Nine Circles - a single MBF21 map [now on /idgames]

[Doomy__Doom]

Idgames download

 

 

This is my first public map, originally made for and played in decino's Viewer Submissions Round 4. This version fixes some issues, remakes the hub area and is rebalanced in a variety of places, as the original was thrown together during end-of-year work pile.

The main concept of this level was to take a single room geometry (which probably anyone who played their IWADS knows and hates) as a core and build a variety of combat scenarios within those confines as a learning excercise.

 

IWAD: DOOM2
Compatibility: MBF21 (-complevel 21), but not all ports, see list below

Slot: MAP09 (UMAPINFO can take you there from New Game) + post-map interlude

Map type: Arena gauntlet (no incidental combat/exploration/secrets)

Difficulty: High end I guess?.. Nonstandard difficulties - monster placement is identical, HMP/HNTR get better resources

Spoiler

Core design is around UV. A lot of combat was built around awareness and quick decision making to put myself out of comfort zone.

HMP/HNTR get progressively better HP/Armor (e.g. a Green armor on UV might become Blue armor and such), extra ammo and Radsuits. HNTR gets a few invulnerabilities.

Let me know which parts are easy/hard for you and why.

Recommended mechanics: no jumping, no mouselook, infinitely tall monsters

Spoiler

Combat is designed for vanilla mechanics and actively exploits things like autoaim range to limit sniping across the arena and force player into risk/danger.

Weapon changes: faster pistol and chaingun

Monster changes: Baron projectiles and infighting + new custom monster

Spoiler

Barons now toss a mancubus-looking projectile (I have no idea how to do spritework, okay? :)) which deals [8-64 + 1-20 splash over 130 range] damage. Barons can infight HKs.

New custom monster - Shadow Vile. An invisible (spectral blur) and invulnerable 500 HP Arch-Vile which does not attack. When resurrecting, briefly becomes visible and vulnerable.

Textures: OTEX by ukiro (merged)

Music: Uneven Structures by AD_79

 

Works With: dsda-doom 0.24, Woof! 9.0, Eternity Engine 4.03 (dev builds as of now), Doom Retro 4.5

Major Issues With: GZDoom 4.7.1 (Fixed for future release), Odamex 10.1 (Fixed for future release), DelphiDoom 2.0.7.735

Spoiler

Odamex 10.1 - enemies resurrected by Shadow Vile appear to get their height set to 0 after a few consecutive resurrections.

 

GZDoom 4.7.1 - Shadow Vile does not function correctly - it does not become visible during resurrection.

 

DelphiDoom - Voodoo dolls are not rendered visible, so you will have no visual cue for tracking the currently functinal cover button in room #3.

 

In all cases level is technically completable, but I strongly recommend one of the supported ports for intended experience. If you insist on playing in GZDoom, make sure you are not on default compat - Boom(strict) would be my recommendation.

 

Screenshots: These all come from a failed ~22 minutes in demo attempt :)

Spoiler

 

Changelog:

v1.1:

- fixed some issues in Shadow Vile Dehacked

- Marked some geometry in room #3 impassable to prevent AV jump sequence breaks and softlocks

- Cover pieces in room #3 are now colored according to which pillar needs to have the voodoo doll on it to be able to raise the cover.

Edited June 3, 2022 by Doomy__Doom : /idgames upload

[Codename_Delta]

I need to get this, decino's video got me excited as it is!

[BeastOfBeasts]

Sick stuff

[Ralphis]

On 4/30/2022 at 4:17 PM, Doomy__Doom said:

Does Not Run With: Odamex 10.0

  Hide contents

As of now, both of these ports will crash, albeit in different places.

 

 

FYI, just played through this in Odamex 10.1 from start to finish. No crashes. There were a lot of fixes between 10.0 -> 10.1 so it is likely resolved.

[Doomy__Doom]

36 minutes ago, Ralphis said:

 

FYI, just played through this in Odamex 10.1 from start to finish. No crashes. There were a lot of fixes between 10.0 -> 10.1 so it is likely resolved.

Considering it crashed on just about any voodoo closet, some of those Generalized Specials fixes probably helped. I'll update the OP once I get a chance to playtest on 10.1 myself tomorrow.

[LadyMistDragon]

Unfortunately, I couldn't record a completed demo in a sufficient period of time. This looks really good, although I would suggest perhaps adding an extra Soulsphere or two in trouble spots. Realizing you need an Arch-vile jump toward the end of the 3rd circle would certainly have been helpful

lmd_9circles.zip

[Doomy__Doom]

7 hours ago, LadyMistDragon said:

Unfortunately, I couldn't record a completed demo in a sufficient period of time. This looks really good, although I would suggest perhaps adding an extra Soulsphere or two in trouble spots. Realizing you need an Arch-vile jump toward the end of the 3rd circle would certainly have been helpful

lmd_9circles.zip

Loved the hyper-risk approach to 2nd circle, complete with "who needs to pick up armor, just don't get hit".

 

That AV jump in C3 is not intended, that's something for me to fix. You seem to have missed the cover gimmick though (spoiler for blind runners):

Spoiler

The idea is to travel counter-clockwise while shooting switches one by one to provide cover as needed. The Voodoo doll teleports along the side pillars to denote which switch is the next. I guess I should add some more color-coding there to help associate side pillars to switches?..

 

Wrt extra health - that's exactly what lower difficulties do right now. I'd love to actually get some feedback as to how much extra health/armor placed there helps.

[LadyMistDragon]

On 5/4/2022 at 1:14 AM, Doomy__Doom said:

Loved the hyper-risk approach to 2nd circle, complete with "who needs to pick up armor, just don't get hit".

 

 

At least someone took note of a particular thing I did.:) Yeah, I'm not exactly very good at moving so it's easier for me to skip items for a little while until I feel in a better position.

[Doomy__Doom]

Updated map to v1.1 (link in OP):

- fixed some issues in Shadow Vile Dehacked

- Marked some geometry in room #3 impassable to prevent AV jump sequence breaks and softlocks

- Cover pieces in room #3 are now colored according to which pillar needs to have the voodoo doll on it to be able to raise the cover

[Doomy__Doom]

Final bump for /idgames upload + updated state of source port compat after bug reports.