Heretic: Treasure Chest - PLEASE FILL IN SLOTS!

[duvel]

For that to happen this should be finished first (because I was thinking something similar, actually, though probably 10x more cohesive with more of a goal of a finished set of hubs; might even use ZDoom due to the lack of variety in monsters).

And for THAT to happen you have to contribute a map ;).

[Patrick]

UPDATE!

sorry, back from thailand now. I've got a name for it. i call it "Return to Darkmyre" no screenshots yet. I'll keep ya'll posted when i have some. expect them soon.

[magicsofa]

As far as I've seen, ler isn't just accepting everyone's map. When I joined, I submitted a map that got completely shot down. Other people have recieved plenty of criticism. I guess it's always going to be difficult with a community project, but ler isn't doing a bad job. People are just lame and get frustrated and don't want to re-visit something they thought was done. But we should make them do it. I'm glad my first map wasn't accepted because I came up with two much better levels afterward. People should understand that it's a learning process, not just a display of mapping ability, and if they're not willing to accept that then damnit they SHOULD be kicked out!!

BAH

[Necros20]

Are there any rules on adding in new graphic,sounds,music etc?

[magicsofa]

Well you can't replace things as they will be used throughout the wad. Music is also recycled, so changing the music for your map would affect some (three?) other maps. So as far as I know, you can't add much.

[Vermil]

Heretic doesn't have the best array of scenery items to be honest.

For instance, it has no outside stuff at tall, yet you have four versions of the hanging skull.

[Creaphis]

Everyone should either read this thread more carefully for those answers, or Ler could put more more thorough instructions in the first post... anyways, we've already worked out several ways that new music can be added, so you should definitely select a new midi track for your level. Sounds won't be replaced. More graphics could probably be added to this project on top of the textures in the existing resource wad if there's something you can't do with the current textures - what do you want to add?

[duvel]

A new texture or two wouldn't be too bad. Just be careful when you're modifying the TEXTURE1 or TEXTURE2 lumps, and make sure to pick a name that isn't already taken by something.

I didn't really want to put aside rules for replacement textures because there wasn't a huge interest in it, but could you try and put your textures in some sort of format like ###_01 or something? replace ### with a string of letters or whatever you feel like.

As for music anything midi or mus should be fine. If we release the episodes in separate wads you can play music for each level without interupting any of the other levels.

[40oz]

In term's of textures, new outdoor rocky textures would be nice. As you can see in my screenshots (Page 12, 5th post down) I'm reusing the same gray rocky texture in most of the map, it would be nice to have a little more variety of rocky textures (and not just recolored ones) so that my map doesn't look speedmapped.

[esselfortium]

Stealing some rock textures from Hexen or Quake 2 would probably not be a bad idea (as long as they're translated properly to the palette in a way that doesn't look bad, and as long as matching flats are added to go with them). There are a ton of rocks in the Community Chest 4 resource wad I compiled, so maybe take a look through those.

[Torn]

Ler, I let you control this wad as your own. You have done that anyway, I don't mean that in a bad way. :)
I need to get a break from the internet, you can read the post in blogs because of what. I will see you all later.

Btw, this project is going strong. :)

[Fletcher`]

So I've thought of a name for my level: Garden of Arrakis

:P

esselfortium said:

Stealing some rock textures from Hexen or Quake 2 would probably not be a bad idea (as long as they're translated properly to the palette in a way that doesn't look bad, and as long as matching flats are added to go with them). There are a ton of rocks in the Community Chest 4 resource wad I compiled, so maybe take a look through those.

What's wrong with sticking to the ones modded from heretic? They look perfect.

[esselfortium]

I dunno. The recolored ones from Heretic are small and tiley, and the big ones are probably kind of crap...if I remember correctly I just made them from stretching out Heretic rock or dirt or something and liberally applying some Photoshop filters, then decided that they looked somewhat okay. Real rock textures would be much better :P

[Creaphis]

rf` said:

What's wrong with sticking to the ones modded from heretic? They look perfect.

The idea is that each mapper can choose what looks perfect for their own level if some new textures are added.

I wouldn't object to more generic rocks but I don't really need them either. There is one icy/snowy rock texture that bothers me a bit, where the rocks are darker in colour than the cracks between them, making it seem more like a film negative than an actual icy wall.

[Lord_Z]

I made the two newest names and added them to my little collection.

I did not mind the rock textures that were in there already but in my book, new textures are always welcome. I don't need for anything at the moment however, but I could most likely use this texture wad in one of my future projects and the more the merrier :)

[The Ultimate DooMer]

There's an outside chance I might be able to contribute here, as I have a couple of old Plutonia II maps that got the boot when the project was revived under new ownership. One of them is a graveyard/cathedral/catacomb map that might work, providing I can find suitable textures from the resource wad and transfer the gameplay correctly.

esselfortium said:

Stealing some rock textures from Hexen or Quake 2 would probably not be a bad idea (as long as they're translated properly to the palette in a way that doesn't look bad, and as long as matching flats are added to go with them). There are a ton of rocks in the Community Chest 4 resource wad I compiled, so maybe take a look through those.

Hexen rock textures are a must in any Heretic wad IMO, they look the same and Heretic's own rock textures don't really cut it for all-rocky maps.

[Dreadopp]

Huzzah! I have finally completed my e3m8 map. I am very sorry it took so long to get completed, but at one point I lost all motivation to work on it. However, I was able to push myself forward and finish it. Though, it probably doesn't look as good as it should :(.

Link: Removed, working on new version. If you haven't already tested it, but would like to test it, PM me, or post here, and I will send you a link to the version that was previously here.

Warning: This map is challenging! I was able to beat it, but if anyone finds it a bit too hard, let me know and I will see if I can shift some of the monsters around.

@Lord_Z: I guess because you seem to be doing the Titlepics, the map is called Earthquake.

[duvel]

Wow, that's a hard fight! I love the map itself, but no tomes of power on skill 3 made it exceedingly tough. I'll admit that I didn't try to kill all the enemies, it just seemed kind of futile.

Very nice job, I say. Just maybe put in a couple more items.

[Dreadopp]

I am glad you enjoyed it. I did have in mind some items for the map, but I forgot to put them in :oops:. Well I guess I should make a secret with an item(s) in it.

[188DarkRevived]

Awesome! You guys are working at hyperspeed. I can barely keep up with just reading all of these posts.

By the looks of things, you might be finished this whole project before September starts.
Joy.

[Lord_Z]

I'd really like to see this finished for the 15 years of Doom event. Who knows, maybe it'll see the light sooner.

[Dreadopp]

DarkJedi188 said:

By the looks of things, you might be finished this whole project before September starts.
Joy.

Well I am not sure that we will get all the episodes done by September. But I guess once summer starts, more people will hopefully join in.

Anyway, I have an updated version of my map:

Link: Working on a newer version.
Changes:
+ Added some teleport landing pads for the guys that teleport in after pushing the switches.
+ Added a tiny bit more ammo and health
+ Added a couple of secrets which includes items (a tome of power just for you ler ;P)
- The Undead Warriors. They did not quite fit the overall theme of the level. But, I did replace them with other monsters. Hopefully I did not make the level too much harder.

If there is anything else that you would like to see changed, let me know.

Enjoy! :)

[OmegaJ4]

I thought that this was a really good map! Quite challenging, but then again, it is supposed to be the last level. Good job!

One thing though, i kind of "Lost" D'sparil, i went to get some health, but when i went back to the centre, he wasn't around, i could still hear him though.

Random update: I'm just adding a last section to my map, then i'll add some items, and it should be done.

[Dreadopp]

OmegaJ4 said:

One thing though, i kind of "Lost" D'sparil, i went to get some health, but when i went back to the centre, he wasn't around, i could still hear him though.

Hmm, strange, I will take a look around the map for an extra D'sparil teleport landing, but I don't think there is any of those in the outer ring. He does walk around the map as well, so he might have just been walking around in a random spot. I think I will have to block monsters from going in and out of the outer ring to prevent this from happening.

[Creaphis]

That's a great e3m8, I'd say. I was worried that someone would choose that slot without crafting a suitably epic level, but my pessimism was unfounded.

I haven't finished it properly (only tried it twice) but I would already judge the difficulty as about right. Ammo and items don't need to be added to smite-meister - there's nothing wrong with difficulty on that level. When I died the second time, everything was dead except for the ghost nitrogolems in the inner ring and D'sparil's second form, and I still had full ammo left for hellstaff and crossbow, with plenty ammo lying around the map - and I had a tome of power from a dead disciple as well - so more items and ammo would probably just diffuse the challenge. (I would have won if D'sparil hadn't caught me from behind.) I suppose there would be a major ammo shortage if you attempted to kill everything yourself, but I imagine that most players will attempt to use infighting to their advantage. For me, over 100 monsters died just as I ran around hunting for switches.

Blocking monsters from the stairs might be a good idea - I had a few sabreclaws get stuck on them in ZDoom.

[Dreadopp]

@Creaphis: I am glad that you also liked it. Yeah, I had the extra ammo on so that the player would have enough to kill everything by himself. I guess I should remove a bit since the player will have even more ammo from the map before. (That's assuming that the player doesn't use pistol start to play every map.)

I will fix this and the monster blocking in a bit and upload an even newer version.

EDIT: New version, yay!: Scratch that, just tried it by trying to kill every monster and that did not work out too well.

I removed quite a bit of ammo, and replaced some of the quivers with just ethreal arrows.

[Creaphis]

Plan for pistol starts. I believe that's the more typical way of playing community wads.

[Dreadopp]

I am able to beat it with a fair amount of ammo left over. Try it out, if you can't seem to beat it properly, let me know and I guess I will put ammo back on lol.

EDIT: Minor fixes, added some ammo to help the player out by trying to kill every monster by himself, and added some death match things.

Link: Look for the newest link on page 31.[/URL]

EDIT2: Sorry about all these versions :P.

[CodenniumRed]

Don't worry we don't really mind having all these versions because, to be blunt, the level kicks ass.

This is the sort of epic setting we need for a climactic battle, and I was worried that D'Sparil would seem too overdone as we're using only original assets save textures and music. But the environment works, a giant crater or volcano interior (Heretic's E2M1 doesn't do the name crater justice compared to this map), and there's superb detail throughout.

I like how the progression is comparable to the original E3M8 but in a new setting. The long load time is BY FAR worth it. :D

[Lord_Z]

In the interest of keeping this thing alive, I think it's time for another update. It's been awhile since anything has been said and I am beginning to think people have forgotten about the project. I would hate to see this thing disappear after all the progress that has been made.