Precious Cargo Pt. 1 - Single Vanilla TNT Map

[Quin]

 

 

Introducing Precious Cargo, yet another vanilla TNT map that features modern mapping techniques in vanilla limitations with substantially elevated difficulty. Exemplifying Doom-Cute and the limitations provided by the vanilla format, this map iterates upon the realistic measures that TeamTNT sought after, including Doom-Cute cars and cranes lifting objects mid-air. This map is a part of two, with the next aiming to create a realistic crate-maze replete with forklifts and endless conveyor belts!

 

Around 2 Weeks (Unsure)
Typical Playtime: 8 - 11 Minutes

 

Credits:

PatchTex by Gothic 

Midi Track by Decino

 

Ports Tested:
Chocolate Doom (No crashes or hitches on my end...)

CRL
Crispy Doom

Woof

 

Download

[Zesiir]

You should probably specify that this takes the MAP11 slot.

 

The map flowed mostly well on UV; though enemy encounters felt a bit awkward with huge piles of hitscanners among stronger monsters, and an excessive amount of barrels that just got in the way. There were a lot of Archvile encounters towards the end of the map, having to backtrack with little to no cover from their hitscan attacks felt a bit unfair.

 

I don't really understand the point of the teleporter in the tunnel; if it's made to be a long tunnel then why traverse it instantly? And you never see the red car from the entrance to the tunnel, but when you teleport to the other side it's behind you and you get ambushed by a Chaingunner. That felt unfair too. The tunnel teleporter also came in the way during combat with the hordes on the other side.

 

I do like the choice of TNT textures, and the variety of of them used to create the impressive architecture of the map. 3D floors are hard to do well, but here it looks really cool in places. I really enjoy the little visual setpieces like the crane unloading marble pillars. Finally, I understand that realistically the Exit signs would be facing the exit of the structures, but I just blundered into the level exit teleporter behind the yellow door without knowing.

 

All in all, a decent TNT map that could use some polish.

 

Some slight oddities below;

 

Spoiler

 

This elevator could use a different texture. I got stuck here not knowing I could use it.

 

 

Huge piles of keycards. I know it might seem funny to put so many of them into a map, because they are a rare item you usually just encounter once. But it just comes across a bit amateurish.

 

 

 

 

 

[LadyMistDragon]

I love TNT!

 

One thing I would suggest is to perhaps remove the turret Revenants in the last outdoor area because they don't exactly serve much purpose, unless I suppose one found a hidden rocket launcher earlier that you could then blast through the Caco horde with.

 

Nice to see the barrels back too, although I think they sort of help to underscore the effect of someone who's been mapping for OG Doom long enough that they may not have considered how grindy things can get with an SS for practically the whole way(the Arch-viles especially were a bit ehhh with that weapon). I did think the multiple keys thing was funny and maybe leads into the next map in this series.

 

 

Edited March 30 by LadyMistDragon

[Stupid Bunny]

I bookmarked this as soon as I saw it, because TNT--finally got to check it out!

 

Great map overall.  Visually especially, you used the TNT textures wonderfully and had some nice TNT-style gimmicks along the way (the crane moving hell pillars off of the trucks were an especially creative touch.)  Loved also the vague suggestion that yellow keys are shiny gold bars--or some other sort of precious cargo lol (yellow keycards were always my favorite, but that's because bright yellow is my favorite color.)  

 

Combat was generally well-designed, and generally got better as it went along.  The first few fights along the roadway got a bit repetitive, or at least it was too easy to just pop and shoot until everything was dead since there wasn't much pressure from around.  The revenant on the clifftop along that one way did get me once but turned out to be easier to avoid since there was no crossfire from the other side and once I was through the door it was no longer any issue.  Also might have liked at least a couple more secrets but that's just me :p I did like the fight around the corner with the archie and mancs, and all the indoor bits leading up to the (abrupt) exit--especially with the revenants where they could fire at me through the bars or chase around the corner, made it much more tactical--and the liberal use of barrels as a way of killing stuff faster and also getting my clumsy ass burned a couple times.  Overall looking forward to part 2 of this.

[Napeyear]

Always nice to see new TNT levels being made! I finished it in 7:23 on HMP, finding all secrets and getting all kills. I think the texture choice and level of detail you put into the level was really well done, and you did a great job replicating the doomcute that you would normally see in, not just TNT, but TeamTNT projects in general so I think you nailed it in that regard. I didn't really care too much for the monster placement, as they mostly seemed to just stand there waiting on the player to walk by, and I think if you placed them in closets or if the level had better traps in general it would have really improved the overall experience. I liked the music choice too, it really suited the TNT vibe that you went for. Didn't have too much difficulty clearing the level, though those damn hit scanners in the window at the start of the level wrecked me the first few attempts, damn you!  I'm not sure if I missed a rocket launcher somewhere, but I ended up just SSGing everything in my path so it kinda dragged on a little bit, but overall I think it was a really good effort on your part, despite a couple of flaws (my demo notes go into more detail). Looking forward to later installments, and I think you have a nice little project going on here Quin, very impressed!

 

Demo link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iMLs1OlGrH6LKw92NIVyFbOeFwexBTql/view?usp=sharing

 

My full comments below (as included in the zip file)
 

Spoiler

 

Comments: Nicely detailed TNT level that features a healthy dose of doomcute and good texturing, without getting in the way but still being neat to look at. I think the level design itself was pretty good, as I liked the transition from the outdoor areas to the interior of the techbases/warehouse. Ammo and health placement (on HMP anyways) was really good, and I didn't feel starved of ammo or low on health too often (especially when I found the supercharge secret). Maybe a rocket launcher or an earlier (secret) plasma gun would have made dealing with the higher tier monsters a little more engaging, as I simply just super shotguned everything in my way once I grabbed it later in the level.  

 

What I didn't think was well executed was not just the monster placement, but also the fights themselves. I also thought there was a bit of wasted space with the tunnels, as I think you have a good opportunity to have monster traps in them, (ie: maybe having the walls coming down revealing a horde of monsters etc.) versus simply teleporting to the other side. Another example is at the end with the revenants, prior to the cyberdemon fight, all of them kind of just stand there next to each other waiting for the player to walk into their line of sight, and you have plenty of room to just back away and take them down. The last example I could think of were the cacodemons near the final techbase entrance, they kinda all just stand there waiting on the player and they can be spotted from a fairly decent distance away, and doesn't really surprise the player. This is an easily fixable issue though, maybe next time or in a later version you could make enemies teleport into the fight once the player gets in these areas a little deeper or have them raise out of the ground so the player doesn't see them yet forcing them to think quick on their feet, generally just making it more surprising for the player. (ie: some of the revenants mentioned earlier could have teleported behind the player on the other side of the water for example, not saying this is the best way but just something I thought of when watching my demo back lol). I'm not suggesting you to absolutely destroy the player with teleports or doors opening full of monsters, but I think a healthy balance of this would go a long way in making the monsters feel more of a threat, though I won't lie, the cyberdemon at the end nearly snatched my soul and I was scrambling to get the plasma gun to finish him....

 

Overall, I thought your level of detailing and the TNT aesthetic you were going for was really well executed. Nice music choice! Decino makes some bangers for sure and I think it suited the overall vibe of the level haha. The interior of the warehouses and techbases had a nice look to them and it definitely felt like something you would see in real life, with the forklifts in the base and cars around the tunnels (along with some deep water tricks! not bad at all). I think if you improved how the monsters enter the fight with the player in the more hectic sections of the map would make the level feel more dynamic, because otherwise it kinda felt like the monsters were simply in the way of my objective, versus spawning in and surprising the player.

 

I give it a 7/10, mostly because of the well done aesthetics, my score would be higher if the monster placement and traps were given just a little more creativity, but other than that nothing horrible in your level that took me away from the experience, just some polishing to be done. Also, as someone else already said, make sure you tell people what map slot your levels are on because I had to scroll through the thread to figure this out :P