Zemini Posted July 13, 2022 (edited) Name: The Eldritch Runes of Discord Format: UDMF Port: GZDoom: Jumping and Crouching can be used if needed. There should already be barriers where I do not want you to jump but the map can be completed without jumping. Do as you will. IWAD: DOOM2.WAD Game Type: Singleplayer (coop planned) Build Time: Hundreds of hours. Maybe thousands, I do not know. Started in 2014, but OG idea existed back in 1994 when I first started using DEU2. Sadly those maps are lost forever on some old computer in a landfill. Editors Used: DEU2, GZDoomBuilder (and prior DB type editors), Slade 3, Adobe Photoshop, Paint Basic Premise: During the infinite conquest of Doom Hell, it was only a matter of time before the evil hordes came across another hellish dimension full of otherworldly demonic beings that could match them in evil and chaos. These unique demonic factions have locked into a eternal stalemate while "you" the doomguy is stuck in the middle of it. You must weaken the barriers between the two realms of Hell in order to save yourself and Earth from certain annihilation. You will battle across the sol system, and invade different regions of the underworld and beyond, fighting over 60 enemies new, old and upgraded. Equipment a new set of weapons and buy new ones at the in game shop. Be also on the look out for permanent health upgrades for you will need it against the relentless demon assault. Even though the demons are at war with one another, one thing is for certain; the one thing they hate more than each other is you! https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/vr9c2t0peu5z6s47un8ss/EldritchPlayTest3.7z?rlkey=relwtxgmfk4p2dwuuyxpoa31v&dl=0 READ THIS BEFORE PLAYING! THIS IS MORE THAN A MEGAWAD, IT HAS MANY MODIFICATIONS! Gameplay Changes from Vanilla: Mapsets: First map is MAP01. After the intro level the player starts within a Quake 1 like hub where they can choose an episode. At the end of each episode the player goes back to the hub. Collect all 6 rune keys to access the final level (Not yet implemented). Each Episode is 6 levels which are about the size of a classic doom level. Play time is about 90-180 minutes per episode depending on difficulty and how much you want to explore. Finding slayer gates can take time for new players. HUB Entrance: Intro Level Episode One: Maps 11-16, The Moon. Easiest Episode. Recommend starting here. Episode Two: Maps 21 - 26, Phobos Episode Three: Maps 31 - 36, Deimos Episode Four: Maps 41 - 46, Mars Episode Five: Maps 51-56, Earth (under construction) The first 4 maps are available with Toddler and Easy Difficulty. Episode Six: Maps 61-66, Venus (under construction) You can go hear to collect 99 tokens to buy items for testing. The ending will bring you back to the hub. Final Level: Not Available. Difficulty Settings: Each difficulty determines Monster count. Toddler: Hey Not Too Rough+ This is good if you want a quick review. Easy: Hurt Me Plenty+ I suggest starting here if you like a well rounded normal difficulty. Medium: Ultra-Violence-Ish Hard: Harder than Ultra-Violence Brutal: Not yet implemented. It will truly challenge your resolve and patience. Slaughter: Not yet implemented. TBD if needed Music: Uses music from Doom, Doom2 and Final Doom. Textures: Classic Doom, many from realm667 and a few from Hexen and Heretic. There are also custom textures I created and/or recolored. Monsters: Tons of new custom enemies. A lot of them are recolors I made myself, others come from Realm667. I also rebalanced some vanilla monsters. Any vanilla monster that was changed enough will look visually different. Here is just a handful: Replaces the Former Human Trooper. Uses a rapid machinegun attack. The standard cacodemon has a chance to fire a yellow lightning orb which stuns the player. This is part of that attack animation so you know when to dodge. Blood Elemental replaces Pain. All elementals have had various adjustments. They still spit out souls (in this case Blood Souls) but also have a nasty projectile. All nobles can use different elemental attacks, this hell knight is attacking with a Blood Bolt with heals the Hell Knight for damage dealt. Frost variants of the Imp and Revenant. Their attacks will slow down the player briefly. The Fire Soul, replaces the Lost Soul. All Lost Soul behavior has changed slightly. Basically their melee attack is faster and they do not infight with eachother anymore! This makes them more dangerous. Weapons: Weapons have been overhauled. Advanced weapons are available within the hub for purchase. F1 Help Screen Items: All armor gives 50% reduction. There is also permanent health up upgrades. F1 Help Screen Damage Types: Certain monsters do different damage types. Their effects vary and are still undergoing internal testing. F1 Help Screen GAME SYSTEM Features: In game Store - Some maps have teleports to this part of the hub for convenience. Find Slayer Tokens to buy items at the in game store. This includes health and armor bonues, new weapons and a backpack upgrade. Currently, tokens are found three ways: Eldritch Temples: Each level has at least one Eldritch Temple you can explore. Temple Keys are secretly hidden within the every map. Each temple has 1 token reward.Temple Keys Typical Temple Doorways that have mysteriously erected near or on the surface. I suggest saving the game before going inside. There are spiked traps, eldritch demons, falling pits of death and turrets that fire any number of elemental projectiles. Fiend Secret Door: Killing all fiends within each level will open a secret door. Some are easy to find, others are hidden. Fiends within SlayerGates (more on that below) do not count towards this goal. Each Fiend chamber should contain a slayer token and other useful items. Fiend SlayerGates: All non hell levels have a slayer gate. Finishing a SlayerGate rewards a single slayer token. In order to gain entry you must find six switches scattered (and hidden) throughout each level. Switches Each arena will be unique. Here is the Blood Swamps. Classic Hell Arena inspired by the Doom Cover. Slayergates will open after killing three waves of monsters or after a given set of time. Episode Finale: Each final level of each episode is a unique hell level. You have three objectives: 1. Defeat the final boss(es) and locate the exit portal. 2. Find and kill the Rune Keeper. They are imprisoned behind a elder door in each hell level. Green KeeperHarder Red Variant. 3. Killing the keeper opens up the Rune Door which holds the rune. Runes Additional Enemies: Some Eldritch Demons: Mindflayer, Elder Caco-Beholder and a Shoggoth. Devil Variants: Each one uses its respective elemental powers. Can also be summoned by a arch vile variant called the Satanist. Testing Focus: The best feedback comes by youtube or twitch. That way I can see how each player approaches a problem and where adjustments maybe needed. If you plan on making videos, that will be most helpful and appreciated. Here is what needs to be tested most. Difficulty in finding Slayer Switches and temple keys: As a tester, I hope you make at a attempt to find the slayer switches. It is important to see how long it takes and if things need to be adjusted. Finding the balance between easy and hard to find them is challenging. However feel free to give up and move on because that is also important information. Slayer gates: Are these challenging enough? On Hard difficulty they should feel like a pee wee league slaughter map. Level Layout: How do the monsters feel in the space provided? Are you having a difficulty time navigating the level? Are you having fun? Advanced Weapons: Do the advanced weapons trivialize encounters? Yes they do... Armor/Health/Ammo: Are you finding too much or too little health and ammo? The player should on average have about 100-200 armor at a given time. Some monsters and later difficulties/levels will do extra armor damage. https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/vr9c2t0peu5z6s47un8ss/EldritchPlayTest3.7z?rlkey=relwtxgmfk4p2dwuuyxpoa31v&dl=0 Known Issues: Story Logs NOT EDITED and NOT FINAL Super Chaingun (Painless) sound need further tuning Some monsters in slayergates do not port into the arena when they should. A tic timer has been put in place in case this happens. Too much armor on easier difficulties. Too be expected on easier difficulties. Damage Types need further balancing Monster Species and Damage Types needs further balancing ALL SlayerGates need further balancing on all difficulties Using ALL KEYS cheat can break scripts making progression impossible. Please use IDCLIP Some mods are known to break the game. I have not play tested it with Brutal/PB and suggest not using any mods with this project. Future Features: Invasion Demons New Weapon Sprites New Art and Logo's Edited February 12 by Zemini 20 Share this post Link to post
Zemini Posted July 13, 2022 (edited) Demo of the first level Edited August 5, 2023 by Zemini : update coming soon. 1 Share this post Link to post
IcarusOfDaggers Posted July 13, 2022 Name suggestion: Planetary Roulette. Cause the starting room reminds me of a roulette table 0 Share this post Link to post
sandwedge Posted July 13, 2022 wow this looks really impressive! I do hope you come up with a name because I think that can really help with interest, and this looks like it deserves it! It looks like you've added a lot of metagame stuff within levels like switches, tokens, gates and all sorts of stuff, reading through it is a little confusing but hopefully it's actually clear when you get in the game. Would love to check some of this out, not sure how much as I'm looking at lots of Doom stuff but this looks worth looking into for sure! 0 Share this post Link to post
xScavengerWolfx Posted July 13, 2022 2 hours ago, Zemini said: Green KeeperHarder Red Variant. I won't lie, This right here as me sold. I love seeing lovecraftin stuff in doom. Also i know how hard it is to come up with names for maps, trust me i know. But when ever you release a beta wad (for the community to play) i think of a name for it. 2 Share this post Link to post
xX_Lol6_Xx Posted July 13, 2022 Looks good, I'll be sure to test it out 0 Share this post Link to post
Zemini Posted July 15, 2022 (edited) Added some more screenshots, i hope to post it tonight. On 7/13/2022 at 2:31 PM, xScavengerWolfx said: I won't lie, This right here as me sold. I love seeing lovecraftin stuff in doom. Also i know how hard it is to come up with names for maps, trust me i know. But when ever you release a beta wad (for the community to play) i think of a name for it. Lovecraftian/Eldritch influence will start as a slow trickle but eventually (through environmental story telling) will be a bigger part of the later campaign (under construction). Demons are at conflict with one another whether they are from hell or another dark dimensions. The only thing they hate more than each other is you (the player). Edited August 3, 2023 by Zemini 0 Share this post Link to post
xScavengerWolfx Posted July 15, 2022 3 hours ago, Zemini said: Added some more screenshots, i hope to post it tonight. Lovecraftian/Eldritch influence will start as a slow trickle but eventually (through environmental story telling) will be a bigger part of the later campaign (under construction). Demons are at conflict with one another whether they are from hell or another dark dimensions. The only thing they hate more than each other is you (the player). UPDATE: Released DropBox Link https://www.dropbox.com/s/305c1vfmaidndzv/The Elder Runes of Discord - BETA.7z?dl=0 I've played a little of it and goddamn it's fun but a pain at the same time. I will say the Hub area reminds me of Quake 1 with the 4 arch ways to go to each ep. I'm still on ep 1 but man i'm really digging it though. As far as a name for this goes i though of one i don't know if you want to use it or not but i thought of a name. Should call it "Elders of the forgotten realms" or "Realms of the forgotten elders". i don't know which one is better but just a thought while playing. 0 Share this post Link to post
Zemini Posted July 15, 2022 (edited) 2 minutes ago, xScavengerWolfx said: I've played a little of it and goddamn it's fun but a pain at the same time. I will say the Hub area reminds me of Quake 1 with the 4 arch ways to go to each ep. I'm still on ep 1 but man i'm really digging it though. As far as a name for this goes i though of one i don't know if you want to use it or not but i thought of a name. Should call it "Elders of the forgotten realms" or "Realms of the forgotten elders". i don't know which one is better but just a thought while playing. What difficulty did you select? Medium is about Ultra Violence 0 Share this post Link to post
xScavengerWolfx Posted July 15, 2022 1 hour ago, Zemini said: What difficulty did you select? Medium is about Ultra Violence Medium, i usually do HMP or UV depends on how i'm feeling 1 Share this post Link to post
Chibi_Chikito Posted July 15, 2022 This is awesome, i will enjoy a lot this megawad 0 Share this post Link to post
Zemini Posted August 9, 2023 (edited) New Version is up. First Four episodes are complete. I plan on having EP 5 and maybe 6 next quakecon. 2 Share this post Link to post
Terrcraft Posted August 9, 2023 supprised this isnt getting more attention. 0 Share this post Link to post
JohnR60 Posted August 9, 2023 This Wad looks awesome! I can't wait to try it when it's complete! 0 Share this post Link to post
Daytime Waitress Posted August 9, 2023 I've only played the first map (Reception), so can only give initial impressions, nothing too in-depth. There's a lot going on here. I said in another thread that your introduction video was easy to understand, and I'd definitely recommend people check that out (second post in this thread) so that they don't get bamboozled. It's not necessarily a negative thing, just that with so many tweaks and extensions to traditional gameplay (even little book-keeping things like different ammo/armour types and "leveling up" health), it's a lot to take in at first blush. Despite that, I think the major subsystems like the slayers gates, crypts and fiend doors are readily understandable and add a lot to the standard Doom framework. Secrets aren't just wall-humping in the vain hope that you'll uncover an small ammo cache - you gotta explore the landscape so that you can eradicate every last demon possible. Spoiler Speaking of which, I heard the Slayer's Gate exit open before I dusted the last imp and got the all-clear message - is that normal? And I really like how this vibes with the distinctly classic feel for the levels themselves. Something about the music and the layouts, and how they're contrasted with all the extra stuff. The e1m1 call-backs were incredibly cute, too. I started on Easy, and felt that it did what it said on the tin. There monster count feels right, and you're given a stupid amount of ammo to deal with everything anyway. The only things that threw me for a loop were the Fiends and the acid traps. The former, having a higher ROF than standard nobles, were hilarious and I enjoyed fighting them quite a bit. The latter... I got got and wasn't sure why. Did picking up the invisibility screw me? It felt like constantly getting pinged by hitscanners, and there seems to be a lingering effect? It would be helpful if you could discuss the mechanics behind that one, if you wouldn't mind. Despite the huge amount of nit-picking in this post, I really am enjoying this set and looking forward to exploring it proper; but I just thought I'd drop some initial feedback so you can see how fresh eyes might be coming at it. Congrats on the release, and on making your proposed release date - there's a monumental amount of effort in here, so I hope you can take a well-deserved breather before getting to work on eps 5 and 6. 0 Share this post Link to post
Aeddes666 Posted August 10, 2023 (edited) Hey. At map 04 (Ep 1), near end, on the yellow armor, if you stay at plataform, there's no way to go down. 0 Share this post Link to post
Zemini Posted August 10, 2023 (edited) 15 hours ago, Daytime Waitress said: I've only played the first map (Reception), so can only give initial impressions, nothing too in-depth. There's a lot going on here. I said in another thread that your introduction video was easy to understand, and I'd definitely recommend people check that out (second post in this thread) so that they don't get bamboozled. It's not necessarily a negative thing, just that with so many tweaks and extensions to traditional gameplay (even little book-keeping things like different ammo/armour types and "leveling up" health), it's a lot to take in at first blush. Despite that, I think the major subsystems like the slayers gates, crypts and fiend doors are readily understandable and add a lot to the standard Doom framework. Secrets aren't just wall-humping in the vain hope that you'll uncover an small ammo cache - you gotta explore the landscape so that you can eradicate every last demon possible. Reveal hidden contents Speaking of which, I heard the Slayer's Gate exit open before I dusted the last imp and got the all-clear message - is that normal? And I really like how this vibes with the distinctly classic feel for the levels themselves. Something about the music and the layouts, and how they're contrasted with all the extra stuff. The e1m1 call-backs were incredibly cute, too. I started on Easy, and felt that it did what it said on the tin. There monster count feels right, and you're given a stupid amount of ammo to deal with everything anyway. The only things that threw me for a loop were the Fiends and the acid traps. The former, having a higher ROF than standard nobles, were hilarious and I enjoyed fighting them quite a bit. The latter... I got got and wasn't sure why. Did picking up the invisibility screw me? It felt like constantly getting pinged by hitscanners, and there seems to be a lingering effect? It would be helpful if you could discuss the mechanics behind that one, if you wouldn't mind. Despite the huge amount of nit-picking in this post, I really am enjoying this set and looking forward to exploring it proper; but I just thought I'd drop some initial feedback so you can see how fresh eyes might be coming at it. Congrats on the release, and on making your proposed release date - there's a monumental amount of effort in here, so I hope you can take a well-deserved breather before getting to work on eps 5 and 6. It is a lot too take in. I did put a few HELP SCREEN within the game with the f1 shortcut. As far as Blursphere goes, it behaves like any other. But TBH, they are best used against monsters with projectiles and turret traps. "Hey. At map 04 (Ep 1), near end, on the yellow armor, if you stay at plataform, there's no way to go down." Whoops that platform should never go back up. Or just be removed since that is old architecture. 0 Share this post Link to post
Zemini Posted August 10, 2023 (edited) by complete "accident" i see the hub in the quakecon stream background right behind Hugo... Edited August 20, 2023 by Zemini 0 Share this post Link to post