Doom -1 | Negative One: Beyond the Experiment [Development Thread]

[PinkFlamingo]

I am currently working on MAP 13, so I'd like to reserve it for a while.

 

(18/01/21 update: I have finished MAP 13 but I am now working on MAP 11, I will post both finished maps in a few days)

Edited January 18, 2021 by PinkFlamingo

[PinkFlamingo]

Next version 6.21 (Map 11 and 13 finished)

 

Edits:

Spoiler

 

Both maps:

- Difficulty settings implemented and play-tested for ammo/item balance

 

Map 11

- All monster cages are now part of a secret and can be accessed.

- New layout and details added around the southwestern lift.

- Various areas are re-textured to create a more unique and unified look.

- There is a second cyber-demon fight in the big central room after you grab the red key.

Finished!

 

Map 13
Warehouse area:
- Fixed some "sky-cropping" issues.
- Added a "C" to the third switch, moved/rotated the "A" and "B" closer to their respective switches.
- The Archviles now teleport in front of the final gate so you don't accidentally miss one of them.
Hotel:

- Added a kitchen and entertainment area.

- Added some monsters and items to empty rooms.

- Details added to the bar and reception desk.

Final underground area:

- You now need to flip a switch in each room to progress to the next.

- Some details added.

Finished!

 

 

Updated to-do list:

Spoiler

MAP 01 to 08 finished
MAP 09 layout improvement, detailing, play-testing
MAP 10 to 13 finished
MAP 14 detailing (sector lighting seems too bright for a cave), play-testing
MAP 15 sector lighting seems too bright for a cave??, play-testing
MAP 16 and 17 item/monster placement revision (seems to have random item spam), play-testing
MAP 18 play-testing
MAP 19 item/monster placement revision (seems to have random item spam), play-testing
MAP 20 to 22 play-testing
MAP 23 layout improvement (Switch 4953 opens up a door to a completely different part of the map. Not intuitive), play-testing
MAP 24 layout improvement, detailing, play-testing
MAP 25 to 29 play-testing
MAP 30 finished
MAP 31 play-testing
MAP 32 add more gameplay, play-testing

 

Download

https://www.mediafire.com/file/kkc4e6rqve70yz6/NEGATIVEONE_v6.21.rar/file

 

https://easyupload.io/9nrzno

 

Edited January 20, 2021 by PinkFlamingo

[PinkFlamingo]

and again... an update! Version 6.22 (MAP 16 finished + music fixes)

 

Edits:

Spoiler

 

MIDI

- Map 11, 12 and 13 midis have been edited so they loop correctly.

 

MAP 11

- Fixed an oversight. Linedefs around one of the teleporter pads was supposed to block monsters. Fixed!

 

Map 16 revision finished

- Ammo/Item/Enemy balance.

- Numerous issues (monsters not teleporting, switches not working...) are now fixed.

- Some small graphical edits here and there to make the map look nicer.

This map seemed rather experimental: claustrophobic and not following the rules of normal doom levels... so I kept it that way. There are only two weapons in the map: super shotgun and "devil staff". In some areas doors will open when you walk towards them, rather than when you press the space bar. In some areas, hitting a switch is a bad thing.

 

 

Updated to-do list

Spoiler

 

MAP 01 to 08 finished
MAP 09 layout improvement, detailing, play-testing
MAP 10 to 13 finished
MAP 14 detailing (sector lighting seems too bright for a cave), play-testing
MAP 15 sector lighting seems too bright for a cave??, play-testing
MAP 16 finished

MAP 17 item/monster placement revision (seems to have random item spam), play-testing
MAP 18 play-testing
MAP 19 item/monster placement revision (seems to have random item spam), play-testing
MAP 20 to 22 play-testing
MAP 23 layout improvement (Switch 4953 opens up a door to a completely different part of the map. Not intuitive), play-testing
MAP 24 layout improvement, detailing, play-testing
MAP 25 to 29 play-testing
MAP 30 finished
MAP 31 play-testing
MAP 32 add more gameplay, play-testing

 

 

Download:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/gemrl1grjutgwtn/NEGATIVEONE_v6.22.rar/file

Edited January 25, 2021 by PinkFlamingo

[Captain Toenail]

I had a quick fly through the maps in the editor and I am seriously impressed with what you've been doing with the maps. Nice work.

[PinkFlamingo]

On 1/25/2021 at 10:33 PM, Captain Toenail said:

I had a quick fly through the maps in the editor and I am seriously impressed with what you've been doing with the maps. Nice work.

 

Thanks! It's nice to hear positive comments and it motivates me to keep going.

 

I am currently working on MAP 14, and will also review MAP 17 after that. I aim to upload the next update in a few days.

[PinkFlamingo]

Version 6.23 (Maps 14 and 25 finished)

 

Edits:
 

Spoiler

 

Map 14

I only wanted to lower the brightness of the interior parts but ended up replacing some of the textures and adding some new rock work. The layout is largely unchanged though. Some edits include a staircase to reach the area with the Mancubi and in the final room, the corridor has been widened to make the last battle less of a single-file corridor fight. The super shotgun is now given before you reach the first Archvile and the rocket launcher replaces the old super shotgun.

Finished!

 

Map 25

An excellent map. No significant changes were needed. I noticed I ran out of ammo on each of my test runs. I solved that by moving the Devil staff out of its secret location and replaced the secret with a Berserk pack. With the Devil staff now being a normal weapon, it gives the player that extra little ammo needed to finish the level consistently. This map is great and the difficulty is perfect for the final hell episode.

Finished!

 

 

Updated to-do list:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP 01 to 08 finished
MAP 09 layout improvement, detailing, play-testing
MAP 10 to 14 finished
MAP 15 sector lighting seems too bright for a cave??, play-testing
MAP 16 finished

MAP 17 item/monster placement revision (seems to have random item spam), play-testing
MAP 18 play-testing
MAP 19 item/monster placement revision (seems to have random item spam), play-testing
MAP 20 to 22 play-testing
MAP 23 layout improvement (Switch 4953 opens up a door to a completely different part of the map. Not intuitive), play-testing
MAP 24 layout improvement, detailing, play-testing
MAP 25 finished

MAP 26 to 29 play-testing
MAP 30 finished
MAP 31 play-testing
MAP 32 add more gameplay, play-testing

 

 

Download:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/eszjgxxqll6w9zo/NEGATIVEONE_v6.23.rar/file

[Rosh Fragger]

10 hours ago, PinkFlamingo said:

Version 6.23 (Maps 14 and 25 finished)

 

Just want to appreciate your continuous efforts in improving these maps; phenomenal work so far mate!

 

Map14 now looks much better with your improvements!! :))

[PinkFlamingo]

Version 6.24 (MAPS 19, 20 and 31 finished)

 

 

On 2/2/2021 at 8:02 PM, Rosh Fragger said:

 

Just want to appreciate your continuous efforts in improving these maps; phenomenal work so far mate!

 

Thanks a lot! :-)

 

 

Edits:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP 19

Such a cool map. I love the atmosphere. I sorted out the seemingly random item/monster placement. In the jail part you can now punch-out a guard to get your first weapon. I also added beds and toilets to the cells. The two houses outside of the jail now have fully furnished rooms. To help with progression, I added some torches in the forest and around the blue key card (as a hint to the player telling them where to go). I also added two extra secrets bringing the total to 3.

 

MAP 20

Another awesome map. Here I only edited monster and item placement a bit. This map was very uneven in difficulty and did not have enough ammo to deal with everything. Now it should be more consistently difficult and ammo should be sufficient. I did change the final two fights (demon invasion and UFO invasions) because the existing ones were very similar to already existing monster encounters in other maps. The demon invasion now has a few Archviles at the end, which can get out of control very fast if you don't kill them quickly. The UFO invasion is a bit of a puzzle now. First, I removed all enemies from this place because I thought it would be cooler if the player could first look at the UFO and get familiar with its layout before hitting the three switches that release monsters. The monster invasions are now more challenging. One switch will release a ton of hitscanners, one switch will release up to eight Revenants (on hard) and one switch will release up to four Archviles (also on hard). If you know which switch does what, you can hit the switches in the order you like (I recommend starting with the Archviles - of course).

 

MAP 31

Not much to say here. It is a nice and simple Wolfenstein map. I left it as it is. I only reduced the amount of ammo and health (replacing rocket boxes with individual rockets and medikits with stimpacks) so it's a bit more challenging.

 

 

To-do list:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP 01 to 08 finished
MAP 09 layout improvement, detailing, play-testing
MAP 10 to 14 finished
MAP 15 sector lighting seems too bright for a cave??, play-testing
MAP 16 finished

MAP 17 item/monster placement revision (seems to have random item spam), play-testing
MAP 18 play-testing
MAP 19 and 20 finished
MAP 21 and 22 play-testing
MAP 23 layout improvement (Switch 4953 opens up a door to a completely different part of the map. Not intuitive), play-testing
MAP 24 layout improvement, detailing, play-testing
MAP 25 finished

MAP 26 to 29 play-testing
MAP 30 and 31 finished
MAP 32 add more gameplay, play-testing

 

 

Download

https://www.mediafire.com/file/7otlopchtr5lkhz/NEGATIVEONE_v6.24.rar/file

 

 

 

 

[Roebloz]

1 hour ago, PinkFlamingo said:

Version 6.24 (MAPS 19, 20 and 31 finished)

 

 

 

Thanks a lot! :-)

 

 

Edits:
 

  Hide contents

 

MAP 19

Such a cool map. I love the atmosphere. I sorted out the seemingly random item/monster placement. In the jail part you can now punch-out a guard to get your first weapon. I also added beds and toilets to the cells. The two houses outside of the jail now have fully furnished rooms. To help with progression, I added some torches in the forest and around the blue key card (as a hint to the player telling them where to go). I also added two extra secrets bringing the total to 3.

 

MAP 20

Another awesome map. Here I only edited monster and item placement a bit. This map was very uneven in difficulty and did not have enough ammo to deal with everything. Now it should be more consistently difficult and ammo should be sufficient. I did change the final two fights (demon invasion and UFO invasions) because the existing ones were very similar to already existing monster encounters in other maps. The demon invasion now has a few Archviles at the end, which can get out of control very fast if you don't kill them quickly. The UFO invasion is a bit of a puzzle now. First, I removed all enemies from this place because I thought it would be cooler if the player could first look at the UFO and get familiar with its layout before hitting the three switches that release monsters. The monster invasions are now more challenging. One switch will release a ton of hitscanners, one switch will release up to eight Revenants (on hard) and one switch will release up to four Archviles (also on hard). If you know which switch does what, you can hit the switches in the order you like (I recommend starting with the Archviles - of course).

 

MAP 31

Not much to say here. It is a nice and simple Wolfenstein map. I left it as it is. I only reduced the amount of ammo and health (replacing rocket boxes with individual rockets and medikits with stimpacks) so it's a bit more challenging.

 

 

To-do list:
 

  Hide contents

 

MAP 01 to 08 finished
MAP 09 layout improvement, detailing, play-testing
MAP 10 to 14 finished
MAP 15 sector lighting seems too bright for a cave??, play-testing
MAP 16 finished

MAP 17 item/monster placement revision (seems to have random item spam), play-testing
MAP 18 play-testing
MAP 19 and 20 finished
MAP 21 and 22 play-testing
MAP 23 layout improvement (Switch 4953 opens up a door to a completely different part of the map. Not intuitive), play-testing
MAP 24 layout improvement, detailing, play-testing
MAP 25 finished

MAP 26 to 29 play-testing
MAP 30 and 31 finished
MAP 32 add more gameplay, play-testing

 

 

Download

https://www.mediafire.com/file/7otlopchtr5lkhz/NEGATIVEONE_v6.24.rar/file

 

 

 

 

Which health packs did you change exactly? I mean I made it to be accurate, not to have stimpacks instead of Medkits.

[PinkFlamingo]

27 minutes ago, Roebloz said:

Which health packs did you change exactly? I mean I made it to be accurate, not to have stimpacks instead of Medkits.

 

Every Medkit is a Stimpack except the two in the beginning. I could also replace those, so every healthpack in the map is a stimpack. Or... we can have everything back as a Medkit but then the map is just very easy.

[PinkFlamingo]

@Roebloz, I was testing MAP 29 (which is a very cool map) and noticed that it has an Icon of Sin at the end. The sound of the Icon is of course replaced with the mechanical beeping sound from MAP 11 so it doesn't really sound right. I was wondering how we could solve this and I see two options:

 

1) We change the sound back to the original Icon of Sin, and in the story text we write that the building in Map 11 was somehow 'alive', that it was a 'demonic building'. For example: "As the demonic building screams in pain, ... etc."

2) We find a more neutral sound. For example, instead of the mechanical beeping we could have the sound of rocks falling or pieces of a building collapsing. This would also fit the Icon at the end of MAP 29. It sounds as if it collapses.

 

What do you think? I think I prefer the second option.

 

Also, I was checking in Slade, and the explosion sound of the Icon sounds very loud and distorted, in comparison with the other sound effects of the wad, so maybe we should lower its volume or replace it with a better one?

Edited February 11, 2021 by PinkFlamingo

[Roebloz]

2 hours ago, PinkFlamingo said:

@Roebloz, I was testing MAP 29 (which is a very cool map) and noticed that it has an Icon of Sin at the end. The sound of the Icon is of course replaced with the mechanical beeping sound from MAP 11 so it doesn't really sound right. I was wondering how we could solve this and I see two options:

 

1) We change the sound back to the original Icon of Sin, and in the story text we write that the building in Map 11 was somehow 'alive', that it was a 'demonic building'. For example: "As the demonic building screams in pain, ... etc."

2) We find a more neutral sound. For example, instead of the mechanical beeping we could have the sound of rocks falling or pieces of a building collapsing. This would also fit the Icon at the end of MAP 29. It sounds as if it collapses.

 

What do you think? I think I prefer the second option.

 

Also, I was checking in Slade, and the explosion sound of the Icon sounds very loud and distorted, in comparison with the other sound effects of the wad, so maybe we should lower its volume or replace it with a better one?

The explosion sound is supposed to be a mechanical explosion sound so it is intentionally loud. Also, as a third option, we can simply use DeHackEd to make a new Boss Brain that has the Spider Mastermind sounds assigned to it (Since those are currently the regular Icon of Sin sounds to fix Baphomet) and keep the old Boss Brain. We could perhaps replace the extra gibbed marine corpse thing? Like that both MAP29's Icon of Sin works, and MAP11's ending makes sense (The main reason why it makes sense currently is that the self-destruct mechanism could have been placed by the humans that once used the factory, as I don't think that the demons would put a switch that kills their living nukage factory, and it doesn't even look like a hell level.)

[PinkFlamingo]

14 hours ago, Roebloz said:

The explosion sound is supposed to be a mechanical explosion sound so it is intentionally loud.

 

Ok, but I am worried about headphone users who are not expecting this. I think it should not be much louder than the super shotgun sound (which seems to be the loudest in the WAD).

 

14 hours ago, Roebloz said:

We could perhaps replace the extra gibbed marine corpse thing? Like that both MAP29's Icon of Sin works, and MAP11's ending makes sense.

 

Ok, sounds good. If you can do that, please, go ahead. I have no experience with DeHackEd.

We will have to check every map again afterwards, because some maps probably use one of the two gibbed marines.

Edited February 12, 2021 by PinkFlamingo

[Roebloz]

v6.25 is here!

Changes

• Restored part of the Medikits on MAP31, but not all of them.
• Replaced all of the Gibbed marine (extra) with the regular one (Since they have no difference)
• Replaced the sound of MAP11 and MAP29s Self-Destruct Mechanism/Icon of Sin's death sound with a carbon copy of the regular one, but with Darth Vader's "NOOOO" in the beginning. (Luckily you probably won't hear the NOOOO in MAP29, so only MAP11 will technically have Baphomet screaming for his nukage factory) Still loud, but more fitting.
• Replaced the Gibbed marine (extra) with a Boss Brain that has the proper pain sound for MAP29.(Its technically just an immobile Baphomet that has 250 health and switches to the regular Boss Brain's death after. I couldn't manage to change the sound that the Boss Brain used, so we are going with this instead. This does mean that the Icon of MAP29 shoots an extra spawn cube when getting harmed, but hey, that adds to the challenge.)
• Removed Herobrine and updated the localization files.
• http://www.mediafire.com/file/lmg2665rsm25pov/NEGATIVEONE_v6.25.wad/file

[URROVA]

Reserving MAP23 to fix the switch 4953

[URROVA]

Version 6.26: Some MAP23 changes

 

• The switch on linedef 4953 was changed by a teleporter to a room connected to the red rock part's door. You have to use the marble face to open that door and exit that room (i explained very bad)
• Also replaced the switch that deactivates the FIREBLU forcefield with another teleporter, that teleports to a room with a windows to the forcefield place. In that room is the switch that deactivates the FIREBLU forcefield, so the player can see what the switch does.
• Also implemented difficulty settings.

https://mega.nz/file/6aRFAaAb#gLSBaVJEZvf9CY_-KsAq2K1nIc5rrQ_tUu1k49ItoOs

[PinkFlamingo]

Version 6.27! (Map 28 and 29 finished + Music changes) (had to merge with above versions ;-)

 

Map edits

Spoiler

 

MAP 28
I had mixed feelings about this map. The first part was cool, the second part as well, after that it had some nice organic looking corridors and a beautiful black tower but the gameplay felt more like "work" than "fun" and it wasn't very difficult. So basically I tried to make monster encounters more interesting and more challenging. I added many Archviles in strategic places. I added a non-secret BFG so you can take down those demon hordes a bit faster and keep moving. I made the enviroments a bit more dynamic (those Hell Knight pillars will now start moving up and down). Also, the last part with the Wicked was extremely unfair because there was no way for the player to know they were there. I added Archviles here and moved the Wicked to another location. Apart from the obvious changes in monster placement, I spent some time fixing misaligned textures and added three secrets.

 

MAP 29
This map was super cool and challenging in a fun way. Here, I made almost no changes. I added difficulty settings by unchecking some monsters for "easy" and "normal". I moved the BFG to a location in plain sight. The first Cyberdemon is now guarding it, giving you a reason to try to kill it. While it is not needed to finish the map, it is perfectly possible to get 100 % kills (kill all monsters except the ones spawned by the Icon of Sin). That's a cool little challenge.

 

OTHER
The sky texture for episode 3 (sky3) is now tiling properly.

 

Music changes

Spoiler

 

I like most of the music in this wad, but I noticed that in the third hell-themed episode (maps 22 to 29) many tracks don't really fit the atmosphere put forward by their respective maps. I remember that most tracks were added during the first weeks and switched around a lot. Because musical taste is subjective, I didn't really want to delete them, so I basically re-arranged the order of the tracks and added a few new ones. Here are the changes and my motivation.

 

Map 22: This was an unknown track by Kniggit. It is a nice song but it doesn't really fit a spooky quake-style map. I moved it to Map 34, and in its place I put another Kniggit track called "Spiders in my bagel", which has a more "spooky mansion vibe" and has some interesting tempo changes. It also nicely follows the tone set by the piano tune in Map 21 (which is super cool by the way).

 

Map 23: This track sounded like a hectic boss fight, but the map is a green marble castle. Again, I moved it to Map 33, which is also more of a hectic arena. Map 33 really needs a bit more development though, and I will probably give it a make-over. The new Map 23 tune is "Crow's Nest" by Eris, Dragonfly and Jimmy, an unused track from the Raven Midi pack, which gives the map a more Heretic or Hexen vibe.

 

Map 24: This was a Doom 1 cover which sounded epic for one of the final maps. I moved it to Map 29 where it fits perfectly, and replaced it with another unused song from the Raven midi pack. "Dee Wars" by Megasphere.

 

Map 25: Already existed in Map 11, so this needed a unique track. "Pollutants" by Jimmy sounded good and it keeps the same overall tone as maps 22 to 24 before.

 

Map 26: Ugh. I don't really like this song but there is nothing wrong with it. I left it as it is but I have some ideas for replacements (maybe).

 

Map 27: Nice TNT remix. It can stay.

 

Map 28: Cool track by URROVA. It stays.

 

Map 29: This song was nice, but it was so cheerful and happy and the map is not. This one was replaced with map 24 music, as mentioned above.

 

To-do list:

Spoiler

MAP 01 to 08 finished
MAP 09 layout improvement, detailing, play-testing
MAP 10 to 14 finished
MAP 15 sector lighting seems too bright for a cave??, play-testing
MAP 16 finished
MAP 17 item/monster placement revision (seems to have random item spam), play-testing
MAP 18 play-testing
MAP 19 and 20 finished
MAP 21 and 22 play-testing
MAP 23 play-testing
MAP 24 layout improvement, detailing, play-testing
MAP 25 finished
MAP 26 and 27 play-testing
MAP 28 to 31 finished
MAP 32 add more gameplay, play-testing
MAP 33 needs more development and a secret exit leading to it, play-testing
MAP 34 play-testing
MAP 35 finished

 

Download

http://www.mediafire.com/file/70tnrwwv53he7lx/NEGATIVEONE_v6.27.rar/file

[PinkFlamingo]

50 minutes ago, URROVA said:

The switch on linedef 4953 was changed by a teleporter to a room connected to the red rock part's door. You have to use the marble face to open that door and exit that room (i explained very bad) 

Also replaced the switch that deactivates the FIREBLU forcefield with another teleporter, that teleports to a room with a windows to the forcefield place. In that room is the switch that deactivates the FIREBLU forcefield, so the player can see what the switch does.

Also implemented difficulty settings.

 

This is great! Perfect solution.

 

On 2/12/2021 at 6:54 PM, Roebloz said:

Replaced the sound of MAP11 and MAP29s Self-Destruct Mechanism/Icon of Sin's death sound with a carbon copy of the regular one, but with Darth Vader's "NOOOO" in the beginning. (Luckily you probably won't hear the NOOOO in MAP29, so only MAP11 will technically have Baphomet screaming for his nukage factory) Still loud, but more fitting.

Replaced the Gibbed marine (extra) with a Boss Brain that has the proper pain sound for MAP29.(Its technically just an immobile Baphomet that has 250 health and switches to the regular Boss Brain's death after. I couldn't manage to change the sound that the Boss Brain used, so we are going with this instead. This does mean that the Icon of MAP29 shoots an extra spawn cube when getting harmed, but hey, that adds to the challenge.)

 

Thanks alot! I missed your update and had to merge my changes with yours. I hope I left everything intact.

The new brains are working fine but the explosion at the end is still distorted. It is not that it is too loud, it just "cracks" on my speakers. Maybe you just have a better sound system? :-) I will experiment a bit with it and see if I can make it not "crack" but still sound loud.

[Roebloz]

23 minutes ago, PinkFlamingo said:

Version 6.27! (Map 28 and 29 finished + Music changes) (had to merge with above versions ;-)

 

Map edits

  Hide contents

 

MAP 28
I had mixed feelings about this map. The first part was cool, the second part as well, after that it had some nice organic looking corridors and a beautiful black tower but the gameplay felt more like "work" than "fun" and it wasn't very difficult. So basically I tried to make monster encounters more interesting and more challenging. I added many Archviles in strategic places. I added a non-secret BFG so you can take down those demon hordes a bit faster and keep moving. I made the enviroments a bit more dynamic (those Hell Knight pillars will now start moving up and down). Also, the last part with the Wicked was extremely unfair because there was no way for the player to know they were there. I added Archviles here and moved the Wicked to another location. Apart from the obvious changes in monster placement, I spent some time fixing misaligned textures and added three secrets.

 

MAP 29
This map was super cool and challenging in a fun way. Here, I made almost no changes. I added difficulty settings by unchecking some monsters for "easy" and "normal". I moved the BFG to a location in plain sight. The first Cyberdemon is now guarding it, giving you a reason to try to kill it. While it is not needed to finish the map, it is perfectly possible to get 100 % kills (kill all monsters except the ones spawned by the Icon of Sin). That's a cool little challenge.

 

OTHER
The sky texture for episode 3 (sky3) is now tiling properly.

 

Music changes

  Hide contents

 

I like most of the music in this wad, but I noticed that in the third hell-themed episode (maps 22 to 29) many tracks don't really fit the atmosphere put forward by their respective maps. I remember that most tracks were added during the first weeks and switched around a lot. Because musical taste is subjective, I didn't really want to delete them, so I basically re-arranged the order of the tracks and added a few new ones. Here are the changes and my motivation.

 

Map 22: This was an unknown track by Kniggit. It is a nice song but it doesn't really fit a spooky quake-style map. I moved it to Map 34, and in its place I put another Kniggit track called "Spiders in my bagel", which has a more "spooky mansion vibe" and has some interesting tempo changes. It also nicely follows the tone set by the piano tune in Map 21 (which is super cool by the way).

 

Map 23: This track sounded like a hectic boss fight, but the map is a green marble castle. Again, I moved it to Map 33, which is also more of a hectic arena. Map 33 really needs a bit more development though, and I will probably give it a make-over. The new Map 23 tune is "Crow's Nest" by Eris, Dragonfly and Jimmy, an unused track from the Raven Midi pack, which gives the map a more Heretic or Hexen vibe.

 

Map 24: This was a Doom 1 cover which sounded epic for one of the final maps. I moved it to Map 29 where it fits perfectly, and replaced it with another unused song from the Raven midi pack. "Dee Wars" by Megasphere.

 

Map 25: Already existed in Map 11, so this needed a unique track. "Pollutants" by Jimmy sounded good and it keeps the same overall tone as maps 22 to 24 before.

 

Map 26: Ugh. I don't really like this song but there is nothing wrong with it. I left it as it is but I have some ideas for replacements (maybe).

 

Map 27: Nice TNT remix. It can stay.

 

Map 28: Cool track by URROVA. It stays.

 

Map 29: This song was nice, but it was so cheerful and happy and the map is not. This one was replaced with map 24 music, as mentioned above.

 

To-do list:

  Reveal hidden contents

MAP 01 to 08 finished
MAP 09 layout improvement, detailing, play-testing
MAP 10 to 14 finished
MAP 15 sector lighting seems too bright for a cave??, play-testing
MAP 16 finished
MAP 17 item/monster placement revision (seems to have random item spam), play-testing
MAP 18 play-testing
MAP 19 and 20 finished
MAP 21 and 22 play-testing
MAP 23 play-testing
MAP 24 layout improvement, detailing, play-testing
MAP 25 finished
MAP 26 and 27 play-testing
MAP 28 to 31 finished
MAP 32 add more gameplay, play-testing
MAP 33 needs more development and a secret exit leading to it, play-testing
MAP 34 play-testing
MAP 35 finished

 

Download

http://www.mediafire.com/file/70tnrwwv53he7lx/NEGATIVEONE_v6.27.rar/file

Okay, changing the OST is kind of weird without asking anyone especially after I was done with uploading the OST as it was supposed to be final. (It never changed since the original release, and on an unrelated note I agree that the Wicked trap was a bit unfair, maybe I could add a sign with a Wicked on it? I dunno) If you're not happy with the OST, maybe just make an alternate MIDI WAD that changes the songs of Episode 3 that we could include in the final release instead of outright replacing them without asking anyone? (Then again, we can always just do that but in reverse, aka have the old music playlist in a separate WAD bundled with the main WAD.) I dunno, the original OST was fitting in every map. (Aside from MAP21's theme that only works with -nomonsters tbh)

I dunno, I don't really like you changing the OST without asking anyone.

[PinkFlamingo]

10 hours ago, Roebloz said:

Okay, changing the OST is kind of weird without asking anyone especially after I was done with uploading the OST as it was supposed to be final. (It never changed since the original release, and on an unrelated note I agree that the Wicked trap was a bit unfair, maybe I could add a sign with a Wicked on it? I dunno) If you're not happy with the OST, maybe just make an alternate MIDI WAD that changes the songs of Episode 3 that we could include in the final release instead of outright replacing them without asking anyone? (Then again, we can always just do that but in reverse, aka have the old music playlist in a separate WAD bundled with the main WAD.) I dunno, the original OST was fitting in every map. (Aside from MAP21's theme that only works with -nomonsters tbh)

I dunno, I don't really like you changing the OST without asking anyone.

 

My apologies! I did not realize that this was going to be causing problems. Feel free to change the songs again however you think is best for the project.

 

I realize that I cannot finish all my planned work before my own deadline (1st of March) :-/ I still need to do 13 maps (11 + 2 super secrets) in only 10 days and this will not be possible. I hate to break promises but I hope I can still continue working on this for a bit longer. I have been making steady progress over the last couple of weeks. I simply did not expect that so many of these maps were still in an early untested stage.

[Roebloz]

7 hours ago, PinkFlamingo said:

 

My apologies! I did not realize that this was going to be causing problems. Feel free to change the songs again however you think is best for the project.

 

I realize that I cannot finish all my planned work before my own deadline (1st of March) :-/ I still need to do 13 maps (11 + 2 super secrets) in only 10 days and this will not be possible. I hate to break promises but I hope I can still continue working on this for a bit longer. I have been making steady progress over the last couple of weeks. I simply did not expect that so many of these maps were still in an early untested stage.

Its perfectly fine mate, I will just make an alternate MIDI WAD with the songs you replaced for the Hell levels and include it in the download (And eventually on idgames once we upload it there) + Ill upload the new themes as the Alternate versions of the maps to the Doom -1 soundtrack.

[PinkFlamingo]

Thanks! I have given this some more thought and I really start to like the idea of creating an alternative soundtrack that can be included as a separate file. I will even take it one step further and not only redo the hell episode but the entire megawad (maps 1 to 35). My plan is to keep all the original compositions and replace only the tracks that were taken from other games (like sonic or super metroid...) or from other well-known megawads. I will then try to add songs that were never used before, or that were released in very recent MIDI packs and not yet used anywhere else (or songs that are more obscure). This will not only make the soundtrack completely unique to this project, it will also provide a "copyright safe" version that can be useful for professional streamers or Youtubers who want to avoid getting flagged by algorithms.

 

I think that Nightmare, who also contributed a lot to this megawad, also wanted more unique compositions, so I am not the only person who would probably like this option. Overall, this is a better idea because we can keep other people's original music choices for the maps they worked most on.

 

So in the next update, I will restore the original music as it was before, and I will start compiling an alternative soundtrack. This should not take much time as I have already collected a ton of MIDIs on my PC so the hardest thing is choosing which ones to use. I am now also going to focus back on finishing the maps because I would like to have them finished as soon as possible so we can finally release this megawad. I think it is going to be really great in the end.

[Roebloz]

4 minutes ago, PinkFlamingo said:

Thanks! I have given this some more thought and I really start to like the idea of creating an alternative soundtrack that can be included as a separate file. I will even take it one step further and not only redo the hell episode but the entire megawad (maps 1 to 35). My plan is to keep all the original compositions and replace only the tracks that were taken from other games (like sonic or super metroid...) or from other well-known megawads. I will then try to add songs that were never used before, or that were released in very recent MIDI packs and not yet used anywhere else (or songs that are more obscure). This will not only make the soundtrack completely unique to this project, it will also provide a "copyright safe" version that can be useful for professional streamers or Youtubers who want to avoid getting flagged by algorithms.

 

I think that Nightmare, who also contributed a lot to this megawad, also wanted more unique compositions, so I am not the only person who would probably like this option. Overall, this is a better idea because we can keep other people's original music choices for the maps they worked most on.

 

So in the next update, I will restore the original music as it was before, and I will start compiling an alternative soundtrack. I am now going to focus back on finishing the maps because I would like to have them finished as soon as possible so we can finally release this megawad. I think it is going to be really great in the end.

Good. (Even if midis rarely get flagged by algorithms, its still good.)

[PinkFlamingo]

I am now editing and polishing maps 24 and 17, so please don't make any changes there :-)

I will update later this week.

[PinkFlamingo]

On 2/12/2021 at 6:54 PM, Roebloz said:

• Replaced the sound of MAP11 and MAP29s Self-Destruct Mechanism/Icon of Sin's death sound with a carbon copy of the regular one, but with Darth Vader's "NOOOO" in the beginning. (Luckily you probably won't hear the NOOOO in MAP29, so only MAP11 will technically have Baphomet screaming for his nukage factory) Still loud, but more fitting.

 

Roebloz, the sound you describe doesn't really sound like the sound in the WAD (DSBOSDTH)? Is it possible that you uploaded the wrong sound file? Also, this sound is distorted (compare to the original).

Edited February 26, 2021 by PinkFlamingo

[PinkFlamingo]

Version 6.28! (Map 17 and 24 finished + Original music is back)

 

This took me a bit longer than usual because Map 24 needed a lot of work.

I changed the music back to the original tracks.

 

Edits:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP 17

This was another great looking map. Very atmospheric. I fixed the item/monster balance, added a few details to those rooms that were still empty, fixed misaligned textures and added some extra secrets. Also, I switched the texture of the sidewalks from grey to brown tiles as I think it fits better with the overall desert look of the map. Not much else to mention here. This is one of my favourite maps of the wad.

 

MAP 24

This map was basically a bunch of rooms from other maps put together. I did like all the special fake sectors and Boom effects. Very creative. Some areas were very empty though and apart from the first naval battle there wasn't much going on. I added the following:

Part 1 (Naval battle): I re-textured the start area to something a bit more hellish and cleaned up the textures on the wooden boats. Now, each boat has weapons that you will need for the next section.

Part 2 (Acidic ocean): I added aditional rocks and caves with Mancubi. I also added a ton of Cacodemons and Wicked. They will fly into the arena from behind the towers in the distance. This is now some kind of big aerial battle.

Part 3 (Blood pit): I turned the blood pit into an Archvile arena, with Archviles teleporting in on a timer and dead monsters waiting to be resurrected. I added a new corridor that leads back to the entrance room and redid the way you push the switches here: basically the arena is empty when you enter and bars will raise to lock you in. You can only escape through a door that leads back to the entrance room where you can push the switch to lower the bars again and you can progress.

Part 4 (Pentagram rooms): I made these rooms slightly bigger and connected them into another arena. Here, I placed a pair of Barons and Archviles inside the pentagrams. They cannot leave them but will teleport back and forth between them. It looks a bit weird but I kinda liked it. It is fairly challenging. You need to hit one switch in each room to progress.

Part 5 (The final two rooms): Not much to say here. Just kill the monsters and end the map. I put two Cyberdemons in the final room as only one was a bit too easy in comparison with all the previous parts...

 

 

 

 

To-do list:

Spoiler

MAP 01 to 08 finished
MAP 09 layout improvement, detailing, play-testing
MAP 10 to 14 finished
MAP 15 sector lighting seems too bright for a cave??, play-testing
MAP 16 and 17 finished
MAP 18 play-testing
MAP 19 and 20 finished
MAP 21 to 23 play-testing
MAP 24 and 25 finished
MAP 26 and 27 play-testing
MAP 28 to 31 finished
MAP 32 add more gameplay, play-testing
MAP 33 needs more development and a secret exit leading to it, play-testing
MAP 34 play-testing
MAP 35 finished

 

Download

http://www.mediafire.com/file/zxaa9ohzaqk4u7w/NEGATIVEONE_v6.28.rar/file

Edited February 27, 2021 by PinkFlamingo

[PinkFlamingo]

Just a quick update: I am still working on this :-)

 

I am currently finishing map 26. Expect an update early this week.

[PinkFlamingo]

Version 6.29 (Map 26 finished)

 

Only one map this time. I was rather busy the last couple of weeks so I didn't have much time to edit.

 

Edits:
 

Spoiler

 

Map26

-Fixed all the broken linedefs/sector tags.

-Tried to improve gameplay by slightly re-designing most of the monster encounters.

-I moved the teleporter (that sends you back to the start after grabbing the red key) inside the Cyberdemon cage; and I made a new corridor to reach that cage. Now, you must confront the Cyberdemon to progress.

-Added a bit of extra detail to some of the outdoor areas.

-Added extra secrets.

-Tweaked some textures here and there. The overall look of the map remains the same.

Finished! :-)

 

 

To-do list:

Spoiler

MAP 01 to 08 finished
MAP 09 layout improvement, detailing, play-testing
MAP 10 to 14 finished
MAP 15 play-testing
MAP 16 and 17 finished
MAP 18 play-testing
MAP 19 and 20 finished
MAP 21 to 23 play-testing
MAP 24 to 26 finished
MAP 27 layout improvement?, detailing, play-testing
MAP 28 to 31 finished
MAP 32 add more gameplay, play-testing
MAP 33 needs more development and a secret exit leading to it, play-testing
MAP 34 play-testing
MAP 35 finished

 

Download

https://www.mediafire.com/file/zym0zfosccmo3v0/NEGATIVEONE_v6.29.rar/file

[PinkFlamingo]

Version 6.30 (Map 21 and 23 finished + sound fix)

 

Two more maps complete and a sound fix (see edits below for details).

Edits:

Spoiler

 

Map21
In the starting area, the player can follow two paths: one through a regular door or one behind a secret bookcase. I reasoned that first-time players would probably choose the regular door, as the secret one is hard to find if you don't know it. Now, the problem is that the path through the regular door leads to an outdoor area and ultimately to a dead end. To finish the map, you actually need to go through the secret door at the starting area. This is not very intuitive and I could imagine many players getting frustrated, not knowing how to progress... I fixed this by adding some stairs where the outdoor Revenants are so the player can now enter the mansion from here as well. Following the regular path will now lead the player to the area behind the secret bookcase, so the secret is basically a shortcut now.
Outdoor monsters have been reduced in number. There wasn't enough ammo in the map to deal with all of them and I don't think it's a good design to have every area filled with monsters. I particularly do not like monsters placed in hard-to-reach or hard-to-see places, such as unreachable windows or high ledges.
Other than that, not much else has changed. Some of the rooms now have monsters teleporting in, rather than monsters waiting for the player. This encourages players to enter the rooms rather than shooting monsters from behind a door.
Overall a very nice looking map. One of my favourites!

 

Note: One unkillable cacodemon is still present. This is on purpose and represents Roebloz' pet cacodemon in the secret room.

 

Map23
Thanks to Urrova for fixing some of the backtracking issues and already adding some difficulty settings! I found that you could easily run passed most of the monsters though so I redesigned some of the rooms' gameplay.
The starting area now has monsters hiding in closets that will open as you progress through the map and backtrack through this area.
The yellow key room now locks you up and you need to flip two switches (behind the Hell knights) to be able to leave again.
I added a Cyberdemon to the lava tunnel and a few extra dragons that are released as you backtrack. The Cyberdemon is first located on the ledge where the Hell Knights were. As you return, it will teleport on the bridge and block your way back.
The secret BFG is now no longer a secret, you can grab it to deal with the Cyberdemon. This also eliminates additional backtracking.
A shortcut has been made from the starting area to the red key door. This shortcut will open up the second time you backtrack through this area.
The next cave with the two Barons is again a trap that locks you up and you need to flip switches to leave.
Some monsters in hard to see/reach places have been removed so gameplay is overall smoother.
In the wooden area, I turned one secret area into an Archvile trap and I added a blue key door in front of the last tunnel to make it a bit more obvious to the player where to go.
An action packed map with some cool areas (I particularly like the big lava tunnel).

Sound fix
I replaced the sound DSBOSDTH with that of a clean explosion (credited to BouncyTEM on realm667). This fits both map 11 and map 29 very well. The previous sound was heavily distorted with a lot of audio clipping.

 

To-do list:

Spoiler

MAP 01 to 08 finished
MAP 09 layout improvement, detailing, play-testing
MAP 10 to 14 finished
MAP 15 play-testing
MAP 16 and 17 finished
MAP 18 play-testing
MAP 19 to 21 finished
MAP 22 play-testing
MAP 23 to 26 finished
MAP 27 layout improvement?, detailing, play-testing
MAP 28 to 31 finished
MAP 32 add more gameplay, play-testing
MAP 33 needs more development and a secret exit leading to it, play-testing
MAP 34 play-testing
MAP 35 finished

Download

 

https://www.mediafire.com/file/jtxb5x2p2kmw0r6/NEGATIVEONE_v6.30.rar/file

Edited April 2, 2021 by PinkFlamingo

[Roebloz]

6 hours ago, PinkFlamingo said:

Version 6.30 (Map 21 and 23 finished + sound fix)

 

Two more maps complete and a sound fix (see edits below for details).

Edits:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Map21
In the starting area, the player can follow two paths: one through a regular door or one behind a secret bookcase. I reasoned that first-time players would probably choose the regular door, as the secret one is hard to find if you don't know it. Now, the problem is that the path through the regular door leads to an outdoor area and ultimately to a dead end. To finish the map, you actually need to go through the secret door at the starting area. This is not very intuitive and I could imagine many players getting frustrated, not knowing how to progress... I fixed this by adding some stairs where the outdoor Revenants are so the player can now enter the mansion from here as well. Following the regular path will now lead the player to the area behind the secret bookcase, so the secret is basically a shortcut now.
Outdoor monsters have been reduced in number. There wasn't enough ammo in the map to deal with all of them and I don't think it's a good design to have every area filled with monsters. I particularly do not like monsters placed in hard-to-reach or hard-to-see places, such as unreachable windows or high ledges.
Other than that, not much else has changed. Some of the rooms now have monsters teleporting in, rather than monsters waiting for the player. This encourages players to enter the rooms rather than shooting monsters from behind a door.
Overall a very nice looking map. One of my favourites!

 

Note: One unkillable cacodemon is still present. This is on purpose and represents Roebloz' pet cacodemon in the secret room.

 

Map23
Thanks to Urrova for fixing some of the backtracking issues and already adding some difficulty settings! I found that you could easily run passed most of the monsters though so I redesigned some of the rooms' gameplay.
The starting area now has monsters hiding in closets that will open as you progress through the map and backtrack through this area.
The yellow key room now locks you up and you need to flip two switches (behind the Hell knights) to be able to leave again.
I added a Cyberdemon to the lava tunnel and a few extra dragons that are released as you backtrack. The Cyberdemon is first located on the ledge where the Hell Knights were. As you return, it will teleport on the bridge and block your way back.
The secret BFG is now no longer a secret, you can grab it to deal with the Cyberdemon. This also eliminates additional backtracking.
A shortcut has been made from the starting area to the red key door. This shortcut will open up the second time you backtrack through this area.
The next cave with the two Barons is again a trap that locks you up and you need to flip switches to leave.
Some monsters in hard to see/reach places have been removed so gameplay is overall smoother.
In the wooden area, I turned one secret area into an Archvile trap and I added a blue key door in front of the last tunnel to make it a bit more obvious to the player where to go.
An action packed map with some cool areas (I particularly like the big lava tunnel).

Sound fix
I replaced the sound DSBOSDTH with that of a clean explosion (credited to BouncyTEM on realm667). This fits both map 11 and map 29 very well. The previous sound was heavily distorted with a lot of audio clipping.

 

To-do list:

  Reveal hidden contents

MAP 01 to 08 finished
MAP 09 layout improvement, detailing, play-testing
MAP 10 to 14 finished
MAP 15 play-testing
MAP 16 and 17 finished
MAP 18 play-testing
MAP 19 to 21 finished
MAP 22 play-testing
MAP 23 to 26 finished
MAP 27 layout improvement?, detailing, play-testing
MAP 28 to 31 finished
MAP 32 add more gameplay, play-testing
MAP 33 needs more development and a secret exit leading to it, play-testing
MAP 34 play-testing
MAP 35 finished

Download

 

https://www.mediafire.com/file/jtxb5x2p2kmw0r6/NEGATIVEONE_v6.30.rar/file

Thank you for leaving the unkillable Cacodemon alone to complete the easter egg.