First attempt at a non-linear map! MAP - Impenitent Malice

As somebody who made non-linear maps before let me say welcome to the club.

Overview:

• Nice looking map (good texturing, lighting),
• layout is well put together (not confusing at all),
• flow smoothly (not overly grindy with balanced amount of BS).
• Not easy, but with enough resources to get you through (Fits on map slot 29).

Thoughts:

I feel there is some ammo imbalance, you have barely enough at the start with plenty mid-end.

(Admittedly, balancing this type of map is borderline impossible I have learnt that much.

I agree that rather have more ammo than barely any.)

Health balance was pretty good, decent enough distribution.

Some clever traps with fun combat... others not so great encounters with plenty of hitscanners, cheap pop-ups, monsters positioned at awkward heights (even with freelook enabled).

Final words:

I have never commited to one path and was running and collecting stuff all around the map... and I had fun with that.

Very good for third map. Definitely worth playing though.

Really good, nice texture work and lighting. Game-play keeps you constantly on your toes and the traps are fun. All available paths appear to be evenly balanced. Contrary to the post above i think health and ammo were overall well distributed and sufficient.

I felt like some of the doors were rather redundant and hindering the game-play and flow, like for example in the long hallway near the PR trap but that's more of a minor nitpick.

FDA with saves

imp_mal_FDA-TNq.zip

Thanks for playing @Shawny and @tourniquet! Glad you enjoyed it! :)

36 minutes ago, Shawny said:

Some clever traps with fun combat... others not so great encounters with plenty of hitscanners, cheap pop-ups, monsters positioned at awkward heights (even with freelook enabled).

It's a challenge to get traps just right, I like to occasionally throw one at the player to keep them on their toes but sometimes they can become more of an irritant rather than a fun challenge.

Same with hitscanners, a right amount can challenge the player and restrict movement but too many become annoying.

I probably could have dialled back a bit on high up monsters. 

I will work on it for future maps!

24 minutes ago, tourniquet said:

 

I felt like some of the doors were rather redundant and hindering the game-play and flow, like for example in the long hallway near the PR trap but that's more of a minor nitpick.

Yeah, probably should have just done an archway instead to keep the momentum going!

Impenitent Malice

Ultra-Violence mode || GZDoom || Vanilla+

Status:
*Deaths: 17 (1. Killed by Mancubus; 2. Killed by Archvile; 3. Killed by Hell Knight; and from number 4 to number 17 it was because of the Revenants and Arachnatrons of that area with the blue key...)
*Saves: 4 (one for each key, and in the final portal for error...)

(This part of the map really sucks, not only because of the fact that I have enough Revenants to kill and Arachnatrons, but I also found a way to get trapped in this area without any escape, giving me to understand that this area is very poorly developed, and the accident occurs when you don't pick up the key, and you press the switch that opens the exit, but if you go for the blue key, it closes entirely, leaving you stuck and with no exit, total bullshit)

In what I will say, I will be brief, so I start with the writing. First of all, as I usually do, is to observe the structure of what the wad is made up of, and on this occasion, the map had a structure, design, and architecture with a really good setting, I liked the fact that this map looked like more inspired by Episode 3 of Doom 1, since its exterior and everything formed in textures are quite reminiscent of the aforementioned episode, looking like the interior of a strange castle, or a very rare mansion in the underworld... it really costs me describe your map with some structure from real life, but the important thing to know is that it has that essence of the first Doom, with touches from the second game.

Now, moving on to the difficulty, in this part it stands out, and a lot, since, being more than 200 enemies, having what are quite a few strong demons and very perverse traps, they make it a complete challenge for the player, although yes, there are parts that feel unfair, like an area which I already gave you my valuable point of view on what I think of that thing, and on other occasions, you feel that you will lose by not getting the ammunition, or not knowing what weapon to use for such situations, but anyway, although it brought me some anger about the area I already described, otherwise it was pretty good, decent I would say, having many Archviles around here, Mancubus there, and Revenants along with Hell Knights and Barons of Hell looking for how to kick your ass instantly, if this were to be played in Doom 1, I suppose there would not be much complaint about killing enemies with only the shotgun and the rest of the weapons, but unfortunately that was not the case, even so, it was in It was fun to have played the wad, and although I did not enjoy it as I expected, it did entertain me a lot, and the gameplay really felt good about the atmosphere that was in certain parts of the entire map. The work you did on this map is appreciated, but there are things that you should really nerf, I am not saying that the map is bad, but I will not give congratulations just for the good design it had without feeling good about the difficulty, even if the gameplay was entertaining, I did not end up enjoying it at all, reaching half the progress with that trap, but still, it was a good try at least, mate.

@ElPadrecitoCholo Thanks for playing! Sorry to hear you had a hell of a time with it though. It's never a good feeling to see someone getting frustrated with your map but it is important that you give honest feedback so thanks for that!

1 hour ago, ElPadrecitoCholo said:

I also found a way to get trapped in this area without any escape, giving me to understand that this area is very poorly developed, and the accident occurs when you don't pick up the key, and you press the switch that opens the exit, but if you go for the blue key, it closes entirely, leaving you stuck and with no exit

I tried the map after reading this to see if I could recreate this bug but I can't seem to figure it out. I have no idea how this happened, even without picking up the key, I was able to hit the switch to exit and then go pick up the key and it would remain open.

20 minutes ago, Rapp0ng said:

Thanks for playing! Sorry to hear you had a hell of a time with it though. It's never a good feeling to see someone getting frustrated with your map but it is important that you give honest feedback so thanks for that!

@Rapp0ng No problem, I guess...
 

20 minutes ago, Rapp0ng said:

I tried the map after reading this to see if I could recreate this bug but I can't seem to figure it out. I have no idea how this happened, even without picking up the key, I was able to hit the switch to exit and then go pick up the key and it would remain open.

That is strange, because as I said, after killing them all, I went to press the switch, and after that, I grabbed the blue key, but when I heard and saw that the bars were lowered again, that's when I realized that it was a development failure, on the other hand, I also know that a secret entrance opens in the part where the lamp with candles is, but as you can see in the image, it does not seem to be open.

@ElPadrecitoCholo I actually had that bug happen during building. So i fixed the linedefs to stop that from happening. I thought I fixed it but sadly I have missed something.

If I can figure it out I will reupload.

I quite enjoyed this.  It looks excellent (your last map looked nice but this looks great) and flows very smoothly.  Good lighting and texturing and some pretty cool looking structures.  I played UV and although I saved a bunch and died some I didn't think anything was too terribly mean.  I only got two secrets this time.

I never felt like I "needed" to be going any particular direction so that helped the sense of openness.  It was the sort of map that (for someone at my mediocre skill level) dying to traps was kinda useful since that foreknowledge helped me get through them.  I don't mind that, I was playing UV after all.

• In the fight with the four revenants with the super shotgun in the middle, it was a bit annoying having those large ammo boxes in the middle of the room.  It's easy to pick them up and waste ammo when fighting in that general area.
• Having the megasphere helped me a lot with the yellow key trap (the one with the three total archviles.)  I think it would have been okay otherwise but I'm not sure.
• I got mildly annoyed at distant hitscanners, mainly chaingunners, a few times but it wasn't too bad.
• I'm actually playing through Eviternity for the first time right now so I didn't catch the reference.  Maybe I'll get it later.

I'm looking forward to your future maps.

4 hours ago, Rapp0ng said:

I actually had that bug happen during building. So i fixed the linedefs to stop that from happening. I thought I fixed it but sadly I have missed something.

 

If I can figure it out I will reupload.

@Rapp0ng Okay, I appreciate that you believed me about the mistake in that room.

Really awesome map, mate. I liked it a lot. It's got that Thy Flesh Consumed aesthetic going on and it's pretty challenging but it's a well-measured dose of cruelty with plenty of goodies to find to keep you going and gives you enough firepower for the challenges ahead. It never feels completely safe and you're constantly looking over your shoulder for a chaingunner or an imp hiding in a window or a well-placed Archvile or indeed a herd of Revenants to come spilling out of monster closets. Never a dull moment in this sprawling, decrepit castle. It's good, challenging fun. Wish I could show you my gameplay, but I recorded in two halves because I needed to have dinner but I neglected to turn GeForce back on when I resumed playing the second half, so I screwed the pooch on that one, sorry. Anyways, great stuff ;^)

Just had a quick look at this - absolutely love the aesthetics! I was wiped out by an archvile fairly early on, but will most certainly come back to this and play properly later today. Nice one.

Thanks for playing guys! Glad to see you enjoyed it :)

Always nice to hear people enjoy the look of my maps. I always love a well crafted looking map that has a nice blend of aesthetics and gameplay so I try to do the same in my own maps.

@Salmon 

11 hours ago, Salmon said:

Having the megasphere helped me a lot with the yellow key trap (the one with the three total archviles.)  I think it would have been okay otherwise but I'm not sure.

I will always try to play through my maps without getting any secrets to see if its do-able. I think a secret should be treated as a bonus rather than an essential part of progression.

As for the eviternity reference, I am sure you will get it soon lol. As I say, it's an homage not a rip-off ;)

@Biodegradable 

1 hour ago, Biodegradable said:

Wish I could show you my gameplay, but I recorded in two halves because I needed to have dinner but I neglected to turn GeForce back on when I resumed playing the second half, so I screwed the pooch on that one, sorry.

No worries, mate! I'm just happy that you gave it a shot and enjoyed the experience. I love your videos btw!

@smeghammer 

1 hour ago, smeghammer said:

will most certainly come back to this and play properly later today. Nice one.

Thanks! Hope you enjoy the rest of it :)

I watched @HAK3180 video, and I loved the layout, some elegant mapping right there! and I dont like marble textures too much, but it looks amazing.

Ill give it a go soon.

fantastic!not much else say.really good.

Great work, you certainly know your way around making maps. This is one of the cruelest maps I've ever played; constant low ammo, threats around every corner, evil ambushes and it makes use of even that shotgunner in the distance to make you suffer. To say I was frustrated playing this would be an understatement. That, or I suck at Doom.

@Soulless 

15 hours ago, Soulless said:

I loved the layout, some elegant mapping right there! and I dont like marble textures too much, but it looks amazing.

Ill give it a go soon.

Thanks! I love a good looking map so I try to make mine look nice as well :) I will need to give your map a shot at some point, I had a quick look at some screens and it looks really decent!

@ddmeltzer8

14 hours ago, ddmeltzer8 said:

fantastic!not much else say.really good.

Thanks mate :)

@thelazyqdude

14 hours ago, thelazyqdude said:

Great work, you certainly know your way around making maps. This is one of the cruelest maps I've ever played; constant low ammo, threats around every corner, evil ambushes and it makes use of even that shotgunner in the distance to make you suffer. To say I was frustrated playing this would be an understatement. That, or I suck at Doom.

Thanks! Lol sorry it is a bit cruel :) I blame the doom community with their punishing wads of slaughtermaps and monster closets! They have changed me, I can't make a map now without thinking 'How can I make the player's life a misery in this room?' :P

Impressive work; one thing was watching the video, playing it, different story.

Combat is great! not overwhelming, just pure adrenaline, had to save before any possible "event", and there were opposition from different heights and spots you will visit later, just great connection. Balance was perfect, enough to manage every encounter (I couldnt figure out how to get the Megasphere, that was my last secret. Great stuff buddy.

@Soulless Thanks, man! Glad to see you enjoyed it :) Its really interesting to see people having different experiences with the map, which is the joy of non linear gameplay. 

19 hours ago, Soulless said:

Balance was perfect, enough to manage every encounter

Happy to hear this, this was something I really focused on when making this. I would playtest numerous times taking different routes, picking up as little as possible and taking fights to make sure it is possible to beat. 

This is actually a pretty well made map, I have no complaints what so ever.  I also like that this map is fairly difficult too.  Do you have any other maps I should be aware of?

@UnholyShadows Thanks very much! I had another map I made a month ago which is a more Sigil inspired map.

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/116931-my-second-doom-map-ever/

16 hours ago, Rapp0ng said:

@UnholyShadows Thanks very much! I had another map I made a month ago which is a more Sigil inspired map.

 

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/116931-my-second-doom-map-ever/

Ill have to check it out.