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Fernito

[Doom2, limit-removing] BOOMER: Beyond Vanilla — Action/adventure/exploration-focused WAD (v0.08.02 2023-12-18)

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5 hours ago, saski said:

VERY Nice work! Would love to play this co-op. any chance you could add playerstarts and eliminate co-op traps?

I'm planning to :) And actually I'll need testers when that happens, would you be willing to help me testing when it's implemented? :)

 

4 hours ago, Insaneprophet said:

They are all driving me nuts. I usually dont care if i get all secrets, or any, but when i like the levels this much i get hooked. Something about large levels that require exploration, once i get started i cant stop. My play time per lvl has been somewhere around 1 1/2-2 hours, and i imagine only half of that is standard progression. I already plan on replaying from the start as soon as im finished, you can expect some DMs pertaining to the secrets i get stuck on. My OCD in this matter will not get the better of me... 

Sure thing! Just make sure to fire me a message before things get too bad :P I'm glad you've enjoyed the maps!

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18 hours ago, Fernito said:

I'm planning to :) And actually I'll need testers when that happens, would you be willing to help me testing when it's implemented? :)

 

I'd be happy to :)

Edited by saski

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Cacoward material, this one.

 

MAP03 made me feel things that only A.L.T. has evoked before. Uneasy. The world is wondrous, but also seems broken. A mishmash of random, broken, mismatched bits and pieces that somehow feel like they do belong together.

 

The light work is masterful, ESPECIALLY the DARK. I will learn from this one, I hope. And the progression? The maps are huge and sprawling, but somehow I aaaaaalways end up where I need to be. How? Magic.

 

Or just experience and tons of passion. Thank you for making this one.

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Hard pass for me; one look at those automap screenshots and I already know my computer is going to blow up all the way to hell 💣🤯💥

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1 hour ago, Pechudin said:

Cacoward material, this one.

 

MAP03 made me feel things that only A.L.T. has evoked before. Uneasy. The world is wondrous, but also seems broken. A mishmash of random, broken, mismatched bits and pieces that somehow feel like they do belong together.

 

The light work is masterful, ESPECIALLY the DARK. I will learn from this one, I hope. And the progression? The maps are huge and sprawling, but somehow I aaaaaalways end up where I need to be. How? Magic.

 

Or just experience and tons of passion. Thank you for making this one.

 

 

Totally agree! ALT was an amazing mapset. This mapset captures that as well. That feeling of being lost in a world, not just playing a wad. Something new, but somehow eerily familiar. Recognisable, but with a twist. I don't have a word for that feeling you are talking about, but I know exactly what you are referring to. It really is an amazing thing to accomplish something so unfamiliar-yet-familiar, given how familiar we are with the monsters, the textures, the mechanics of this game. 

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Seconded on this being Cacoward material. Absolutely everything about this is incredible. I have to give two shout outs though: the soundtrack and the secrets.

  • I've had the MIDI from Map 3 stuck in my head all day! 
  • The secrets in Map 4 were devilish but very rewarding so you felt it was time well spent (my first playthrough of it was 90 minutes)

Just finished Map 5, another great map but finding all 10 secrets was exhausting! 😂

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I was a beta tester on this map set.

 

How expansive and detailed the maps were never stopped amazing me, even on a third replay. Large open ended maps but the progression mechanisms were always clear.

 

The difficulty change between HMP and UV was great. UV gives a nice challenge and HMP does as well but tampers it down reasonably.

 

The maps are an absolute joy to explore and treasure hunt in. The replay value is incredibly high and gives the immediate desire to play again. The final map is such a good close out to such a great map set. Well done!

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I really appreciate all of your feedback, it means a lot to me :) It makes me really happy to know that you people are enjoying the wad. 

 

@Pechudin @Kyka Never heard of A.L.T., I guess it's going directly into my to-play list :) I'm also relieved to know you haven't found the progression too confusing, I have to admit I was a little bit worried about that. In the case of some of the most complex maps, I made a sketch with a rough layout idea before I started mapping (examples in spoiler below), but usually my approach is to just go with the flow and see where it takes me :) 

Spoiler

IMG_20230118_102300.jpg.21872e64910051847a70c5367b6aa0e7.jpg

 

@mancubian_candidate Regarding map04: 

Spoiler

Did you also find the SUPER SECRET™? :) (it's not tagged as a secret)

 

@fizzbin heeeeey! Nice to see you around here :D

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1 hour ago, Fernito said:

I really appreciate all of your feedback, it means a lot to me :) It makes me really happy to know that you people are enjoying the wad. 

 

@Pechudin @Kyka Never heard of A.L.T., I guess it's going directly into my to-play list :) I'm also relieved to know you haven't found the progression too confusing, I have to admit I was a little bit worried about that. In the case of some of the most complex maps, I made a sketch with a rough layout idea before I started mapping (examples in spoiler below), but usually my approach is to just go with the flow and see where it takes me :)

 

Play it, it's good. Weird though (which is good).

 

I'll say this is the type of map I aspire to make one day. Not there yet though, but I'd like to make something akin to this type (yet hopefully different enough).

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On 1/18/2023 at 9:37 AM, Fernito said:

 

@mancubian_candidate Regarding map04: 

  Reveal hidden contents

Did you also find the SUPER SECRET™? :) (it's not tagged as a secret)

 

 

I did indeed. Absolutely devilish (there may have been some no-clip shenanigans to find it on first playthrough haha)

Edited by mancubian_candidate

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Oh damn, this looks absolutely fantastic! Another on the ever-increasing to be played list. I hope to take it for a spin at the weekend.

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This is one of the best map sets I've ever played or even seen. Every space is so detailed and filled with ideas. Just when you think a level can't possibly have more stuff another detailed vista opens. And that all this is accomplished with stock textures is just amazing. I can't imagine how much work this has been. Usually I get so frustrated in this kind of large, sprawling maps, but here there seems to be some inherent logic, as if a spell that guides the player where they need to go next if you just take paths and walk without conscious thinking. I have no idea how that was achieved but it works... Definitely waiting for more and surely will be replaying this during the wait.

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Howdy @Fernito, just finished Map 6. It's driving me crazy, I couldn't find the final secret on the Map. 
I opened Doombuilder (bear in mind, I've actually never used the software before) and it LOOKS like:

 

Spoiler

Sector 1166 is tagged as a secret but it doesn't trigger (in my Automap, secrets show up as purple but this one doesn't). I did some playing around and found that the Secret Sector disappears when the water/sewage lowers. Thats as much as I can provide unfortunately!

 

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Thanks @slowfade and @Somniac for your nice words! :D 

 

@mancubian_candidate: now that you mention it, @Vile had the same issue in his playthrough. I thought it was a brainfart of the game because he skipped a linedef or something so I just ignored it, but apparently it happens consistently. Thanks for reporting it! I fixed it, the wad is already updated :)

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24 minutes ago, Fernito said:

 

@mancubian_candidate: now that you mention it, @Vile had the same issue in his playthrough. I thought it was a brainfart of the game because he skipped a linedef or something so I just ignored it, but apparently it happens consistently. Thanks for reporting it! I fixed it, the wad is already updated :)

 

Now, that is service. Thank you very much :)

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Congrats, map 03 of "Boomer: Beyond Vanilla" is the first five stars map in my chanel. :) I might be exhausted by now, but the balance is perfect to me in HMP.
 

 

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Really great set so far! Tight frenetic combat the whole way thru, challenging but fair!

 

 

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Played the first level and loved it. Can’t wait to play the rest after work.

 

Since you are kinda burned out on mapping, maybe you could finish these 7 levels (bugs, etc) and give it a nice ending screen and release it as like BOOMER SHAREWARE or BOOMER PRELUDE (a la Earthless). That way it’s a “complete” thing, and you can still always return to it later!

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@RataUnderground and @thelamp: Thanks for your videos! I'll watch them asap :)

 

10 hours ago, Captain Keen said:

Played the first level and loved it. Can’t wait to play the rest after work.

 

Since you are kinda burned out on mapping, maybe you could finish these 7 levels (bugs, etc) and give it a nice ending screen and release it as like BOOMER SHAREWARE or BOOMER PRELUDE (a la Earthless). That way it’s a “complete” thing, and you can still always return to it later!

That's actually exactly the idea :) There's no ending screen, but there is already a small end map in there (map08). I was thinking about something like "Boomer - part 1", but your suggestions sound a little bit better :)

 

PS: hmmm, I was really considering BOOMER SHAREWARE, but I wonder if that doesn't come across as if I were planning to release a commercial version :P

Edited by Fernito

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On 1/20/2023 at 8:33 PM, Fernito said:

PS: hmmm, I was really considering BOOMER SHAREWARE, but I wonder if that doesn't come across as if I were planning to release a commercial version :P


Hmmm… Episode I The Phantom Boom? To be followed by Attack of the Booms and Revenge of the Last Boomer: Rise of Boom.
 

Also, I’ve played 5 levels now, fantastic work all around. Not a weak map in the bunch. Great use of software rendering, too, which is always my preferred way to play anything that doesn’t require mouselook.

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Wow this was an intense map! I got lucky and managed to grab a chaingun early which helped immensely hehe. The way this level progresses is very confusing, but also forgiving with the way new lifts/doors/paths open up. Really neat pseudoscripting stuff going on in this map too!

 

 

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10 hours ago, thelamp said:

Wow this was an intense map! I got lucky and managed to grab a chaingun early which helped immensely hehe. The way this level progresses is very confusing, but also forgiving with the way new lifts/doors/paths open up. Really neat pseudoscripting stuff going on in this map too!

Thanks for the comments! I'm sorry to hear you found the progression confusing :( Though I watched your gameplay and you didn't get as lost as I had expected, you just ran past the red door a couple of times, but didn't notice any major issues apart from that.

 

PS: Hey, yeah, I don't know how you grabbed that early chaingun, that's illegal! :D Oh, and I missed the commentary this time :c

 

11 hours ago, Captain Keen said:


Hmmm… Episode I The Phantom Boom? To be followed by Attack of the Booms and Revenge of the Last Boomer: Rise of Boom.
 

Also, I’ve played 5 levels now, fantastic work all around. Not a weak map in the bunch. Great use of software rendering, too, which is always my preferred way to play anything that doesn’t require mouselook.

"The fellowship of the boom" :D

 

I'm very glad you've liked it so far! 

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14 hours ago, Fernito said:

 and I missed the commentary this time :c

 

sorry! my mic is kind of a piece and wasn't working this time around! will have commentary on future vids :)

Edited by thelamp

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Map04 was a blast! Cool stuff with damaging floors going on here. And the fight with lava pillars warping in monsters was really cool! I had to retry it a few times but it was interesting to get the feel of that arena to the point where I could fire rockets confidently. Great stuff!

 

 

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10 hours ago, thelamp said:

Map04 was a blast! Cool stuff with damaging floors going on here. And the fight with lava pillars warping in monsters was really cool! I had to retry it a few times but it was interesting to get the feel of that arena to the point where I could fire rockets confidently. Great stuff!

 

Thanks a lot for the playthrough, that was very fun to watch :D I had to laugh out loud a couple of times (the prize goes to the phrase "chad mapper move" xD). I'm very glad you enjoyed the map! 

 

BTW, I noticed when you were playing that you have an outdated version of the wad. If you're planning to play the rest of the wad, I'd recommend that you download the latest version :) 

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I only played the first two maps so far, but wow this WAD is massive*. I guess those seven levels are bigger and have more monsters than the whole original DOOM2-WAD.

 

Recommended!

 

* maybe not massive in an Okuplok way, but massive for "normal" maps

Edited by Loomis

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Started playing this and I'm up to MAP03, and wow!

 

These are some of the most entertaining maps I've played in a while. The combat is constantly engaging and spicy, but never overwhelming - though the monster count on MAP03 indicates more of a challenge ahead. The layouts are complex, yet intuitive. The visuals are stunning, and just bursting with detail without being overly busy or obstructive. The soundtrack is great fun too!

 

You've clearly put a huge amount of work into this and the results speak for themselves. 

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Hot damn, these are amazing! The level of detail reminded me of Archi-Tek - not quite there, but still a titanic achievement.

 

One minor gripe: I think you overdid the berserk-revenant trap in MAP03, they can corner the player far too easily.

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