ARRIVAL (Now available on /idgames) - A limit-removing episode for Doom II

[Veinen]

@Pavera: I checked out map09 again and the final tele ambushes worked with both cl2 and cl9 no problem. Looking at the map in an editor, I must've just had an unfortunate linedef skip in the demo as it is just a single line that triggers the ambush & the tele to the exit. The trigger linedef is not directly in line with the grid so skipping shouldn't happen too often but it's possible looks like (not that it breaks the map though since you can exit still). I suppose I have "speedrunner" movement style so these things tend to happen to me more often than for the average player.

 

One other thing I noticed though is that the new sky textures didn't work at all with cl2, instead I had the default skies. Tested both glboom+ and prboom+ 2.5.1.3 as well as glboom+ 2.5.1.4 and had default skies in all. With complevel 9 (and default complevel -1 if you don't specify any) the skies work fine though so looks like a complevel issue. I don't know how I missed to report this initially since the new skies are way different. They look really nice too and contribute to the atmosphere big time especially in the more outdoorsy maps.

[pavera]

Most likely because I am using sky transfers for the new skies. I recommend playing at cl9 then. I'll update OP.

[Catpho]

FYI just in case, Sky transfer work in Crispy Doom, so that audience will still get to enjoy Arrival :)

[Andromeda]

20 minutes ago, Catpho said:

FYI just in case, Sky transfer work in Crispy Doom, so that audience will still get to enjoy Arrival :)

Sky transfers also work on cl2 on the current version of PrBoom+ :)

[skillsaw]

Congrats on the release @Pavera!

 

I finished playing this today on UV in Eternity.

 

This was absolutely great. I'm not sure I've ever played a mapset that put it's foot on the gas pedal so hard so early on, but that's a good thing. The maps are spacious and chunky, the opposition is heavy but so are the munitions ... the ample space and emphasis on letting the player use the big guns make Arrival a lot of fun to play. I like the approach to gameplay, where you never know if a setup is going to be devious and mean or more power fantasy oriented but either way the combat is fun throughout. The last two maps pushed me kinda hard on UV but I was able to get through without too much trouble. In retrospect I'd probably enjoy them more if I played them on skill 3.

 

Random comments.

• @AD_79's music is great! I especially liked MAP07's music. Was everything originally composed for this project?
• I'll admit that I don't care much for vanilla textures anymore but the usage here is good, and the skies and music do enough to make the levels feel like their own thing. This and D2ISO are pretty great recent examples of this, IMO.
• Holy Archviles batman. Archvile usage is absolutely great throughout. Very devious and very fun.
• I love the barrel usage in the early parts of the wad. Because of the way the wad uses archviles, I was regularly wondering if I should save them for later which is a cool dynamic.
• I absolutely love that you scattered so many health and armor bonuses around everywhere. This is secretly one of my favorite mapping tropes, even though it's super videogamey. I love turning the screen yellow.
• This mapset is a great example of how scale is it's own form of "detail" - the maps are big and imposing to look at and combined with the dramatic skies, it's more than enough to make the scene composition look good IMO, even though the sector detail and textures are basic compared to a lot of modern stuff.

Some tiny-ish complaints.

• On MAP05, there's a forced berserk pickup - it's not clear (at least, it wasn't to me) that you have to trigger progression by picking up the berserk, since it's just sitting in the middle of an open space. I was going to save it to use it for health so I walked away and didn't trigger what I believe is required progression... maybe change the setup a bit to a switch, or maybe change it up so you get teleported onto the berserk somehow and then the progression triggers when you move off of it?
• The PLAYPAL uses an improved red range that allows reds to fade to black rather than brown in dark areas, but the IWAD assets with red aren't included and repalletized in the wad (other than the blood flats). It's pretty noticeable that the menu/STBAR text, gib sprites, caco sprites, and SP_HOT aren't paletted correctly, probably among other things.
• There are lots of "TEXTURE NOT FOUND" errors in the Eternity console when starting most maps - may or may not really be an issue as I didn't notice any real problems. Just letting you know.
• MAP02 has different name in the automap & intermission CWILV ("Bedrock Deadlock" vs "Saltstone Sanctuary") -- not sure if this is an accident?
• Can you go anywhere in the final map? If it was a puzzle I wasn't able to figure it out.

[AD_79]

8 minutes ago, skillsaw said:

@AD_79's music is great! I especially liked MAP07's music. Was everything originally composed for this project?

 

Yep! All of the music here was written specifically for Arrival. There's a few recurring motifs/ideas throughout the soundtrack which tie things together somewhat (admittedly mostly cropping up in MAP09's track), though being a fairly late idea I wasn't able to work that in as much as I maybe would have liked. Very glad to hear you enjoyed the music, as well as the set as a whole!

[pavera]

@skillsaw Thank you for the lovely review. It means so much to hear you liked it!

 

3 hours ago, skillsaw said:

On MAP05, there's a forced berserk pickup - it's not clear (at least, it wasn't to me) that you have to trigger progression by picking up the berserk, since it's just sitting in the middle of an open space. I was going to save it to use it for health so I walked away and didn't trigger what I believe is required progression... maybe change the setup a bit to a switch, or maybe change it up so you get teleported onto the berserk somehow and then the progression triggers when you move off of it?

 

I had thought about this possibly being an issue. I honestly didn't want to use a switch because I liked how it looks without one, but I am really not sure how else to entice the player in that direction. I'll play around with it and see if it can be improved in a future release.

 

3 hours ago, skillsaw said:

The PLAYPAL uses an improved red range that allows reds to fade to black rather than brown in dark areas, but the IWAD assets with red aren't included and repalletized in the wad (other than the blood flats). It's pretty noticeable that the menu/STBAR text, gib sprites, caco sprites, and SP_HOT aren't paletted correctly, probably among other things.

 

Yeah I'll see about fixing this one as well. Thanks :)

 

4 hours ago, skillsaw said:

There are lots of "TEXTURE NOT FOUND" errors in the Eternity console when starting most maps - may or may not really be an issue as I didn't notice any real problems. Just letting you know.

 

Whoops...I must have missed some WAD cleanup. I'll have to look into it.

 

3 hours ago, skillsaw said:

MAP02 has different name in the automap & intermission CWILV ("Bedrock Deadlock" vs "Saltstone Sanctuary") -- not sure if this is an accident?

 

This is intentional and meant to be sort of an easter egg. The map is officially "Saltstone Sanctuary" but I thought "Bedrock Deadlock" was kinda funny so I kept it in. Not really much more to it than that.

 

4 hours ago, skillsaw said:

Can you go anywhere in the final map? If it was a puzzle I wasn't able to figure it out.

 

Nope. This is really supposed to just be a quiet ending map much like the ending of Syringe. I was going to MAPINFO in a second story screen but I decided to sorta leave it up to interpretation instead.

 

[Maribo]

Would like to heavily agree with skillsaw on Archviles in this wad, their placement in the 3 maps I played through this evening are SO much fun, especially the MAP01 ones that accompany the plasma gun.

[Bytefyre]

Hi there!  Quick question:  since this is Boom-compatible, are there any transparent textures in use?  I'm trying to decide whether to use 32-bit software rendering or OpenGL, and the latter would be my preference if there are any transparent textures.

[Vile]

Played it earlier, awesome stuff!

[pavera]

27 minutes ago, Bytefyre said:

Hi there!  Quick question:  since this is Boom-compatible, are there any transparent textures in use?  I'm trying to decide whether to use 32-bit software rendering or OpenGL, and the latter would be my preference if there are any transparent textures.

 

No transparent textures in use here. The only boom-compatible features here are sky transfers.

[Bytefyre]

1 minute ago, Pavera said:

 

No transparent textures in use here. The only boom-compatible features here are sky transfers.

Good to know!  Thanks for the quick response!

[Valboom]

One of the best map packs I've ever played, the gameplay is just perfect.

[Bryan T]

I just finished this. Groovy stuff.

[Sena]

I think I got softlocked here

Can't go backwards, or at least, there's no point because the ledge there is too steep to climb

Can't go forwards for the same reason

I'd assume the switch that activates the armour is also meant to give you some way to advance, but it doesn't

[entrywayy]

Played the first three maps on HMP, really fun to play. Also especially liked the blue key/plasma Archvile Ambush on map01. Great work!

 

Oh and I freakin' love that color palette, I wish I could apply that to other WADs too lol

[GarrettChan]

UV pistol starts with saves

Port: DSDA-Doom v0.10.0 -complevel 2

Total IGT: 2:52:37 (including the ???????? map)

Personal Difficulty Evaluation: 1.4 (1 = Plutonia)

Personal Rating: 8.1 (out of 10)

 

A very nice mapset which uses the similar color palette from Syringe, and Pavera is also one of the authors in Syringe and you can see some similarity from his maps there. The architecture is great to look at for sure. The encounter is a bit weird to me because the maps feel a bit stacked, but I guess it's more like the problem of my taste instead of an actual problem to have. Also, I'm not going to lie that gunning down or rocketing a bunch of zombies feel very good. Due to this, maps have deceptively high kill counts, but they are not very long, mostly.

 

The maps are very generous about resources, so you won't be short on health or ammo mostly, so it's not very difficult IMO, but it contains some nasty Arch-viles traps from time to time and those can really throw you off if you're not careful. All of the maps contain this type of traps, so yeah, prepare for that. Later maps have quite a bit of mid tier monster groups, so these later maps are harder than the earlier ones.

 

AD did a superb job for the music here. It's a pleasure to listen to the music while enjoying the scene of the maps.

[pavera]

Thank you everyone for the feedback thus far. I am so happy to see how much everyone has enjoyed this. I spent the last two years of my life pouring myself into these maps, among other things. I am working to implement some of this feedback into a potential new release, plus getting around to tuning the lower difficulty settings to be a bit less unbalanced.

 

The next release will likely be the final version, so please please get in any additional feedback you'd like to see incorporated!

 

I am happy I could bring some joy to your lives.

 

Thanks once again.

Pav

Edited April 23, 2021 by Pavera

[Maribo]

Coming back to this thread to say that MAP08: Bloodstone Citadel was one of the best maps I've played in a long time. Big props to the design of the encounters in it, big props to the midi, and again big props to the use of Archviles in the entire WAD.

I played this WAD some in GZDoom, some in PrBoom+, all on UV, with saves in some levels, pistol start on all levels.

[Side-O-Fries]

Just finished all levels on UV pistol start.  I used glboom+2.5.1.4 and did not notice any bugs.  I have to say that I really enjoyed this project!  When I first started up, I thought all the health/armor bonuses and ammo pickups were a little much.  But honestly, the best way for me to explain it was that it just made all the levels really chill and relaxing.  I'd also give it an 8/10 on personal enjoyment.  Most memorable moment for me was the final battle on map 9 and seeing the background.

Favorite level: 32, Dad Bod!!!  That start up brought an immediate smile to my face!

[Biodegradable]

Finally got around to playing this sucker. Awesome first map, @Pavera! Gritty and challenging, but a lot of fun and you were very nice with your health distribution. Can't wait to play more tomorrow :^).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 26, 2021 by Biodegradable

[Xeogred]

First off Pavera, you do one of the best Romero's impressions I've seen after replaying D2TWID. I had to play more from mappers I've been taking notes of this year, then hit up Syringe which I absolutely loved, and then just wrapped up Arrival.

 

Played via UV/PS, this wad was a blast. I love how densely packed the action is with the stacked enemy count and most maps having so many areas where you can be flanked, yet cover and items are always in abundance as well. "Fair" is how I often felt playing this. I had to save a lot at times (more than Syringe), but every encounter felt like you're given the tools and then it's up to sharp player skill to survive. I loved how a lot of triggers would activate a door or some teleporters you could see from afar (so many Revenants haha), so you could semi what prepare, but you were about to sweat blood and tears holding down fire for a few minutes straight. I for one don't love slaughter maps and Arrival isn't that at all, but it's jam packed with high difficulty, striking a really nice balance I enjoyed. This style felt unique to me in a cool way.

 

Excellent use of AV's that never felt too cheap and I really enjoyed a lot of the Cyberdemon encounters. Damage floor use and enviro suit placement always felt good and balanced too.

 

Some of the maps had some elevators or doors that would creatively lock the player in from behind (like a door needing a yellow key, might need blue to go back), so you're locked in some section of the map for awhile. Never a true point of no return, but it gave me time to just focus purely on one section of the map for a bit until I could get back. I dug that. There were a few times hunting key doors wrapping back around the large maps, but nothing too bad.

 

I'm not sure I have a favorite map since they were all awesome, but I might have liked the first half a tad more. Always a sucker for techbases and vanilla looks though. That said, MAP08 was truly epic and probably the best track from AD_79 to me. I feel I've gotten a little picky with midis off and on lately, but AD_79's style is absolutely my jam. I thought the title screen and intermission/stats tracks were really cool too.

 

Excellent!

[pavera]

Thanks for the lovely writeup. I'm really glad you liked it! From what I've been reading, it seems like a lot of people really vibe with MAP08. I think that is my favorite map of the set too, though I love all of my babies. They were all built slowly and meticulously with all the love I could muster.

 

If I had to pick a least favorite map, it'd be MAP07. That one really was a headscratcher for me, and I spent the most time dodging having to work on it. It was originally an Ultimate Doom map that I repurposed for Arrival because the theme sorta matched the map slot title. I still think it's a pretty good map, but ultimately doesn't reach the same standard the rest of them do. With that said, it has my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE track in the set, "In Search of an Answer". Such a wonderful sonic journey bathed in dreamy synths and an otherworldly vibe.

 

I cannot stress enough how grateful I am to @AD_79 for his work on the soundtrack. It absolutely blasts, and sometimes I put it on in the background while I work. I've been listening to it for years now and it never gets old to me. Every new track he sent me was like unwrapping a present on Christmas morning. I recognize this set kinda flew under the radar a bit with all the other incredible work that has come out this year. That's fine with me, as I'm happy to see how much everyone who played it has enjoyed it. But if anything comes out of this, I really want AD to get the recognition he deserves here. There is so much nuance in his tracks. They weave together and have common motifs, and he spent time trying to match the atmosphere and placement of each map. His efforts were truly equal to my own in creating this thing, and it wouldn't be the same without his tracks.

 

Anyways, once again, I appreciate so much everybody playing and enjoying this. I have been very busy in my personal life, but I'm eventually working to get a version up on /idgames. Hopefully soon. I didn't ignore all the bug feedback, I promise!

[Jimmy]

I never posted this here, so let me remedy that.

 

 

[Xeogred]

Jimmy, your video is what instantly sold me on needing to play this a week or so back when I saw it!

 

I hope to see more Pavera maps and hear more AD_79 tunes in the future!

[AD_79]

I'm very glad to hear you enjoyed the music, as well as the project itself. Seeing the comments earlier (as well as knowing there's a couple people waiting for it) motivated me to finally get the soundtrack uploaded to Bandcamp, so you can enjoy it wherever now.

 

Also Jimmy's video on this is excellent. Huge thanks for that!

[TJG1289]

Soundtrack on Bandcamp? 

 

HELL.

YES.

[Xeogred]

I wish I took more notes map to map, but I just get in the zone with a really good wad like this haha. I think looking back now I'd say maps 3, 4, 6, and 8 are probably my top favorites. 7 was easier but kind of a nice breather before 8-9. My only nitpick with 9 was the red key. I saw that platform you hop over to early on and think it even has a medkit on there, but guess I wrote it off as a secret that I'd save for later and forgot about it, hah...

 

Favorite tracks would be 2, 6, 7, 10, 11, and 12! That insane breakdown in 11 always happened at the right times when I was going through MAP08. Hell yeah.

[rando]

Just finished playing through this. The music in this wad is amazing, well done @AD_79.

Besides a couple of small things all the maps were enjoyable.

 

Not sure if I'm just too dumb to figure it out but it seems like the invuln secret in map04 is not reachable.

Map06's invuln secret was annoying since it relies on shooting a wall that looks exactly the same as everything else.

 

The only gripe I have with monster placement is that some of the mancs are positioned in hard to shoot places (very high up) which makes cleaning a couple of the maps annoying for uvmax (especially the large area in map07, map09 and map32).

Edited June 30, 2021 by rando

[dianghong]

Loved the mapset. Very good combat, and very good exploration wise. I was worried when the first map threw so many Archies at me, but by and large the set is extremely fair and not dickish. Lots of very fun encounters, and mowing rooms full of fodder never gets old. Loved the health/armor bonuses and small ammo pickups too.

 

Nitpicks:

Some of the maps have a bit of a where do I go (or how do I get back to where I need to go) issue. MAP02 had me running in circles for a while until I realized there are doors right next to the blue door. These should be way more obvious. MAP07 had me use idclip after kiliing 100% of the monsters and getting the final key when I was literally right next to the exit, except on the other side. I got lost many times on this map, it's too mazey. MAP09's ladder to the blue key was painful as well, took me a while to find it, and I found and disposed of all the enemies that you could at that point.

 

Snipers. I thought there were too many of them overall, especially in maps 08 and 09. It's just not fun to stand there for a while and snipe all those Mancubi and Imps.

 

The MIDI in MAP08 is grating because of the high-pitched church organ. I'm using the "default" MS Wavetable Synth soundfont.

 

I can't believe I'm saying this, but perhaps there's a little bit too much ammo in some parts of some levels (I played on UV, seamless, but I usually try not to abuse the weapons, especially at the start of the level). But it's not a problem really, it works well with the gameplay. Personally I never liked wads with stingy ammo, I much prefer this kind of style of gameplay. But even on UV sometimes it seemed just a tad too easy.

 

That being said, MAP08 was dickish. It's the only map that I didn't like, and I felt like it stood out in terms of fairness and combat. Lots of teleporting enemies, lots of stragglers from previous enounters, the aforementioned snipers that you have to take your time to kill. I felt that there was not that much room to maneuver either.

 

I feel guilty for writing so many critical stuff, I loved the wad :D