Dreadopp Posted February 16, 2020 (edited) NOTE: An enhanced version of this wad is available as part of the trilogy! Check out its thread to get all three episodes with updated visuals and story elements, among other changes! Huzzah! Over the past few months, I've been working on another project with @Lord_Z. This is the result! Intergalactic Xenology is a set of 5 Boom compatible levels (MAP01-Map05) using the Ancient Aliens resources as a base. PrBoom, PrBoom+ and GZDoom were used for testing, but we recommend using GZDoom for the full effect. Please do let us know if there are any issues that need addressing. Don't forget to save often! As always, feedback is greatly appreciated. :) Screenshots Spoiler Download Intergalactic Xenology v1.1 Edited January 24, 2023 by Dreadopp 54 Share this post Link to post
Lord_Z Posted February 16, 2020 Fun fact: The first two maps were created back in October as part of the month long Creatober event (is that the right name for it?). We decided to keep going and expand into a small set of maps since there were a lot of interesting textures to choose from. I liked working on map 5 a lot once we figured out how to end it, haha. 6 Share this post Link to post
6DB Posted February 16, 2020 Just burned through the first map, seems like great stuff so far. Is this Wad designed for continuous or pistol start? I'll try and play through this Wad later as I do prefer short Wads over Megawads. 2 Share this post Link to post
Dreadopp Posted February 16, 2020 The maps can be played either way, so pick your favorite. 0 Share this post Link to post
6DB Posted February 16, 2020 Thanks. I was happily playing through continuous but altered a mod I was using and had to start map 4 with a pistol start, I had no problem getting back to killing demons though. So far I love this Wad, no problems to report but I'm not an eagle eye like a lot of people around here so I'm sure they will find a misaligned texture or something. 2 Share this post Link to post
Lorenz0 Posted February 16, 2020 Even after playing through the entire Ancient Aliens and creating 10 whole maps with aa-tex, looking at these screenshots makes me amazed at how many possible themes this texture pack allows you to explore. Looks like a good wad, I'll give it a go soon. 4 Share this post Link to post
Firedust Posted February 16, 2020 (edited) Hi. How are you supposed to exit map 2? I found the keys, pressed the switches, killed the revs in the closets, and there seems to be nothing in the final room. Nice use of Ancient Aliens textures by the way! EDIT: Never mind, figured it out. Doomguy was spazzing out and refusing to climb the stairs for some reason. Strange. EDIT 2: Beat this mapset. I liked the visuals very much, but maps 3-5 seemed underpopulated to me :) Was map 3 a reference to Serious Sam FE by any chance? Edited February 16, 2020 by Firedust 3 Share this post Link to post
Dreadopp Posted February 16, 2020 Thanks for the comments, guys. I'm happy to hear you are enjoying the set. :) 1 hour ago, Firedust said: Was map 3 a reference to Serious Sam FE by any chance? I've never played through any of the Serious Sam games, so it's probably an accidental reference if anything. :P 1 Share this post Link to post
Firedust Posted February 16, 2020 1 hour ago, Dreadopp said: I've never played through any of the Serious Sam games, so it's probably an accidental reference if anything. :P In the first level of the First Encounter, you start in an Egyptian desert right by an entrance to the temple invaded by aliens :) The raising platforms to the key columns in map 3 were really cool by the way! 2 Share this post Link to post
baja blast rd. Posted February 16, 2020 (edited) In the finale, the timed mechanisms to allow escape are kinda "slow" in the first and last fights. The first is likely enough to happen in first play too. The third isn't, but conversely, it also is a much longer potential wait. Casual maxdemo in prB+ showing both. (The gesturing is not serious btw. :P) Edited February 17, 2020 by rdwpa 4 Share this post Link to post
Egg Boy Posted February 17, 2020 This is one of those texture sets that isn't used nearly as much as it should be. I'm so glad we've been getting more AA themed stuff recently. I'll check it out at some point in the future. Love the screenshots, especially the fourth one! 3 Share this post Link to post
Gez Posted February 17, 2020 15 hours ago, Firedust said: In the first level of the First Encounter, you start in an Egyptian desert right by an entrance to the temple invaded by aliens :) I blame Stargate and the History Channel for associating Egypt with aliens. I mean we had Epic II before, it's older than Ancient Aliens and it's all about Egyptiancient aliens. 2 Share this post Link to post
Lord_Z Posted February 17, 2020 15 hours ago, rdwpa said: In the finale, the timed mechanisms to allow escape are kinda "slow" in the first and last fights. The first is likely enough to happen in first play too. The third isn't, but conversely, it also is a much longer potential wait. Casual maxdemo in prB+ showing both. (The gesturing is not serious btw. :P) It was great to see a demo of the map. The timing is a tricky thing to balance since I didn't want people to run through too quickly. That said, it looks like I may need to shave off a couple seconds on the last fight at least. Thanks for playing! 2 Share this post Link to post
Egg Boy Posted February 18, 2020 Pretty fun stuff! My favorite map was the last one, especially that last arena. Very pretty and brutal. Though, I am a bit confused by the ending... Spoiler Are you like, a tiny person in a little world? 1 Share this post Link to post
Not Jabba Posted February 18, 2020 13 minutes ago, Egg Boy said: Hide contents Are you like, a tiny person in a little world? Spoiler You're a lab rat, being forced to beat Doom maps for a reward of cheese. 1 Share this post Link to post
Egg Boy Posted February 18, 2020 (edited) 4 minutes ago, Not Jabba said: Hide contents You're a lab rat, being forced to beat Doom maps for a reward of cheese. This is an acceptable conclusion. EDIT: just looked at the ending again, and it was really obvious. I think the map ended before I understood what was going on. 1 Share this post Link to post
galileo31dos01 Posted February 18, 2020 Played two days ago. Random thoughts: - I liked that the visuals rarely brought me directly to Ancient Aliens as in Skillsaw's mindset, which I believe for some it'd be inevitable due to the tex pack. Not going into detail since talking technical about visuals motifs isn't my strength, I found everything to be pleasing to the eye, dig the the midtex usage was really cool to look at, some neat scenery here and there (non-playable areas). The midis are charming. - Map01: Mmm, I'd suggest to add some light gradients behind the start and perhaps like a destroyed portal or something, just the black wall doesn't put me in any mood, like where do I come from or in what planet am I. Once outside it's a nice simple view, that spade-shaped frame looked good. Inside there're midtex railings that need sticks in each end so not to look "too fake" on certain positions. As far as gameplay, I had the need of either a SSG or more rockets past the cacos, since they don't really have any much control over the area, and it was a bit of a grind with just SG/CG. I run past them and they joined the mancs dance floor for some duels, as well as the revs. Then I rushed to the very last gunner closet as the stairs were lowering and started to clean from them, the mess in the dance floor couldn't get me. Due to tight health I preferred safety first, additional rockets might come in handy. Still not sold on how half of the last phase can be skipped, could use a few gaps so they can spread to the stairs. - Map02: First of all, while I dig this implement of railings throughout the map, I'm not a fan of the non-curvy railings at the start lowering to "connect" with the rest, it looked messy. Apart from that, nothing to nitpick, nice map. Loved the midi. - Map03: I think as a relaxing map without much hassle is fine, lets me hear the music at a good volume and feel like if I were in an island eating passion fruits and chatting with monkeys. With that said, certain points of progress still felt "lifeless". Each key ambush packs a pair of cacos that struggle to chase you around the building, if they were left unchecked since it's just easy to drop and take a teleport, and the imps/mancs or HKs, well I don't know about those. The PR fight doesn't need 4 radsuits imo, one is enough to cover the fight, it could even have none on UV but that's not very inviting for some people :P. Points I enjoyed were the early secret blur sphere, good for the few scanners, not so good for mancs, the PR fight in concept, the incidental combat is serviceable, and the finale surprised me the first time when the archvile came from nowhere. Of course visuals too. I made demos of each on UV with glboom+. mysensationaldemos.zip 3 Share this post Link to post
Dreadopp Posted February 18, 2020 Thanks a lot for the feedback, guys. Will certainly take a closer look to see what can be done about some of these points. The 4 radiation suits was actually more for co-op, but I suppose some of them can be marked as multiplayer only. 0 Share this post Link to post
galileo31dos01 Posted February 19, 2020 (edited) I forgot to add that in the third map, the sound of some neon platforms moving is audible, think were blue and red(?), whereas yellow's wasn't, so I would suggest to relocate the control sectors further so they can't be heard. I know moving merged sectors is a bit tedious, it's no big deal if you object to. - Map 04: My only "gripe", which really was just on the first playthrough, was that both YSK and BSK tele ambushes brought the same monsters to the fight. On a replay I wanted to wake up as many minions as possible, and have a crossfire to slightly clear itself with prior targets being the hitscanners. These symmetric teleportations are disguised well enough if going for a more passive-aggressive role, so I don't complain. The rev/vile was neat, the other side fight is a recurrent trope from the set with meat that doesn't control much but is fun regardless. Nice ending. - Map 05: Oooo this theme, floating cubes, clouds, I felt like a pigeon. Timed teleportations in circular arena, spin around and fire when something calls on your phone, sums up the tone of the map, and the mapset in general. First arena got me hyped, by the time the archvile summoned himself I still had a ton of spectres and cacos that I wasn't killing which quickly became a disaster. On a second try I herd the pigs as far as the archvile's spot so he'd be as exposed as me, but without constantly hiring bodyguards. The second arena has the flaw of being a bit slow with things spawning in, most particularly the spiderdemon, it needs a belated gunshot to wake up, so you may not have any good infighting by the time a couple arachnotrons are the only things left, and it becomes a dull 1 on 1 with a huge wall in the middle. The third arena is underpopulated for the BFG imo, it's possible to just stay dodging and never shoot, and the setup clears itself, minus two cybers at the best of times. In the demo I killed the spectres asap and some imps too just for extra "safety". I didn't pay attention on the escape mechanisms of the third fight, the first one could open earlier though. Also, I literally thought the yellow sector at the end was pacman xd As an overall conclusion, I enjoyed this for what it is. If the aim was something chill to sit down and play doom in a short term with awesome music (by Jimmy and Eris!) and neat colours, that's for sure what I got. I do recommend it, specially for players looking for an experience like mine has been, or similar. Cool work! UV Demos of 04 and 05: moarfantabulousdemos.zip Wasted a minute searching the last items in map 05, that's why I stay immobile. 3 Share this post Link to post
GarrettChan Posted February 19, 2020 (edited) Map05 UV Pacifist in 7:11 ix05p711.zip Funny enough, the hardest battle is the first one. You can be cornered by Demons or just upright killed by the Arch-vile. The rest are basically running around. Good map nonetheless. It seems the Spider Mastermind in the second fight won't be triggered unless you fire a shot or something, a little bit weird. On 2/16/2020 at 3:58 PM, rdwpa said: In the finale, the timed mechanisms to allow escape are kinda "slow" in the first and last fights. The first is likely enough to happen in first play too. The third isn't, but conversely, it also is a much longer potential wait. It is kind of slow for sure, but don't take it out. Otherwise a Pacifist run can't be done! Edited February 19, 2020 by GarrettChan 3 Share this post Link to post
Lord_Z Posted February 20, 2020 On 2/19/2020 at 3:14 AM, GarrettChan said: It seems the Spider Mastermind in the second fight won't be triggered unless you fire a shot or something, a little bit weird. The reason this was done was just to avoid the awake sound from occurring immediately and "spoiling" what was coming. I didn't think about pacifist runs specifically though. 2 Share this post Link to post
GarrettChan Posted February 20, 2020 1 hour ago, Lord_Z said: The reason this was done was just to avoid the awake sound from occurring immediately and "spoiling" what was coming. I didn't think about pacifist runs specifically though. It makes sense, and I actually thought of the same reason. The first time I normally played, I didn't actually fire a shot either in the second fight. Anyway, I finished playing the whole set yesterday. They are all good maps, so I hope there will be more in the future :P 2 Share this post Link to post
Lorenz0 Posted February 21, 2020 I just played through the first 2 maps and I enjoyed them quite a bit. The combat wasn't very difficult, but it was pretty enjoyable. Despite low detail there were many interesting visual techniques used to present the textures in unique enviroments, which I liked. So I'll probably finish the wad in the next few days. But anyway, I found this area to be a huge wasted opportunity to do some gradient lighting. Just make the middle of the staircase the darkest, and both sides brighter with each step. 2 Share this post Link to post
Suitepee Posted February 25, 2020 https://www.twitch.tv/videos/557825388 I play this at 1:23:17 into this livestream. This was fun to play, and perhaps serves to show what can be done with AA-tex! 2 Share this post Link to post
Lord_Z Posted February 27, 2020 On 2/25/2020 at 6:36 PM, Suitepee said: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/557825388 I play this at 1:23:17 into this livestream. This was fun to play, and perhaps serves to show what can be done with AA-tex! Your mention of the Beastie Boys near the start reminded me that I was listening to the radio on the last day of working on this map set and Intergalactic Planetary was played twice. It was a sign, haha. 2 Share this post Link to post
Rex705 Posted February 28, 2020 This looks very good and is fun to play. Here is my video of Map 1. 2 Share this post Link to post
pcorf Posted February 29, 2020 On 2/16/2020 at 10:25 PM, 6DB said: Just burned through the first map, seems like great stuff so far. Is this Wad designed for continuous or pistol start? I'll try and play through this Wad later as I do prefer short Wads over Megawads. With my maps I design them all for pistol start. 0 Share this post Link to post
Dreadopp Posted March 2, 2020 On 2/25/2020 at 6:36 PM, Suitepee said: I play this at 1:23:17 into this livestream. This was fun to play, and perhaps serves to show what can be done with AA-tex! On 2/28/2020 at 11:06 AM, Rex705 said: This looks very good and is fun to play. Here is my video of Map 1. Thanks for the playthroughs and the comments, guys! :) I can certainly see some things that can be applied to future projects after watching these (and the others above). 0 Share this post Link to post
Juka Posted March 3, 2020 This looks great, really like the colours. I'll play it later if I can! 2 Share this post Link to post