Through the channel V1.4

[SpaceCatCommander]

Hello everyone! This is my first map(duh), main inspiration of this map was one of water channels of my home city Bishkek. Its uses some custom textures i made myself, and some assets that i got from somewhere else. Here's a credit list:

from Realms667 repository:

Junk piles by Gothic

Office Chairs by Captain Toenail

Small trees & bushes by Necrodome and Captain Toenail

From some old disscussion on this site:

TreeAndPlantsV1 by Sergeant Mark IV (but they were just textures, so i turned them into decorates myself) my greatest gratitude to him for them.

Tables and a bush from Brutal Doom by Sergeant Mark IV

 

Story:

You are waterchannel managemnt employee, you were working as usual, but after some time not seeing your colleagues and after somber silence of the building falls under the heavy sounds of something very sinister, you pursuade yourself to check what's going on.

 

Its gameplay is pretty vanilla, theres some redacted enemies, but they are from the doom itself. Map rewards player for paying attention to surroundings. 

 

Difficulty on the map is slowly going harder from start to finnish. This map can be played both with and without freelook.

 

The only port that i tested this map on is GZDoom. Map itself was made in ultimate doom builder with MBF21 and UDMF formats. As a base IWAD i used doom 2. Map uses 3D floors and other features of GZDoom.

 

In the future this will become a megawad! So criticism is welcomed, and please inform me about bugs and other stuff like that on the map, so i can fix it of course.

 

Music by Victor Tsoi

 

Some screenshots:

Spoiler

Download link:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1eLI3-aqY_xUrHitUbu0Ft-1BjSv1eDLQ?usp=share_link

Fix log:

• 14.04.2023 V1.1

  Hello everyone!

  Treehouseminis, CrueCut and others pointed out that map becomes a slog to the end and needs a powerful weapon, as well that there were misleading ammo packs for RL and PG, so here are fixes.

  Misleading plasma cells change for other small pick ups

  Added rocket launcher, go find it.

  Added more secrets

  Deleted some hell knights and cacos

  Nerfed Mega Baron

  Added "stairs" near the channel so you can get out!

• 16.04.2023 V1.2

  Deleted 65 enemies

  Added more rocket launchers

  Added berserker

  Added Super Shotgun in the Mega Baron room

  Fixed imps that got stuck

• 29.04.2023 V1.3

  Added some monsters, and other minor fixes

• 02.05.2023 V1.4

  Fixed grass collision

  Made Baron's entrance 10x better 

  Fixed some textures

  Changed Music

 

 

 

 

Edited May 6, 2023 by SpaceCatCommander : Fix log

[OfficeHyena22]

This looks awesome will give it a try and get back to you

[Insaneprophet]

So im locked into the room on the second lvl down that has the first Giant Baron in it. I lured him out and wasted all my shells trying to kill it and didnt so I ran past it into the room and hit the switch but now Im locked in.

 

edit #1 Thanks for the quick response. I'll have to restart because Im inside and hes outside so I figured out how to soft lock the lvl

 

edit #2 so i have proven that you can also soft lock the lvl at the Archie room. This time it was on accident, I was dodging him outside the door and keeping him in his room but after awhile he snuck by me so i snuck by him to dance on the other side of the door but when it closes yer fucked.

 

edit #3 FINISHED and MAXED! that was a really interesting level. I kind of agree with the others stating that with that many hell knights a super shotgun would be real nice to have, at least maybe after the vile before you go outside again, or maybe a rocket launcher out there with a limited number of rockets to clean up with, i dunno. Outside of the two soft locks at the bosses that should probably be fixed up there are a few places outside that you can fall into and get stuck but those seem more like design decisions that we the player should be smart enough not to go into. At the end it would be nice if there were stairs or a lift to get back up outta the water channel, I ended up clipping back so that I could explore the last couple of places I'd skipped, find the last secret and get the last 10 kills I'd left locked in a room earlier when I didnt have the ammo on hand to kill them then. I really liked this map, it was different from the norm and kept me interested the whole time. Thank You For Sharing This!! and cant wait to play what comes next.   😃

Edited April 13, 2023 by Insaneprophet

[SpaceCatCommander]

2 minutes ago, Insaneprophet said:

So im locked into the room on the second lvl down that has the first Giant Baron in it. I lured him out and wasted all my shells trying to kill it and didnt so I ran past it into the room and hit the switch but now Im locked in.

You need to kill the baron, when you kill the baron the door on the left opens up

[OfficeHyena22]

I'm stuck outside atm but have enjoyed the map so far i like the layout and the rationing of ammo and health is on point, will come back to this tommorow when i am free again!

[SpaceCatCommander]

9 minutes ago, OfficeHyena22 said:

I'm stuck outside atm but have enjoyed the map so far i like the layout and the rationing of ammo and health is on point, will come back to this tommorow when i am free again!

Thanks a lot! But what do you mean stuck outside? Due to geometry or you did not understand where to go next? Can you give me a screenshot?

 

[SpaceCatCommander]

1 hour ago, Insaneprophet said:

So im locked into the room on the second lvl down that has the first Giant Baron in it. I lured him out and wasted all my shells trying to kill it and didnt so I ran past it into the room and hit the switch but now Im locked in.

 

Thanks for the quick response. I'll have to restart because Im inside and hes outside so I figured out how to soft lock the lvl 😃

Lol, welp i should lower the door so you cant lure me boss out of the arena, plus you probably lost all of the ammo, because i didnt know how to change the hitbox, so pro tip, shoot the baron into area of legs(oof)

[Treehouseminis]

I really like the level design, great doomcute stuff.  Surprised this is a first map!  My only complaint is that it felt like a slog, Idk If I missed the super shotgun somewhere, or its a secret, or if its there at all, but gunning down lots of hellknights and cacos with only a shotgun and minigun is tedious as hell.  I assumed the plasma was a secret when I picked up some cells (never found it but thats ok) but something as powerful as the plasma can and should be a secret sometimes.  I played on UV so idk if thats different on pickups.  But very tedious and got unfun towards the end for me. 

[CrueCut]

This was fun, kinda.  I concur with the post above -- I never found anything more powerful than the regular shotgun and chaingun, which turned the later fights (as well as the one against the "super baron" or whatever it was) into a not-so-fun slog.  I assume from the presence of cells and a few rockets that a plasma and RL were stashed somewhere but I never found them.   Similarly, I never found a super shotgun.  I know you envision this as a megawad, so maybe your intent was to have ammo in this level and the weapons in a subsequent level, but if this level is to stand on its own I think you need to make it easier/clearer for the player to pick up at least the SS, perhaps leaving a RL and plasma as secrets.

 

[Delisk]

 

Really good map design, but the lack of more powerfull weapons than the regular shotgun and chaingun kinda turn it into a chore.

[msx2plus]

pretty much echoing Treehouseminis and CrueCut's post. with the shotgun and chaingun being the only obvious weapon pickups, the map gets to be a slog fairly quickly, but the layout and some of the combat setups are really strong for a first map.

[SpaceCatCommander]

Thanks everyone for feedback! Waiting for some more.

[LadyMistDragon]

Two things I noticed

 

An odd chair sitting on top of a crate.

 

A picture of someone I think is Askar Akayev in the museum.

 

Like has been said before, nice map!

[SpaceCatCommander]

1 hour ago, LadyMistDragon said:

Two things I noticed

 

An odd chair sitting on top of a crate.

 

A picture of someone I think is Askar Akayev in the museum.

 

Like has been said before, nice map!

i dont understand why chair bugged you, but im surprised you know anything about my country, but its not Askar Akayev, its 

Iskhak Razzakov's photo, and i am glad you enjoyed my map!

[Biodegradable]

It's very nicely made with some great use of Doomcute and the level layout makes it feel like a believable place, but my god, the combat was excruciating. I'm sorry, but it still feels like a horrible slog simply due to the sheer number of enemies you throw at the player by the middle of the map's progression while lacking the sufficient firepower of stronger weapons to keep things fun and balanced. I had to cheat to give myself an SSG just to make the last stretch of the map a little more tolerable. There's some neat ideas, visuals and set pieces, but the combat feels very much like an afterthought rather than having the level designed around it. This map is nice to look at, but it's also really tedious to play, I'm sorry to say.

 

 

[LadyMistDragon]

20 hours ago, SpaceCatCommander said:

i dont understand why chair bugged you, but im surprised you know anything about my country, but its not Askar Akayev, its 

Iskhak Razzakov's photo, and i am glad you enjoyed my map!

Oh no, just seemed like a very curious detail, like someone just placed it on said crate temporarily while office got refurbished or something

[Martin Howe]

Very good; I enjoyed this immensely. The only real nitpick is the automap right at the end; seems a bit of an odd place to put it. Overall 9.5/10 for me!

[sandwedge]

This was a very pleasant adventure!  Definitely feels inspired by a real place which was fun to explore.  Combat is pretty easygoing but not to its detriment, especially if you're planning this to be an early map in a megawad.  I do like how you have half open doors around to make the place feel bigger without making me press use on doors to see if they work.  I do really like the idea of boss enemy versions of normal monsters, however I thought the baron was scaled up in a slightly odd way that made him look a bit stretched.  The archvile on the other hand looked good.  Highlight for me was definitely the museum, but in general great job on the textures you made and put in!  Also liked how I went up in the control room to open the exit while overlooking the path I would take later - nice bit of foreshadowing and connectivity.  For those interested, this looks like it would work very well with mods too - might play through with brutal doom if I get the itch.  All in all, I would love to see you keep going with something like this in a megawad - keep it up! 

[SpaceCatCommander]

On 5/1/2023 at 2:56 AM, Martin Howe said:

Very good; I enjoyed this immensely. The only real nitpick is the automap right at the end; seems a bit of an odd place to put it. Overall 9.5/10 for me!

The automap in the end, is for the people to explore the secrets they left and so on(more of a completionist thing i'd say), after finishing the map, some other mapper used the same idea for their wad.

Edited May 2, 2023 by SpaceCatCommander

[SpaceCatCommander]

19 hours ago, sandwedge said:

This was a very pleasant adventure!  Definitely feels inspired by a real place which was fun to explore.  Combat is pretty easygoing but not to its detriment, especially if you're planning this to be an early map in a megawad.  I do like how you have half open doors around to make the place feel bigger without making me press use on doors to see if they work.  I do really like the idea of boss enemy versions of normal monsters, however I thought the baron was scaled up in a slightly odd way that made him look a bit stretched.  The archvile on the other hand looked good.  Highlight for me was definitely the museum, but in general great job on the textures you made and put in!  Also liked how I went up in the control room to open the exit while overlooking the path I would take later - nice bit of foreshadowing and connectivity.  For those interested, this looks like it would work very well with mods too - might play through with brutal doom if I get the itch.  All in all, I would love to see you keep going with something like this in a megawad - keep it up! 

I glad that you enjoyed it(and that people can enjoy it now overall), im gonna change the baron a bit, plus change the way he gets into the room. And i want ask you, should i change the music? Right now the map plays elektrichka (trolley) by Victor Tsoi, its just has a very eerie feel to it, but its quite repetetive, so, your opinion as a player?

Edited May 1, 2023 by SpaceCatCommander

[sandwedge]

11 hours ago, SpaceCatCommander said:

I glad that you enjoyed it(and that people can enjoy it now overall), im gonna change the baron a bit, plus change the way he gets into the room. And i want ask you, should i change the music? Right now the map plays elektrichka (trolley) by Victor Tsoi, its just has a very eerie feel to it, but its quite repetetive, so, your opinion as a player?

 

I thought it was fine, didn't find it too repetitive but I think I also tend not to get too bothered by that often.  If you're worried about it you can change it since it's a long-ish level.