Parthoris DM - A Heretic 1-on-1 DM Project

[Chaindude]

I posted this on the ZDaemon forums a month ago, since this project is intended for multiplayer Heretic. However, a few friends suggested Doomworld is a good place to share and discuss projects (whether single player or DM) for our beloved DooM engine-based games.

Parthoris DM (working title) is a 1-versus-1 map pack for Heretic. With Parthoris, we seek to bring out the gameplay characteristics that made Heretic awesome, which most of the base maps did not allow for due to size or clear imbalance in the items and artifacts (as far as DM goes). The current lineup of mappers for this project is strong and is poised to set the standard for 1-on-1 Heretic DM:

Chaindude (project lead/organizer)

Hobomaster22

deathz0r

RottKing

Nestea

Geit-vd-plas

Zap610 (map not available yet)


The project will operate under the following guidelines, which are intended to make for an action-packed and competitive WAD while maintaining the classic Heretic feel:

-Maps will be altdeath-friendly and expected to perform well in a 30 fraglimit environment.

-There will be no areas accessible through the jump *key.*

-Valador's Ring of Invulnerability (and perhaps the Shadowsphere cloaking device) will not be present in these maps.

-The maps will make good use of open arenas (though not huge), as many of the Heretic weapons are projectile-based.

-The project's format will not be Boom or ZDoom, but Heretic "EXE."

-New music/textures.

-Although the project is has 1-on-1 play in mind, it can accommodate 4-player FFA smoothly.


Parthoris DM test build 1c is now available! Get it here: http://doomedearth.info/chaindude

The detail work will be done in the later stages of the project, if needed. Right now it's all about the gameplay :).

Speaking of which, here are video clips of the maps thus far, enjoy!

E1M1 by Chaindude

E1M2 by RottKing

E1M3 by Chaindude

E1M4 by Hobomaster22

E1M5 by deathz0r

E1M6 by Geit-vd-Plas

E1M7 by Nestea

[kristus]

I can't say I am very impressed by this so far.
Now, I've so far only looked at the maps in SP, not had the opportunity to try them out in actual DM yet. But the maps don't excite me much, especially not when it comes to bring some solid and balanced Heretic DM to the table. For instance, having secrets in a DM map is really rather pointless. Unless you want to give it the opportunity to be more unbalanced.

We'll see what i think when I've really played them though.

BTW the new music is really a buzzkill, totally wrong for creating the Heretic atmosphere you claim to be after.

[Th0r]

Its ok...nothing I would want to play over and over though. I did like the music in e1m2 but I have to agree that the rest doesnt really fit. I did play e1m2 in DM with someone and It was meh, at least on skulltag where its all buggy.

[RottKing]

Th0r said:

Its ok...nothing I would want to play over and over though. I did like the music in e1m2 but I have to agree that the rest doesnt really fit. I did play e1m2 in DM with someone and It was meh, at least on skulltag where its all buggy.

Heretic DM is an aquired taste, it takes few games of it to get a feel for it, but once you do it's fairly entertaining and fun. As for the maps not being exiting I don't know what you guys were expecting. Oh well.

[deathz0r]

Chaindude said:

However, a few friends suggested Doomworld is a good place to share and discuss projects ( [...] DM) for our beloved DooM engine-based games.

Hahaha! I hear the ZDoom forums are excellent for getting opinions on DM maps.

Let me guess, you listened to Whitey's suggestion?

[Nautilus]

Pay no regard to the words of all these negative Nancies; this is the best wad ever. It's wonderful.

This wad is a smooth, buttery blend of creamy gameplay and delicious detail. Also, the music is absolutely mouthwatering.

This is the first wad of its kind. Good job guys! I love it!

It sucks ass, though.

[Chaindude]

All feedback is appreciated, although Rott pretty much hit the nail on the head as far as what Heretic DM really is. There is a reason why I included short gameplay videos/demos of the skills that can be performed in the maps. If you think about the concept of "deathmatch," particularly 1-on-1, things like skill, balance, and flow are the important factors.

The one or two small "secrets" present in the maps have their own degree of risk and difficulty. If you've ever played Heretic 1-on-1 (or Doom altdeath [respawning items] for that matter), you'd understand that stalling a game by sitting in the secret rooms only means the opponent can potentially gain an advantage because of health, weapons, and artifacts that he takes away from the stalling player's hands. Basically, everything can be countered--not including advantageous weapons, map spots, items, or artifacts is akin to saying "don't include BFG in your DooM maps!" Of course, we know the kind of people who have that mentality.

Testing on a broken port such as Skulltag (for Heretic purposes) doesn't allow for any objective or educated observation. I mean, the weapons don't even play the sounds, the artifacts are unusable, and unless you have "always switch weapons on pickup," you start off with a Tome of Power-enhanced weapon at every manual switch.

At any rate, the project is out there for people to enjoy, and to try and experience something they're not familiar with or educated about.

[Th0r]

It would prolly be a great idea to take down the skulltag server then.

[Chaindude]

I don't host that server, so you'd need to talk to whoever does.

[kristus]

I've played tons of Heretic DM, with Altdeath, back in the days that was all I played. And I've always wished for the community to have had a bigger intrest in it.
But the fact remains, secrets in DM maps are stupid, because either both players know about them and then they're not secret anymore. Or noone knows them and they're not used, possibly making the map less fun to play. Or just one knows about them and the other player is mutilated and just runs around wondering where the other guy get all the swank stuff from.

As for the vids, I went to download one of them. But they were on like 50mb each. And I weren't up for downloading that.

[Cupboard]

I played 5 maps of version c on Zdaemon with someone and it was great. I really really liked the layouts and the firemace was a blast to use on the maps it was in. Good phoenix rod placement, too.

I wouldn't mind seeing the wings of wrath somewhere fairly accessible in future maps. I assume that the shadowsphere, ovulator, and ring of invincibility are probably better left out.

And is it just me or is the hellstaff the worst deathmatch weapon in Heretic? Seems like it would be better to chip away at the enemy with the dragon claw or pump 3 crossbow bolts in someone's face.