The 64 KB challenge (2 megawads completed and on Idgames!)

[Alper002]

So, playing through the set, I noticed something unusual in my own map. The teleport-y trap didn't seem to work, despite the map being completely untouched from the version I posted previously. I tried to fix the issue by making the W1 teleport line block monsters so they don't accidentally consume the singular teleport. No idea if the fix actually works, but it should.

The only difference in this update is that a single bit is a 1 instead of a 0. Wow.

LowMemZoneV3.zip

(I know the filesize is actually slightly lower, but that was just two identical sectors not being joined together.)

[D1m3]

Retextured exit room a little(BROWNPIP instead of PIPE2),added new sectors for secret exit,file size is 63.9 kb now

MAP15(Base_Under_Attack_At_Night).zip

[Arbys550]

@Noiser

Map10:

I remembered this one when I played it. It was an enjoyable experience for the most part. I liked pretty much all of the combat. The only thing that wasn't really that enjoyable for me was killing the archvile. It's pretty smart that he's paired with the mancubus, as the mancubus causes you to want to rush in and kill him, but the AV stops you. Sure you can argue that it's an effective and well thought out encounter, but I think it's a little on the annoying side, as there's no good way to kill the AV except constantly retreat and take cover. This is one of those things in my opinion where, yes, it may be effective, but who cares if it's effective if it's not fun to fight them.

 

There's a spot with two hell knights in a hole in the wall that really pose no threat. I just ran past them both time I played. I think it would be more fun if they were revs, or a couple chaingunners. I also wished there were more cells at the ending room. I only had 40 cells when I played it so the PG was just useless. Somehow, when I first played the map I had a hundred and something, so maybe I accidentally jumped over some ammo at the PG. If so, maybe you should change that platform to one flat platform instead of steps to make it more convenient to get the ammo.

 

I liked the last fight, but I wished the flying enemies spawned closer to where the cyber was so I didn't have to wait for them to fly over. Overall, a good map! One of my favorites in the wad probably.

 

map25:

I pretty much liked everything, except in the cyber area, it was a little awkward to grab the bfg. On my first playthrough, I didn't know there were steps there. I noticed them this time, but every time I tried to grab it I bounced off with an elastic collision. I think you should make the steps wider and make each step a different texture so it's more noticeable. There's also a sleeping imp in the outdoor red key area that doesn't wake up unless you shoot it or get in front of it (it's facing the outer wall).

 

@Scorpius

Map28:

The big thing about this map was the secret. The first time I played, I thought the floor was damaging, so I didn't get it. I didn't notice it was water until just now, the second time I played it. The first time I played, I ran out of ammo real quick and had to pretty much skip everything. When I found the secret, it changed EVERYTHING. It was like I was playing a whole new map. The barons turned from an annoying retreat-type fight to a fun, close quarters rocket shoot-out. It was much more enjoyable. Before, I was picking up like a million rockets with no way to use them. If it were my map, I would place the Rocket Launcher on the path and just leave a blue armor in the secret. Also the baron in the red key area was a little pointless in my opinion, just an ammo tank.

 

Overall I liked it. It had some fun rocket launcher action.

Edited February 27, 2020 by Arbys550 : Somehow I accidentally posted it too early

[Horus]

Updated version of my 64kb map Trials following HAK3180's playthrough

trials_v2.zip

[Horus]

Played first 5 levels, feedback in spoiler

 

Spoiler

Map 01: Fun opener, love the map name, daring you to call it too grey. I can see this one has seen some texture changes since the first version, and the blue sky gives it a different aesthetic. I like the lighting on this map. Not sure about the choice of computer texture in the water maze.

 

Map 02: Another interesting choice of MIDI. Like the partially submerged crates at the start. Combat is fairly basic, very Map 02ish in that respect. I think the final staircase and corridor to the exit could have done with some enemies

 

Map 03: The text intermission and automap names this map as Base In A Island rather than Base In An Island. This map is a real step in difficulty from the first two. I agree with Arbys550 that this map has too little ammo (though perhaps I would say slightly too little rather than way too little) and that either of his suggestions would work to improve it. Also thought the mancubus section was a little campy. Enjoyed it otherwise though.

 

Map 04: The mancubi killed me 3 times in this map, only 33 monsters but deceptively non-trivial to complete. The Focus MIDI does fit here, very much a vanilla feel to this map. Enjoyed this one

 

Map 05: At the start an imp and a demon were stuck. Not a huge fan of the damaging water or the random grey cube in the beyond. Combat is very instapoppy but still enjoyable. The RK progression is a bit strange, I forgot the RK switch was there for a while so tried unsuccessfully to open the RK doors and RK bars. I died at the YK pickup, going to need to think how I get past that one!

 

Demos for the last two maps attached (not the first three, because I only decided to play on prBoom+ complevel 2 at map 04, before that I was GZDoom).

 

0_64kb_demos_1.zip

 

[Walter confetti]

Thanks for feedback and new map fixes, i'll start to do my fixes on my maps too.

Talking about fixes, here the source wad without the semi-invisible imps:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/76cym7nxsjsu0rc/64res.zip/file

[Arbys550]

Does someone mind giving me some feedback on my maps as well? They're the secret maps. I don't care if you hate them. I just want to know if I want to change anything before this thing is released.

[Horus]

20 minutes ago, Arbys550 said:

Does someone mind giving me some feedback on my maps as well? They're the secret maps. I don't care if you hate them. I just want to know if I want to change anything before this thing is released.

 

I'm going to give feedback for all the levels - so when I get to yours, yes for sure

[Horus]

Levels 6-8 in spoiler

 

Spoiler

 

Map 06: This map has an intriguing layout. Combat was enjoyable on the whole, but this has the opposite problem of map 03 to me, it is just too generous with both ammo and weaponry (and everything in general tbh). I kinda fell into both secrets without doing anything that seemed to me to be out of the ordinary. The water was damaging again, at least it’s consistent with the last map I guess… Didn’t quite see the point of the rad suit at the end tbh, perhaps it’s there to give the player the incentive to explore but if that’s so then the earlier radsuit(s?) are better placed for that. However, I did like the map texturing and design, and the little mini ship for the YK was cool (as was telefragging that pesky mastermind).

Map 07: I remember this map from the last time I played it – don’t think anything has changed, I remember the floating stimpack issue for one. This time I knew where the secret was and sure enough the berserk changes the whole complexion of the map, and makes it much easier (without any ammo issues). That said, carelessness is still punished, especially at the instapop HK section. Did not get 100% kills, 4 revenants didn't spawn

 

Map 08: The text intermission and automap names this map as Cave of Cthala, but it is named Cave of Cthalha in the text file, I’m guessing the latter is what it is supposed to be named. Given the 64KB constraint, this isn’t your usual antares detailed epic but it is still pretty damn difficult. Ammo is just right here, it has to be rationed carefully to properly deal with the enemies around you, particularly the RK trap which was brutal. Finally made it on 8% health on my 3rd try. Wasn’t a fan of the MIDI on this one, started grating after a while.

 

Since I'm on cl2, demos aren't necessarily FDAs but from the time I actually survived (which is the 3rd time for level 8). 

Thought I was going to sail through these at first, now I know it's not that easy...!

 

0_64kb_demos_2.zip

 

 

Edited February 29, 2020 by Horus

[ThatWeNGuy]

Updated my maps, fixed revenants trap in map07 , added more ammo in map03.

WeN64kbV2.rar

[Swalzi]

Made a minuscule change to my map "Water World." Adjusted radsuit location next to plasma gun. No other changes. Thanks you.

Swalzi64-2FINALR.rar

[Horus]

Levels 9-12 in spoiler

 

Spoiler

Map 09: Damn Paul Corfiatis has made a tough cookie here! Took me quite a few goes to get through the chaotic beginning, with monsters everywhere you turn. Sometimes brushing up against imps and demons stop you from successfully avoiding the revenant rockets. Things do calm down afterwards, the RK battle has lots of monsters but by that time you are better equipped to deal with all the foes. It was a pretty fun battle I must say. Of course I find the invuln secret after I kill everything! Only real nitpick I find with this level is that one of the secrets is very strangely placed, basically the opening you go through after collecting the rocket launcher. One can pick up the RL then reverse (like I did) hence not triggering the secret, and the RL is in such an obvious position anyway it’s not really a secret.

 

Map 10: How I survived this one first time I do not know. Watch me move straight into the path of a cyber rocket…! That aside I had a number of close calls and was on low health throughout. Combat was pretty good except for the perched arch vile as Arbys550 mentioned. Nice use of cacos and pain elementals to provide distraction from the cyber. The texture misalignment above the BK door is a bit annoying.

 

Map 11: Don’t get this level at all. You can finish it in about 10 seconds if you want to. It’s totally unclear where the exit is and I hit it inadvertently. The shoot switch is repeatable but shouldn’t be. The chaingunners have too much cover to be a threat. Then like Arbys550 said it isn’t a proper death exit because you keep your weapons. There might have been more to this level, but it seemed just filler to me.

 

Map 12: This one frustrated me until I worked out the strategy behind it - then it was much more enjoyable. Punching lost souls is a sure way to die so I focused on starting monster infighting whilst I worked my way around the map. I cursed the presence of the arch vile until I realized there was a teleporter (in fact I thought the teleporter was pointless until I realized it was for that express purpose). You also have to time the barrel shot to kill both all the revenants and the zombiemen.

 

0_64kb_demos_3.zip

 

Since both levels 13 and 15 have updates, I'll wait for v1.3 before carrying on any further

[E.M.]

On 2/27/2020 at 11:03 PM, Horus said:

Played first 5 levels, feedback in spoiler

 

  Hide contents

Map 01: Fun opener, love the map name, daring you to call it too grey. I can see this one has seen some texture changes since the first version, and the blue sky gives it a different aesthetic. I like the lighting on this map. Not sure about the choice of computer texture in the water maze.

 

Map 02: Another interesting choice of MIDI. Like the partially submerged crates at the start. Combat is fairly basic, very Map 02ish in that respect. I think the final staircase and corridor to the exit could have done with some enemies

 

Map 03: The text intermission and automap names this map as Base In A Island rather than Base In An Island. This map is a real step in difficulty from the first two. I agree with Arbys550 that this map has too little ammo (though perhaps I would say slightly too little rather than way too little) and that either of his suggestions would work to improve it. Also thought the mancubus section was a little campy. Enjoyed it otherwise though.

 

Map 04: The mancubi killed me 3 times in this map, only 33 monsters but deceptively non-trivial to complete. The Focus MIDI does fit here, very much a vanilla feel to this map. Enjoyed this one

 

Map 05: At the start an imp and a demon were stuck. Not a huge fan of the damaging water or the random grey cube in the beyond. Combat is very instapoppy but still enjoyable. The RK progression is a bit strange, I forgot the RK switch was there for a while so tried unsuccessfully to open the RK doors and RK bars. I died at the YK pickup, going to need to think how I get past that one!

 

Demos for the last two maps attached (not the first three, because I only decided to play on prBoom+ complevel 2 at map 04, before that I was GZDoom).

 

0_64kb_demos_1.zip

 

 

I'm glad you thought my map was decent, despite it being something I quickly made in only 3 hours late at night. If we ever have another community project like this, I'll be sure to put a lot more work into the map I make.

[Horus]

A slaughtermap featuring @Scypek2's custom monsters (Rocket Guy and Hades Elemental) using the Episode 2 sky (I'm considering this as either a Episode 2 submission or a MAP33, I leave the decision to Walter) for the limit-removing set. Kinda worked on this one concurrently with my previous map Trials, ended up finishing the former first.

 

Map name: Impi

Filesize: 63.8KB

Map slot: MAP12 of Doom II (as of now)

Map format: Doom format

Source ports tested: GZDoom, Crispy (no freelook, no jump, no crouch)

Difficulties: Implemented (406 monsters on UV)

Textures: Needs to be loaded with 64res (available in the OP)

Music included in zip (AV map 25 music)

 

 

Think I've made enough 64KB maps now, I did enjoy making them though!

impi_v1.zip

[mewbusi]

On 2/27/2020 at 10:03 PM, Horus said:

Played first 5 levels, feedback in spoiler

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Map 01: Fun opener, love the map name, daring you to call it too grey. I can see this one has seen some texture changes since the first version, and the blue sky gives it a different aesthetic. I like the lighting on this map. Not sure about the choice of computer texture in the water maze.

 

Map 02: Another interesting choice of MIDI. Like the partially submerged crates at the start. Combat is fairly basic, very Map 02ish in that respect. I think the final staircase and corridor to the exit could have done with some enemies

 

Map 03: The text intermission and automap names this map as Base In A Island rather than Base In An Island. This map is a real step in difficulty from the first two. I agree with Arbys550 that this map has too little ammo (though perhaps I would say slightly too little rather than way too little) and that either of his suggestions would work to improve it. Also thought the mancubus section was a little campy. Enjoyed it otherwise though.

 

Map 04: The mancubi killed me 3 times in this map, only 33 monsters but deceptively non-trivial to complete. The Focus MIDI does fit here, very much a vanilla feel to this map. Enjoyed this one

 

Map 05: At the start an imp and a demon were stuck. Not a huge fan of the damaging water or the random grey cube in the beyond. Combat is very instapoppy but still enjoyable. The RK progression is a bit strange, I forgot the RK switch was there for a while so tried unsuccessfully to open the RK doors and RK bars. I died at the YK pickup, going to need to think how I get past that one!

 

Demos for the last two maps attached (not the first three, because I only decided to play on prBoom+ complevel 2 at map 04, before that I was GZDoom).

 

0_64kb_demos_1.zip

 

 

Glad to hear you liked my map. I was a little worried that the default music would be a bit underwhelming but I'm happy that you thought it was fitting.

[Horus]

Updated version of my latest map, fixing the slime trail seen in Crispy Doom, and a couple other minor changes

impi_v2.zip

[Scorpius]

Vastly improved my limit-removing map. I trimmed the fat and added some extra goodies!

vengeance.zip

[Scorpius]

Sorry for double post. Fixed a bug in vanilla map where player can get stuck between final bridge and Archvile cage.

rolling.zip

[JBerg]

What's the ETA to the vanilla megawad being uploaded to idgames?

[Walter confetti]

I think to upload it when i finish both the megawads (vanilla and limit-removing) when they're both completed...

[Horus]

Updated version of my latest map Impi following HAK3180's playthrough

impi_v3.zip

[JBerg]

17 hours ago, Walter confetti said:

I think to upload it when i finish both the megawads (vanilla and limit-removing) when they're both completed...

 

Thanks. I didn't mean to come off as rude or anything, I was just curious.

[Walter confetti]

7 hours ago, JBerg said:

 

Thanks. I didn't mean to come off as rude or anything, I was just curious.

 

No problem, sorry if sounded rude in my reply!

[Scorpius]

Surprise! Another map for limit removing project. This time it's a stronghold enclosed by water.

Episode 2 or 3 will suit this hectic map very well.

 

Name: The Last Stand

Music: Time Runner (MM2)

Format: Limit Removing

Difficulty settings: Yes.

Map slot: MAP01.

laststand.zip

 

EDIT: Hopefully fixed monsters on pillars falling off.

 

Edited March 7, 2020 by Scorpius

[Egg Boy]

5 minutes ago, Scorpius said:

Surprise! Another map for limit removing project. This time it's a stronghold enclosed by water.

Episode 2 or 3 will suit this hectic map very well.

 

Name: The Last Stand

Music: Time Runner (MM2)

Format: Limit Removing

Difficulty settings: Yes.

Map slot: MAP01.

laststand.zip

I always love playing a Scorpius map, and this is no exception. Really gives me that classic Momento Mori feel. Love it. I will say, though, you should probably surround the pillars with the archviles, imps, and revenants with monster blocking lines so that they don't fall off in ports like Pr-Boom+. This error caused me to be unable to get 100% kills :( Other than that, great map.

[Scorpius]

4 minutes ago, Egg Boy said:

I always love playing a Scorpius map, and this is no exception. Really gives me that classic Momento Mori feel. Love it. I will say, though, you should probably surround the pillars with the archviles, imps, and revenants with monster blocking lines so that they don't fall off in ports like Pr-Boom+. This error caused me to be unable to get 100% kills :( Other than that, great map.

 

Cheers for the kind message, really appreciate it! Updated zip file in previous post with block lines set on those pillars. :)

[Horus]

Decided to carry on with playing through the maps, want to clear out my classic Doom queue before Eternal hits :P

 

Feedback on maps 13-15, and 31-33 in spoiler (demos only for 14 and 31-33, for 13 and 15 I played the latest versions that Alper and D1M3 provided but on GZDoom instead)

 

Spoiler

Map 13: This one, unlike the other maps is seemingly going for the ‘large area, low detail’ style. The MIDI of this map is probably my favourite so far and blends well with the map. The first indoors area is a little strange, with the STARGR not really fitting with the GRAY texture. The progression in the next area is bizarre. Basically there is an ‘easy way’ and a ‘hard way’. The hard way needs a lot of very precise platforming and is basically un-FDA-able without saves (thankfully I played this map with saves in GZDoom), and in the first instance, you get one try only before it’s permanently blocked. The only incentive to go the hard way is to max the map, there’s nothing there like a strong weapon or lots of health that actually makes it worth the trip. The last encounter is decent enough, but the support texture at the end take a long time to open. Overall not sure I understood some of the design decisions, but I got the impression they were all intentional.

 

Map 14: Played and commented on this one beforehand so not much more to say on this one. I do have a demo for it this time though. I feel like I enjoyed this map more the second time round. It might be due to the changed monster placement.

 

Map 15: This map starts off with some pretty unintuitive progression, I had to load up the editor twice just to work out how to open the first door. This progression would work for a secret (or even a secret exit), but for mandatory progression I don’t think it makes sense. The view to the dark outdoors through the first door was nicely done. The placement of the rocket launcher in this map is bizarre, put in a place for an encounter that is unsuited for. It seem like this was done to troll the player as this map is too close quarters to make any use of a rocket launcher. The spectre pits were a bit annoying as you couldn’t see the enemy until you dropped down, I also wonder if it would cause issues on prBoom+ due to infinite height (can’t verify as I played this one on GZDoom). The hell knight and chaingunner combos were probably this map’s highlight in terms of combat. In contrast to the starting section, the secret exit was extremely easy to find, basically given away by the automap.

 

Map 31: This map was a lot of fun, but the difficulty is pretty inverted. The opening encounter is by far the hardest, down to the mix of perched chaingunners, archviles and revenants, making a ‘safe spot’ almost impossible to find, together with the ammo being populated in dangerous areas – very cleverly done. Due to its difficulty, I switched to cl9 from cl2 for my demo (so I could save), yet as soon as I switched I completed the whole map in one run without dying lol.

 

The rest of the map is simple by comparison. If you get through the first encounter without losing much health, the second encounter is simple because you have the luxury of timing when you pick up the megasphere. And then a map is a bit overgenerous by giving you another soulsphere. I would personally either cut that out or move it later in the map.

 

The next encounter is clever in the sense that it forces progression to the metal arena, although once you get there dispatching the enemies is simple through rocket spam. I can’t BFG a cyber to save my life and it shows in this demo lol. Thankfully @Arbys550 is very generous in the ammo department here.

The final battle is kinda trivialized by the BFG tbh, especially if you are better at BFGing a cyber than I am. I can imagine a lot of players having enough BFG to wipe out the whole pain elemental horde without any trouble. I did not find the secret exit.

 

So some nitpicks but still a very enjoyable map.

 

Map 32: Again this map has one encounter that is far harder than the rest. The opener is pretty gentle, more of a warm-up for the big battle ahead. Once you dropdown into the central ‘elder tree’ section, you launch into a pretty brutal battle, with a mass of revenants on one side, a bunch of arch viles on the other, and the cyber in the centre. Given the dispersal of enemies, I found infighting hard to get going, and pretty difficult to survive as I would either eat a cyber rocket, a mass of revenant rockets or take one too many arch vile hits.

 

The rest of the map was a lot easier. I picked up the BFG (maybe the map would’ve been easier if I picked it up earlier lol) which made the revenant encounter at the rocket launcher (mostly) a case of simple BFG spam.

 

The final battle was disappointing. It promised a lot as it looked very threatening on its reveal, but the enemies were so contained that infighting was almost inevitable, literally the only enemies I actually killed myself were the two cybers and a single revenant. Demo was also on cl9

 

Map 33: Who knew a 16 monster map could be so challenging? So this is a Heretic map converted to Doom II. The ammo situation and enemy placement is quite clever, because you don’t have quite enough ammo to deal with the revenants alone, so you need to explore elsewhere, where more enemies await. The effect of partially submerging the player in the water looked very odd and didn’t really work, it made the stimpack and backpack placement look very odd, personally I would remove it. The final battle through the RK door didn’t have enough bite in my view, it was a lot easier than the rest of the map. When I reached the exit, it didn’t show the intermission screen, instead kicked me out with error W_GetNumForName: CWILV32 not found. I switched back to cl2 for this demo

 

0_64kb_demos_4.zip

 

Edited March 8, 2020 by Horus

[Pegleg]

Here's my map for the limit-removing project.

 

Title: Shrine of Pain

Map Slot: 13 (this is just where it's at currently, but it could be moved wherever you wanted within Episode 2--although there's 86 monsters on UV, so I was aiming at early in the episode)

Format: Limit-removing

Difficult settings: Fully implemented

Co-op: Implemented

Deathmatch: Starts and some extra weapons, so DM is functional, but not really the focus

Tested with: Chocolate Doom 3.0.0, ZDoom 2.8.1, GZDoom 4.2.3

Size: 63.1 kB

 

The shrine of pain is a small complex of marble, wood, and metal, surrounded by nukage and death.

 

There is no special music on this map. @Walter confetti I'm perfectly happy to have the stock music for whatever slot the map ends up in, or you can add a different music track to it when you compile the set. Either way, I'm happy.

 

To save space, I didn't add any of the textures to the file, so it must be loaded with the resource pack.

 

[Arbys550]

@Horus

Thanks for the feedback! I do agree with you for the most part. The end of map32 was originally way tougher, but I had to cut out like 10 archviles and 50 revenants cause of the flickering sprites thing.

 

The end of map31 was honestly lazy. I just kinda slapped down some pes and called it a day. I don't think I want to change anything, though. So unless any map breaking bugs are found my maps are the final version.

[Alper002]

Thanks for the feedback @Horus!

You're right, the upper path doesn't really have any physical, item-based rewards for going for it... Not sure if I want to make an update to change that or not, but it's definitely a mismatch.

 

That support texture lowering for a long-ish time was to make it awkward to not telefrag the cybie, even if most would probably go for the teleporter anyway.

 

While the upper route is still accessible if you fail the platforming(via secret stairs opened through somewhat obtuse means), it's only really so that you can theoretically max the map no matter what. It'd be kinda jerkish to make it actually impossible to max the map if you mess up on a single thing IMO.