SPM-Phobos (4 Hours Boom single map Speedmap)

[Marlamir]

To give myself bitt of break from mapping one theme (pretty much) for last two month i decide for something new and maybe risky and that is first propper speedmapping. I decide to pick boom compatibility no matter the lack of experience in this format and i'm quite satisfied with the result especialy when i realize how slow mapper i'm :). I want to share the result here and please feel free to comment, hate or anything else, every feedback is welcome.

Here are some screenies:

Spoiler

 

It requires doom2.wad and it's set to map01. The difficulty is more ballanced to the harder site but if you not big noob you should be ok ;). Also i almost forget to mention. It was tested only in prboom only so if you going to play this with gzdoom i do not recomend to use dark light mod cause the map is bitt darker even for standart but in prboom(glboom) the lighting should be ok for you. Screenies was taken in gzdoom with standart light mode. Thank you for playing in advance

 

download:

SPM-Phobos.zip

[baja blast rd.]

Various thoughts:

 

+ Reuse of space up top.  

+ Progression through various contrasting locales despite short length (caves -> narrow, compact indoors -> open indoors). 

+ Strong use of darkness (especially liked the RL and rockets hidden in the spooky darkness). 

+ Optional side areas make the map feel fuller (HK-pair cave). 

+ Use of mixed species leads to a fairly dynamic sort of combat. Infighting does some work for you; don't have to kill mid-tiers when you still have only a shotgun.

 

= Ambitious amount of visual content for the timeframe. Lot of misalignments are evident. The effort is commendable though. 

= No custom midi, but D_RUNNIN suits this map well anyway.

 

- Unfitting texture-flat combinations at times (e.g. brown flat on stargreen in shot #3). 

- Ambiguous RK and BK switches (might not hit them at first if you think you need the keys to do so; solution: apply the marking in the room, but not on the switch itself). 

- PR placement is oddly late and unnecessary for a single exit vile. 

- This map feels like it should have a secret.

 

edit: with this type of exit setup, it's good practice to put a redundant walkover trigger in the pit itself; if you linedef-skip the rim, which can happen, it's a softlock. 

Edited March 30, 2019 by rdwpa

[Marlamir]

Thank you very much for the feedback man, i'm still fighting with the the texture-flat placement stuff which is i think my biggest weaknes so far and i really like the rk and bk switch idea which will be less confusing for sure and i deffinitely going to use it later on. About the secret, i'm not really a "secret place" fan so i didn't think about secret the whole time until now. Thanks again for the feedback i really appreciated it.

[Vyre]

Hi! Just played through it on UV, really liked it. It flowed well and was fun to play. Some ramblings:

• I loved the general aesthetic and the layout. It's great, especially considering it's a speedmap. (In particular the starting area/exterior of the base (esp. the lights) /exit room are neat.) However, the starting area seems far too dark when playing with Vanilla/Software sector lighting modes in both OpenGL and software modes compared to Standard:

• I liked the rocket launcher pickup, was definitely expecting an ambush but was pleasantly surprised. I feel like there could have been a little more RL ammo scattered throughout - that's just me though.
• The usage of lost souls and the pain elemental was great, and the variety of monsters was nice. Sometimes it felt a little random though - like the lost soul/HK/chaingunner trap.
• Would be nice if all the switches were one-time activation, as I was a little confused initially at the red/blue key switches.
• I agree with rdwpa that a secret or two would've been nice.
• I feel like a custom soundtrack rather than D_RUNNIN would've been an improvement since I've heard it so many times I hate it now, hah.

Bugs:

• The switch revealing the yellow skull key can be pressed before hitting the switch on the opposite side to lower the bars:

Overall I really enjoyed the map, looking forward to more :D

[Beezle]

Had a lot of fun with this one, but it could've used a secret or two and you can completely bypass the bars over the switch to lower Yellow Key and just hit it anyways, but those are small nitpicks. Great job Marlamir.

[Marlamir]

@Vyre Thank you for your feedback, it true that i could make the map brighter but i didn't realize that is it going to be way darker in gzdoom than in glboom :/ Well i will remember that and the secret stuff for next time.

 

@BeezleThank your the feedback, glad you like it.