[GZDoom] Arachno-Academia - Second Map, Feedback Appreciated

[Salmon]

This is a pretty linear singleplayer map with a creepy library/seminary theme.  It has a little exploration, seven optional secrets, and a few arenas.  Gameplay is fairly standard with the exception of a little arena scripting.  Arachnotrons are featured but not to the point of dominance.  The map should be 100% explorable once you approach the exit door.

 

aracacad.zip

 

Arachno-Academia (aracacad.wad)

Replaces Map 01 of Doom 2

Tested with GZDoom

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

Music is "Underlord" by James Paddock (Jimmy)

All textures are vanilla

 

Screenshots:

Spoiler

 

Y'all gave very helpful feedback on my first map so I'd be grateful if you could take a look at this one.  I tried to take your advice into account when making it.  I'm still working with simple stuff when it comes to room shapes, detailing, and lighting since I'm trying to get better at gameplay basics.  That said, feel free to comment on whatever you want.  I'm a beginner so expect the typical new mapper issues. Some traps and arenas are probably unbalanced.

 

Hope y'all enjoy my stupid spooky spider map.  Thanks for your help!

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

Arachno-Academia

 

Ultra-Violence mode || GZDoom || Final Doomer+

 

Status:

*Deaths: 0

*Saves: none

 

 

 

 

This map has an interesting start, with a reduced number of enemies that are based on Imps and Hitscanners, but after going down a kind of elevator, the enemies that are present come in considerable varieties, but for now I will talk about the structure, And it is that, the structure that this place has is really big, I mean, it has a normal view at the beginning, but then it becomes huge when going down that elevator, it has areas that serve as a platform because of how high they are, and the center In spite of being a real trap because it contains the blue key, it is interesting to see how many columns can be added to a place that is not 100% round, anyway, it is appreciated that in that part you will leave a button to escape from The trap after getting that blue skull key, likewise, I should also give you credit for the scare you gave in the area that has steps on the sides and a chainsaw in the center, because when you pass through there, everything goes directly towards you. down as if it were an elevator with no return, and with the area of toxic soil, that area was also interesting, because having some stones that served as a path, the step was not really easy, at most there was a Super Shotgun in the other path with stones, where a Revenant was, but that if, the details of putting structures only made of stone was a really successful proposal, and with the rest of the map... well I have no more to comment, the rest of the Textures placed on the walls were based on what is seen in some levels of Doom 2, so, more than there I no longer have to comment, but that does not mean that the rest is bad, it seems very good too Also, by the end, it consists only of elevator-style traps, which adds an interesting touch to the progress of the game.

 

Now with the issue of difficulty, as in many other maps, the difficulty is what stands out in this level, since, they give us a bit of a fight at the beginning with simple and easy enemies, but the more you advance, you see that the difficulty increases in a somewhat dangerous way, until reaching the end that, in my opinion, is a bit unfair due to the kind of enemies that we are presented with, but before going into detail there, let's first take into account the enemies that are presented here, among which we can find will be the following: Hitscanners (from the Zombieman to the Chaingunner), Imps, Cacodemons, Pain Elemental, Arachnatrons, Pinkys, Mancubus, Revenants, Archviles, Hell Knights, Barons of Hell, and as a boss final, a Spider MasterMind (basically all the normal enemies of Doom 2 and the boss of Episode 3 of Doom 1 appear), in various places on the map we will find mostly Hitscanners, which are based more on having Shotgunners and Chaingunners, the Pinkys also appear in large quantities, as is the part where the chainsaw must be collected, and it also appears on the side where the Berserk is located, on a wall that is activated when it is collected, and that is accompanied by a Revenant Now with the Imps, they come in regular groups and appear in different areas of the map, the same could be said of the Cacodemons, there is an Elemental Pain that appears after entering the other room of a place that is accessed in an elevator in the area with the toxic soils, but that's only the beginning, since it is the turn of the Revenant and these enemies appear on many occasions already in the middle of the progress, and in a little high numbers, like the Hell Knights and the Barons of Hell, I could say the same about the Mancubus but regarding them, I feel that they are only present in specific areas to be a nuisance during the fights with the other enemies, as with the Arachnatrons, who are only in very indicated to shoot from a distance, although there are slight exceptions, such as those that appear when pressing the blue switch in the central area of the map, and it is the turn of the Archviles, these bastards appear to a lesser extent but also become a problem in certain areas with closed space, such as the first elevator-style combat that has the Cell weapon in the middle, if it is not possible to kill all the enemies present within a few seconds (which in this case are Hell Knights) , below Revenants will appear along with Barons of Hell and an Archvile on a shore starting to revive the murdered enemies to accumulate more the load, and start attacking you when they no longer have bodies to revive, it is really difficult to finish this combat without receiving a single hit, because the enemies pile up too much and prevent you from seeing where the Archvile is, which, although there are pillars to hide from, with so many enemies together in an area, it costs stay still while you are attacked from behind and from the sides, but that would be nothing if we compare it with the last fight that includes you again the Barons of Hell, Hell Knights, 2 Archviles and many Revenants, now as a "bonus ", we will have the Mancubus and the Spider MasterMind present in front of the combat area, as if the previous enemies were not enough...

 

To conclude, I will say that the map in general was good for me, although their combat really has drastic changes of beginning to end, especially in the middle and at the end of the game, but for the most part I had a really good time, at least health was abundant in some areas of the map in general, so I did not feel so much danger in battles, there were a maximum of 3 Soul Spheres in some secrets and a Mega Armor, therefore, you did a great job on this map, although you should try to take into account certain limitations with respect to fighting in reduced areas not to make them so frustrating.

[Deleted]

Screenshots look awesome, I'll try this later today and reply after playing.

[Biodegradable]

Very cool, very intricate, very tough. It's got a good atmosphere to it and its texture work and nastiness give me Thy Flesh Consumed vibes, so props for that one, mate. My only real gripe is the ammo starvation. I always felt like I just had a little less than applicable firepower when it came to some of the more deadlier ambushes, though perhaps that was what you were going for. None of the combat scenarios are impossible, but some are really mean hehe. Pretty good stuff, mate.

 

 

[boris]

Really cool map, played on HMP and had a blast. Nice use of the stock textures, love how the map opens up. Fights felt pretty spot on for me, I died a couple times which is fine. Found all but one secret.

 

1 hour ago, ElPadrecitoCholo said:

it is really difficult to finish this combat without receiving a single hit

 

Why is that important? Getting hit is part of Doom's gameplay cycle.

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

22 minutes ago, boris said:

Why is that important? Getting hit is part of Doom's gameplay cycle.

 

Because there are possibilities to pass it without receiving damage, only that it is really complicated, besides that the very narrow places with enemies walking very close all are not something to my liking, but it is only my opinion.

[Salmon]

@ElPadrecitoCholo, thanks for the detailed comments!  I agree that certain parts of the map can be a bit unfair.  Difficulty balance is something I'm working on and will try to do better with in the future.  Getting feedback from players definitely helps me with that!  Glad you were able to get some enjoyment out of it, though.

 

@Biodegradable, thank you for the video!  I don't have any friends who play Doom so it's really helpful to see someone go through the map.  I agree with you about the ammo amounts--I used the chainsaw and berserk a little more in my testing but I shouldn't force other people to do the same.  Sorry about that last room!  I felt it was too easy without the archviles but I might ought to have replaced them with something less dangerous.  The difficulty of that room has enough variance that it can spike up to unfair levels.  I was kinda sad since you almost had it more than once--definitely my fault, though.

 

@boris, really glad you enjoyed it!  I'm making myself stick with stock textures for a while so I mostly focus on gameplay stuff.  Trying to figure out creative uses for stock textures is fun in itself, though.  Glad you enjoyed the opening up, too--I love that kinda stuff in Doom and am experimenting with fun ways to do it.

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

@Salmon Taking advantage of the fact that you are answering comments, I would like to mention a quick thing, and that thing I want to talk to you about is about the last secret to find, in which you can see in this part of the map:

 

 

Could you tell me how to find that secret that is there?

 

1 hour ago, boris said:

Found all but one secret.

 

I guess @boris couldn't find this secret, so I'll be doing him a favor with my question as well.

[Salmon]

@ElPadrecitoCholo, and anyone else who wants to find the secret in the muddy water section:

 

Spoiler

After you trigger the elevator trap that leads down to the arachnotron, look around the walls in that little room (to the right of the armor bonus.)  There is a small repeatable switch hidden there.  Pressing it lowers down a lift where the revenant was standing (top right side of the stairs from where you first enter the area.)  You can ride this lift up to a higher cliff and hop down to the soul sphere.  If this isn't clear I can take some screenshots in a bit.

 

The switch is probably too small and too poorly lit to see well.  I should have made it brighter/bigger.

 

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

1 hour ago, Salmon said:

@ElPadrecitoCholo, and anyone else who wants to find the secret in the muddy water section:

 

  Hide contents

After you trigger the elevator trap that leads down to the arachnotron, look around the walls in that little room (to the right of the armor bonus.)  There is a small repeatable switch hidden there.  Pressing it lowers down a lift where the revenant was standing (top right side of the stairs from where you first enter the area.)  You can ride this lift up to a higher cliff and hop down to the soul sphere.  If this isn't clear I can take some screenshots in a bit.

 

The switch is probably too small and too poorly lit to see well.  I should have made it brighter/bigger.

 

 

@Salmon If I'm honest, I more or less managed to understand your explanation partner, but let me try, then if I see that I still cannot find it, I go to the photos that you take yourself.

[Salmon]

@ElPadrecitoCholo, I took some screenshots.  The button really is too hard to see.

 

Spoiler

Press this switch:

 

Ride this lift up:

 

Walk over toward the soul sphere:

 

Hop down:

 

[Rapp0ng]

@Salmon I liked it. It was a nice clean presentation with a lovely big spacious hub. Some nice little set pieces, I liked the intermittent lift battle because I initially found it a bit easy only for my arrogance to be punished with more threatening enemies incoming.

 

The ammo balance was good as just as I was about to run out I would find more around the next corner.

 

Perhaps the enemies that spawn in when you return to the main hub could be spawned a bit closer as I had many big pillars to take cover and just pick them off one by one. It would be cool to be overwhelmed so I can't just sit in my hiding spot and have to keep moving.

 

The last fight was a lot of fun, I ended up pressing the switch for the second wave before finishing the first causing my death.

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

@Salmon Hey mate, I managed to find the last secret, check this out!

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the help mate

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

1 hour ago, Salmon said:

@ElPadrecitoCholo, I took some screenshots.  The button really is too hard to see.

 

  Hide contents

Press this switch:

 

Ride this lift up:

 

Walk over toward the soul sphere:

 

Hop down:

 

 

Oh... I didn't see that, the page hadn't notified me anything when I was writing my post... Hm, anyway thanks for the help partner, haha

[Clippy]

14 minutes ago, ElPadrecitoCholo said:

@Salmon Hey mate, I managed to find the last secret, check this out!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the help mate

Well it's certainly not a secret anymore....

Edited October 24, 2020 by Clippy

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

@Clippy Well, technically it stopped being a secret before I published my post, so the credit goes to @Salmon

[Clippy]

1 minute ago, ElPadrecitoCholo said:

@Clippy Well, technically it stopped being a secret before I published my post, so the credit goes to @Salmon

Use a spoiler tag buddy I was planning on playing this and now I know a secret I wish I didn't

 

Describing something is far different that using direct screenshots that spoil the surprise 🙂

 

Not sure why you would post that lol I know I wouldn't like ppl posting direct screenshot of my maps secrets 🤷

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

1 hour ago, Clippy said:

Use a spoiler tag buddy I was planning on playing this and now I know a secret I wish I didn't

 

Describing something is far different that using direct screenshots that spoil the surprise 🙂

 

Not sure why you would post that lol I know I wouldn't like ppl posting direct screenshot of my maps secrets 🤷

 

@Clippy  Well, to be fair, both you and Biodegradable don't put their videos in Spoiler mode, because technically, when one watches their gameplays, one has Spoilers of what will be next throughout the map, especially your Clippy, for the fact that in most of your gameplays you spend it looking for secrets men, so, basically, my showing the photos would not have to ruin any experience, if only downloading the Wad and playing it is enough xD

[Clippy]

4 minutes ago, ElPadrecitoCholo said:

 

@Clippy  Well, to be fair, both you and Biodegradable don't put their videos in Spoiler mode, because technically, when one watches their gameplays, one has Spoilers of what will be next throughout the map, especially your Clippy, for the fact that in most of your gameplays you spend it looking for secrets men, so, basically, my showing the photos would not have to ruin any experience, if only downloading the Wad and playing it is enough xD

 

Those are full videos ppl can avoid if they want too because they know what they are getting into. The author of this map used spoiler tags which clearly meant he didn't want this info just in your face. You didn't give me that option cause you posted it outright and I truthfully wish I hadn't seen it 😉

 

 

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

6 minutes ago, Clippy said:

 

Those are full videos ppl can avoid if they want too because they know what they are getting into. The author of this map used spoiler tags which clearly meant he didn't want this info just in your face. You didn't give me that option cause you posted it outright and I truthfully wish I hadn't seen it 😉

 

 

 

Hmm... well, in that case...

 

Spoiler

 

[Clippy]

1 minute ago, ElPadrecitoCholo said:

 

Hmm... well, in that case...

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

What kind of stance is this?

 

Don't act like it's not your problem because you outright spoiled this part of the map and don't seem to care, quite rude actually

 

You could have told Salmon "Hey I found your secret" instead of showing pictures of stuff he not only already knows about but clearly didn't want out in the open because he used spoiler tags himself

 

ok BRB I'm going to give this a play

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

@Clippy Good Luck buddy

[Clippy]

11 minutes ago, ElPadrecitoCholo said:

@Clippy Good Luck buddy

 

Guess I'm going to need it cause embarrassingly I got lost ... video still processing I'll  make part 2 shortly after I watch check @Biodegradable vid to see what button / key I missed ....

 

 

[Clippy]

And here is the rest of it, currently processing. Think I got lucky in a few fights and I managed to run away from a fight entirely ... not sure if I was supposed to be able to do that haha but good times - solid map with quite a few fun and hectic encounters

 

 

[Deleted]

Great map, played on Ultra Violence and it's definitely a challenge. Really creative traps and rooms, I could tell within the first 10 seconds that this was going to be a good time. Sometimes I felt starved for ammo, but always managed to scrape through and eventually find something. I like how you beat a trap and feel safe for a moment, only for it to expand into a larger trap. Definitely a lot of "oh shit" moments that catch you off guard.

 

Texture work and visual design is awesome, really good use of marble/wood combinations. I liked everything I saw and played through. For sure had some fun with this map!

 

 

 

 

 

[Clippy]

Everybody is talking about being starved for ammo which is funny because in my experience I had no ammo issues at all 

 

Maybe it's the way I played it cuz I did play it I kind of weird way haha

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

9 minutes ago, Clippy said:

Everybody is talking about being starved for ammo which is funny because in my experience I had no ammo issues at all 

 

Maybe it's the way I played it cuz I did play it I kind of weird way haha

 

We are already 2 in that case, I did not complain about the ammunition when I made my comment regarding the Wad, and amusingly, I ended up winning it in a really rare but effective way, at the cost of almost going blind in the attempt.

[Salmon]

@Rapp0ng, glad you liked it, thanks for the feedback!  The return to the hub was pretty tricky for me to figure out.  I tried closing off some of the hiding spots when you come back but there were so many of them it felt awkward.  I also tried teleporting enemies in near player but again, you could just run away from them.  The room needed a full rework but honestly I decided to learn from it and move on.

 

@Clippy, thanks a lot for the videos!  I'm happy you enjoyed the map, I've had a great time with yours.  It was actually helpful to see you get lost (even though I felt bad.)  I had been worried that players might not see the blue skull or work out how to get to it.  I should have telegraphed that part better!  And yeah, some of the fights are intended to be escapable after you wait a certain amount of time/press the right switches.  I don't want to force people to get 100% kills if they don't want to, especially if I made an imbalanced fight.  Looking forward to your backpack level!

 

@hjordan159, really glad you had a good time!  It's been a lot of fun for me to design different types of rooms and encounters.  Surprises and traps are a big part of what I love about Doom in general.

[Clippy]

21 minutes ago, Salmon said:

@Rapp0ng, glad you liked it, thanks for the feedback!  The return to the hub was pretty tricky for me to figure out.  I tried closing off some of the hiding spots when you come back but there were so many of them it felt awkward.  I also tried teleporting enemies in near player but again, you could just run away from them.  The room needed a full rework but honestly I decided to learn from it and move on.

 

@Clippy, thanks a lot for the videos!  I'm happy you enjoyed the map, I've had a great time with yours.  It was actually helpful to see you get lost (even though I felt bad.)  I had been worried that players might not see the blue skull or work out how to get to it.  I should have telegraphed that part better!  And yeah, some of the fights are intended to be escapable after you wait a certain amount of time/press the right switches.  I don't want to force people to get 100% kills if they don't want to, especially if I made an imbalanced fight.  Looking forward to your backpack level!

 

@hjordan159, really glad you had a good time!  It's been a lot of fun for me to design different types of rooms and encounters.  Surprises and traps are a big part of what I love about Doom in general.

 

yeah I think what distracted was I pressed one switch then another switch and then I ended up in some lowering step area with the pinkies so I assumed there was another switch or something that kept going in that direction I didn't think to go back and look directly in that pit even though I had access to it the whole time I could see it a lot it just never occurred me to jump in it from that particular vantage point I even tried to jump in it from the lift LOL 

 

When I saw biodegradables video it was a literal facepalm moment

 

 

[Soulless]

Finally got my hands into this wad, now that I have a bit more of time, I can play some maps I have in a pretty long list.

Such an excellent map, clear progression, nice combat and enemy placement, and everything fits visually pretty well.

 

I always practice the maps if Im going to record them to reach 100%, but I tried a Blind run this time around.

Surprisingly I completed it 100%!

 

I didnt die by miracle and saved two or three times, I had luck on my side.

I want to point out how good the secrets are, I love those hidden shootable switches, I personally use them a lot.

Very nice of you of leaving a computer map hidden at the end, without it I wouldnt probably dared to look for the secret,

didnt want to waste much time.

 

Ill play your future maps for sure buddy, I had a lot of fun, nice work!

 

100% UV Blind run: