anyone willing to playtest a couple levels?

A two-level wad for Ultimate Doom, the second is very rough. I've run it in jDoom, Chocolate Doom, and Skulltag. I am pretty new at this, so I would appreciate feedback, particularly relating to gameplay/difficulty and secrets.

here's a link:http://www.sendspace.com/file/osg75p

MOST RECENT UPDATE(all previous updates deleted):

Now a three-level Ultimate Doom wad, and hopefully nearing completion. Won't run in Chocolate Doom, but works with the other ports I've tried. Difficulty levels are implemented.

link:http://www.sendspace.com/file/0z2yte

I'll give this a shot. I'll post feedback when done. * hurries off to download this *

OK, done playing. Tested with GZDoom 1.4.3.

The Good: Very good use of consistent color themes and texture choices. The second map in particular shows some good attention to stylistic consistency. Its definitely not the noobish square room maps that I expect from threads like these. The lighting in the second map shows a lot of thought, so keep that up!

Needs Improvement: First of all, WAY TOO EASY. I'm generally terrible at FPSes altogether, and I suck even worse at Doom. I beat this on my first try on UV. For reference, I can't even beat Doom 2 MAP02 on UV :S Make UV harder. First map feels like its too short. Why not make that map part of the second one? The first map is too flat and doesn't have enough height variation. The secret in the first area to the blue armor is kinda obvious, but that's not a bad thing. The 'arena' fight in the first one feels too cramped around the corners, but it made the fight more interesting.

Otherwise a good start. I might upload a demo if i can figure out how to do that.

Patrick said:

Needs Improvement: First of all, WAY TOO EASY. I'm generally terrible at FPSes altogether, and I suck even worse at Doom. I beat this on my first try on UV. For reference, I can't even beat Doom 2 MAP02 on UV :S Make UV harder.

Weird...I have no trouble with MAP02 on UV, but the second map tends to kill me when I test it. But yeah, the first map especially needs more monsters.

First map feels like its too short. Why not make that map part of the second one? The first map is too flat and doesn't have enough height variation.

Hah. I was trying to make short maps, but the second one got away from me. Though making the first map bigger will let me add more height variation without mucking up the courtyard area. Anyway, thanks for the critique! It's given me good ideas for what to work on.

I actually really like what I'm seeing here! I want to see more of this in the future.

If I had to complain, I'd say maybe the player can't get enough firepower to fight smoothly through the courtyard.

yummy.

good maps, but there was a few glitchs (i was playing on medium)

E1M1:
-When i pressed a switch, the one that reveals pinkys in a room next to you (with a secret room behind it), the demons couldn't move because they were stuck together.
E1M2:
-There was a secret teleporter that leads to a room at the start, which you couldn't get out of.

-The end switch looks funny.

SUMMERY: very good maps. 2nd map i though wasnt going to be too hard...

Hey look! a soulsphere! *runs around and presses on the "lift"*
oh noes! a evil thingy! *raises stairs* maybe i can get to the switch quickly... *gets eaten* :( WAAAAAAAAAA
easy maps are always so hard...

Cat God25 said:

yummy.

good maps, but there was a few glitchs (i was playing on medium)

E1M1:
-When i pressed a switch, the one that reveals pinkys in a room next to you (with a secret room behind it), the demons couldn't move because they were stuck together.

What did you run it with? I've tested the map with Chocolate Doom, Doomsday, Edge, Skulltag, and ZDoom, and for some reason they only get stuck in Skulltag. Very strange...

E1M2:
-There was a secret teleporter that leads to a room at the start, which you couldn't get out of.

-The end switch looks funny.

I've fixed both of these by now, I think. Unfortunately, I've now stalled out on a third map, and I don't know how to convince Doom Builder to save the first two to a separate WAD. Because I am dumb.

i was playing it with ZDoom.

Put up a new download link. I have been working on this off and on for the last few weeks.

Really awesome stuff, I had so much fun raging through your maps...! The ambush in the dark section on the third map is brutal!! Although I couldn't finish the level because I had 4 health left from an ambush and couldn't get over the lava at the end without dying. Maybe it'd be a good idea to put a few health packs in that area?

I also found a missing wall in the dark section, I'll point that out for you tomorrow.

Otherwise, keep up the good work!

FDAs recorded with prboom plus 2.5.0.5 in complevel 3, all pistol started. Haven't played maps so heavy with hitscanners in a while so I was pretty reckless in e1m1, but got over that quickly ;P I thought it was pretty good, could use some broader texturing choices (I dislike startan in general >.<) and probably a few alignments. I didn't spend much time trying to find secrets and didn't find many (1 at most afaik) so they're decently hidden.

e1m2 I found kinda annoying, cause I kept rushing to the rocket launcher and that trap is incredibly difficult to live through going at it that early. I eventually just skipped it until I got the yellow key, then got it after getting the green armor. Even then I stayed in the berserk secret so as not to get overwhelmed in the starting rooms. I kinda liked that room btw. And then the chaingun trap was decent but went on a little too long imo. You also had some architecture that could do with some fixing there, specifically some sectors sticking out a lot next to ones with the no-upper-texture sky trick.

e1m3 was pretty bad in a port that makes anything under 128 extremely dark, so I was basically blind-firing through the cave parts. Initially I thought I was doing ok ammo-wise until I got to the computer room the blue key is in, where another big horde of hitscanners and demons put me into an ammo seesaw. Funnily enough I skipped the cave before that so I got the chaingun AFTER, which I didn't really have a problem with because it was a pain to snipe the hitscanners from the blue key; I wouldn't like to try that from the other side. So then I have fun getting into the other cave cause the demons are all in the way of the elevator, and have more fun running around shooting at stuff I can't see, basically retreating into the teleporter back up, then nearly running out of ammo on my next run through getting the red key, then fumbling into the next part with barely any ammo with some barons and a ton of lost souls and lava with an interesting door I was rather interested in opening but was kept away from. oh btw there's a HoM in the imp closet that opens when you get the red key.

So yeah, I liked 1 and 2, but 3 needs some work, especially testing how dark you can get it without killing playability in ports like prboom. And if you need some help playing back the demos, check this thread or I'd be cool with giving an explanation.

Minor update, fixed some homs and switch-related texturing weirdness. I also brightened the main cave in e1m3 slightly, at least to the point I could see stuff fairly clearly in prboom. And added some health and ammo to the last room.

ArmouredBlood said:

e1m2 I found kinda annoying, cause I kept rushing to the rocket launcher and that trap is incredibly difficult to live through going at it that early.

Huh. I didn't think it would be too hard as long as you use the chainsaw...though I guess I kind of assumed the player would always grab the chainsaw in the demon closet before going for the rocket launcher, which was obviously mistaken.

You also had some architecture that could do with some fixing there, specifically some sectors sticking out a lot next to ones with the no-upper-texture sky trick.

Could you be more specific? There are some sky related problems I know of but still can't figure out how to fix, and there could easily be many other problems I'm not even aware of.

e1m3 was pretty bad in a port that makes anything under 128 extremely dark, so I was basically blind-firing through the cave parts.

Thanks for pointing this out, I hadn't realized how dark it was in some ports, since I mostly play-tested in Doomsday (the wad no longer runs in Chocolate Doom).

So then I have fun getting into the other cave cause the demons are all in the way of the elevator, and have more fun running around shooting at stuff I can't see, basically retreating into the teleporter back up, then nearly running out of ammo on my next run through getting the red key, then fumbling into the next part with barely any ammo with some barons and a ton of lost souls and lava with an interesting door I was rather interested in opening but was kept away from.

That room is supposed to be a boss fight, so the door is designed to keep players from ungallantly running for the exit and skipping it.

Finally got around to updating this again. I will probably declare this finished soon, since I am getting kind of tired of the levels.

I really like it! not to mention you made excellent use of spectres.
most people that add them in the game fail to balance lighting and the monster itself making it stand out too much
(or just plain make them a bitch to see)

keep up the good work, got this running on my psp and it plays very smooth.