My very first DOOM2 wad - hydro.wad

[Ar_e_en]

After half a month of work - I have made my first DOOM2 wad! Here it is!

 

Stuff about this wad:

• The wad has 5 new very short maps (4 - main maps, 1 - map as the ending) going from map 01 to map 05
• The wad was made primarily with SLADE in the Boom format
• The iwad is DOOM2
• Singleplayer only!
• Tested with PrBoom+ (2.5.1.5) and GZDoom (g3.3.2)
• Has been made with easy, medium and hard difficulties (also each map can be "theoretically" pistol started)
• It contains a few new textures, a few new sprites, one new DeHacked enemy and one .ogg music track (It's nothing noteworthy tho, It's just something I improvised in LMMS)

 

This wad was made more as a test of what I can do in SLADE (that's why I added one enemy, a few textures and a throwaway musical track).

Anyway, here are some screenshots:

 

I hope you enjoy!

 

hydro.zip

[Ar_e_en]

I forgot to mention that the nodebuilder used here was ajBSP (that's why it works on PrBoom+)

[Deleted]

Those outdoor shots looks sick. I'll give this a try later today and reply after playing!

[Deleted]

Very fun set of maps, really creative in the outdoor/cave areas, especially with the background scenery making everything seem larger. I like how you even sculpted out furniture and scattered debris. The dam reveal at the start was also really well done, made me think of Goldeneye 64. The ending scenery with the credits was also a nice touch. The maps are surprisingly crafty in small little ways that you wouldn't pick up just from looking at screenshots.

 

For example: I liked the power cable for the switch, and the antenna popping up made me lol:

  

Only con I can think of is the very start if on ultra violence - it gets cramped with just a pistol/limited ammo and I dropped the difficulty down. Nothing else besides that. Each map is short but filled with clever layouts and rooms.

[Salmon]

This is quite a nice set of maps.  It's obvious you put a lot of work into stuff like the detailing and the lighting, everything looks great.  The encounters are well-arranged but not to my particular tastes so I'll let others give you feedback there.  Map 04 was probably my favorite--a good thematic closer that combines visual and combat elements of all the previous maps.

 

Only technical thing I noticed:

• The secret in main blue room of MAP 01 didn't register for me the first time that it should have.  I only knew it was a secret because I ended up having to go back there and it triggered then.  I'm new to mapping myself so I dunno why this was.  Looks fine to me in the editor.

I did have trouble with progression a couple times, but it might have just been me.  I wasn't sure where to go for a while after flipping the switch in the red key room of map 02, then at the end of map 04 it took me a while to notice the switches in the Spiderdemon room.  I liked map 03 but found some of the platforming a little too awkward/narrow.  It looked amazing, though.

 

Really nice work!  I had a good time.

[Ar_e_en]

It's nice that you are enjoying my map, Thank you!

 

7 hours ago, Salmon said:

• The secret in main blue room of MAP 01 didn't register for me the first time that it should have.  I only knew it was a secret because I ended up having to go back there and it triggered then.  I'm new to mapping myself so I dunno why this was.  Looks fine to me in the editor.

 

I went to look at it and yeah, you kinda have to stop after getting the armor in order to activate the secret message. Bit of a screw up on my part.

7 hours ago, hjordan159 said:

Only con I can think of is the very start if on ultra violence - it gets cramped with just a pistol/limited ammo and I dropped the difficulty down. Nothing else besides that. Each map is short but filled with clever layouts and rooms.

 

You know what's funny? I never intended for the maps to be pistol-startable. It's just that every time I tested a new map - I HAD to start with a pistol. I know that some of the encounters at the start of every map can be really tough (the beginning of map 04 being the worst in my experience, I actually made it easier by adding a shotgun box and some health at the bottom of the stairs) if you pistol-started, but if you're going continuous from map to map - it shouldn't be that difficult.

 

Also, has anyone found the super secret green room at the start of map 03? Just walk backwards at the start of the level! Go on... go for it ;)

[Ar_e_en]

One thing I just noticed - despite my new enemy being a replacement for the wolfenstein SS, GZDoom still displays the "Player met a Nazi" message. PrBoom+ doesn't have any death messages, so I'm guessing that in order to change that specific message (which is clearly a GZDoom feature) - I have to add a ACS or Decorate script or some other type of script into the file.

 

Actually this thought made me curious about something - I have Scythe 2 on my computer and that has a few new monsters. I'm gonna go and check if GZDoom also displays the inconsistent messages.

[Ar_e_en]

4 minutes ago, Ar_e_en said:

Actually this thought made me curious about something - I have Scythe 2 on my computer and that has a few new monsters. I'm gonna go and check if GZDoom also displays the inconsistent messages.

Yup! The plasma marines display the wolfenstein SS message and the floating barons just tell you that "The Player Died."

[Doomkid]

I really like those screenshots, looks right up my alley. Gonna give this a whirl when I’m at the PC for sure.

[Ar_e_en]

Thank you for creating all those tutorials Doomkid! Without them - I would have had a headache when creating these levels!

Good luck on getting your computer back in a working state!

[Clippy]

 

[Ar_e_en]

Thank you playing my wad Clippy!

 

I think one of the biggest problems I had when creating this is judging the difficulty of the levels. Every time I play-tested a level - I had to do it with a pistol start, and unsurprisingly I got pretty good at beating my own maps, but until someone else beats them - I won't know if I applied the difficulty correctly. Another thing I should have done, but didn't, is play all the levels without getting any of the secrets - naturally, every time I played a level, I got all the secrets, which gave me a bunch of goodies that made things easier.

 

Speaking of secrets - yeah, I screwed up the secret armor of map 01, I should have set the secret sector to be more flat. Also, the thing about the secrets of map 03, in order to get 3 of the secrets of map 03 - you literally have to walk backwards the moment the map starts, if you walk forwards - you're locked out! In retrospective and in terms of design - that decision was, while a bit ambitious for what my goal was for the secrets, pretty stupid on my part. I should have put stairs there.

 

The entrance to the underground caves from map 02 was lit up by 3 lamps, I'm surprised you missed them. Then again - there were other lamps in that room - so I probably should have put more signposts at that spot. I hope everyone looks forward to my next maps - where important entrances and exits will be signposted by 50 lamps and sectors that strobe like crazy!

 

Speaking of signposts, should have set up the exit of map 01 as its own room with a switch. The other exits on the other hand - they are kinda meant to be walk off exits into the darkness of a cave or an ancient ruin, how would you signpost that? I'm honestly not sure.

 

Oh, and that enemy you met in map 05 - one of my finest creations! I call him the Derpodemon and you can find him in the secret areas of map 03 and map 04!

 

A lot of good information came from this video, things to consider for future maps. Most of my failures seem to be not technical (I spent hours fixing broken doors, switches, lines and the sort, I at least wanted my maps to be functionable!), but rather - my failures seem to have come from level design.

[Clippy]

Hey friend. Ultimately despite some hurdles and a weird keyboard situation I had a lot of fun with these maps. 

 

Keep in mind that this was just my first attempt at it lol. 

 

As for testing difficulties I always try to beat the maps without finding any secrets. If I can beat my own map without dying and without the aid of secrets then I consider it ready for being released. And it's very easy to get way too familiar with your own map by playing it often and losing perspective of the difficulty. 

 

Also this was just my experience on it and I'd like to see others give it a try as well

 

That middle section in map two I kept thinking was a secret and it just did not occur to me to get back into the middle but I got there 

 

As for the exit situation like I said I just wasn't expecting to exit map one by clicking on the door and I wasn't ready to be done with it yet haha. now that I understand how the other exits work where you walk up in the darkness that was actually very interesting but again I was not expecting the map to end 😜

 

Also don't consider these maps to be a failure but be very proud that you release these creations. I can tell you put a lot of work and Care into crafting some of the areas especially map three which looked cool but gave me personally a hard time   .  As for secrets yeah there always be secrets that people miss. I seem to have missed a lot of things in that third map. 

 

Anyway I just wanted to give you a look at what it might be like for somebody to play this level and everybody has different thoughts and opinions and skill sets and preferences. Ultimately I'm glad I played this and I hope to see more maps from you !

 

Edited October 18, 2020 by Clippy