(Private alphas in progress) Infernew, a Community Project

Version 2 of:

"Underslaught"

Mostly inspired by E3M2

Build Time: I weren't counting

Music: Dark halls

Coop and DM full support

Demo: see the zip or the wad (ITYTD)

New screenshots: here they are

Description:

Vanilla texture scroll limit pushing map. (64 scrollers);

Three keys to end the map.

Changes:

Removed Commander Keens, added more difficulty.

Replaced Red and Blue Skulls. (And the doors, too)

Decorated all locked doors like pl2 map32.

Now Ultra Violence is rough.

infernew25.zip

@bonnie, I see you still have me listed as a mapper and my map Malebolge linked. When I said I withdrew, I meant drop all my maps, not just the one that wouldn't be accepted. I plan to release my maps at a different time and it would be ridiculous for the original mapper to release a standalone map that a CP also has.

@Pegleg

Really nifty map, it definitely has its own sort of style and i enjoyed it, the beginning reminded me a little of TNT01 actually. 

I found a couple little issues though:

1. The player can get trapped in that weird door/wall trap behind the yellow door (snakebridge with the hazard suit) if they reopen the door but run across the event line again.

2. In that 4 teleporter secret, one of the eyes on the chain gunner perch is not aligned the same as the other ones and blocks the player from grabbing the chaingun or moving onto the ledge, the other 3 do however so it stood out to me, also the secret itself feels a little bare bones (maybe underestimating the weapon drop ammo but there aren't any monsters after it really so not sure), maybe add a little something extra but its not super critical.

3. ran out of ammo near the baron pit halfway through, not sure if my own poor management or not but had to backtrack and secret find to get enough ammo to finish them off, maybe some more shells could be handy in there.

@ETTiNGRiNDER I'm not sure what to think of your map. I can bet a lot of money you never tested it in Chocolate Doom. I do think it looks good on ZDoom or prBoom or whatever you tested it with. However in Choco it doesn't look good. Like, at all. The enemies are so far away they look like a single pixel, and then you suddenly get shot by a sergeant which you can't even see. The gray and yellow rock textures you use at one point look very bad. The spectre/zombieman room is the biggest elephant in the room, the colour scheme and usage of spectres makes it look really bad. The level simply isn't made for the 320x200 resolution in vanilla Doom II, which is a shame since I kinda like it.

Anyway, I won't say it's very open because I don't find it to necessarily be a bad thing. In your map it was just the right level of openness for the amount of opposition. The gameplay itself was a bit dull with only the shotgun and chaingun vs. Cacodemons for a long time, but it was alright near the end. There weren't a lot of hitscanners, as at least one other person who played reported. It's very Slough-ish too, but it's much more open than it. Still, it'd fit in E3. The only problem is the techbase for some reason. The secrets were alright and very Infernoish.

tl;dr Painful in Chocolate Doom for the eyes, but plays alright.

ettngrnd.zip

44 minutes ago, NaZa said:

The level simply isn't made for the 320x200 resolution in vanilla Doom II

It absolutely is, because that's what I built and tested it for, not "ZDoom or prBoom or whatever".  Maybe you are just not used to picking things out at that resolution.

12 minutes ago, ETTiNGRiNDER said:

It absolutely is, because that's what I built and tested it for, not "ZDoom or prBoom or whatever".  Maybe you are just not used to picking things out at that resolution.

While it is true that I am pretty new to Chocolate Doom, I think that the shotgunners should either not be on the pillars, or the pillars should rise once the player is in vicinity, so that you can react immediately and not get sniped by a couple of pixels you barely see when on map start. The primary reason is that their attack hurts a lot so the average Joe playing through this in Choco would likely get shot far enough away so that he can't see them clearly. Also if you didn't see, I liked the map from a gameplay perspective. Most of my concerns come from said design issues I have.

@NaZa

I did see that.  Sorry if my response came off as a bit needlessly snippish, but I did already respond to the texture choice matters saying that I wasn't going to change them, and that I did test the map in vanilla.  Plus I'm pretty sure this project already concluded, unless the deadline was extended again?  I wasn't planning on making any further updates though I suppose I could potentially tweak it a touch more if this is still ongoing.

As for the shotgunners, fair point, hitscanners are bastards, I'm aware.  As for the ones on the pillars, specifically, I double checked and those (as well as the one in the ambush blind) are replaced with regular zombiemen on easy mode.  I suppose a case could be made for imps being the better choice for easy instead, being that even though they're harder to kill, they're easier to dodge.  Even as shotgunners, they're less likely to do a lot of damage from further away, though if you're already worn down getting hit from afar can definitely become an issue (if I were feeling really evil I could have made them commandos...).  As for "average Joe", if it's strictly an issue of resolution visibility, let's be real, I'm pretty sure the average Joe is going to play in GZDoom anyway.

Spectres being used against textures that make them harder to see is kind of the point.  I never understood people putting them in fully lit rooms on GRAY* walls, unless for luring them out from somewhere more suited to them.  I thought about changing them to regular pinkies in easy mode but it seems I never did.  I suppose that could be done.

I don't see any issue with having a tech area unless it were about strict adherence to Slough of Despair in particular (it was the "most inspired by" but I wasn't aiming for a strict imitation of it, some influences from Mt. Erebus in particular were in there).  Half the maps in Inferno had techy stuff interspersed through them, it was part of the overall characteristic weirdness.

Thanks for clarifying, I understand your intentions much better now. You could keep them as shotgunners as you've said, Imps maybe on medium and Zombiemen on the easiest? The average Joe would use GZDoom probably, heh. I've only pointed it out because it can be a resolution problem if somebody decides to give it a whirl in choco/DOOM2.EXE. As for the spectres, replacing them with pinkies on lower skills would be perfect imo. They were nearly invisible and I got cornered on my first recording attempt, but I found out that they don't go past the first few upper stairs. Intentional? 

I've kinda exaggerated the tech base section - it did seem out of place a bit with its green, but as you said, Hell shouldn't make sense :P

Again, thanks for the clarification. 

EDIT: Yes, you can still update the map. It's still possible, afaik until bonnie finishes their two maps. 

New version of Infernal Return: https://www.dropbox.com/s/1sr0ehw88z9hcfx/bigolbilly-infernal_return_v2.wad?dl=1

• BSK area beefed up
• RSK fight spiced up... yum
• Minor visual and encounter tweaks here and there

Original post has been updated.

@Big Ol Billy Damn, what a nice treat of a map, just played it and its a really fun one. The crazy color scheme felt like it blended exceptionally well.

Overall i found it not too difficult, item/secret stingy, or easy. Only suggestion/question is once you get either the blue or the yellow key, is there any reason to go fetch the other? if not it might be cool to add an extra secret or path for the player if they went and grabbed both keys.

I've started work on this map 24 hours ago. It just keeps mapping itself! No visplane overflows in the playable area yet.

Version 3 of my map: mfg_infernew_v3.zip

Title: Deadrock Valley

Inspired by: Slough of Despair

Build Time: 11-ish hours (total across all versions)

Music: Bobby Prince - "Waiting for Romero to Play"

Coop: Starts only

DM: Full support

Rebalanced ammo for HNTR and HMP, as well as a few texture changes here and there.

Couldn't be bothered to record a demo this time around.

12 hours ago, DerFurer'sFace said:

 

Overall i found it not too difficult, item/secret stingy, or easy. Only suggestion/question is once you get either the blue or the yellow key, is there any reason to go fetch the other? if not it might be cool to add an extra secret or path for the player if they went and grabbed both keys.

Thanks man. An extra double (or all three) key path is an interesting idea. Could be good for a MAP15 secret exit or just something crazy. I did try to give the player some benefit to doing both, though. The BSK path leads to a rocket launcher and possible secret BFG, while the YSK gives you an SSG and possible secret blue armor, so you have a unique immediate reward and bonus secret on each path. Though it’s probably most enticing to do both for continuous run benefits, but really I’m ok with that. 

I've made a few small updates and re-recorded the demo.  Nothing in the map geometry changed this time around, just a few adjusted thing placements and difficulty level tweaks as previously discussed in the thread.

Barring any critical errors that may inadvertently have been added, I don't intend to update this map any more.

Blood Forest (v3) - eg_inf-v3.zip
Most inspired by: Slough of Despair
Build time: ~2 weeks + a few hours additional tweaking
Music: "Lure" by LewkForce
Co-op: Limited, some added items/health/monsters but untested
DM: Starts, probably sucks
Demo: Included in .ZIP; skill 1 all secrets walkthrough (SPOILERS - although higher skill levels will change things up a little)

Forgot to upload a demo XD, i got past the intro and survived a while but died to my hitscan teleporting room.

recorded in prboom for complevel 2

DFF_DemoInfern.zip

Version 3 of:

"Underslaught"

Mostly inspired by E3M2

Build Time: I weren't counting

Music: Dark halls

Coop and DM full support

Demo: see the zip or the wad (ITYTD)

Description:

Vanilla texture scroll limit pushing map. (64 scrollers);

Three keys to end the map.

Changes:

Added Vanilla Room Over Room Effect (on the path to the BFG)

silvernewUnderSlaughtV3.zip

Version 4 of:

"Underslaught"

Mostly inspired by E3M2

Build Time: I weren't counting

Music: Dark halls

Coop and DM full support

Demo: see the zip or the wad (ITYTD)

Description:

Three keys to end the map.

Changes:

Added more rooms, bridge changed into vanilla 3d floor, duke nukem style "rotating" lights, vanilla slopes.

Blue skull moved.

silvernewUnderSlaughtV4.zip

Name: Gateway [link] (naz2.wad)

Most inspired by: Mt. Erebus, Dis

Build time: Technically a month since I've started, but in reality I've mapped for three days over one month.

Music: "On the Hunt" by Robert Prince
Co-Op support: limited, there's some monsters but that's that

DM support: you bet it! It's a shapeshifting arena again.

Description: It's an area in a lake of fires and flames. It features a lot of dikes, it was partly inspired by Nilla Doom MAP02 in that regard. There's a lot of buildings, each one with a distinct character. Also, it ends with a spectacular arena fight against a horde of monsters, and the ones behind it all.

DEMO: UV-Speed (packed in the zip, naz2_uvs.lmp)

Although this project has gone on longer than was originally planned, that's OK, if for no other reason than it's given me the time I need to fix my level and balance the ammo for it (I think it's balanced, hopefully others do, too). You know you're at the bitter end when you spend several hours and most of that time is spent like this:

1. Play the level (IDDQD on, because you're that good).
2. Find out there's too much ammo in the level.
3. Remove ammo.
4. Repeat Step 1.
5. Notice <misaligned wall, door track not unpegged, misaligned window, etc.>.
6. Fix the particular problem in the editor.
7. Repeat Steps 4 through 6 about 50 times, after each time saying, "OK. I think that's everything."

So, what's holding up the release, you ask? I've decided to try my hand at recording my own demo for my own map--HNTR only, of course.

@NaZa, this is not going to come as surprise, since you pointed out your wonder that someone who couldn't finish the first level of Double Impact^* would make a map like this. Well, I haven't released the map yet because I keep dying. On my own map. And in all sorts of different ways (accidentally releasing the pain elemental before I finish dealing with the cacodemon, forgetting about the mancubus that appears after getting the rocket launcher, falling into lava trying to get cute and shoot zombies through a window, the list goes on and on).

Yes, I routinely fall victim to my own traps that I should know are there because I'm the one that put them there. ^{(Yes, I'm poking myself in the chest while I'm reading this to myself.)}

And also, to add to the fun of it all, even if I were to survive, it turns out that the last 3 time I've tried to record a demo, I've noticed something along the way that I need to fix. So, even had I not died, I still would've had to do it over again, because I'm just that neurotic.

The bottom line is, hopefully, everything gets finished this week.

^* By the way, Naza, I did finish the first level of Double Impact with the difficulty on ITYTD. And I would've finished E1M2 had I not gotten lost and unable to figure out where to go.

Finished my second map for this project, posting here for those not in the Discord

Title: Lost Bastion

Inspired by: Limbo, Slough of Despair

Build Time: 2-3 days

Music:Track 17 from Hell to Pay

Coop: Starts only

DM: no support

LostBastion.zip

Here is version 5 of "Pathways of the Tortured Dead." The changes between the current version and the last version are fairly minor, but I expect this to be the final version that makes it into the alpha release. I also updated my July 14, July 21, August 5, and August 14 posts.

Title: Pathways of the Tortured Dead (version 5)

Vanilla Title: The Dead Paths

Total Build Time: Let's say a total of 150 hours, spread over 10-11 weeks (yes, I know that's less than I said on my last version, but I would say this is probably more accurate)

DM Support: 6 starts and some extra weapons and ammo. I don't play DM, so I do not begin to pretend that this map is balanced for DM play.

Co-op Support: 4 starts only. No extra weapons, ammo, or enemies. There's only 1 spot where a player could be trapped. If they happen to be in a particular tunnel when another player crosses a trigger in an adjacent room, they could be trapped behind a wall that blocks off the tunnel. The wall can be raised by that player reaching the other side of the room. If this will be an issue, I'll fix it for the beta release.

EDIT: After thinking about this a bit, I will fix this for the next update, regardless of whether someone finds it to be an issue. I already have a fix, but I want to wait to see if there's other feedback out of the alpha/beta, to lump for fixes together for version 6.

This version was tested with Chocolate Doom 3.0.0, PrBoom+ 2.5.1.4, ZDoom 2.8.1, GZDoom 3.2.5, and Chocorenderlimits 1.5.0.

In case you're wondering, the highest number of visplanes I was able to generate was 89 and the highest number of sidedefs was ~230. And both occurred in the same upper corner of the marble blood pit room, looking out over the pit. I don't think I pushed much above 200 sidedefs or 60 visplanes anywhere else in the map. So, vanilla compatibility should not be an issue.

Total monster at the beginning of the map:

ITYTD and HNTR: 89

HMP: 125

UV and NM: 161

Changes from version 4:

• Changed the amounts of ammo, in an attempt to balance the ammo for UV, HMP, and HNTR.
  • My goal on each setting was to end up with a few dozen bullets, no more than a dozen shells, a few rockets, and a few dozen cells, from a pistol start.
    • The secrets help the ammo situation, but still shouldn't leave you overpowered at the end of the map.
• Confirmed that it is possible to make it through the map and only visiting the mandatory areas.
  • The non-secret optional areas make up about half the map.
  • It should be difficult, but possible, at least for someone with more skill than me.
• Fixed various misaligned textures.
• Raised the level of the floors for both doors between the marble blood pit and the first winding lava room because the doors were actually going into the floor (their floors were 0 while the floor of the tunnel was 8).
• Moved a door to try and actually facilitate an intended ambush that wasn't really working out because the wall wasn't actually hiding the monster.
• One of the rooms I intended to be secret wasn't marked as such, so that was fixed. (There are now 7 secrets, which was my intention.)
•  

I also recorded a demo on HNTR, which is included in the attached zip. It took me 8 or 9 tries, but I did clear most of the map and got the plasma rifle. There were 4 monsters left standing and 5 secrets left unfound. I never said it was a max run. As it turned out, on about half of my attempts, around halfway through, I found myself saying, "Maybe I'll try HMP next because this run is going so well." And then each of those runs went down the drain in various ways.

Anyone who wants to record a demo on a higher difficulty level is more than welcome to do so.

Thank you to everyone who has helped throughout the map-making process. Please let me know what you think or reserve your critiques for the alpha release. Thanks!

On 7/11/2018 at 10:45 AM, Garbage said:

Map Name: Parabola

Most inspired by: Pandemonium

Build time: around 5 hours

Music: From E1M9

Coop support: Mostly completed but untested

DM support: 4 starts, some extra weapon placement

Description: A demon filled cave encrusted with bricks, metal, and flesh.

Demo: Included in download, recorded in PrBoom+ 2.5.1.5 on HMP

 

Download: parabola.wad.zip

Actual file is in proper naming format

 

-Fixed the tutti-frutti on the stairs, added new details, changed some areas, and edited the difficulties

 

I beat your level.

Just letting you know, if any of you guys on here aren't that active in the discord and are awaiting feedback and/or FDAs, I've done them for all of the maps (aside from AD's secret offering) and they are available in the 'feedback' section.  Had a blast playing them all!  Here's the link https://www.dropbox.com/s/gtg9qi83lttltf6/demos%2Bfeedback.zip?dl=1

wa-lostsoul.zip

tweaked the lava damaging sectors to a minor damage (now is 5 / 10% instead of original -20%) and added few more health after said sections, as dt_ suggested.

added a new casual uv demo as well (cl 2)

hey, everybody. i've been away, because i timed this a little poorly, and thus have been very wrapped up for the past many months (plus i had a health scare for a small fraction of that time a few weeks ago). honestly i still am pretty wrapped up, but i decided to push through it and get feedback on as many maps as i could over the last two days. ideally i'd like to have this whole project wrapped up and in at least a beta by next weekend, but that'll depend on how available the mappers are, considering that their schedules may be different and time constrictions might keep them from being able to work on their maps any further, which i fully understand. hopefully we'll still get something going by then, but for now, here's some feedback for the people either not in the discord at all or not in it enough:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

@Walter confetti-Swamps of the Obscured Presence
nice name. ditch the slow raising pit at the start, it looks bad. finished with 48 shells and 151 bullets, so definitely cut back on them. not sure how i feel about the IoS kill at the end, but i guess it can stay (for now). ended kinda abruptly, really felt like it was the intro to a longer map which i was excited for, but then it suddenly ended. not to say that's a bad thing, it'll make for a great episode 1 map!! so just the pit at the start and the ammo you need to work on.
 

@SilverMiner-Underslaught
i don't know what to say. on one hand, the map felt oddly refreshing to play amidst my testing marathon with a fun 90s aesthetic, but on the other hand, you submitted what appears to be a plutonia 3 tribute map to an inferno project. while i obviously can't accept your map, i want you to know that i'm glad i played it and i actually had fun doing so. thank you c:

@ShadesMaster-Blood Slough
broken? the teleporter taking you up to the yellow skull door sounded like it was stuck, and i found no other way up. i liked the original start, being high up. lots of door-camping spots, lots of needless ammo, lots of pinkies standing at the bottom of a cliff, lots of a cyberdemon+archvile standing at the bottom of a cliff in a not very well designed arena, lots of thin ice you're skating on. the exit sign wasn't even aligned. i'm not overly happy with this one. it has a lot of potential, but it's being wasted. rework the ammo, rework some of the fights, and try to be more consistent on the difficulty. also fix the teleporter.

@Scypek2-Uncanny Village

i'll be honest... i didn't fully play this. it was the very last map i had to play and i just couldn't be bothered after playing the start of it. i might try it again in the next few days but i really don't know. the start was... ugly and not very well put together, and had a really bad case of artificial nonlinearity (just made that name up) where the map gives off the illusion of being nonlinear but is in fact balanced around one specific path, usually one the author almost exclusively tested. this results in the map being nearly (or fully) unplayable if this exact path isn't discovered and utilized. if you want more proper feedback, @dt_ may be able to provide you with some.

edit: Not sure if he's been on the discord so I'll edit it in here:

@Urthar-PainTech okay ammo balance, could do with fewer bullets and maybe a handful fewer rockets. a little cramped in a few areas, the outside area didn't seem to reward exploration at all, and way too much running on damaging floors.

@Urthar-Pentadamned better ammo balance, but still could do with fewer cells, and reduce the secret shell box at the start to like 8 shells instead or something. a nice map overall. i don't really have that much to complain about. c:

maps that are unlikely to be accepted in their current state due to either a lack of updates over the last few months despite having received feedback OR... other reasons:

SilverMiner-Underslaught

Pegleg-Pathways of the Tortured Dead

*danielhday-Milano Mash

*ETTiNGRiNDER-Blood Forest

*Garbage-Parabola

^{* limited progress}

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

the rest of the feedback (and there's quite a bit) was either just delivered on the discord, delivered over the last two days, or i've already given feedback on the map months ago.

P.S. i still have (potentially) a lot of work left on my map, plus another very important one i've been planning plus a lot of other fun stuff

P.P.S. would it be insane to say i'm hoping to start another project no more than a few weeks after this one wraps up? it'll be much faster since the timing will be better and the premise will be a lot simpler and freeform, requiring less oversight by myself. gosh i'm excited even though i've basically ruined any credibility i had by this long hiatus. oh well c:

P.P.P.S. If you'd like to add a map over the next few days, feel free to do so!!! There are plenty of slots left and more than enough time for a short and sweet map (but not too short and not too sweet, it's heck after all).

Since a lot of people asking why I made that boss death exit in my map and the answer is: because you literally teleport inside the lost soul at the start of the map, and when you finish the level, you become the lost soul that will await for another human for being defeated (in my original idea for this map there was also some voodoo doll dummy player that will appear at the end of the level representing the next player against you) and so on for eternity... Yeah, pretty meta for a map concept...

Anyway, i'll fix the bugs you find next time... I don't remember if there's a fast raising floor action in vanilla doom (iirc yes) but i'll gonna work on that...

For the sake of community keeping track of what's going on, I've withdrawn Sinner as well as Gateway was rejected. You can still download them, play them, enjoy them etc. and tell me if they feel like joke and purposely shit maps. 

Following up from that, my contribution has also been pulled and will be released elsewhere at another time.

Also just to let people know, i've withdrawn my maps too, since this project seems to be suffering from some really unstable leadership. Good luck to all

Hm, maybe a mapaet should be made with all the rejected and rescinded maps. There are certainly enough of them to have a pretty nice amount of content lol