Volcano Base - A one-shot super spy level

[KillbotMKV]

Download (Current v.1.2): http://www.mediafire.com/file/j2s05rbde0qrjz2/volcanobase1.2.zip/file

 

Old versions:

1.0: http://www.mediafire.com/file/mtow28ew8g99x40/volcanobase.zip/file

1.1: http://www.mediafire.com/file/u2yxpwzoiwnpmov/volcanobase1.1.zip/file

Hey! My name's KillbotMKV. I've been making maps since 2016, but never bothered to share them until today.

 

This is the Volcano Base, the first level in what may someday become a larger WAD focusing on the infiltration of some classic "evil lairs," this one focusing on the infamous James Bond-style volcano base. It's a mid-length single-level WAD with some decently tough encounters and varied architecture to keep things fresh. I don't think it's the best work I've ever done, but it feels representative of how I map as a whole and I feel like this could generate some valuable feedback :)

 

This map also uses UDMF format, my first foray into that build, so things might need tweaking here and there in the future. Despite this, it is fairly faithful to the vanilla design philosophy and materials. My biggest inspiration here was Scythe, which I've been playing quite a bit recently.

 

The level also includes a totally original MIDI made by myself - the title of the piece is Back and Forth, and it was made concurrently with the level toward the end of production.

 

IWAD: Doom 2

Source ports: GZDoom

Editors used: GZDoom Builder, SLADE

Maps: MAP01

Build Time: About 1 week

Freelook allowed

No jumping/crouching

 

Screenshots!

 

Edited October 28, 2020 by KillbotMKV

[Clippy]

Thought I'd give it a try this morning and boy did I have a rough go. I was constantly starved for ammo but especially health. feel like with more resources this would have been more fun but I died a whole bunch. Maybe that's the point because I'm supposed to be a spy who is completely screwed haha. 

 

He's my very first attempt though

 

 

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

Volcano Base

 

Ultra-Violence mode || GZDoom || Ang_Doom

 

Status:

*Deaths: 0

*Saves: none

 

 

 

 

(I got the BFG 9000 already when I killed all the demons only with the weapons I had available...)

 

 

 

 

This wad is really complicated, it has a really hard start, and it continues that difficult until the end, but... why am I saying this? Well, before I get to that point, I will first talk about the structure of the wad. place. The architecture of the area is very interesting, there are many lakes of fire everywhere, after passing the huge place with open space where many monsters appear, the next place where we will go will be a kind of cave, which is quite long, with large and small areas, structures inside this cave where there are doors and other rooms, but having the blue key, now we will go to the site that is mentioned in the title of this Wad, the base, technological sites an little reduced at first, but after going down the elevator, and going to the next door that is going up a hill, we will find the base a little more expanded and with much more lava than normal, I mean, there is a whole lava path to cross, although there is an anti-radiation suit in that cave that was explored before, in one of the rooms that was there, and by the end, a small corridor that leads directly to the exit door and that was to a side of the start road.

 

Now yes, the difficulty, and as I was about to say, after what I wrote at the beginning of my comment, this map is infested with Hitscanners, Imps and Pinkys, strong enemies such as the Revenants, Hell Knights and even the Archviles, They are not so recurrent throughout the map, nope, all the credit goes to the Hitscanners and the Imps, because both are a really ugly danger, and among the Hitscanners we have from the Zombieman to the Chaingunner, in addition to those monsters, also this the fact that there is very little ammunition, poor ammunition at the beginning, and to make matters worse, there are shortages of medikits on ALL the map, there is almost no medikits and you can only see Stimpacks on the entire map... I have understood that in a secret there is a Berserk, but that is not enough for a map that has enough monsters that drain your health quickly, and not even the BFG 9000 that you get in a secret helps much in all the bad situation that the Marine goes through for lack of ammunition, medikits and anti-acid suits in lava areas. Finishing my comment, I did not have much fun on this map, it has a brutal beginning and end, it really takes some fixes to make the map enjoyable, quite a few fixes to tell the truth, anyway, it was fun to complete it, and I was pretty lucky of not having died trying, so, in the architecture of the map you have done a good job, but in the difficulty you really went very far from the established to make the map fun, you must improve a lot in that part, partner.

[Clippy]

@ElPadrecitoCholo sorry I find it impossible to believe you didn't save or die on this map especially if it was a blind run

 

Every time you post a review you never die or save? You must be the greatest player of all time

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

13 minutes ago, Clippy said:

sorry I find it impossible to believe you didn't save or die on this map especially if it was a blind run

 

@Clippy That's because I am a tactical player, I don't usually get involved in killing demons like that, I look for ways to kill enemies without spending a lot of ammunition or having to expose myself a lot to combat, which helps me a lot to survive in combat so much open as closed, although that if, as a result, it usually takes me too long to complete a map, depending on the dangers that exist, and the ammunition I have in my weapons, I calculate how long it will take to complete a whole level, not to mention having to discover all the possible secrets that are very helpful or benefit me in the survival of getting out of the entire map alive. Although yes, I also take into consideration that if the map is very difficult, then it is necessary to do the saves, even if I die many times, I do my best to save not very closely, in addition to that if it reaches me happen something, I always put it in my post, for example, the deaths that I had and the saves that I did, in a detailed way if is possible.

Edited October 28, 2020 by ElPadrecitoCholo

[KillbotMKV]

@Clippy Thanks a ton for the video! I loved the James Bond gun barrel in the thumbnail! Also you calling me a "full on supervillain" made me laugh pretty hard. There is definitely a way to strafe around that ledge with the red key without taking any damage, but it is tough.

 

Your playthrough (as well as the reviewer below you) has made me realize how much I rely on the tricks I've developed from testing repeatedly and I think you're definitely right about the difficulty being a bit high, at least on Ultraviolence. The first room is definitely intended to be a stiff challenge that requires tactical infighting, but I think I held back a little bit too much on health pickups later on.

 

I'll certainly consider where I can soften the blow with health here and there. UV usually had me hanging on by the skin of my teeth even knowing where every secret was and I know it's not super fun to do so unless you really enjoy bone-crushing difficulty.

 

@ElPadrecitoCholo

The same applies to you - you've got some good points about the difficulty. I'm someone who definitely prefers using a few squishy enemies to one tough enemy - it just feels a lot more rewarding to me personally to get the instant feedback of mowing down a hitscanner compared to putting round after round into a baron (they're called doors with health for a reason after all!) Plus, hitscanners require you to plan out your attack a lot more compared to projectile-based monsters.

 

Thank you very much for your review! I appreciate the feedback and I hope that I can provide a more fun experience in future WADs.

 

All things considered, I can already think of a few spots where I can ease the difficulty a bit. For now, though, I'd recommend HMP - it's much easier in the ammo department at the very least.

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

7 minutes ago, KillbotMKV said:

For now, though, I'd recommend HMP - it's much easier in the ammo department at the very least.

 

@Killbot I really appreciate the advice partner, I really appreciate it, but I only play in Ultra-Violence, so, I don't think I will take this wad back on a lower difficulty, even so thanks again for the concern towards me.

[Clippy]

Glad you like the video. I'm sure with practice I would do much better but I just like to do first attempts on random maps on here and that was my very initial experience with the map which I feel is sometimes beneficial to mappers to see what people first feel when playing. This is a map that would definitely benefit from practicing and foreknowledge :)

[KillbotMKV]

18 minutes ago, ElPadrecitoCholo said:

 

@Killbot I really appreciate the advice partner, I really appreciate it, but I only play in Ultra-Violence, so, I don't think I will take this wad back on a lower difficulty, even so thanks again for the concern towards me.

I completely get it! Just putting it out there that HMP might be helpful to others.

Also, you just made me realize that I made a Doomworld account called @Killbot 2 years ago. Whoops lol

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

3 minutes ago, KillbotMKV said:

you just made me realize that I made a Doomworld account called @Killbot 2 years ago. Whoops lol

 

xD, that's weird and crazy man

[CamperLv]

One more UV playthrough and man, i wasn't prepared for that. You need to put warning on that shit. Despite being hard as hell it was fun. I just hope that if ye gonna make bigger wad it won't gonna adopt this kind of difficulty.
 

 

[KillbotMKV]

@CamperLv You got what I was going for in the first room - definitely looking for the player to answer it with infighting, at least on UV, although the health and ammo is still a bit scarce afterward. We have pretty similar playstyles and it's fun to watch you solve problems and break down the sections. Regardless, I can tell the intended Doom feeling of hanging on from health pickup to health pickup isn't there so I've made some adjustments.

About to upload a new version with pickups that feel a bit more fair. Admittedly, however, that doesn't mean it won't still be challenging, especially on UV!

[Clippy]

4 minutes ago, KillbotMKV said:

@CamperLv You got what I was going for in the first room - definitely looking for the player to answer it with infighting, at least on UV, although the health and ammo is still a bit scarce afterward. We have pretty similar playstyles and it's fun to watch you solve problems and break down the sections. Regardless, I can tell the intended Doom feeling of hanging on from health pickup to health pickup isn't there so I've made some adjustments.

About to upload a new version with pickups that feel a bit more fair. Admittedly, however, that doesn't mean it won't still be challenging, especially on UV!

 

Challenging is good! Struggling every step of the map is another story haha - take a sip of wine every time I died in my playthrogh lol

[plums]

Hey, I tried playing v1.1 but I couldn't advance past the first fight where things teleport in. It looks like the switch near the blue key door is supposed to open another switch, but the tags got cleared when you added some detail in the update?

 

edit: So I jumped up to the part I was supposed to get to with that switch, and played the map fine otherwise. I saw the previous comments about low health and ammo so I played pretty conservatively, and didn't have any problems with ammo at all. Health I was mostly OK with, I took way too much damage from a Hell Knight at the bottom of a lift -- pretty hard to manoeuvre around it -- which made for a tense few minutes as I was under 10% health for a bit, but in the end got out alive. Finding the secret berserk helped a lot and I'm sure I would have died otherwise.

 

Wacky music, very "prog," I liked it. Visually it was kind of plain, the texture usage was fine, but having some more detailed lighting instead of just lighting all rooms one flat level would help a lot. Decent map overall.

Edited October 28, 2020 by plums

[KillbotMKV]

@plums Ah, I know exactly what happened! You're right - I was adding some detail because I noticed players getting lost on their way to the wall switch and I mixed up some tags.

 

Thank you for your feedback! Setting up a new file now.

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

@KillbotMKV It was tempting to want to try the new version you made of the map, in addition to working as an excuse for a new mod that I wanted to try, therefore, I did 2 in 1, and by the way, here is my evidence of having tried version 1.2 of the wad.

 

Ultra-Violence mode || GZDoom || SmoothDoom

 

Status:

*Deaths: 0

*Saves: none

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[Biodegradable]

So I downloaded this the day it was posted, which was really late at night for me, with the intent of playing it today, so that explains why I played the older version. I felt the difficulty was a bit artificial since it relied much too heavily on health and ammo starvation rather than combat. Not to say that resource starvation can't be used well. There's definitely a balance that can be struck between a mapper's cruelty and their generosity when it comes to the hostility a Doomer needs to push through and the reward for their persistence and tenacity. It's good you've made a different version with a little more resources but take whatever you can get from my feedback/playthrough. As for the map itself, it's all right. The design is functional and your texture work is solid, though the layout is pretty flat and progression was a little boring. The combat scenarios were all pretty varied as well, so good stuff there. I'd definitely like to see some more maps from you in the future, mate.