Tom's Halls: A Doom Alpha Community Project (MUSICIANS WANTED!)

[Wadmodder Shalton]

There's this concept art made during Doom's development that depicts six areas of the UAC which were found in an extended version of Tom Hall's Doom Bible.

 

Hopefully these can be useful for the project.

[ludicrous_peridot]

23 hours ago, nicolas monti said:

EDIT: file updated with the corrections, same link.

 

Checked it out and appreciate the corrections. Maybe it is only me, and my source port, but...

Spoiler

the final boss would now not come down the stairs at all, making this an impossible encounter, as player simply bumps into the bro's belly and is ripped apart momentarily. Also has the final room monster been changed?

 

 

[nicolas monti]

50 minutes ago, ludicrous_peridot said:

 

Checked it out and appreciate the corrections. Maybe it is only me, and my source port, but...

  Reveal hidden contents

the final boss would now not come down the stairs at all, making this an impossible encounter, as player simply bumps into the bro's belly and is ripped apart momentarily. Also has the final room monster been changed?

 

 

 

I was notified that that fight could be cheesed from below so I forced things to make the player go up and fire, you cannot use the rocket launcher in that situation of course but you can use the shotgun at the right moment and go down again until the beast dies.

[Lone2401]

On 8/8/2023 at 8:31 AM, nicolas monti said:

0.3SHAWN2 is up for testing

Just played through this and I only have one complaint, having entire rooms covered with the blinking light effects got hard to look at after a while. Other than that I was rather impressed with the combat, this could be one of the later levels due to it's difficulty.

[nicolas monti]

4 hours ago, LoneAlpha2401 said:

Just played through this and I only have one complaint, having entire rooms covered with the blinking light effects got hard to look at after a while. Other than that I was rather impressed with the combat, this could be one of the later levels due to it's difficulty.

 

I understand your perspective, I'll wait to see what other people say about this, I surely do not have this problem but this is subjective.

[Plerb]

I think it's about time I post some WIP screenshots of my level. The layout is roughly 50-70% done, and I'll probably spend a good amount of time tweaking and polishing it after that. :)

Spoiler

 

[Raspoza]

Can I get 0.5 E1M6? Might have some ideas for how to turn it into a cool boss level.

[nicolas monti]

7 hours ago, Plerb said:

I think it's about time I post some WIP screenshots of my level. The layout is roughly 50-70% done, and I'll probably spend a good amount of time tweaking and polishing it after that. :)

  Hide contents

 

 

Nice work man, that last one is inta-classic feeling.

[Individualised]

If I take unusedmap.wad, would I be allowed to mix it with some geometry from the console version of Tower of Babel? Reconsidering not taking any maps for this and I'm just curious. Given that it may be an early Tower of Babel (it probably is - the Cyberdemon wasn't even in the game until sometime after the press release build, so it must be a map from very late in development) I'd like to keep it a boss level, but not just a boss arena like the final Tower of Babel, more like an E1M8 or slightly more sized level.

 

(also you're missing player starts and the Cyberdemon in your recreation, though they're on the original image. The other monsters would have to be guessed but they might be worth including in your recreation, as it's possible anyone who takes that slot won't go looking for the original map image)

Edited August 12, 2023 by Individualised

[Cacodemon187]

I'll try my hand at 0.5's E1M11, under the Highly Suggested list. E2M7 is already one of my favourite levels from the IWAD so it'll be fun to mess around with it and give it it's own spin :)

[Lone2401]

@Faceman2000  ̶ I̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶w̶a̶n̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶c̶l̶a̶i̶m̶ ̶a̶n̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶s̶l̶o̶t̶,̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶I̶ ̶s̶u̶g̶g̶e̶s̶t̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶a̶d̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶e̶a̶r̶l̶y̶ ̶v̶e̶r̶s̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶E̶1̶M̶6̶ ̶(̶0̶.̶5̶ ̶E̶1̶M̶9̶)̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶l̶i̶s̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶a̶v̶a̶i̶l̶a̶b̶l̶e̶ ̶m̶a̶p̶s̶.̶ ̶W̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶s̶e̶e̶ ̶w̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶c̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶l̶a̶r̶g̶e̶ ̶h̶e̶x̶a̶g̶o̶n̶a̶l̶ ̶s̶t̶r̶u̶c̶t̶u̶r̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶c̶u̶t̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶l̶e̶a̶s̶e̶ ̶g̶a̶m̶e̶.̶

EDIT: It's already there, apparently I can't read.

Edited August 12, 2023 by LoneAlpha2401

[taufan99]

Just wanted to share my current progress (which is still very far by and away!).

Spoiler

I decided to give the 0.5 E1M1 a Petersen-esque touch by converting its techbase theme to Hellish theme (some textures still need to be converted, while I'm also thinking about a way to significantly change the overall geometry so as to add more playability value). Hopefully that's okay with you!

 (yes, even the 0.3 THESTORE section!)

 

[Faceman2000]

19 hours ago, Raspoza said:

Can I get 0.5 E1M6? Might have some ideas for how to turn it into a cool boss level.

It’s yours! I’m excited to see what you come up with!

13 hours ago, Cacodemon187 said:

I'll try my hand at 0.5's E1M11, under the Highly Suggested list. E2M7 is already one of my favourite levels from the IWAD so it'll be fun to mess around with it and give it it's own spin :)

Okay, sounds good! If you’re using the 0.5 version, make sure you have some ideas to really differentiate it from the final version, as geometrically it’s almost identical to final. The earlier versions give you some more leeway if you want that; otherwise just make sure the theming and gameplay is radically different!

12 hours ago, LoneAlpha2401 said:

@Faceman2000 I don't want to claim another slot, but I suggest you add the early version of E1M6 (0.5 E1M9) to the list of available maps. Would really like to see what could be done with the large hexagonal structure that was cut from the release game.

This one is included - I listed it as 0.4 E1M5 as the level was even larger then. Blast Brothers has claimed it to develop a Cyberdemon boss battle.

14 hours ago, Individualised said:

If I take unusedmap.wad, would I be allowed to mix it with some geometry from the console version of Tower of Babel? Reconsidering not taking any maps for this and I'm just curious. 

Yeah, I think that’s fine. The console maps fall outside the purview of this project, but since you’re allowed to build whatever you want to on the scraps, that works for me. Plus I’m intrigued to see how the two blend together! So it’s yours.

 

@taufan99 and @Plerb, I love the progress! Can’t wait to test them out! And to all the developers, I’m sorry I haven’t posted the updated resource pack yet - I’ve been a bit, uh, distracted since Quakecon. I’ll try to get it live today! I should have progress on my Beta E1M3 to show soon, too - I’m mostly finished with the first round of geometric edits, then it’s monsters and textures.

[Cacodemon187]

9 minutes ago, Faceman2000 said:

If you’re using the 0.5 version, make sure you have some ideas to really differentiate it from the final version, as geometrically it’s almost identical to final. The earlier versions give you some more leeway if you want that; otherwise just make sure the theming and gameplay is radically different!

Will do!

[Individualised]

Just now, Faceman2000 said:

Yeah, I think that’s fine. The console maps fall outside the purview of this project, but since you’re allowed to build whatever you want to on the scraps, that works for me. Plus I’m intrigued to see how the two blend together! So it’s yours.

Great!

[Cacodemon187]

Begun working on E1M11, trying to figure out the general theme I want to go for.

Spoiler

 

I have a question though; do I have to stick to the rectangle that surrounds the map? I'd like to build past it.

[Faceman2000]

Yep, that is fine!

 

EDIT: Resource wad has been updated as of 8/12 with the textures Nicolas requested and some I fixed for vanilla ports.

Edited August 13, 2023 by Faceman2000

[Lone2401]

Supply Depot (E1M11) is ready for testing, all difficulty levels implemented, no dm starts yet.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-rU-IaIFYdr6BL9mQwc1Kj2Flwkzd9Ol/view?usp=drivesdk

[ludicrous_peridot]

1 hour ago, LoneAlpha2401 said:

Supply Depot (E1M11) is ready for testing, all difficulty levels implemented, no dm starts yet.

 

 

I may have been too arrogant to start this in UV, as I found it way too hard for my humble dooming skills, mainly due to low number of health pickups and many dark areas abundant with hitscanners. I feel that even health potions here and there would have made a difference...

It may be that UV has been implemented in this level for better players than me, in which case I will try HMP, and let you know about any glitches found, but this... this hurts...

Spoiler

 

PS. Yeah, got the green armor and goggles, that did not help as much - as you can see :)

[Faceman2000]

17 hours ago, LoneAlpha2401 said:

Supply Depot (E1M11) is ready for testing, all difficulty levels implemented, no dm starts yet.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-rU-IaIFYdr6BL9mQwc1Kj2Flwkzd9Ol/view?usp=drivesdk

Wow, this is great! I am genuinely impressed by how different it is from your previous adaptation of this level - you really made it its own thing here! I died on my first playthrough, but beat it on the second - 28 minutes, 9/10 kills. This is some good stuff.

 

I really like how many secrets you hid around and the way you hid them - they weren't too obtuse but required paying more attention than just wall-humping. I really liked the switch in the crate maze - it grabs your attention and teases you till you figure out how to activate it. Great stuff.

 

Combat was solid, too. You made good use of your hitscanners and heavier enemies to really deliver a challenge in places without being unfair. The room ludicrous_peridot mentioned was the meanest, and I think it could perhaps use a little tweaking. I like how it's tied to picking up the rocket launcher, but it's far enough from it that it doesn't pose much of a threat when you grab it. On the flipside, if you enter it from the reverse side, there's suddenly a bunch of enemies you don't necessarily have the equipment to deal with. And if you just approached it from the front without the RL, I imagine that would be pretty instant death by firing squad haha. I don't typically like to criticize without having a suggestion, but here. . . I dunno. I like the trap. My first instinct would be to have it exclusively tied to the rocket pickup, and put the RL closer to it, but there's not a whole lot of room to mess with geometry there.

 

I spent a lot of time lost trying to figure out how to get to the yellow key - I realized that BIGDOOR4 indicated a door was locked but I missed that the YK door was BIGDOOR2, and so I spent a lot of time wandering. Maybe change it to BIGDOOR1 so it's more obviously different?

 

Finally, I think sectors 137 and 364 should be unlocked, and you should lock 355 instead. Having that little section locked made navigation a bit difficult as it increased the need for backtracking, and as far as I can tell the only reason it is locked is because of the secret PG. If you kept the secret locked - you could maybe even turn it into a regular sector just locked behind a yellow door - then gameplay progression would remain the same but navigation becomes a lot simpler.

[taufan99]

Could I use a cyberdemon for my 0.5 E1M1 adaptation? I suppose that being a secret level candidate, it'd be good to give some occasional challenge for players alike.

[Faceman2000]

4 minutes ago, taufan99 said:

Could I use a cyberdemon for my 0.5 E1M1 adaptation? I suppose that being a secret level candidate, it'd be good to give some occasional challenge for players alike.

We've actually got three boss maps in progress built around Cyberdemon encounters, so I'm going to go ahead and say no here. I should've been clearer before - when I said this map was a good candidate for a secret map, I meant if someone wanted to make two versions (one based around 0.5 E1M1 and the other based around the development image with the extensive additions.) If that's what you have in mind, would a Spiderdemon work in place of a Cyber?

[taufan99]

30 minutes ago, Faceman2000 said:

We've actually got three boss maps in progress built around Cyberdemon encounters, so I'm going to go ahead and say no here. I should've been clearer before - when I said this map was a good candidate for a secret map, I meant if someone wanted to make two versions (one based around 0.5 E1M1 and the other based around the development image with the extensive additions.) If that's what you have in mind, would a Spiderdemon work in place of a Cyber?

That's fine by me. Cybie or Spiderdemon, either way will work for me.

[ludicrous_peridot]

I tried Supply Depot again, on HNTR this time and I must admit, I did not figure out last time the level required some dedication in trying out different paths before finding something that actually works, like approaching the "firing squad" from certain direction, investigating and using the crusher, planning berserk pickup earlier for ammo conservation, rather than later as a health reserve, etc. I loved how everything was interconnected, even if I felt lost very often (I am a person who confuses the exit hall in this map with the gallery near the yellow key room, and goes - "hey, who turned off the lights; they were on just a moment ago"), and areas were often too dark for my personal liking. It was the level that gave me this unique creepy feeling as I was moving cautiously alone through a haunted warehouse trying to avoid hissies flying by looking for intruders - not something that original Doom did, by the way, so hats off. Tom's hall with flickering lights looked very fitting in this map as well. 

 

So, once I was able to penetrate just a little deeper into the map (which UV monster cordons did not allow me) the pickups were very generous (well, I should have known there would be supplies in a Supply Depot after all), maybe even too generous on HNTR with very little combat challenge on this difficulty level and even following the "advantageous paths" (above) not being that important. Not complaining - easy should be easy after all. Also talking about supplies, would a rad suite be a reasonable addition to this map?

 

Now some feedback. Textures are applied very-very nicely across the level, sharing only couple of minor inconsistencies.

Spoiler

 

I got 90% secrets in the end, so couple remarks on those:

Spoiler

* I did not find the switch to lower sector 15; I blame the dark ;) - but I guess it is just myself not being attentive. But note, that I am playing without mlook.
 

* Are you certain line 336 (that lowers sector 19) should be triggered by monsters? Shotgunners just opened the door straight in my face the moment I jumped down into the room, making it a strange kind of secret.

 

Also a tech oddity - the MIDI included may not play way on old Allegro-based ports, as it has more than 32 MIDI tracks (I imagine the comments are to blame?), but it plays just fine in vanilla.

[nicolas monti]

On 8/12/2023 at 4:46 PM, Faceman2000 said:

Yep, that is fine!

 

EDIT: Resource wad has been updated as of 8/12 with the textures Nicolas requested and some I fixed for vanilla ports.

 

Thanks man! map already updated with the same link

[Lone2401]

version 2 of Supply Depot, now with more health, more ammo, and less shotgunners

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-uXxJ1F0KM0fRcGeW0EOXSgHs8CLFsVC/view?usp=drivesdk

@Faceman2000 it's up to you to pick which version you want to include

EDIT: try this one and let me know which one you prefer @ludicrous_peridot

EDIT 2: don't bother with this version, there's a newer one a few posts down

Edited August 15, 2023 by LoneAlpha2401

[nicolas monti]

On 8/13/2023 at 4:05 PM, LoneAlpha2401 said:

Supply Depot (E1M11) is ready for testing, all difficulty levels implemented, no dm starts yet.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-rU-IaIFYdr6BL9mQwc1Kj2Flwkzd9Ol/view?usp=drivesdk

 

Just played it, it's a damn fine map, I appreciate how the original layout and theme were preserved.

 

EDIT: I played only the first version, it is stingy with resources but I had no problem with that, it was doable.

[Lone2401]

sorry about the spam, but version 3 is here with some bugfixes and deathmatch starts/items

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10Ftc3wDOfRxYijM0i_ySBix9-RKvnw3F/view?usp=drivesdk

[ludicrous_peridot]

On 8/15/2023 at 5:45 AM, LoneAlpha2401 said:

sorry about the spam, but version 3 is here with some bugfixes and deathmatch starts/items

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10Ftc3wDOfRxYijM0i_ySBix9-RKvnw3F/view?usp=drivesdk

 

Thank you so much, I liked it more. After having had explored the map at HTNR, I played the new version at UV without any problems really, although additional stimpack besides the backpack cabinet was much appreciated. I did quick load once at the grenade launcher grab point but otherwise completed the level in 22:40 this time, without visiting every part of it (e.g. didn't go for plasma rifle, didn't bother about goggles, etc - 80% kills, 70% secrets).

 

Now, with regards to final balance, I'd rather go with better players view (expressed above), as the new UV may actually be at HMP by modern standards, but I certainly found it more approachable for players of my skill, so thanks again.

 

EDIT:

I've actually played lostmaps.wad by @LoneAlpha2401, and having re-read the below...

 

On 8/6/2023 at 3:51 PM, Faceman2000 said:

I’m actually familiar with these maps - they were a big part of my inspiration for this project. Both maps are really cool and I appreciate you sharing them here! I’m going to pass on E1M1 - it’s a good level but I really don’t recognize the 0.5 E1M1 in here besides the general horseshoe shape.

 

... may I humbly ask for a chance to rethink this? Appreciate it is much more elaborate than the simplistic "demo" map from 0.5 and borrows from other E1 maps (cellar mounted computers from E1M1, stair building from E1M2, computer "attic" from E1M7, probably others as well) and the "Visit..." E1M1. Still I am not sure geometry is thaaat much different, or totally created from scratch, or that it is less believable id folks could have evolved it this way. See for yourself in the spoiler:
 

Spoiler

 

Edited August 16, 2023 by ludicrous_peridot : lostmaps.wad

[Cacodemon187]

More progress on 0.5 E1M11:

Spoiler

 

It's going pretty well so far! Although I'm a bit concerned about how similar the map has to be to the original product... I've been pretty much breaking apart the original map and stitching different sections together while adding a couple original areas in between.