your "dream" project that you've abandoned

Time is not an issue. Just wait until retirement!

i'm always starting new Doom 1 episode ideas... here's details on the last few I gave up on:

"Halo" - a set where I was gonna complain about being buried under brand names, demographic terms people wear proudly as badges, ubiquitous celebrities who impinge on yr brainspace without doing anything positive for you, etc, etc... I had a resource pack full of company logos and tomb raider textures I stole out of a minecraft mod. would have been an extension of Sheer Poison with elon musk returning as the main villain, would probably have put his face on every crusher in the set. levels completed: none lol

"first seven sins" - wanted to use the stock Doom 1 textures to make really uncomfortable and oppressive levels, not super-hard but grindy and misleading, dark, weirdly curvy etc. the idea was to pack ideas about the classical seven sins into these levels and then posit some new ones, just made up words I'm trying to define with the shape and activities in the level. ITYTD/HNTR would have really obtuse routes around the level where you have to regularly fight boss monsters, be able to render the level unbeatable, generally making all the optional stuff in arcade-y difficulties mandatory here. I made one level for this and made Suitepee play it on stream and then lost track of the whole idea as usual. here it is, E3M1: http://aanaaanaaanaaana.net/drop/zerty1.wad

edit: speaking of imaginative Doom 1 works, i really admire NEIS actually coming out. i'm sort of inspired by that set to restart work on my own ideas. if only one level set got a Yakoward it would be that

The biggest thing has been a 6-map pack for Doom64 Ex, but apparently even single map wads are too much for me.

Impure Offering was originally meant to be a 3-map set (which is part of why it plays in the map 20 slot, I wanted a different sky for the other two maps).  The first map took so long to make (almost a year for one small map, ugh) that the other two (the first of which was planned to be a mostly pacifist map set in a black marble cathedral, the second of which was planned to be a Resistance is Futile/No Guts No Glory/Hell's Vendetta style "hallway/trench cleaner" slaughtermap) never saw fruition.

There's also these two unfinished things.

Finally, before releasing my first wad, Golachab, there was about a decade of stuff I abandoned because I didn't think it was good enough to release.

Nearly 20 years ago I started working on a TC based around the idea that Earth, or wherever, had been invaded by giant mutant vegetables. I guess I must have partially stolen this idea from Keen Dreams(?) The thought was that I could make a game that my then girlfriend would enjoy, by taking Doom and removing all the horrific imagery. So yeah; vegetables. I think I'd just about finished the frames for the mutant carrot before realising it was a dumb idea.

That said, I do still like the idea of taking Doom's mechanics and replacing its imagery with something less horrific - Nintendoising it, effectively - so I could then play it with my kid without worrying about messing them up.

Nearly 10years ago i worked on something called possest. I first made a alpha version which had 1 playable episode (7maps) which was lost to time,  i then went on to work on a Beta version which expanded greatly on the original idea. Unfortunately i lost all my data forcing me to abandon the project. However just recently i have mustered the motivation to work on the final version, an with my new skills in 3d and modding im hoping to resurrect the mod as a true Total conversion.

44 minutes ago, dobu gabu maru said:

And last was the Greek Tartarus, where the Opposer himself awaited the player in a magnificent stone castle.

Wait why are you fighting satan in the greek afterlife

Does hades know about this

Back in 2015, I got inspired by some "reality" maps. I decided to take the concept and morph it into a mapset consisted of short maps where the player only had 35hp. However, as usual, I lost interest and the 3 maps I started on never saw the light of day.

There was also this mapset that started as an E4 replacement for Ultimate Doom that I was going to work on with an_mutt, the map I had started was getting all complicated and out of my control. You can see what's left of my map here, or you can go play mutt's map that was being made for this here.

Back in the mid-90's, when I was first mapping (before my lengthy hiatus), I had a plan to make a megawad for Doom 1 (first 3 episodes, Thy Flesh Consumed hadn't been released yet). This was my goal.

I had drawn plans of the first 7 levels of episode 1 and started building them in DCK, but somehow the files got corrupted and I lost my work. Around that time, life and starting college and all caused me to lose track of Doom mapping. The farthest I ever got on any of this plan after that was a map for E3M7 that I would toy around with when I was home from college. Even that map has been lost, unless my aunt still has the computer that my parents gave her in 2001 or 2002 (and she hasn't deleted it).

The last time I was visiting my parents house (around New Year's), I wasn't able to find the legal pad that I used to plan the levels. (It was a long shot that I would be able to find it 23 years later.) I only remember bits and pieces of a couple of the maps, so it's not as if I could just rebuild the levels. I'd probably have different mapping sensibilities now as opposed to when I was a teen.

I don't know that I would call it a "dream" project, but I guess you can say that it's been abandoned.

One project in particular, or multiple? If the latter, know this: I can't count that high.

My "dream project" was destined to fail, a one man newbie megawad? Disastrous.

It was just a bunch of Boom compat maps planning to replace all 32, it'd go industrial to city to mountains/countryside with MAP30 being the opening to hell, MAP31 was a homage to 90's maps and MAP32 would be a Frankenstein of all my old maps as a throwback. It had a fairly generic title and initially really poor quality maps so I think that helped spooked off any real interest anyone had.

Around 2007 when I first discovered the Z-ports I came up with an idea for a project called Witness. It was intended to be an episode with a Metroid-style level layout centering around one of the scientists caught up in one of the demonic invasions and her attempt to escape the facility. It was intended to be more of a survival horror kind of deal with a greater emphasis on puzzles with her combat skills being much more limited than Doomguy's (obviously). It wasn't going to be huge, but it was ambitious with lots of cutscenes and NPC's and sidequests and an entire score done by myself and all sorts of other cool stuff. The problem was that I didn't actually have the skill or talent to pull something like that off, so I decided to do other projects first in order to learn the ins and outs of modding and scripting. One of those projects I'm still struggling to finish, actually (no prizes for guessing what THAT is :P) and is probably the main reason why this project never came to light.

That said, I did actually start work on Witness - I finished several character sprite sets and even the main character's player class with all of the weapons and reload animations, but other stuff ended up getting in the way and as I said I'm trying to instigate that final push over the line with current projects and failing dismally. Who knows, if I can finish Threshold II before I turn 40 I might find it in me to pick it up again, but if not, she's a playable character in the latest version of Shuffle, so it wasn't all for nought.

For me, this project became Complex 502 - Descent. This is my second map, the development of which I started immediately after Arrival. The first was in Doom format, I started a new one in Boom to try its features. Even when a significant part of the geometry was made, I decided to translate the project into GZDoom. First in Hexen format, then, (when its limits are exhausted) in UDMF. Launch very slowly, without any plan. In fact, this is a set of several maps stock that glued together. This project is a sandbox in which I studied and honed my first mapping and scripting skills. I was inspired by dobu gabu maru and Mechadon maps, and I wanted to make the project completely on standard textures. An original test for himself. The project had to be abandoned, because it took a very long time, and I was attracted to participating in community projects.

At the moment the map is divided into 2 parts, which I could not glue together due to the fact that GZDB crahses, when I try to do it. The map contains a lot of mistakes that any newbie mapper makes, but here they are still multiplied by a monstrous volume - 26557 sectors (10179 one part and 16378 second). The map is not as big as it seems (it's planned to play 1.5 hours of gameplay). This volume of the project gives an abundance of all the tables\chairs from the 3D-floors, copypasted everywhere ...

At the moment the project seems to me very contradictory. He don't looks like that "cool" as I wanted, and every time I come back to this I find myself thinking that many things need to be remade from scratch. This applies to places where FPS sags to 5-10, as well as all dynamic lighting globally. Each time, assessing the scope of work, I have no mood to continue developing ... If I do finish it, then I'll have to divide this map into 2 ...

By the way, the first piece of the level is ready. It's made the gameplay (about 30-40 minutes). I sent it for evaluation to several people, but I did not want to make a preliminary alpha release for everyone, so that people would appreciate the entire map. Now I'm interested in your opinion. Does it cost to standalone release a piece of unfinished map?

Also, one unnamed map that I was developing for DMP2016 but not finish it to deadline and abandoned too:

So many ideas, so little motivation. Get ready for the 129thVisplane Abandoned Dream Project Masterlist.
 

Currently I'm working on something that I hope I won't abandon so quick, but seeing as I can't map at all I'm not sure how to finish it myself. Rip. Knowing myself it'll probably end up in the trash just like all these other projects cuz I doubt I could handle a community project.

I discovered ZDoom in 2005, amazed by how such source port could handle many things in the game i tried to start my own ambitious megawad which, well more likely a Total Conversion, as what probably would happen to any unskilled person i just kept stuffing the project with everything nice i was finding around, nah i don't think i should explain the whole Doom Reinforced thing for the third time in the forums but here's the full story:

 

I cancelled it after finally seeing i was going nowhere with it as it was by 2011 in asset terms, but it helped my alot in evolve my mapping skills, i even tried to reboot the project again by starting Akzos City but afterall i lost interest and dropped the reboot few months later too:

Well... I guess the CTF spin-off, the reboot i tried to do and now this map recreation shows how much this was my dream project for Doom.

I wanted to do a sort of joke wad, where you're a lone imp fighting an onslaught of marines invading Hell.  The maps were gonna be like a hellish variant of Doom 2's MAP01 - MAP07, where marines are invading demonic temples, and eventually ending at a portal generator at Dead Simple.  Shut down the portal, no more marine invasion.  Woo.

I just never got around to it.  That and Dark World was released, so no point in doing a second one that would be seen as a ripoff.

Oh, an also finishing the last two episodes of Doom Gaiden.  It's just not gonna happen.  Sucks, since I had everything planned out.  Oh well.

This guy. Performance issues, aesthetics and gameplay I grew to dislike, drama, it all lead to its demise. I was pretty close to the end, too.

Love seeing all the WIP shots of stuff. The vile warp is super cool Soundblock.

4 hours ago, Eris Falling said:

God Save Me sounds like a really cool concept, satisfying the interest that many have in seeing Hell depicted in different ways. Seems like you could get a decent-sized WAD even with the filler cut out.

Yeah I don't mean to toot my own horn here but delving into mythology to look for gameplay ideas/locales and applying them to "ice hell"/"jungle hell"/"cave hell" themes isn't something you typically see in Doom. Unfortunately I'd rather spend my own time creating my own designs & lore than looking to religious texts for inspiration nowadays.

3 hours ago, Grain of Salt said:

Wait why are you fighting satan in the greek afterlife

The idea is that mankind's fears of the afterlife all kinda manifested in one realm, and Satan rules it because he's cool. The bigger problem is that I always envisioned a medieval British castle smack-dab in the middle of Tartarus :P

2 hours ago, StormCatcher.77 said:

By the way, the first piece of the level is ready. It's made the gameplay (about 30-40 minutes). I sent it for evaluation to several people, but I did not want to make a preliminary alpha release for everyone, so that people would appreciate the entire map. Now I'm interested in your opinion. Does it cost to standalone release a piece of unfinished map?

If the first part is done and you have no intention to finish the second half, then by all means you should definitely release it. I'm taking this approach with some of my projects this year, given that I don't know if I have the energy in me to see them to a satisfying conclusion any time soon.

2 hours ago, Zanieon said:

"Abandon cool maps"

Noooooo! Does that mean those cool maps pic in the picture thread will never be an actual map?

@Catpho Actually all of them are playable and released to the public, you can find all the links in the "About Me" Tab in my profile.

6 hours ago, dobu gabu maru said:

The Hell aspect was by far the thing I was most excited to design, as each layer was based off of a different religious afterlife. The first was the Mayan Xibalba, which would be a dark, gloomy, barren wasteland. The second was the Islamic Jahannam, which would be your typical "fire and brimstone" hellscape. The third was the Egyptian Duat, which would be a lush, forest-like area with strange trees and towns. The fourth was the Chinese Diyu, a cavernous maze with brutal traps. The fifth was the Norse Niflheim, which would see the player climbing a giant, frozen, treacherous ice mountain. And last was the Greek Tartarus, where the Opposer himself awaited the player in a magnificent stone castle. Each realm (barring Tartarus) would have three maps dedicated to it, and the gameplay styles would go from linear, to non-linear, to slaughter, in that order for each thematic episode.

Given the scale on which your individual maps tend to work, is there any reason you couldn't still do this as a much smaller project? For instance, seven large maps (Earth, Xibalba, Jahannam, Duat, Diyu, Niflheim, Tartarus)? Sorry, I love your work and I can't help but encourage you -- it sounds like a very cool idea.

Was working on an episode named "Maya" back in 2002 or 2003. One of the maps was this train station set in space on some spaceship and it was kind of a slaughtermap. I made all the train textures and unfortunately I accidentally deleted the texture wad and had to abandon the project. But some of the maps from this project became maps in bella.wad. Also there is a map I made for Doom Milennium I no longer have, was supposed to replace MAP02 and was some small starbase with an elevator in it's middle that led you to a system of caverns.

Working on a full-blown retail Doom Engine game that I've put off and half-started numerous times. Now that I'm actually putting money into it, the motivation is there. 

I've talked about this in a similar thread, but might as well describe it in a bit more detail. A few years back i was really obsessed with the first blood book (aka the rambo book), and i wanted to make something akin to the idea of a man alone chased and hunted on a forest, so i started coding a this proyect with this theme in mind, here are some screens
 

So basically the idea was about a survival proyect where you had limited resources, limited stamina and you had to fend off against some soldiers that were constantly looking for you, the idea was to build several huge map zones and connect them in a hub to create a "full montain map", the general end was to survive for about X days and try to contact a helicopter, so i started working on the core ideas

I didn't got very far into it, but damn, im impressed by what i was able to code considering how ambitious the proyect was, i built a forest map that quite frankly it's quite ugly and uninteresting, and i had some soldiers wander around the map. There was some stealth coded, if they saw you they chased you for a time, and if they chased you for long enough, there was a general alert for all the other soldiers. Bullets were lethal, they could take as much as 75% of damage not to mention that firing a pistol would send the soldiers to investigate the noise (they moved towards the noise, instead of just being alerted of the player) so using pistols was more effective in hit and run attacks. Also you could loot bodies for ammo and items, but that was a slow process and could take time, also another thing was that i had a day/night script running and since soldiers sight was based on the light the player was standing, they would turn on their flashlights.

There were a lot small details too like the sound of incoming soldiers footsteps based on the terrain, or a radio that you could loot to hear the soldiers movements... but what really killed the proyect was the map, it was an ugly mess and it while it might not look like it on the screens, it would drop the FPS counter significantly on some areas. This was because i had to make the maps quite open since the soldiers navigation wasn't the best and open maps tend to slow down, after some months i lost interest on it since i kept strugling with the map and a there were a lot of small things that needed to be fixed, so i abandoned it

I got other proyects that were abandoned (like a 2005 version of the darkmoon mod that i was working on), but this one was the more interesting of all by how unusual it was from your average wad, and by how many things i was able to do before i abandoned it

12 hours ago, Not Jabba said:

Given the scale on which your individual maps tend to work, is there any reason you couldn't still do this as a much smaller project? For instance, seven large maps (Earth, Xibalba, Jahannam, Duat, Diyu, Niflheim, Tartarus)? Sorry, I love your work and I can't help but encourage you -- it sounds like a very cool idea.

That's honestly not a bad idea; the "large map episode" does lend well to my style nowadays. I think the problem is that when thinking about exerting time and effort to make a new set, MNENMA is the only thing I have the desire to start, especially since both mapsets would require a lot of time hunting down textures and/or creating my own. It's a potential concept I might put aside for later, but I already have like, half a dozen of those :P

Well, I don't think any of my abandoned projects so far could've been really "dream" projects. Maybe Journey to Despair started really, really smoothly and then I just abandoned it. Shame, really, it was a great set, the story was that you were placed in prison for fraud or so and you had to get out. The second level, Wastelands, is still probably one of the best levels I've made. The third one is probably still the most advanced level I've made concerning monster traps; shame I didn't finish it. Maybe one they I'll get back to that and make the set much better.