Cydonia [/idgames]

A full megawad might be cool, but yeah we've been focused on other projects for a while now and it took long enough to get this finalized. Huge thanks to Scotty for taking care of the "let's get this out the door" aspect, by the way :P Maybe we'll do more eventually, as he says? I wouldn't be opposed to it once I've taken care of some other projects, but honestly I'm pretty satisfied with the set as it is and I'm not sure it really needs more.

I'm glad people have been enjoying the set!

I've played 4 maps so far and it's a fantastic set!

I'm also a big fan of the original Plutonia and this feels a lot like it: Short and punchy maps with great non-linearity. I loved that monster count is quite low while maximizing their placement.

One thing I've noticed: On map 2, after you reach the red door area, I wasn't able to return back to the rest of the map.

Anyway, congratulations for the release!

On 6/20/2021 at 10:27 AM, AD_79 said:

A full megawad might be cool, but yeah we've been focused on other projects for a while now and it took long enough to get this finalized. Huge thanks to Scotty for taking care of the "let's get this out the door" aspect, by the way :P Maybe we'll do more eventually, as he says? I wouldn't be opposed to it once I've taken care of some other projects, but honestly I'm pretty satisfied with the set as it is and I'm not sure it really needs more.

 

I'm glad people have been enjoying the set!

Funny thing is sometimes you don't need 32 maps to make a good megawad set. In my opinion once map 32 is finished that should be really good.

Obviously it's upto you and Scotty to extend the wad if you wish but Scotty mentioned these maps are 3-4 years old as it is so great to see the light and for us to enjoy!

Just finished the remaining maps and they were awesome, they get really mean by the end. I probably died more times at the start of map20 than all non secret maps combined.

I enjoyed this mapset a lot, to the point I'm considering uvmaxing each map once map32 drops (I already have done most of them minus missing a couple of secrets, but I wanted to record them for fun and also as an excuse to play them again :) ).

I just finished the set except for MAP31, overall very good stuff, felt like they belonged right along side to the original Casali maps.  I might go back and try 31 again sometime later, but I'm not normally a fan of puzzle maps.  I am very much looking forward to MAP32 :)

Some random thoughts on levels played so far:

5: This one was very tight on health. It might have been my poor playing though lol But  layout and intricate progression was great!

6: Awesome level with great symmetry. This one feels like a twist on ghost town, although only the symmetry ressemble both lol

7: Great level with a nice twist on the Dead Simple formula. It retains the arena format, being very plutonish on layout, added with a sniper Cyber to make things spicy.

8: Very adventurous, linear but really interesting layout, with lots of height variantions, hidden passages and blood walking. Interesting to see the armor available only later on. The YK trap got me lmao, nice one.

9: Incredible map, very punchy with lots of intricated setpieces. I love how there's a strong approach in restricting players movement, either by damaging sector, height variations and snipers.

10: Very brutal map, toughest so far for me. The Baron's trap was impossible for to handle until I got the plasma gun lol Also very cool to hear a remix of E1M7 song.

11: This map reminds me one of the originals, but I don't remember the name lol Another pretty good one, with a tough Cyberdemon battle in closed spaces in the YK area. The shotgunners hidden in the other room was a great touch haha
 

3 hours ago, Deadwing said:

9: Incredible map, very punchy with lots of intricated setpieces. I love how there's a strong approach in restricting players movement, either by damaging sector, height variations and snipers.

 

10: Very brutal map, toughest so far for me. The Baron's trap was impossible for to handle until I got the plasma gun lol Also very cool to hear a remix of E1M7 song.

I'm around the same maps as you Deadwing and I agree big time on these two. The difficulty shot up a lot, but I LOVED these two maps. I'm going to go as far to say that MAP09 is one of the best I've played this whole year. It was so fun to master it after a few runs. I'm still going strong doing PS/UV and no saves.

MAP10 took longer I'm sure and definitely felt more EVIL, but still so meticulously fair. I always ran back to the teleporter after the red key and let those pinkes, Revenants, and Baron's deal with themselves. Thankfully the three secrets were easy, but you had to be strategic when to get them. That HK/Baron elevator was definitely one of the scariest moments and best with the plasma. I think I ended up favoring doing this early on to clear it out, so I could try and save armor/health for later. The two sections with a bunch of chaingunner towers was deadly too, but in my last successful run, I got the spider to help clear out one side of them completely haha. Through blood sweat and tears I finally beat it, and always get a kick when the exit is so close in plain sight to the start.

Having done a PS/UV run of Plutonia earlier this summer, this absolutely nails it so far. Compact maps with such intricate item and monster placement, everything has a meaning and is often a bit of a combat puzzle to solve or where to go. I love this kind of Doom map flow.

Continuing on this weekend!

God, that barrage of chaingunners on pillars was brutal lmao I had to take them out with plasma as somehow chaingun autoaim wasn't working.

Anyway, I played some more maps, this is still 10/10. You can't get better than that except fixing some misalignement here and there.

12: This one was an atmospheric version of Speed. Anothee very nice map. I was able to get all the secrets (finally!). Although there are a lot of arch-villes, this map was actually easier than the previous ones, which is a good thing (for me lol)

13: Another great atmospheric map, this time a bit harder than the previous one. Somehow the song also reminds me of E1M7, same style but completely different melody. I was able to spot a HOM on the Blue Key lift.

14: Awesome map with a very strong start. Got myself dead a few times until I figured it out a better strategy lol After that, things calm down a bit and exploration takes the main role.

15: Another map with a hectic start, especially with the sequence of traps after you grab the RL and 2 archvilles to deal. Also, some very memorable landscapes such as the big circular room + staircase that leads to a very nice trap. I wasn't able to find the BK to access the secret map >.<

good stuff!  thoroughly enjoyed myself but couldn't stick out map 31.  admittedly, puzzles aren't my thing but the concept was interesting.  look forward to seeing a demo of that one in the future.

I finally allowed myself a save near the end of MAP11 and MAP13 for reasons anyone who plays this will know, hah. Of course, my very first attempt of MAP13 was really good, then I died like a dozen times haha. Really enjoyed that one.

Agreed that MAP12 was a little easier, but still fun. Found 2/3 secrets.

MAP14 was also easier, but I remembered playing that one from AD_79's five pack. good stuff.

MAP15 had a more merciful Cyberdemon situation. Not too bad on a second try.

MAP16 felt a bit Romero and adventurous, one of those big open vertical maps done very well. Found the non-secret blue armor, but only 2/4 secrets. Had fun exploring a bit when I cleared out the map and got to the end. Almost felt like a Plutonia take on The Chasm... hey, I actually like The Chasm.

MAP17 was really cool. Chaotic, almost puzzle like. Bizarre track, but I dug it. Caco's helped save the day haha...

MAP18 loved this one, took a handful of attempts. Lot of AV's to mow down. Noticed a few things in this room though:

MAP19 = this was a really cool adventurous map with a lot of insane sections. Found the Invulnerability secret, but I'm wondering if the other secret had a plasma/BFG. Had plenty of cells and damn that would have helped haha. The blue key room in particular was the scariest part, in my final run I got lucky by escaping that room and tip toed my way to the end from there.

MAP20 = I need to see a 100% decino run of this madness, lol. This one finally broke me and I save scummed my way to the end. Holy balls!

Didn't finish either MAP31-32 in total, but they were cool to look at. Loved the track in MAP32. Were these all AD_79 tunes?

All around... fantastic set. Yeah more maps would have been cool, but this wad is just pure quality from start to finish. MAP09 and the ones around there might be my favorite for difficulty levels I could manage better, but there were plenty of good maps and moments after that too as it escalated. Actual Plutonia has some clunkers in the end and loses steam at times, but I never felt that here.

GZDoom, pistol starts, UV. Got up to MAP11 with no saving, but from there I maybe allowed one per map if I was burning through a dozen attempts or so.

I probably died the most from Chaingunners and Revenants... that checks out for Plutonia.

Thank you all for the kind words!

1 hour ago, Xeogred said:

MAP20 = I need to see a 100% decino run of this madness, lol. This one finally broke me and I save scummed my way to the end. Holy balls!

Welp, i'm not decino but i did a quick playthrough for the hell of it, enjoy the chaos :)

This looks pretty sick.....any time frame on when Map32 comes out? Cuz I kinda wanna play this all the way thru...

2 hours ago, Xeogred said:

Loved the track in MAP32. Were these all AD_79 tunes?

This project was started (and was mostly completed, haha) some time before I even started composing, so we instead pulled music from Plutonia 2, PRCP, and the Plutonia MIDI Pack. Here's a list based on what I've got here in b2:

My playlist is finally started publishing, first 3 levels are out today, rest will publish over the next week:

EDIT: Full playlist is now published.

16: That was the monti-est map of the set, with all the open areas, irregular shapes and out of the box progression (raise the platforms to reach the exit). Very very cool and unique level for the set. It's not very hard, but ammo got tight several times here.

17: This one is a very survival oriented map, where if you stop for a second, something will kill you. Awesome map as expected, I loved how you need to earn the weapons and ammo and you'll only feel safe after killing half of the enemies in the map haha

18: Very atmospheric beginning with setpieces oriented fight. Some are quite large compared with previous maps, with multiple arch-villes, BFG action and acid trespassing. Very memorable map.

19: Fantastic map, with a strong non-linearity and creatives setpieces, such as the YK scrolling symmetric room and RK, with all the barrels and death teleport. It also felt you could pick any key at any order too, while unlocking some shortcuts and alternative routes.

20: Another great map with a very hectic start! Since it was the final map I was expecting some sort of Icon of Sin, but thankfully that wasn't the case. The Cyberdemon ended being killed by the SMM lol

Overall that was a fantastic experience! IMO, from the mapsets that branches from the original Plutonia, that was one of the best, if not the best. It has a very consistent group of maps, heavily built by the principles of the original while also trying new and fresh ideas, with unique setpieces and expanding the concepts of the original.

Hello, just bumping to mention/report some things:

1. Top-notch, inspiring maps, each and every single of them delivered some of the most excitement in doom I had in a while. Loved the midi choices, the nods to og plutonia, the texturing, m31 was great. Would not be opposed to a third episode if there are any plans, or maybe a sort of "odyssey of noises" throwback/closure to the wad, idk, after m20 as the final map I was still ready for something extra, which I guess m32 will give it. Anyways, this length is fine, 'less than 32 maps' megawads is underrated as a concept imo

2. If you care about texture misalignments, by pure chance I spotted: this in m01, this in m15. Also not sure if this is part of an intentional skip but in m09 I could jump from the SSG ledge to the YK alcove, although I think you're not really skipping much if you do it so no harm. And lastly in m33 this sector is damaging, and well, maybe a title for the map wouldn't hurt :p

Finished today, this the real "Plutonia style".

Thanks and congrats!

On 7/22/2021 at 8:07 PM, galileo31dos01 said:

Also not sure if this is part of an intentional skip but in m09 I could jump from the SSG ledge to the YK alcove, although I think you're not really skipping much if you do it so no harm.

It's intentionally left there. That's a pretty fun jump to do.

Finally got around to playing through this, and I'm loving it so far! Definitely scratches that itch for Plutonia style maps. However, I think I may have stumbled into a softlock on map10. If a monster opens/closes the door with tag 12, and then the player goes through that door before getting the yellow or red key, it appears that the player will then be unable to progress. 

Commenting to save cuz this looks really dope. 

Excited to try this out later.....

...probably going to procrastinate on school work again....

Release candidate is available in the OP. Has map32 added finally, most maps have received some form of tune-up, plus i added extra things in for co-op if anyone wants to play it that way. Hopefully there are no co-op softlocks...

Enjoy!

Co-op pog. Well I know what the next HF session will be running through :D

Really neat new map for my coffee break. 

There was one bit here where I'd hear a noise repeating every couple seconds, sometimes quieter, sometimes louder (quick search in slade, the sfx is DSFLAMST). I don't see any dehacked stuff for ambient noises anywhere so it might have just been the one caged archvile while firing the SMM on the RK side, but heh, why could I hear that particular sfx from so far away, and at max volume sometimes :x 

Does this contain some maps from your previous releases? I could swear I've played MAP03 before...

Played the new map32 earlier, good stuff!  I had fun playing through it once then a few more times to try different routes.  There is a bug and some other notes below.

Here's FDA's for the first 6 maps.  (FDA, but I actually I recognize a few of pieces from previous works/speedmaps ;D )

My playing is pretty clean here, actually.

These maps are good and smooth, despite a couple of rage-quits (demos might have a couple non-finishes).  But here they are, presented as is, my playthrough of the first 6 maps:

noisy_Cydonia-rc1_m1-6.zip

I wanna play more but I'm not sure if I might be tied up from Doom for a good bit.

By the way, there's a medusa effect in MAP01 you may want to look into (load in RUDE or Sprinkled Doom to see what I mean). This is a pretty easy fix, if you just take the texture that's supposed to be there (that being A-CAMO2), convert it to a patch, then add it to TEXTURE1 in place of the old texture entry, and delete the old entry.

Also, here's a vanilla-compatible dehacked patch I made for running in ports that don't support BEX or extended dehacked. Had to shorten a few pieces of text to fit within vanilla limits, but it works just fine.

cydonia_deh.zip