[release] Chimaera Station (It's a first map!)

[dac]

^{Alright, I can do this, I will do this, here goes}

To resume a long story, I decided to sit down and create a map one day. A small one, with strict area constraints, just to get something out there. I got way farther into it than previous efforts, then I got burned out, took a break, came back and got even farther than the previous farther. Today I decided I was done shifting sectors and objects, and it was time to tie a nice bow on the map and make it public. So without further ado:

 

Chimaera Station

A (very) small map for Doom II. Get the key, open the gate, and be ready for a fight.

 

Screenshots:

Spoiler

 

Requirements:

• A Boom compatible source port. This map was tested with both GZDoom 4.2.0 and PrBoom-plus.
• Ola Björling’s OTEX texture pack. Get it here!

 

Restrictions: No jumping, crouching or freelooking.

Difficulty Settings: Implemented. Not sure how to grade them with well known mapsets, but it should not be too Sunder-ish on UV.

Coop: Player starts only.

Deathmatch: No.

Map Time: Too short.

Build Time: Too long.

 

Release Notes :

• v1.0 - Initial Release

 

Download Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xqg5fq6lsjbuuog/dac01.zip?dl=0

 

I'll try and write some thoughts about newbie mapping experiences tomorrow, and also how I might have gone a bit far in a few places with lost souls. Meanwhile, enjoy the map!

 

^{Okay this wasn't so bad}

[elend]

Oof, that looks great. I'll put that in my backlog right away.

[Tango]

3 hours ago, dac said:

Okay this wasn't so bad

 

haha congrats! it's kind of easy to forget how nerve-wracking it is to post your own creation until you have to actually do it. the map looks awesome :D super nice post formatting too

[Phobus]

This OTEX looks pretty good, and mappers like yourself are certainly helping with that!

[Magicana]

Hold onto your social anxiety, I made a vid.

 

 

I forgot to use saves so I used 'Resurrect' a few times - Oops.

 

The armor in the map came waaaayy too late - I think a green armor would have gone a long way in the big reveal room.

 

I also could have done (And this might be by design so not necessarily a criticism) with maybe a box of shotgun shells in place of some of the rockets. Rocketing Lost Souls is risky business :P.

 

Nice little map though. Architecturally it looks very nice.

[galileo31dos01]

Good first map. It could go with a chaingun instead of shotgun at the start but that's a minor gripe. Health was just about what I needed, though it could use two more medkits for the final ambush, only revenants were a little more douchey than usual :P

 

I did a blind fda, really wanted to ignore the turret imps since SG was shitty today, and it wasn't my intention to exit without the secret but it's hard to see a thing with the sun burning my laptop's screen. About the last ambush, you can camp in the porch with little to no risk of dying, though if you want to seal the doors then definitely more health should go, perhaps a soulsphere spawning in the middle. dac01fdabygal.zip 

[dac]

Thanks for all your initial comments!

 

15 hours ago, Tango said:

 

haha congrats! it's kind of easy to forget how nerve-wracking it is to post your own creation until you have to actually do it. the map looks awesome :D super nice post formatting too

 

It's especially wracking for a first map - at least it was for me. While it's a bit liberating to get rid of supreme masterpiece expectations and just make a map, I still felt I had to make a first good impression and stand out. A by-the-book post format was a huge part of that, but it also carried to the map itself: learning the ropes, refining the ropes, doing crazy experiment with the ropes, all while not being sure I was using said ropes correctly and sometimes stumbling on them. But more about that later.

 

11 hours ago, Magicana said:

Hold onto your social anxiety, I made a vid.

 

 

I forgot to use saves so I used 'Resurrect' a few times - Oops.

 

The armor in the map came waaaayy too late - I think a green armor would have gone a long way in the big reveal room.

 

I also could have done (And this might be by design so not necessarily a criticism) with maybe a box of shotgun shells in place of some of the rockets. Rocketing Lost Souls is risky business :P.

 

Nice little map though. Architecturally it looks very nice.

 

Social anxiety in check! Okay, comments on the demo as they go:

• First parts of the map are as tested. I could have ramped up the fights more, but I wasn't trying to be too overwhelming when I designed these parts. (he says, opening the map on three shotgunners)
• 1:53 - Well, this isn't intended. Nice job securing the SSG!
• 2:30 - Yeah, I brute forced the door problem. Also concerning the map's only secret:
  Spoiler

  The armour comes a bit sooner than you think. I should have more incentives to return to the southeast section at this point, albeit not too much.

   

• 3:00 - Right, a green armor can be added somewhere. Those revenants hurt more than I thought they would.
• 4:15 - I see what you mean by more shells. This is something I ran into while playtesting too: I originally designed the last fight for rockets, but it became apparent lost souls were proving an annoyance, more so than I wanted them to be as pseudo area denial of the south section. More shells were added then, but then why not use them on the mancubi and revenants? It's a tricky balance to set.
• 5:00 - This is more architectural, but a better way to tell you need to flip both switches to open the exit might be a bit welcome here. Oh well.
• 6:00 - Oh god this fight is a lot nastier than I intended
• 6:15 - The bars open on a timer. Let's just say I wasn't expecting the fight to end up there.
• End - I didn't mess too much with MAPINFO and end of map text. Something to think about for future maps.

All in all, good run. And sorry about those revenants. I know it's technically not a mistake, but it's just so easy to go "What kind of enemy will bring the most hur-oh, right." and go way overboard.

[Magicana]

2 hours ago, dac said:

Thanks for all your initial comments!

 

 

It's especially wracking for a first map - at least it was for me. While it's a bit liberating to get rid of supreme masterpiece expectations and just make a map, I still felt I had to make a first good impression and stand out. A by-the-book post format was a huge part of that, but it also carried to the map itself: learning the ropes, refining the ropes, doing crazy experiment with the ropes, all while not being sure I was using said ropes correctly and sometimes stumbling on them. But more about that later.

 

 

Social anxiety in check! Okay, comments on the demo as they go:

• First parts of the map are as tested. I could have ramped up the fights more, but I wasn't trying to be too overwhelming when I designed these parts. (he says, opening the map on three shotgunners)
• 1:53 - Well, this isn't intended. Nice job securing the SSG!
• 2:30 - Yeah, I brute forced the door problem. Also concerning the map's only secret:
    Hide contents

  The armour comes a bit sooner than you think. I should have more incentives to return to the southeast section at this point, albeit not too much.

   

• 3:00 - Right, a green armor can be added somewhere. Those revenants hurt more than I thought they would.
• 4:15 - I see what you mean by more shells. This is something I ran into while playtesting too: I originally designed the last fight for rockets, but it became apparent lost souls were proving an annoyance, more so than I wanted them to be as pseudo area denial of the south section. More shells were added then, but then why not use them on the mancubi and revenants? It's a tricky balance to set.
• 5:00 - This is more architectural, but a better way to tell you need to flip both switches to open the exit might be a bit welcome here. Oh well.
• 6:00 - Oh god this fight is a lot nastier than I intended
• 6:15 - The bars open on a timer. Let's just say I wasn't expecting the fight to end up there.
• End - I didn't mess too much with MAPINFO and end of map text. Something to think about for future maps.

All in all, good run. And sorry about those revenants. I know it's technically not a mistake, but it's just so easy to go "What kind of enemy will bring the most hur-oh, right." and go way overboard.

 

The difficulty was all good; I had no problem with that (Apart from all the times I died). The architecture was well thought out as well - The hiding/safe spots for the initial mancubus/rev hordes are very unsafe for the caco swarm because of that gap.

 

I ran through on all the difficulties and that was the only time I got the SSG like that. The great thing about Doom is the randomness.

 

I knew exactly what to do to finish the map progression wise. I also knew that I wasn't going to get a clear exit so I waited to clear everything first. Progression was just fine.

 

I liked the map; Good job.

[NoReason]

Did a demo, was pretty fun. Really nice map, not even for a first but in general. Actually enjoyed the lost soul usage, made things a bit more dangerous and less mindless than they would have been imo. I did forget that mancs can sometimes shoot through walls though so I took way more damage than I could've :/

dac01nr.zip

[Gustavo]

On 9/24/2019 at 9:43 PM, dac said:

^{Alright, I can do this, I will do this, here goes}

To resume a long story, I decided to sit down and create a map one day. A small one, with strict area constraints, just to get something out there. I got way farther into it than previous efforts, then I got burned out, took a break, came back and got even farther than the previous farther. Today I decided I was done shifting sectors and objects, and it was time to tie a nice bow on the map and make it public. So without further ado:

 

Chimaera Station

A (very) small map for Doom II. Get the key, open the gate, and be ready for a fight.

 

Screenshots:

  Hide contents

 

Requirements:

• A Boom compatible source port. This map was tested with both GZDoom 4.2.0 and PrBoom-plus.
• Ola Björling’s OTEX texture pack. Get it here!

 

Restrictions: No jumping, crouching or freelooking.

Difficulty Settings: Implemented. Not sure how to grade them with well known mapsets, but it should not be too Sunder-ish on UV.

Coop: Player starts only.

Deathmatch: No.

Map Time: Too short.

Build Time: Too long.

 

Release Notes :

• v1.0 - Initial Release

 

Download Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xqg5fq6lsjbuuog/dac01.zip?dl=0

 

I'll try and write some thoughts about newbie mapping experiences tomorrow, and also how I might have gone a bit far in a few places with lost souls. Meanwhile, enjoy the map!

 

^{Okay this wasn't so bad}

Looks great, can I use your sky texture for a new map I'm working on?

[dac]

2 hours ago, Gustavo said:

Looks great, can I use your sky texture for a new map I'm working on?

 

All the resources used are in the OTEX pack, sky included.

 

On 9/25/2019 at 1:51 PM, galileo31dos01 said:

Good first map. It could go with a chaingun instead of shotgun at the start but that's a minor gripe. Health was just about what I needed, though it could use two more medkits for the final ambush, only revenants were a little more douchey than usual :P

 

I did a blind fda, really wanted to ignore the turret imps since SG was shitty today, and it wasn't my intention to exit without the secret but it's hard to see a thing with the sun burning my laptop's screen. About the last ambush, you can camp in the porch with little to no risk of dying, though if you want to seal the doors then definitely more health should go, perhaps a soulsphere spawning in the middle. dac01fdabygal.zip 

 

Impressive run. You got the secret just fine, it's just the alcove being too small and the megaarmor being accessible without entering it and triggering the secret linedef. I'll have to fix that in a future version.

 

Last fight: I know all the demos in this thread go for 100%, but that fight last longer than I thought it would. I didn't want the doors to stay sealed too long, maybe I can extend it a little, but hey, at <20% HP I think you deserved the porch :p

 

13 hours ago, NoReason said:

Did a demo, was pretty fun. Really nice map, not even for a first but in general. Actually enjoyed the lost soul usage, made things a bit more dangerous and less mindless than they would have been imo. I did forget that mancs can sometimes shoot through walls though so I took way more damage than I could've :/

dac01nr.zip

 

That was a nice demo too, really enjoyed your herding skills. As implied in the OP, the lost souls were the one element I was nervous about: I needed some kind of area denial so the player wouldn't camp endlessly in the south, and they seemed the best way to do so. MAabe a bit too well, considering how many times I died to them while testing. Glad to see you enjoyed their use.

[Suitepee]

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/487646207

 

I play this at 1:00:00 (1 hour) into this playtest livestream.

[GarrettChan]

Pretty good first map. I like how you forced the player to use Rocket Launcher to deal with this unpleasant situation.