My Panophobia map "Acid Reign" - your opinions?

[MajorRawne]

Greetings! I've started a new map from scratch called Acid Reign. It's for the Panophobia project. This map is about "fear of the past". It contains tributes to a number of Doom, Doom 2, Final Doom and Alien Vendetta maps.

Comments by Dobugabumaru got me thinking. The map has a number of areas which resemble places from classic maps, but I've used different textures, new room layouts, added extra detail, amended the monster deployment and so forth. While I think these areas will be recognisable, I didn't want to simply re-build classic maps, I wanted to re-interpret them.

The player is reminded of maps from the past without being forced to play them again. It's like a joke on the player: they are trapped in their own past, expecting the Doom levels they know to still be the same, and the game itself has actually moved on.

If people would rather I accurately rebuilt classic rooms and structures, I'll happily do that... but I'm really hoping people will prefer the re-imagining.

The green armour area of E1M1 is now the blue key room (key not shown):


A re-imagining of the start area from E1M5, accessible using the blue key:


This one is likely to be the "controversial" one:


The PSX "Twilight Descends" Hell Knight fight (ahead) and Doom 2 Nirvana room (right):


Alien Vendetta "Toxic Touch" area:


What do people think? This is about 40% done.

[Memfis]

Of course re-imagining is a lot more interesting than just copying the original stuff. Show us some creativity. :)

[subject_119]

hey memfis!

I drew some piece of map at school today, i'll make it on DB this weekend, less linear this time, hope you'll like it this time :D

[purist]

Your concept sounds good but as you said in the other thread it will be difficult to illustrate. I don't think relying on the readme.txt is sufficient. As difficult as it will be to execute, it would be infinitely more satisfying if the map tells the story.

Merging together multiple maps is a mistake IMO. For me, your concept will leave a stronger impression if you take one iconic IWAD map and twist it into something unfamiliar, cruel and deformed. Like what Warrens did to Hell Keep for example.

EDIT: I have to mention, great map name :-)

[MajorRawne]

Thanks for the feedback, Memfis and Purist. Corrupting a familiar map is a brilliant idea but could lead to walking the tightrope of what is legally allowed.

Maybe I should get the map's basic outline finished and upload it for a walkthrough?

[purist]

Hmm, well I'm no legal expert but would using an E1 map as a base at least make it ethically sound, since you'll be using a level already available for free as shareware.

Also, IWAD maps used as a base in respected projects is not without precedence. KDIZD and Smedley are two examples that come to mind. If you mutate the map enough I don't envisage a backlash.

How the map has changed is another important consideration. Has power been cut and it's been left to decay and crumble around you? Perhaps some disaster has torn it apart or smothered it in nukage, maybe it's become bent by Hell's influence like the demonic Deimos bases. Could the UAC have flattened it with a nuclear barrage in an attempt to cleanse it of it's evil occupiers?

[MajorRawne]

You're making me wish I'd thought of that before starting this map :P

I wanted to make my first-ever base map with its own distinctive gameplay and visual style, but to remind the player of cool moments from older maps while taking them in a new direction. Kind of like an "old meets new".

As the Panophobia project does not have that many maps, I won't be able to put much or any hell-themed stuff in it since we don't have a hell episode (yet). I'm enjoying this so much, and have made so much progress on this new map, that I may submit a hell map as well.

Rather than go down the traditional "decaying" or "corrupted" route, maybe I should continue to develop the "it's evolved" theme. Look at it this way: in science fiction, we often see characters discovering alternate realities, but all of them are actually worse off than ours. Someone pointed this out to me when I was working on a 40K story with just such a plotline. That person said, wouldn't it be more interesting if the characters broke into a reality where everything is better?

This carries on the theme I started with Acid Reign. The player is basically stuck in a mental timewarp, but the joke is that the game itself has evolved. Maybe it's like a half-remembered dream where everything is distorted, and different dreams blur into one.

[glenzinho]

I think the original idea is good. As for the legality, my understanding is that it's fine to use iwad maps as a base for new ones provided that you own the original copies, although Ty has a policy of not allowing modified iwad maps into the archive. I would think that your idea plus being part of a megawad would fall into the boundary of what is acceptable.

[EvilNed01]

I love this idea!

[schwerpunk]

Great idea, great screenshots. I'm hyped.

Regarding legality, wouldn't one need the DOOM.WAD to even run the map in the first place? Kind of proves that anyone playing this already owns the game.

Also, I'm pretty sure most of us here have bought the game several times, heh. But kudos for thinking ahead.

[MajorRawne]

Thanks gents, hopefull the map will live up to expectations. I've got 2 copies of Doom and Final Doom on the PSX, Doom on the Xbox, plus I've got them twice on the PC as well. So id have got their money's worth out of me :)

[MajorRawne]

Updates on the map. More screenies, links to the map and the music, currently the map is beatable in Boom and ZDoom but 100% may not be possible due to monsters not waking up or teleporting into the map.









Map:
https://www.mediafire.com/?ftp5qer8r9yp9q3

Music:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/1...st5i/d_e2m2.mid

[mrthejoshmon]

The PSX "Twilight Descends" Hell Knight fight...

You mean Threshold of Pain Hell Knight fight.

[MajorRawne]

Yes, i keep getting those maps confused for some reason. *amends text file*

[Jaxxoon R]

Nice map, although I found the cyberdemon fight at the end to be a bit of a drag, it was quite fun to circle-strafe the revenants' fireballs into the pinky hoard. The ample amount of open spaces was nice as well. Two very odd things happened while playing this:

1. Two cacodemons managed to kill the cyberdemon on the teleporter by luring him onto the thin bit and trapping him.
2. I somehow managed to kill the mastermind with only a shotgun.

[Xegethra]

MajorRawne said:

This carries on the theme I started with Acid Reign. The player is basically stuck in a mental timewarp, but the joke is that the game itself has evolved. Maybe it's like a half-remembered dream where everything is distorted, and different dreams blur into one.

This is what I started thinking when I was reading about the maps, that the maps could be set in a dream world. Like how when you dream about your house, it can often change and have new areas. Maybe this could be Doom Guys dream.

But either way, they are looking good!

[MajorRawne]

Hooray, some feedback!! Thanks chaps, until now Dobu has had to shoulder the burden of supporting me alone, it's good that others are playing the map too.

The map is currently on its fifth version. I am removing the second Cyber at the end, and will be darkening the light levels in the outdoor read. There are a number of other gameplay revisions which address ammo balance.