Saint Alfonzo's Smorgasbord!

[Alfonzo]

Saint Alfonzo's Smorgasbord
A collection of continental speedmaps and other tasty comestibles for Doom 2!

So, it's about time I roll up my sleeves and start releasing some god damn maps. Over the past year I've aggressively thrown myself into a large number of speedmapping sessions and have started to hone something of a style, (still slow as a wet week, though), so I think it's the right time to explore this front a little more, by my lonesome, with 2 distinct episodes split into a megawad of 20 speedmaps. Much as with Obsidian's Countdown to Extinction I'll be looking to ship out a single map every day until completion, although with a build time of about 3 hours vs. the standard 1 or 2.

The maps will be vanilla compatible, with occasional use of non-critical boom effects like light transfers for those who play in an advanced source port. Skill settings and co-operative settings are also catered for.

MAP01: Knuckledragger (screen1, screen2)
MAP02: Pump Action (screen1, screen 2)
MAP03: Comptall Quandary (screen1, screen2)



FDA's and feedback welcome!

[Marcaek]

License to stack has been granted. Godspeed o/

[Obsidian]

2014 is truly is the year of the speedmap, isn't it? Good luck Fonz! :D

[Demon of the Well]

It will be interesting to see what the true Alfonzo style is going to look like--so much of I've what I've seen from you is either in a TWiD mapset and thus an active attempt to map entirely in somebody else's style, or a panicked impromptu speedmap, on which it is difficult to judge.

Anyway, just for shits 'n grins, here's a Skill 4 FDA. This one uses complevel 9, in case the map has some of the Boom garnish you mentioned.

Neat and tidy little Tyson map, gets you moving right off with those pesky caged commandos over by the exit. Very simple, but that's okay--there's something inherently satisfying in hurling imp cutlets all over the place with just the fist, even when you get to the point where you can do it in your sleep. Attractive, as expected--very clean and elementary, but with some TLC put into in the little things, like the dootracks comprised of actual architecture instead of just textures. Very pleasing lighting, as well.

A couple of minor quibbles: I don't like the thin, deep gap in the floor between the main area and the little crate cave, it ends up acting as a monster-blocking line, which impedes monster traffic and hurts immersion a little--probably most noticeable if you wake everything up and then teleport into the crate room, and then find them all clustered outside the door. Other than that, the green brick flat transitioning sharply into the neutral grey crate-top flat before the drop down into the crate cave looks strangely artificial to me--maybe it's a better place for that gap!

Edit: Oh yeah, love the palette. Looks familiar, somehow...if I had to guess I'd say it's the same one Mechadon used in some of his older Vela Pax screenies?

[Ribbiks]

fda. hurray punching things. super easy map. pretty good looking, aside from agitating my crate allergy. nice palette.


oh yeah, and good luck keeping this a daily thing :)

[Alfonzo]

Hey, neato! I love reading your walls of critique, DotW, so this is a very pleasant surprise indeed. 'Course, I'd by lying if I said I wasn't holding off on getting this underway until the Megawad Club finished up with D2TWiD, mostly in the hope of snaring some additional interest.

The gap between the crates and platform could change for sure. I won't be making any edits to the maps just yet - rather I'll wait until I've done the lot and then give the once/twice over - but I'll take note and brood on it for a while. The palette is one I snagged from a deathmatch mapset which is yet to be formally announced. In turn, it was taken from 32in24-12.

[plums]

Piss-poor playing from me, but an FDA nonetheless (complevel 2):
http://www.doomworld.com/vb/attachment.php?postid=1283294

Chaingunner snipers were cheeky but not so annoying as to be a real problem. Hell Knights got me twice, to my utter shame, but that's how it goes sometimes.

Liked the look and the layout in general. Not sure how I feel about getting the chaingun and the rocket launcher right at the end of the map, but I guess for continuous play it will make more sense.

Looking forward to seeing more.

[Tuxlar]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B22sUllBm3Z2dlY2a2NkZFlubjg/edit?usp=sharing

Berserk wasn't my friend this time. Good map01-type map. Nice lighting effect with the grate texture. Lift barrels seem pointless, though.

[jmickle66666666]

Enjoyed the berserk, hated the chaingunners. Love the license to stack style, want more.

[joe-ilya]

Obsidian said:

2014 is truly is the year of the speedmap, isn't it? :D

Because editing doom goes easier as time goes, so it's able so speedmap some shiny maps.
WOW.wad took 15 minutes to build in the past, now it's possible to do that within one or two minutes.

[SFoZ911]

Very cool map. I liked the enemy placement.

can't wait for more.

[VGA]

That's a lot of hellknights for a map01 :-)

[Alfonzo]

MAP02: Pump Action, a slightly larger and more complex map, but still comfortably beatable inside 4 minutes. Short of ramping up the difficulty or reusing parts of the layout this will be probably as large a map as my speed will allow. Tomorrow's will probably by tiny, heh.

[Memfis]

Maybe go for more hours per map allowed when necessary. Because if both the style and the map sizes aren't going to change much, this might become stale really quickly.

[jmickle66666666]

24second demo for map01 http://puu.sh/9TLyF/3b5e2effa5.lmp

i spent over and hour trying to get a uvspeed of map02 but the lack of armour and the 10% poison make it much too difficult.

[Tarnsman]

If the theme changes every 5-10 levels it'll be fine. The gameplay changing up is far more important than what textures are used anyway.

[Tuxlar]

Nice music remix, easier than the last, got a chaingun slightly earlier than maybe I should have, fucking revenant ambushes, had fun, found no secrets :(.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B22sUllBm3Z2Y1Q2VWlKaWRnQmc/edit?usp=sharing

[TimeOfDeath]

FDAs for 01 and 02.

[plums]

MAP02 FDA: http://www.doomworld.com/vb/attachment.php?postid=1283841

Secret cannot be obtained because the sector effect gets changed by linedef type 37.

Fun map. Nice to see lots of revs/hks early, and lots of rocket ammo to go with them. Curious as to how the later maps are going to turn out at this rate. Going to have any death exits?

[Demon of the Well]

FDA for map 02, skill 4/complevel 9.

One death....I'm fairly confident it wasn't my fault. Unless I missed something painfully obvious (which has happened before, I'll be the first to admit...), I don't believe there's any way to get out of the ooze trench in the second area if you drop into it without first obtaining the red key. Doesn't seem intentional, but I've seen stranger things, I guess. Speaking of strange, one of the zombiemen in the outdoor area apparently has ESP or something....

I complimented it last time as well, but the lighting here really is snazzy. Kind of surprised at the modest vertical scale, but it's still early days yet, I suppose. Assuming the proper sequence of events happens, the alternate path to the yellow key's an interesting diversion, and I also like that the most dangerous encounter in the map (revenants in the sump pit) occurs in an optional/hidden(?) area.

Suggestion: put some more barrels up on those ledges with the sergeants--boomsplatsplash, always satisfying.

[Alfonzo]

Demon of the Well said:

Speaking of strange, one of the zombiemen in the outdoor area apparently has ESP or something....

Oh good, I'm not imagining things! That's definitely a Leave It In™, and I'll have to work tentatively with the node builder when making updates to the map, assuming that's what caused it. There should be a switch on either side of the raised platform to allow you climb out of the pit. I might just go ahead and make the platform itself usable. There are an awful lot of switches in that area as it is.

EDIT: Oh, I'm daft. Before the platform is raised you can't get out. Will fix!

[Demon of the Well]

Ah yes, I should clarify. I saw/tried the two switches, and saw that they activated the bridge sector that rises when you hit the switch over by the two commandos smoking in the corner. Problem was, I was down there before I'd raised the bridge (doing one of those Romero scuba-tours, if you will) into position, so it didn't do me a lot of good--only way out was through the hidden teleporter, but it's locked by red bars, and since I hadn't raised the bridge and so didn't have the red key, I thus had little recourse but to dissolve myself in the nukage.

Edit: Too slow, oh well. I'm also glad the zombie wasn't just my imagination. Maybe he doesn't have ESP at all, come to think of it....maybe Doomguy just really needs to take a shower.

[kristus]

Make a map for Heretic.

[Alfonzo]

MAP03: Comptall Quandary. A bit of an oddball map with a bilinear route and a couple of set pieces: I'm not entirely sure I like it but I had to put something out quick-smart seeing as I've already buggered my own system. What a load! Might have to stick to a map every two days if I can't sort myself out.

[plums]

FDA: http://www.doomworld.com/vb/attachment.php?postid=1284320

So it took me... a while to figure out that I should be going for the soulsphere and rocket launcher first. Once I did that, I was able to beat the map, but before then I die an awful lot. Derp. I don't blame the map (or mapper) in this case, but maybe there's something you could do to encourage this decision anyhow?

[Ribbiks]

these are impressively polished for being 3-hour speedmaps. Though I suppose the process is likely expedited when you already have theme/texture-selection decided. Gameplay is competent, slightly more fangs on this one, which is good. grievances include: 64-high sectors that enemy heads clip out of, and a couple places where infinity-tall monsters are annoying.

[Tuxlar]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B22sUllBm3Z2c0dodzNBblgyTWM/edit?usp=sharing

Congratulations on making the world's most annoying specters. You should be ashamed!

The difficulty sorta slumps towards the end (compared to the beginning), not sure that's a problem, though. Still like your vestigial barrels, I see. I dig those floating pieces of blood in the nukeage area (prboom+ bug?). Still fun.

Fuck those specters.

[msquid]

Saint Alfonzo, I liked the first two maps, but the third map (Comptall Quandary) is brilliant. It's intense, but also a bit of a puzzle. Architecture and the texture theme is great. I don't know if you are serious about these being 3-hour efforts, but anyway, keep it up. <3

Anyway, in map 3 I found the eastern area too difficult (on HMP). Even when I teleport there with near 100% health I almost always die, shredded by Hell Knights or Lost Souls.

[Tuxlar]

msquid said:

Saint Alfonzo, I liked the first two maps, but the third map (Comptall Quandary) is brilliant. It's intense, but also a bit of a puzzle. Architecture and the texture theme is great. I don't know if you are serious about these being 3-hour efforts, but anyway, keep it up. <3

Anyway, in map 3 I found the eastern area too difficult (on HMP). Even when I teleport there with near 100% health I almost always die, shredded by Hell Knights or Lost Souls.

Use rockets.

[Demon of the Well]

Tuxlar said:

Use rockets.

Or, run around like a lobotomy patient and hope for the best. (skill 4 FDA)

A bit tricky, this one--taking a look at the starting setup, my instinct was that the switch in the distance was meant to draw me into the slimey caco-pit, only that I'd find it was a decoy or shot-activated upon getting there. My first move is based on the hunch that it would open the door behind the start point and land me a fabulous toy surprise of some description if I were to shoot it from there. Well.....as the world has shown me time and again, I'm not nearly as clever as I seem to persist in thinking I am, so suffice to say I had a rough patch right at the start, and then I chose the worst route possible from there. I'm living proof that Darwin's law is not absolute, though...after making it out of the puzzle room, the rest was a breeze.

The puzzle itself is simple enough (I guess the middle platform that rises is a red herring of sorts, since it's not actually necessary for collecting anything but some dropped shotguns and a potion or two?), and I imagine the fight in there is too if you don't go in barely armed. If it weren't for my horrible choices early on, I reckon it would have been pretty rote, and since it's the map's main feature, I'm not sure it grabbed me as much as the last couple. I do quite like the imps hiding behind the little man-lift, though, and also Chet the zombie, so confident that he'd gotten away with hoarding all of those office supplies.

The small pools of blood in the main nukage pit end up hovering in mid-air when the sector descends, at least on -cl 9 (which I'm still using in case of sky transfer or the like).

Oh yeah, very cool BGM in this one.