Divergence(Heretic, 2 maps)(idgames link provided)

[Misty]

Hello, today I'm releasing my last 2022 project called Divergence. Why Divergence? It's because, I felt doing something different compared to Doom. It has no clear story, just some imagination how this world must work and why some stuff stays the way it is. Even if I wrote some notes while sharing some screenshots, I prefer to leave it your imagination. In that said, feel free check main information below:
 

• Heretic iwad.
• Maps from e1m1 to e1m2, e1m3 is end map
• Tested with Gzdoom and Lzdoom.
• Idgames link here ;)
• Special thanks to: DMPhobos, TheEvilGrin, MattFright and reflex17 for playtesting.
• Texture, sprite and music credits are in credits.txt.

 

Screenshots:

Edited November 20, 2022 by Misty

[Jimmy²]

Very cool action-packed levels with dense detailing and relaxing, sombre atmosphere. Perhaps an overabundance of ammo pickups, though? I was absolutely flush with supplies throughout the entire playthrough.

 

Some minor issues:

- A couple of gargoyles didn't become active in one of the first rooms in E1M1. It's the room at the bottom of the first set of curved stairs and the gargoyles are placed in a pool of water with a silver shield in it.

- The kooky little ZDoom particle fountains are very near and dear to me, but the use of the Heretic teleglitters would be much more appropriate here, I think. They also conform to gravity, so the lowering exit teleporter in E1M2 would definitely be better off using these. Blue glitters are generally used for exits, btw.

- This is a subjective opinion of mine but I would say consider turning some dormant enemies into teleport traps. Having, say, an iron lich staring out from a distant location forfeits the element of surprise. Setting up specifically-timed encounters via teleport ambush instead of relying on monster dormancy would keep the player continuously on their toes.

 

Thank you for making more Heretic content! Awesome as always to see.

[Fernito]

I loved this!!! An amazing Heretic wad :D Beautiful visuals and intense gameplay. The only bug I noticed was the same one with the two gargoyles Jimmy mentioned. And I also agree with his remark of the excess of goodies, though personally I don't mind it, you can just relax and kill stuff without having to worry about ammo :D   

 

Here are my FDAs, with commentary (using the ingame chat :P):

Spoiler

(E1M2 uploading)

 

[holaareola]

Great looking shots, downloaded. Very well chosen custom textures from the looks of things, they fit right in to Heretic's style.

[Misty]

Hello, just wanted to say thank you for reviews and positive words! I'll get around new update, once my schedule becomes more relaxed, study crunch takes priority for now. 

[holaareola]

Felt the first level was a bit too unidirectional, lots of facing down spongey swarms. 

 

But the second one! Total chaos, talk about a hot start. One of those setups where it was ultra-gratifying to gain some breathing space and a foothold gearwise. The most fun Heretic I've ever played! Was really enjoying it up until I died moderately far in, instakilled by a mini-volcano and without a recent save. Great visuals on both but especially the second map, that garden area with the moon hanging over and all the snow is beautiful. Game time over for today so I'll finish it on the replay tomorrow.

 

Recorded demos on each, GZDoom seems to use a separate config for Heretic so there will be some pauses when I rebind/disable autoaim etc. You can play them in GZ with "playdemo xxx" if you're interested.

 

divergence-demos.zip

[LadyMistDragon]

Speedmappy, swarmy and trap-heavy. Great stuff, especially some of the locales in Map 02.

[holaareola]

Finished this today. Fun little set, the start of that second map really was the most intense and fun Heretic I've played. Great visuals too, crafted with your very characteristic feeling for colour (as I've often noticed in the WAYWO thread).  I loved the red trees and yellow flowers against the chilly blues and greens outside in Map02, and the way that generally the outermost areas were predominantly white, blue and green with a much warmer palette in the interior sections. Extremely effective.

 

Neat palette cleansing outro map after the carnage too.

 

Another thing I noticed during play was how much GZDoom's palette tonemapping works for Heretic. Doom can be hit and miss, but check out those walls behind the torches -- they properly look like baked in pixel art lighting:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

[Misty]

Hello, I've got around updating maps today during short break. Download link is the same in op. Changes:
 

• Fixes dormant red imps in e1m1, they can move freely now.
• Also, fixed some stairs in e1m1, monsters can move up too.
• E1m2 replaced some dormant monsters into ambush teleports, it shouldn't remove surprise now.
• Added few more monsters in E1m2 in harder skill levels, it should help burn ammo faster.
• Replaced sparkles at the exits into Heretic ones. 

If there won't be more things that need quick fixes, I plan upload this into idgames soon. 

 

[Dwars]

I got to playing this, pretty good stuff! A few suggestions I'd have would be to have a backtrack teleporter after the second area in E1M2, and possibly seeing if those teleporting enemies near the green key are functioning properly.

[Misty]

Sure, I'll get around it, I was planning to push one more update and focus on idgames release stage. 

[Komenja]

Fun maps! The claustrophobic beginnings, especially on map 2, were pretty blood-pumping, and the ambushes . I like the atmosphere, particularly in that third map. Even empty, I spent a few minutes wandering around just admiring it.

[Misty]

Thank you for playing it! I'm glad people like it.

 

In other hand, I already pushed project with all quick fixes and overlooks in idgames - still waiting for the answer if it's rejected or accepted. 

[Arwel]

A little set of very tasty maps here.

Map 2 is curiously both challenging and comforting at the same time due to how cozy it is!

And it did really hit the spot coinciding with the first snow in my city this year!

[Misty]

Good morning/afternoon/evening depending on your time zone. I just wanted to tell that this small Heretic project got into idgames, any important updates will go here, but I hope it won't needed. Link is in op and thank you everyone who reviewed this. Have a nice day!

[Caleb13]

Another week, another Heretic mapset? Very nice, although I wish it was longer...

 

I played the 1.1 version on UV in GZdoom 4.8.2 and I noticed one problem in E1M2: 12 monsters in sectors 570 to 573 never became active and thus 100% kills is impossible. They didn't become active even when I noclipped there, so it seems like scripting bug.

[Misty]

Idgames or previous version? I thought I fixed it for idgames submission. 

 

[Caleb13]

I'm not sure, "my" ZIP file has 1625360 bytes and the WAD inside is from November 8.

[Misty]

Oh, that version had that bug, but idgames version should fix it together with some others, unless I overlooked something again.