[Now on IDGAMES, properly this time] Skulltiverse: A spiritual sequel to Hellevator. [Boom speedmapping community project]

[ViolentBeetle]

15 minutes ago, Firedust said:

Hi. I think map 7 is bugged. Once I kill the mancubi in the pit nothing happens (playing on UV, zdoom 2.8.1, no mods).

Of course it is. Damn MAPINFO.

I should've checked zDoom compatibility more thoroughly. Now I have to re-upload.

 

For now I suppose you'd have to play MAP07 on PrBoom+ until I do the fix.

[Firedust]

6 minutes ago, ViolentBeetle said:

Of course it is. Damn MAPINFO.

I should've checked zDoom compatibility more thoroughly. Now I have to re-upload.

 

For now I suppose you'd have to play MAP07 on PrBoom+ until I do the fix.

No worries. I'll keep playing through. Will let you know if I encounter any more bugs, but hopefully not :D

[Firedust]

After you beat map 10, you are taken straight to episode endscreen, thus skipping map 11 completely. Episode 2 starts with map 12.

[ViolentBeetle]

6 hours ago, Firedust said:

After you beat map 10, you are taken straight to episode endscreen, thus skipping map 11 completely. Episode 2 starts with map 12.

I really should've paid more attnetion to gzDoom.

There will be another problem level later, and then it will be fine.

 

I have sent fixed version to idgames, so it should update when they look at it.

[Firedust]

21 minutes ago, ViolentBeetle said:

I really should've paid more attnetion to gzDoom.

There will be another problem level later, and then it will be fine.

 

I have sent fixed version to idgames, so it should update when they look at it.

What's the final problem level?

[ViolentBeetle]

11 minutes ago, Firedust said:

What's the final problem level?

18

[Valboom]

Congrats for the release!

[ViolentBeetle]

Since I messed up MAPINFO, I temporarily put replacement link on mediafire in OP-post with fixed version in it. Once idgame maintainer approve it, I'll replace it back.

[NuMetalManiak]

Really fun megawad, most levels are short and the whole thing reminded me of Icarus with the whole requiring one key in order to leave each map. I don't know if you fixed it but I noticed MAP14 seemed to give a bunch of texture errors, specifically the building where the starting point is I saw a bunch of checkers (played on GZDoom). Also warped to a few levels that were somehow skipped (MAP10 is when E1 ends, but this misses MAP12, while MAP18 is when E2 ends, but this misses MAP19 and MAP20). Also MAP18 and MAP19 seem to have the same automap name.

[ViolentBeetle]

43 minutes ago, NuMetalManiak said:

Really fun megawad, most levels are short and the whole thing reminded me of Icarus with the whole requiring one key in order to leave each map. I don't know if you fixed it but I noticed MAP14 seemed to give a bunch of texture errors, specifically the building where the starting point is I saw a bunch of checkers (played on GZDoom). Also warped to a few levels that were somehow skipped (MAP10 is when E1 ends, but this misses MAP12, while MAP18 is when E2 ends, but this misses MAP19 and MAP20). Also MAP18 and MAP19 seem to have the same automap name.

Seems like I accidentally deleted an extra textures during the texture pack cleanup. It will be back. Somehow it slipped past the validation I did.

As for ending episodes, there's a ZMAPINFO issue I overlooked because it's the first time I'm working with it and I haven't quite shaken off expectation that is has sensible default values (in this particular case not the endgame by default).

[Shawny]

That missing texture in MAP14 is unfortunate (for me mostly), that one was not a problem in other versions.
We should have tested the wad ourselves one more time after the MAPINFO was added... oh well, you live, you learn.

[Firedust]

Shawny, I love your contributions to this project!

 

I'm up to map 15 so far, and I gotta say, just like with Hellevator, if VB had been a smidge stricter on quality control, this would've been a no-brainer for a cacoward nomination!

[Shawny]

46 minutes ago, Firedust said:

Shawny, I love your contributions to this project!

Thank you, much appreciated.
 

47 minutes ago, Firedust said:

I'm up to map 15 so far, and I gotta say, just like with Hellevator, if VB had been a smidge stricter on quality control, this would've been a no-brainer for a cacoward nomination!

Considering the project had started really strong with a lot of talented people claiming maps the later claims were a LOT slower so we can be happy we were able to complete the wad in the first place.

[RiviTheWarlock]

I'm sorry about the immense amount of revenants and hell knights

[Not Jabba]

2 hours ago, RiviTheWarlock said:

I'm sorry about the immense amount of revenants and hell knights

The Revenants and Hell Knights are sorry as well. They have issued a sincere formal apology and now you can sleep peacefully with the knowledge that it was all a misunderstanding.

[ViolentBeetle]

I didn't expect it to take so long for fix to be accepted by idgames maintainers, so I put link to what is currently pending there to mediafire and changed the link in OP accordingly. Sorry for inconvenience.

Edited August 15, 2021 by ViolentBeetle

[ViolentBeetle]

The proper version is finally on idgames.

[ViolentBeetle]

I promise a little write-up, but I couldn't make time until now. In either case, I've decided to highlight my favourite maps from each chapter, with additional caveat of not highlighting the same mapper twice.

 

From Techbase chapter I pick MAP05: Green Tech's Embrace by @Death Bear. It's a very fun map with great use of verticality and cool use of green textures.

From Corrupted Techbase chapter I pick MAP10: Terminal Decay by @LordEntr0py for masterfully creating opressive atmosphere with awesome environmental storytelling.

From Ruins chapter I pick MAP14: Sanctuary of Horae by @Shawny - another absolutely gorgeous map with subtle but very cool weather change gimmick. With Shawny maps you know you are in for a treat, so it was pretty hard to pick one of his map I would highlight.

From Marble Hell chapter I pick MAP17: Marble Madness by @Weird Sandwich - because every wad needs a designated troll map and the way this map uses Boom features to troll player is, well... absolutely maddening, as advertised.
For Flesh Hell chapter I pick MAP23: Scream Bloody Gore by @myolden which offers a gorgeous blend of flesh textures and very fun open-space combat

And for Void chapter I pick MAP27: Last Ruin by @muumi This was a very hard choice because all candidates were extremely well done, but this one offers the best atmosphere and most tense combat out of all. By a very small margin.

 

Special mentions go to MAP15: A Crack in the Skull by @El Inferno, which is an absolutely beautiful realization of a premise I have assigned, if perhaps a little confusing in secret exit department, and MAP26: Beyond Life by @DFF, for having an awesome gimmick that I didn't prescribe, offering an interesting change of pace at the start of the final chapter.

 

PS: Does anyone else have to edit post to add "@" mentions one at a time?

Edited August 31, 2021 by ViolentBeetle

[Shawny]

Thanks @ViolentBeetle . It was fun working on this one, there was a lot of great people involved.
Shame we didn´t get a bit more recognition. At least I was hoping for more, as entitled that may sound.

Well... maybe some other time.

Edit: We had a really rocky release though with all the final changes to the MAPINFO and stuff so I guess it is only fair.

Edited August 31, 2021 by Shawny

[ViolentBeetle]

2 hours ago, Shawny said:

Thanks @ViolentBeetle . It was fun working on this one, there was a lot of great people involved.
Shame we didn´t get a bit more recognition. At least I was hoping for more, as entitled that may sound.

Well... maybe some other time.

Edit: We had a really rocky release though with all the final changes to the MAPINFO and stuff so I guess it is only fair.

I can tell that someone noticed us, there were a lot of followers and reasonable amount of downloads for each update, meaning that people were interested.

Unfortunately, in this day, it seems a little hard to get into a spotlight unless you are a big deal already.

[baja blast rd.]

41 minutes ago, ViolentBeetle said:

I can tell that someone noticed us, there were a lot of followers and reasonable amount of downloads for each update, meaning that people were interested.

Unfortunately, in this day, it seems a little hard to get into a spotlight unless you are a big deal already.

Would leave "speedmapping" out of titles for projects like this, because people are conditioned to see that as referring to speedmaps made on a time frame of hours, not like a week, and that can put people off investigating further or suppress enthusiasm. Apparently these maps have an area restriction anyway, and small, boundary-limited maps made in a week often aren't speedmaps even in a looser sense.

 

Having an open development thread quietly shift gears to an RC thread tends to mute reception too -- at least the reception that is a wave of "shit this looks cool" and "wowww" and "shots looks nice" posts. It helps to request a lock at some point, and then start a new RC or release thread. That can be more convenient for other people too, since they immediately know "this project that has been quietly in-dev in the background is now ready to be played." Looking at the thread history, this feels relevant here. 

 

I've heard people talking about Skulltiverse in a couple places, so I don't agree that it has been ignored either, even considering the above. I even just voted it for the DWMC club (before reading this). Sometimes patience is necessary. 

 

It is true that Doom modding these days has a lot of releases to grab people's attention. But I've seen many worries about that lately, and then I'll inevitably look at their threads and see clear ways to tune up presentation. The way I'm wired, I don't think having thousands of eyeballs on work is something to envy -- the inward satisfaction of making something cool beats everything else -- so I'm saying that in a theoretical, "since you do want more attention" sense. 

[dew]

I'm playing through the wad right now - independent of the DWMC, I'm crunching at a much higher pace, that's also why I'm writing here.

 

I wasn't enamored by the first two episodes. The difficulty curve starts perhaps too low, or perhaps too restrained. There was a lot of SG/CG workout, be it bening against imps and pinkies, or uncomfortable against revs. As a result I felt like there was too much "basic grind". I wasn't much of a fan of the visuals either, there's a lot of wall detail in narrow corridors and stuff snags a lot, which isn't optimal when trying to swerve from an approaching homing rev missile.

 

However I have to say that starting with map11 things improve with a leap. I'm past map16 now and I can say that stepping on the difficulty pedal has helped a lot. I'm digging the move to more massive, deadlier fights, be it setpiece by setpiece or larger arena chaos. It goes hand in hand with the design - the need to accomodate all the monsters and let them fight effectively means roomier architecture and it makes a lot of difference in enjoyment when I don't need to fight walls as well. I hope this pace/quality stays up. I'll see if I can produce some map-by-map feedback when I'm done so Shawny doesn't feel too bad about a lack of words.

 

Speaking of, Shawny, I do have a complaint for your future consideration. Those carousel teleclosets have some issues. Namely, they aren't 100% reliable when used for woken-up monsters. Those tiny corner cutouts should probably be conveyors as well, because a small enough monster such an imp can just get stuck in them. Depending on the position of the carousel to the map itself, the monster will have a preferred direction (towards the player) and will walk against the conveyor's orientation, getting pushed back into the cutout and not having an opportunity to change direction (because it didn't run into anything to make the AI reconsider). This happened in both map14 and map32 to me:

[MarzoLeon]

Can you please tell me how to get a yellow skull on the MAP15? The one I see looks more like a clickbait. I climbed the whole map, but I could not find the solution I needed.

[galileo31dos01]

7 minutes ago, MarzoLeon said:

Can you please tell me how to get a yellow skull on the MAP15? The one I see looks more like a clickbait. I climbed the whole map, but I could not find the solution I needed.

 

If my unblemished secret hunting skills didn't fail me, the correct available approach to the yellow skull is:

 

Spoiler

with idclip

 

jokes aside, I believe it's inaccessible, though afaik it's not functionally needed for anything, so try and test things without it and see where you can get to (:

 

[DFF]

1 hour ago, MarzoLeon said:

Can you please tell me how to get a yellow skull on the MAP15? The one I see looks more like a clickbait. I climbed the whole map, but I could not find the solution I needed.

Not to speak for El Infernos map, but I pulled my hair out trying to nab it too (and in my pursuits managed to get a tree planted). Its impossible to get, but if you look closely its not needed to access anything in the map.

[MarzoLeon]

Thank you, has already figured out. There was enough a red card, so that I could crawl on the opposite part of the map. Pretty non-obvious at first glance. Yeah, it seems easier for a fresh head, hehe.

[Shawny]

3 hours ago, dew said:

Those carousel teleclosets have some issues. Namely, they aren't 100% reliable when used for woken-up monsters. Those tiny corner cutouts should probably be conveyors as well, because a small enough monster such an imp can just get stuck in them. Depending on the position of the carousel to the map itself, the monster will have a preferred direction (towards the player) and will walk against the conveyor's orientation, getting pushed back into the cutout and not having an opportunity to change direction (because it didn't run into anything to make the AI reconsider). This happened in both map14 and map32 to me:

I feared that may happen though when I was testing the maps anything that got stuck usually moved due to connected sound tunnels
(highly depends on player position, but they always got on track eventually). In fact that is why I left the corners "conveyourless".
Though conveyours act differently on various source ports as far I as I know so I am not suprised these issues may pop up.

But yeah, that is a valid suggestion, I just need to experiment with that idea and find the right speed to fling stuck monsters reliably .
The wad will most likely be updated one more time after DWMC will be finished with it so I have an opportunity to take another look.
Thank you.

Edited September 5, 2021 by Shawny : Better wording.

[FrancisT218]

So relating to dew's write up, I wasn't as frequently a huge fan of the earlier maps relative to the later ones, but I did find maps 1, 5, 7, 9, and 10 to be some good stuff. Not gonna deny it picks up later on relative to the start though!

[dew]

Up to map19, it's fun to see the set maintain its quality. I haven't really encountered a bum map yet in the whole of e3/e4. Tho again I'm coming with a nag, this time for @LordEntr0py. 6 monsters won't teleport in from the closets in map19. Check things 429-434, the intended trio of imps is copypasted over each other.

[ViolentBeetle]

14 minutes ago, dew said:

Up to map19, it's fun to see the set maintain its quality. I haven't really encountered a bum map yet in the whole of e3/e4. Tho again I'm coming with a nag, this time for @LordEntr0py. 6 monsters won't teleport in from the closets in map19. Check things 429-434, the intended trio of imps is copypasted over each other.

Thanks for reporting. This did come up recently.

I will be doing update trying to fix the potentially bugged main menu icon, so we'll fix it.