[GZDoom] Awake Again - First Map, Testing Appreciated

[Salmon]

Hey y'all.  I started making maps back in August after replaying the original Doom games for nostalgia's sake.  This is my third "completed" map but the first one I felt comfortable sharing for testing.  It's pretty linear but has a bit of exploration, lots of secrets, and a few mild arenas.

 

Awake Again (awakeag.wad)

Replaces Map01 of Doom 2

Tested with GZDoom (OpenGL)

Music is "Tower of Fire" by James Paddock (Jimmy)

All skill levels are available

Crouch and jump are disabled

Freelook is allowed but certainly not needed

Takes me 16-20 minutes at an easy pace knowing where everything is

Difficulty is probably not worse than the easier maps of Plutonia

UDMF format, made with Ultimate Doom Builder and Slade

All textures are vanilla

 

awakeag.zip

 

Screenshots:

Spoiler

 

Criticism and feedback are greatly appreciated.  I've had a good time doing this and would like to improve.

 

I'd enjoy perspectives on the difficulty since I have no real idea if it's too easy or too hard.  Tell me about the encounters, traps, supplies, geometry, that sort of thing in addition to whatever else.  Please help me spot bugs and texture issues.

 

Thanks for testing!  Remember this is an early effort so balance is probably a mess.

 

Edit:  Screenshots moved to imgur to preserve space here.

Edited September 25, 2020 by Salmon

[ViolentBeetle]

Definitely a really good use of traps. The amount of traps is not quite to my liking, but that's obviously a matter of taste. Unfortunately I didn't have time to finish it, but it seems pretty good.

[SCF]

That was a solid map, and a nice challenge (played it on UV). The level looked pretty good, with plenty of variation in environments and no 'boring' rooms.

• A lot of the challenge came from the surprise monster traps. At some point I just started assuming every item or switch would open a monster closet. They weren't outright unfair I think, but still maybe a few too many of them.
• I found the first half of the map lacking in health, especially with all the hitscanners. It's easy to go down to 30% health and stay there because all you get is a few stimpacks. I was really happy to find that berserk.
• There's a lot of secrets but they mostly had minor items. I personally like that and prefer that to having a hidden BFG that makes the rest of the map way easier.
• As far as I could tell there's no way to go back after the final fight. It's nice to be able to explore the level, for example to find missing secrets, and it's not much effort to add a switch or teleporter.
• IF you have the "infinitely tall actors" compatibility setting turned on, some of the hanging corpses will block you. There were two or three arenas that had them hanging around the room and it's annoying when you run into them and get blocked. It also causes a cacodemon that spawns on top of one to get stuck.
• Very minor detail, but in the first room if you go down the steps and immediately look left to where the 'window' is, the upper/lower texture of the black panel is misaligned (you can't see the grey strip at the top/bottom). I think it would also look a little better if the windows lined up with the vertical strips of the panel texture.

[Stabbey]

Very good.

 

The most surprising thing was the constant use of traps, and the way traps cascaded together quickly. That can however, get quite predictable. When I got to the blue door past the Arachnotrons, I was extremely cautious in there and picked off the spectres one or two at a time. I was expecting at any moment to walk over a line that turned off all the lights and opened doors. Perhaps a little too predictable with the amount of traps.

 

I got 10 of 12 secrets, the only remaining two were some secrets internal to the map like platforms or something.

 

- SCF, there is a teleporter near the exit which is in fact a way to get some of the remaining secrets.

[Salmon]

Thanks for the comments so far.  I definitely hear everyone about the traps.  It's good to get other perspectives since I (obviously) always knew they were coming in my testing.  I doubt I'll make changes to the file in that regard--probably just something I'm going to keep in mind for my next map.  Traps are no fun if you always expect them.

 

The secrets were a bit of a disappointment to me as well.  I like secrets a lot but I didn't quite realize how difficult it was to balance the items in them with map progression.  That's why you see so many secrets with low quality items.  Definitely something I'll improve on next time!  I'll probably try having fewer, more valuable secrets until I have a better sense of item balance.

 

I'm making notes about all this stuff and I'll see what changes I want to make after a few days.

[Biodegradable]

Pretty solid map, mate. Nicely designed with a great use of textures, height variation, straightforward progression and a plethora of monster closets. Quite the meaty challenge, especially when pistol-starting as you're a bit starved for resources and have to fight quite a lot of bastards. I found myself having to run around a lot in hopes of finding more ammo or weapons just so I could fight back, which I 'spose isn't necessarily a bad thing. Did take me a few deaths to really figure out a good strategy, but it's pretty fun and you hold back no punches. I did sadly have to savescum a lot to be able to make good progress, so perhaps you could be a little less stingy on the ammo, because a lot of the time I had to resort to either infighting or just running away. Otherwise, it's a well-rounded experience and an incredible effort for a beginner. Good stuff, fam. I'd love to see more from you.

 

 

[Stabbey]

Further thoughts.

 

- Barrels tended to be well placed for tactical use.

- Good use of layout to loop the player back to previous rooms

- Good weapon progression - giving the right weapons at exactly the right times. Chaingun right before taking on a horde of weak enemies, Double-barrel shotgun right before either a couple Revenants or a bunch of Hell Knights and Cacos are released, Berserk and Chainsaw right before dropping you into melee with Demons, Rocket Launcher about when Mancubi and Revenants start showing up in larger numbers, Plasma rifle when swarms of tougher monsters appear.

- I didn't have much of a problem with ammo resources, but unlike Biohazard, I found most of the secrets and got the shotgun in the first room. Additionally, I tend to deliberately use infighting when possible.

- I didn't have much of a problem with health resources, but I tend to be a more cautious player, especially in maps which teach caution like this one.

- I don't think either need to be changed, the secrets seem signposted well enough, and the shotgun needs to be changed, players need to be observant.

- The space was generally open enough to allow me to make use of monster infighting. After returning to the first combat arena with the blue key, I only had to kill one Revenant by myself after running past the Mancubi to get a rocket to hit one, the rest of the enemies killed each other. That's good, I appreciate being able to instigate infighting.

[Rapp0ng]

Enjoyed the map, nice level of challenging without being too annoying. I have to agree with others about the monster closets, they were a bit too common that I ended up expecting them. All that is required is a few less so the player can't be sure a closet is going to open when picking up a key item.

 

I ended up expending all of my ammo by the end of the map which is a good thing as I felt I got good use out of every weapon.

 

Nothing felt too sluggish or boring, every fight lasted just the right amount of time.

 

Map was well put together, nothing looked out of place or amateurish.

 

Spoiler

Liked the ending trap where I could not get away from the arch vile, I was forced to get in amongst it to get more cells. 

 

[Salmon]

Biodegradable, I really appreciate the video!  I've never made a level for any game before so the balance is certainly a bit off.  I'm sorry you seemed to have a frustrating experience but if it makes you feel any better it was enormously instructive.  It gave me a lot of ideas about things I could have done differently and things to consider for my future maps.  I want my levels to be "challenging but fair" I think, but I also want people to have a good time.

 

Some questions for y'all after watching the video:  Did anyone else not realize that you can immediately get the shotgun in the gray brick hub room by pressing use on the structure with the support textures?  Is the structure too tall to see the shotgun with all the monsters around?  My intent there was to make the player go into the room instead of standing in the doorway since this actually makes the room easier with the resources you get.  Maybe I need to add a switch texture and lower the platform to make it more obvious.

 

Also:  Anyone else not realize that, in the slime pit room, lifts open up on either side of the slime pit once you trigger the hitscanner ambush?  I made the lifts the same texture as the lift you use to get out of the pinkie punch out pit but maybe this isn't obvious.  You don't need to walk in the slime once you open up that area up top.

 

Really glad to hear people liked the weapon progression and ammo amount!  I moved the weapons around several times before it seemed right.  I tried to account for infighting variance with the ammo on UV but the amount provided definitely requires some infighting.  Generally, I tried to place health in such a way as to move the player forward to new enemies but this ultimately ended up with my "too many traps" situation.  I have ideas about changing some of the traps to more openish areas where the enemies are already present.

 

I'm going to wait and see if anyone else has feedback before I decide about making any changes.  Thanks, everyone!

[Rapp0ng]

Quote

55 minutes ago, Salmon said:

 

Some questions for y'all after watching the video:  Did anyone else not realize that you can immediately get the shotgun in the gray brick hub room by pressing use on the structure with the support textures?  Is the structure too tall to see the shotgun with all the monsters around? 

 

I actually never had an issue with that. I saw the shotgun and went to see if it would lower down. Which it did.

[Stabbey]

1 hour ago, Salmon said:

Some questions for y'all after watching the video:  Did anyone else not realize that you can immediately get the shotgun in the gray brick hub room by pressing use on the structure with the support textures?  Is the structure too tall to see the shotgun with all the monsters around?  My intent there was to make the player go into the room instead of standing in the doorway since this actually makes the room easier with the resources you get.  Maybe I need to add a switch texture and lower the platform to make it more obvious.

 

Also:  Anyone else not realize that, in the slime pit room, lifts open up on either side of the slime pit once you trigger the hitscanner ambush?  I made the lifts the same texture as the lift you use to get out of the pinkie punch out pit but maybe this isn't obvious.  You don't need to walk in the slime once you open up that area up top.

 

I figured out the shotgun lowering thing immediately. Biodegradable eventually spotted it, but attempted to strafe-run to get it without ever once trying the use key. I did spot the lifts to get back up to the blue key area... well, at least the one on the far side of the pit. At that point I wondered whether it had been there the first time and I just didn't notice.

 

 

[Biodegradable]

6 hours ago, Salmon said:

Did anyone else not realize that you can immediately get the shotgun in the gray brick hub room by pressing use on the structure with the support textures?

 

As Stabbey pointed out, I did spot it, but the thing is I didn't attempt to see it would lower by simply touching it because usually when a weapon is placed precariously on a little platform that's just a bit too high to reach, it usually means the player has to look for a switch or has to make a certain amount of progression or something to get it to lower. I've been conditioned to think that thanks to playing other maps, so no, that wasn't obvious to me. If you want to make it that easy to obtain, I'd suggest either sticking a switch on the platform or using a more obvious and common lift texture which would have incited me to try interacting with it. 

[Clippy]

Loved it!

 

 

 

@Biodegradable great recommendation 

[Salmon]

Thank you for the video, @Clippy!  I'm glad you enjoyed it.  Videos are really helpful to me since I'm new at this and it's my only opportunity to see how someone else goes through the map.  It definitely reaffirms that the shotgun in the hub room is too hard to see/access.  I was also sorry to see you get trapped in the sewer area with all the hell knights crowding the lift.  I never thought about that happening, it definitely wasn't intended.  Glad you were able to get out.

[Zolgia108]

i played your map and i had a lot of fun i must say :)

im uploading the vdeo and will send it to you once its ready! keep mapping man

[Zolgia108]

 

sry i was laughing all the time cause there was my brother saying bullshit behind me, but you can't hear him basically so it seems that i am crazy^^

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

This map has really been quite entertaining and challenging, it was confusing at first but then everything was starting to make sense, somehow, and I was really thankful that it wasn't some kind of maze where each side is an instant death trap or stacked enemies by way of being a Slaughter (which if it was almost in the end but small), but the good thing about it is that it was quite enjoyable to play, despite having died only once in the end because of the surprise Archvile, and for the second round I achieved my revenge against that plague, in short, all the wad was fun, even having found the secrets that were all over the map, although yes, some were really worth it, others... If they left a lot to think about, but still, everything is for entertainment, right?

[Stabbey]

On 9/20/2020 at 4:11 PM, Salmon said:

Thank you for the video, @Clippy!  I'm glad you enjoyed it.  Videos are really helpful to me since I'm new at this and it's my only opportunity to see how someone else goes through the map.  It definitely reaffirms that the shotgun in the hub room is too hard to see/access.  I was also sorry to see you get trapped in the sewer area with all the hell knights crowding the lift.  I never thought about that happening, it definitely wasn't intended.  Glad you were able to get out.

 

Oh, I also got killed in the sewer area once, but I kinda considered that my own fault for going down there. It's a pretty logical thing to happen with monster AI programmed to get as close to the player as possible, it's something you should have considered. If you want, add another way out.

 

For example, add a door with the same tag as the one with the chaingunner that leads to a passage back along the upper area to where the double-barrel shotgun was, to allow the player to get past the monsters that way.

 

... You may want to add more ammo after all. I'm a very conservative player, and I thought ammo was fine, but Clippy is running pretty low. - You are doing some tests not getting any of the secrets, right?

[Salmon]

@Zolgia108, thanks for the video!  You gave a lot of really good feedback.  Totally right to point out some of my questionable visual choices too, haha.  I had no idea what I was doing and was literally trying everything.

 

@ElPadrecitoCholo, thanks, glad you had a good time!  My hope with the megasphere in the final room was that it would allow a player to tank a hit from the archvile trap if they needed but I realize it doesn't always work out that way.

 

@Stabbey, yeah, that's a good idea about the sewer.  Problem was I just never went down there until I killed all the hell knights and cacos up top since I knew it was there!  Definitely an oversight since it's easy to go down there accidentally.

 

And yeah, the majority of my test runs have been zero secret runs.  That gave this level a different sort of problem, though--I would go into every room knowing exactly where/when closets would open, how much ammo I would have, where to fire when...  It was easy to get good at that since I made the level.  I kept noticing all this "extra" health and ammo after I cleared rooms and ended up deleting a lot of it because otherwise I got bored in my testing.  Obviously not the best idea for other people, though.

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

50 minutes ago, Salmon said:

@ElPadrecitoCholo, thanks, glad you had a good time!  My hope with the megasphere in the final room was that it would allow a player to tank a hit from the archvile trap if they needed but I realize it doesn't always work out that way.

@Salmon There were 2 Hell knights, 2 Mancubus, some Imps and also Pinkys, I mean, the archvile was basically backed by strong enemies, at least I'm glad you didn't decide to use the Revenants as the Archvile's bodyguards, other than just including the Cell weapon and not the BFG 9000, it really makes combat difficult if you ask me (Maybe a sphere of invincibility would not have been a bad option for those cases).
 

In other news, I also have to tell you that I discovered a better method so that you no longer have to go suddenly to shoot the Archvile and his henchmen, and instead use the clumsy A.I. on enemies for your benefit.