Apprehension: A WIP Singleplayer Mapset by an Apprehensive Multiplayer Mapper (Boom-Compatible) [MAP01-MAP06]

[Insaneprophet]

Definately a step up in deviousness. 😀 I like where this is going. I tried to uvmax it and I did get all kills and secrets but I was missing like 9 or 10 items, some of which I could see but couldnt figure any way to get on their podiums, the other items maybe were rad suits I didnt use, if not then I dont know. Anywho, where as I was able to beat the first 3 blind, no worries, this one will most likely get anyone, somewhere, first try. Especially in that one secret, you know which one. After first run though, it is all very doable deathless, and honestly, I probably wouldnt have and didnt die anywhere except that one secret. But there were a few places that I could have and thats what counts. Good job and thanks again! Looking forward to more. 😀

[AshtralFiend]

Managed to play maps 03 and 04

 

Map03:

 

 

Another great map! I guess Red and Grey will be a prevalent theme across all maps! Here are some observations:

 

Spoiler

- The brick textures at 1:24 seem to be misaligned;

- Maybe the Revs at 3:03 not being in ambush state would pressure the player to move more;

- That supercharge secret as cool and simple to figure out;

- I didn't understand what the switch did at 5:19;

- At 5:47, is the door track working like this a stylistic choice or did you forget to unpeg it? 

- I really liked the ambush at 6:40;

 

Map04:

 

Feels like the difficulty is ramping up! This map managed to kill me twice! One in the secret ambush and another right at the end. The video got somewhat big, so I just recorded a UV max.

 

 

Spoiler

- At 8:40, the first time I had some trouble identifying that texture as a switch. After pressing it, took two missiles from behind and died. Don't even know if it was the Cyber or the Rev's fault;

- At 9:10, you forgot to change the crate texture to the door track;

- At 10:22. It was obviously an ambush, but didn't expect that many archviles :P Ended up dying here on my first attempt 

 

Keep up the great work!

[fefor]

18 hours ago, Arrowhead said:

Were the hurtfloors in the vent confusing? Just curious.

 

No, I immediately realized it was the fan texture when I received damage.

 

Also I just got done playing MAP04, I'm really enjoying the ramp up in difficulty and the traps/ambushes! was really excited to try it out after reading the preview, here's two demos: one is the FDA and the other was a second playthrough where I wanted to beat the map faster but I somehow forgot about the switches in the mancubi room and spent like 2 or 3 minutes looking around wondering if I broke the map, but still wanted to share it because the ending was hilarious. 

 

Spoiler

The archvile ambush with the BFG really surprised me, I was expecting an enemy ambush so I was already very cautious of my surroundings but I didn't think it'd be that many archviles, it was very fun

 

map04aprh_ffr.zip

[Arrowhead]

9 hours ago, Insaneprophet said:

Definately a step up in deviousness. 😀 I like where this is going. I tried to uvmax it and I did get all kills and secrets but I was missing like 9 or 10 items, some of which I could see but couldnt figure any way to get on their podiums, the other items maybe were rad suits I didnt use, if not then I dont know. Anywho, where as I was able to beat the first 3 blind, no worries, this one will most likely get anyone, somewhere, first try. Especially in that one secret, you know which one. After first run though, it is all very doable deathless, and honestly, I probably wouldnt have and didnt die anywhere except that one secret. But there were a few places that I could have and thats what counts. Good job and thanks again! Looking forward to more. 😀

Yeah, that podium item thing is my mistake - other than an arch-vile jump, (LOL) I can't conceive of any way to get those 8 or so bonuses - I'll delete those.

 

Thanks for checking these out again! Glad to hear this one was a bit more tough for you - I don't want things to be a 'cakewalk', that's for sure. I'm working on MAP05 as we speak - not quite sure how it's going to end up yet, but expect a similar difficulty style as this map!

 

4 hours ago, AshtralFiend said:

  Hide contents

- The brick textures at 1:24 seem to be misaligned;

- Maybe the Revs at 3:03 not being in ambush state would pressure the player to move more;

- That supercharge secret as cool and simple to figure out;

- I didn't understand what the switch did at 5:19;

- At 5:47, is the door track working like this a stylistic choice or did you forget to unpeg it? 

- I really liked the ambush at 6:40;

 

  Hide contents

- At 8:40, the first time I had some trouble identifying that texture as a switch. After pressing it, took two missiles from behind and died. Don't even know if it was the Cyber or the Rev's fault;

- At 9:10, you forgot to change the crate texture to the door track;

- At 10:22. It was obviously an ambush, but didn't expect that many archviles :P Ended up dying here on my first attempt 

 

MAP03:

-I agree about those revenants, they're a bit too sedentary for my liking - currently it requires a movement commitment from the player, but if the player keeps back like in the video, then yeah, you're right - not too challenging - I'll fix that.

-Glad you liked the supercharge secret - I thought the little translucent window 'teasing' it was a cool effect.

-The switch at 5:19 lowers a set of iron bars in front of that door that the revenant is hiding behind - it's to encourage the player to explore the entirety of the map first (gather the green armor, learn where the yellow door is) - it may be a bit superfluous, though, true.

-5:47 is my mistake - good eye, I'll fix that.

MAP04:

- I selected that switch to be the exit switch for the previous level - this was to show a potential player that it was an operable texture - but I don't know if I communicated that well - I'll put some kind of glow effect, and border it w/ some lights - that should clear things up I think. It's also possible on rare occasions that the cybie doesn't teleport immediately - and instead shoots through that hole from its FIREBLU room - I'll remedy that by moving its teleporting line closer to it.

- Those crate textures will be the death of me, LOL. Every time I think I got them all, one shows up! Thanks for being observant.

- Yeah, other than the cybie 'jump scare' that's probably the rudest part of the map, haha. I had originally contemplated making the few poles I used for cover go up and down to make things harder, but I settled for the current set-up in the end.

 

2 hours ago, fefor said:

No, I immediately realized it was the fan texture when I received damage.

 

Also I just got done playing MAP04, I'm really enjoying the ramp up in difficulty and the traps/ambushes! was really excited to try it out after reading the preview, here's two demos: one is the FDA and the other was a second playthrough where I wanted to beat the map faster but I somehow forgot about the switches in the mancubi room and spent like 2 or 3 minutes looking around wondering if I broke the map, but still wanted to share it because the ending was hilarious. 

 

The archvile ambush with the BFG really surprised me, I was expecting an enemy ambush so I was already very cautious of my surroundings but I didn't think it'd be that many archviles, it was very fun

- Good, I was worried I hadn't communicated that well enough, as it's not a traditional hurtfloor.

- I will signpost those 4 switches better - they are a bit dark, and unassuming right now, I believe.

- Glad you had some fun w/ the archie ambush - that was my favorite part of the level to make!

 

Spoiler

 

SECRET SWITCH:

 

I didn't know if that secret switch was a bit confusing, so I wanted to describe its function:

 

Upon teleporting in from the blue door teleporter, (the red one) onto the red skull key, an iron bar raises in front of that teleporter so that it can't be used again - this is to prevent an easy cheese of the cybie by telefrag. The secret is there, so that one can lower the bar again, and telefrag the cybie if they wish - I'm trying to find a better way to show that, but it's quite difficult, as the pole is nowhere near the sightline for the switch. Yeah, basically, it serves as a way to easily kill the cybie - it doesn't affect progression whatsoever, despite maybe looking like it does.

 

 

Thanks to the three of you for playing this newest one - I will make / finish MAP05 - and I'll update this one alongside.

 

Very glad people are having fun thus far!

 

 

:D

[Arrowhead]

A bit of a description for the next map:

MAP05: FRAGTOWN:

 

A large area w/ 5-6 urban buildings - the central building is much taller than the rest. Access to this building is heavily restricted. Opposition from all sides - some nasty surprises - a small base complex partially borders this 'town', also. I'm also anticipating a higher monster count, too.

 

I don't want to spoil too much about this one - not sure when I'll be finished, but it's going well so far!

 

 

:)

[Arrowhead]

Alright, I'll spoil some of the architecture I've started making, why not - this is a dev thread after all...

 

This is getting pretty monolithic, actually:

Obviously, this map is still in its infancy - but I should have a major chunk done by tonight. Lots of buildings to make, and almost all of the combat to plan out still.

 

 

:D

[Arrowhead]

Hmmm, this map is now a gigantic multi-hundred monsters 'slaughter' map.

 

I'm not sure how I feel about this - I feel like it may have exceeded the scope of this current map pack. It will take some time to play through, not eons, but for certain longer than the previous maps.

 

The main design is focused around a massive central building that has a 'quintuple' security system set-up - a 3-key door, as well as 2 sets of raising / lowering iron bars... You basically traverse around the level battling your way through large swathes of monsters -  finding the three keys, and the 2 switches, this unleashes the final combat situation.

 

It could work well as a penultimate, or final level, or hell, even a secret map - I just have trouble gauging if people actually enjoy 'slaughter' or not. It's not like this map has a 1000+ enemies, or anything - but it is definitely MORE slaughter than the previous 4... as in, you're fighting a LOT of enemies at the same time.

 

The layout itself is huge - which is part of the problem, I think - more nuanced monster placement isn't as readily possible, as the grounds to run around in are so large - so that kind of eliminates a lot of more 'careful' encounter designs I could do...

 

Just wanted to get a feel for how much people like this kind of thing. I'm nearly done all the texturing, (just a few buildings left, some detailing, etc.) but I still have time to tweak my monster placement / combat design.

 

Here are some screenshots - the map is still currently unfinished - this is slaughter for sure, but not super difficult slaughter, or anything:

Regardless of this map's particular reception, the remaining maps in this set will likely continue to be similar in size or difficult to MAP04 - if not a bit more difficult, still.

 

Any opinions would be great!

 

(Some texturing choices will likely still change, but I'll hopefully have a working version before tomorrow morning.)

 

:D

[Insaneprophet]

I would love to give it a go and let you know what I think. I am not a huge fan of slaughter and will generally bypass the latest big slaughter releases but I am not a hater either. Some of my favorite maps and sets are slaughter adjacent, slaughter lite or even down right hard core slaughter done just the way I like. Im very interested in seeing what youve cooked up. 😀

[Arrowhead]

Good news, this is turning out better than I thought it would. Expect a release in 3-5 hours' time.

 

Around 750 monsters total - however, don't expect this to be a slog - this is an intense, and 'quick' slaughter map - I think even non-slaughter fans should be able to tackle it.

 

:)

[Arrowhead]

MAP05: DOWNTOWN DEMON DELUGE:

 

It's finished!

 

A large, fairly difficult slaughter level! Much different than the last maps! But that's what this is all about - trying new things!

 

This is tough, but not too tough - I'm able to UVMAX it - so I have faith you all could too. There are some very evil situations in this level - they might seem unfair at first, and you may die, but you shouldn't feel ripped-off when you do - all the fights are very doable in this level, despite the huge amount of enemies on screen at once.

 

I didn't include too much in the screenshots to avoid spoiling the scale of this map's encounters!

 

Let me know what you all think - as always, please attempt w/ pistol-start - as that is how this is balanced right now - and please play on UV.

 

Here are some screenshots:

 

***NEWEST*** - MAP01+MAP02+MAP03+MAP04+MAP05: https://www.mediafire.com/file/8o0304nqtlxkq5z/ApprehensionMAPSET-5_MAPS.wad/file

 

EDIT: MAP04 has not been updated to reflect the newest feedback yet. I will do that soon!

 

EDIT2: I may have to re-balance things depending on how well people do in this level - it may be too easy for some, too difficult for some - so I'm always open to re-balancing to make things harder / easier.

 

 

:D

Edited March 17 by Arrowhead

[Insaneprophet]

It may take some time to formulate a written thought pattern on the new map 5, so this post is just going to tell you about an odd soft lock I found.

Spoiler

In the main arena there is a teleporter kind a on the south west side that takes you to a teleporter on the north westish side. The destination has a zombie and is surrounded by a wall that lowers. If you step off of the porter and step back on, or ride the wall back up then drop back onto the porter, you port back to the first destination. If you then re-teleport bac over you are stuck inside with the walls up and no way to lower them or get out. I didnt test if you just use the teleporter once then go on about the map and then accidentally use the first port again later, but I suspect that once the walls lower the go up, if you ever teleport back in their again, you will be stuck. 😀

 

[Arrowhead]

4 hours ago, Insaneprophet said:

It may take some time to formulate a written thought pattern on the new map 5, so this post is just going to tell you about an odd soft lock I found.

  Hide contents

In the main arena there is a teleporter kind a on the south west side that takes you to a teleporter on the north westish side. The destination has a zombie and is surrounded by a wall that lowers. If you step off of the porter and step back on, or ride the wall back up then drop back onto the porter, you port back to the first destination. If you then re-teleport bac over you are stuck inside with the walls up and no way to lower them or get out. I didnt test if you just use the teleporter once then go on about the map and then accidentally use the first port again later, but I suspect that once the walls lower the go up, if you ever teleport back in their again, you will be stuck. 😀

 

Hmm, that is a bit of a problem, you're right - I thought I had changed that, so that you could shoot the inside of the walled teleporter and have it lower quickly, but I could be wrong.

 

If I'm not wrong - then that probably isn't communicated very well. I'll check here in a few minutes once I get ready this morning! Either way, if it's confusing enough to make someone think they've soft-locked, then that's a problem.

 

:)

[Insaneprophet]

I never did try or think of shooting it so maybe it isnt a soft lock. I never put 2 an 2 together that maybe shooting the zombie also lowered it. Thought I was just killing a zombie then never had another reason to fire my weapon. But really that can kinda be on the player when theres only 2 actions you can take... should ALWAYS try both...

[fefor]

I always say I'm not the biggest slaughtermap enthusiast but lately I've been enjoying them more than I thought I would, regardless of what we think though what should matter the most is what you think about it, if you enjoy them and wanted to have a slaughtermap on this slot and you are fine with the pacing after doing the previous maps then go for it. 

 

Was a lot of fun tackling this one, roaming around in the beginning while mowing down zombiemen reminded me of Industrial Zone, it also reminded me of Downtown in the sense that I felt free to check out all of the buildings and kill enemies beforehand in the order I wanted while there's powerups laying around.

 

I think the difficulty is fine, there's enough rad suits and soulspheres along with the megaspheres so I never really felt I would run out of anything. Here's my FDA and the uvmax, I'll go more into details in the spoiler.

 

Spoiler

After the failed FDA I made another attempt and died early to the YK archviles because I tried something different and they caught me in a bad spot, third attempt got me the uvmax. I think that the most dangerous thing in the map are the 3 archvile fights, for the one in the YK you have to pick a good spot to stay and deal with them so that you'll have enough cover, you can always run away to the other side of the map but you don't want to take too long on this fight because the screen can get filled with lost souls, I like it.

 

The lowering pillars with revenants and archviles will probably get you killed if you fail to realize there's a BFG, but as long as you get the weapon first you should be able to deal with them, they will infight a lot and there's 2 megaspheres. 

 

Lastly the final archviles with the spidermasterminds caught me off guard and killed me haha, I went straight into the room and didn't expect anything else to join in the fight, the second time I got there I already knew about them so I took out the spiders first while avoiding lowering the archvile lift.

 

Overall I played with a lot of caution because I know that grabbing stuff and pressing switches makes hell break loose in Doom maps, it can probably get super chaotic if you grab the yellow key then immediately go for the BFG and release those enemies, but if you assume everything is a trap and take things slowly you can take on each fight smoothly.

 

Looking forward to the rest of the set and for the combat to get spicier, bring it on!

aprh05_ffr.zip

[Arrowhead]

41 minutes ago, fefor said:

 

Glad you had fun roaming around - that's partially why I called it 'Downtown Demon Deluge' - I wanted the level to kind of embody that feeling - where you can decide when and where to go, look around, and not become immediately overwhelmed. The zombiemen are there to be a nuisance, but also to quickly 'drag' the player out into the open.

 

You were so close on that FDA to a UVMAX! Regarding the difficulty, I think what I'll do is keep the current power-up / radsuit structure, but set it up for like, HMP, or something. And then, for UV, go in and change / remove some of the power-ups / radsuits - not most of them, but at least some of them - to make things a bit more trickier.

 

Maybe I should also lower the BFG slightly, so it's more visible? I can see how someone would press one of the 3 apartment blocks' elevators and get punished for it, then get annoyed. I tried in this one to make things non-linear just like MAP04 - in the sense that there are 2 different keys you can go after from the get-go. I typically go for the blue key first, to secure the BFG - but that's only because I have prior knowledge, I suppose. Starting w/ the yellow key first is probably easier, because if you start w/ the blue key first, when you release the yellow key archviles, they'll have all those pinkies to revive.

 

And regarding the pacing for this set, I think a slaughter map works well here in this slot, as kind of a 'refresher' between going back to the more traditional base structures. But you're right, what matters most (I suppose) is how satisfied I am w/ that choice - you're right. Still, I do value all feedback, and if, say, a couple people said "Hey! A slaughter map doesn't work here!" - then I'd probably move it, or adjust it somehow.

 

1 hour ago, Insaneprophet said:

I never did try or think of shooting it so maybe it isnt a soft lock. I never put 2 an 2 together that maybe shooting the zombie also lowered it. Thought I was just killing a zombie then never had another reason to fire my weapon. But really that can kinda be on the player when theres only 2 actions you can take... should ALWAYS try both...

While it is true that both actions should be tried - I don't think it's communicated well. I may scrap those NW-SW teleporters. Funny enough, they are really only there as a remnant from an earlier set-up I had in the level. The archvile/revenant apartment block fight was originally much more mean-spirited. There used to be a 524 high wall that would raise around the 3 apartment blocks. The teleporters were there to allow an escape, if need be. I made the teleporters lower very slowly to still put a crunch on the player, and then upon exiting the non-walled teleporter, that red wall would lower again - if you crossed it again, it would raise once more.

 

W/ this now changed, there's not really much reason for the two teleporter towers to exist. You can still see the red wall I had previously from a track I left on the ground. I changed this, because I felt it was too brutal - and also, because I was worried that if a player entered this fight unprepared, that they'd have an unpleasant time.

 

As always, you two have given me some stuff to think about!

 

I'm getting started on MAP06 - a medium to medium/large base structure, w/ some outdoors areas. I'll post more updates as I go - but expect MAP04's difficulty, if not a little smaller - likely more difficult too. I may always move this slaughter map down a slot or two to better slope the difficulty.

 

 

:D

[Insaneprophet]

So I did have a little more to say about map 5, nothing consiquential, just some more of mine own thoughts. It wasnt my favorite slaughter experience nor my least favorite. Im not a great athority on the subject but from where I sit, the handul of large onslaughts just kind of felt random. They were there, yes, they happened when you did this or that, but it didnt really feel like organic reasons why they were set up to happen in this map, if that makes any sense to anyone but me. I very much appreciated the vast variety of different approaches you could take, in not only what to start when, but also, you could deal with anything that came at you in just about eighty different ways. So you would think those two opinions would cancel each other out and make me pretty indifferent to the map but there is more going on here. Lets take the name of the set, "Apprehension." What is ones mind set when feeling that particular emotion? I would argue that your thoughts are kind of all over the place, you dont know what to expect, nor how to feel about it or what to do and how to handle it... this unknown. In that vein this is the perfect map in the perfect position for this set. You could have never seen it coming, its gameplay could make anyone nervous, and its design isnt exactly non-logical but there is no clear reasoning. Just like the emotion! Not exactly non-logical but also not using the clearest of reasoning. 

So anywho.... words, blah blah blah, yada yada yada...

I did like the map. 😝

[Arrowhead]

1 hour ago, Insaneprophet said:

 

That does make sense about what you're saying when you're saying 'inorganic'. I thought logically, that the 3 apartment block trap made sense, in that there are a ton of demons chilling in some buildings, but yeah, a lot of the other encounters - not so much.

 

In terms of it being wildly different from the rest of the levels, well, that was one of my reservations going into it - I was worried it would be too different from the others, and either make people concerned that's what the rest of the maps will be like, or if the set is going to be 'all over the place' thematically...

 

The whole '80 different ways' thing you mention was by design, I wanted the map to be able to be tackled using tons of different strategies - although, when you do that, careful / more logical encounter design kind of goes more to the wayside.

 

I agree w/ what you're saying how it fits the emotion / feeling of apprehension - in that it's very unexpected - in that apprehension and 'fear of the unexpected' go hand-in-hand. In that case, being smack dab in the middle of the episode is probably a good place for it. I don't intend on too many more big 'surprises' like this, in this set - the remaining 3-5 maps will be much more similar to the first 4 - I may even go over 10 maps, we'll have to see.

 

This new level, I've got a bit of a haunted church or something going on, w/ some much tighter ambushes and fights happening.

 

Glad to hear you still got some enjoyment out of the slaughter map, as I know that stuff isn't for everybody, as well as it being my first attempt at something that big - I think that's the largest map I've ever made, haha.

 

Excited to hear what you'll think about MAP06!

 

:)

[Arrowhead]

Things are going well w/ MAP06 - I've got the main fight in order already!

 

I just need to figure out the rest of the layout, and then the rest should be smooth sailing!

 

:D

[AshtralFiend]

I'll be honest, slaughter maps aren't my favorite type of maps. And yes, it was a completely different experience from the other first 4 maps.

Still a pretty fun map, with the usual "Arrowhead level of quality". 

 

Took me a couple of times because I was getting reckless with the BFG. The hardest fight was definitely the pinky/revenant/archvile wave. After that it was relatively smooth sailing.

 

 

Here is the UV MAX! Looking forward to the next maps :D

[Arrowhead]

8 hours ago, AshtralFiend said:

I'll be honest, slaughter maps aren't my favorite type of maps. And yes, it was a completely different experience from the other first 4 maps.

Still a pretty fun map, with the usual "Arrowhead level of quality". 

 

Took me a couple of times because I was getting reckless with the BFG. The hardest fight was definitely the pinky/revenant/archvile wave. After that it was relatively smooth sailing.

Thanks!

 

Yeah, that tower block fight is probably the trickiest.

 

This next map has a pretty mean opener. Still working on it, I'll likely have most of it done tomorrow!

 

Was fun watching you UVMAX the slaughter map - I like seeing everyone's different  ways of tackling situations.

 

:)

[Arrowhead]

Got the whole layout done for MAP06.

 

Just have to do texturing, and some more thing placement, and this should be ready to be played soon enough! Hopefully, I'll be done later today.

 

:)

[Arrowhead]

Good news! MAP06 is finished! Expect a release shortly.

 

It has some tough situations. I'm pretty sure it's harder than MAP04. It requires a lot of management of hurtfloors - although, I don't think anything gets too obnoxious.

 

 

:D

[Arrowhead]

MAP06: GREAT SACRIFICE:

 

Here's the new map - I haven't updated MAP05 yet.

 

Let me know what you think - this is quite hard in some spots (for me, at least) - there's also a couple different orders to how you can approach the final fight. The environment is kind of like a corrupt church + grotto.

 

https://www.mediafire.com/file/u6chjuidzjs8h4t/ApprehensionMAPSET-6_MAPS.zip/file

 

Here's some screenshots:

 

As always, please try for UVMAX, and start w/ pistol-start - that will help me the most. Thanks!

 

https://www.mediafire.com/file/u6chjuidzjs8h4t/ApprehensionMAPSET-6_MAPS.zip/file

 

:D

[fefor]

Absolute banger I loved it, this is turning out to be a very solid mapset.

 

I really like the hectic beginning because you have to be real fast to take down the chaingunners and then rush towards the mancubi take at least one of them out so you can get inside the room before the revenants reach you (and I guess you could take out the revs while standing on the starting platform too but this other method was so fun). I also like the big fight on the switch that is next to the chaingun, there's countless of ways of dealing with that one, you can either take the teleporter or stay to fight the packs in any order, or go to the place where the shotgunners are at and camp.

 

If it weren't for those loads of pillars on the final fight I prob wouldn't be able to beat it haha, I saved before dropping down as it was my first time reaching that point but ended up not having to use it and beat it first try (I suppose knowing I wouldn't lose the progress made me play calmly) 

 

To be honest I wouldn't change anything, I think the map is perfect as it is. But if you want to be even more mean you could make the pillar with the archvile on the yellow key to drop down faster and for the very last enemy next to the exit you could make it a switch to open that door which could also teleport some archviles or something behind you hehe.

 

Here's my uvmax demo after 7 attempts, previous deaths were in the starting area + one time I took the teleporter next to the chaingun and there were two arachnotrons waiting for me on the other side.

 

PS: how many more you think you'll make?

map06uvmax-00007.zip

[Arrowhead]

Just finished watching the demo.

 

Really glad to hear you enjoyed it as much as you did!

 

Yeah, the beginning is a bit tough - the way I beat that section was by pinning my back to the wall, and trying to thin out the revenants and pinkies, then I'd tackle the chaingunners. Your way seems more efficient!

 

I really do like that archvile pillar idea - that'd make that area much more evil. And yeah, some archies that pop up right at the end to torment the player could be fun - I actually had a pair of them w/ the cybie earlier, but the cybie would just outright kill them through in-fighting. Finding some way to add them otherwise would be a good idea. I'll change that in the next update!

 

And, I'm not entirely sure how many more I'll make - I was originally hoping for 8 maps - but I'm having too much fun w/ it now, so I may try to aim for 12 - or I just may keep going as long as I can, basically I'm aiming for 8-12 maps - but that's not to say that this can't go further.

 

Working w/ monsters vs. players is much different than working w/ players vs. players - but things seem to be working out so far.

 

I've started the 7th level - got a few rooms done already!

 

Thanks for going through this one - I appreciate your comments!

 

:)

[Arrowhead]

MAP07: Something Sinister

 

I'm getting somewhere w/ MAP07!

 

I have the main battle set up already, as well as the general 'gameplan'.

 

I think I have said this earlier before about a different level, but this is easily the most difficult fight I've made so far. Some very peculiar things going on...

 

I think the map will feel fair - this final situation will be tough, but doable - hopefully not unpleasant!

 

The level is set in some kind of hellish base - not quite a return to the techbases of the earlier levels, it's definitely more hellish than base-ish, but it should hopefully be interesting.

 

I'm not sure when I'll have this done, probably within the next 2 days.

 

I would post a screenie, but I sincerely don't want to hint at the final fight yet, and the other areas aren't done yet.

 

 

:)

[Insaneprophet]

Map 6 was seriously fun. It was just the right amount of difficult situations followed by hordes of demons on damaging floors, with a perfect amount of interconnectivity, safe walkways and cover. I liked every fight in the map and replayed with different stratagies miltiple times. The only weak point would maybe be the progression but it certianly is a small enough map that even with my self imposed ignorance of what did what and where to go, minimal looking around was needed to find a way forward. I do mostly blame myself for this as well, I was having such a good time with the combat that I wasnt really paying attention to the switches or teleports or keys and just ran ahead looking for another fight and like I said, when there was nothing left to kill it wasnt a monumental task to go take a closer look at what I had ignored. The keys themselves posed to be a little difficult but are absolutely doable without any cheats or speedrunner tricks, just need a try try again mentallity. So anywho, this is possibly my favorite map in the set, but its hard to judge because they are all different enough to have their own merrits and as a whole there feels like a gelling going on where they all support each other without becoming monotonous.

[Arrowhead]

7 hours ago, Insaneprophet said:

 

Definitely a change in pace from that slaughter map! Happy to hear it was your favorite in the set - means I'm still on the right track!

 

Glad to hear you thought the fights were tough but fair.

 

That one area w/ the temporarily lowering key lifts is a bit tricky to get just right, timing-wise. I did that, so that somebody couldn't as easily just sprint through there on their first time and get the keys - I wanted to try to force the player to fight the archies. The timing is very tight though, I agree.

 

I could probably also make the blue key a bit more obvious - it is a bit too hidden behind the poles it is in.

 

Thanks for going through this one, looking forward to what you think of the next - it is a similar level of difficulty, if not a bit more 'devious'.

 

:)

[AshtralFiend]

Finally remembered to play map 6

 

A hectic start in damaging floor that pressures the player to keep moving! Really fun fights!

The only thing I didn't enjoy was how tight the timing was for the key lifts. I play with a controller so strafe running efficiently is sometimes finicky...

Other than that, a damn great map!

 

 

[Arrowhead]

9 hours ago, AshtralFiend said:

 

Thanks for playing - that makes sense about the controller thing - I may change that slightly to make it more palatable for people playing w/ controller or keyboard-only - makes sense.

 

Still working on MAP07, I've been caught up w/ some IRL stuff. MAP07 will be out soon, though - once I get some more time available.

 

Glad you enjoyed the fights!

 

 

:)