Jump to content
Search In
  • More options...
Find results that contain...
Find results in...
fiend-o-hell

PANOPHOBIA - Community Project (Let's get this going again shall we! )

Recommended Posts

Fiend, just played your Vertigo Limit map and WOW, your mapping skills are a lot further forward than mine. I'm not a big fan of Chaingunner spam but this map and I am out of practice at actually playing Doom, and I still found this map very addictive!

My maps are pretty vast in scale and it is difficult to detail them. The detail will come, it'll just be a while!

Share this post


Link to post

I will be sending you three maps later this evening. None of them are finished and having reviewed them this afternoon, they need a lot of work. However I think they will all be finished before the end of September.

EDIT: Emailed you three maps and a text file. Couldn't use Mediafire as it is broken.

Share this post


Link to post

Thank yee Major. I've built up distinctive style over a course of a year or so that allows me to transplant as much as my ideas as possible unto the virtual grid with relative ease.

I have received and filed away your maps for further analysis later.

@Everyone else: Today's the last submission day folks. I have to apologize, but it'll take me some time to review the entries and refresh the thread. If your still working, get those maps into me anyway possible (post here, PM, email) so that I can have them on file.

For all those who participated, I congratulate you for putting in the effort and the work to get it done. We still have another phase to go before we can truly wrap up.

Anways, It'll take me about 4 days to review what has been sent in...

Share this post


Link to post

http://www.mediafire.com/?1kvjdrbpx3lapjl

Still the 31st here :)

Let's see, any comments... There are 3 types of monsters: Spider Masterminds, Cybies, and Cacodemons. I plan to detail, to an extent, the blue key area, then make the player go down and follow a bit of a linear path to the red key. Then, arena style the exit.

Share this post


Link to post

@BloodyAcid: Lulz. Your map rocks man! I just took an iddqd dip in, but it just looks mega intense. I'll review it further in the next coming days :D .

@Everyone else:
So here is the list I have compiled from the maps I have received which comes out to a grand total of 12! Its a respectable wad size, so thanks again for coming through guys!

--------------------------------------
Build Phase Map list
--------------------------------------
Temple of Forgotten Gods (Fear of water) - MajorRawne
Blood Urge (Fear of blood) - PRIMEVAL & FoH
Nightmare in Spiderland (Fear of Spiders) - MajorRawne
All Alone (Fear of Isolation) - PabloD
The House that Fear Built (Fear of the past) - MajorRawne & Somebody else
Whispers in the Dark (v2) (Fear of being alone) - fiend-o-hell
Agliophobia (Fear of pain) - TrueDude
The Ruins (Fear of ruins) - MagnificentBeard
Vertigo Limit (beta) (fear of tall structures) - fiend-o-hell
The Meat Train (Fear of meat) - MajorRawn & BloodyAcid
The Sigil(Fear of Hell) - dobugabumaru
Cacophobia (secret jokewad) - BloodyAcid

If I left somebody out or you want a name change, just say the word...

Another thing also... each level should have non-stock music. Just something to think about as we are testing and incorporating the final elements into our levels.

Also, I plan on using the sky from my map Vertigo Limit for at least one of the episodes. If nobody objects, I'll make the other one (12 count map set) available as soon as possible.

Finally, I hope to have the maps reviewed and posted on the first post by Tuesday at the latest for serious play testers and or public scrutinizing. Most of you already know what you need to do to get the job finished, so I won't be to nitpicky on them.

Share this post


Link to post

Nice, I'm more than happy to use that sky. Forgot to send you the MIDI files. Also two of my maps are not fully playable yet so I would appreciate it if people just give comments on the themes, appearance and so forth in the first week or so.

I'll be away 7-10 September with no internet access.

Share this post


Link to post

@Major: Sorry major, I'm focused in on organizing the alpha release. Once its out, perhaps other can comment on it more.

To everyone else, apologies all around. Had a busier day than I thought I would have, so got behind on my leadership duties for this project. I'm still trying to decide how I will arrange the levels. Then I have to compile them into a single alpha wad with various resources thrown in for good measure. Realistically I'll need a couple more days to do it...

Share this post


Link to post

Here we go everybody. I finally bring you the goods in some presentable form by way of a Pre-Release wad pack. It is a compilation of the 12 maps I received at the end of the build stage in all their glory. It is a version primarily intended for play testing, giving a rough idea of what the final thing will look like, and of course commenting.

DOWNLOAD PANOPHOBIA PRE-RELEASE NOW!


So some comments to be made...
-Map04 will only run on zdoom. This should be a PrBoom+ -comp 2 project.
-Map 5 & 6 have non-exsistant textures showing up all over the place. Plays fine in zdoom.
-The incompleteness of some of the maps vary quite a lot. To the mappers, please try to get them actually finished! (I'm looking at you FoH ; ) ).
-Each level will need a unique non-stock track to go with it.
-For the maps that don't have readmes, write a short description for me to include in the final pano txt.
-Do to map shortage, I rearranged the map order as I saw fit...

I'm just going to reiterate here, DON'T USE ZDOOM to play test. USE PRBOOM+ pretty plz with cherry!

Share this post


Link to post

I should have the 100% playtest-ready version of MAP01 up in a few days, with the latter half of the level finally fleshed out. As it stands now it's more like a rough draft that has some issues I've hopefully already addressed. Once I'm done mapping out the rest of the level, I'll add some detail, difficulty levels, and start playtesting the other maps.

Also, fiend, which slot is my map going into? This is important for me because I need to decide whether or not to use the sky at the final battle or not (since the first episode sky would look very odd).

EDIT: Also, forgot to add that the music is courtesy of Ribbiks

Share this post


Link to post

I would like to request that my map actually be slotted into MAP33 or as the last map.

Share this post


Link to post

@dobugabumaru: That's good to hear! I felt your level was the strongest candidate to open pano up, so it will take up map01. I was kinda short on time today so sky1 didn't turn out as great as it could be. It will get enhanced in future revisions though...

@BloodyAcid: hmm, I know it was originally agreed upon that your level would be a secret level, but with the map count the way it is, each slot is a commodity. I think its for the best your map is grouped with the rest.

As i mentioned before, I think The Sigil and Vertigo Limit make good openers and closers respectively. In between maps are much more open for debate!

Share this post


Link to post

I haven't yet played through the other maps to get a good comparison, but I designed The Sigil in mind to be the last level, which is why it has a lot of hectic fights and that I give all the weapons in it. Plus there's the obvious IoS fight which you don't usually encounter at the start of a megawad. Personally I still feel like it would work well as the last map, coming hot off the heels of your immaculate map (since it's a large change of pace from big outside area -> cramped inside area), but that's largely because I still thinking of it as a "MAP30" map.

I guess we'll have to see what others think. I just think it's a bit odd giving the player the ability to enter into MAP02 with the BFG and 600/600 cells.

Share this post


Link to post

Ha, I was thinking just the opposite with the order going from cramped -> wide open. Hmm maybe i didn't see your level in its entirety... but I thought the low key tight locations, the deja vu moments, and the music really set up the right kind of mood im looking for the rest of the wad.

But! If you designed it to be an epic map30 style map complete with IoS, then I have no choice but to yield haha. Now that I think of it, Vertigo would probably make a better setup for your map! The player climbs to get to your map. Yeah I like that!

Hmm and Whispers in the Dark OR MagnificentBeard's Ruin Me could take up map01 as I feel they are the darkest levels and shorter when compared to Sigil.

Share this post


Link to post

New download.

The map is now known as "Dungeon of Agony" and uses the unused Doom track "un51". Still not complete but the monster placements a bit more complete. (I don't think there's enough ammo to compensate though, and the rest of the way to the blue key is still non-existant)

EDIT: Nevermind on the new name thing, I noticed you gave the map a name and I like it better.

Share this post


Link to post

Disappointing that we're not getting many comments from people who are not connected to the megawad. Panophobia is an original and interesting idea, you'd have thought people would be more excited about it.

I might have to drop "The Meat Train" as I am not sure I can do it justice in the remaining time although I do want to try to make some tweaks, mainly to the Arachnotron room and the final hellish/Revenant section. I'll know for certain within a week as there is still much to do on the other maps. If not, we can just submit it as BloodyAcid's original creation.

In these final weeks I've decided to bias my maps in the following ways:

Temple of Forgotten Gods (aquaphobia)

* Crumbling terrain: Proceed with extreme caution, you do get fair warning but if you charge straight in you'll end up in the water.

* Dangerous environments: The player must constantly bear in mind environmental factors such as the omnipresent water, collapsing scenery, attacks from distant enemies at differing elevations, narrow walkways and so forth.

* Some exploration aspects: Terrain is built in a manner that allows for large environments without getting the player lost. Progression is linear while allowing for backtracking to pick up lost items. The "exploration" aspect comes from discovering new areas that carry an overall theme, but differ quite markedly in some ways from the places you've already been.

Nightmare in Spiderland (arachnophobia)

* Shadowplay: I'm attempting to use varying light levels in order to create the effect of looming shadows in the swamp/forested areas but doubt I'll have sufficient skill or time to do too much.

* Exploration: I'm trying to craft more interconnectivity between map regions but am still trying to find the balance between open-endedness and confusion for the player. I'm trying to avoid ruining some of the more notable fights by allowing players to approach from different directions which could avoid fights being triggered. Therefore some map areas are optional and are purely for exploration and getting 100% kills.

The House that Fear Built

* More nods to classic maps.

Share this post


Link to post
fiend-o-hell said:

Another thing also... each level should have non-stock music. Just something to think about as we are testing and incorporating the final elements into our levels.


If there isn't already a song chosen, I can help "finish" Map07 with a song of mine.

Share this post


Link to post

I've noticed on the first level, if you teleport back from the ritual room without a red or blue key then you're stuck.

Share this post


Link to post

@TrueDude: looking better. The track you chose is suitable, but gets to be a bit repetitive after a while. Ammo balance is a bit on the short side which is ok, but still, I recommend at least getting all your obstacles, areas, and exits pretty well defined before working on the monster and ammo balance any further.

@MajorRawne: eh I don't take personal really. As long as the mappers involve cooperate throughout the process, it should end up being a pretty slick final release in the end.
If you don't have time to work on BloodyAcid's Meat Train, I'll see if I cant step up the efforts!
And yes, those level features are quite awesome!

@PRIMEVAL: You certainly have the creds! By all means please, choose a song!

@Retog: which port did you use to play?

Share this post


Link to post

So I ran through each map with IDDQD just to get a feel. Here are my notes.

MAP02: interesting layout fiend. The gameplay seems frantic, but I'll have to playtest it without godmode to see for myself.

The gun-activated switches are too difficult to notice at the start, especially since parts of the boundary obscures them. And while most players can hit the first, the second is placed kind of cruelly. I’d move that one, or take it out all together, since a lot of players may not have the patience to run around wondering what they should do.

Also, perhaps you should consider making the boundaries (where the red flames preside) impassable, just so the player isn’t running over them. It’s not that big of a deal, but it’s just a tiny bit disorienting hopping up there and pushing against the darkness, or rubbing against the flame (unless it’s required for a secret).

But it seems fun, being a relatively quick play but filled with deadly traps and enemies. I especially like the idea of the exploding barrels to keep you out of the dark. Very unique. And the cybies covering the exit is a neat touch too.

------

MAP03: I like the idea of being next to the constantly damaging floor. Only worry I had is the 3 PEs in the yellow key room, since I see no way in hell of dealing with them with the conservative amount you’ve given in the level. That’s my big concern. I’m still interesting in seeing what you’ll do with the rest of the level.

------

MAP04: Can’t open maps 4, 5 and 6 in PrBoom on my mac :/ So I tested it in Zdoom.

Major, I do not envy your position. This map is big enough for three testers, let alone the fact that you have three other maps to left to make. Yikes.

Since there’s not much else there, all I’m going to mention is that one of the biggest problems with big areas is that while it does make you feel like you’ve gone quite far, they can be relatively boring due to the scarcity of enemies.

------

MAP05: Hilarious. Cacos popping up in front of more cacos made me laugh. Couldn’t find an exit and the cybie at the blue key could be pushed off into the pit, which could be annoying for any UV maxers.

Also, if we needed to make it a secret map, sneaking it away into a something like MAP23 would fit very well.

------

MAP06: Wasn’t expecting a heavy slaughter map. Only worry is that since there are a LOT of monsters, it’s probably going to be pretty rough to playtest. Also, I’ve never been a fan of sticking like 5-10 archviles in a corner as a surprise. 1-2 usually do the trick, any more than that is overkill. Not sure I see much of the meat theme, especially since revenants are nothing but rockets and bones.

------

MAP07: Looks pretty at least.

------

MAP08: One of the strongest maps, theme wise. Love the new start! There are still quite a few issues (like certain crumbling platforms being untextured), and I can tell the gameplay isn’t finished, so I’ll reserve judgement. Probably the best of your maps though, Major.

------

MAP09: So eerie and creepy. I didn’t play through the whole thing, but I still love the idea of a traditional Doom level just devoid of life. It’s really counter-intuitive. Secrets might be a nice addition though.

------

MAP10: I didn’t really get the theme of this one. Didn’t play far into it either.

------

MAP11: A fun and tricky map that relies a little too heavily on switches and tags IMO. Visually it looks great and seems like it’d play well, but it was confusing where to go at the start and I found myself wall humping for a bit. Also there’s bits of armor in the wall.

------

MAP12: Pat yourself on the back fiend, this is one hell of a level. Played only for a minute... I’d rather spend my time playtesting it than rushing through it and ruining all the surprises. If my map does come after it, it’ll be hard to top this action-packed penultimate level!

------

My updated map will probably be available this Friday (just got 2 rooms left to design and then Hell awaits!). I hate to say it, but realistically I’m not sure how much is going to get done on the megawad in 20 days. Even if everyone gets all of their levels done in 10 days, we’re going to have to wait on the playtesters to give good and reliable feedback, let alone that we need to test for 3 separate difficulties and make adjustments accordingly.

Retog said:

I've noticed on the first level, if you teleport back from the ritual room without a red or blue key then you're stuck.


You just need to look a little harder. I left a health vial next to the bookshelf as a clue.

Share this post


Link to post

Dobugabumaru, thanks for the valuable feedback. I've worked hard on the Spiderland map and there will be a lot of monsters but at the minute I am heavily involved in building terrain. A Bob Ross "happy little accident" (TM) gave me a nice visual improvement to break up some of the monotony. The map looks like crap in DB2's visual mode but it looks a lot better when you're actually playing it. Fiend's new sky will make this map look amazing.

The water map just needs secrets, monsters and various visual tweaks. The basic map is finished.

Share this post


Link to post

I'll give er a try, downloaded it now, sounds like a cool mod idea! :)

Everything looks really good, Beautifully done elivator! (only played level 1 so far)

I'm not sure why but in the first level it seems like the guards at the end of the hall to the left are invincible until they are alerted, sometimes it's really hard to get a gun to drop from a guard as well. Also i noticed if you die and restart while the screen is still red i respawned with a red screen.

Share this post


Link to post

Thanks for the feedback dobugabumaru. I think some here would appreciate the feedback.

I might consider revising the starting puzzle on map02. Dunno though. I think just needs a bit o time to play also!

If I get any revised maps the weekend, i should be able to compile into an alpha!

Share this post


Link to post

If this is going to end in September I won't be able to work on The House that Fear Built (fear of the past) or The Meat Train (fear of meat). My other two maps are epic and are going to take all month to finish.

If we're able to extend the release date for a Hallowe'en release, I should be able to finish all 4 maps and maybe get a fifth (much smaller) map together.

Share this post


Link to post

quickly played through the maps [not enough free time to play them properly :(] and so far map02 and 07 are my favorites.

map06 i got some texture errors [played it with zdoom] and map12 as well. map12 looks insanely massive though :D, sadly i did not get to finish it :(

map06 also has the same brightness level through out the whole level.

when my map appeared i noticed it was an older version because you start too far away from the right garg fountain and its not as bright as it should be [hopefully that tells the player to go right instead of left].

uploaded the last version i had, and i also had wrote a new song for it a few days ago. the song is a very simple, cheesy ambient type of track that i think fits, but i think its too repetitive.

i had a much better version of this map, but i lost that version, with pretty much every single personal file i had when my second hard drive decided to died :(

edit - correct url http://minus.com/lbgYJtNgu0jHm6

and fiend-o-hell, can the map keeps its original name? [spellbound] :)

i also hope to have some free time in the coming weeks to play through each map and give some detail comments.

Share this post


Link to post

Second version of The Sigil.

Playable from start to finish with no cheats. However, there's a few things I need to note.

- Couple areas are still unfinished. Specifically, the hell fight and the BFG battle aren't finished at all (although still playable). The hell fight needs to be heavily tweaked, since I have the idea I want there (elevators and cybies) but it's too much of a headache to deal with currently. Also there's no cover to deal with archviles appropriately.

- People other than me need to test the level. The ritual room fight and blue key trap are still pretty difficult, and I want to know if they outweigh the challenge in the later parts of the map. If they're much harder compared to all the other fights around them, they need to be toned down.

- I don't think there should be a *legal* problem with my IoS throwback, since none of it is copy & paste and the walls have different lengths.

- Some arachnatrons may be stuck in their cages in House 3, I haven't really worked it out yet. Also the gates blocking your view are obnoxious when trying to fight the monsters in the cages, so I may have to do something about that.

- I have a lot of detailing left to do in the last couple of houses. Also no difficulties implemented yet.

- Finally, I apologize for how squished and cramped the map is. It was originally this way so I could fit everything in the center of the Sigil, but as the map got more complex nodebuilder couldn't handle it. So I had to minimize the Sigil and rearrange the rooms on the map, so a lot of the corridors still retain their old dimensions. I tried expanding the problematic areas that were aggravating to run through, but some parts are still going to remain very squished.

Share this post


Link to post

I had a go on a few of the maps but have got too much work to do on my own to be much of a critic. I tried these maps on UV but am not a Doom God, I cannot beat the later AV maps on UV without lots of saves and occasional IDKFA for example. I didn't spend hours poring over them in DB2 either.

Map 1: None of the doors are colour coded and the Baron fight was a bit harsh for me. This map looks bloody awesome in DB2.

Map 2: I haven't played this for a while, so I couldn't remember how to get out of the start room. I eventually ragequit and then in DB2 it appears you have to walk across a line you can't reach that is facing in the wrong direction?

Map 3: Not sure what the hell I'm doing on this one, I just seemed to walk down corridors getting killed by the floors and bumped into a few coloured doors. I had to really rush my playtest of this one though so may have missed something.

Map 4: What a fantastic map! Oh wait, it's mine. I'm going to upload the next iteration of this map shortly as there is a crapload of new stuff and I need to know if my trees look like shit.

Map 5: WTF? Very addictive but a lot harder than the previous maps.

Map 6: I may be editing this one and have not had any playtesting problems playing in ZDoom through DB2. However the missing textures appears to have happened when I opened it in DB2 and started re-texturing walls: I realised that some areas were plastered in the "missing" texture but don't know why. If I get time to work on this one it will be re-textured.

Map 7: You can fall in the blood pit outside the door of the start room and I don't think you can get out. The floor texture is misaligned on the red and silver teleporter pads when you drop into the darkened blood pit with the Spectres. Once you go through the red teleport pad, if you jump across to another ledge to get the stimpacks and shotgun shells, there's a HOM on the wall. Where do we go once we've got the blue key? There are lots of HOMs later in the map too.

Map 8: Another one of mine :) While the grey sky texture is IMHO too blocky and causes some distraction, the overall colour scheme really conveys the lonely, grim sense I was trying to get across. I thought we were using the fiery sky texture?

Map 9: This could follow on from my Spiderland map as you exit that by boat. I'll be evaluating the start of this map as I am having issues with the "limitless view" at the beginning of Spiderland. It's possible to run around the perimeter of the map then hit a dead end and have to come all the way back. While this is a fantastic map, I'm not too sure about a map where there are no monsters at all, even if it is a very original take. If the city was properly crumbling and dangerous to navigate that's one thing but even the nukage doesn't seem to hurt.

Map 10: My modification of some ancient map. Needs a lot of work.

Map 11: Played this before, very good-looking map. Didn't get much chance to play this again.

Map 12: Addictive and good looking, very hard but keeps you coming back.

Share this post


Link to post

Bad news fiend. The fan on my old '02 PC broke so I won't be able to use it to map for a while (until the fan gets replaced [I post primarily from my mac]). Therefore I'm uncertain how much work is going to get done on my map this month.

Share this post


Link to post
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×