Jump to content
Search In
  • More options...
Find results that contain...
Find results in...
LVENdead

A STYGIAN ANGUISH - Doom 2 single WAD *UPDATED 1.2*

Recommended Posts

Hey, I played and recorded your map. I think the map is fine overall but it wasn't that fun for me because of low health supply. For the most part of the map I was running with like 10% and this forced me into a somewhat cautious type of gameplay which I don't find really fun. Say, the last room would've been much more enjoyable for me if there were no shotgunners and chainers there  (but some revs instead for example). I think if you do some health/hitscan rebalance then the map will be much more interesting to play. 

Some positive moments: imp spam in BK area was quite fun, the pinkie trap was severe but I managed to survive and so it was cool) (though I'd add more health after that trap). I accidentaly skipped plasma gun trap but I think it's easy to escape anyway. 

 

I think ammo placement was fine, I never really run out of it. I found 1 secret. Visually map is nice and I didn't spot any issues with it.

 

Here's the video:

 

 

 

Share this post


Link to post

@el_inf thanks for giving my map a run! Your experience is basically exactly what I was curious about when balancing the map towards the more difficult, and one that is hard to do well as the author of the map since I can't just "forget" where all the items are or monsters will spawn, etc. This definitely brought something to light though, which is that if you get beat up early in the map it's very hard to get back on your feet. I think that kind of illustrates something I hadn't really considered much in the map design which is "checkpoints" to replenish the player's health, especially with some of the traps being so brutal. 

 

I'm also sorry to see that you missed several (what I hope are) interesting "visual" set pieces...the room where you find the RL actually has the Barons rising out of the floor in little tanks that lower back down and reveal the enemies, and the red switch you pressed after the nuke fall at the end actually opens several airlock doors in that long hallway one after the other in a sequence that I thought looked neat. The lone grunt at the end was actually supposed to be a bit humorous because you'd expect something really dangerous after watching the doors open, but I understand your suspicion that shooting him would wake up an ambush or something.

 

Appreciate the feedback! I'm gonna work on a revised version with a little more health spread around so hopefully it's less frustrating. 

 

 

Share this post


Link to post

Made some minor updates to this map to fix a couple things that I broke in the 1.1 update. Working on updating the MIDI file for a future update so that it sounds better, but that's gonna take some time and probably won't warrant a completely new upload unless I make other major changes to the map. We'll see.

 

A STYGIAN ANGUISH v 1.2 STYGIANANGUISH.zip

Share this post


Link to post

I played your map!

Visuals: I thought it looked great and there's  attention to detail and variation to the environments. I especially liked near the end where you traverse into the lava-filled deeper part of the cave. I know it's supposed to be dark in a cave but I thought it was a bit too dark in some areas. I think working some contrasting lighter areas might be interesting. A lot of the OTEX textures are pretty dark I guess.

 

Map layout: I loved going to places later in the map that I'd seen from afar earlier. That was a really cool detail and also helps me find my way around the map. I didn't get lost once, so that was nice. 

Monsters and encounter: Very effective pressure from turrets. I honestly don't know if I found the turret challenges fun. I generally don't like if there are too many areas where I have to just dodge and run away from the monsters because they are too far away for me to hit them. On the other hand, I did feel a nice sense of accomplishment when I successfully outgunned them in the end. I ran past the archvile and co. trap in the last area because I just couldn't deal with all the flaming skulls (I forget their names). I got the secret powerup in the last area and honestly don't know If I'd survived If I hadn't found it.

 

Ressources: I was kind of scrounging for ammo and health the whole time but mostly in a good way. I wish I'd had more than a shotgun to take on the cacodemons in the beginning. 

 

Secret: I only found the powerup one I already mentioned. Nice way to trigger it :)

 

Bugs: Didn't find anything but I don't really look out for that stuff much. 

 

 

Share this post


Link to post

@DragonsForLunch thanks for giving this a spin!

 

2 hours ago, DragonsForLunch said:

I know it's supposed to be dark in a cave but I thought it was a bit too dark in some areas.

 

Do you mind telling me your visual settings? I tried tweaking this a lot, but one thing I've discovered with GZDoom is that the sector brightness can vary pretty wildly depending on your visual settings. Hopefully I can make adjustments that hit a good spot for a majority of settings.

 

2 hours ago, DragonsForLunch said:

I generally don't like if there are too many areas where I have to just dodge and run away from the monsters because they are too far away for me to hit them. On the other hand, I did feel a nice sense of accomplishment when I successfully outgunned them in the end.

 

For sure, I know this map leans pretty heavily on that to pressure you, especially near the beginning. I really wanted to lean into making you feel like you have to get across the bridges as fast as possible, and probably ignore most enemies shooting at you until you get into the cave past the SSG. I definitely agree with your general sentiment - I wanted that to be the sort of theme for THIS map, but if I played a map pack where every map was like this, I'd probably get tired of it real quick. Ultimately, for this map, I really wanted it to feel like you were descending into a really dangerous place and had to work to establish a foothold in a place that the demons would have heavily fortified against intruders.

 

2 hours ago, DragonsForLunch said:

I was kind of scrounging for ammo and health the whole time but mostly in a good way. I wish I'd had more than a shotgun to take on the cacodemons in the beginning. 

 

That's good to know that it mostly hit the mark - this is one area that is VERY tough to balance in my opinion, and I wanted to force the player into making decisions based on available resources, and also to possibly have to scramble DURING a fight to find more ammo. Honestly, I don't expect most people to kill the cacodemon horde at the beginning - ideally, you thin out a few of them as you have the chance, and then revisit them once you've become better stocked (such as coming back from getting the RL).

 

Greatly appreciate your thoughts! Every little bit of feedback helps me out as I continue to figure out how to be a better mapper.

Share this post


Link to post
6 minutes ago, LVENdead said:

Do you mind telling me your visual settings? I tried tweaking this a lot, but one thing I've discovered with GZDoom is that the sector brightness can vary pretty wildly depending on your visual settings. Hopefully I can make adjustments that hit a good spot for a majority of settings.

 

 

Here are my settings. I hope it helps. I honestly think it has to do more with the dark/black-ish textures than the light settings. I struggle with figuring out light levels too so let me know what you figure out!

Screenshot 2020-08-17 at 21.43.13.png

Screenshot 2020-08-17 at 21.43.04.png

Share this post


Link to post

Damn impressive work for your second map! I run only into one hiccup, I run out of ammo during the final fight - I got unlucky with the archvile, it managed to resurrect too many tough monsters before I could dispatch it.

Share this post


Link to post

This map is a couple years old but worth checking out again - as a second map it has a tremendous amount of thought and detail put into it, as you'll see with LVENdead's commentary!  Inspired by a Valiant map, it wraps around the central bridge area through scenic cliffsides.  Very good at pressuring you into fights to force you to take them head on.  Awesome work.

 

(linked to timestamp)

 

Share this post


Link to post

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×