Stickney Installation - A 36 Level Ultimate Doom Megawad (Vanilla) [FINAL VERSION NOW ON IDGAMES]

[xScavengerWolfx]

6 hours ago, Snaxalotl said:

So it turns out the health was only flagged for UV on E1M7. you didn't do anything wrong, it was definitely my fault lol. Updated with a fix

Oh i know the feeling of flagging the wrong stuff in a map lol. 

[RaZZoR]

 

[RaZZoR]

 

[Clippy]

Fantastic stuff - glad you were here while I played it - love all the little call backs to Knee Deep in the Dead - very nostalgic and full of action and a very surprising ending which I will try not to ruin - everyone play it!

 

 

[sandwedge]

I checked out the first work in progress map for episode 2 on stream last night!  Not sure if it'll get its own thread but here's a teaser anyway! :-)  Very cool concept to start things off as well, looking forward to a full episode 2 replacement!

 

(link to timecode)

 

[galileo31dos01]

Hello, I played your RC2 in crispy-doom, UV pistol starts. Cool stuff, I liked the KDTID flavor mixed with E2 atmosphere/lighting, fun shotgun action which is a rare feeling for me, and some nice secrets. 

 

Few minor observations:

 

- In M2, this door could be set one-sided in the automap so not to confuse with a potential secret.

- In M3, might suggest an exit sign for the secret exit. I flipped the switch not knowing it would end the map, and I was still missing secrets. The switch is hinted in crispy's automap though.

- In M8, computer map revealed a host of lines that maybe shouldn't be visible? 

- There were lots of misaligned textures throughout the maps, some more notorious than others, but none seemed on purpose I believe. If you're interested I can point them out (I actually did take screenies up to M5 or so, but then stopped).

 

Thanks for sharing!

[Snaxalotl]

5 hours ago, galileo31dos01 said:

Hello, I played your RC2 in crispy-doom, UV pistol starts. Cool stuff, I liked the KDTID flavor mixed with E2 atmosphere/lighting, fun shotgun action which is a rare feeling for me, and some nice secrets. 

 

Few minor observations:

 

- In M2, this door could be set one-sided in the automap so not to confuse with a potential secret.

- In M3, might suggest an exit sign for the secret exit. I flipped the switch not knowing it would end the map, and I was still missing secrets. The switch is hinted in crispy's automap though.

- In M8, computer map revealed a host of lines that maybe shouldn't be visible? 

- There were lots of misaligned textures throughout the maps, some more notorious than others, but none seemed on purpose I believe. If you're interested I can point them out (I actually did take screenies up to M5 or so, but then stopped).

 

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the feedback! Just updated the wad fixing a bunch of alignments and other oddities, in addition to the suggestions you made.

Edited August 10, 2022 by Snaxalotl : Updated wad and stuff

[Doomkid]

Just finished playing this, what a fun hour of rock-solid oldschool Dooming. Really liked it, gonna have a playthrough going live in the next day-ish!

[painelemental667]

Doom: Stickney Installation RC2 | UV First Playthrough | No Mic Commentary

 

I like the classic style here and low enemy count. It was fun to play Doom 1 again. Good to see wads for Doom 1. Good wad for short chill session. I died once at final level. 

[Lucius Wooding]

This is probably the best E1 themed mapset I've played, I really liked most of the maps. Secrets were sometimes clever and fairly gettable with only a couple I couldn't find, and the maps that killed me generally were greatly helped by them on subsequent runs. I pistol started for UV max attempts so continuous play would be a ton easier since the chaingun is king here. That makes it also playable for a wide range of players which is cool.

 

As for critique, I think long range combat is hindered by the darkness too much at times; it adds to the short range fights but I'd love a bit of lighting in the background to silhouette monsters in the bigger rooms. There were only like 2 fights affected by this and it was a minor annoyance to make sure I didn't miss kills, but fortunately it mainly affected imps and not hitscanners. On the plus side ammo was generous enough on most maps that you could afford to use your guns as a flashlight.

 

Spoiler

The map I liked the least was map 8:

 

It had a pretty cool concept but the big fight completely crapped out once pinkies started spawning IMO. I liked that the barrel explosions forced you to the middle and prevented you from circlestrafing per se, but the barrels stopped and the pinkies replaced the fodder enemies. That turned it into shotgunning a giant meat wall for way too long with nothing stopping you from circle strafing except some mild hurtfloors which weren't really in play unless you went for supplies. Either a bit of a change in arena design and shape, or maybe some extra hazards like a couple crushers or lowering more of the perimeter into the blood would have made for a more perilous fight. Even giving the player the rocket launcher (for pistol starter) or berserk and limiting the ammo could have been options since they'd both require more skillful movement to make use of. 

I also think the visuals were a bit bland compared to the others. 

 

I liked map 9 the best:

 

It clapped my cheeks hard, holy smokes is it populated. It's almost to the point of being excessive but I really like the design behind it. Spreading out all the ammo and health and placing a ton of roaming enemies is pretty malicious. Once I found the secret chaingun I knew it was 10x more doable though, just very tough to find a foothold. Compared to the rest of the wad it is a great deal tougher (as a secret map should be) IMO but it gave me the urge to go back to it later on and single segment it finally. It has some intangible charm to it that draws me in.

 

I also thought map 3 was a bit of an outlier difficulty wise, at least compared to the first two. But with the secrets and a decent route planned, it's not too bad. Probably second or third hardest in the wad.

 

[RaZZoR]

 

[PurityControl]

Just finished playing this and had an absolute blast, I can't remember enjoying a UD mapset this much. It was like experiencing episode 1 fresh. Dare I say, perhaps even more so than UDTWID, for me personally. You really did a great job of capturing the feeling of the original game.

 

Some random points:

• Great use of the basic enemy types to create fun gameplay
• Short, punchy maps with a nice relaxed level of difficulty, just enough to keep you on your toes, with a smooth difficulty curve
• Clean and pleasing architecture/texturing, a really nice example of IWAD level of detailing done well
• Not afraid to use darkness to good effect sometimes (which imho many modern maps seem to be), and has some really atmospheric areas as a result
• Tasteful, well-executed homages to the Doom episode 1 maps, which strike a perfect balance between clearly showing their inspirations and remaining fresh and original
• Interesting and varied secrets which are challenging to find without being obscure or unfair
• Has that professional feeling of quality where everything is "just so", and gives the impression of a lot of time and effort having gone into it
• Really cool boss map (both in visual and gameplay terms), I don't remember seeing that barrel trick before!

I didn't encounter any bugs that I noticed (tested in GZDoom 4.6.1, Windows 10, hardware mode, HMP difficulty). There was one area I thought would benefit from a small tweak, although it's extremely minor. In e1m7's blue door room, after you travel up the corner lift onto the central raised computer area, there is no step texture to indicate which corner the lift was in. It's pretty easy to figure out based on memory (or just trying all the corners), but you may want to consider adding a different floor texture to the lift so it's more obvious:

 

Spoiler

 

Thanks for working hard to make this, I will definitely be playing it through again soon. Can't wait to see what you release next (hopefully episode 2)!

[MannerKing]

Haven't played it yet but I wonder what it will be like playing it with Hideous Destructor?

[Snaxalotl]

On 8/15/2022 at 8:55 AM, MannerKing said:

Haven't played it yet but I wonder what it will be like playing it with Hideous Destructor?

Maps E1M1-E1M7 will likely work well with hideous destructor due to the low monster count and good amount of cover. E1M9 might be doable but I'm pretty sure E1M8 would be impossible, partially because of the absurd amount of barrels

[Snaxalotl]

On 8/14/2022 at 6:27 PM, PurityControl said:

Just finished playing this and had an absolute blast, I can't remember enjoying a UD mapset this much. It was like experiencing episode 1 fresh. Dare I say, perhaps even more so than UDTWID, for me personally. You really did a great job of capturing the feeling of the original game.

 

Thanks for working hard to make this, I will definitely be playing it through again soon. Can't wait to see what you release next (hopefully episode 2)!

I really appreciate the high praise! And I do have an Episode 2 replacement currently being worked on! With the lift in E1M7 it is intentional, it helps keep the player from instantly running away from the ambush since the lift blends in with the rest of the room.

[xScavengerWolfx]

Hey snax how far are you into ep 2 of your map set?

 

[Snaxalotl]

5 minutes ago, xScavengerWolfx said:

Hey snax how far are you into ep 2 of your map set?

I have 5 out of 9 maps done so far, I'm guessing I'll be done in a week or two but I'm not 100% sure.

[Shanoa]

Ooooh I feel bad for having missed this thread. I'm always down for some good ol' Ultimate Doom and the description is appealing. Downloaded, I'll be playing it in the very close future.

 

Thank you for the maps, i'm sure it'll be very entertaining.

[xScavengerWolfx]

12 minutes ago, Snaxalotl said:

I have 5 out of 9 maps done so far, I'm guessing I'll be done in a week or two but I'm not 100% sure.

God you can pump maps out faster then i can make updates to my own maps lol. I can't wait to play ep 2

 

[Arsinikk]

Played through the entire episode UV on stream! Overall I thought it was a solid Doom 1 episode. Personally I found the health balance for UV pistol start to be a little tight for my liking, but in continuous it's probably less of a problem. Hopefully my comments weren't too harsh. You can watch the stream vid here:

 

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1564395058

 

[Shanoa]

Played this now, was a really fun E1 replacement although I plan to revisit once E2 is out as I did not get the secret exit. I did love how each maps had these areas that made me go "ah-ha, that's this version of that area in E1Mx" and so on, spotting the similarity made for fun exploration. I do not play pistol start between each maps but continuous I had more than enough to get by without finding the majority of secrets so, we good on that! Outside of some sudden texture changes where a SUPPORT texture could go the whole episode was a blast to play through. Looking forward to E2 where I'll also replay E1 more in-depth.

 

Stuff I noticed: (I apologize if you're already aware)

 

In E1M2: Once you get the red keycard and the ambush start it seem only a single zombieman remain unalerted, although if you sneak behind him he immediatly sees you so i'm guessing he's flagged as "Ambush" whether or not it's intentional I do not know but it's worth mentionning. If it IS intended I suggest changing it to a more threatening monster cause poor thing tries to ambush you but he's the ambushed one. ;)

 

E1M3: The toxic pools on both sides of the starting area are non-damaging sectors so you can just stand in them with no issues. The other damaging sectors throughout the WAD all seem okay though, save for those two.

Spoiler

 

 

Thank you for the maps, I never tire of good ol' shotgun rampaging through techbases.

[azerty]

Awesome stuff can't wait for episode 2!!

 

 

[Snaxalotl]

Episode 2 Of Stickney Installation is now available! 9 more levels of classic vanilla gameplay, now venturing into Deimos.

[xScavengerWolfx]

Oh hell yeah, next video inbound for this. Can't wait to play this

[Shanoa]

1 hour ago, Snaxalotl said:

Episode 2 Of Stickney Installation is now available! 9 more levels of classic vanilla gameplay, now venturing into Deimos.

Oh sweet! Nothing beats enjoying the episode of a mapset just for the 2nd episode to come out so shortly after your playthrough. Will download ASAP.

[Lucius Wooding]

I've gotten through E2M1-3 so far and it's pretty solid. Nice design choices and each map definitely pays good tribute to the originals even though maps 2 and 3 of E2 are probably my least favorite from the original episode (though it has a couple bangers). I'm looking forward to M4-M6 next time I can play since it had some of my favorite doom 1 maps.

 

E2M1:

 

I don't have a ton of comment here, it was a bit of a departure from the original but it worked better from a combat/pacing standpoint. The original kind of relied on close quarters cacodemons to provide thrills, the rest was basically cake. This had better constructed fights while keeping some of the general ideas like the use of hurtfloors and windows. It works well as a map 1 but like the original isn't one of the more memorable ones of its episode.

 

E2M2:

 

I really liked this send up of probably my least favorite E2 map. The crate maze at the start is a bit less annoying and sprawling, and the addition of lost souls to it make things interesting. It lasted a lot longer than the first and the progression wasn't always obvious to me but I found my way around without much issue. There was one secret I couldn't find without a search function in the editor (and I'm too lazy to find out) but the others were nicely done.

Spoiler

-One of the tan pillars in the plasma secret area has a misaligned texture, as well as some of the marble brick at the entrance to it  where it wraps around the corner.

 

-The tyson gameplay isn't really my thing but it's done fairly well here with ammo scarcity (except the plasma which is a godsend). The fights make good use of berserk. Most weapons besides the plasma are gotten fairly late on a pistol start, at least on my playthrough. 

 

-It seemed like the main hint to the map's progression was opening monster closets with a few enemies coming out of the next area. Not necessarily a bad thing since it certainly worked and got me through it. Like the original, it gave me slight anxiety that I was going to miss some random kill due to the extremely widespread placements and free roaming enemies. I also had to rely on the map and landmarks somewhat to navigate like the original since the layout is a bit exploration heavy. It's a bit of a mix between linear and nonlinear as well as having a good number of secrets and being tight on resources forcing you to look for them. This was just my impression on first play though, and it very much had similar gameplay to the original which I don't like that much. This kind of map just tends to take me a while to beat and most of the action was fairly low intensity. It does represent something unique to doom 1 however, being more of an exploration heavy dungeon crawl without as much enemy population. A lot of people do love that kind of map and I think it's done pretty well here.

 

-The yellow key can be grabbed via a precise SR40 jump from one of the rear platforms, it skips the crushers but please don’t fix because I hate crushers. I assume this may have been intended but either way it only adds to the map. I didn't even attempt to get through them the more obvious way.

 

-Slight misalignment by water ceiling near (non yellow key) crushers, I think the floor raised out of the blood or whatever and the transition threw off the alignment of the wall tex.

-Crusher sides by soulsphere are HOM on upper texture when viewed from the hurtfloors.

-What’s up with the fireblu behind blue door? I thought perhaps the door line special blocked something else but I don't know.

 

 

-The soulsphere is obscure but not a secret, I ended up missing out on one.

 

-Misaligned texture behind soulsphere lift.

 

-The rocket secret area was interesting, giving you a choice between bonuses. It mainly applies to continuous since there isn't much ammo or gameplay left by the time you get there. The RL itself doesn't have much use for pistol starters as a result, or maybe I forgot about it. I guessed blindly and got locked out of the other stuff so possibly placing a more clear cue what teleporter leads to what would help. 

 

E2M3:

Continuous, I bet this one isn't an issue at all. But pistol starting, it's a difficulty spike for sure. This was one of the crappier and more random doom 1 maps but this version did some clever things to make it work better.

 

Spoiler

-I like the tyson mechanics and monster density for the start, very spicy. The cacos were also much better turret monsters that harass you throughout the map and you lack much ammo to deal with them. This combined with the hurtfloors putting pressure on you makes it hard to do anything but go on a rampage until you find a good foothold.

-The slime to the right of the starting area near the soulsphere doesn’t appear to be damaging, except near the entrance of the room. I had low health trying to return through that area and only took one hit of damage as a result.

 

-The plasma can be grabbed easily, not sure if intended but it doesn't tag the secret unless you do it properly.

-That secret is very odd, you have to hit the texture twice? I’m certain I hit it on my blind run but that floor didn’t seem to lower but it worked next time I reloaded the map. The stacked line specials might be settings dependent but I don't know that well how that works.

 

-The soulsphere secret is really nice, the health is needed and it more importantly gives you a sweet escape route. I missed this one big time until I cleared the map, it would probably make stuff a ton easier.

 

-The blue key stash of suits is nice now that I know it’s there. Although you do get the blue key a bit late into the map, until then the other suits are precious. It felt a bit helpless on my blind run as I burned through everything but couldn't really explore anymore but the reprieve was right around the corner. Plus I hadn't gotten the soulsphere so the health struggle shouldn't have been bad.

 

-The progression in this one is a bit odd since the areas aren't that interconnected, rather designed around a central hub. It's a touch blind unfriendly and hard to explore as a result but I do like the increase in difficulty compared to the first episode. After playing it once and finding the secrets I think it's very well balanced on UV.

 

[Wilster_Wonkels]

did you spell download wrong on porpoise?

[Snaxalotl]

6 hours ago, Lucius Wooding said:

I've gotten through E2M1-3 so far and it's pretty solid. Nice design choices and each map definitely pays good tribute to the originals even though maps 2 and 3 of E2 are probably my least favorite from the original episode (though it has a couple bangers). I'm looking forward to M4-M6 next time I can play since it had some of my favorite doom 1 maps.

Thanks for the feedback! and as for the blue door.

Spoiler

The actually useful blue door isn't revealed until the level ends, I added a fake blue key door visible earlier in the map to make the player think that is what they are working towards. I intentionally made the map confusing as weird as that sounds, the level opens up multiple times as you walk around without any indication at first. So its easy to navigate but the progression is definitely vague.

 

 

5 hours ago, Wilster_Wonkels said:

did you spell download wrong on porpoise?

Absoulty

[sandwedge]

4 hours ago, Wilster_Wonkels said:

did you spell download wrong on porpoise?

 

She also spelled Stinky Installation wrong.

 

Oh, also, some nice levels you have here, I think I would know 👀

[Doomkid]

21 hours ago, Snaxalotl said:

Episode 2 Of Stickney Installation is now available! 9 more levels of classic vanilla gameplay, now venturing into Deimos.

 

Really glad to see episode 2 of silence.wad is finally complete, I'll play this one on my YT channel soon just like the first!