Claustrophobia 1024 -- Fixed version released!

[The Green Herring]

MAP11: Nocturnal Abyss -
* 100% Kills possible: Yes
* 100% Items possible: Yes
* 100% Secrets possible: Yes
* Completable from pistol start: Yes
* Fits within 1024×1024: Yes
* Great detailing! I like the distant, glowing eyes early on in the level.
* Who made the music in this level? It's very haunting.
* I didn't find this very hard, but maybe it's just me. Probably a little short on ammo, though.
* The sole secret on this level is very craftily hidden.

Spoiler

* Near the yellow key, it's completely possible to knock the chaingunners off the pedestals they're standing on with a single shotgun blast without killing them, making them unreachable and preventing 100% Kills. Perhaps the pedestals should have monster-blocking lines.
* The last batch of monsters can be fought by running west across the first bridge, and then staying on the first stairs without going down all the way. The monsters will never be able to reach you because of the monster-blocking line, and projectiles will never be able to reach you because the bridge is still "raised," shielding you against them.

MAP12: Spitshine -
* 100% Kills possible: Yes
* 100% Items possible: Yes
* 100% Secrets possible: Yes
* Completable from pistol start: Yes
* Fits within 1024×1024: Yes

Spoiler

* The secret teleporter is given away on the automap because the secret door is a different color than the rest of the walls... but not what opens it. The armor secret is not given away, either.
* The pink demons near the end of the level cannot enter the METAL2 room and are thus harmless. Same with the arachnotrons, whose shots are blocked by the platform in the room they're in and each other, at least until you kill one of them.

MAP13: Assault -
* 100% Kills possible: Not always (see below)
* 100% Items possible: Yes
* 100% Secrets possible: Yes
* Completable from pistol start: Yes
* Fits within 1024×1024: Yes
* While the other monsters are delivered with a "awakened-by-gunshot" monster teleporter, the mancubus is brought in with a conveyor belt. However, there is no failsafe provided in case its teleport destination gets blocked by another monster; if it is, the mancubus will become trapped outside the level, preventing 100% Kills. There should be an extra teleport line behind the one which is already there in order to teleport the mancubus back to its starting point (and some extra room for it to do so.)

[Mechadon]

As an addendum to TGH's feedback for MAP09, I just noticed this 24px wide texture blarg-up earlier today:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v63/Mechadon/doom00.jpg

It's mostly my fault though since I've been wrestling with the texture resource ever since this project started. Sorry :P

[The Green Herring]

Who composed the music in MAP12 and MAP13?

Anyway, two more maps:

MAP14: Trap -
* 100% Kills possible: Yes
* 100% Items possible: Yes
* 100% Secrets possible: Yes
* Completable from pistol start: Yes
* Fits within 1024×1024: Yes
* This level needs a better title.
* The music was composed by Dan Wentz for Descent II, where it's used on the briefing screen.

Spoiler

* The texture on the door of the backpack secret doesn't move with the door when you open it.
* The soul sphere secret is weird. It's activated by the same switch that lowers the exit, and it's likely that the player won't realize that something else happened near the beginning of the map before exiting the level. Unless they hear the revenants teleporting in, I guess. But maybe that's just me being paranoid.

Kyka said:

Spoiler

2)remove the secret from the pillar that is lowered by the switch that lowers the final exit, and for the other one that is lowered by the skull switch, you could have the switch that lowers the pillar also lower an off-map pillar that allows a voodoo doll to scroll forward over a secret tagged area. You would get the secret by hitting the switch, rather than relying on triggering it from the pillar directly.

Spoiler

Except voodoo dolls can never trigger a secret sector. Trust me, I tried.

A better option for having a secret get triggered as soon as you activate a switch is to place a deep hole in the ground beneath the player which covers the area in which the player can activate the switch, but is not large enough for the player to fall in it (the player is 32×32 map units wide.) Since this is Boom, you can hide the hole using a height transfer rather than relying on missing textures to hide it. After that, ensure that the switch will cause the hole sector to shoot up to floor level instantly (e.g. linedef type 102.) This is the way I did it in Four Square.

MAP15: The Inmost Con'dens'ed -
* 100% Kills possible: Not unless you're lucky (see below)
* 100% Items possible: Yes
* 100% Secrets possible: Yes
* Completable from pistol start: Yes
* Fits within 1024×1024: Yes
* It is possible to knock the chaingunners off their pillars with ordinary gunfire without killing them, making them unreachable and preventing 100% Kills. In fact, this is what most often occurs when you try to kill them. Perhaps the pillars should have Block Monster flags. (Yes, Kyka, this isn't exclusive to ZDoom.)
* A bit more ammo, please?

Spoiler

* It's possible to grab all the loot at the first secret without triggering it because of how tiny the secret sector is. In fact, why is it a secret at all, when you can immediately access it before or after you get the red skull?
* The blur sphere on the secret-marked pedestal can be grabbed without triggering the secret merely by walking into it from ground level.
* In the berserk pack ambush, if you're fast/lucky, it's possible to charge in, punching out monsters, and block the the teleporter you came in on -- and by extension, the monsters trying to ambush you -- until the metal barrier lowers. After it lowers, you can then escape and attack the rest of the teleporting monsters from a safer vantage point. I have a feeling this wasn't intentional.
* If you fail to notice the gunfire switch before you enter the west of the map, you'll spoil your chances of reaching the secret exit. Dreadful. I don't really like being unable to backtrack in case I ended up missing a secret or two, either.

* Currently the least-polished level I've played in this megawad, as of this writing, by far and wide. Which, of course, doesn't mean it can't be improved upon.

[Mechadon]

The Green Herring said:

Who composed the music in MAP12 and MAP13?

I'm not sure about MAP12 but I grabbed the music for MAP13 from 32in24-3 MAP32. I don't know who composed it though :(. If you know of any composers from any of the other maps, please let me know so I can credit them in the readme.

[The Green Herring]

Switch MAP12 and MAP13 around in your post and you're right. Unfortunately, even the 32in24-3 version was in MUS format, so I can't look in and find out who the author was. >:|

Anyway, while we're at it, I can say right now that the MAP29 music is "Quutamo" by Apocalyptica, and it was converted to MIDI by a guy only known as Jerryteacup. The MAP19 music is from Requiem (in the same slot, at that) and was composed by Jeremy Doyle.

[Mechadon]

Doh...right, yea I meant MAP12 :P. Thanks for those music credits too...they shall be added up!

[Joshy]

Map 13's music is from vgmusic.com, track's a midi version of Perfect Dark's Airbase.

[Jimmy]

@TGH: I don't know what to do about the switch that exposes the secret exit. If I were to remove the line that disables it, if you don't see it when you first run past it, you'll definitely notice it as you run underneath it. This I don't want. It's in a spot that isn't terribly obvious, but extremely easy to find once you do notice it. I think it's fine as it is.

[The Green Herring]

MAP16: Weather Station -
* 100% Kills possible: Yes
* 100% Items possible: Yes
* 100% Secrets possible: Yes
* Completable from pistol start: Yes
* Fits within 1024×1024: Yes
* The music is by David Shaw (Tolwyn) and is from Requiem MAP13.
* A little more ammo, please? Or a berserk pack? Or even a chainsaw, for that matter? The first time I reached the exit, I ran out of ammo and died trying to punch out a Hell Knight with a non-berserk fist. I managed to save some ammo by causing some infighting occasionally, but this is not something the average Doomer would instinctively do.

Spoiler

* It might be better if the red lights turning green would lower instantly instead of slowly.

MAP17: Transfer Base -
* 100% Kills possible: Yes
* 100% Items possible: Yes
* 100% Secrets possible: Yes
* Completable from pistol start: Yes
* Fits within 1024×1024: Yes
* The music in this level was composed by David Wise for Battletoads's "Arctic Caverns" level, and was converted to MIDI by Teck. It is also hilariously out of place, as this map has no ice or snow whatsoever.
* I noticed there was an inset in one of the computers in the first room, with a prominent red light. I kept pressing it and shooting it until I gave up. Then I looked at the level in Doom Builder, and it turned out it doesn't actually do anything. Go figure.

Spoiler

* When you activate the tan marble face, one of the nearby stimpacks (thing 229) will teleport on top of the lowering wall and stay there until it reaches the ground.

[The Green Herring]

MAP18: Technicfear -
* 100% Kills possible: Sometimes (see below)
* 100% Items possible: Yes
* 100% Secrets possible: Yes (0 secrets)
* Completable from pistol start: Yes
* Fits within 1024×1024: Yes
* When the pink demons are brought in, they're brought in with a conveyor belt mechanism. However, there is no failsafe provided in case something blocks one of their teleport destinations; if that happens, the demon meant to teleport there will be trapped outside the map, preventing 100% Kills. There should be teleport lines behind the ones that already exist which teleport the demons back to where they started. In addition, there are shells behind each one of those demons that will never appear in the level for a related reason: because the demons will block their destination spots when they warp in. (Yes, monsters can block the teleportation of items. Really.)

MAP19: Nova Scotia Robots -
* 100% Kills possible: Yes
* 100% Items possible: Yes
* 100% Secrets possible: Yes
* Completable from pistol start: Yes
* Fits within 1024×1024: Yes
* As earlier mentioned, the music on this level is by Jeremy Doyle and is from Requiem MAP19.
* I don't care if it's a Boards of Canada reference, the title of this level makes no sense. Maybe something like "Telephasic Workshop"?... :)
* This level does not contain starting points for players 2, 3, or 4.
* The moment you step out of the starting room, the floor behind you will jut eight map units out of the ground, creating HOMs.
* There is an unclosed sector resulting from a linedef (linedef 157) referencing sector 87 on both sides instead of sector 125. The resulting effect is likely not noticeable unless you noclip high enough to see it, but it's still an unclosed sector.

BTW, the music on Break the Chain is from the first level of Journey to Silius for the NES, and was converted to MIDI by Brian Fountain.

EDIT (3:06 PM PDT): MAP11 segfaults Boom despite only having about 9500 SEGS. Huh?

[Mechadon]

@essel: I've updated your map again to fix the unclosed sector and missing COOP starts. Do you...uh...want to change the name of the map? Oooo I know! Call it "Ataronchronon" :O

And also...how many of these maps am I going to have to fix myself? Please let me know if your going to have time/interest to fix your map so we can get this stuff done.

The Green Herring said:

EDIT (3:06 PM PDT): MAP11 segfaults Boom despite only having about 9500 SEGS. Huh?

The map wouldn't even run in WinMBF :/. I had to rebuild the nodes and it seemed to fix the issue...with WinMBF anyways.

[esselfortium]

Thanks Mech (again) and TGH! I want to keep the name of the map, though.

[Jodwin]

The Green Herring said:

Anyway, while we're at it, I can say right now that the MAP29 music is "Quutamo" by Apocalyptica, and it was converted to MIDI by a guy only known as Jerryteacup.

Actually, you can find his real name through the website on the Finnish parts (unless the same nickname is being shared by a few different people...), but since his midi project seems to use just the nickname, I guess it's more polite to stick to it.

[The Green Herring]

MAP20: Refinery -
* 100% Kills possible: Yes
* 100% Items possible: Yes
* 100% Secrets possible: Yes
* Completable from pistol start: Yes
* Fits within 1024×1024: Yes
* The level is constructed in such a manner that I wasn't even sure where the 1024×1024 border was at first. Nice.
* The monster teleporter at the end of the map is horrendously slow. There needs to be much less room for the monsters to wander around in there.

Spoiler

* I could not find the rocket launcher secret without cheating. But maybe I'm just dumb. Oh, and you can't attack the imps around the tower at the start of the level with it unless you're standing on the frames of a door, because otherwise, you'll hit the railing and kill yourself.

MAP21: Power Station -
* 100% Kills possible: Yes
* 100% Items possible: Yes
* 100% Secrets possible: Yes
* Completable from pistol start: Yes
* Fits within 1024×1024: Yes
* The music in this level is Moskau by Rammstein. I don't know who converted it to MIDI.
* The first gunfire switch moves with the opening door when it appears. The switch linedef should be set as Lower Unpegged.

Spoiler

* The power box switch can be activated long before it's ever revealed. This is because the only way to prevent a switch from being activated (apart from putting a non-PassThru special line in front of it) is to completely block it, with either a solid wall or a sector where the floor and ceiling meet at the same height. Create a dummy sector with the same properties (flats, shade, etc.) as sector 587, set sector 587's ceiling height the same as the floor height, create another dummy sector connecting to the one you just made, and join sector 81 to the second dummy sector. Then, make one of the one-sided linedefs in the first dummy sector a height transfer line (242) with a tag of 39, and give the sector a tag of 39 as well. This will cause you to be unable to activate the switch until it's revealed, while looking the same as it did when you were able to. Making sure the height transfer sector has the same tag and is connected to another dummy sector with sector 81's floor height is important, or else the block protecting the switch will not appear to lower, even though it actually has. Hopefully, this whole block of text wasn't confusing.
* Of course, the switch itself doesn't do anything other than releasing an arch-vile into the level, so... I don't know.

MAP22: Second Assault -
* 100% Kills possible: Yes
* 100% Items possible: Yes
* 100% Secrets possible: Yes (0 secrets)
* Completable from pistol start: Yes (believe it or not)
* Fits within 1024×1024: Yes
* A short level that manages to be violent and hard with only 36 enemies... Cool! The key to success: Infighting.
* The switch west of the red key and the area around it have some seriously bizarre texture alignment going on.

[The Green Herring]

MAP23: Fear No Evil -
* 100% Kills possible: Yes
* 100% Items possible: Yes
* 100% Secrets possible: Yes
* Completable from pistol start: Yes
* Fits within 1024×1024: Yes
* As already mentioned multiple times (and fixed,) there is a missing flat in this level (GATE5.) However, there's also a HOM nearby. (It's the red spot in the middle, courtesy of PrBoom's HOM detector.) This seems to have been caused by a nodebuilding error, as rebuilding the nodes caused the HOM to disappear.

MAP24: Hell Sewage -
* 100% Kills possible: Yes
* 100% Items possible: Yes
* 100% Secrets possible: Yes (0 secrets)
* Completable from pistol start: Yes
* Fits within 1024×1024: Yes
* Who made the music on this level?
* Is there a reason the entire level is hidden on the automap? Any reason at all?
* The building staircase has HOMs on either side.
* This level was hard early on. Unsurprisingly, once I got the SSG, backpack, etc. it got a lot easier.

MAP25: Diminished Apparatus -
* 100% Kills possible: Yes
* 100% Items possible: Yes
* 100% Secrets possible: Yes
* Completable from pistol start: Yes
* Fits within 1024×1024: Yes

Spoiler

* For the "U-A-C" secret, you could place a switch texture on the upper or lower side of all the linedefs for the "CUA" letters so you hear a sound when you press on them. Clever secret, by the way.
* The ambush at the red key seems quite sane to me now that you've chucked a soul sphere in there... Though I suspect I could have handled it even without it. Either way, though, I like it.
* I'm not really sure I'm fond of putting a secret at the end of the level for the express purpose of making silly pictures appear, especially given it seems like extra baggage on people who want to play NM100S style, but I guess that's just me...

[Kyka]

MAP 28 "Poison Ivy" by Joshy

Hard map. 'Course it is map 28, so pretty much spot on for this slot.

Textural/detailing:

-I notice that a lot of the GSTVINE2 texture could use a little neatening up. Ok it is a pain in the ass to align, but hell, I am happy to do it if needed.

Screenie
Screenie This rock texture could use aligning.

Screenie This window and the other one like it needs to be made impassable.

Gameplay:

Spoiler

Once you hit the exit switch to trigger the cyberdemon, there is no way to get back up here to trigger the secret, or grab any ammo/health you may have left up here. it would be better if there was a set of steps/ladder or some way of getting back up here even after everythig has dropped for the cyberdemon fight. I kinda dislike not being able to get back to areas of the map when needed.

the level plays pretty well generally. This was all I noticed.

MAP 29 "Poison Ivy" by Joshy

I did this map after map 23 or 24 so refer previously (If needed)

MAP 30 "Thanatophobia" by Jodwin

I sent my faults/bugs to Jodwin directly, so as not to give anything away about the final level.

MAP 31 "Skyscrape IV" by Jodwin

Done, after map 16.



Just the two final secret levels to do now.

[Dutch Doomer]

The Green Herring said:

MAP20: Refinery -
* 100% Kills possible: Yes
* 100% Items possible: Yes
* 100% Secrets possible: Yes
* Completable from pistol start: Yes
* Fits within 1024×1024: Yes
* The level is constructed in such a manner that I wasn't even sure where the 1024×1024 border was at first. Nice.
* The monster teleporter at the end of the map is horrendously slow. There needs to be much less room for the monsters to wander around in there.

Spoiler

* I could not find the rocket launcher secret without cheating. But maybe I'm just dumb. Oh, and you can't attack the imps around the tower at the start of the level with it unless you're standing on the frames of a door, because otherwise, you'll hit the railing and kill yourself.

[b]

Weird the trap seemed to go pretty fast on the sourceports that I tested it with, probably just luck every time I tested the map. I will fix that trap, if there is still time for it. I suck at creating good sized monster rooms.

About the RL comments, I haven't noticed this myself. I asumed that 32 units was just enough for rockets to pass over without any problems. I don't think I am going to fix that, its too much work at this stage. I can imagine that the RL secret is too hard, I will make it easier to find.

About map23 the hommy hom stuff, I could take an look at that as well. Well unless Mech wants to fix it for me, or maybe its allready fixed :p

Thanks.

[pcorf]

Talk about fussy... a project that is got to be so perfect that it can never be perfect. But it will be good as it can ban. Thats the thing I'm learning with Whispers of Satan and I've done so much testing with WOS in (PR) Boom and I'm fixing many, many bugs mostly voodoo doll related. I'm planning to release WOS in June but there is no garuntee... it could be July, it could be August. Once all levels are complete I will playtest the entire megawad in Prboom and write down notes. I've just completed the layout for a massive level for WOS which took a month to make.

I have an idea for Technicfear.

I'm going to remove some of the shells that teleport in and have an idea to fix the demon teleporter. That will either include silent teleporters to force the demons back if someone stands on their teleport spots. Or crushing ceilings which are activated when you go into the Cyberdemon room to crush any monsters (Demons) who have failed to teleport in to assure you 100% kills.

I want to keep the Cyber in and I think Map11 would be a good slot for Technicfear, ike a boss level for example.

[40oz]

why isnt this dooooooooooooonnnnnnnneeeee

[Dco16]

JohnnyRancid said:

why isnt this dooooooooooooonnnnnnnneeeee

It is generally agreed that we don't want it to suck.

[Jodwin]

Fiend said:

It is generally agreed that we don't want it to suck.

This, and because the people who can do something about getting it to not suck sooner are either busy or lazy. :-P

[Kyka]

Jodwin said:

This, and because the people who can do something about getting it to not suck sooner are either busy or lazy. :-P

...or both :o

MAP 32 "Oil Rig" by Mik57

textural/detailing.

Screenie The metal girder above the start could use some alignment.

Screenie the side of this wall.

The linedef on this lift should have the 'lower texture unpegged' tag removed...

...which should then be moved to these sides of the blue key door.

This pillar could use some neatening, the two halves are misaligned. On both sides of the pillar.

Gameplay:

Getting 100% Kills is not presently possible. I spent ages sniping at monsters to see if they were killable, and only found one monster that wasn't. The chaingunner on this high pillar cannot be hit without mouseaim. The other thing is that many monsters can be blasted off their start positions, thereby making them impossible to hit. In the screenie above, you will see a spiderdemon sitting down to the left. this happened quite a number of times in different places with archviles, chaingunners etc etc. So block monster/impassable tags are needed all around the level.

This switch could be a once only rather than a hit repeatedly.

Screenie Needs an exit sign, as this is not an obvious exit.

Possibly a few more boxes of rockets during the earlier part of the level would make sniping all those distant monsters a little less time consuming.

Well Mr Mik57, you have made one tough secret level. I tried a UVMax demo, too hard for me, but I did manage a UVMax with a lot of saves (except for that one chaingunner that i couldn't hit, and times where i blew monsters off ledges.) Good secret level.

The gray startan texture everywhere still looks a bit plain to me, though the more I played it the more the look of the level grew on me. Spent the last couple of hours playing it, and I like it now. Could use a few border textures to break up all the startan, but that's probably just me.

Nice work overall.

[Kyka]

MAP 33 "Nil" by Mechadon

Final map. And not a lot wrong with this one.

Textural/detailing:

This switch, I can't see any reason why it couldn't be a once only.

The only texture misalignment I found was this the sides of a couple of these pillars could be aligned better.


gameplay:

In the background of This screenie, you can see a stuck cacodemon.

Thats it. pretty much perfect.

Ok mech. Playtesting done. I'm sure I have missed plenty, but TGH and Hawkwind and essel and everyone else have already picked up plenty more. I will offer my services to get the actual changes to the maps done. PM me some levels that need doing if you wish, or however you want to do it, I will work on putting in the changes/suggestions made by the playtesters.

let me know. :)

[Mik57]

Alright, thanks Kyka. I'll fix it up once I get home today.

About all of the silver, I'm still gonna keep it. I'll add some more texture variance, but I kind of want it to stay primarily silver/startan, since most of the other maps I've seen are just regular metal or rusty or tech.

[pcorf]

I've submitted my final versions of Hex of Depression and Technicfear with all bugs fixed and tested. You can decide on what map slots they go into. I'm outta here to work on finishing off WOS.

[Mechadon]

@pcorf: And thank you so much for being available to fix your maps! I'd much rather the original author do it and myself or someone else. Now go and finish WoS :P

@Mik57: Hey, let me send the fixed version that I did to you. I fixed those secrets and I also had to decrease the size of the outer circle so the nodes would build (and so WinMBF would be able to run it). I'll send it to you in a PM right after I finish up this post.

@dutch devil: I'll rebuild the nodes on MAP23 and see if that fixes the HOM :)

@TGH: Thanks for the feedback and stuff on MAP25! The switch thing for the UAC secret is a great bit of advice. I can also remove the secret sector effects related to the crazy exit switch secret too. Would that be better? The secret is so obscure/silly/eastereggish that I don't really see the need for it to be counted as part of the map end total.

I'm not sure if I should set another release date yet or not. I grossly underestimated how long it would take to do testing and fixes X___X. I think I'll hold off on that for now.

Also, just a word of warning to those who have maps that need updating but haven't stated whether or not they are interested in doing the fixes themselves: I'm going to have the testing team (as well as myself) make the changes with or without permission so we don't end up taking forever. So if you want to make the changes/fixes to your map youself, you need to speak up. Going along with that, if your a tester interested in fixing up a map, please contact me in regards to which map you want to work on. Atleast half of the 33 maps have already been updated and sent to me, meaning that some of the maps in Build 1 are no longer up to date. We don't want two versions of the same map floating around.

[Mik57]

Alright, cool. I'll modify it a bit to add a bit more texture variance, and send it back to you. I still have a few things I want to do with it before its final.

[Alter]

Question Mechadon, will the rest of accepted maps go into 1024-3? Just asking a question, that way we would have an EASY start on 1024-3 and we could get done much more quickly with it

[Mechadon]

Check here. It's basically an extension of Claustrophobia. I've been calling it the overflow project since it started but I don't think that's the name it will end up with. It could actually evolve into 1024-3, I'm not sure. You can contact Jodwin for more info :)

Disregard what I said earlier about having the testing team PM me with which map they would like to work on. I have another plan and I'll go over it once TGH and the rest of the testing team are done.

[Jodwin]

Mechadon said:

Check here. It's basically an extension of Claustrophobia. I've been calling it the overflow project since it started but I don't think that's the name it will end up with. It could actually evolve into 1024-3, I'm not sure. You can contact Jodwin for more info :)

Well, yeah it's kind of 1024-3 as we've decided to get it to full 32 maps, but since we're sort of like, 5 or 6 maps from the 32 it's maybe more like 1024-2.5. ;) Of course, anyone's free to do new maps, but I'd appreciate that it would stay somewhat controlled: The reason we're having the overflow wad in the first place is because there were so many maps made for Claus that didn't make it to the main release and we simply didn't want them to go to waste. It would be rather ironic if the overflow project had to spawn an overflow-overflow project. :P