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Phml

Phmlspd - Boom maps for people who like shooting monsters

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Download link :

http://www.toofiles.com/en/oip/documents/zip/9226_phmlspd.html

Updated 16/08/10, bigger playground for third shotgun guy, secret hopefully easier to see.


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Screenshots :

Map 01
http://files.drdteam.org/index.php/image/direct/fM4xySWy4e/phmlspd-map01.jpg

Map 02
http://files.drdteam.org/index.php/files/get/OHpUyoJJ_Y/phmlspd-map02.jpg

Map03
http://files.drdteam.org/index.php/image/direct/nNAQVlI4Dq/phmlspd-map03.jpg

Map04
http://i49.tinypic.com/2q2r3sw.jpg

Map05
http://i46.tinypic.com/sc96qd.jpg

Map06
http://dl.toofiles.com/hoe2b3/images_thumbnails/phmlspdmap06.jpg

Map07
http://dl.toofiles.com/9gn1v3/images_thumbnails/7688_phmlspdmap07.jpg

Map08
http://dl.toofiles.com/cb243i/images/9470_phmlspdmap08.jpg

Map09
http://dl.toofiles.com/1fsi5y/images/phmlspdmap09.jpg

Map10
http://dl.toofiles.com/eaj0mt/images/phmlspdmap10.jpg

Map11
http://dl.toofiles.com/3yk4xy/images/phmlspdmap11.jpg

Map12
http://dl.toofiles.com/8kn9wa/images/phmlspdmap12.jpg

Map13
http://dl.toofiles.com/y2v2ov/images/phmlspdmap13.jpg

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Original post below :


Hello,

A while ago, I've noticed I'm fairly slow at mapping, and tend to get stuck procrastinating. As an experiment, I'm going to start to map faster, starting and finishing a map in the same day. Free time being what it is, I obviously can't do that daily, but I'm going to shoot for at least one map per week.

The title might be misleading as I've just started today, so there's only the first level to show. It's limit-removing for now, but I'll probably jump to Boom compatibility along the way. There's minimal attention paid to aesthetics and specifically detail, if it doesn't help gameplay or legibility in any way it's not going to be here.

This first map is a short and linear indoor level. The intended difficulty is UV and shouldn't be particulary hard, but if you find it tedious you can drop down to lower difficulties - more ammo and health with the same monster count. It took me about 4, 5 hours to make it. Tested in GZDoom, PRBoom+, ZDoom.

Any and all feedback is welcome.


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Up-to-date specifics :

Maps 01 to 04 are limit-removing, starting with Map05 it's all in Boom format. Pretty much all of my testing is done in the latest PrBoom+ version (GlBoom+ 2.5.0.6. at the time of this writing). I sometimes load up the wad in PrBoom v2.02 to see if there's any issue, and I use GZDoom to take screenshots, but that's about it.

As mentioned in the OP, one day per map, one map (minimum) per week.


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Known bugs/issues :

- Map06, Map08, Map10 and Map11 will crash with a segmentation violation in PrBoom v2.02. Other maps seem to work correctly.
- Map05 music won't play in PrBoom v2.02.

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Have a miraculous first demo attempt. I'm really surprised I made it on only the second run O.o There are some really cool ideas in there, and was quite fun if a little nervewracking at some times with that cyber. Adding music was a plus, I never want to hear D_RUNNIN again -.- I hope you make the next one soon ;)
http://wadhost.fathax.com/files/ABphmlspd1st.zip

P.S. used prboom plus 2.5.0.5

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Close call indeed ! First demo attempts are always insightful, thanks for sharing.

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ugh, I was messing around trying to find the screenshot function in prboom cause the edges of the revenant arena were HoMing and found out I've been playing stuff at 90% speed, as I was fastforwarding demos and couldn't get the speed exactly back to normal -.-

P.S. this was it

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Thanks for the tip. I thought I fixed that part already. I probably uploaded an old version to DRDteam, but will check again just in case.

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So I tried to make map02 right away today. That was both a bad and a good idea.

Bad, because I planned too big and focused on fluff like lightning and detail at first. I soon realised there'd be no way I'd finish it today. A few hours ago, I even considered pretending this didn't happen, and finishing the map tomorrow ; but I came back to my senses. Giving up on the second day ? Cheating myself out of a learning experience ? I'm glad I made this public, because I definitely don't have the willpower to stick to something.

Good, because after that I kept mapping as fast as possible, running against the clock to make it work, forgoing detail and lightning for bare layouts and monster placement, and after 6 hours I ended up with a finished map that, while relatively ugly in the later parts, plays actually better than the one I envisioned. Of course, part of it might be bias because at this point it's 01:44 (being in Europe) and I've been staring at Doom Builder 2 for 5 hours straight, so if someone told me I could go to bed after I played a 1994 wad, I'd probably say that wad is cacoward worthy and fall asleep on my keyboard.

Anyway. Now that we've got the TMI part out of the way, here's the specifics.

It's a medium-sized indoor level, mostly in the same theme as the previous map (bricks, bricks and more bricks, oh and some blood too). There's more interconnectivity, but it's still fairly linear. The start is relatively hard (and intended as such), as with the first map if you feel it is tedious you can try a lower difficulty, keeping the same monster count with better supplies.

I only had time to test it in GZDoom. It's still limit-removing for now.

See screenshots and new download in the updated first post.

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Too speedrunny for a first demo attempt =/ After scouting out the way in skulltag, I tried beating it in prboom, but the red key door isn't tagged nor the line that opens it has a tag, so it's broken in boom.

As for the map itself, I didn't poke around too much with the arch-vile and megasphere bit from where the revenants in the beginning come out, but I did check out most of the rest of the map, and I'm somewhat worried about the last bit, as that invuln probably won't last the whole time and it'd be easy to get surrounded in the spidermastermind's cage. Would have to test it more to see what happens there. Otherwise it seems hard but beatable, and I've grown a new hatred against plain demons ;) Think I've been shown how every monster can be used to annoy the hell out of a speedrunner, but that was mostly in deathxdestiny's nochance.wad in /newstuff -.- I swear I spent an hour learning a route and 5 trying to get a UV anything going ...

Anyway it's looking good, just fix the red key door. I'm glad you kept with it ;P

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@ArmouredBlood - I was expecting something like that. Thanks for the heads up !

Not only the red door, but the door to the blue key was tagged as a "S1" as well on one side, heh. The spider mastermind was also stuck in PrBoom+ (I always forget if the sector is just its size it works in Zdoom ports but gets stuck in PrBoom) so I gave it a little more room.

Download link updated in the first post. I've made a slow, safe UV max demo for reference : click me.

@Abyssalstudios - That'd be nice ! It might be a long time before it's released, though. I'm going to keep at it until I either get bored or make 32 maps.

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Nice one. I had a 6:25 max I didn't bother to upload because it's completely messy and embarassing, I think overall the route (save the backtracks) is faster if the player actually knows what he is doing.

Edit : made a much better 5:26 max, posted in the miscellaneous demos thread.

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Map03 today : ~7 hours. See the updated original post for download/screenshots.

Tested in GZDoom and PrBoom+, no bugs that I could find.

The start and the end can seem brutal at first glance, but if you approach it methodically it's not hard. I'll do a slow and safe demo tomorrow.

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Nice map, pretty fun and challenging. I made a first attempt demo and basically made it to the end on the second try, but wasted my cells trying to pick off a cyberdemon and basically got cornered. 3rd attempt had a ton of cells left but got sloppy dodging rockets -.- Guess I should've just ran for the exit huh ;P I could see an interesting speedrunning route, since you don't actually have to kill the arch-vile and revenants off the red key door to get through, let alone all the spidermasterminds. Maxing would be difficult with 7 cybers running around in a somewhat constricted space. Other than 1 door needed lower unpegged I think the map's bug free.

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I've checked all doors and everything was unpegged, also checked your demo and didn't notice anything wrong - although I probably lost attention at some points. Do you remember which door specifically looked wrong ?

It's entertaining to see how cautious and efficient you are on your first attempts. Me, I tend to run around like a headless chicken and get killed by two zombiemen and an imp in the first 30 seconds on any new map I try until I actually figure it out. :)

Here's a slow and safe demo in 11:03. The invulnerability secret in the end obviously helps a lot against the cybies.

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Saturdays are for making copypaste slaughtermaps and posting about it on the Doomworld forums.

I started from a simple idea : make the exit reachable in a straight line from the start, without any architecture, be it doors or anything blocking the player's path. Then I, uh, filled the map with monsters.

Ok, that's not exactly how it went, although you'd believe it is, looking at the final thing. Play it, and come back to curse my undying love for pinkies.

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You have beaten this somehow right? Tried a first demo attempt for about 30 minutes but gave up as it's just too chaotic for me to find a good route without an iddqd run. We'll see what's up after that ...

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Sorry for double post, but after messing around in iddqd for a while I found a route and got this UV-speed in 1:17. Very lucky that cyber didn't kill me at the end. It'd be pretty hard to max this, as there's just so many monsters for so little ammo ... infighting would have to be a major part.

Didn't notice any bugs while messing around in iddqd but I didn't thoroughly go through everything. BTW the music is from hexen right? Sounds kinda like tlo zelda; windwaker's forbidden fortress theme. Funny that.

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Heh, so I guess there is plenty of ammo, or at least after the demon filled hall starts to empty. Nice demo, and by 'could be faster' I think you meant by a few seconds ;P

Most of the maps in SL are 10 minute affairs, only 27-30 take longer ... although those probably are the most interesting ones to play, and would take more planning to speedrun.

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You have beaten this somehow right?


I always beat my maps before releasing to the public, and for Phmlspd maps in particular I make sure there's at least one way to "easily" go through it. :p

Nice UV Speed. I used exactly the same route at first (keeping pacifist longer if possible, so the arachnotron and archvile don't TP in), but didn't plan what to do yet after getting the BFG - just sort of did a half-assed max that wasn't worth recording as I was testing playability.

Biggest issue with max in my opinion is highlighted in gggmork's demo ; he has killed most of the monsters in six minutes, but the map has lots of spots where stuff can get stuck. Not much you can do about that, I guess.

I picked the music from Alien Vendetta map08. They list it as an "unknown midi".

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Another new map. As with map02, I planned too much stuff (although this time I didn't waste time on fluff ; it was just too big, period). As with map02, running against my self-imposed deadline I started going faster and making stuff that turned out nice. It seems stress works great for me. That, and taking screenshots of cybie butts.

Anyway. The map was tested with GlBoom+ and GZDoom, and took about 6 hours. Grab it while it's hot, and let me know if you share my enthusiasm for teleporting monsters.

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Map06 today. It's larger than the previous levels and took me 8 (!) hours ; I had a big "duh" moment as I didn't remember the obvious : making a larger level not only means more time spent mapping, it also means more time spent playtesting.

What more to say... You shoot monsters with guns. Specifically, big monsters with big guns and big powerups ; so it's a bit more of a slaughterfest than the other maps, right from the start. Oh, and I still use bricks everywhere.

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Bleh, first attempt demos. Just keep going until you see I get the plasma gun >.< btw I got the date wrong ...

That cyber in the elevator was soooo cheap, I get all the way there and then I die thinking it's just revenants until I get back up the elevator. Otherwise the hardest bits are just dodging cybers in rather long hallways. Will try again later.

EDIT: After doing an iddqd run I don't think it's possible to speedrun without getting close to max kills anyway, that arch-vile ending is wicked >.<

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Extremely insightful as always. It baffles me how useful it is to watch people play your levels compared to just playtest yourself - I mean, intellectually I know why, but yesterday I spent 2 hours and a half playtesting this thing, and watching ~40 minutes of your play showed me flaws I never noticed before.

For changes, I usually draw the line at things that are gamebreaking... I've found something that is (sort of - the two cyberdemons teleporting after the blue key can teleport much later than intended, if at all, because of the way I've set up the dummy sectors), so I'm going to make a bunch of changes as well.

The cyberS in elevator is a dick move indeed... As they're completely unannounced. I'll add a distinctive texture for their door. I wanted to add something to the first room switches to show which one opens the door and which one lowers the BFG ; in fact that's why I've used these specific pillars for the door, but I never got around to adding that important detail to the switch itself.

I'm happy with balance / gameplay / flow for the most part, and probably won't change anything on that front.

EDIT: After doing an iddqd run I don't think it's possible to speedrun without getting close to max kills anyway, that arch-vile ending is wicked >.<


I haven't done any proper speedrun yet but from what I've seen it'd be actually useful for speed to let stuff live so they eventually infight the archviles. Possibly leave the invul sphere (guarded by that cyberdemon in the first room) for the end to get through the AVs fast.

Updated first post with new link. Gave the wad a 30 minute run and everything seems good now. Time for me to try to make demos now. ;)

Edit : Ugh, just noticed 4 wrong textures. Seems like nobody DLed it yet, so I updated it again. :p

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Sunday map again ! As always, check the OP for updated link/screenshot.

Revisiting Dead Simple this time, in a large, relatively linear level. Killing mancubii and arachnotrons serves a different purpose here, revealing ammo and health caches ; you could actually finish the level without shooting any monster.

... Theorically.

It's on the hard side (at least for me), with many traps and tricky situations.

Enjoy !

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Thanks for the demos. Seeing it from your eyes, I'm happy with how that part plays so far. I just noticed I forgot to take care of easier difficulties, though ; and the monster teleporters are too close to the mancubus room (you can hear revenants). I'm going to get rid of one mancubus near the plasma gun, and add some accessible ground behind.

No further changes should be made, unless something gamebreaking is found. See updated link in OP.

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Map08 today. It's a BFG spamfest, difficulty being relatively easy (lots of monsters, but also tons of ammo and health around).

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