Doom 2 in name only (tentative title)

[glenzinho]

Eris Falling said:

Infact, the broken bridges of Map07 could even provide some continuity, caused by an aftershock of the earthquake which caused the entrance to the base in Map04 to collapse.
Don't you love it when things come together?

That's funny, my map 13 shows signs of some kind of seismic activity throughout a few locations in the level. Maybe there's some kind of subconscious thing going on here...

[Antroid]

Sure, subconscious stealing of my ideas :D (it's cool!)

[Kongming]

Newest version of map18: http://www.mediafire.com/?akw19qs5xhuecqe
Added a few traps, monsters and secrets. Also fixed some slight glitches. The midi used for the map is 'okey' to be used by the composer (asked him myself :P).

[glenzinho]

Map13 is just about 100% done, only a few minor tweaks to be done and a couple of bugs to fix if possible. Difficulty levels are well implemented; easy is very easy, medium is tough, and UV is a good challenge. Savegame buffer overun error will occur if you try to save (in Chocolate Doom at least). There are a 2 or 3 long lines that PrBoom+ displays funny, but they display properly on Choc, GLBoom+, and Z & GZDoom. There is also a weird kind of blockmap bug that I don't know how to fix, but it doesn't seem to disrupt gameplay too much, so if you find it and know how to fix it please let me know. Also, if you like it let me know, and if you hate it, let me know too. Thing placement not good? Too much/not enough ammo/health, let me know.

/EDIT Difficulty levels are well implemented on everything except UV at the moment... in my drunkeness I forgot to add my list of things for UV. A more balanced version will be up in a few hours.
Removed the old link for now. See further down...

[Tristan]

FINALLY! Been waiting for this since I saw that screenshot with the tall buildings. Also that's weird how you have earthquakes too...

[ComicMischief]

glenzinho said:

That's funny, my map 13 shows signs of some kind of seismic activity throughout a few locations in the level. Maybe there's some kind of subconscious thing going on here...

Turns out we're both doing Doom 2 and Quake in name. :P

[Tristan]

Map13 is very nicely detailed, I loved the railroad section. I had trouble maneuvering in the lava pit section, but you know that already as I saw in readme.
As with all other maps, I can't comment on difficulty.

[cannonball]

Map 18 - Played the newest version.
The biggest change was the fight which gives access to the red key, I will put it like this, you are given a plasma gun and quite a few cells, in that room, I didn't use the plasma gun once and didn't fired any more than about 10 rockets. The fight is too easy without the cyber.
Ammo is a lot tighter in the first half of the map which makes it more difficult, which is a good thing.

Map13 - Will play this map again later, I ragequit, also did I miss the ssg somewhere. I played through with iddqd and my top weapon was the chaingun for half the map :/

[glenzinho]

@Cannonball, yeah, you actually missed 2 ssgs... are you playing with those sunglasses on that your avatar has? Why god mode? More details, please...

[cannonball]

Well I missed the secret ssg near the start, to be quite honest I am not going to faff around in that room with the arch vile place in there and the method of killing him early is a little cryptic to say the least, I stopped just after the red key door as I'm out of ammo except for rockets and kept killing myself. I had successfully dispatched over half the enemies with fist/shotty and chaingun only. But at least I got somewhere.
Ah two ssgs? methinks not on uv, the ssg is flagged for hmp and below :P
Right I will put this simply, the level looks really nice. But if you play on UV, if you do not find the secrets, your weapons will be, shotgun, chaingun and rocket launcher only with bezerk as back up. It makes play not impossible, but frustratingly slow.
I would suggest placing the available ssg in all difficulties and adding a plasma gun toward the later part of the level.
Also the start is brutal, but for some reason I don't mind it.

[glenzinho]

cannonball said:

Well I missed the secret ssg near the start, to be quite honest I am not going to faff around in that room with the arch vile place in there and the method of killing him early is a little cryptic to say the least

You're playing on UV? Stop being so macho and try a lower setting first then! There's a different monster in that spot for every difficulty setting. The AV is also a little random... I tested that part dozens of times, sometimes he doesn't even attack at all. Just take cover and wait him out. There's 2 spots in the room that will give you cover that you can get to easily.

Ah two ssgs? methinks not on uv, the ssg is flagged for hmp and below :P

I'll fix that... DB pisses me off with it's thing mode at times, keeping stuff selected that you don't know are selected... gotta keep remembering to hit C first!

I would suggest placing the available ssg in all difficulties and adding a plasma gun toward the later part of the level.

Will fix the second ssg. Just to let you know, every weapon except for the chainsaw is available in this level. Also there are 2 ssgs & 2 RLs (1 of each is in a secret).

Also the start is brutal, but for some reason I don't mind it.

I was concerned about this part, but I must have played that start area 100 times and I think it's just plain fun.

Great feedback, keep it coming! Look out for visual clues to secret areas.

/EDIT @Cannonball: Just checked out the map and I realised I forgot to add some stuff for UV! Sorry dude, I'll have an updated version later today. It will be tough on UV, but you shouldn't be totally running out of ammo, my bad!

[glenzinho]

Map13: Downtown version 0.999! now version 1.0
If you grabbed the older one, please delete or disregard.
More ammo on UV and a few other minor changes. I'm still not totally confident about my ammo & health placement abilities; I think there's too much on HMP and maybe just not enough on UV. Once again, feedback please. Sorry again to Cannonball, what can I say, I'm a big fan of my avatar!

[cannonball]

No worries, I like torturing myself :P Also ammo will be less of an issue with ssg now in place as it is a lot more effective at crowd control than just the normal shotty. But will test later to see whether the changes have worked out well.

[Blue Shadow]

This project sounds interesting. I'll be looking forward to playing it when it's fully finished.

Have you thought of a name for it yet?

[Tristan]

Doom 2 in name only?
It would be nice to get a better title but it's not actually as easy as you'd think. It has to be descriptive of what the Megawad is obviously, and what we have already fits that.

[cannonball]

It's also hard due to many possible names already being taken for example Doom 2 Reloaded etc etc.
Doom 2 : Renaissance or is that too posh and ye olde?

[Tristan]

Doom II: What's in a Name?
Doom II: Namesake

[Alfonzo]

Epeolatry. The worship of words.

[Blue Shadow]

Unfortunately, I'm not that good when it comes to giving things cool names, but maybe Parallel Doom (II), like in parallel universe?

[ComicMischief]

I think In Name Only is a great name. Why fuck with what ain't broken?

EDIT
Unless we go the Latin route and name it Doom II: Solum in nomine.

[darkreaver]

I have nothing to do with this project (unfortunately, because I think it`s a neat concept!), but "In Name Only" sucks major goat balls.

[Tristan]

I probably wouldn't put it like that, but I do agree.

Seriously: Doom II: Namesake

or the Latin one.

[Antroid]

Layout and alpha item/monster placement of map29 is finally done!
Click here to view a scaled down map of the whole level! SPOILERIFIC (don't worry, the red areas in drawsegs mode aren't accessible without noclip).
Now tedious testing shall commence... any day... Oh and also implementing difficulties... Oh boy ._.

edit: hey ella guro, if you wanna check out the map without actual gameplay, just to see if the visuals and structure are okay, shoot me a PM or something.

[Memfis]

glenzinho said:

Map13: Downtown version 0.999!

Nice map, really kept me on my toes. Here is my FDA (50 minutes).
Noticed a little bug in the cave area. I'm not sure what is going on here, I don't see missing textures or anything like that in the editor. Weird.

[Tristan]

Drawseg overflow, perhaps? Although I can't see why it would be anywhere near the limit there.

[Antroid]

By the way, i'm really glad we decided to ignore the savegame buffer overflow thing, because apparently my map29 crashes now when saving. I wouldn't want to trim it down after all this. :D

[glenzinho]

Memfis said:

Nice map, really kept me on my toes. Here is my FDA (50 minutes).
Noticed a little bug in the cave area. I'm not sure what is going on here, I don't see missing textures or anything like that in the editor. Weird.

I really enjoyed you FDA Memfis, however about halfway through it goes out of sync in PrBoom+... I don't know much about complevel, which one should I be using here? nvm, just figured I was using the wrong wad version! About the bug, it didn't show up in your FDA when you were at that area, which engine were you using? Great to watch somebody else figuring out your level! I may put a demo up later myself.

/EDIT Spotted that bug using PrBoom+... strange that it doesn't show up in the other ports I tested (Chocolate/ZDoom/GZDoom/GLBoom+).
//EDIT Just saw the bug in Chocolate now.. I wonder what causes it?

@ella guro: can you link to my map on the first post please?

[cannonball]

Map 13
Lets put some detail here
Time - around 26 minutes in the end, though lots of deaths, just two at the point where I encounter the cyberdemon.
1 Monster left
5/7 secrets so will assume monster I either simply missed or is in one of the remaining secrets.
Good map lots of detail as I said before, strange thing is that I struggled for ammo during the first half of the map, then had plenty in the final stages. Ammo probably need to be balanced a little more. More available to you when you get out in the open (not before because that would spoil the punching fun :P)
I spotted the glitch as well, I opened up in doombuilder and saw no problems (assumed missing texture, no problem, next one two lines on top of each other and one has a missing texture, nope not that either)
I would suggest just redrawing the sector where the glitch occurs, that should solve it.

[glenzinho]

cannonball said:

I would suggest just redrawing the sector where the glitch occurs, that should solve it.

That fixed it! Thanks for the idea, I'm gonna try it with the lava pit in the subway to see if it fixes that as well. I'm also going to try balancing out the ammo a little better once you get out onto the streets... or just throw out a shitload of shells everywhere ;)

[ella guro]

i like Doom 2: In Name Only just fine. sorry it isn't Doom 2: Blood Death Apocalypse or something (maybe it should be...)

an_mutt: i don't understand the point of doing all that lighting work and then handing out a light amplification visor right at the beginning. maybe my monitor is too bright?

otherwise, i like it - it's a pretty linear and short level, but it's interesting anyway. when i first played it i was hoping that the big area where you get the key was longer. i still kind of wish it was, because it feels a little bit like the map is building up to that part, but i guess it's alright how it is now.

glenzinho: i agree about the detail and balancing the ammo out, particularly in the first section of the level. maybe some more lighting work would help? or at least more texture contrast? i guess it doesn't help that i don't like most of the default Doom 2 city textures very much.

the cave part is the strongest, for me, but i think it goes on a little too long. i think you can get away with ending the level right after the cyberdemon fight and the long walk down through caves - that's a good dramatic device for ending the level. the part at the end just seems a little tacked on.