Oops! All Techbase - Final Release! NOW ON IDGAMES!

[Magicana]

5 hours ago, RonnieJamesDiner said:

Hey all,

 

Been playing through the submitted maps (not quite through them all yet), but wow! This is an impressive and very fun set so far! I'm really excited to be a part of the project.

 

Here's my submission for MAP19:  theforgottenforge_19.zip

 

Name: The Forgotten Forge

Difficulty Settings: Yes

Co-op: Yes (2-4)

Tested with: GZDoom, prboom+, ChocoRenderLimits

MIDI: "Icicles" by Jimmy (from Community Chest 4) 

 

I ran it through ChocoRenderLimits a few times, seems clear of visplane errors and HOMs (fingers crossed!)

 

Screenshots:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

 

 

 

Please let me know if you run into any issues related to vanilla compatibility, as well as difficulty settings/resources.

 

Really fun map. I got 100% kills, 2 secrets (BFG and Megasphere) in around 15 minutes. 

 

Just wondering though:

 

 

Why is this an S1? I did some backtracking after I opened it, and I couldn't get it to open again - Luckily some demons did it for me.

[RonnieJamesDiner]

@Mk7_Centipede Thanks for the kind words. This map was a little Plutonia/TNT inspired... for better or worse :S

 

@Magicana Thanks! I'm happy to hear you discovered the BFG secret, I wasn't sure how that would play out. As for that door, that's definitely supposed to be SR not S1, I'll fix it when I update the map. Thanks for spotting that!

[obake]

Corporate Mandated Singularity by Egg Boy

 

An excellent title, if I do say so myself. This map is difficult and fun. It is set up as three arenas, each with their own quorum of monsters. The first, for instance, uses Pinkies, Cacos, and Mancubi as the central focus, while Knights and a Vile sit in respective corners.

 

The others are just as deadly, both using Cybers and many, many Revenants. I like the design of the red key area especially. It all meshes well.

 

I do not have too many criticisms, other than first: the lighting could be more dynamic (perhaps some lights in a few of the small hallways?), and second: there are no secrets, which is disappointing.

 

 

Fusion Core by ZeMystic

 

A highly detailed, fun IoS! The actual IoS battle is the real meat here, as the key portions can be run through with the invulnerability with little trouble.

 

I really like the design and detailing of the IoS room. I especially like that the places where cubes spawn enemies are marked as teleporters, so you know which areas to avoid.

 

My only criticism is again, it is disappointing that there are no secrets.

 

Overall this is a great way to end the set.

 

I will get to the maps that I missed soon.

[Egg Boy]

13 minutes ago, obake said:

I do not have too many criticisms, other than first: the lighting could be more dynamic (perhaps some lights in a few of the small hallways?), and second: there are no secrets, which is disappointing.

I would have liked to incorporate more secrets, but due to the open nature of the map, I was running extremely low on sidedefs. Thank you for playing the map, I might mess around with the lighting a bit more, but again, due to the map's openness it's difficult to add more detailing.

[RonnieJamesDiner]

Hey, sorry for the delay. Here's a quick updated version of my map, just changed the S1 door to a SR. I'll update the DL in my earlier post as well.

 

theforgottenforge_edit.zip

[obake]

The Forgotten Forge by RonnieJamesDiner

 

This map incorporates Hellish elements into its tech, with lava creeping across floors, and stored in overflowing vats. Overall, I love the atmosphere.

 

The Forgotten Forge also does not disappoint in gameplay. The action is solid, starting fairly dangerous (rooms full of hitscanners and Barons, that brick hallway with the cages and Mancubi.) However, it is open enough that one can potentially sneak past threats to explore new areas. I like the variety of monsters used, and how each room has its own feel.

 

Perhaps the best room (and the one that eventually got me to die for the first time, and many more times,) is the crusher trap with the Revs and Pain Elementals. Two of the most aggravating enemy types in a giant cluster.

 

Overall this is one of the most polished maps of the set. I have few complaints.

 

 

[RonnieJamesDiner]

@obake I really appreciate the kind words. Glad I got to be a part of the project! 

[beast]

Bump. Was the release date for this project extended?

[ketmar]

yeah. how it's going? not demanding anything, just curious. i didn't played most of the maps, waiting for release. hope the project is ok.

[Egg Boy]

11 minutes ago, ketmar said:

yeah. how it's going? not demanding anything, just curious. i didn't played most of the maps, waiting for release. hope the project is ok.

I believe we are waiting on 2 or 3 maps, the op hasn't been updated in a bit, but we do have most of the maps in.

[ketmar]

1 minute ago, Egg Boy said:

I believe we are waiting on 2 or 3 maps, the op hasn't been updated in a bit, but we do have most of the maps in.

thanks! so it looks like we may have a new year gift then. in usual Doom time, i mean, i.e. "it will be ready for fall 2020... maybe." ;-)

[Egg Boy]

1 minute ago, ketmar said:

thanks! so it looks like we may have a new year gift then. in usual Doom time, i mean, i.e. "it will be ready for fall 2020... maybe." ;-)

If you're interested in joining in on beta testing and co-op testing, there is a link to the discord in the OP. :)

[ketmar]

5 minutes ago, Egg Boy said:

If you're interested in joining in on beta testing and co-op testing

i am interested, but i have to add another 10 or 20 hours to a day first. ;-) k8vavoom is a hungry beast, it took all my time, and it wants even more! ;-) so sorry, i can help only by asking questions about release date for now. ;-)

[rmgr]

On 11/25/2019 at 7:18 AM, RonnieJamesDiner said:

Hey, sorry for the delay. Here's a quick updated version of my map, just changed the S1 door to a SR. I'll update the DL in my earlier post as well.

 

theforgottenforge_edit.zip

I liked it!

Spoiler

The crusher room

was a challenge but I thought there was enough equipment to deal with it!

[ZeMystic]

11 hours ago, beast said:

Bump. Was the release date for this project extended?

The release was never mentioned Im hoping near christmas for RC1 and then we can work from there

I just need to get everything working with the .deh file and maybe get a few midis

[dybbuk81]

 

MAP14.zip

[Mk7_Centipede]

oh yeah we will be releasing this year for sure.  there are like 2 maps that need to be finished and tested a bit.  but we like 95% done i think.  Our testing and polishing pipeline I think really helped with some of the maps.  Yall are going to be in for a treat.  I promise.  The list of authors alone should be cause for alarm: darkmaster, egg boy, hak3180, DynamiteKaitorn, Walter confetti, and Super Mighty G.  JustCallMeKaito killed it with map 01 and I think everyone else contributed some entertaining stuff- including map 30 from Zemystic.  Everything is going great.

 

 

[ketmar]

as i said in the beginning of the topic, there cannot be enough techbases. and i still stand on that point!

 

p.s.: wow, what a screenshot!

[Mk7_Centipede]

we have all 32 maps! [on a single file, yes]

 

@doomers help us test if you want.  or just wait for saint nick for the release.

Edited December 14, 2019 by Mk7_Centipede

[Caleb13]

Umm... is there going to be a single WAD with all the maps as the alpha release? Or do we have to download all 32 separately, each from different hosting service?

[ZeMystic]

2 minutes ago, Caleb13 said:

Umm... is there going to be a single WAD with all the maps as the alpha release? Or do we have to download all 32 separately, each from different hosting service?

the first beta will be all maps in one wad

[ZeMystic]

thanks everyone who worked on this project!

[ketmar]

how did i missed that beta?!! silly me.

 

thank you all for making this!

[Magicana]

Thanks for having me, and to everyone for playing. 

 

 

My favorite screenshot from the set. Hope you all enjoy!

[ketmar]

fantastic! now i feel myself like i have a candy, and i want to eat it right now, but if i'll eat the candy, i won't have candy anymore... so i want both to play the wad immediately, and to wait more... ah, it is so hard to decide! (types "... -file oatb.zip"...)

[Magicana]

Well, two hours after release (RC1 at least) is as good as any to start reminiscing about the design process. Most of my work on this megawad was on Map03, which I'll start with, but I also worked on Map16.

 

Lets start with Map03. I was (And still am) a new mapper here on Doomworld, with a few shitty maps released thus far. This community project caught my eye, because Techbases are about the only thing I can map reasonably well. I tried and failed to snatch a slot when someone dropped out (Walter Confetti also went for a slot, and of course it went to the proven mapper). Then @Philnemba dropped out and posted up his map for someone to continue on. I leapt at it, and got given the slot. The only criteria given to me to be allowed to use the thus made map was that he got credit, and that it didn't just get altered out of sight. I think both of those things have been fulfilled. I made the best map I had ever made (Not that it is saying much when it's around the seventh map you've made).

 

Here are the two maps side by side.

 

 

 

 

So far so good. Enter MisterSector. He turned rooms into areas, played with the lighting, and did a wonderful job of detailing and scaling things up. The final product is absolutely amazing - I learned a lot from it, although I doubt I could make anything look as good as he did.

 

The end product therefore looks like this:

 

 

 

 



 
 

 

 

It was an absolute ride making that map. But that wasn't the end of my involvement. As we approached the deadline, then passed it, we were still missing a few maps. @xxWeNxx announced he was scrapping the map. We were about two weeks from the expected release date, and we were now at 31 maps. Shit. I asked him for a copy of the map, and he sent it. I got to work - I barely touched the layout, but was aggressive with the Things. Where I was demure in placement in Map03, I was nasty with Map16. I'd just come off playing (And beating) Map06 of Sunder, and had done about half of Map07. Not to say that the placement, quality or difficulty is anything like Sunder - It's not. Just the spirit with which I made a lot of the monster placement. Most of the traps were built into the map before I even touched it, which was nice, and I added a few of my own.

 

Once the Thing placement was done, MisterSector again went over it and did all the detailing and more of the fine texture choice. Like Map03, he did a fantastic job.

 

 

 

 

 

This project was a lot of fun to work on, and we've now got an RC1 out. It's Christmas day where I am, just finished a huge lunch and had a few beers with the family, and now that everyone's gone home, I'm here typing out my thoughts.

 

Looking forward to seeing all the playthroughs and text comments on this one.

Edited December 25, 2019 by Magicana : Broken BB code

[Mk7_Centipede]

 

[ketmar]

i am at map05 now, and my first playthrough is usually like "ah, 'cmon, you stupid keys, switches and doors, get out of my way, i just want to KILL!", so i don't have much to say yet. except the one main thing: it all went very smooth, and i never wanted to ragequit, or to drop the wad out of boredom. which is great! but i have to stop for today, because i want to make this journey a long one...

[DynamiteKaitorn]

I'm going to give a quick review of each map with good points and bad points. I'm do it in bursts since I don't wanna sit down for like 3-5 hours trying to beat every map in one go. @_@

 

Also, all maps were tested on HMP difficulty. (I REFUSE to play UV!)

 

EDIT 01 - Just as a heads up guys, I decided to update this post to try and give each map at least 1 or 2 good and bad points.

 

MAP 01 - Toxic Asteroid:

Spoiler

 

Good points -

+ For being an intro map this theme rocks! I'm not sure if it's a MIDI conversion or an original track but either way, congrats on the artist! :)

+ This map definitely fits the genre "horror" as it's quite dark and spooky.

 

Bad Points -

- For the first minute or so I was asking "excuse me, where's the health?". Seriously, for an intro map this is pretty brutal, expecting the player to survive with little to no health makes the first time players  struggle a lot (and for some may even be off putting).

 

- Forced to fight a Hell Knight with a pistol. I thought killing one of these with a regular shotty was tedious and annoying. With the pistol it's even s l o w e r .

 

Extra comments:

Unless I'm wrong, this is the only map I played that had no errors at all. Nice bug catching! :)

 

 

MAP 02 - Sludge Refinery:

Spoiler

Good Points -

+ Every area is detailed with some lovely texture work. I especially love the slime falls flowing into the river.

 

+ The outside area looks great, even for vanilla. The rocky wall you have to run onto to grab shells is a nice little puzzle. :)

 

Bad Points -

- This map is unstable. I've encountered 2 locations where chocolate DooM can crash. One simply bombs out and the other one is a visplane overflow error in a rather crucial spot.

 

- Like MAP01, there's very little in health here, which is a major problem due to the difficulty

 

- Former Human, Former Sargent, Imp, Pinky, Baron of Hell, Hell Knight, Revenant, Pain Elemental, Lost Soul, ARCHVILE. Don't you think you went a bit over-board with the difficulty? It is only MAP02, not map 22. I'd recommend either supplying more health, armour and ammo or scale back the enemy difficulty.

 

Extra Comments:

 

Tutti Frutti error 1 on the switch

 

Minor Tutti Frutti error 2 on this door at the top.

 

Tutti Frutti error 3 on this door later in the level.

 

Tutti Frutti error 04 on this wall-fence.

This was the bomb out crash I mentioned above. I'm not sure how it occurred but it was roughly in this area where I stood and faced.

 

Not pictured here but the visplane overflow crash occurs if you look left when coming out of the main elevator shaft after getting the red key.

 

MAP 03 - Despondent Nukage Base:

Spoiler

Good Points -

+ Good amount of health was in this map. Certainly a breath of fresh air.

 

+ I barely ran out of ammo here and by the end I had nearly full shotgun ammo.

 

Bad Points - 

- Near the end there's no rad shield suits so you're forced to take damage when pressing the switches in the toxic wastes.

 

Extra Comments:

Tutti Frutti error with this door.

 

This step has a tutti frutti error.

 

MAP 04 - Devils In The Details:

Spoiler

Good Points -

+ Gameplay first, details second. This map looks good but the aesthetics aren't in the way of my completing the maps.

 

+ Health was sprawling in this map. I don't think I once dipped below 50%.

 

+ Ammo here is very common and you rarely feel strained or unfairly matched.

 

Bad Points -

 

- Only a really minor one. Two of the pain elementals re quite nnoying to take down due to how far away they are meaning they'll likely fire lost souls at you. (More of a pest than a real flaw so this is optional :) )

 

Extra Comments:

No bugs found! Well done! :D Also this may be my favourite map so far. <3

 

MAP 05 - Z Sector:

Spoiler

Good Points -

+ Gofo balancing of health and ammo here.

 

+ No real cheap deaths or traps. Every mistake felt like it was my own rather than something I couldn't dodge.

 

Extra Comments:

Heh. Another map without bugs. Also a well done to you my friend. :3

 

MAP 06 - Sulfuric Domains

Spoiler

Good Points -

+ The outside section is sprawling and nice to run through without it feeling clustered.

 

+ The sewage pipe effect looks neat! (see pic below for what I meant.)

 

Bad Points -

- Nearer the end of the map the difficulty ramps up considerably rather quickly, like from basic low - mid tier enemies to mid-high tier within about 1-2 seconds. Talk about a whiplash. @_@

 

Extra Comments:

It's not super obvious in the picture but near the top, you can just about make out some drawseg overflow occuring.

 

Not an error but a win. That sewage pipe exit looks brilliant! I kinda wanna steal the design a little for my own projects. >w>

 

MAP 07 - Hazardous

Spoiler

Good Points -

+ The sprawling underground nuclear system is amazing! Well done on the visuals!

 

 Bad Points -

- What's up with the ending? It's needlessly gimmicky and I just used godmode to skip past the cyberdemon fight.

 

Extra Comments:

A rather substantial tutti-frutti error on this tech wall.

 

Most of the edges in this cyberdemon fight have tutti frutti errors.

 

 

MAP 08 - Waste Processing

Spoiler

Good Points -

 

+ A detailed map that gives you a few routes to run around but I never felt lost. Good route designing!

 

+ The intro room is nicely detailed without going overboard.

 

Bad Points -

 

- The intro section is a little jarring if you don't expect imps to immediately see you.

 

Extra Comments:

Honestly this map is just filler.

 

Small tutti frutti error by the exit door.

 

MAP 09 - Technoid

Spoiler

Good Points -

+ Nice use of computer textures, giving it a future-esque computer hub style map.

 

+ The rocky area where you can raise the bridge is how you're meant to do a ravine in DooM. (Take note sigil ;) )

 

Bad Points -

- This map really punishes you for doing the wrong or the right move. Every step feels like death is about to come and with how many archviles I've met by this point in the wad, I was getting sick of it.

 

- Is this map meant to be near impossible to solve? I ended up using noclip just to get to the end just due  to how much of a clusterf**k the layout is. Loops looping into loops and corridors leading into the loops that loop into loops. Please, add some arrows or something to distinguish where I need to go.

 

extra comments:

Tutti frutti error

 

Final thoughts on the maps so far:

Spoiler

So far I've played mostly a collection of good ideas with flawed executions. Quite often I'm dealing with the same few issues on the first 9 maps. Also, unless there's more archviles on UV, I think nearly every barring 1-2 had at least 1 archvile in it. In the case of MAP02 you don't even get the rocket launcher, plasma rifle or BFG to kill the damn thing.

 

Speaking of which, I hope I find the BFG soon.. i've nearly made it to the 33% mark.

I'm nervous about the final 33%...

 

Kinda came up with a joke nickname for the project. XD Oops all tutti-Frutti.

 

Edited December 26, 2019 by DynamiteKaitorn

[ketmar]

sorry for offtopic. ignore this. ;-)

 

Spoiler

Mr. Sector, i received your email, but your mail server rejected my reply, saying that my IP is blocked by some bullshit "mail filter". also, i sux at searching, and couldn't find you here. so if you see this, PM me, please. or you can use Tox messenger to reach me, my Tox ID is 19E9FBD4935E8E5002EE3DB3F49985A04DCB30D13231E643DA41A00B1372271117E6545015A0