The Aspects of Doom

Enjay has just released his latest mod, BGPA Missions - Burghead Liberation. It's a 5-map conversion that takes place in Enjay's own Aspects universe, where the player has to investigate an Inca Free Republic (the enemies from Enjay's previous mod, Operation Overlord) stronghold and see what they're hiding. You can get it either from Rex's Doom Nexus or from David Fersat's site. The mod requires GZDoom SVN revision 13 or above to run.

Being peruvian, I find it very disrespectul how they cheerfully take liberties with the words "Inca", by making up derivatives of that word, and also, how they butchered the peruvian flag and mixed it with chile's and venezuela's, what would people say if someone mixed the us flag with the north korean one, and put osama bin laden's face on it. But what i find most insulting and appaling, is how shittily designed the levels are! UTTER CRAP!!!!

kooltore said:

Being peruvian, I find it very disrespectul how they cheerfully take liberties with the words "Inca", by making up derivatives of that word, and also, how they butchered the peruvian flag and mixed it with chile's and venezuela's, what would people say if someone mixed the us flag with the north korean one, and put osama bin laden's face on it. But what i find most insulting and appaling, is how shittily designed the levels are! UTTER CRAP!!!!

First of all "they" are me. I'm sorry that you find it disrespectful but that certainly wasn't the intention. But equally, tough. This is a game based on a role playing game set almost 400 years in the future when most of the current South American countries have amalgamated (hence the combined flags). It's got fuck all to do with modern day Peru. If you have a problem with the situation, please take it up with the Peruvian Army Chaplain, a very nice gentleman, who donated uniforms to us and was consulted when we got our flags tailored for the live action version of this game. It's also not the first time I've used Incanese soldiers in a mod (the last one was "Operation Overlord" you should try it, you'd hate it) and it probably won't be the last. Someone has to be the bad guys. These ones are made up. Would you rather I picked on realistic enemies and had people killing them?

Mixing the US flag with Venezuela's and putting Osama bin Laden's face on it? Well, aside from the fact that I'm not from any of those countries, I'd probably have a bit of a laugh at the ridiculousness of it. It's a shame you can't laugh at a ridiculous mod for a 15 year old game. I mean, come on, 56 pixel high caricatures of ridiculous stereotypical soldiers that, quite frankly, have nothing to do with anything remotely resembling the real Peru or modern day South America? I hope you don't play Wolfenstein and insult all those Germans with their Zombie raising habits, or watch a Bond movie with all those serious Russians.

As for your comments about the levels themselves. I'm sorry that you found the shittiness of them even more insulting than the "butchering" of your flag. Thank you kindly for your carefully considered and eloquently framed critique. I will make a note of all the useful advice you have given me an try and incorporate your insightful hints and tips into my next levels. I am indebted to you.

Enjay said:

Mixing the US flag with Venezuela's and putting Osama bin Laden's face on it? Well, aside from the fact that I'm not from any of those countries, I'd probably have a bit of a laugh at the ridiculousness of it.

Indeed. I don't really care if someone wants to "disrespect" a piece of cloth that's supposed to represent my country. I think the very fact that someone could freely create an Osama bin Laden US flag here without much repercussion illustrates some of the great freedom that we enjoy.

It certainly is easy to take offense at everything, but being able to laugh at life makes living a whole lot easier.

What happened to the full screen HUD? I'm not a fan of the bar.

You have to enable the alternative HUD in GZDoom.

It's a great mod from what I've played so far. I like how it mixes newer elements, such as objective based maps, with the classic Doom gameplay. It's almost what I would expect MoH to be like if it was made with the Doom 2 engine rather than Quake 3's. :)

ah! awesome.

Enjay, if you ever make another one of these, please Please PLEASE work on the difficulty curve. The first part of the first map was by far the hardest part of the wad and very nearly made me give up on the rest of it.

Also (and maybe this is mostly just a pet peeve of mine) mixing centered and uncentered weapons looks unprofessional. If you need source graphics for weapons just look at one of the many weapons mods out there. Most authors would honoured to have their work used in a mod like this (I know I would).

That said, thank you for actually taking advantage of GZdooms' features! it was great to see stuff like Models, 3D floors, coloured lighting, and I'm not certian, but I think I saw the AI behave in new ways... amazing! I quite enjoyed this bizzar mix of Medal of Honour, Wolfenstein 3D and Dark Forces. Well Done, it's stuff like this that keeps me playing doom.

Enjay said:

I'd probably have a bit of a laugh at the ridiculousness of it. It's a shame you can't laugh at a ridiculous mod for a 15 year old game. I mean, come on, 56 pixel high caricatures of ridiculous stereotypical soldiers that, quite frankly, have nothing to do with anything remotely resembling the real Peru or modern day South America? I hope you don't play Wolfenstein and insult all those Germans with their Zombie raising habits, or watch a Bond movie with all those serious Russians.

I'm German and I play Wolfenstein levels. They are ridiculous and cheesy and are not to be taken seriously. All the same applies here.

The screenshots Enjay posted of this on Zdoom.org looked pretty interesting, I'll have to check it out!

Graf Zahl said:

I'm German and I play Wolfenstein levels. They are ridiculous and cheesy and are not to be taken seriously. All the same applies here.

Hey now, that's not a very nice thing to say about Germans. :(

:p

Reckoner said:

Indeed. I don't really care if someone wants to "disrespect" a piece of cloth that's supposed to represent my country. I think the very fact that someone could freely create an Osama bin Laden US flag here without much repercussion illustrates some of the great freedom that we enjoy.

Try doing that in rural Alabama and see if there really won't be any repercussions. :)

Not bad. Nice subtle inclusion of md2s as well.

I liked it! It ran a bit slow at the Inca HQ. (sidedef madness?) and the bridge destruction at the end was a bit cheesy (I kinda expected some more epic/hollywood style ending) but other than that it was sweet. Thanks!

.

I meant to mention earlier, but I got distracted by "insulting" Peru, that these levels will not feel right to seasoned Doomers like your good selves. Captain Red has already identified as much. - Thanks for genuine input.

People will notice:

Unusual difficulty curves
Too many weapons, many of which feel redundant or similar
Too much ammo
Too much health
Too many inventory items
Simplistic levels

The reasons for this are that the levels were actually made for some personal friends of mine and they are not Doom players. Everything was tailored to their tastes and personal requests. As such, these things are quite intentional and, according to those individuals, were pitched correctly. However, I know it won't suit everyone here. So be it, Jedi. There are some very long posts over at the Zdoom forum explaining exactly why these things are like this. Suffice to say that I am aware of the issues and it is, in fact, intentional but it's because the primary target audience for the levels are not the people from the Doom community. I'm merely sharing the levels because I was asked to.

Anyway, thanks for the comments. I hope that people are able to get some fun out of it.

CodeImp said:

(sidedef madness?)

I think a combination of a large open area, sidedef madness (although it actually isn't that complex) a lot of 3D floors, some dynamic lights and a few models thrown in too. It's certainly a frame rate hitter but I've played more complex maps that have had less of an impact on frame rate so I think it probably is a combination effect.

CodeImp said:

the end was a bit cheesy (I kinda expected some more epic/hollywood style ending) but other than that it was sweet. Thanks!

Heh, yes, definitely cheesy. I was quite pleased with it though. :) I tend to like low key things anyway. I'm generally not into Hollywood excess in my fiction or entertainment. Thanks for the input and I'm glad you had fun.

I like it. Nothing more to say.

I like it, the models seem to blend in surprisingly well. I haven't played it all the way through, yet, but I'll just say, nice job! :)

Enjay said:

[...] I hope you don't play Wolfenstein and insult all those Germans with their Zombie raising habits [...]

Graf? Wir sind aufgefallen, mach schonmal alles fertig für die Notabschaltung der Untotenbunker!

( SCNR ;) )

I can't wait to run through this Enjay, your work is some of my favorite!

As for this whole flag deal...

...I am ME, I stand under no flag (especially when there stripes are not vertical), and hail to no government. I bow to Wisdom, Intellect, and Compassion, though I fail short of that many times. Who cares about governments and there petty wars, and corporate/fascist agendas history can not deny is true.


I do feel that games that target the Koreans and what not from previous real wars are absolutely tasteless.

Bastet Furry said:

Graf? Wir sind aufgefallen, mach schonmal alles fertig für die Notabschaltung der Untotenbunker!

( SCNR ;) )

Autorisiertes Personal nur darüber hinaus dieser Punkt

:D:D:D

Enjay said:

First of all "they" are me. I'm sorry that you find it disrespectful but that certainly wasn't the intention. But equally, tough. This is a game based on a role playing game set almost 400 years in the future when most of the current South American countries have amalgamated (hence the combined flags). It's got fuck all to do with modern day Peru. If you have a problem with the situation, please take it up with the Peruvian Army Chaplain, a very nice gentleman, who donated uniforms to us and was consulted when we got our flags tailored for the live action version of this game. It's also not the first time I've used Incanese soldiers in a mod (the last one was "Operation Overlord" you should try it, you'd hate it) and it probably won't be the last. Someone has to be the bad guys. These ones are made up. Would you rather I picked on realistic enemies and had people killing them?

Mixing the US flag with Venezuela's and putting Osama bin Laden's face on it? Well, aside from the fact that I'm not from any of those countries, I'd probably have a bit of a laugh at the ridiculousness of it. It's a shame you can't laugh at a ridiculous mod for a 15 year old game. I mean, come on, 56 pixel high caricatures of ridiculous stereotypical soldiers that, quite frankly, have nothing to do with anything remotely resembling the real Peru or modern day South America? I hope you don't play Wolfenstein and insult all those Germans with their Zombie raising habits, or watch a Bond movie with all those serious Russians.

As for your comments about the levels themselves. I'm sorry that you found the shittiness of them even more insulting than the "butchering" of your flag. Thank you kindly for your carefully considered and eloquently framed critique. I will make a note of all the useful advice you have given me an try and incorporate your insightful hints and tips into my next levels. I am indebted to you.

hehehe, if you read between the lines, the final comments on my "critique" hinted at it being a sarcastic post. I actually dont find them that offensive, but it kinda picked my attention. Yea, i guess the keyword in this mod is "cheesyness". An actual peruvian gave consulting services for that mod? kool. Very interesting. About wolfenstein, well, that "germans and their zombie raising habits" should be "nazis and their zommbie raising habits", since not all germans are nazis of course.

Finally, you did all of that by yourself? wow, didnt know one person could make such a huge amount of shittiness by oneself. :P

Reckoner said:

Indeed. I don't really care if someone wants to "disrespect" a piece of cloth that's supposed to represent my country. I think the very fact that someone could freely create an Osama bin Laden US flag here without much repercussion illustrates some of the great freedom that we enjoy.

It certainly is easy to take offense at everything, but being able to laugh at life makes living a whole lot easier.

indeed, and by that token, those bush ass kissing assholes(pun intended) that bitched and moan about the "Bush lied - they died" t-shirts with dead soldiers names on them should just STFU.

This was pretty cool. I'll probably play it through again on a higher skill level.

It's nice to see something completely non-Doom for the Doom engine.

kooltore said:

An actual peruvian gave consulting services for that mod? kool.

Yes, he really did. He was a Chaplain Serving with the Peruvian army in Bosnia when a friend of mine was serving a tour there.

kooltore said:

Very interesting. About wolfenstein, well, that "germans and their zombie raising habits" should be "nazis and their zommbie raising habits", since not all germans are nazis of course.

And not all Peruvians are Incanese. ;)

Actually, to get geeky about it for a minute, the full background is that the soldiers are fanatical off-world shock-troops whereas the people of the "Inca Free Republic" (which, don't forget is a totally fictional thing) eventually manage to wrestle power from their authoritarian government and set up a much more open state with positive links with other countries in the world. As for "insulting" nations and flags, don't forget that the British flag (I'm from Britain) featured in the game has an approximation of the NATO emblem and the letters BGPA stamped over the front of it. So a bit of flag butchery for my own flag too. :) And, for further info, in the role playing game this is based on, the BGPA themselves were, for over 100 years, a brutal police-state organisation. And the main bad guy in these levels is of British descent too. But it's only a game and a flight of fantasy. It's not real political comment. Someone had to be the bad guys. ;)

kooltore said:

Finally, you did all of that by yourself? wow, didnt know one person could make such a huge amount of shittiness by oneself. :P

It takes time, effort and dedication to be as shitty as that on such a scale. I think the fact that I achieved it shows that I put in the effort required. ;)

Megalyth said:

This was pretty cool. I'll probably play it through again on a higher skill level.

It's nice to see something completely non-Doom for the Doom engine.

Thanks, and if you found it a bit too easy, you could try the "Ridiculous" difficulty setting.

The first 4 settings are just like the normal Doom ones but that last setting is not Nightmare. It's basically the "Hard" setting with slightly more aggressive enemies and the player's susceptibility to damage is slightly raised too. It should only be a little tougher then "Hard".

The reason it's called "Ridiculous" is because the menu was made when it wasn't possible to define custom skill settings with Zdoom and it was ridiculous to have soldiers coming back to life and dogs running around at turbo speed (often crashing the game). I haven't fully tested that setting because I only added it a day or so before release, but it should be OK.

GzStarWars said:

...I am ME, I stand under no flag (especially when there stripes are not vertical), and hail to no government. I bow to Wisdom, Intellect, and Compassion, though I fail short of that many times. Who cares about governments and there petty wars, and corporate/fascist agendas history can not deny is true.

Cool, then you can power your own house on your own property out of the cities and build your own roads to and from it, and hope that after a year the shit-pit you've dug out back to deal with your daily duties doesn't start to smell too much.

(all in good fun)

Anyway, I will be playing this right away, seen nothing but quality work from you Enjay... however there are times where I haven't felt intrigued enough to finish a map or mod of yours halfway through, so let's hope this one can pull me in!

great as always. I can hardly wait for the next episode of "BGPA vs IFP".

Offtopic: Wouldn't it be nice if there was one more faction, e.g. some kind of alien race or a communist party declareing war to both factions. Anyway please continue creating maps in YOUR speacial universe.

PS: I especially liked the enemys(Models) from the Blackstone Series.
The Flamethrower-Guy is from Strife or isn't it?

greetz luc

LucLeto said:

PS: I especially liked the enemys(Models) from the Blackstone Series.
The Flamethrower-Guy is from Strife or isn't it?

Most of the enemy sprites are originally from Blake Stone but all have been edited to a greater or lesser extent by me. The flame thrower guy is also a Blake Stone sprite, just a bit more heavily edited with bits copied and pasted from other sprites - like, for example, the flame thrower marine that someone did. I don't think there is anything from Strife on him.

The BGPA skin for the player is from Strife (as are the "Red Giant" enemies that I also use (but have not yet released anything with)). The heavy weapon Incas are based on a skin from Skulltag (which I think is based on a Wofenstein Sprite and the Doom chaingunner) but I did a bit of recolouring and pasted some Blake Stone stuff on to him too. Robertus Smith is a Blake Stone sprite with a bit of recolouring and the head from Taradino Cassatt from ROTT. The other resistance sprites also are based on ROTT player sprites. The cyborgs are (to a greater or lesser extent) a combination of Blake Stone and Strife stuff. The tank Incas are sitting in a Duke3D pig tank. The shadowy aliens near the end are Vader's "Shadows" as used in KDiZD. I think that's everything enemy-wise.

Ahh i remember reading about the Aspects TC, i imagine this is only a small part of a TC based on a role-playing game, so no wonder it would have masses of seemingly unbalanced/redundant weapons. I was going to make a TC set in me and my brother's "Teddy bear wars" world once which was going to include ALL the weapons we had come up with, including weilding two pistols that shoot mini armour-piercing rockets, 3 kinds of sniper rifle and god knows how many machine guns, both laser and bullet shooting...

Uhh anyway, big fictional universes rule (as long as they arent full of superheroes), so i shall be playing this as soon as i get GZdoom, it's about time i did.

This Kicks Ass! it's a shame that GZDoom freezes on certain computers and has lots of trouble with new Video cards, but hey, looks good from what I could play. :P