akashic migraine [-CL21] [RC1] (now on idgames!)

[msx2plus]

 

"akashic migraine" is a misshapen, awkward, and unfriendly map i put together as a break from work on TIME TRIPPER. it's exhausting making detailed, pretty, and generally accessible things all the time, especially when my tastes lean the other way.

 

there's a reasonable amount of platforming (all of it can be done with running once you work out the angles, don't feel bad about taking it slow or savescumming those bits though) and the combat ramps up quickly from "this is kind of awkward" to "this is kind of awkward light slaughter". generally speaking i configured it to be just enough of a challenge to me.

 

HNTR has been replaced with a no monsters layout because i could not be bothered and because i feel like just running through the level and hitting all the platforming quickly is enough of a challenge on its own (and great fun, especially if you clue in on a couple of the speed tricks). HMP ("FewerMo") is a fairly dialed down version of UV ("Original") that most people should be able to knock out. item placements are the same across the board, so that knowledge will carry over as you ramp up the skill.

 

yes, it is supposed to look like that. i'm sure i missed a HOM or two though. as i'm looking to move on to other work, aside from major fixes i'll likely call this done.

 

it has an original soundtrack by myself in protracker MOD format. as such, prboom/dsda-doom come recommended. you can get the soundtrack here, too, which includes both the rendered audio and the original MOD files:

MP3: https://www.mediafire.com/file/sbfwm3q1g240gy4/msx+-+akashicmigraine+EP+[MP3].zip/file

FLAC: https://www.mediafire.com/file/z8wsgee7fb9usxu/msx+-+akashicmigraine+EP+[FLAC].zip/file

 

DOWNLOAD: https://heckscaper.com/doom/migraine_rc1.zip

ALSO ON IDGAMES: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/m-o/migraine

 

 

 

Edited February 8, 2022 by msx2plus : idgames link added

[Walter confetti]

Looks pretty crazy, love the new palette

[Thelokk]

Looks beautiful but the platforming thing is making me a bit wary. Will try anyway!

[Maribo]

This is such a sick aesthetic piece, I love it. If you're a fan of stuff that'd you call anything like... "patchwork" or "disintegrating/merging realities", I'd really really suggest playing this immediately.

My favorite bits:

Spoiler

The room after you get the BFG and teleport away from the rev + cyber arena, it feels so foggy and decayed... and the use of the barrels blocking vile spawns makes for a nice cat & mouse segment.

The rev + cyber arena too, actually, it's short and sweet.

The tightrope platforming before you drop down to the areas with the pain elementals, the visual feel is nutty with the flashing floor.

dsdademo: mg.zip (plays back on dsdadoom 0.22.2 or newer)

[MattFright]

The bitrate killer is finally out!!!

[Thelokk]

So, gave this a run trying to keep an open mind and, what can I say...

It certainly requires a certain mindset and a certain kind of player, unfortunately I do not possess the fomer and am not the latter. It ascribes to a certain definition of 'fun' which is (and this is only *my* opinion) really not much fun at all. And that's gameplay wise.

If we take it as an artistic statement, well, then it's a bullseye: the fragmented aesthetic really carries the map and, in spite of occasional attempted framerate murder, it definitely show an internal logic of its own, as well as a commitment to a vision i can only praise. In short - I am not your audience, but keep it up!

 

[msx2plus]

i appreciate you giving it a try anyways @Thelokk!! and for the kinds words despite totally bouncing off the map's gameplay <3

 

thank you for the demo @Maribo! it's super cool seeing it through a brand new set of eyes. i especially enjoyed watching you try out a few different strategies in the "library fortress" room with the pain elementals. it was probably the trickiest room to get feeling decent and the "intended" strategy i came up with totally revealed itself by accident... lol... good job on the platforming, too!

Edited January 23, 2022 by msx2plus

[Degree23]

The lack of an (obvious) Armor was a huge downside for me on this map.

[msx2plus]

12 minutes ago, Degree23 said:

The lack of an (obvious) Armor was a huge downside for me on this map.

 

Spoiler

there is some green armor tucked away amongst the bookshelf "elevator" area (and some more later on in the form of a megasphere and another green armor), but yes, you generally have to put in the work for it here.

being "squishy" in doom is always a very threatening feeling that i like.

[Danlex]

Doomworld needs more maps like this, I loved it. The music was also fantastic.

I was a bit afraid of the difficulty and the platforming with the way you described it but I actually found it very enjoyable on UV.

Good job!

[King Know-Nothing]

*Sees fractured reality breaking aesthetic and begins to vibrate intensely.*

 

This. Is. My. Shit. I love seeing stuff like this and I am very excited to play it. Always down for batshit wild stuff, its kind of like the Doom WAD equivalent of Noise Music and that has me eager to try it out.

[msx2plus]

1 hour ago, King Know-Nothing said:

Doom WAD equivalent of Noise Music

music is my job first and foremost and noise music in particular is a huge component of everything i do; very happy for this comparison!!

[Shepardus]

Just had a run through this on ITYTD. The platforming wasn't too bad but I did have to rewind a few times. I feel like a broken record repeating this, but the aesthetic is really cool. The color palette reminds me of Arcadia Demade with all the green and purple, it's very nice to look at despite the wild geometry and texturing. Nice music too, tracker modules are so underutilized in Doom WADs.

[Daytime Waitress]

The disorientation inherent in the visual, sonic and gameplay choices might all be there to contrast with generally acceptable, accessible and "pretty" conventions, but this map feels incredibly... cohesive. It has a really solid stylistic voice. I also got a big bang of WipEout from it, despite it being the anithesis of that series' sleekness and cleanliness: maybe it was the brash colour choices, the dnb, or the fact that the automap straight up makes it look like a Designer's Republic-designed team logo.

 

Whilst I'm pretty new around these parts, I feel like maps such as this are the true strength of Doom. A supportive space where people create things outside the limits of the already accepted or the profitable. A place where every niche, no matter how strange, can be filled. Sometimes to push technical or stylistic boundaries. Sometimes just because. Either way, you're expanding horizons. If someone had told me even yesterday that I was going to spend part of my evening exploring a visually "wrong" platfoming map for a 28 year old first person shooter, I'd probably have slapped them. But here I am, questioning every belief I've held about platforming in an FPS; wanting to work my way up to "getting good" at this level, just so I can spend more time in this universe you've created.

 

Keep it up, y0.

[Luleta]

played through this savescumming and i really enjoyed it, not only was it visually stunning but it also played great, the fights were quite interesting and really used the lack of space well. and you made me kinda like platforming in doom, something i usually dread (because i suck at it) 

 

big fan of your work in general, playing a wad made by you is mindblowing haha

 

ps: goes without saying that the music was amazing too, really complimented the visuals perfectly 

[Biodegradable]

Very wild and woolly map and, just as it says on the tin, very unfriendly. It's a very unique map, certainly one of the weirdest I've played. I enjoyed the colour palette and the combat was... aggravating if I'm being completely honest lol. Mind you, it was fun to overcome each challenge, even if I had to do a fair bit of saving because frankly some of it felt pretty unfair and I probably would've raged-quit otherwise (came really close to at one point). The more sadomasochistic types among our community will certainly get a kick out of it for sure. An interesting, wacky and colourful ride to be sure.

 

 

Edited February 5, 2022 by Biodegradable

[Clippy]

@Biodegradable tipped me off to this one - all the moving textures and unexpected colours freaked me out - and I suck at platforming but it's manageable - the last few fights were especially fun getting to rip and tear with the BFG - what a blast

 

 

[Sneezy McGlassFace]

I love this.

I suck really bad at doom but savescummed my way through FewerMo in 37 minutes on the game clock with 100% kills and all 3 secrets. Got my ass kicked a bunch but most of the time I was just amazed by the visuals. This kind of thing is right up my alley. Utterly bizarre, incomprehensible madness. Beautifully twisted and twistedly(?) beautiful. And the ending of kinda getting back to reality was a cherry on top. Reminded me of the feeling when shrooms start wearing off and reality slowly becomes solid again.

 

Appendix:

There was one moment when I teleported from the imps (near rocket launcher pickup) and got stuck down in the hurtfloor. Guess that was supposed to raise and didn't. Screenshot included. Sorry, got no demo.

 

And the door that rises the entire world made me burst out laughing. I was giggling throughout the entire map but this and the ending was just perfect.

 

Appendix 2:

Now I noticed I got 265 lines with unknown type and 11 specials without a tag in gzdoom log. That may be it.

 

Edited February 5, 2022 by HrnekBezucha : added stuff and things

[msx2plus]

15 minutes ago, HrnekBezucha said:

There was one moment when I teleported from the imps (near rocket launcher pickup) and got stuck down in the hurtfloor. Guess that was supposed to raise and didn't. Screenshot included. Sorry, got no demo.

if you move forward and to the right across the hurtfloor, there's a lift you can use. it has a door texture; whenever you see the door texture on a wall, it'll be usable as a lift (usually in a funny way)

 

glad the humor came across, i really like absurd "that's not how that's supposed to work" scenarios

 

thank you @Biodegradable and @Clippy for the playthroughs! it is definitely a specific kind of map for a specific kind of person, i appreciate the excellent vibes from y'all!!

[Katamori]

Rushed through it vaguely. Well, huh, that was something...I appreciate the NoMo options as it was really nerve-racking, and along with the nauseating visuals, that was strong! However, I appreciate the fact that it's clearly visible there's insanity with a hint of ingenuity.

 

Definitely an experience, not sure who I'd recommend for, though :D I can imagine it as part of a larger set.

[rando]

Cool visuals and music, fun fights and platforming.

Overall a very enjoyable map on UV while not being too difficult and on top of that it's quite unique.

 

Some notes:

 

- Killing the cyber in the secret fight is tedious. You could have him crushed when the player gets to the next room or offer the player a way to teleport closer to the cyber.

- The timed movement of the bookshelves at the start forces the player to wait often which breaks the gameflow.

Seeing a shelf raise right in front of your face is somewhat frustrating.

Maybe make them usable to allow the player to lower them if needed while also having them automatically raise/lower.

[msx2plus]

2 hours ago, rando said:

- Killing the cyber in the secret fight is tedious. You could have him crushed when the player gets to the next room or offer the player a way to teleport closer to the cyber.

do you mean the bfg fight? it's not secret, it's part of the map. he starts getting crushed once the platform to leave comes up.

[RiviTheWarlock]

Awesome aesthetic and tracker music, pretty fair (though I did play with saves because the platforming)

[rando]

19 hours ago, msx2plus said:

do you mean the bfg fight? it's not secret, it's part of the map. he starts getting crushed once the platform to leave comes up.

Really? I exited the arena and had to come back later to kill him. Will play through it again tomorrow and post a reply if it bugs out on me again.

___________

 

Just finished the map again. The cyberdemon isn't getting crushed on complevel 9. The crusher only works on complevel 21 (MBF21).

Edited February 7, 2022 by rando

[Billa]

In love with this map, thank you for the experience. I appreciated the moderate difficulty and also how strange the progression can be - the red switch cracked me up when I first saw it. Most of the time you can recover from failing the platforming but there were a few pits with no way out.

 

On 2/6/2022 at 10:09 PM, rando said:

Really? I exited the arena and had to come back later to kill him. Will play through it again tomorrow and post a reply if it bugs out on me again.

___________

 

Just finished the map again. The cyberdemon isn't getting crushed on complevel 9. The crusher only works on complevel 21 (MBF21).

 

I'm also having this problem. I recorded a max demo in CL9 and never triggered any sort of crusher, even while routing... can confirm it only works in CL21. Is the Boom demo still valid? I was just going off the title of this thread.

[msx2plus]

2 hours ago, Billa said:

can confirm it only works in CL21

oh shoot, i guess at some point my complevel launch param went missing from doombuilder, so it's CL21 (or dsda-doom's default) by accident lmao - today i learned https://github.com/coelckers/prboom-plus/issues/57. it's interesting that UDB seemingly doesn't have complevel settings that enable/disable certain functions and just files it all under one "boom" setting.

 

will change the title and all that, cheers for the report both you and @rando

[Savarin]

I finally got around to playing this fully, took me a while since I'm kinda stubborn with saves, and it's pretty challenging to boot. Gotta say, I was surprised once I saw you releasing a doom map, I've been a fan of your stuff for so long! The visuals and music is great, they have that style of yours that I really enjoy. Like it was mentioned before, the whole broken and glitched parts, the absolute mesh of pieces that should not look like this, but still works and have an entire new, beautiful look to it. The platforming was what made me finally crack and start saving more by the way lol

 

So basically, yeah I really enjoyed it :D

[Higo Doragon]

i completed a UV 100% run on dsda-doom, and i really really really loved this! the atmosphere/ aesthetic, the music ( that is freaking awesome! did you sample a revenant screaming? i loved every second of it ), the difficulty that is just on the right spot for me! this is a 10/10 for me. it was really fun to play, this wad is awesome. good job!

[General Roasterock]

This is a special map, one that has no peers in design. The color palette is a lovely change, making damage actually manageable, and the cool tinting on the grays such as the Revenant armor put this whole level in a dreamlike state. The platforming is prickly, borderline painful at times, but it fits right into the atmosphere and is satisfying to get down. This one is gonna stay in my brain for a while.

[trashgarbage]

Lovely level and absolutely sublime music. My brain tells me the intro reminds me of something, Photek or Grooverider maybe? Either way I love it. :]

 

One tiny issue I had on my first playthrough was for whatever reason the rocket trail in the dark and the subsequent mouth thing you jump down through were not lighting up at all, not sure what caused that.

 

Anyway I recorded this sloppy rewind TAS NoMo (in cl9 because I'm an absolute genius :] but it plays fine in cl21) just to show off two very cute jumps at ~0:15 and ~0:20.

mgrn01o4260.zip