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

[Scorpius]

Two things I want to point out with MAP03 (my map). The version of the map is old, I must've uploaded it by mistake, can you please change it to the updated map: vengeance-v2.zip

 

Also, Vengeance is spelled wrong in the WAD. Thanks for running these projects, and I can't wait to play them both! :)

 

EDIT: Uploaded wrong zip again. :/

Edited May 8, 2020 by Scorpius

[Pegleg]

On 1/24/2020 at 6:05 PM, Walter confetti said:

the dead lost soul thing (Laser Beam)

 

I probably should've noticed this before now, but will this cause a Laser Beam monster to be generated every time a Lost Soul is killed?

 

Admittedly, that could be an interesting dynamic, but it could also cause a problem.

[Arbys550]

Alright, I've played through the whole thing. I've managed to find quite a bit of bugs. Here they are:

Spoiler

General

The escape characters are still visible in the text intermissions. Not sure how, don't know if it's on purpose or not.

 

Map01

The lifts to get out of that first water pit need some sort of lift texture in my opinion. I thought I was stuck down there and had to wall hump everything to find the way out. This was made worse by the fact that the texture is lower unpegged, so if you happen to press it, it's hard to tell if it's even lowering. There's also 2 floating armor bonuses on top of a computer panel thingy.

 

Map02

There's a floating rocket stuck in the ceiling by the green door in that one big building.

 

Map08

You can grab the SSG through the fence, this might be fine though as a speedrunning trick or something, IDK. Your call. There's a massive HOM on the blue key pillar too, maybe a missing texture.

 

Map12

This is the biggest mistake of the entire WAD and it's very important. This map is in boom format and thus doesn't work.

 

Map22

There's a green armor stuck inside some fallen bricks, it might be there on purpose as a visual detail, though, so maybe it's on purpose.

 

Map25

This is my map, there's some floating shells outside in the archvile area, don't know how, because I tested this map for hours. Maybe something got changed during compilation. Also I put in way to many damn cells.

 

And here's my write-ups on those of you who wanted me to give feedback:

I was gonna record my playthorughs of your guys' maps but fraps for some reason outputs 1000 GB videos and I couldn't get OBS to work. Sorry.

 

@DukeOfDoom

Spoiler

Map06

I liked the layout, a nice, simplistic, yet satisfying hub. Also I'm pretty impressed with how much detail you managed to cram into it. I think my favorite fight was the 4 revs before the SSG. It was fun luring them out then rushing in for the weapon. The only thing that got me a little disgruntled was dropping down into that room with the four corners. It was pretty much impossible to see what was down there and I had a lot of deaths getting blocked by infinite height and shot up by chaingunners.

 

Map24

Another hub map with a good layout and some nice detail again. Combat was smooth for the most part, although I thought the very beginning with the four archviles was a little redundant. It was just peekaboo until 4 archies are dead. Now, it's your map, and you can do whatever you want, but personally I would replace them with 4 revs so that it doesn't drag as much, plus revenant fireballs I think are more exciting to dodge than archvile blasts. One last thing: I immediately telefragged the cyber when it was time to fight him. IDK if that was intended or not.

 

@Horus

Spoiler

Map07

I watched Henry Korver's playthrough of this map when he reviewed it. Actually I saw all his playthorughs of your maps, so I pretty much knew what I was getting myself into. I like the hot start and the archvile fight. I was honestly indifferent towards the cyber platforming part. I don't usually like gimmicky stuff like that but it wasn't too egregious so I didn't mind. I like platforming anyways so that helped. The big thing was that I cheesed the yellow door. If you balance on the lip of the first drop down area you can run onto the rock with the health bonuses then strafe run across all the rocks and into the cyber area without the yellow key.

 

Map13

Pretty fun all around, solid incidental stuff in the beginning. I thought the slime circle stair was pretty fun. I didn't like the crusher part to be honest. I really never knew where to go and it seemed I was always sandwiched between 2 enemies and I felt kind of powerless at times. Now that I'm familiar with it, it would probably be fine, but playing it blind it was like a bucket of cold water to the face. The dark part was completely pitch black for me. I couldn't see the spectres at all, but fighting the revs I thought was kind of fun cause you had to predict where they were based off of their positions in the light.

 

Map18

It was pretty good, it was mostly just about memorizing where all the archviles were and finding a way to circle strafe everything. I do kind of wish the monster closets and groups were more homogeneous. I always like when you can form a strategy in a slaughtermap based off of which enemies are where, but here it seemed all the species were interspersed between each other so that such a strategic mind set wasn't viable. The custom monsters I absolutely hated though. I'll probably rant about them at the bottom of this post so refer to that for more information.

 

@Xyzzy01

Spoiler

Map14

A pretty good map. Interesting visually. I found that the main fight was just a matter of killing the archviles then clearing out the raised platform opposite the start so you could camp there. Nothing too complicated, but I wish the groups of monsters coming out of the teleport closets were more homogenous instead of having species mixed in with each other. I said this to Horus too.

 

@Pegleg

Spoiler

Map16

I thought it was a pretty good map. The highlight for me was the far, red door area. The 4 revenant fight plus some spectres was a pretty fun test of rev missile dodging. The rest of the map was pretty fun too, although I remember wishing there was more health in the opening fight. I should also mention that I kept getting infinite height blocked by hitscanners below at the start and that was kind of annoying. There's also a visual oddity where the lifts by the red switch are lower unpegged, so the textures don't move with the lifts.

 

@Walter confetti

Spoiler

Map32

Definitely a fun and interesting theme. It was hard to tell, but I think I was supposed to be on a dinner plate. I liked the new textures used. The combat was pretty fun, but definitely felt empty, especially with the mass excess of cell packs everywhere. It was mostly just 2-shot cyber practice for me. I just think it needs a little more difficulty, especially after map31. Also the progression was a little confusing. Were you supposed to run off the edge of the plate? Cause that's what I did.

 

Overall, I'd say this megawad was more enjoyable than the vanilla one. Map19 was probably my favorite. I pretty much liked every single map, although I must confess I didn't play map21 because after a few minutes of tinkering around I just decided it wasn't for me. I also didn't finish map30 because I just plain don't like icon of sin boss fights. Besides, I think it might be broken. Can anyone else confirm this? I looked in the editor and couldn't figure out what to do. Edit: never mind I figured it out. I guess I'm just an idiot. The same mapper also submitted a boom compatible map (map12), so maybe this one was made in boom as well and that's why it doesn't work.

 

And lastly, I gotta be honest here, I didn't like the custom monsters at all, but don't take me too seriously because I almost always hate custom monsters. I just thought they were annoying and maybe slightly overpowered. They were just a hassle for me personally and kept killing me in pretty much one hit when I was just at the end of a fight. Also I think the zappers have too much range. I kept getting zapped when I was nowhere near them.

Edited May 9, 2020 by Arbys550

[Scotty]

Hey Walter, i think i forgot to name my map before, please call it "Overlord", thanks :D

[Horus]

Played the first episode (Levels 1-11), demos attached and feedback in first spoiler. I thought it was pretty good to be honest, a lot of well designed maps that are fun to play.

 

Bugs: The only things I'd add to what Arbys550 mentioned is that:

- On @DukeOfDoom's Level 6 map, the chaingunners can get stuck on the lifts on the four corners room. Maybe add some monster block lines so they can't board it (which might also help the infinite height issues in this area)

- On @LHSpanner's Level 10 map, the arachnotrons can get stuck in the exit area (again, monster block lines should help if there's space) and the cage midtextures for the arch viles are only on one side of the sidedefs rather than both, so they look odd as you approach them

- There is a typo on the intermission screen (should read 'environment')

- EDIT: @Walter confetti I think the old version of MAP02 is being used, because the level skip is still possible here whereas I know the mapper fixed it and reuploaded it under the same comment https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/111583-the-64-kb-challenge-2-megawads-completed/?page=11&tab=comments#comment-2084334

Feedback: 

 

Spoiler

L1: This is a tough start for map 1! Although not that tough once you work out the strategy I suppose. I did like the green armor secret. The armor/health bonus room was a bit plain, otherwise the map looked decent though

L2: I’ve played this before and given feedback already so not too much to say about this one that I haven’t already said – but I think the choice to put this in episode 1 is a great one – I think the blue sky does wonders to this map visually

L3: I played the pre-updated version so not sure what’s changed, but this map is really fun and the pacing is excellent. One thing I would change is the placement of the berserk pack so it isn’t mandatory to pick it up, or alternatively make it mandatory but put it in the room where the three pinky trap is.

L4: The poison and lava should both be made pain sectors (it’s like the opposite to the vanilla megawad where some levels had water as a pain sector haha), the way the map is designed there’s no real disadvantage to making it this way. The transition to hellish textures seems odd to me. My personal take would be to switch the red rock to white rock and use the white marble floor (and maybe switch out the lava for poison) to make it look more cohesive texturally. But that’s quite a big change and only my own opinion. This was a toughie – I felt like it was a grind at parts but actually that was my fault for not playing aggressively enough – the weapons are there for this not to be grindy, just not always placed right in front of you.

 

L5: Is ‘Thing’ really the name for the map? Because a map of this quality deserves a better name. The traps are well choreographed, health and weapon placement is great (the berserk pack for example came at just the right time), and the arch vile certainly added some spice.

 

L6: Some really good maps so far, very impressed. Again, combat was great, ammo placement was mostly done well (exception being the room with the YK in the middle, where there are too many shotgun shells). The chaingunner trap was cheeky, reminds me of a trap I did in my first map, except in this one there’s actually a good amount of cover! The trope of one key being a secret key is something I really like too.

 

L8: Another real fun map, enjoyed the traps here, nothing that difficult but it kept you on your toes. And mowing down multiple imps/hitscanners with the SSG is always an easy win for me. The linedef that lowers to give you the BK has a HOM (Arbys550 already identified this one), and the wall to the left in the same room has a texture misalignment.

 

L9: Yet another enjoyable map! Combat was exciting, I really liked the two cyberdemon area (thank goodness you can crush them at the end!). There are two flaws in my view – first the central lift at the start that takes you out of the bloodpit has DOORTRAK everywhere on the sides which looks hideous, I would change it for another texture that better blends in with everything else. And the central battle the other side of the BK door is too easy to cheese via infighting, there are too many species too close together. Yes, you can also use infighting in the other battles in this map, but those parts are better balanced – there infighting is more of something that helps you a little bit but you can’t rely on it.

 

L10: This level was really fun to play, with tough but fair combat. I already mentioned the bugs above, but aside from that I have some other more subjective comments:
-  The opening area is all green, could do with a bit of colour variety
- I have no idea what the switches by the SHAWN texture do
- The revenant and archvile trap is a wild one at first, but easy to (partially) cheese once you know about it – just stay back and pick off the revenants with the plasma gun from the corridor you enter from. This trap could live up to its full potential if the trigger point was moved forward a bit and some bars were placed to stop the player’s retreat. On the other hand, maybe it makes that battle too hard, not sure. Just something to think about

 

L11: I already played this map, but last time I didn’t find the invuln secret (not sure why, it’s pretty obvious lol), hence the map was less frustrating this time round. I think the crackle of the laser beam is offputtingly loud, and the low brightness of the area the other side of the BK door makes the rocket spectres frustrating to beat because you can’t see them (whereas in the opening room, they are easy enough to spot and dodge). The invuln secret really helped this time round, without it it’s a nightmare trying to beat those lightning-speed Hades Elementals without the BFG (but doable)

 

@Arbys550 Thanks a lot for the feedback, much appreciated! Regarding the skip bug on L7, yep I already spotted that yesterday and fixed it, no idea how I didn't spot that amongst all my playtesting. I will wait until submitting the fixed map though, in case any more feedback comes through. Regarding everything else:

Spoiler

I think my three limit removing levels might divide opinion a bit more than my plainer submission to the vanilla WAD, mainly because of my use of gimmickry as you mentioned, but gimmickry is something I enjoy putting into my maps a lot. Like on L7 for example it was interesting that you and HAK had the opposite opinion on the arch vile area & the cyber area.

 

On L13, I agree the crusher section is tough on a blind run. I will take a look at that part of my map at some point, although I'm not sure if I'm going to change anything yet - I might see about making the first switch or both of the switches safe from the crusher, or providing a better hint that the lift lowers, but at the same time I don't want to trivialise things too much on a non-blind run. I took a quick look at the crusher section and I think I've decided what to do - simply move the medikit that's by the teleporter to where the first commando is, to give a better indicator that that's where to go, and also to give you a bit more health earlier on in the crusher section.
The spectre section is indeed 0 brightness. But on such a narrow corridor all you need to do is point and shoot and you're basically guaranteed the kill. 

 

On L18, I agree regarding the monster groupings, it was my first ever slaughter map so it was never going to set the slaughter genre alight haha. I think I improved some parts of it after HAK's playthrough, as much as I could at least. As for the custom monsters, yes I can indeed see them being polarising here, although I do think having the BFG helps vs the Hades Elementals, and most of the rocket dudes kill themselves lol. I know the caco ring area can be tough with the Hades Elementals if you enter it and then teleport back out again though. 

 

0_64kb_lr_demos_ep1.zip

Edited May 12, 2020 by Horus

[Egg Boy]

OMG! We finally got the limit-removing megawad. I played a few maps before work, and had a ton of fun, feels really oldschool for some reason, sort of like an older community chest, varying styles, and quality, but they're all short bite sized maps, perfect for a pre-work snack (can't wait to see what maps sandwich my own). 

 

On another note, are these maps planned to release on idgames?

[Egg Boy]

Hey, howdy, sorry for double post, but there was a ridiculously obvious HOM on map08 (which btw is pretty fun so far :) ) its the lift that you lower to get the blue key.

[Aurelius]

6 hours ago, Arbys550 said:

I must confess I didn't play map21 because after a few minutes of tinkering around I just decided it wasn't for me.

You could give HMP or HNTR a try. HMP makes the second half much more forgiving with armor, and HNTR makes the overall experience a bit less of a "puzzle". But it is a tough one on UV. The original design I did is actually now the HMP variant, but some more.. experienced playtesters found the UV version a fun challenge :P

[Walter confetti]

7 hours ago, Egg Boy said:

On another note, are these maps planned to release on idgames?

 

Yes. I'm going to put the fixed maps and stuff soon.

[Scorpius]

There's a HOM in the cyberdemon pit on MAP19. It's possible to run into the pit quick enough to see it. :)

[DukeOfDoom]

@Arbys550 @Horus Thanks for your criticism, gotta fix these flaws in a while.

[Walter confetti]

11 hours ago, Arbys550 said:

The escape characters are still visible in the text intermissions. Not sure how, don't know if it's on purpose or not.

 

What do you mean by that? I used extended dehacked on Whacked for modifying the scype2k monsters lump and adding title and intermission text...

[riderr3]

@Walter confetti check out my post to see that you made a typo in the name of my map. Probably also worth checking out other map names and texts (if so).

[Arbys550]

5 hours ago, Walter confetti said:

 

What do you mean by that? I used extended dehacked on Whacked for modifying the scype2k monsters lump and adding title and intermission text...

 

I haven't looked at the dehacked that closely but i remember part of one intermission that said "\"Death\"" instead of "Death"

[SleepyVelvet]

Here's FDAs/SecondDAs for all maps in the Limit Removing pack.

I found out recently that I can finish a megawad faster if I don't force myself to finish every map.  Lot's of DNF's;  Episode 2 was especially brutal.

noisy_32OF64-LR_attempts.zip

 

Thanks for the maps, everyone.

 

Also, I think I broke the non-UV difficulty settings on my map.  Most of the health and ammo is accidentally missing on lower settings.  Difficulty flags in the editor carry over to the next thing you place, so after placing a UV only monster, I sorta messed up subsequent thing placements.

[SleepyVelvet]

1 hour ago, NoisyVelvet said:

Also, I think I broke the non-UV difficulty settings on my map.  Most of the health and ammo is accidentally missing on lower settings.  Difficulty flags in the editor carry over to the next thing you place, so after placing a UV only monster, I sorta messed up subsequent thing placements.

i think i fixed it. here's a new version of my map.

32OF64-LR_map27_edits_v2.zip

[Arbys550]

Can anyone who has played my map (map25) give me their feedback? I already know about the floating shells and excess cell ammo. Before I start fixing it I want to know if there's any other balance issues or fights people don't like.

[Walter confetti]

1 hour ago, Arbys550 said:

 

I haven't looked at the dehacked that closely but i remember part of one intermission that said "\"Death\"" instead of "Death"

 

Ah, now I get it... Yes, i know that bug but not sure about why this happens. Might fix them when I have time.

[DukeOfDoom]

Just updated MAP06 and MAP24.

 

sec_out.zip

dem_dusk.rar

 

Changelog (MAP06):

1) Fixed the infinite height mistake (chaingunners can no longer access the platform and zombiemen were replaced by lost souls).

2) Added a couple of nasty surprises: the ambush which occurs after you pick up the red key and the ambush when you open the yellow key door.

 

Changelog (MAP24):

1) Decided to throw a mix: 2 revenants and 2 archies in the starting room.

2) Added damaging effect to the blood pool around the red key pillar.

3) Fixed a weird texture near the blue key.

4) Replaced some shotgunners with chaingunners in a dark area with cages.

[Egg Boy]

@Horus In map13 there is a HOM if you fall down the pit where you get the yellow key after you have acquired it, this is also a soft lock, also the platforming in the room before you get the blue key requires you to strafe run.

[Horus]

Updated my maps:

 

Changelog (MAP07):

- Skip bug fixed

 

Changelog (MAP13):

- Moved one medikit in crusher room

- Fixed HOM and softlock as identified by @Egg Boy (and changed a texture in the same area) and fixed a different softlock I found in the same area whilst testing the fix for the other softlock. 
- Straferunning no longer required

- Added some monster block lines in certain areas

 

EDIT: Also, Walter, for the music credit text file, MAP18 should read "You Suck" by Rise of the Triad

 

<removed link as I have updated maps again on Page 18>

Edited May 12, 2020 by Horus

[D1m3]

Updated map33,fixed softlocks(actually they still here,with chaingunner pillars,nevermind,the pillars is supposted to be that)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ngzplxacrnsq29p/MAP33(Geometrically_Ballistic_Adventure1).zip?dl=0

Edited May 10, 2020 by D1m3

[Horus]

Played the second episode (levels 12-20) and the secret/bonus maps (levels 31-34), with demos attached and feedback in spoiler. As NoisyVelvet mentioned, this episode is much harder than the first episode, with a bunch of tricky maps. Overall I preferred the first episode but there is still a lot to enjoy here.

 

Bugs:  Except for those Arbys550 already reported:
- In both maps 33 & 34, the incorrect MIDI plays on prBoom+. On map 33, the intermission screen music plays, and on map 34, the starting screen music plays
- Upon exiting map 34 on prBoom+, the following error appears: W_GetNumForName: CWILV34 not found
- The intermission screen text should read 'reaching' rather than 'reached'

 

Feedback:

Spoiler

L12: The geometry of this map is what really makes it, its very close quarters nature keeps it exciting (but there is enough room to stop it being frustrated) and the use of lighting here is great. I liked the secrets (the first one I did something similar on my vanilla map). I did not encounter any problems in my demo which tells me that complevel -1 doesn’t test for limit-removing compatibility issues. Oh well, I like the option to be able to save mid-demo anyway (and I needed it in quite a lot of the other levels in this wad). But yeah, taking a quick look at this one in the editor tells me indeed there’s quite a few Boom-only actions that need to be changed here (both secrets and a couple of the traps too). Hopefully that gets fixed because this level is one of my favourites.

 

L14: The infinite BFG ammo trick on this map was pretty interesting, after I finished the level I looked it up in the editor to see how it was done. This was a really tough map, I was hoping to not mid-save but alas I needed to lol. At the same time though it was easier than Zephyrslime. I do like how you need to watch where you move lest you end up in a cyber trap, sometimes it was annoying just being obstructed by cacos and pain elementals/lost souls though. But overall it was a fun map. It was good to see the rocket dude used here too, I wondered how many levels would end up using the custom monsters.

 

L15: The problem I had with this one is that not only are the secrets basically mandatory, the time at which you get them causes a big difference on how much grief this map gives you. Basically you want the soulsphere/SSG and rocket launcher secret before triggering a trap, and the plasma gun secret before triggering the opening of both cyber doors. I didn’t do this, and had a torrid time as a result.

 

The cyber switch only being 32 pixels wide was really annoying too, basically meant I missed it a lot of the time. Then the only way I could really see to get past the cyber was to hope infighting distracted it enough for me to launch enough plasma its way, eventually that’s what happened.

 

L31: Heh, joe-ilya with the damaging water again. Forgiven this time though given how little damage it gives you. This is a pretty good slaughtermap, and the use of rocket launcher as the main weapon requires a lot of spatial awareness which I like. I did like the way the rocket dudes were used in this map too. I know joe-ilya is a fan of insta-pops, but I think the revenant horde after crossing the bridge insta-pops a bit too close to the player, one can charge on and meet death before having any chance to retreat. Also, you can make it so that the lost souls in the lava area appear without triggering the archviles, only a minor thing but may make that battle easier than intended.

 

L32: Oh man I made this so much harder for myself than I needed to. First I didn’t check my automap properly so I didn’t realise the outer ring was a teleport, then I didn’t realise there was a platform by which you could get to it alone so I got there via arch vile jump. Me being a dufus aside, this map wasn’t really my thing to be honest, but to be fair it is very true to the concept of a super secret level. The theme and textures are certainly interesting

 

L33: The super-constricted start was a bit annoying but once you got into the rev/mancubi area it got more interesting. Think I might’ve struggled to kill the cyber without the secret.

 

L34: I had already played and given feedback on this one when it was first submitted, so nothing more to add here really.

 

L16: Well I wouldn’t be surviving this one on IronEagle that’s for sure. The name is pretty apt as the opener deals out some real punishment. Most of this map is pretty fun, it’s just the very start where it is really annoying due to infinite height issue – I struggle to make my way past all the hitscanners at the start, and if I do, I unavoidably lose a lot of my health. Rad suits are just right, and the combat round the perimeters of the shrine, though not as hard as the hot start, still keeps you on your toes.

 

L17: Solid map, partially Wolfenstein-themed, two of the secrets were pretty easy to find, the other one evaded me. I did like the starting area and most of the combat, only thing that I didn’t like too much was the amount of time spent killing lone lost souls, though if I found either of the SSGs sooner then I wouldn’t have minded so much most likely.

 

L19: Can’t wait for Suitepee to play this one! Doubt there’s a harder level in this megawad than this one, I first played it on HNTR, then HMP. On HMP I tried to do the whole final section without saving but then eventually realized it was beyond my skillset and saved halfway through. On both difficulties I exited without killing everything, each time by accident. Which is the only flaw I’d say this map has, it’s too easy to inadvertently end the level, I would make it trigger by a switch and/or make the exit portal itself smaller. Or something like that.

 

L20: And now for a breather level! I did enjoy this map and the combat was fun, though I think the traps by the BK switch area would have been more interesting if you were locked in there rather than having the opportunity to go back to the start, which makes them substantially easier. The arch vile is easy to kill through the cage grates with the rocket launcher, which kind of nullifies it as a threat. I think two green armors and a blue armor is overgenerous, at least on UV anyway. The way the secret is hidden is interesting, never thought of doing something like that before.

 

0_64kb_lr_demos_ep2_and_secret_levels.zip

Edited May 11, 2020 by Horus

[Horus]

Played levels 21-24, will probably finish the rest tomorrow. 

 

Bugs:

- On @BloodnBrain's Map 22, there is a softlock if you enter the bloodpit before it is raised, and two doors don’t have the DOORTRAK textures set to lower unpegged, the door with Tag 12 and the door nearest the pinky demons

- On @DukeOfDoom's Map 24 (the updated version that they sent over), a few things which due to their significantly map-altering nature I'll put in spoiler:
 

Spoiler

(i) Call it a speedrunner's trick, but you can exit the level in <10 seconds with an archvile jump. You can do the same thing after teleporting back from the invuln sphere area
(ii) The cyberdemon was sometimes telefragged when teleporting back from the invuln sphere area, if that was intentional I would make it more reliable, if it was unintentional I would add more monster block lines
(iii) Using default brightness/gamma settings, the cage area is too dark to progress in. I had to look up in the editor how to progress, and when I found it I can safely say I would never have found it where it not for the editor. I would raise the brightness of the cage area a little, and the switches even more so

 

 

Feedback:

Spoiler

L21: Okay this map is really clever, it took me a while to work out what you needed to do, and longer still to actually execute it, but the concept is very imaginative. The hardest thing about this map is keeping tabs on everything, where all the revenants are at the start, and keeping in mind where all the different monsters are and where they can attack you at the end, which is something I struggle with. But it felt rewarding when I completed it, even if I savescummed a bit. My only real complaint is how the impassable lines are implemented in this map (on the way back from the switch behind the cyber), essentially an artificial (invisible) barrier rather than a real visible one.

 

L22: Played this one before, so not much more to add (other than the bugs mentioned above). Again, good level placement here, after the previous level it’s nice to have a breather.

 

L23: This was a pretty fun map, the aesthetic and liberal use of chaingunners gave a Plutonia feel to it. The traps were overall well constructed and felt fair. I actually found the SMM usage on this map fine too. I do think the secret in this map is a bit too obvious, and it would look better if the exit teleporter was 8 units above its surroundings rather than at the same level.

 

L24: Due to the bugs I found in this map it was hard to give a clean opinion of this one to be honest

 

0_64kb_lr_demos_ep3_pt1.zip

Edited May 11, 2020 by Horus

[Aurelius]

@Horus Thanks for the feedback, and glad you enjoyed the map! The shorter automap name is actually due to vanilla limitations in how many characters you can have there, hence my somewhat tongue-in-cheek comment about that in my original submission post.

[Horus]

7 hours ago, Aurelius said:

@Horus Thanks for the feedback, and glad you enjoyed the map! The shorter automap name is actually due to vanilla limitations in how many characters you can have there, hence my somewhat tongue-in-cheek comment about that in my original submission post.

 

Oh yeah of course, I forgot about that. I edited it out of my post

[DukeOfDoom]

MAP24 update. Changes:

1) Now there are only 4 revenants in the starting area, no archies (thanks to @Arbys550 for giving a good idea).

2) Increased the brighteness in the cage area and made the switch more visible.

3) Added a "block monsters" flag to the door which releases the freshly teleported cyberdemon.

dem_dusk.rar

[Dieting Hippo]

Hey @Walter confetti! I put up an updated version of LR MAP09: Blood River Base a while back, but saw the first version was included in the WAD. I was hoping that the updated version could get popped into the LR WAD. It's "Blood River Base RC1" on https://dietinghippo.itch.io/blood-river-base

[Pegleg]

@Arbys550 @Horus

 

Thank you for playing through my map and providing comments. The common thread seems to definitely be infinite height enemies, so I'll see what I can do about that. I'll also look at the health. I'm glad you both enjoyed the map.

 

@Walter confetti

 

I'll work on getting you an update to Shrine of Pain in the next few days, by the beginning of next week, at the latest.

[Horus]

Played levels 25-30, and also replayed level 24 with the latest version. Demos attached as usual. Overall, I also prefer this to the vanilla one, but there's not much in it to be honest, they are both good. 
 

If there’s any more feedback on any of my maps, I would be glad to hear also!

 

Top 3 maps for me are (in order):

MAP12: Investigation - GhostPlayer (I hope the compat issues on this one are easy to fix because I loved the atmosphere of this map)
MAP25: Marmalade Man - Arbys550

MAP08: Embassy - NeedHealth

 

Bugs: 

- On @Super Mighty G's Map 29, the archvile can get stuck on the edge of the platform. A monster block line will probably solve this

- Map 30 has a typo in the map name, it should read 'Through Hell'

 

Feedback:

Spoiler

L24: I recorded a demo with the new version, I think it’s better now. I like the use of the invuln sphere, kind of a timed thing where you have to try to get to the BK as fast as possible killing as many enemies as possible, hopefully leaving you with just the cyberdemon.

 

L25: Combat-wise, nothing to fault here, in fact in that respect it’s the most fun I’ve had in the whole megawad so far, maybe even both megawads. For the most part, visually it looks good, but there are a few areas where the texture transitions don’t blend too well. Like the gray-green marble transitions, the skin-brick transitions and the marble switch textures for which the patterns don’t align with the surroundings (the black gargoyle/lion/satyr switches might provide for a better transition). It’s a minor point though, and I appreciate a lot of this would need extra transition linedefs for which there isn’t really space in a 64KB map, plus the decision to go for more interesting room geometry instead was probably the right call.

 

L26: Not a fan of this MIDI, but the map does kind of go for the Abandoned Mines style so it does fit. Combat was kind of irritating in the amount of sniper monsters and awkward ammo placement, although to be fair I was playing particularly badly on this map for some reason. SMM at the end is kind of a slog unless you saved enough BFG ammo.

 

L27: I usually like this MIDI, but not really sure about its use here. The player gets a berserk pack right from the start, but limited opportunities to use it given the dangerous placement of hitscanners on this map and grouped revenants, whilst the spectres are paired with the mancubus. So really it is more there for the health. For a 64KB map this is surprisingly non-linear with multiple potential paths to the BK which was kinda nice, and two secrets of which I unfortunately got neither.

 

L28: There are a lot of Doom II MIDIs in the episode! Combat in this map is well balanced, nothing too hard but given that the map is pretty small, mistakes will be punished! Probably the hardest bit is dodging those revenant missiles in the opening area. There are some brick texture misalignments by the silver teleporter. The freebie barrel kill by the hell knight was kinda nice. The berserk pack by the demons was more of an optional kind of thing because by then you have more than enough ammo to kill everything.

 

L29: This is a heavier remixed version of the MIDI from the previous map. Most of this map is enjoyable, just wasn’t sure about the use of the baron of hell, it was grindy unless you either get the RL secret or saved all of your plasma ammo (which is unlikely given the archvile placement beforehand). I did like the fact that once you got the RK, another layer of the map revealed itself by dropping the main floor down, and mowing the hitscanners and imps down there with the SSG was fun. I did like how there was a teleporter that dropped you back at the top floor too in case you wanted to explore anywhere up there again.

 

L30: Well, I’m not a fan of IoS at all, but the good thing about this map is that the difficulty comes from the monsters themselves in confined spaces, not timing the rocket launcher right to Romero’s head

 

0_64kb_lr_demos_ep3_pt2.zip

Edited May 12, 2020 by Horus