[TIME IS UP!] Literalism - A Boom-compatible CP where we do things by the map title

51 minutes ago, MFG38 said:

Also, feedback for your map (no idea why I'm making this a separate post instead of just editing the previous one):

• Excellent visuals, everything about them is on point. The transition sequence before the final battle was a highlight.
• Great layout, I loved the openness of it and how it looped around itself in a way.
• Gameplay is fun with a good amount of challenge for the most part, though the AVs in the final battle caused me more grief than almost anything else. With the limited cover available, getting to the nearest one in time to avoid their flames scorching you can prove pretty difficult when you're running around like a headless chicken. I would suggest adding more cover, but I'm not sure how hard the final battle would be to optimize for any extra cover, seeing as it does get fairly crowded as it is.
• No bugs caught.

I was a bit worried about the final battle being too difficult as well. I think the way I'll handle it is by just making two more soulspheres or smth available on UV, letting you be more aggressive and tank more hits. Thanks a lot!

Thanks for the feedback everyone! Here is an updated version of the map, I added a bunch of monsters to the starting area and moved around others. The area with the mancubus is now accessible after grabbing the green armor and I added an optional area before the final fight. It's still very linear for the most part but there is a little more variety.

other changes:

- fixed missing textures

- moved teleporters for shotgunners

- retextured rev/pinkie area

- added teleporters for archviles near exit

leaviathans-vault_v2.rar

On 8/15/2021 at 7:23 PM, C3ntralPr0cessing said:

Okay, here is the first version of my map, it's still rough around the edges, but I'll polish it up later if I have the time.

Map name: Borrow a Zombie
Author: C3ntralPr0cessing aka Leon S. Kennedy
Play time: roughly 30 minutes
Music: "Reaching Deeper" by Eris Falling, TNTR & "Temple of Judgement" by Thyrbes, HR2
Textures: cc4tex & plums' skystravaganza
Difficulty settings: Yup
Coop: Nope
Deathmatch: Nope
Description: A haunted cathedral-graveyard thingy with several large scale encounters, meant to be pretty brutal. Supplies are abundant on HMP and HNTR, to keep the map from feeling too crushing. Gather two demonic keys and take a trip to the underworld. I tried making a Chaingunner escort mission at first, but it turned out to be pretty unfun. And yes, whatever nightmare dimension this graveyard is located in has two moons.
Don't question it.

Known bugs: Source ports of the GZ variety might chug a bit & rarely, some Cacos will float annoyingly high

Screenshots:

  Reveal hidden contents

Download: Borrow a Zombie Motherfucker.zip

 

Updates: Fixed the issues SCF discovered (hopefully) & added two Soulspheres for the final fight on UV

 

Excellent slaughtermap! I love the surprise transition to the final fight. Visual's are excellent and professional.

As you mentioned, GZDoom chugged a lot. Caco's and Pain Elementals flew very high, and I'm glad I was able to get that final Caco before hitting the switch in the Cathedral.

I played on HMP (partly because you said the map was brutal) but I found it fairly easy. There is a lot of room to maneuver, a ton of ammo and health, and I only died a handful of times. Not sure if you want to make it harder though, cause that's what UV is for.

My only criticism is that some of the buttons were a bit hard to spot, especially because they are low to the ground, and bodies (caco's in particular) might block your view. I also spend a few minutes looking for the exit. 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Pistoolkip said:

I played on HMP (partly because you said the map was brutal) but I found it fairly easy. There is a lot of room to maneuver, a ton of ammo and health, and I only died a handful of times. Not sure if you want to make it harder though, cause that's what UV is for. 

People told me in the past that my maps are too difficult, so I thought I'd be a bit careful '- v-
I'll try to make the buttons more visible though I don't really know if it'll work out. About the Cacos and PEs, idrk what to do, that just seems like an annoying side effect of high ceilings. Anyways, thanks for your kind feedback!

Removed.

Edited August 19, 2021 by Jark

@Jark Feedback for your map:

• Quite decent visuals, good use of textures and nice lighting work. I feel like the two key doors in the starting area could be telegraphed more clearly, though.
• Layout isn't bad, but the big area between the teleporter from/to the start area and the fortress could be shrunk down. A lot.
• Gameplay is decent. Some of the encounters, while not particularly challenging in regards to enemy count, become surprisingly tense with the limited space that the layout creates. That said, there's still plenty of room for upping the challenge.
• SUGGESTION: While I appreciate your MIDI choice (and I'd be lying if I said otherwise), I feel like it doesn't really compliment the map as it is. With the relative emptiness of the map and the combat tending towards being fairly slow-paced, the MIDI, being fairly energetic in contrast, feels a little out of place. I feel like a more atmospheric MIDI would work better.
• No bugs caught.

Removed.

 

Edited August 19, 2021 by Jark

2 hours ago, Jark said:

Map Name: Frozen Fortress

Author: Jark

Music: "Illusory Brainwire" by MFG38

Play Time: 15~20 minutes

PAR: 7:20

Textures: Blood (I made a boom compatible conversion from Ceeb's original rip - I will be in talks about reducing textures to only those I have used)

Difficulty Settings: Yes

General Difficulty: Medium

Co-op: Yes

Deathmatch: No 

 

Description: A local hospital requires the services of a very particular exterminator for a very particular job. On the job contract there appears to be an essay written in small print, but who reads that stuff? You hop into your p̹̱̭̬͗̄ͤͧ͟i̡͎̻̘͈̹̣ͤ̏c̮̲̣͚̄͒ͦ̆͘k̃͑҉͈͙̬͉͕̲ű͇̯̝͕̩̠̥̙́p̫̰̳͇̠ͩ̃́ͅ ̡̤̬͍͂t͉̞͍̟̻̟ͥ͆͠r̵̩̺̥̯̳̼̟ͭu͚̫̼͍̹̤͐̌ͭ̕c̢͓̻̻̥̘̻̳̯̃͌̌̽k͙̙͈̬̳̹͔̋͝ and head out to the hospital.

 

Download (Resources included): FrozenFortressV.0.2.zip

 

Cool premise and an interesting adventure map! I love your interpretation of the theme and made a giant frozen Imp as the level. 

Exploration was and gameplay were decent, same for the texture work and the music. On HMP I was short on ammo and health a couple of times, especially cause I didn't get armor until late in the level. Also, I never found the Plasma or Rocket Launcher. Naturally, I died to the Cyberdemon. 

 

Overall the map is memorable for its uniqueness, but most of the excitement was in the first five minutes (apart from having to track across the huge floor, as MFG38 already mentioned). The map lacks a satisfying end or climax. Just grabbing the red key and walking back to the start feels a little anti-climatic.

 

 

 

 

 

17 hours ago, Jark said:

I'm not quite sure what you mean by there being plenty of room for further increasing difficulty, there is little I can do further with the current layout to increase difficulty without replacing monsters with cyberdemons.

 

That is admittedly a challenge that the layout presents, yeah. But you can do something with the big empty area - there's plenty of space there to play around with. I can picture it turning into a combat arena on your way back to the teleporter, with more enemies spawning in and pillars rising up to act as cover.

Back again with another Quintuple Commentary - now with even more savescumming! This time I checked out 2 submissions I missed.

..Starting with:

 

On 7/27/2021 at 10:50 PM, Origamyde said:

The Drowned Tunnels - Woof-UV

LITERALISM: YES. There's certainly lots of blood-soaked dwelling to be done here.
ACTUAL REVIEW: This map turned out to be rather non-linear, to my surprise. Despite the relatively boxy layout (which isn't necessarily bad), I had a really fun time with it. Texturing is fitting and competent for an indoors techbase (mostly); and later on turned out to be really bloody. I like it, almost reached Helltech right there.

Regarding gameplay: It's fun enough, zombies are the main players here so you'll be steamrolling through most of the level with some mid-tier hurdles here and there; decently challenging with a couple of surprises along the way. The lack of SSG is terrible... NOT! Rockets are aplenty, and it appears the map is designed to encourage multiple weapon usage, which is something I really like.

 

Other comments (I played the July 27th build):

I tried experimenting with direct text comments in the video this time, hope you won't find it too annoying. To go into specifics though - assuming you won't watch the video in its entirety:

• The red and blue bars at 9:00 don't appear to be triggerable from all sides.
• 10:11 - midtex clipping! This is a pretty annoying visual bug, and what I usually do (making 1px impassable dummy sectors that have lower height than those midtexes) might not be applicable here; so I suggest consulting other sources for fixes.
• The computer area at 11:50 - there are a bunch of "dis-functional" monitors here, and seem to produce HOMs if I pass through them horizontally. Those monitor linedefs (?) could be make impassable, or as proper sectors to mask the illusion.
• The various locking bars scattered throughout the tunnels. I found those a bit unnecessary since those 2 keys must be collected in a linear order in order to progress further into the map; and monsters could be stuck in there, effectively enabling you to cheese (in an already relaxing map gameplay-wise).
• 20:05 has the surprise appearance of a fire boi - basically nothing but an annoyance due to the fact you might have lots of weaponry at that point + players might clear out the area first. Instead of it hoarding the soulsphere, what you can do is make it teleport behind you - resurrecting enemies while still keeping its role as a surprise monster.

8/10, it was pretty fun to knee-deep in the flesh.

 

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On 8/10/2021 at 6:19 PM, 4MaTC said:

Green Demons - Woof/UV

LITERALISM: Hmm... YES... these demons do seem to have green fingers.

ACTUAL REVIEW:

I like how there's actually a reason no damaging floors are present, despite the entire map being one very big set of sewers. Visuals are on point and very true to the name; overall progression is relatively straightforward. Though these demons left out too much ammo for our protagonist to hoard :P

I don't actually have a problem with anything in the map at all; and quite enjoyed the gameplay! Admittedly though, I could see why others would dislike it. The notable difficulty spike in the blue key room and the red room heavily restrict players' freedom, improvisation and tactics. Personally, what I did was basically backed up into a corner and just started blasting everyone with the thankfully plentiful ammo (a point I mentioned earlier). 

The infinite height-reliant platforming gimmick presented in the final room is the most interesting thing about this map - I really love unintended bugs being (indirectly) turned into a gameplay mechanic. Woof doesn't allow disabling infinite height, but thankfully the ground troopers weren't quite a lot - giving me considerably more room to move around, which is good. Nice to see you (unintentionally) balanced stuff out for both styles of playing!

I have no particular comments on this map at all! Outside of the HOM bug in 49:40 (and earlier), which is a quite serious issue. Otherwise, I recommend putting more types of monsters (Lost Souls, Pain Elementals, Arachnotrons) instead of overusing the Revenants+Archviles combo, which can get quite tiring.

Good map, but definitely not something everyone can enjoy, 7.75/10; at least it's environmental friendly.

--------------------------------------------------

 

On 8/16/2021 at 12:23 AM, C3ntralPr0cessing said:

Borrow a Zombie - Woof/UV

LITERALISM: I must respectfully say NO. Where do I sign up for Undead Rental Services??? Their guns don't count, I need THE manpower.

ACTUAL REVIEW: Another map that doesn't make it pass my LITERALISM quality rating...

...But otherwise is pretty good, better than I expected! I normally dislike slaughterwads, but the general outdoors theme (with excellent rocky and castle visuals mix) combined with the BIG sprawling layout make exploration pretty fun. The size; the huge amount of ammo (even on UV, there's still a lot of everything) and enemy positioning also make gameplay pretty easy for the most part (despite the BIG enemy count that spooked me out at first lol), leaving quite a lot of room for maneuvering and infighting.

No complaints about progression and gameplay for the most part, it's good for what it is. Now to the comments:

Similar to Origamyde's submission, I also experimented a bit with in-game text commentary, but will still comment here regardless for clarity:

• There's a part of the map where you can basically go out of bounds entirely; which appear to be an unintended effect (at 10:35 in the video) - either a secret or blocking linedefs can be added.
• The 4 switches in the rocket launcher spawn area are a bit too obscured. I think they can be repositioned a little bit or resized for better clarity.
• I'm not a slaughterwad expert (not at all, and never will be; for the time being); so take what I'm going to said with a grain of salt: I think the enemy roster in waterfall area and the uphill area can have a little more ground and aerial enemies, respectively - at least on UV. This can help players alternate between movement styles and weapon usage.

On 8/16/2021 at 9:51 PM, MFG38 said:

With the limited cover available, getting to the nearest one in time to avoid their flames scorching you can prove pretty difficult when you're running around like a headless chicken. I would suggest adding more cover, but I'm not sure how hard the final battle would be to optimize for any extra cover, seeing as it does get fairly crowded as it is

• Unlike MFG, I actually don't have much problem with the final arena (the deaths were mostly due to bad timing and movement :P) and archviles can be mostly avoided by abusing their bad damage threshold (let them infight with others - if anything, maybe a little bit of aerial enemies for extra chaos; the asymmetrical-styled enemy placements and teleports, I feel like are good as is on this difficulty.  Bonus points for the multiple music usage by the way, reminds me of a certain megawad.

Here's my gameplay where I mostly watched everything descended into total madness and only intervened when I felt like it :P Lots of savescumming, because I played all those 5 submissions consecutively and thus was not in a mood doing attempts.

7.9/10. Now can I have a zombie?

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On 8/2/2021 at 2:22 AM, SCF said:

The Basement Problem

LITERALISM: YES. Whoever owns this house need to clean up their basement; too much parasites.

ACTUAL REVIEW: 

Finally got around to playing your level, and I wish I played this sooner.

I really like the stark contrast between surface area and the main portion of the map - Doomcute pseudo-realism vs. sensible, but bizarre giant Hellish marble and stone architecture...

...which funnily enough, also tie in well with the map's general progression and gameplay - The surface area has very few enemies (at least in the beginning), and the imp+spectre serve as good foreshadowing elements to the eventual escalation when you acquire the red key. Gameplay from then is slaughter, but not really - it seems the encouraged playstyle (at least, what I did) here is to run betweeen rooms interconnected with the big and dangerous hub, tackling the problem one by one until everyone is dead and the escaping path is unlocked. Otherwise, the generous health and ammo balance also let players to play more recklessly, which is a nice option.

I have nothing to add on to the map (which is pretty rare!) besides the fact the mancubus at 17:27 seems to be a bit useless, what with the arsenal you might have got your hand on by that point. Also, why are there 2 plasma rifles? My take is they seem to contribute to the map's non-linear elements; but considering the enemies that appear later on (Archviles and maybe some support enemies that escaped my mind), a duplicated Rocket Launcher is probably the better option. I'd also suggest to add some ambushing enemies inside the house (maybe some that appear upstairs at the end) for a bit of increased challenge (one lone Archvile just won't do).

8.5/10, what a dirty house, would not go back again

 

 

On 8/18/2021 at 1:03 AM, Jark said:

Frozen Fortress

LITERALISM: So you vandalize an imp's (possibly) dead body hol- no wait, fortress....

YES, take my vote!

 

ACTUAL REVIEW:

Similar to SCF's entry, I really like all the Doomcute stuff going on here (the whole shrinking thing, the hospital, the truck, the maze entrance - the maze itself is very cool to navigate, always something to do or shoot; the gun shop??? how do a miniature clone of you even exists and selling illegal items here lol). Visuals are overall pretty on-point and good (though some parts can be done better, like hospital entrance, a bit too empty. I reckon some (impaled) corpses or blood pools can somewhat enhance the atmosphere) and feel really chilling and relaxing....

....which ties well into the map's gameplay and progression, also relatively laid-back. For the most part, gameplay mostly centers around exploration and shooting somebody here and there. There's never more than 4 enemy types appear on-screen or simutanously, which gives you plenty of opportunity to improvise and act however you like. The slow pacing also makes the ending fight much more surprising too, which is nice. Ammo and pickup balance is also fitting - I never once lament the lack of rocket launcher here - plasma rifle instead gets a more prominent role, which is always nice to see. 

Some comments:

 

• The bar at 6:09 can either be widened or doubled, you pretty much can cheese the Spectres hiding behind it, making their gameplay role effectively non-existent. 
• The mancubus in the following area can appear in the graveyard instead of both of them staying in the outback. Again, this make their gameplay role more of a roadblockers rather than actual threats.
• I do agree on MFG's point on spicing up combat a bit more - specifically the climax fight. The Cacodemons do more or less make positioning and shooting more tricky - but considering their teleport destinations, I'd argue they too are not much of danger to fear upon. Maybe a setup of 1-2 Pain Elementals, plus replacement of Imp to Revenant/Archvile sniping turret in the red key spawn point can work well too. Just a suggestion, do however you like to improve the map - there's still plenty of room left :P
• Nice bait gun at the end. Doomguy seems to love weird trucks.

8.5/10, we seem to have cured a disease with guns.

 

 

Edited August 19, 2021 by TheNoob_Gamer : added SCF's map review because I'm dumb

@TheNoob_Gamer: You quoted my level (and referred to it in the next section), but didn't say anything about it. Was that a mistake, or did you already post about it before? If so, I didn't see it.

 

Regarding @Jark's level, I had no idea the teleporter was a shrinking machine until you mentioned it! The giant empty room makes so much more sense now, haha. I thought it was a setup for a huge fight, so I was surprised when I checked the kill count and it was only two digits. I'd completely missed the instructions on the floor. Cool idea and execution (Apart from the big room being a slog to run through, as others have mentioned). It's on the easy side, but I don't think there's a problem with that.

2 hours ago, TheNoob_Gamer said:

I'm not a slaughterwad expert (not at all, and never will be; for the time being); so take what I'm going to said with a grain of salt: I think the enemy roster in waterfall area and the uphill area can have a little more ground and aerial enemies, respectively - at least on UV. This can help players alternate between movement styles and weapon usage.

A bit strange hwo the Cacos & PEs teleported in so late. Together with the Spider Momma they can inflict quite a lot of pressure.
For the other area, I didn't want things to get too tedious when the player only has the plasma rifle as a considerable damage dealer, so that's why I held back a bit.

Also thanks, for discovering those errors and such, it's greatly appreciated.

Edited August 18, 2021 by C3ntralPr0cessing

I've had a fair bit less time (and energy) than I expected to work on this. Dropping my spot.

another new version cuz i'm a dummy and fucked things up in the last one

 

MAP15.rar

1 hour ago, AD_79 said:

I've had a fair bit less time (and energy) than I expected to work on this. Dropping my spot.

I could take over the map 27 slot I have some time over the next few days to bust out a quickie before the deadline.

11 hours ago, ScrappyMcDoogerton said:

I could take over the map 27 slot I have some time over the next few days to bust out a quickie before the deadline.

 

It's yours! Your map title is "The Mancubus Computer".

 

On that note, 47 hours and 11 minutes remain!

Aye I am almost done with the map but I went with the previous title "Malnourished Knights" is that ok?

 

1 minute ago, ScrappyMcDoogerton said:

Aye I am almost done with the map but I went with the previous title "Malnourished Knights" is that ok?

 

To answer this, let me quote myself from the OP (relevant part is underlined):

 

Quote

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

1. Make a post in this thread saying you wish to participate.
2. Wait for a post from me with your randomly generated map title. You will be tagged in the post with your map title, so keep an eye on your notifications (or just this thread) so you don't miss it. Also, please note that you may have to wait a few hours (or up to 24) to get your map title depending on whether I'm at work, sleeping or neither.

 

The same order of business applies if someone abandons their slot and another person claims it. In other words, you got way ahead of yourself. You're gonna need to switch gears and use the title I just gave you.

3 minutes ago, MFG38 said:

 

To answer this, let me quote myself from the OP (relevant part is underlined):

 

 

The same order of business applies if someone abandons their slot and another person claims it. In other words, you got way ahead of yourself. You're gonna need to switch gears and use the title I just gave you.

That's a little harsh. If his map is almost done and he used the previous title, who cares? As long as the map is good and suits the given title. Also, he's doing his best to make the deadline. 

Ok "the Mancubus Computer" it is I will begin on it post haste.

4 minutes ago, Pistoolkip said:

That's a little harsh. If his map is almost done and he used the previous title, who cares? As long as the map is good and suits the given title. Also, he's doing his best to make the deadline. 

 

Life is harsh sometimes. Things have been running that way thus far - every mapper has gotten a new map title. I know the deadline is close, but that doesn't mean I'm about to start easing up and letting people reuse map titles that were previously given to someone else. I made the rules and I'm playing by them to the very end. It's called equal treatment.

4 hours ago, SCF said:

You quoted my level (and referred to it in the next section), but didn't say anything about it. Was that a mistake, or did you already post about it before? If so, I didn't see it.

My apologies, I was reviewing 5 wads at once, and this was posted at midnight. I might have fucked up the Undo button and accidentally wiped your part out, so I've gone ahead and re-write the review on your map.

 

Also @C3ntralPr0cessing, it could be likely that I decided to lure the Pinkies inside first. Spiderdemons are known to prone to multiple monsters gangbanging them at really close range - perhaps this could be countered by a second one going in alongside the Cacos, though I suspect it still wouldn't help much.

2 hours ago, TheNoob_Gamer said:

Also @C3ntralPr0cessing, it could be likely that I decided to lure the Pinkies inside first. Spiderdemons are known to prone to multiple monsters gangbanging them at really close range - perhaps this could be countered by a second one going in alongside the Cacos, though I suspect it still wouldn't help much.

 

The SMM being killed by other demons is basically the intention, the challenge was more so handling it up to that point. Having two SMMs would present absolutely zero challenge, in my experience, they are way too exited at the thought of killing each other.

... Also, my laptop broke, so I won't really be able to do any updates rn, though I'd be okay with @MFG38 as the project leader editing my map, just in case some super-fatal error would show up. I apologize.

16 minutes ago, C3ntralPr0cessing said:

my laptop broke, so I won't really be able to do any updates rn, though I'd be okay with @MFG38 as the project leader editing my map, just in case some super-fatal error would show up.

 

Noted. Sorry about your laptop - hope you're able to sort it out soon.

3 hours ago, TheNoob_Gamer said:

My apologies, I was reviewing 5 wads at once, and this was posted at midnight. I might have fucked up the Undo button and accidentally wiped your part out, so I've gone ahead and re-write the review on your map.

 

 

Thanks! Regarding the texture error you spotted, I have no idea what's causing it. This linedef is bleeding through but there's nothing special about it. And the sectors on both sides are regular floors with tag 0 so it's not being affected by other things either.

 

 

.

Edited January 28 by Krull

@SCF looks like nodebuilder error, check that both vertexes (and other vertexes around it) are aligned in to 2x2 grid and it should disappear.

1 hour ago, muumi said:

@SCF looks like nodebuilder error, check that both vertexes (and other vertexes around it) are aligned in to 2x2 grid and it should disappear.

 

Not sure what exactly caused it, but I wiggled some of the vertices around a little until it fixed itself.

 

Here's the updated version, just to fix that error and one texture misalignment I noticed.

 

Download (v4)

Here's my map

 

Map name: Lunar Chasm

Author: Danlex

Music: "Clonk" by Esselfortium

Textures: Otex, Zoon-tex and The Kerberos Complex texture pack

Difficulty settings: yes

Coop: no

Deathmatch: no

Jumping/Crouching: no

Freelook: allowed

 

Description: A short but very challenging lunar techbase that takes place inside a giant chasm. The map name has the word "Chasm" in it so you know what kind of gameplay you can expect :P

 

 

lunarchasm_v2.zip

Edited August 22, 2021 by Danlex

That screenshot looks Lunatic :P