[RC3] Jack Builds a Techbase (4 maps, -cl21)

[BENCHY]

Hello people, after way too long I'm happy to show this project I've been working on with Xulgonoth for about 10 or so months (mostly due to my procrastination😅). This is a standalone release of a map we made for the Balls of Steel Community project but with a couple of additional maps and flare.

 

Be warned that this is made to be a pretty niche wad, the phrase "set of challenging maps" gets thrown around a lot these days, but this one takes a slightly different approach where the difficulty mainly doesn't come from the encounters themselves being tuned to a high difficulty, it comes more from unfriendliness to blind players, from punishing the slightest errors and from not being clear in what exactly the map wants you to do.

 

Currently only tested on DSDA-Doom, but it should work on versions of GZDoom that support MBF21.

 

MAP LIST:

Spoiler

• MAP01: Brick by Brick

• MAP02: Processing Station

• MAP03: Jack Builds a Techbase

• MAP04: Unravelled Creation (gameplay-less epilogue)

• MAP31: Toxic Tide

 

MUSIC LIST:

Spoiler

• Title: "Talking 2" from Stonekeep

• Intermission: "Guess We Are Fighting Cyberdemons" by MegaSphere

• MAP01: Equinox MAP13 theme

• MAP02: "Lurking the Stranger's House" (bespoke track)

• MAP03: "Palace of Shadows" from Stonekeep

• MAP04: MIDI rendition of "Exogenesis: Symphony Part III (Redemption)" by Muse

• MAP31: MIDI rendition of "Circus Bells" by Robert Armani

 

SCREENSHOTS:

 

DOWNLOAD:

RC3

Edited July 22 by BENCHY

[BENCHY]

Link to DoomUniverse thread:

https://doomuniverse.com/topic/120/rc1-jack-builds-a-techbase-4-maps-cl21

 

[bnbhehe]

This WAD was a bizarre experience for me. I might not be a good doom player myself but I feel like this is definitely something veterans would find amusing.
 

• MAP01 is a nice introduction to what you should expect from this mapset, from a mechanics & visual perspective.
• MAP02 is probably a bit out of my league, but doable. Doom veterans would find the challenge interesting though.
• MAP31 is way to challenging for me but I will still give it another try after I practice it more.

But MAP03, ooooh...

The description is spot on:

On 6/28/2023 at 7:52 AM, BENCHY said:

from punishing the slightest errors and from not being clear in what exactly the map wants you to do.

I never played a map like this before and due to my lack of experience and I never knew these kind of maps for Doom were a thing, or even possible. But I still loved every step of my playthrough, even if I died like a ***** quite often.

The visuals are amazing, the exploration of the map becomes fluid after you have traversed it multiple times to complete every puzzle & find every possible secret and you will probably become better at some aspect of Doom ( at least I feel like that ), be it encounters or secret hunting. And even if I was failing in every step of the way I still wanted to continue playing till I get what I wanted right, what the map wants me to do.

For veterans maybe their experience will be different but I do have to say that the challenge is there, and that this is not your average 'circle strafe until everything is dead' situation. And for completionists is probably going to be even more interesting, because the way some puzzles are solved in this map are quite impressive.
 

[Tiramisu]

I played this one a few days ago - great wad! I never managed to beat MAP02 so I didn't really get to see much of it, but I liked what I saw so I'll definitely be coming back to try again.

 

I have to ask though,

Spoiler

does the mapset require SR50 or any other obscure tricks to beat, or is it standard DOOM fare in that regard? I'm asking because on MAP01 I think I discovered all there was to find, but I just couldn't for the life of me make the jump to the fourth switch - so I want to know if it's an advanced platforming thing or if there's something else that needs to be found!

[BENCHY]

On 7/16/2023 at 12:47 AM, sq. Tiramisu said:

I played this one a few days ago - great wad! I never managed to beat MAP02 so I didn't really get to see much of it, but I liked what I saw so I'll definitely be coming back to try again.

 

I have to ask though,

  Hide contents

does the mapset require SR50 or any other obscure tricks to beat, or is it standard DOOM fare in that regard? I'm asking because on MAP01 I think I discovered all there was to find, but I just couldn't for the life of me make the jump to the fourth switch - so I want to know if it's an advanced platforming thing or if there's something else that needs to be found!

In terms of map 1 I've never attempted the jumps with just straifing but they should all be doable with sr50. As for map 2 and 3 there are no sr50 jumps required.

 

Edit: found out that map 1 is technically possible with exact angles

Edited July 17 by BENCHY

[bnbhehe]

On 7/15/2023 at 6:47 PM, sq. Tiramisu said:

I played this one a few days ago - great wad! I never managed to beat MAP02 so I didn't really get to see much of it, but I liked what I saw so I'll definitely be coming back to try again.

 

I have to ask though,

  Hide contents

does the mapset require SR50 or any other obscure tricks to beat, or is it standard DOOM fare in that regard? I'm asking because on MAP01 I think I discovered all there was to find, but I just couldn't for the life of me make the jump to the fourth switch - so I want to know if it's an advanced platforming thing or if there's something else that needs to be found!

Spoiler

It's an annoying jump but is doable even without SR50. Trial & error was my case.

 

[purple_ruberoid]

Guys, I think you mixed up "Save game" and "Load game" sprites : )

[BENCHY]

5 hours ago, purple_ruberoid said:

Guys, I think you mixed up "Save game" and "Load game" sprites : )

Oh? Did we😈

(Intentional added layer of CBT)

[randomsounds01]

i tried it yesterday and i got stuck

then i realized it was for MBF 21

then i played it in MBF 21 and still got stuck

then i looked at it in an editor and found one thing

and today i found another thing but i'm STILL STUCk

 

confusing as hell but a great wad nonetheless

[BENCHY]

oh shit:(

What map you stuck on?

 

[randomsounds01]

first one 

 

i got the red key, the two 1% health bonuses, activated two of the switches, opened that weird area with the guy on a stick, and i got the two structures super far in the background to be constructed.

 

this is an amazing map though

[BENCHY]

check DM for hint :D

 

[purple_ruberoid]

Oh, MAP03 -- I've never felt so helpless in the beginning

Edited July 24 by purple_ruberoid

[ipaqmaster]

Love the pistol sound was and was tapping it for a beat wasting all my ammo. I had a lot of trouble on map01's 4th switch but with enough loads and strafestrafing at it I made it up there. The map was a good opportunity to introduce the damaging aqua floor texture which made appearances in the following maps either from the beginning or as the map changed.

Spoiler

The moment I saw that optional red key at the end of map01 I knew I had to find some map cheese laying around. Glad I went looking!

 

Early map02 I had issues managing ammo despite best efforts. I feel this wouldn't feel so tough if the melee (Axe) did a bit more damage for the sprite. I found myself jumping into dangerous new areas just for the next gun. I can appreciate the map being designed to introduce a challenge only as you enter a new area and activate it. Backtracking the other direction into the 

Spoiler

reskinned BFG fight section

was a major improvement but I ultimately had to treat ammo pretty special.

 

Spoiler

Finding the "out of bounds" teal key was nice though my first few attempts to grab it failed as I got warped away. Only at full speed was I able to pick it up. Was that intended?

 

That sneaky button on the other side of the elevator call button was nuts

 

Despite the map seeming dead quiet for about 10 minutes, I was unable to find the final trick to open the level exit columns before running out of time tonight.

[Caleb13]

Is the WAD's name reference to movie The House That Jack Built?

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4003440/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1