Abaddon's Nightmare (Finished!)

[TravyB]

Abaddon's Nightmare is a large, somewhat lengthy (I can complete it in about 13-17 minutes) and difficult map for GZDoom. 

 

Originally, the plan was to create something similar to Plutonia's map 12, "Speed", but that turned into both a proving grounds for everything I've learned about using Doom Builder, Slade3, etc. over the last few months and to experiment with lighting and design. Some of these work a bit better than others, in my opinion, but I'm happy with how everything turned out. Much of the map was not pre-planned and what little was ended up being changed as I started plotting it out in DB and adding details. 

 

I've used various textures and 'things' taken from the packs available on Realm667, to whose creators I of course give full credit and thanks, but the gameplay is completely unchanged. The map also features a lot of work on the lighting in a few parts so I'd recommend playing with the software renderer for maximum spookiness. I also only ever play with both mouselook and jumping turned off, but using them yourself shouldn't break anything (I hope). 

 

Screenshots

 

Spoiler

 

I hope you enjoy the map and I'd love to hear your thoughts, both the good and the bad. Gameplay-wise I'd say its pretty difficult but I tried my best to make sure everything was fair. Keep an eye out for secrets, traps and enjoy the archvile. 

 

The song is Baron's Province by James Paddock

 

Download

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/utxhlsw9mxzjcd5/ABBADON.wad?dl=0

 

Original Post

 

Spoiler

This is an as of yet unnamed and unfinished WAD for GZDoom which I've been working on for the last few weeks, and is also the first I've brought to anything resembling completion. What started out as an idea to make a map similar to Plutonia's map 12, "Speed", ended with a large map which will, when completed, span four sections linked together by a central hub. Only the first two of these sections are so far completed and I threw together a make-shift ending. By complete I really do mean complete; I can't see myself doing any more work on either of the two completed sections as I'm generally pretty happy with how they've turned out, though the central hub of course still has a ways to go. 

 

Most of the map was not pre-planned so a lot of it I came up with along the way. I decided to use the map as a sort of proving ground for everything I've picked up about map-making and using DOOM Builder over the last few months. I was curious to see how much detail I could put into the geometry and lighting of a map and learned a whole lot about both in the process, some working better than others but both being something I want to delve further into. I've used various textures taken from the packs available on Realm667, to whose creators I of course give full credit and thanks, but the gameplay is unchanged. Because of my work with the lighting, I find its best played with the software-renderer, and while I don't think either would break anything too badly I do play without mouselook and jumping but should be enjoyable no matter your pick of poison.  

 

Screenshots

 

Spoiler

 

 

Anywho, I hope you enjoy and I'd love to hear your thoughts about it, the good and the bad. Gameplay-wise I would say its fairly difficult, but fair. Keep an eye out for secrets, traps and enjoy the Arch-vile.

 

Download

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/323d3fz3ypxl4um/HELL.wad?dl=0

 

Edited September 20, 2019 by TravyB : huge update

[Magicana]

Was doing a very quick playthrough before work (So quick I even was using IDDQD) and managed to get stuck :(

 

[TravyB]

Jeez... thats one thing I didn't even think to test for... damn crates. I'll upload a fixed version soon.

[maxmanium]

This looks really good, especially for your first time mapping! A couple of things I noticed:

 

- You have several monsters with the "countsecrets" boolean set to true. GZDoom shows that this map has 22 secrets, but when launched with the nomonsters parameter, it only has 2 (presumably the soul sphere and beserk secrets).

 

- I would personally suggest adding slightly more ammo. I've played through the map a few times, and there seems to be enough to finish the level, but not with 100% kills. I didn't use the berserk secret much; in my opinion, though, secrets should not be "required" for 100% kills. This is up to you, though -- I also didn't really bother trying to get the monsters to infight.

 

- I would also suggest moving the exit switch behind a door or wall, maybe locked with the blue skull key. Currently, the blue skull key itself doesn't really do anything -- also, if you know where the exit switch raises from the floor, you can press it whenever you want, which lets the player exit the level prematurely.

 

Spoiler

- I'd mark the linedefs which make up these two windows as "block everything" rather than just "block players", as it was a little awkward to see dead imps fall outside through them.
 

 

Spoiler

- This switch (?) revealed by opening a seemingly secret wall doesn't do anything. I wasn't sure if this was the unfinished part you mentioned so I figured I'd include it in here.

 

 

I hope this helps!

[elend]

That does look very cool so far. I'll put this in my backlog!

[Immorpher]

This level looks foreboding! I like it!

[TravyB]

3 hours ago, maxmanium said:

This looks really good, especially for your first time mapping! A couple of things I noticed:

 

- You have several monsters with the "countsecrets" boolean set to true. GZDoom shows that this map has 22 secrets, but when launched with the nomonsters parameter, it only has 2 (presumably the soul sphere and beserk secrets).

 

- I would personally suggest adding slightly more ammo. I've played through the map a few times, and there seems to be enough to finish the level, but not with 100% kills. I didn't use the berserk secret much; in my opinion, though, secrets should not be "required" for 100% kills. This is up to you, though -- I also didn't really bother trying to get the monsters to infight.

 

- I would also suggest moving the exit switch behind a door or wall, maybe locked with the blue skull key. Currently, the blue skull key itself doesn't really do anything -- also, if you know where the exit switch raises from the floor, you can press it whenever you want, which lets the player exit the level prematurely.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

- I'd mark the linedefs which make up these two windows as "block everything" rather than just "block players", as it was a little awkward to see dead imps fall outside through them.
 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

- This switch (?) revealed by opening a seemingly secret wall doesn't do anything. I wasn't sure if this was the unfinished part you mentioned so I figured I'd include it in here.

 

 

I hope this helps!

I know exactly what I did, and that must have been when I marked the Berserk as a secret and then accidentally kept that box checked while adding other stuff. 

 

I actually spent a lot of time worrying about giving too much or too little ammo and simply wasn't sure about how to go about that beyond giving what I needed to beat it, but knowing exactly whats around the corner gives me a bit of an advantage. I did feel like I was being a bit stingy, but since I now know I was I've got the jist of it now lol 

 

The exit switch was placed there just as a means to end the level instead of sitting in limbo forever. Once the map is finished it will lead to another of the four sections, one which I'm hoping to make a bit more monolithic and hectic. 

 

and thanks :)

 

EDIT: Oh, and that secret wall will lead to something special once everything's done

 

Edited September 11, 2019 by TravyB

[TravyB]

3 minutes ago, Immorpher said:

This level looks foreboding! I like it!

That's what I was going for! I'm a big fan of the things made possible with sector lighting.

[Pure Hellspawn]

Is that the intended skybox or is it because it's Map01?

[TravyB]

2 hours ago, Pure Hellspawn said:

Is that the intended skybox or is it because it's Map01?

Because its map01. I've actually just figured out how to change the skybox so will be replacing it with something more hellish later on down the road. 

[guydude]

I've not played through it all yet because i had to stop and say keep on mapping. I'm not a critic you should actually listen to in regards to your mapping but it looks good plays good and is cohesive. I barely know what I mean when I say that but I wanna see more please.

[Doomenator]

 

Spoiler

 

 

[TravyB]

14 hours ago, guydude said:

I've not played through it all yet because i had to stop and say keep on mapping. I'm not a critic you should actually listen to in regards to your mapping but it looks good plays good and is cohesive. I barely know what I mean when I say that but I wanna see more please.

Sometime soon, maybe, since I've now decided what I'm going to do with the third section, roughly. 

 

13 hours ago, Doomenator said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

Nice find. I have no idea how that happened but I'll add it to the list of things to fix.

[DavidN]

Sometimes, people post a topic saying "Here's my first map" and I just have to ask "Are you sure?" :) This looks amazing so far, I love what you've done with the custom textures to make a progression through the two "levels" so far of the cave and the fortress - and the details you put into your sector work are great! I did find a bit of a difficulty spike in the fortress (where I started spamming resurrects a lot, sorry), with a lot of monsters combined with a bit of a starvation of ammunition. Here's a video that might help show my reactions as I explored for the first time.

 

This video was sponsored by the Send Lawyers to Hell appeal! Playing Doom WADs to raise money for RAICES.

http://bit.ly/sendlawyers
https://streamlabs.com/davidxn/v2

 

 

[TravyB]

12 hours ago, DavidN said:

Sometimes, people post a topic saying "Here's my first map" and I just have to ask "Are you sure?" :) This looks amazing so far, I love what you've done with the custom textures to make a progression through the two "levels" so far of the cave and the fortress - and the details you put into your sector work are great! I did find a bit of a difficulty spike in the fortress (where I started spamming resurrects a lot, sorry), with a lot of monsters combined with a bit of a starvation of ammunition. Here's a video that might help show my reactions as I explored for the first time.

 

This video was sponsored by the Send Lawyers to Hell appeal! Playing Doom WADs to raise money for RAICES.

http://bit.ly/sendlawyers
https://streamlabs.com/davidxn/v2

 

 

Thanks! :)

The lack of ammunition is unintentional, something I wasn't quite sure how to go about, and will thankfully be fixed once I release an updated version of the map, hopefully later today. I never thought that I put quite THAT little ammo in the map lol 

Oh, and the secrets will hopefully be fixed. You ran right by both of the intended ones :P

[TravyB]

Bump, since it's now finished!

[Suitepee]

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/484647580

 

I play this at 1:02:54 into this playtest livestream.

 

I enjoyed playing this map. Please make more.

[TravyB]

2 hours ago, Suitepee said:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/484647580

 

I play this at 1:02:54 into this playtest livestream.

 

I enjoyed playing this map. Please make more.

That's awesome :)

I'm already working on my next one, which will have a nukage facility theme

[Turin Turambar]

I liked the map, not too hard, not too easy, some variety of enemy encounters and locations, yeah good job.