Atonement [33 Vanilla DOOM II Maps] [Now on idgames]

these levels are pretty cool! can't wait until the other episodes are released, however- why upload them to idgames now if it is only the first two episodes of a complete or larger wad? it just seems weird finalizing everything before the rest of the levels are done. 

It seemed like people in the community had an inclination towards episodic releases at the time I initially released the wad. It made sense to upload it to idgames since so many people had already played it, and I refined it to play as a standalone release. It just so happened that bugfixing took so long that everyone is beginning to wonder where the other episodes are. The next three episodes are on their way fairly soon at the rate Interception II is going.

Atonement Episode 1 MARS + Episode 2 EARTH is now on the /idgames Archive, officially bringing this chapter of Atonement to a close. There will be a separate thread for Episode 3 CAPITOL.

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/a-c/atone1e2

Atonement Episode 3 CAPITOL [RC1] has been released, and you can grab it right here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/vgvfd5eb3sna4ss/atonE3_RC1.zip?dl=1

Episode 3 contains 4 city-themed maps for Chocolate Doom which, when loaded after atonE1E2.wad, provide a seamless continuation of Episode 1 + Episode 2. However, the wad will also work correctly if loaded by itself.

Episode 3 starts on Map12 and ends on Map15.

The last few maps (especially 15) become quite large, so saving is encouraged. The maps are fairly challenging for me, which usually means they're easy for other people. Regardless, skill settings are implemented. The gameplay is mostly inspired by Doom II; run-and-gun style action with some puzzle solving here and there.

Dial-up for Murder also returns to provide the soundtrack.

Looks great! Minor nitpick - it's basically a vanilla-compatible megaWAD, right? I'd rather you called it that than a "Chocolate Doom megaWAD".

@fraggle Alright, but I haven't tested Episode 3 specifically in Doom2.exe yet. That's the only reason I settled for Choco compatibility because I wasn't sure how well loading two wads simultaneously works on the original exe.

Understood, though if it works in Choco you can probably reasonably assume that it works in vanilla too. As I see it, "Choco compatibility" shouldn't be a thing people should be talking about, since the goal of Choco is always to be trying to match vanilla anyway.

RC1.1 is here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/q2jx3s4kxgsbnte/atonE3_R1-1.zip?dl=0

Added some updates to Map31 as well as the music track for Map31.

EDIT: Added some updates to the text file as well as an update to the Map31 music from Dial-up himself: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ud0uhb7w3vkusq9/atonE3_RC1-2.zip?dl=1

I've played all of E1 and E2 in Crispy Doom and this wad is absolutely fantastic. It also feels weird, in a very good way, like it came from some parallel universe with little influence from the pwad authors we know of. It feels like something Sandy Petersen might have done if he had years to improve his skills at both Doom level editing and Doom gameplay, full of fights that were much more disorganized and chaotic than the big choreographed setpieces most pwads lean towards these days, but still absolutely compelling and fun as hell to play. E1 comes off the stronger of the two episodes, with E2 feeling a bit more conventional and "pwad-ish" while E1 is more abstract and unconventional. "Big Ol' Crater" was my favorite of all the maps. I wasted a whole bunch of time turtling after the viles warped in, letting them resurrect almost 50 monsters and turning the entire area around the red (? I forgot which one it was exactly) key building into a demonic mosh pit, leading to a frantic, desperate banzai charge with the invuln followed by being chased all over the map, trying to take out viles and clear my flanks before things got even further out of hand. I played that map in the morning and I felt good all day after beating it.

I feel like the rock textures used in E1 need replacement, though. They are ugly and full of dithering and "stray" pixels of intense color, and playing in software at 320x200 makes this all the more apparent.

Thanks for the kind words, @Woolie Wool, but more importantly, thanks for playing! I'm happy to see folks getting down on my maps. Admittedly, many of my fondest memories of Doom were E2 and E3, so it's no wonder Sandy Petersen has noticeably influenced my mapping style.

I'll see if I can somehow patch the texture using the E3 wad. If there are any good martian rock/soil textures that have been released, any links would be appreciated.

I had forgotten all about this, but I finally downloaded it last night and poked around at MAP01 for a bit. Looks fantastic; this is definitely on the shortlist for my next WADs to play.

Finally started this and played through the first 3 maps last night. Absolutely loving it! I actually like the E1 rock textures; I thought they were stolen from Hexen, to be honest.

Finished this a couple weekends ago (as you saw in the What Are You Playing? thread) and loved loved loved it! Really looking forward to future episodes. I did find what I think is a bug in MAP04: It's super easy to fall behind this computer block (in fact, I went back there thinking there was a secret) but there doesn't seem to be a way out.

(Also, thanks for linking Dial-up For Murder's bandcamp page. I fell in love with his stuff thanks to that, and now that I've played Atonement, I think I like them even more!)

@Salt-Man Z Thanks for playing! I'm glad you liked it! And thank you for finding that bug, I'll be sure to patch that with the E3 + E4 release.

Atonement Episode 4 WAR is now available for download!

Includes Episodes 1-3, a new Map 31 & 32, and two bonus maps from previous editions.

Episode 4 features more difficult maps that are generally lighter on the enemy count than E1-3 were. Still did a lot of experimenting with this set, including introducing a new demon for the secret maps. I'd say this feels firmly Plutonia level in terms of difficulty.

Map 31 features a non-vital glitch that I can't figure out. I set a sector to lower to 8 above the highest adjacent floor, but it just won't drop. I have zero clue what's wrong with the set up. From what I can see, there are only two adjacent floors, both lower than the target sector. If anyone can help me out, it would be very much appreciated!

Screenshots:

19 hours ago, Moustachio said:

Map 31 features a non-vital glitch that I can't figure out. I set a sector to lower to 8 above the highest adjacent floor, but it just won't drop. I have zero clue what's wrong with the set up. From what I can see, there are only two adjacent floors, both lower than the target sector. If anyone can help me out, it would be very much appreciated!

I recently helped another mapper squash a similar bug, so I think I can help. Having looked at the level in the editor, I suspect you're talking about sector 355. Basically vanilla has an esoteric limit that applies to a few floor lowering actions, related to the height that a sector can lower to. That limit is -500 units, so if the adjacent sectors are lower the linedef will actually cause the sector to RAISE to floor height -500 instead (or -492, in the case of 8 above actions obviously).

In your specific case, the adjacent sectors 351 and 78 have a floor height value of -592 and -632 respectively, so both are lower than -500 units. To solve it, we have to make it so the lowest adjacent sector (sector 78) has a floor height value of -500 at least. On Ultimate Doom Builder and similar editors, it's fairly simple to fix:

1. Zoom out and select the whole level.
2. Now change to "Sectors Mode", zoom in and right click any sector. 
3. A window titled "Edit Sectors" should pop up.
4. Enter the value "++132" (without quotes) on the text box next to "Height offset".
5. Press OK. All done!

What the above process accomplishes is it raises the whole level by 132 units, making the floor on sector 78 exactly -500 units tall so that the linedef action works properly on vanilla. Hope this helps!

@Andromeda Oh my goodness, thank you! I was pulling my hair out last night trying to figure it out. You rock!

20 hours ago, Moustachio said:

Atonement Episode 4 WAR is now available for download!

 

Includes Episodes 1-3, a new Map 31 & 32, and two bonus maps from previous editions.

 

Episode 4 features more difficult maps that are generally lighter on the enemy count than E1-3 were. Still did a lot of experimenting with this set, including introducing a new demon for the secret maps. I'd say this feels firmly Plutonia level in terms of difficulty.

 

Map 31 features a non-vital glitch that I can't figure out. I set a sector to lower to 8 above the highest adjacent floor, but it just won't drop. I have zero clue what's wrong with the set up. From what I can see, there are only two adjacent floors, both lower than the target sector. If anyone can help me out, it would be very much appreciated!

 

 

Screenshots:

  Hide contents

 

christmas comes already for me :D
Thanks for this, i was just replaying it, so this comes just when i needed it ;)

More Atonement -or Moustachio maps in general- is always good news. I played the newest episode very casually, 16 to 20 I think are the new maps? the one with rocks and damaging blood felt familiar, maybe it was already present in a previous release. Didn't check the secret maps yet.

One noteworthy occurrence in map 16 is the potential for ghost chaingunners at the archvile duo, which whether it is deliberate or not, it could paint an awkward situation for first timers: if you stay you're gonna die of bullets, since you don't own a RL by that point, and if you leave, the archviles might catch you outside (although if you manage to take the lift and escape in time then the archviles are no longer threats to worry, unless they somehow cause infinite height problems at the jump to the exit room). With knowledge you can kill the chaingunners away from that door-wall so you're free of ghost activity, so it's technically not in need of a fix, besides it's two minutes from the start, though still something to note. 

In another map (can't remember the slot) there was an archvile stuck preventing the platform to lower until I killed it. It was the map with the big open courtyard in the middle.

All that said, I liked what I saw. Your style keeps intriguing me, it reminds of the likes of Memento Mori and Requiem while having an unique touch. Please keep it up!

@galileo31dos01 Thanks for catching that stuck arch-vile. I think the ghost monsters presents a further interesting challenge for Map 01. The goal in my mind is to run from the arch-viles (though it is possible to chaingun them down). Perhaps if I display the rocket launcher from the start and give some more cover in that courtyard, players will have more intuition to run away from the vile instead of engaging, then come back with the Rocket Launcher once they're back in the blue key building.

Great feedback!

Just want to add that skill levels are implemented. The secret levels, I should also mention, are brand new. The original Map 31 was moved to Map 22.

I may want to also clarify that, because I wanted to use the text screen for ^story reasons, I reworked the secret exit in 15, and the only exit from that map now takes you to 31. Map 32 remains a secret level however. Remember to use the -dehlump parameter if you're launching this with Chocolate Doom, since the Dehacked lump is embedded. The Dehacked work is a bit more substantial this time around, especially for the secret levels.

Solid work, although difficulty was quite uneven sometimes. Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to the finished megawad! In the meantime, I played on UV in GZdoom 4.5.0 and I noticed some bugs:

MAP02: the player can become stuck behind one pillar in the main room (sector 31).

MAP14: there is large L-shaped monster closet, but the monsters inside never became active and thus 100% kills is impossible.

MAP15: what's the deal with bridge (sector 695) in the eastern megashpere secret? It raises when you press the switch, but you can't use it to go back up.

MAP16: two-archvile trap with no cover? Seriously?

MAP31 and/or MAP32: no story text displays when you finish this episode.

Bonus maps: quite a few missing textures, or at least they're all black in Gzdoom.

This looks really good. I don't recall playing this and can't find it in my archives unless I am getting senile. :o)

Must give it a go,

@Caleb13 Thanks for the feedback. About the difficulty balancing: I originally started this wad in 2017 wanting to get back into Doom. Though I am glad I stuck to an episodic release format, it has led to some inconsistencies across the episodes in terms of difficulty and general mapping quality. I am more focused on adding good new maps to the wad, but I would like to address the inconsistencies (particularly in difficulty balance) in the future.

4 hours ago, Caleb13 said:

MAP15: what's the deal with bridge (sector 695) in the eastern megashpere secret? It raises when you press the switch, but you can't use it to go back up.

This is just the way to get out of the secret.

5 hours ago, Caleb13 said:

MAP16: two-archvile trap with no cover? Seriously?

Yes. :) But I did update the wad recently to provide cover, and updated it again today to rework the cover, so it should be far less malicious.

5 hours ago, Caleb13 said:

Bonus maps: quite a few missing textures, or at least they're all black in Gzdoom.

They're supposed to be like that. I used ALLBLACK to try and provide some sort of void effect. It did not work. I'm not really sure if I want to keep the bonus maps by the final release (maybe as Maps 33 and 34).

Again, the wad has been updated, taking care of all those issues and some more, and more updates will be happening regularly for now.

Version 0.4.1

• Significantly altered the visuals and combat of Maps 16, 17, & 19. The maps are now more detailed and the combat is more even with less difficulty spikes.
• Map 18 and Map 19 have switched places. Strike on Hectic Castle is now Map 18 once again, and The Island Fortress is Map 19.
• Updated Maps 01-03 to drastically improve combat/ammo balance.
• New custom palette (PLAYPAL & COLORMAP).
• New Mars-themed soil textures used exclusively in Episode 1.
• Altered the end screen of Episode 3 to reflect the sky remaining the same in Episode 4 as in Episode 3.
• Par times for Maps 16, 17, & 19 removed; need to be re-run.
• Removed the "Episode 3" subtitle from the CREDIT screen.
• Many small bug-fixes throughout the wad.

Download

Version 0.4.2

This update brings many gameplay changes throughout the wad. All of the maps have been reworked to address various issues, such as an overabundance of health and ammo, weird difficulty spikes, random enemy placement, bugs/crashes, weird texturing, and so on.

If you've tried Atonement before and got bored or frustrated due to any of these issues, I strongly encourage you to try again starting with this update. A lot of the wad has been fixed and rebalanced, and it is definitely the most fun version of Atonement currently out there.

Keep an eye out for the last 10 maps, as I'll be uploading each map to the thread as it is completed.

Download

Changelog:

Known Bugs:

And a very special thanks to @FrancisT218 for playtesting the wad on Twitch!

I like the new palette, it is groovy how it change the colours on the distance.

And glad you rebalance things up. ;)

Remember suffering the first builds a lot, even on HNTR, but now they play much like Doom 2 on HMP.

AAAAHH I missed this back in March (I've not been Dooming much this year) but I'm so excited to see this. Atonement (1-3) is one of my absolute favorites plays from the past couple of years. Can't wait to dive back in!

Replaying this (and loving it!) but found this teensy bug on MAP03. This grate texture is on the outside edge of the wall, but the monster blocking line is on the inside, so when lost souls fly at you from across the moat, they clip through the grate before coming to a stop.

This wad kicks ass, I seriously love that PLAYPAL!

@Salt-Man Z Whoops! An easy mistake to make. I’m really glad you’re having fun with the wad!
 

And thank you very much, @Doomkid! You rock (like Zappa)!