Untitled Techbase Episode for Doom II

[ApprihensivSoul]

I previously posted an earlier version of this on the ZDoom forums, but since its boom compatible I figured I should upload here as well.

Anyway, here's a six map episode I was working on over the summer as a practice for standalone techbase content, using alot of the stuff I learned working on reTNT (which is still in the works, but since there's like three other TNT re-imaginings right now, by much more talented authors, I figured I'd backburner it for more important IRL stuff,)

This map pack is designed to be pistol started from Map01, and played through in single segment, but I tried hard to support pistol starts on each map, to the point that I did most of my testing that way. They're mostly fairly large, sprawling maps with what I find to be an aggressive pace, but I tried to avoid going straight up slaughtermap whenever possible. Even the larger maps are designed to keep you pretty restricted on resources, so (if I did it right,) proper weapon management is a must. They're also extremely secret heavy, ranging from simple trapdoors to entire puzzles. Each map also had a different objective from the outset, so you'll see a range of different types of concepts on display, and I can't promise every experiment will land. But I hope it's enjoyable, because I think this is the first time I've made something of this scale and detail level!

This mapset is for stock Doom II, edited the title because i got asked about that in the Zdoom thread. I may add custom textures at some point, but currently there are none included.

 

EDIT: Maplist:

MAP01: Courtyard Access
MAP02: Delivery Storage
MAP03: Server Core
MAP04: Coolant Tunnels
MAP05: Cyborg Vangard
MAP06: Teleporter Experiment

Here's my goallist from the original post, in case anyone is able to let me know how close to the mark I landed:
 

Quote

- Heavy atmosphere
- Distinct landmarks and setpieces
- A feeling of "scrappy" combat, where you're often fighting off threats from several sides at once, and constantly navigating somewhat cramped, nonlinear environments at high speed

 

Download from Dropbox here!

 

 

for ZDoom forum users, I will update the post over there as well with the new content. 

EDIT: zDoom Forums thread (original post)

 

SCREENSHOTS (New since last update):

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Edited October 14, 2021 by ApprihensivSoul : Name of Iwad.

[Walter confetti]

Classy and charming! I like it!

[azerty]

So I played the first 3 maps so far (on HMP). I really like them. They have a very classy and charming feel just like Walter confetti said and they really are very nicely made I see some detail I really like.

I recorded the playthru but the file got corrupted I don't even know why and how so I am really sorry about that. I will maybe play the other 3 maps but I still have to see cause my list of maps to play is pretty large already. 

 

The fights where really intense and I  really understand what you mean with an aggressive pace but I think it worked well and it put a lot of tension in the fights. In map 01 I already felt it as when I shot my first bullet all the monsters began opening all the doors to attack me which was really fun. I think ammo and health management is really well handled as well.

 

For the moment I only have one complaint and that is that at the start of map 03 there are to much hitscan it really is annoying. There where a lot of boxes which means that there are a lot of corners where hitscan can blast you in the face just when take a turn this happened a lot to me certainly with shotgunners which made that first part not really fun. I don't say you have to remove all of them I just say that it would be good to reduce the presence hitscan bihind every corner.

 

I hope this is helpful and again sorry for the video.

[ApprihensivSoul]

Hey, thanks for the feedback. I found the pacing of Map02 (the cratemaze, if I understand your description) pretty fun, but my roommate was utterly slaughtered, so memorization could play a role. I'll look into that in future releases! 

I look forward to any videos people are willing to upload, I'm really bad at recording my own, and I'm always excited to see how other people interpret my design.

[princetontiger]

Playing thru these now... first couple maps are super fun.

 

Is there a reason why you chose to have monsters open the doors on map01?

[ApprihensivSoul]

Yup! Exactly what it brought: Tension. I liked the aggression it brought to the pacing. Also the same reason I used two doors in the starting room, to make it hard to cover both at once.

EDIT: 

To clarify, I really enjoy having to constantly look around to cover my blind spots, and I love it when there's alot of vantage points that I need to watch, without being sure of which is going to be where the threat comes from. It was a similar principal to the Cacodemons in the first room of MAP02, though I did it in a different way there. I hope it answers your question!

Most of my level design influence came from Descent of all things, which might explain alot, but its very different from traditional Doom, encounter wise.

[princetontiger]

These maps are awesome... one comment... half of them had 300+ monsters. In those cases, I had to take multiple sessions to complete the maps because of time constraints... not sure if they could be split or not, but just an opinion.

 

Overall, super fun!!!