Help me complete this map after 7 years!

[Kaiser_Wilhelm2]

Just finishing up this map after working on it about 7 years ago. I'm open to comments and criticism. i don't want to change the map drastically, because I want to finish the map, but I like hearing new ideas.

 

What port(s) did you test with? It's been tested in GZDoom, but I do not use any GZDoom features such as 3D floors. The Zdoom features I use are transperencies and stealth demons.

Freelook? yes, I designed with freelook enabled.

Jumping/crouching? No jumping or crouching

Specific compatibility settings? None just use Zdoom or GZDoom (it doesn't have special GZdoom effects). 

Software or hardware rendering? N/A

Which IWAD did you use? Uses Ultimate Doom.

 

Download Link:

Wad Itself

Music Wad (Hasn't been combined with Wad, yet)

 

Description:

This is a decent sized Tech Base style map. It is somewhat non linear in the sense that you can start in one of two directions. Replaces E1M1 and the idea is to be a stand alone map, so while the map is from a pistol start it's not trying to be a level 1 per say. You also don't need to use the pistol for long :). Trying to not be too fancy, but still be interesting and fun. It's based off of a map that I started more than 7 years ago and almost finished. There are about 7 secrets in the map and counting. Probably in the end there will be around 10. There is new music in the map that I developed as an MP3 file. the Music is 80s synth themed and cheesy. I haven't implemented any difficulty settings. This map is about 90% complete.

 

I have released two other maps over the years as Kaiser_Wilhelm. One map created in 2009 and another created in I think 2012. The first map is part of the heretic treasure chest known as "Random Tomb Map" The actual title of the map is "Gold." I was absent during the maps release so I never got to let them know the real name. The 2nd Map I've made was bfbalon.wad, which is located in the IDGames archive. That map was compatible with Zdoom and was tested in Zdoom I made a mistake and said that it was compatible to Boom Back then. 

 

Edited March 30, 2020 by Kaiser_Wilhelm2

[ValeriyPipick]

Don't forgive ''Never trust anyone who has texture filtering turned on'' rule, guys.

[Kaiser_Wilhelm2]

Oh, jeez. It comes on by default in GZDoom. The reason I wasn't taking screen shots with ZDoom was because I dropped a newer version of GZDoom into the Zdoom file and a shared file version conflict stopped Zdoom from starting.

[Misty]

25 minutes ago, ValeriyPipick said:

Don't forgive ''Never trust anyone who has texture filtering turned on'' rule, guys.

It doesn't have anything with suggestion how to improve this set of maps or map. Filters don't ruin map quality, everything falls into personal preference. 

[elend]

Yeah this looks actually quite nice.

[Kaiser_Wilhelm2]

12 minutes ago, elend said:

Yeah this looks actually quite nice.

 

Thank you! There are some ugly areas. I'm trying to make the areas make more sense and work together a little better with what time I want to spend on the map.

[leodoom85]

@Kaiser_Wilhelm2So, I tested your map. I think the map should be ok as it is. Just need fixes here and there. I'll post a video later which explains the situation much better. Overall, the map was fun to play.

[leodoom85]

Here's the video. ^{(sorry for double post)}

 

 

 

[Isquilt]

Personally, I found myself feeling a bit lost during the map, particularly how to get to the blue key. I was very impressed visually and by how the portions of the map flowed together, but I found myself getting distracted away from key locations by the same multiple times. Technically, it played quite well, even if I'm somewhat averse to start locations which put you in attacking range of active hitscanners. It was a bit tricky for me, but I felt like it was very fair overall. I think it's hard enough that implementing difficulty options should be considered.

 

Of minor technical suggestions, I'd recommend flagging all of the lines in the teleporting monster closets as secret so that they don't all appear on the automap once you get the automap pickup. I'd also recommend putting a few health or armor bonuses along the S bend leading towards the red key, just to make it a bit more intuitive to go for without getting lost without affecting gameplay balance much at all. A few monsters got stuck in the middle-southern monster closet in my run, but I didn't really investigate why that happened.

 

Otherwise, I definitely enjoyed the map overall, and I think it plays well.

[leodoom85]

4 hours ago, Isquilt said:

Personally, I found myself feeling a bit lost during the map, particularly how to get to the blue key. I was very impressed visually and by how the portions of the map flowed together, but I found myself getting distracted away from key locations by the same multiple times. 

I didn't got lost for some reason and, the directions were clear to me. Just needed to look at the map at all times. I suggest to watch my video and see what I mean.

 

4 hours ago, Isquilt said:

Technically, it played quite well, even if I'm somewhat averse to start locations which put you in attacking range of active hitscanners. It was a bit tricky for me, but I felt like it was very fair overall. I think it's hard enough that implementing difficulty options should be considered.

The map wasn't much hard at all for me and idk if it had difficulty settings implemented since I only played it on UV. The key here is to get weapons as soon as you can and look for secrets.

 

4 hours ago, Isquilt said:

Of minor technical suggestions, I'd recommend flagging all of the lines in the teleporting monster closets as secret so that they don't all appear on the automap once you get the automap pickup.

Don't you mean as "not shown in automap" flag? Because that "secret line" flag confused me :D

 

4 hours ago, Isquilt said:

I'd also recommend putting a few health or armor bonuses along the S bend leading towards the red key, just to make it a bit more intuitive to go for without getting lost without affecting gameplay balance much at all.

I bet that's why the mapper put some ledges in that S-acid area, so that the player doesn't get hurt, even by giving some stimpacks.

 

4 hours ago, Isquilt said:

A few monsters got stuck in the middle-southern monster closet in my run, but I didn't really investigate why that happened.

I got lucky then for 100% kills....

[Isquilt]

17 minutes ago, leodoom85 said:

Don't you mean as "not shown in automap" flag? Because that "secret line" flag confused me :D

I do, but when I first started playing with map editors it was called "Secret". It's been a while, and I forget the exact terminology used.

 

The ledges are good for that specific area, but I meant the next bend right after it that leads to the red key, because I missed that for a while.

 

And yeah, I'm sure it'd be a lot easier for me on a second playthrough now that I know where the items are to begin with. Otherwise, when I say the combat is tricky I mostly mean that it forces you to pay some amount of attention. There's not a lot of really obnoxious hitscanners, so it's still very possible to avoid taking much damage at all. But if you stop on your feet for a second, you could definitely end up in a world of hurt.

 

The OP did mention that there were no difficulty settings yet.

 

I did end up looking at the map a few times, but my own personal play typically avoids using or depending on the automap at all. I just feel like it interrupts my flow to have to pull it up when I could be looking at the level directly, especially as the level becomes more visually engaging. That's entirely on me though, so I wouldn't hold that against the map at all. I just think it's typically worthwhile to help highlight the different flows the map have in every possible way until you intentionally decide not to.

[MissMelee]

Interesting map. I could only find 4 of the secrets, the 2 for the plasma gun and the 2 for the area map. Also some Cacodemons wouldn't teleport in so I couldn't get 100% kills. Pretty easy on UV. I didn't find the layout confusing at all. Sadly, it didn't work in Boom which is my source port of choice, but it ran fine in GZDoom.

[Kaiser_Wilhelm2]

23 hours ago, leodoom85 said:

Here's the video. ^{(sorry for double post)}

 

 

 

Thanks I plan to incorporate just about all of your suggestions.

[Kaiser_Wilhelm2]

16 hours ago, Isquilt said:

I do, but when I first started playing with map editors it was called "Secret". It's been a while, and I forget the exact terminology used.

 

The ledges are good for that specific area, but I meant the next bend right after it that leads to the red key, because I missed that for a while.

 

And yeah, I'm sure it'd be a lot easier for me on a second playthrough now that I know where the items are to begin with. Otherwise, when I say the combat is tricky I mostly mean that it forces you to pay some amount of attention. There's not a lot of really obnoxious hitscanners, so it's still very possible to avoid taking much damage at all. But if you stop on your feet for a second, you could definitely end up in a world of hurt.

 

The OP did mention that there were no difficulty settings yet.

 

I did end up looking at the map a few times, but my own personal play typically avoids using or depending on the automap at all. I just feel like it interrupts my flow to have to pull it up when I could be looking at the level directly, especially as the level becomes more visually engaging. That's entirely on me though, so I wouldn't hold that against the map at all. I just think it's typically worthwhile to help highlight the different flows the map have in every possible way until you intentionally decide not to.

thanks for playing! I will Think about what you said. I was surprised that people use difficulty levels. Maybe next time I will add them for my next map.

[Kaiser_Wilhelm2]

14 hours ago, MissMelee said:

Interesting map. I could only find 4 of the secrets, the 2 for the plasma gun and the 2 for the area map. Also some Cacodemons wouldn't teleport in so I couldn't get 100% kills. Pretty easy on UV. I didn't find the layout confusing at all. Sadly, it didn't work in Boom which is my source port of choice, but it ran fine in GZDoom.

which monster closet had the problem? I need the max output from my monsters. Happy you couldn’t find all the secrets I thought they were easy. Lol. I am going to try and have my next map run in boom

[Kaiser_Wilhelm2]

Ok, All thanks for the tips I have updated my Wad. I added some more monster closets to make some of the areas more difficult and I also had to modify the secret area where the chainsaw is, sadly. it can't look into that room anymore because Zdoom Doom in Doom format doesn't have the block shots flag for linedefs. I would change to doom in Hexen format, but I'm worried it will mess up all my triggers. I also made the teleporter room look a little more interesting.

 

I also added @Doomkid the song Devilzwork - Deus Ex Machina to the soundtrack instead of my own music.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zqozgvkx979ag3u/newjuanv4_v2.wad?dl=0

[Doomkid]

This map is cool! I found a texture alignment bug:

 

Is this switch meant to be repeatable? I can press it over and over but the platform only seems to move once.

 

These shadow sectors are marked as secret, but the bigger sector is also marked as a secret, basically meaning I get "two for the price of one". The secret flag should (probably) be removed from the shadow sector.

 

 

This map is awesome overall, it looks great and the gameplay is paced very well imo. Good work!

[Kaiser_Wilhelm2]

Thanks Doomkid! Thank you for reminding me about that texture I've been meaning to fix that for a while. lol. Are you the DoomKid that created the midi that I used in my wad? Yes I wasn't sure about that double secret thing I actually figured that people would drop down from the big blue keycard ledge actually. Then I realized the more skilled players were strafe jumping accross. Looks like fixing that I should be able to release this map. woo hoo haven't released one in years.

[Doomkid]

1 hour ago, Kaiser_Wilhelm2 said:

Are you the DoomKid that created the midi that I used in my wad?

Yep, same one!