Azazel's Second Descent 32 map One Man Megawad now on IDgames

[Bloodbath Giraffe]

Azazel's Second Descent is a full, 32 map megawad. This is a one-man megawad and all maps were made by me.  I would categorize the maps as slaughter-lite, meaning it is not full-on slaughter but you might face a horde or two, especially the farther into the wad you go.  The WAD is broken down into six 5-map episodes.  There are 4 new monster types and 2 bosses added.

 

How I implemented the difficulty settings in general is: 

HMP has the same monster count as UV but with more resources
HNTR and ITYTD have reduced monster counts and different enemy placements, along with more resources 

 

All maps are balanced around pistol starts.

 

When I started this project I had only created and published one map. Needless to say, there was quite a lot to learn. I made many mistakes, from changing texture packs a quarter of the way through, to scraping the whole blood chapter. This is the most effort and time I think I have ever put into one thing in my life and I hope it shows. ASD is a passion project in every sense. I would categorize it as slaughter-lite with classic gameplay. It looks and plays like any other classic wad. The reason it is in GZDoom is because when I started, I did not know any of the differences between the source ports and formats.

 

you can find the wad here:

https://www.gamers.org/pub/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/megawads/azazeldescen.zip

 

"With only one prior published work, Azazel's Second Descent represents a massive leap in ambition for Bloodbath Giraffe with its 32 massive maps (plus one credits map).  The influences are worn proudly - the episodic structure of Scythe 2 and Eviternity, the punishing combat set pieces of Sunlust and the Stardate series (with some obvious tributes), even the grand architectural spectacle of Sunder are combined with new custom threats to deliver an engaging and lengthy journey to defeat Azazel and his demonic army.  There's hints of a larger story, such as when you stumble into a chaotic throwdown between two warring factions of hellspawn, but the endgame remains the same - one demon's descent is ultimately a marine's ascent, if you have your way, so enjoy the sights and put both sides of this conflict to rest."

- @Vile

 

 

New update: 9-18-2022

- fixed missing textures in map 01,05,06,07,10 and 13

- fixed soft lock on map 12

- added more ammo to final fight of map 15

- reduced health of boss monster on map 15

- fixed soft lock on map 25

- changed some monster types of map 29

- nurfed final fight of map 29

- increased boss health on map 30 

 

 

 

Azazel's Second Descent 

 

Information:
Source ports tested: GZDoom

IWAD: Doom II 

Difficulty settings: Yes

Freelook: Optional 

Jump/crouch: Disabled

Single-player only

 

Big thanks to Terminus, Johnsuitepee, Jukeboxin, Firedust, Thingy, Murderous Mashed Potatos and FrancisT218 for playtesting the maps.

 

 

 

Edited December 14, 2022 by Bloodbath Giraffe : update

[Stupid Bunny]

Who are all you people that can make whole megawads of beautiful levels like this

 

Seriously the shots look great, and as for anyone who can complete a megawad, you should be proud of yourself! I’m stoked to try this when I have the time finally 

[ReaperAA]

Those shots look incredible. This is definitely going in my Doom wad playlist.

[Firedust]

Congrats on the release! Too bad you didn't credit me as a playtester :p

 

This is one of the best mapsets released this year so if you're diving in for the first time, you're in for a real treat.

[nobleflame]

I'm trying to run this in PrBoom plus but I keep getting "R_InitTextures:2 errors" error messages. 

 

Any ideas what I can do?

 

Also, when running in GZDoom with a .bat file it just defaults to DOOM II.

Edited September 8, 2022 by nobleflame

[Kyka]

Looks wonderful. I will try this soon when I get a chance. Well done. Few complete a megawad!!

[TJG1289]

Those screenshots look incredible. And there's a full 32 levels of that? Wow. I'll always admire when someone does a solo megaWAD like this. I also like how you have HMP as pretty much the same as UV just with extra resources. I think one of the main reasons people don't really like playing on anything easier than UV is the fear of missing out on enemy encounters, so this is a nice way of dealing with that. Idk if I am in the mood for "slaughter-lite" gameplay at the moment, but I'll probably still at least give this a shot and see how it goes!

[Bloodbath Giraffe]

@nobleflame

 

The wad is a Gzdoom only so it cant be played in PrBoom. I am not sure why is is defaulting to doom 2 while using a .bat i will look into it and see what I can find,

[Astro X]

Congrats on release!

[TJG1289]

Played through the first 5 maps on HMP. These are insanely good, holy crap. Some of the best "slaughter-lite" maps I've played. Lots of enemies to kill, but not as obscene as more full-on slaughtermaps. The cave theme is really solid, with the detailing and texturing being top-notch. New monsters don't seem to knock the combat balance down yet. The Archons may later tho. Looking forward to playing the rest for sure. 

 

Did notice this HOM in map 05. There's a similar one in the cubbies that open after grabbing the BFG too. Only graphical errors I've seen so far.

[nobleflame]

12 hours ago, Bloodbath Giraffe said:

@nobleflame

 

The wad is a Gzdoom only so it cant be played in PrBoom. I am not sure why is is defaulting to doom 2 while using a .bat i will look into it and see what I can find,

 

Thanks, mate. Makes sense. Just so you know, it works when I physically drop the wad onto the GZDoom exe. Just the .bat doesn't seem to want to work. I have .bats for several wads which work and I followed exactly the same format so I'm not sure what's going on here. 

 

[nobleflame]

@Bloodbath Giraffe I've worked out why it wasn't working as a .bat. I needed to change the wad name to remove all spaces and punctuation (e.g. "AzazelsSecondDescent.wad" rather than "Azazel's Second Descent.wad"). 

Apologies for the confusion. 

Edited September 11, 2022 by nobleflame

[eharper256]

Congrats on the release.
There's a video I made for the previous topic here for an earlier RC of the wad:

 

[Caleb13]

I played only up to MAP10, because there were too many custom monsters and the maps degenerated into a series of closed arenas. And of course, you kill the player whenever they get the BFG. Shame, the map architecture and lighting design are great. Oh well, at least here is a list of problems I noticed along the way, I played in GZdoom 4.8.2 on UV:

 

MAP01: HOMs at both sides of the exit bridge when it rises. It's linedefs 1674 etc.

 

MAP05: HOMs at stairs linedefs 3776 etc. after you obtain the BFG.

 

MAP06: HOMs at linedefs 8390 etc. after the bridge rises.

 

MAP07: HOMs at linedefs 5991 and 5993 and also all around the secret switch 7019.

 

MAP10: grossly misaligned back sidedef texture on linedef 8324.

[morningstars10]

23 minutes ago, Caleb13 said:

I played only up to MAP10, because there were too many custom monsters and the maps degenerated into a series of closed arenas. And of course, you kill the player whenever they get the BFG.

I don't think its too many, and though you are right about it being mostly closed arenas, that is part of it being called slaughter lite, the levels are clearly designed to be a large amount of incredible closed arena fights. I don't know what you mean by killing the player when they get the bfg. I loved this megawad overall.

[Bloodbath Giraffe]

Hello, Everyone I can't thank you all enough for giving my wad a try. I have gotten some feed back about some missing or misalign textures and a few soft locks. Maps 29 final fight in unbeatable as one monster does not spawn in so you can not progress to the exit. I will be doing a hot fix for the wad today or tomorrow to fix these issues. I will also nurf map 29 in general as some part are too hard or unfun to play. I will make another comment when the new version is up on Idgames.

 

@Caleb13 - Sorry you don't enjoy the map, but thanks for you the feed back and missing textures.

 

@nobleflame - Glad you figured it out I ask a few people and no one could figure it out.

 

@TJG1289 - Thanks for pointing out the missing texture. I'm glad your enjoying the maps so far.

[Firedust]

Did you make changes to map 29 after my feedback? It was actually easier than map 28 from what I remember...

[Bloodbath Giraffe]

@Firedust yeah I made it a bit harder but I think I over did it especially the final fight. I was watching someone play it on twitch and it looked unbeatable and not fun to play. That is not really how I want the final fight of the wad to be like. I think I also used archvile a bit to much in fights so some of the fight seemed a bit repetitive so I mixed up the monster placement and timing to vary the fight more. 

[Bloodbath Giraffe]

Hello all,

 

I cant thank you all enough for downloading and playing the wad. I have uploaded a new version that has fixed the few issues that have been identified. I have made a list of everything that has changed, if you find anymore please let me know.

 

New update:

- fixed missing textures in map 01,05,06,07,10 and 13

- fixed soft lock on map 12

- added more ammo to final fight of map 15

- reduced health of boss monster on map 15

- fixed soft lock on map 25

- changed some monster types of map 29

- nurfed final fight of map 29

- increased boss health on map 30 

[Doom Guncaster K]

This wad is actually funnier than I expected to play!  I just rolled a couple of runs for episode 1, atmospherically great and I really like the pace of combat!  Some CQBs are pretty tight and neat.

 

Quick question, do you have the name of the tracks that were used in the map03,09,10,11,14,17, and 18?  Since they are missing in the text file and I really want to give the credits as I reached the end of the wad.

[Bloodbath Giraffe]

@K_krimson painkekk

Sadly I do not I was not very organized when I started and I just downloaded a bunch of midi and stuck them in a file. I believe they are mostly jimmy midis I am still trying to find out for sure so I can give the proper people the credit they deserve. I am glad you enjoying it!

[LVENdead]

I recorded a playthru of Map 09. This is a very cool WAD and a remarkable feat considering you had only created one map prior to starting this project. I've kind of skipped around looking at the different maps and they are all incredibly cool looking. This particular map had some great gameplay on top of the awesome visuals. Hope you eventually get the recognition you deserve with this.

 

 

[Bloodbath Giraffe]

@LVENdead

 

Thanks for making the demo of map 9. You did better then I do in the yellow key fight. Its hard to tell but that fight is like a Russian nesting doll, once you kill something two more things spawn in. The maps were mostly made in order some of episode 5 maps were made before episode 4, because I scrapped most of episode 4 and remade them. It does show how I progressed and became a better mapper as the wad goes on and how far I came from map 1 to map 29.

 

[JBerg]

Nice looking set! Is there a secret exit to access map33?

[Bloodbath Giraffe]

@JBerg You access map 33 by beating map 30, it is a short thank you map with a fun little gimmick.

[Doom Guncaster K]

Here is the first part of Chapter 1, playing with the doom weapon mod Guncaster.  I really like these maps with the rural natural theme as I slapped some mods for decorations and so.  In the mid-game of map01, most of the actions are in the caves.  The vines/ ivy and the plants in the caves are somewhat obstructive that blocking my sight to make the proper shots (of course potato aim myself, too) yet in general it's a really good trait to fit the natural cave theme.  Map02 takes more time in caves with lots of deadly ambushes.  bumping into the chaingunner firing squads in close quarters is quite frequent in the middle to the latter part of the game.  Map03 is even more intense with more kills and limited space to maneuver.  3 keys combat, the second final arena, and the last battle to hordes are really impressive and challenging.  Thanks for the effort of the good work, I enjoyed the startup and looking forward to seeing the upcoming part of the chapters.  =) 

[Doom Guncaster K]

Here is the second part of chapter 1.  Map04 has lots of ambushes in the cave.  Some are not in a big group but are well-placed to trap the player.  The blue key room contains intense CQB when the object is obtained.  When mobs spawned into the not so wide enough small room it's gonna be a challenging fight.  As the player proceeds to the end of the blue door section where the megasphere is, expect another slaughter-lite arena fight; the place is larger and easier to move around, yet with the revenants/mancubus on the higher ground served as gun turrets and mobs with several "Arrrrrrrgh" suicide bombers, things might go south in real quick there.  The last arena has a Cyberdemon serving as the bombarding unit, there are also 3 switches in corners that spawn mobs into the arena. The last fight is always the most challenging.  Keep moving and making monsters infighting might be the key point there to staying alive.

Map05 has lots of encounters in the big long valley!!  Trees are everywhere and obstructive!! Yet the player could take advantage of it to evade incoming fires.  As the yellow key is obtained, another big wave of reinforcement is incoming!  Make sure to take archies as the No.1 priority target or the fight will be even more chaotic!  The fights mostly occurred in the wider places compared to Map04 and the previous episode, but there are pain elementals spawning lost souls here and there, and pinkies blocking the ways quite often.  It was quite annoying but I think it's a good enemy placement.  Map05 is by far my favorite map in Chapter 1.  It has wider space to maneuver and the natural valley scenes are looking great!  The arena fights are tight and the view is enjoying! There is a dead exit blowing Romero's head at the end for a fresh restart.  Though the Guncaster doesn't give a damn about it.  

 

Can't wait to start Chapter 2! Thanks for your great work!

[Doom Guncaster K]

This time we hit the first part of Chapter 2 (the red tech base theme).  I really like the red color sky in this chapter.  Maps layout looks simple, yet they are atmospherically phenomenal in my eyes.  Map06 got my attention from the start.  There are 2 main sections where fights occurred in the valley with cyberdemons (a.k.a. thr omnipotent kings in map06) serve as heavy turrets. There are also ground units and several firing squads on the cliff that delivering suppressing fire from left to right.  Proceed with caution might be the key to survive there.

Map07 switches the fights indoors (the fortress).  There are several deadly ambushes at corners here and there.  The player’s armor and health could be shredded within sec. by chaingunner squad. Watch those corners!! The last arena fight has the “pickup item to trigger monster spawn in “ feature that was bothering me a bit ( I couldn’t pick up armor there to make pinky boys spawn in, so “BANG!!” I nailed ‘em via activating Augur’s wall penetration shot to finish the last cleaning there.

Map08 has a very menacing start with some notorious CQB situations while grabbing keys.  The fight in the main hall looks a bit easier maneuvering freely, yet again the spooky boys and fabulous goatmans are set at every single corner ready to blast the player anytime.  It seems that it’s better to setup safe corner and push back to the central area gradually.  Three keys arena fights are challenging since there are only limited room to move around.  It seems that making monster infight might be the key point to get through those tight spots.  I was just impatiently blasting through mobs and can’t wait to proceeed to the next awesome level😛

 

The dynamic lightings in these maps that just make every corner look even greater than I expected.  These maps are super awesome slaughter-lite maps, thanks for your hard work! 👍✨

[Doom Guncaster K]

 

The latter part of Chapter 2 contains lots of danger close situations. Map09 reminds me of Quake 3 Arena by its combat; fighting mobs in the closed and tight rooms that is limited to maneuver is quite a challenging task to be honest.  Parts of map09 also has cave scenes that looks phenomenal.  
 

Map10 reminds me of Strogg’s base from Quake 2.  There’s no Quake-related textures though the design of its scenes and atmosphere is pretty neat from my view.  I really like the big arena fight in the BFG section.  Waves of hit-scanners mobs spawn in could make the player struggle to move freely even in the big room.  The secrets might save the player in the pickles with decent amount of supplies so it’s highly recommended to watch those little switches in corners.

 

Map11 is the start of Chapter 3 (orange marble theme).  The kill count seems to be less than the previous ones yet the combat might keep the player busy for collecting gears and resources.  I really like the enemy placement in map11.  Setting 2 cyberdemons at the end of the aisles respectively adding the pressure to the player for not being carefully.  The yellow skull key fight has chaingunner squad that delivers suppressing fire that could shred the player within seconds.  Monster infight might be needed in red skull key section.  Having 2 spider-mastermind attacking mobs could be a way of attrition to take out mobs and conserve ammunition…. Though I still have my big gunz in hands so me just keep shooting my way out of swarms.  The layout of map11 is simple and its visual design is looking super great, especially in the outdoor/a little cave section, making me wonder what the incoming beautiful maps are. 😃👍✨

 

 

[Bloodbath Giraffe]

@K_krimson painkekk

 

Nice videos, I am enjoying watching your play through. Nice job on getting to the 3 chapter it only get harder from here.