Scientist Wad?

[Scientist]

Hi guys look at me!

As some of you may know I'm working on a wad. (but then again, aren't we all)
Well, a common problem with making a wad is that you never seem to finish one. My computer holds maps i've worked really long and hard on but nobody ever gets to see 'em because my wad is never finished.

This is why I have decided to release my wad in episodes.
And that's not all I've decided!

...

suspention

...

I've also decided to release the first two episodes (map 1-11) THIS WEEK!
Although I still have to do some work on 'em and I have other things to do, I'm confident that I will succeed!

Back to work now...

[Little Faith]

Newstuff will be waiting for ya, fangs bared!

I'll probably do a review of it once you are done.

[Captain Red]

so your getting all your half finished stuff and sticking it into one wad... I thought about doing that once... but I just couldn't make it all fit.
good luck anyway.

[Scientist]

Little Faith said:

Newstuff will be waiting for ya, fangs bared!

I'll probably do a review of it once you are done.

Wow! thank you

Ct_red_pants:
so your getting all your half finished stuff and sticking it into one wad... I thought about doing that once... but I just couldn't make it all fit.
good luck anyway.

It's a lot of work but I think I can pull it off.

I've been working on my wad for like all day now, and I'll probably won't get much sleep tonight, but it'll be finish soon!

[DooMer 4ever]

Hey, good luck for you! I have a wad with four levels ready and I haven't been doing it for a couple of weeks, 'cause it's so damn time cosuming. I really hope you finish your wad, I'll download it right away if you do.

[deathz0r]

Scientist said:

Wow! thank you

yes, i need more stuff to complain about.

[Scientist]

IT'S THERE!!!!!

PLAY MY WAD! and tell my what you think!

[Biffy]

I just got a quick look, have to get to work now. It looks quite good indeed from a few minutes play.

Do you intend for the player to use jumping, not to use, or will it matter?

[Little Faith]

He states that it is supposed to be Doom2.exe compatible so I guess jumping is not expected behaviour.


Well, I promised a review and here it comes:


Scientist (Sci.wad)
by Scientist

Replaces map01 to map11 of Doom2.

Includes new textures, a few new sprites and a few new flats.

Should be Doom2.exe compatible, so load it up with whatever you like.


This is the first wad ever released by the, on the wad-making scene, completely fresh name Scientist, hailing from the Netherlands.

Though this is a first release this wad shows quite clearly that Scientist is no rookie at editing. This wad is bristling with impressive architechture and well-implememented ideas.

There are three replaced sprites. One of the columns has been turned into a deep frozen marine. The SS Guard has been turned into a cheeky little scientist and the double barreled shotgun has been replaced by akimbo shotguns.

The wad is mostly base-style, reminding me of the abandoned project Twice Risen, though it is much better, as well as Tvr!.wad. The levels show great architectural variety and quirky little details. I will describe each level in detail below:

Episode 1: Central City

Map01 - Scientist.

This self-titled map does what you would expect of a first level and does it well! Not particulary difficult it's there to set the mood. You start out in a courtyard in a castle-like structure, neatly done with two flags bearing a "Z" inside a symbol of sorts. As you progress through the castle you will find more tech-like environments looking like sorts of testing labs. You will also meet the mad doctor himself for a short glimpse. There is also a nicely done shrine or chapel area utilising Lost Souls for a great effect (I won't say more).

Map02 - Kapital.

A peculiar name for a level. One that makes me wonder about Scientist's political observation (Scientist used to be an avid ranter on the old Politics and Religion forum here at Doomworld). The wad itself is also an eye-opener. You start with a view over a big blocky cityscape, but to reach the outdoor area you will first have to fight your way through a factory of sorts. There are a lot of neat tricks and details here, like the conveyor belt with small crates on (done with some creative usage of animated textures), a MIDSPACE grate with flaws in the mesh and a cleverly thought out trap.
But it is the outdoor areas where the really big sights and fights are to be had. The is a most spectacular eagle statue and a Mastermind here. And the wad is still Doom2 compatible.

Map03 - Prosperity

Do I sense a theme here? This level is a pure city wad where you will run around in what looks like an Eastern Bloc Holiday Resort. Scientist does a good job at making the town seem inhabited by creating lots of furniture, including openable cupboards and clostes, in the indoor areas. There are fights to be had, but this level is a bit easier than map02.

Map04 - Refinery

Now we are heading towards the industrial sector. This short but sweet level offers up exactly what we would expect of a Doom level with this name: silos, streams and pools full of glowing green goo. A courtyard with a big silo dominates the level with areas built immediately around it. The areas are beutifully and consitently done. There is a minor error though. The end area is accessibly through a secret without the red key. This is clealy not intended. The gameplay is nice and mellow.

Map05 - Reservoir

This level takes place in the gigantic upland reservoir that supplies the city with water (and blood). A bit squarish but still impressive this map is has a central tower and four raising bridges as it's backbone. The level is breathtaking in it's hugeness, but I felt that it was a bit empty. The few monsters there are huddle together in the smaller side areas while the big ones are left rather deserted.

Map06 - Construction Yard

Yeah, we need to represent the construction workers too, and apparantly their labor union has succeeded in arming them all with shotguns. Shotgunners is the only enemy type you will face here, and they are scattered over the entire perimeter with a lot some teleporting in later. This level is probably the least interesting level of this 11 level wad. It looks like a deathmatch map that has been hastily converted to an SP one and powdered with shotgunners. The transport plane that you escape in looks cool though.

Episode 2: Siberia

Map07 - Siberia

This level blatantly trumpets what the other levels had hinted on. You will enter a Soviet prison complex. Complete with hammers, sickles and red five-pointed stars. I let out a merry laughter when I saw the entrance gate amongst the snow drifts. It only gets worse as you enter deeper into the complex. Inbetween the belly-laughs I recognised a level with a solid dark brooding atmosphere and cool architecture. The action is neat enough, but is far overshadowed by the visuals.

Map08 - Frostbite

This level is a tech-base built into the ice and snow. Much like the ones from Dark7.wad. The complex dark tech base tunnels and the snowy outdoor areas fits well together. The architecture is extremely varied and the atmosphere is thick. There is a good variety of monsters and this one also cares to make you contend with some "heavyweighters". Be wary of chaingunners. They are not overused, but they are rather common.

Map09 - Bio Lab

This is an almost totally indoors affair for a change (though the outdoors will be visible through windows). You will run through several demonic laboratories with the magled remains of their test subjects. There is also a big crate area and a cacodemon-spawner. Cacodemons play a big role in this level.

Map10 - Dark and Cold

Now we go underground into a base built directly into the glaciers (Dark7 springs to mind again). The cave areas look cool, but the level as a whole lacks the architectural integrity of the other levels. Still, there are monsters to contend with and if you treat yourself to some mlook aimed rocket shots you can have great fun blasting a horde of imps away.

Map11 - Pure as Snow

Being the end for this time Pure as Snow stands forth in it's regal majesty. The buildings are simple and beautiful and as the level progresses you will be lead through a big variety of different areas to at last return where you started, but this time with keys. Though you will contend with some somewhat nasty battles in this level I was vainly searching for both the big showdown. It doesn't happen. The guardians protecting the exit aren't especially frightening. The exit portal is probably the most stunning area in this level.


To sum it all up: This is an extremely impressive release for a debutante. I am sure this one will rake in a lot of ratings and respect due to it's fantastic architecture (and the fact that it runs with vanilla Doom2.exe). The later levels does, however, lack some fights with some real punch. Especially the lack of a battle royale in the climatic map11 is glaring.

[Scientist]

He Little Faith,

How great of you that you've reviewed the whole thing so quickly.
Thanks for your kind words.

About the later levels though:
These were just the first two episodes. I'm planning to release more episodes later (much much later). These will insure a bigger finale (I hope).

Don't wait up for it. It wil take a long time for the next episode to come.

[Little Faith]

Still I think think the fights needs to be spruced up a little in map07-map11.


Just a dumb question: Are you fighting against commie hellspawn or are you trying to save the socialist world from the demonic onslaught?

[Use]

I've downloaded it and will play it as soon as i get some time to enjoy the wad fully. Sounds like a fun ride!

[VileSlay]

nice screenies, scientist.

/me downloads now

[The Ultimate DooMer]

I'm downloading it now, sounds great. Are you planning to release it on the archives? (so it reaches the /newstuff chronicles)

[Little Faith]

Just a little thing.

When writing the review I had Wadauthor open in case I forgot about something. I noticed something.

There are a lot of items lying around that has a multiplayer flag, but no skill level flags. If a thing has no skill level flags it will never show up. The multiplayer flag only tells Doom to ignore the thing in single player mode.

So if you want to have your extra multiplayer loot and monsters actually appear you should assign some levels to them.

[Scientist]

Biffy said:

Do you intend for the player to use jumping, not to use, or will it matter?

Little Faith said:

He states that it is supposed to be Doom2.exe compatible so I guess jumping is not expected behaviour.

Little Faith is right

Little Faith said:

Map04 - Refinery
[...]There is a minor error though. The end area is accessibly through a secret without the red key. This is clealy not intended. The gameplay is nice and mellow.

Could you tell me how you did this? I can't seem to figure it out.

Little Faith said:

Just a dumb question: Are you fighting against commie hellspawn or are you trying to save the socialist world from the demonic onslaught?

Well, I'd have to go for the second option.

VileSlay said:

nice screenies, scientist.

Thanx

Ultimate DooMer said:

[...]Are you planning to release it on the archives? (so it reaches the /newstuff chronicles)

Yes, but who do I have to send it to?

Little Faith said:

Just a little thing.
[...]
There are a lot of items lying around that has a multiplayer flag, but no skill level flags. If a thing has no skill level flags it will never show up. The multiplayer flag only tells Doom to ignore the thing in single player mode.

Those items are only to appear in Multiplay. But I must admit I never tested multiplay with this wad.

[Little Faith]

In map04 (Refinery) there is a secret that teleports you to the top of the central silo.

From there it's merely a matter of jumping to reach the small platform with the ammo backpack (my intended target). From there you can easily walk into the area behind the goo channel.



Even multiplayer-only things need to have skill-levels set. If a thing has no skill-levels set it will never appear under any circumstances.

[Scientist]

Perhaps I can start a "know bugs list" somewhere.
:(

[The Ultimate DooMer]

Scientist said:

Yes, but who do I have to send it to?

Open your ftp client, connect to archives.3dgamers.com, change to the pub/idgames/incoming folder, turn on binary mode and put it in there.

[Use]

Scientist said:

Perhaps I can start a "know bugs list" somewhere.
:(

it's okay, this is constructive so you can make a new version. These are good levels and i'm enjoyin' them.

[m0l0t0v]

"These are good levels and i'm enjoyin' them."

They`re fragging brilliant!
I like the communist elements and the fact that the scientist always manages to out smart me... very deep...
"Scientist" is one of the best wads I`ve played for a long time, I can`t wait for the next episode(s)!

Keep up the good work man!

[DooMer 4ever]

I finished your wad and it was exellent! I liked the first levels most but they were all good. At least on HMP there was a bit too much health but otherwise it was great! The best new wad for a long time.

[Scientist]

Ultimate DooMer said:

Open your ftp client, connect to archives.3dgamers.com, change to the pub/idgames/incoming folder, turn on binary mode and put it in there.

hmm, I think I did what you meant, but I'm not sure. I went to ftp://archives.3dgamers.com/pub/idgames/incoming/ and pasted my stuff there.
Could you tell me if I did it right and if the wad will be reviewed by /newstuff or not?


oh and thanks everyone for their words.
:)

[The Ultimate DooMer]

Scientist said:

Could you tell me if I did it right?

Unfortunately not. The FAQ (see the links at the top of the page) explains how to do it. (scroll down to the newstuff section)

When you open the ftp client (from the dos prompt) make sure you're connected to the web before you try to connect to the server, or it won't work. It may take a while to get onto the server, as there's only 200 slots.

As for newstuff, there's currently two of us doing unofficial threads in an attempt to be chosen, (me and deathwarrior) so when it hits the newstuff folder, both of us will review it. (I already have it, and have done 2 levels so far and I think it's good. I'll post a review when I've finished it.)

[Scientist]

He Ultimate,

I read the FAQ and tried again. Did I do it ok this time?
:?

thanks for your help

[The Ultimate DooMer]

Scientist said:

He Ultimate,

I read the FAQ and tried again. Did I do it ok this time?
:?

thanks for your help

Yes, you did. It's in newstuff now, and my review has just gone up in the newstuff forum. Great wad!

[Volte]

Newstuff forum?


Anyway, I'm gonna download this WAD now. Something tells me I'll like it. :)

[The Ultimate DooMer]

VolteFace said:

Newstuff forum?

Yep, in the misc section.

[Volte]

Heh, all I have is

Rants and Raves
Fan Fics / Fan Pics
Doomworld News

I think you've been added to some special usergroup that can see it because
you're trying out for the reviewer position or something. I dunno.


Anyway, I played most of Scientist and it rocks! Lots of innovative
ideas there (the moving crates rock!) It would have been cool if the
flags were along the same lines (actual 3D movement, a la Batman doom)
as the crates.

Unfortunately, ZDoom puked and forced me to play the first few levels in
the Heretic palette... not pretty. :p

[The Ultimate DooMer]

VolteFace said:

Unfortunately, ZDoom puked and forced me to play the first few levels in
the Heretic palette... not pretty. :p

You must be using an old version or something, as I used 1.23 beta 33 and it was fine.

About the newstuff forum: yeah I might be, as you're not the only one to have said it was a hidden forum. But there are some people who aren't in the running for newstuff reviewer who have posted replies in there. (at least I think there is, but then again I could be wrong)