1995 called. They want their Doom levels back.

[Zylinderkatze]

Hidden content, just for you, @tam :D

Spoiler

[tamara mochaccina]

are you hinting at cacodemon spam because i'd be so down for that

[Zylinderkatze]

4 hours ago, tam said:

are you hinting at cacodemon spam because i'd be so down for that

 

Cacodemons are my favorite, actually.. And there will be.. let's say.. a few. But my main motivation for the pic was you calling me an "actual tomato" ^^

 

Update: Spent some quality time with friends but I'm back at my PC now. The plan is to "logically" tie together the.. last loose ends of logic (band name, anyone?). I wish I could actually disclose the map layout but that would give away too much ^^;

 

There will likely be another screenshot in about 2 hours~

[Zylinderkatze]

Left or right?

If you find this passageway, you're halfway to the hidden weapon! :3

[tamara mochaccina]

hey i recognise 50% of that screenshot

[Zylinderkatze]

17 hours ago, tam said:

hey i recognise 50% of that screenshot

 

oh no I've been found out! Diversion tactics!

 

I only posted that part of the level (even though it was already done before) because I can't disclose the other parts I worked on yesterday.. they're secret xD

 

More soon!

[Zylinderkatze]

It's not really "soon" anymore, but it is more!

(Good thing I'm not working in marketing xD)

 

This. It's what took me a decent part of today and still I'm not satisfied with it. Part of it, yes- but not all of it.

 

It's the result of an "I wonder if I can make a decent container crane" whim.

Spoiler

I can't xD

 

The whole thing looks too scattered / split. Not so much the crane itself but the wall on the left that I decided having it disappear into.

 

See those tracks at the bottom, though? (partially obstructed by the "33 FND" from the visplane explored I forgot to switch off? ^^)

 

I think they turned out really nicely. More so in game than this screenshot. I might just suck at taking screenshots xD

 

What I mean to say is, my plan for tomorrow is to switch the the crane to "running along a track in an overhead beam that will have those tracks, only upside-down". That might make more sense when I show it tomorrow.

 

As you can tell, the level isn't done yet. Stay tuned for a quick summary of the last construction sites. Fun!

Edited March 1, 2020 by Zylinderkatze

[Zylinderkatze]

The TODO List (all screenshots are from inside the editor)

 

1: A boring "remember that the player has to get from here to here" path, that isn't at all interesting yet (hence the "?") which is why the textures aren't aligned yet (see the red rectangle, for example)

 

2: A generally "done-ish" (but kind of bland) living quarters section

 

3: Finalizing the mock / hinted "structure above the player" for the bottom layer area. Right now it's just that rectangle that goes off to the right where the nukage is.

 

4: Adding the area behind this blocked passage. It will lead straight(ish) to the Helipad (remember when I mentioned that?) 

(Also, that's a better view of the crane from the last post ^^)

 

Sooo... since I don't do this stuff 10 hours a day, I presume it's still another week. I have to admit I am not yet accustomed to my editing / mapping speed (or lack thereof). Apologies for the delay but I hope some of the screenshot might still show that there's progress :3

 

Goodnight!

[ketmar]

are you sure that you're not overpolishing it? i mean, most of the time there is always "i *absolutely* need to fix this and that before doing a release!" sometimes it is right, but sometimes you just have to stop somewhere. it is all up to you, of course, i just wanted to remind you about "endless polishing trap". it is a kind of "no-escape pit", please, be VERY careful there! ;-)

[tamara mochaccina]

let's make this like devilution and have the guy working on it until the next next doom game comes out

[Zylinderkatze]

7 hours ago, ketmar said:

are you sure that you're not overpolishing it?

 

Short answer: No.

 

Long answer: I know the trap well- not just relating to writing levels.. but this is not it. I see, understand.. and share your concerns. I'm not at the point yet where it's too much, though.

 

At least not in my eyes xD

 

I'm not at the "let's go back and fix this glaring mistake" point. I don't think I'll get there. The parts that are done, by now feel done to me.

 

The biggest part that was eating time is that crane which I've been building in iterative steps of a few hours each. It doesn't line up with my own expectations yet. But I know now how I want it to look- only that it took 2 scrapped approaches to get there ^^;

 

It's true that I am revising some parts (like switching to cement in that one area) but that's nothing big.

 

Let's just say I'm still leaning a lot about what looks and feels good, now that I have more immediate control over the layout. I'm still improving my skills. Also, it was a mistake to go about a concept like a multi-level complex structure without planning the layout first xD

 

It'll get done and it'll be good.. enough ^^

[Zylinderkatze]

5 hours ago, tam said:

until the next next doom game comes out

 

No! That would be Doom Eternal, scheduled for this month! That's ironic in all the wrong ways!

[ketmar]

ah, i see.

 

and i like what i see. cheap pun, i know. ;-)

[Zylinderkatze]

2 hours ago, ketmar said:

ah, i see.

 

and i like what i see. cheap pun, i know. ;-)

 

No worries! 

 

I'm all about those terrible puns. At first I was contemplating writing "short answer: no, long answer: nooooooooooo". So you're in.. "good" company xD

 

[Zylinderkatze]

Crane done!

It has reached the fabled "good enough" point. Also, any more detail and there would be visplane trouble so this is it :D

 

I did get an idea on how to add a tiny bit more of a 3D-feel but right now I don't think it's worth the effort so I'll leave it like this. So proud.

[Zylinderkatze]

(as you can see, the "fancy" silver edge around that dark green passageway is gone.. that's because it wasn't part of the original vision and I only put it there to try how it looked ^^ ..I also vastly simplified the "cog-tracks" from the previous post but I'm sure they will return elsewhere xD)

[Zylinderkatze]

10 hours ago, Zylinderkatze said:

I only put it there to try how it looked

By which I mean I think it looks good but it breaks with my plan that this entrance should not look "shiny and new" but instead dull and uninviting. Writing about it now, I might even make it even smaller / narrower (more narrow?) because ultimately it's just leading to the helipad through a Jefferies tu~ ..uhm.. maintenance passage.

 

Very likely, all this will be bits of level architecture that people will just run through without looking, because I am spending way too much time on continuity details that might not be noticed (not even subconsciously). But I'm okay with that. I hope you are, too. Even though I guess you don't have much of a choice. Myehehe.

 

Also, I'm keeing "Detail that the player won't see without mouselook" to a minimum, since my main focus is Vanilla.. but I can't always help it ^^;

 

And then you'll play the 1997 version of this level and say that you perfer it over this one.. and that will be just as well, to me. Because I'm having fun c:

[ketmar]

9 hours ago, Zylinderkatze said:

And then you'll play the 1997 version of this level and say that you perfer it over this one..

i was pretty sure that it was The Plan...

 

p.s.: watching map creation process in this way is interesting. this topic alone is good even without accompanying maps, because reading it is almost like i am creating that map with you. ;-)

[Zylinderkatze]

3 hours ago, ketmar said:

i was pretty sure that it was The Plan...

 

p.s.: watching map creation process in this way is interesting. this topic alone is good even without accompanying maps, because reading it is almost like i am creating that map with you. ;-)

 

Yeah I don't know which one will be better xD The E1M1 I am currently building from scratch (documented in this post) follows the same premise as the one from 1995/1997 - but it does have more details and overall a higher complexity. Which makes it.. very "non-1997". But it's kind of closer to what I had envisioned back then.

 

I'd like to think that both versions have their validity in their own way. And they both run on Vanilla! 

 

P.S.: Yes.. that's kind of the plan- it's for myself as well as for anyone who might care to read these massive bouts of verbal spewing that I do~ a little like a mix of a developer diary and a.. regular diary xD

[Zylinderkatze]

Why so dark, though! D:

 

This is it. The stairs leading up to the oft-mentioned landing / heli pad. The passage isn't fully done yet (the inside roof is too low to walk through the door xD) but it's pretty close to the vision.

 

Don't believe me?

 

And you know what. Out there is where you'll find the yellow key (oops.. spoiler) which is the last bit needed to be able to reach the last parts of the level ^^

 

Still some brush-ups to do (like low ceilings, for example.. but also decorations, as in, "things").. but the architecture is now pretty much final.

 

Home stretch!

[tamara mochaccina]

I love dark environments with Software Rendering and the original Doom pallette, it feels so... Proto spooky game-y

[Zylinderkatze]

15 hours ago, tam said:

I love dark environments with Software Rendering and the original Doom pallette, it feels so... Proto spooky game-y

 

I usually do not like it much, when places in games are too dark. But it somehow works, in Doom. Only that the whole "I don't really want to go in there, it's so dark.. what if something jumps at me"-feeling has worn off by a little bit since 1994 ^^

 

Some tidbit: My go-to light level for this episode's "outside at night" areas is 140. And unilluminated inside areas (like in the picture) are even darker. 

[ketmar]

(i am so happy that i have built-in flashlight in my port...)

[Zylinderkatze]

47 minutes ago, ketmar said:

(i am so happy that i have built-in flashlight in my port...)

 

Shameless self plug! But now I want to try that xD

[Zylinderkatze]

Looks like I found the landing pad.. 

But now how do I get in there? >_<

[Zylinderkatze]

From the "I should go to bed" chronicles:

 

This is what I do when I get distracted. I mean bored. I mean when I experiment with scenery.

No, it's not textured right, yet. Chances are it will not even make it into the level~

But I wanted to see if I could get the dimensions right.

 

Anyone have any idea what I might've been thinking this could be? xD

[ketmar]

10 hours ago, Zylinderkatze said:

Shameless self plug!

of course! i am doing it all over the forum. people should know about my Teh Best Doom Sourceport Evar! ;-)

 

6 hours ago, Zylinderkatze said:

Anyone have any idea what I might've been thinking this could be?

a puppy. i am pretty sure that it is a puppy.

[Cubefleet]

7 hours ago, Zylinderkatze said:

Anyone have any idea what I might've been thinking this could be? xD

Woah. You made a forklift! That is so cool! You should try and texture it to keep, is my vote. If I get a vote. It's a work of art I say! :D

[Zylinderkatze]

4 hours ago, ketmar said:

a puppy. i am pretty sure that it is a puppy.

"When in doubt, assume puppy". You're not wrong to do so. I'd even call that an optimistic outlook.

 

4 hours ago, ketmar said:

Teh Best Doom Sourceport Evar!

I actually did skim your "no good thing ever dies" thread a while back. It's a pretty imposing :D

[Zylinderkatze]

3 hours ago, Cubefleet said:

You should try and texture it to keep, is my vote.

That's really nice of you to say. It actually does fit in with the location / setting / environment it's in.
As in: I put it there because it made sense to me.. but at the same time it seemd a bit.. tacky?

 

It'll be a challenge to "Vanilla, no texture replacement"-texture it.. but that doesn't mean that I won't attempt. You know me. xD

 

I'm contemplating whether to make it "hover" (too futuristic?) or "track wheel" it. Round wheels are a bit too.. undoable, in my perception.

 

Though that said, I could pretend that all 4 wheels have been disassembled. Like so:

Poor thing.

 

We'll see :D

Edited March 6, 2020 by Zylinderkatze