Doom-X: a Doom/Doom 2 re-imagining?

[CeeJay]

If you have no idea what Doom-X is, then please see previous Doom-X thread (http://www.doomworld.com/vb/wads-mods/45279-doom-x-more-new-screenshots-added/). There you can also see screenshots of the project.

I had an idea the other day. What if i were to take the Doom-X mod much, much further. Developing it into a complete conversion. I had the idea of making a re-imagining of Doom and Doom 2 with much more of everything. More weapons, more monsters, more detailed levels, more sounds, more special effects, enhanced gameplay, etc. The way i envision it is that it would be split up in three episodes; first taking place on Mars in the UAC Phobos facility. Second being hell where you have to "prove your worth" and third being back on earth where the hellspawn have invaded our cities. I stared writing a little bit of story and such, here's what i have so far (it's very rough at this time):


EPISODE 1: Phobos
-----------------------------
At 3:20 PM Eastern Time 2024 Earth looses contact with top-secret military research facility 'Phobos' on Mars. Owned and run by the Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC): a massive corporate empire dealing with space exploration and being in charge of earths current military forces. A band of space marines, soldiers additionaly trained for combat and survival in space environments, are sent to the planet to investigate.

The marines enter the complex to discover it to be filled with the smell of rotting flesh and the buzzing sound of flies. They eventually find the source... dead bodies, lots of them. Scientists aswell as marines have been mutilated by an unknown enemy; Claw marks, decapitated heads, ripped-off limbs. You along with a fellow marine are left behind to try and contact earth while the others venture further into the facility. Shortly after you hear gun-shots and piercing screams echo throughout the complex. Your friend, in a fit of panic runs away into the complex leaving you with nothing but a flashlight, a pistol and a few extra magazines.

Shortly therafter, everything turns to a ghostly quiet. You stand gazzing into the long dark hallway ahead, tigtening the grip of your pistol. You efforts to contact earth were unsucceful, you have two choices: escape, or find out just what the hell is going on.

EPISODE 2: Shores of Hell
------------------------------------
You fall down and hit a soft, kind of fleshy, surface. You stand up,
brush yourself off and look around, nothing is like anything you have
ever seen before. It is like something out of ones worst nightmare.
Suddenly you hear a deep, haunting and demonic growl echoing around
you. Then you panic as you realize your weapons have all been stripped from you. Still all alone and now unarmed it seems there is no light at the end of the tunnel for you. But you sure ain't going down without a fight.


EPISODE 3: Hell on Earth
-----------------------------------
Exhausted and severly wounded you somehow end up back on Phobos. You
drag yourself to a corner and await death to come for you. Instead you suddenly hear voices and footsteps closing in, a group of marines
sent to investigate the disappearence of the former marines have arrived. They take you onboard the transport ship and after they download all data from the Phobos computer and find no other survivors the marines leave Phobos to head back to earth. Once they enter the earths atmosphere, however, they are shocked to see that the earth is under attack. Before anyone onboard has a chance to react the ship is struck by a massive fireball which sents it crasing into the surface. You crawl out of the wreckage, apparently the only survivor, to see buildings burning and familiar creatures running amok among our cities. The invasion has begun. You fall down on your knees in despair for a moment but get up again and start to arm yourself with anything and everything you find around you.


Ohh, and one idea was using entirely diffrent weapons for the Hell levels.

Would anyone here be intrested in level-designing for such a project?

[Use]

You should have more than a bunch of text to draw anyone into your project. Come back with some tangible progress (more screenshots, demo maps, or textures or other usable resources) and you might get a few bites. It's ambitious, so it might be good idea to have a demo episode (like, 3 maps) for someone who might be willing to help.
I checked out your other thread, you have some interesting material there, but it looks pretty stuck-together at this point. Also, linking to your work thread would be helpful. ;)

[CeeJay]

So what am i supposed to do? I'm no level designer myself but i know my way around EDGE DDF scripts. As probaly most people here know by know, i suck at drawing people's attention aswell. Screenshots of the Doom-X mod are available over at the original Doom-X thread (i've linked to it at the top of this thread). The original Doom-X is pretty much finished, now i'm working on the hellish weapons. Meaning that the "engine", for Phobos and Earth levels, is pretty much finished and ready for the level department. I am willing to see this project through to the very end, but i need help.

[esselfortium]

Well, the thing is that creating maps, if you want them to be of quality, is often like 75% or more of the time and work that goes into a wad. Saying that you've done everything but the maps and need "help" is still asking other people to do the majority of your project for you.

[CeeJay]

esselfortium said:

Well, the thing is that creating maps, if you want them to be of quality, is often like 75% or more of the time and work that goes into a wad. Saying that you've done everything but the maps and need "help" is still asking other people to do the majority of your project for you.

Well that would depend of the ammount of levels, right? Besides i don't really agree with that. If we're talking about a megawad or a partial conversion, yes. But if you are talking about a total conversion with over 15 new weapons, several new enemies and completly altered and enhanced gameplay it is (almost) as much work on both ends.

[Vegeta]

It all depends on the number of maps.

Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to reduce the number of maps per episode. In fact every DOOM episode could be reduced to a single well themed map (not necessary super big and complex, just with solid and distinctive atmosphere, ending with a boss battle). With that, first you could aim to recreate DOOM, then Ultimate DOOM, and if you're lucky then DOOM 2, and then whatever other DOOM game you may be interested to recreate.
Perhaps the idea to make that kind of maps would be more interesting for authors than making maps that are just a little brick in the whole megawad. Also chances to release something "closed" are much bigger.

[CeeJay]

Actually my idea was to have each episode consist of 5-10 levels + one secret level for each episode (maybe even one big HUB for each episode). If two or more guys would do the levels, it wouldn't be that much work. I don't have that over-ambitious ideas for the level design, aslong as the levels are more detailed than the original with room-over-room, slopes, swimable-water and use of dynamic lightning. Aslong as the levels follow the appropiate theme and some guidelines the level authors would have complete creative freedom.

[Dutch Doomer]

esselfortium said:

Well, the thing is that creating maps, if you want them to be of quality, is often like 75% or more of the time and work that goes into a wad. Saying that you've done everything but the maps and need "help" is still asking other people to do the majority of your project for you.

Why do I always agree with you :p

[Ralphis]

ceejay, before you start asking for help on your new mega-cool-and-whatnot project, make sure you have something to show first (screenshots, map downloads, etc). Keep in mind we've already seen thousands of upcoming projects that actually never got done.