RonnieJamesDiner Posted July 29, 2021 (edited) For whatever reason, I had this powerup on my mind today. It seems like such a sad case that in a game overflowing with new, creative content and seemingly endless variety, there’s still a powerup buried deep in Doomguy’s original satchel that is so ubiquitously avoided. Looking at the stats on doomwiki, it’s interesting to see how seldom they were used in the IWADS – as little as 5 in Doom II, and actually none in The Plutonia Experiment (this hadn't dawned on me before). As far as community maps and megawads, I’ve been struggling to remember a single instance that made me think, “oh wow, this was a great use of the Light Amp Goggles!” I’m sure there are great examples, I simply don’t play enough Doom to have a broad base of experience to draw from (please comment with examples you love, if you have some!). But, I get it. Because despite how many maps I’ve released in the last few years, I have managed to use the Light Amplification Goggles a grand total of zero times, myself. The thought of spending days and days obsessing over the fine details of sector lighting, only to have it completely obliterated by an item that forces everything into full brightness, just curls my toes. I can never bring myself to put the Goggles in a map, which feels like a shame, because I love the concept of them. Darkness used intentionally as a hindrance, or a hazard to the player, is a fun idea. Having a powerup to combat this seems like a very logical step, and full of potential for creating interesting scenarios. But dammit, I can’t do my sector lighting dirty like that!! So, here we are. This is really nothing more than a weird, public musing, and an ode to a powerup that simply wasn’t as lucky as the rest of his friends. Again, if you have examples of Light Amp usage that really gave the powerup a moment of glory, please share. I also think, with the nearly limitless capability given to mappers/modders through GZDoom, that there must surely be some cool ideas out there for Light Amp Goggle replacements. The whole “night vision” alternative is neat, but it ultimately just shares the same underlying feeling of... visual “bleh”, as far as I’m concerned. In the spirit of kicking off some Light Amp Goggle replacement rumination, here’s one thought: A powerup that allows you to see the outline of monsters for a short duration, even through walls/void space. I think this could be a fun powerup, and still offer the concept of an item designed to “combat darkness”, considering players could use it to see the outline of demons in nearly pitch black rooms, getting enough visual feedback to gain an advantage. There would be other interesting uses for it though, as well, such as giving players an opportunity to get a “sneak preview” head count of nearby rooms or monster closets. Or, an element of a hectic, maze-like arena where the powerup gives the player a sort of pac-man-esque opportunity to strategize their movement ahead of time, knowing that if they take an immediate right turn they’ll run straight into a pack of Revenants, but an immediate left leads to a few straggling Pinkys. I have no idea how this item could be made, but I enjoy imagining it. Perhaps one day I’ll overcome my vain fear of “ruining the BeAuTiFuL LiGhTInG”, and attempt to genuinely use the poor Light Amplification Goggles to some fun effect in a map. I can’t see it happening any time soon, though. I just wanted you to know, dear light amp visors, that I’m thinking of you. Edited July 29, 2021 by RonnieJamesDiner 38 Share this post Link to post
BaileyTW Posted July 29, 2021 Valiant makes good use of the light amp goggles. Turns em into the spider mastermind. 20 Share this post Link to post
Horus Posted July 29, 2021 Austinado’s mapset Supercharge Final Catharsis contains an interesting gimmick map dedicated to light amp goggles. 5 Share this post Link to post
RonnieJamesDiner Posted July 29, 2021 (edited) 9 minutes ago, Horus said: Austinado’s mapset Supercharge Final Catharsis contains an interesting gimmick map dedicated to light amp goggles. I don't think I actually finished that set, I'll have to check that out. Thanks! (/edit, I'll have to check it out when there's actually a download link, heh.) 2 Share this post Link to post
Bridgeburner56 Posted July 29, 2021 Never talk to me or my pitch black maps again 16 Share this post Link to post
Shepardus Posted July 29, 2021 38 minutes ago, RonnieJamesDiner said: Looking at the stats on doomwiki, it’s interesting to see how seldom they were used in the IWADS – as little as 5 in Doom II, and actually none in The Plutonia Experiment (this hadn't dawned on me before). It's even worse than that when you consider their distribution across maps - three of the five light amp goggles in Doom II are in one level, Refueling Base, and four of the eight in Ultimate Doom (nine on ITYTD/HNTR skill level) are in E2M6. I do like their usage in E2M6, though, with that one maze-like section with the wood textures and the blinking lights. They really feel like a powerup there, and having it wear off on you can be terrifying. To an experienced player, though, the powerup lasts far too long and the dark section is too small for that to ever be a concern. Same with the one in the dark room at the end of E1M5. Bury My Heart Knee Deep also used light amplification in an interesting manner. Inspired by Metroidvania games, the map gives you "permanent" upgrades in the form of large groups of powerups that are needed to traverse certain areas, and one of those is a set of light amp powerups that you can unlock to deal with a pitch-black area. Perhaps a map could use caches of light amplification goggles combined with pitch dark areas to put time pressure on the player or force them to balance how far they can explore with being able to escape in one piece... but rad suits and damaging floor are more commonly used for that purpose. Candlemass uses light amplification with its monochrome palette for a neat gimmick: Spoiler It's given to you when you press a switch labeled "Press this switch to go blind instantly." instead of making things easier to see, the light amp goggles turn everything white, making it difficult to navigate. 11 Share this post Link to post
Capellan Posted July 29, 2021 IMO, a good use of the light amp goggles is as a power-up for use in an area with lots of flickering and flashing lights. They're actually often much more useful in that situation than in areas that are merely dark. Another good use for them is dark areas with lots of spectres - full bright makes life a lot easier then, especially if the map forces you to rely on the rocket launcher. I used both of these cases in Doom 404 :) 14 Share this post Link to post
Obsidian Posted July 29, 2021 On 7/29/2021 at 4:55 PM, Shepardus said: Candlemass uses light amplification with its monochrome palette for a neat gimmick: Reveal hidden contents It's given to you when you press a switch labeled "Press this switch to go blind instantly." instead of making things easier to see, the light amp goggles turn everything white, making it difficult to navigate. Yeah, that was a good chuckle to make. :P I've bemoaned the lack of lite-amp usage in community maps before, to the point of making it a theme in the Abyssal Speedmapping Sessions every now and again when I can get away with it: the Partial Invisibility occupies a similar niche, although that at the very least affects combat in an interesting way (Scythe MAP27 remains an excellent example of what you can do when you get creative with its unique behavior). Only problem is that I'm yet to walk the walk and properly use it in more regular maps myself, so I appreciate threads like these to remind me of its existence. 5 Share this post Link to post
TheNoob_Gamer Posted July 29, 2021 This thread reminds me of one particular section in Doom 64's MAP06, where there was a bunch of platforms with a really dark football-shaped pit underneath them. Inside that pit resided many Spectres, which can easily chewed off your butt if you fall into the pit. That's one of those instances I wish a light amp goggles was in my disposal. 2 Share this post Link to post
Cruduxy Pegg Posted July 29, 2021 Their real problem is how ugly they make maps look. 8 Share this post Link to post
Jaska Posted July 29, 2021 A good replacement, flashlight!: https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=65208 3 Share this post Link to post
Gez Posted July 29, 2021 It's too bad they dropped the dedicated COLORMAP range, instead going with the fullbright range 0. A different look would have made it more interesting. Or heck, why not a different palette, like the radiation suit? Either way, you could implement some neat gimmicks based on details that are only visible with the goggles: since the Doom palette has several redundant colors, you could rearrange it so that you have some colors that are deliberately identical except when using the right COLORMAP range (or palette level, either way). Then you could have invisible patterns drawn this way using both variants of a given color on a texture, and when you pick up the goggles, blammo! suddenly the invisible pattern becomes visible. The game Shadowcaster used this gimmick (just once, though) where you had to use your cat-man's form special vision to avoid mines that are invisible otherwise. Another problem with the light amp is that it gives everything the same light level, so it completely kills contrast and makes levels look more boring. But this didn't have to be the case! See, the engine already supports a conditional, player-centric light level increase: gunflashes. You could have had the light amp goggles give off a +64 light level (would have been the rough equivalent of an A_Light4 function since internally light levels are divided by 16, so A_Light1 actually gives you +16 light levels and A_Light2 gives you +32). That would preserve most of the contrast lighting (only stuff at light level 192 and higher would become fullbright) while still making things much easier to see in all but the darkest areas. I'll note that either of these approaches would have been perfectly feasible in 1993 since they're basically just stuff the Doom engine already does, using features it already has. It's just they're not used for the light amp in particular, but they could have been -- and in fact, it was the plan originally to give the light amp a dedicated COLORMAP range, I'm sure that if they kept it we would have had plenty of gimmick levels using the invisible color contrast trick to make light amp puzzles. 12 Share this post Link to post
idbeholdME Posted July 29, 2021 I like them. Fullbright visibility is definitely a massive advantage (hello, dark areas full of Spectres), so as far as usefulness goes, it serves its purpose. But I agree with Gez that just bumping up the brightness a few levels instead of fullbright would have been a great option. Would also make more sense, since you really can't amplify much, when there is little to no light to begin with. As long as it would make completely dark areas somewhat comfortably navigateable of course. Also, Invulnerability can often serve the same purpose with its... interesting color palette. 7 Share this post Link to post
Doomkid Posted July 29, 2021 I love the idea of bumping the light up 32 - 64 units rather than garish fullbright. Heck, I think add the fullbright flag to monsters and items would also be a great alternative, or maybe a combo of the two. That would help immensely while still not totally uglifying areas that are meant to be dark. 10 Share this post Link to post
VanaheimRanger Posted July 29, 2021 7 hours ago, RonnieJamesDiner said: You can put that partial invisiblility sphere over in the right corner as well, thanks. 16 Share this post Link to post
NuMetalManiak Posted July 29, 2021 A map in A.L.T., I think it was MAP22, has a clever use of the light amplification visor, where there's a switch puzzle that's easier to do if you DON'T pick it up. The numbers are of a darker gradient on the floor, but you can't see this if it's fully bright. 2 Share this post Link to post
Andromeda Posted July 29, 2021 (edited) One of the best usages of it I can remember is in MAP05: Time Gate from Eternal Doom, where it renders an area with rapidly flickering lights much more bearable to traverse. 5 Share this post Link to post
Stupid Bunny Posted July 29, 2021 (edited) I remember not so long ago I came to the same realization, that the Lite-Amp Goggles only appear on like a few maps in all the IWADs. I think I've only used them in like one of my early maps, undoubtedly in a place where it wasn't useful or necessary. It's amazing that even the idbois seemed to realize that they were not that useful and made the map look shitty when worn, and I think to this day are regarded as a bit of fluff that aren't ever going to save your life and will kill the mood of the map instantly anyway. I always thought the easiest way to save the gogs would be either A) what others have said, where it just applies a +64 or so bonus to the lighting of each sector; or B) some kind of green "night vision" filter or something. Like the invulnerability sphere technically makes everything fullbright too but you hardly notice because of how weird and abstract the inverted B&W makes everything look (which, as an aside, I actually like it better when the sky doesn't change too). I might try and find a spot to use the Devo glasses somewhere in my ongoing-ish mapping project, but it's just as likely I'll end up using those frames for some dehackery elsewhere and then turn the goggles into a tree or something. I've tried them a couple times because I'm a simp for rare and overlooked items/enemies/textures in games but honestly I just can't get over the fullbright thing. I guess these ones are rare and overlooked for a reason. 2 Share this post Link to post
Kyka Posted July 29, 2021 (edited) ...Or... and hear me out here... we could all just make levels that look great at fullbright. ...I'll see myself out. ᴵ ʰᵒᵖᵉ ʸᵒᵘ ᵃˡˡ ˢᵉᵉ ʷʰᵃᵗ ᴵ ᵈᶦᵈ ᵗʰᵉʳᵉ 9 Share this post Link to post
RjY Posted July 29, 2021 The Final Conflict (FC.WAD) begins with a featureless grey maze. Right in front of you at the start position is a pair of light goggles. Anyone who hadn't played the map before would pick them up automatically. As you explore you find the maze is bizarrely littered with dozens more pairs. You probably pick up a few more just by being too lazy to avoid them. You wander around aimlessly for several minutes until finally the goggles expire. Whereupon you discover the exit was clearly signposted by arrows of light. You would have found it immediately if you hadn't touched those wretched goggles! 19 Share this post Link to post
RonnieJamesDiner Posted July 29, 2021 Ah, ya'll are the best! Already a fair few good examples here, I look forward to trying some of these. The idea of using the fullbright effect of the light amp to actively screw the player over and hide important details, escaped me entirely - I love that. And maybe I'll finally get around to trying Eternal Doom, if even just to experience MAP05, heh. To your reply Shepardus, I forgot about that light amp cache in Bury My Heart (it's been years since I played it, and it was only the one time). It fit the Metroidvania style very well though, as another necessary (er, important) tool for navigating a new portion of the level. The E2M6 example is of course noteworthy and one of the better uses in the IWADS - I can't argue its effectiveness there, and it's a nice reward at the tail end of that segment, but all the same, I still think it takes away too much from one of the most atmospheric and creepy areas found in Doom 1. The Baron skulking around in that section still makes my sphincter shrink up to this day, every time he comes lumbering around a corner in there! 4 hours ago, Gez said: Another problem with the light amp is that it gives everything the same light level, so it completely kills contrast and makes levels look more boring. But this didn't have to be the case! See, the engine already supports a conditional, player-centric light level increase: gunflashes. You could have had the light amp goggles give off a +64 light level (would have been the rough equivalent of an A_Light4 function since internally light levels are divided by 16, so A_Light1 actually gives you +16 light levels and A_Light2 gives you +32). That would preserve most of the contrast lighting (only stuff at light level 192 and higher would become fullbright) while still making things much easier to see in all but the darkest areas. This is just such a wonderful idea... that it genuinely makes me wonder why they didn't go this way with the powerup. Like you say, they had everything they needed in 1993 to make it work. Perhaps the item was added late into development and they simply didn't have the time or willingness to make it more interesting/subtle. Bumping the light levels up by 64 would do everything the goggles do now, while still preserving most of the contrast made in the level design (it would still even lessen the harsh effect of blinking lights, which as many people have commented, can be one of the best reasons you'd want to pick up the goggles in the first place). Love this! Your thoughts on making the powerup show bits of the color palette that are otherwise "invisible" to see, to reveal hidden symbols, etc. is also really fascinating. It reminds me of the fact that the GZDoom version of the Light Amp Goggles actually reveal the "Stealth" monster variants, which I always thought was ripe for opportunities (I've yet to capitalize on it, though). This is also giving me incredibly evil ideas, such as making certain projectiles - like the Revenant homing rocket - only visible with the goggles, hehe. Even making the Keys only visible while under the effects of the goggles could make for some interesting progression, where you essentially have a key "hidden in plain sight", but the player generally needs to find a pair of goggles first, in order to discover where it's sitting. Doomkid's idea of simply just forcing the monsters and items into fullbright is also an interesting one! And maybe only bump the sector light level up by 32, or something. I like that! 4 Share this post Link to post
LordEntr0py Posted July 29, 2021 3 hours ago, RjY said: The Final Conflict (FC.WAD) Huh, interesting. I actually deliberately avoid picking them up for the most part because of the way they utterly destroy the atmosphere of a level. I really don't enjoy using them. 3 Share this post Link to post
TheMagicMushroomMan Posted July 29, 2021 (edited) I much perfer when authors use something new and modded instead, like a torch that just brightens the area or something. There is potential there for new things for sure. Make a Japanese landscape and replace them with paper lanterns that hover beside you or something. I think a lot of the powerups that were created for DOOM were sketchy or not implemented as well as they could have been. Night vision doesn't need obnoxious screen effects. Invulnerability doesn't need obnoxious screen effects. Partial invisibility rarely feels useful, especially in OG DOOM/DOOM 2. Berserk could've used a cool sound effect instead of turning everything red. Like LordEntr0py said, I hate night vision and avoid picking them up. I can't stand when I'm forced to. If I have to pick them up, I'll stand still until they wear off, because they are so downright ugly that they instantly kill any mood or atmosphere. The way Heretic and Hexen handled items is proof that powerups and pickups can still make you feel powerful without being irritating. I feel that more experimentation with pickups could improve the modding scene, but it seems to be something a lot of people don't think about, even when mapping out ultramodern things in gzDOOM. I think that pickups are rarely utilized to their fullest potential, especially since all the tools are readily available to make new ones. 4 Share this post Link to post
RjY Posted July 29, 2021 Some object counts from popular wads I had to hand. (UV, solo.) WAD bserk rsuit invis invul aumap light -------------------------------------------------- doomu 20 48 24 16 15 8 doom2 32 31 26 23 8 5 tnt 19 27 22 12 10 4 plutonia 16 24 11 5 4 0 perdgate 17 18 10 2 5 1 mm 34 31 13 8 9 0 mm2 35 33 19 9 14 7 requiem 26 18 2 4 9 2 hr 17 53 12 5 14 0 av 27 26 13 14 7 0 hr2final 21 7 3 10 4 1 scythe 32 8 9 4 1 0 scythe2 31 11 14 5 0 0 ksutra 40 54 28 11 1 0 pl2 52 27 20 6 5 0 sodfinal 42 28 2 10 2 0 epic2 24 2 6 6 9 0 Sunder 6 0 0 25 0 0 sf2012 29 14 10 20 7 9 dtwid 13 42 19 4 11 3 d2twid 21 49 26 16 16 5 btsx_e1 16 47 10 4 5 1 btsx_e2 42 9 11 8 7 0 sunlust 38 16 3 8 3 1 -------------------------------------------------- TOTAL 650 623 313 235 166 47 %ofTotal 32.0 30.6 15.4 11.6 8.2 2.3 Bonus picture of the four "1"s: 6 Share this post Link to post
Smoothandz Posted July 29, 2021 4 hours ago, Kyka said: ...Or... and hear me out here... we could all just make levels that look great at fullbright. ...I'll see myself out. ᴵ ʰᵒᵖᵉ ʸᵒᵘ ᵃˡˡ ˢᵉᵉ ʷʰᵃᵗ ᴵ ᵈᶦᵈ ᵗʰᵉʳᵉ HA! I see what you did there. It was a very enlightened statement... really brightened my day... (This terrible joke was brought to you by Smoothandz. Sincere apologies for any brain cells lost during the read of this post) 4 Share this post Link to post
RonnieJamesDiner Posted July 29, 2021 Thanks for that list, RjY! Confirms my suspicions that the goggles likely popped up in a few more places than I actually realized, I'm curious how well they're played off in some of those maps. Didn't realize Memento Mori 2 and Slaughterfest 2012 featured quite so many, I've yet to play those wads. The fact that Doom 2 the Way id Did uses the exact same number of Light Amp Goggles as D2 itself is just... beautiful. I refuse to think this was intentional, but if it was, that's brilliant. 1 Share this post Link to post
Clippy Posted July 29, 2021 Map 13 of my cliptucky maps has one light amp pickup right at the start and you have to beat it before it wears off. The entire map is set in pitch black darkness. Anytime you die it's pretty cool because the lights go out. Super short silly map though but my best attempt of trying to do something cool with those 6 Share this post Link to post
out_of_service Posted July 29, 2021 9 hours ago, TheNoob_Gamer said: This thread reminds me of one particular section in Doom 64's MAP06, where there was a bunch of platforms with a really dark football-shaped pit underneath them. Inside that pit resided many Spectres, which can easily chewed off your butt if you fall into the pit. That's one of those instances I wish a light amp goggles was in my disposal. You're talking about Alpha Quadrant, one of my favourite maps! I think the light amplification visors only appears twice in all of Doom 64. 2 Share this post Link to post
HAK3180 Posted July 29, 2021 Gonna have to mention one of my favorite Doom things ever: Ryath's Bury My Heart Knee Deep. This was a vanilla Metroidvania style 90-ish-minute map that featured the visor as a "permanent powerup." There are several very dark areas with visors behind bars. Once you find the right switch, all the bars open and then there are lots of visors at every dark area's entrance. It didn't fix the visual issue, but I thought it was a cool concept. 5 Share this post Link to post
Koko Ricky Posted July 29, 2021 11 hours ago, Doomkid said: I love the idea of bumping the light up 32 - 64 units rather than garish fullbright. Heck, I think add the fullbright flag to monsters and items would also be a great alternative, or maybe a combo of the two. That would help immensely while still not totally uglifying areas that are meant to be dark. I believe this is how Blood handled it. 3 Share this post Link to post