Acid Assault

[mrthejoshmon]

Here is a map I made called "Acid Assault":

http://www.mediafire.com/download/d5899zq23xz6e4n/ASLT.wad

The map is MAP01 for the TNT IWAD EDIT: I forgot to mention it is Boom format!

This map was more of an experiment into ways I could make cliffs of the same texture stand out, it turns out that darkening the sector as it gets higher is a very effective method. This map is not exactly the best looking map or even a map with good gameplay, in fact you may even find this map quite terrible in terms of looks and gameplay.

If you find it crap, good or even discover any bugs then please tell me what needs changing/fixing/removing.

Story crap:

"An R&D unit was sent out to test out a new kind of battle suit that is resistant to acidic hazards on the (recently overrun) acid ocean world of Corvox 11-2. This team failed to report back and you were sent to do the testing instead. You were dropped onto the top of a mountainous area filled with acidic tributaries perfect for testing this suit on. Your mission is to survive the hostile conditions of the mountain (and its new inhabitants) and get to the open fields below.

Good luck."

[Estryark]

Sweet, I'll give it a shot when I get home :o

[Fellowzdoomer]

I'll try it out once I'm done breaking PrBoom :-p

[Ribbiks]

too much self-deprecation in your post :p


Personally I like the aesthetics. the two primary rock textures at different brightnesses make for a cohesive landscape and complement the nukage flat very nicely. I went through the map only briefly with -nomonsters (currently at work, can't quite get away with full-on dooming) and overall I think it looks pretty solid. The only gripe with gameplay that I can discern without actually playing it is that the layout looks very hallway-centric, seemingly composed primarily of disconnected areas joined via tunnels. Not inherently bad, but excessive nonlinearity and interconnectivity seem to be the favored modus operandi nowadays.

[mrthejoshmon]

Estryark said:

Sweet, I'll give it a shot when I get home :o

Thanks

Fellowzdoomer said:

I'll try it out once I'm done breaking PrBoom :-p

Ok, thanks.

Ribbiks said:

too much self-deprecation in your post :p

Hah hah, yeah. I suppose I am a little pessimistic in those opening paragraphs.

Ribbiks also said:

Personally I like the aesthetics. the two primary rock textures at different brightnesses make for a cohesive landscape and complement the nukage flat very nicely.

I'm surprised the combo worked as good as it did, it is much better than the TANROCK and ASHWALL combo that it once was (that one looked extremely bad, especially when mixed with the nukage).

Ribbiks also said:

I went through the map only briefly with -nomonsters (currently at work, can't quite get away with full-on dooming) and overall I think it looks pretty solid.

Thanks for taking time out of work to quickly ply this by the way.

Ribbiks also said:

The only gripe with gameplay that I can discern without actually playing it is that the layout looks very hallway-centric, seemingly composed primarily of disconnected areas joined via tunnels. Not inherently bad, but excessive nonlinearity and interconnectivity seem to be the favored modus operandi nowadays.

The original plan was to make the map a huge set of connected pools and cliffs, this didn't turn out so well as I had no idea where the player should go or where to even put things in the map. During some infuriating testing sessions I scrapped a large amount of the unfinished open spaces and turned some of the rest into connected tunnel systems and such which gave the thing a more straight forward (and less frustrating for me to work with) layout. Although I was meant to connect some tunnels to others and have the map loop around itself but I never got round to it, it was actually making things worse :/

Although I probably was wrong about the tunnels and it could have been better to keep the passages idea, but it messed with progression. Is this something I should consider in the future?

[Walter confetti]

looks pretty cool

[dspopain]

A Cool map,i love how is it designed,it's a small map but you can get lost easily there :3 Good job !

[Estryark]

I played the map!

The thing that I noticed is that the very beginning you are giving freedom to the player where they can go where they want but when reaching the second half of the map it's like you follow one big line going to the exit with some rooms nearby with dead ends. The map starts and feels like I'll have multiple choices to make but in the end this idea is dropped and I really felt it.

I had a significant performance drop when I walked through the slime pillar after the rocket launcher.

Overall, I like the map it's very cool. I like the textures used together and those cliffs. I don't get to play cave maps quite often, this gives a good change.

[Ribbiks]

some more misc thoughts:

- map felt really static, it was basically an unmoving environment filled with incidental baddies. As a result it was very "what you see is what you get", I was never really anxious or worried about progressing because I got the vibe pretty early on there wouldn't be any particularly dangerous setups/traps/etc. You can disregard this comment ofc if that was the intended style, but in general it didn't show enough fangs to really get my motor running.

- I recall walking into a few areas, getting the "secret is revealed" message and thinking, wait, that was a secret? notably the soul sphere and ssg.

- a bit dark. I had to crank it up to gamma 2 or 3 to be comfortable in some of the inner cave areas.

- be wary of perfectly horizontal or vertical lines, in "natural" or curvey areas doom's fake contrast makes right-angled walls pop out as strips of lighter or darker textures.



@ your question regarding tunnels/passages/etc:

I think in general the more a map is open/interconnected (i.e. you get a glimpse of future areas before accessing them, or retreading older areas from a different vantage point, etc) the quicker the player gets a sense of "place", making the entire layout feel more cohesive. It can indeed more more difficult to design layouts with this in mind, but a decent habit might be to develop the map in many directions, whenever one area you're creating gets close to existing rooms, find a way to connect them, maybe just visually, or maybe in a way that allows the player to traverse it (perhaps unidirectionally, via a cliff or lift, or bidirectionally, via doors or open passage). That's not to say super non-linearity is inherently better than tight/linear progressions, but it's worth experimenting with.

[EffinghamHuffnagel]

I really like this level. You're never sure what or how many of something will jump out. Monsters are almost constant, but never overwhelming. Was actually a little creepy. Like most people, I play Doom with custom music. Also a lot of custom sprites to cut down on motion-sickness. Among the sprites I use are a grey Imp, a black Demon, a black and red Baron and the Hectebus sprites for the Mancubus. The Imp is the same color as your walls. Couple that with PSXDoom music for MAP01 and it's a bit harder and creepier than you intended. Particularly enjoyed the two large circular rooms. They reminded me of the classic "Ledges" deathmatch wads. I like that there is only one door. A Doom map with only one tech room. Cool.

Ways to inprove it? Connect passages around to other passages. Make it easier to get lost. Second half especially. Make all the ledges in both big circular rooms reachable from the back side. If you want to go balls out, double the size of the map; add a few more rooms to the tech room - a Forgotten Outpost; add silent, secret-tagged/invisible teleports from one side of the map to the other (no obvious teleports/pads); add intersections with rising/dropping walls completely hiding/blocking paths so a player running away or backtracking ends up somewhere else without realizing it (make the linedefs far enough away so you can't hear the walls rise/fall, or cover the sound with combat); if you go huge - more "areas"; add a lost underground temple to break up the sameness of grey tunnels; add an underground lake - a monstrous lake, a "Journey to the Center of the Earth" lake (maybe hide something underwater; maybe something underwater doesn't like being disturbed (maybe R'lyeh?); this is Boom, not Vanilla; you have more tools). Also no keys, no lifts, no switches. Stairs/drops only. That feels right. "Doors/Walls" would be opened/moved by non-switch textued switches - altar stones that move, wall panels that close, floor tiles that depress, torches that lower; Indiana Jones-type stuff. This would require some intricate design work. I also agree with Ribbiks. Seeing future areas before you can access them makes a map more interesting.

Was this a possible submission to UDINO map E3M9, "Warrens"? It certainly fits the name. It's a good start. Go bigger.

[Doomkid]

I love natural-looking settings in Doom maps, your screenshot has me sold. Downloading!

[plums]

FDA: http://www.doomworld.com/vb/attachment.php?postid=1292622

I don't have much to add about the way it is now that hasn't been said already. In general I find cavey areas hard to pull off successfully while keeping them interesting; this isn't bad, but some more variation in textures (even some lighter and darker greys) might help.

The flow was pretty good. Amusingly I said to myself "I would have more fun in this map if I had a chainsaw," and then I opened the door and found one, so that was nice. Ammo is a bit sparse at the start so I end up hording it through the map.

But you know what I think would really help this map? Make the nukage damaging. Yes, all of it. No radsuits, save for maybe one in a secret, and only a bit more health at the start. It would totally change the pace of the map, forcing the player to be cautious with the fights that, as they are now, are not overly threatening. Maybe it would need a bit of retooling, and maybe that's not the direction you want to take it, but I'd recommend trying it anyhow. (Not too hard in DB, since you can search by flat and then change all sectors with nukage floors to be damaging.)

The other thing that would be cool here, that is an underused Boom feature IMHO, is some transparent walls on the slime falls. At the very least, in the pillar where you can walk through the slime.

[Fellowzdoomer]

FDA: http://www.mediafire.com/?o8othyfiumchm68

I didn't find the exit. I loaded this up on HMP.

The map has a nice challenge to it. I don't agree with plums, this FDA says all. IMO some more shotgun ammo would've been nice. The fact that there's alotta troopers suggests that you want (force) the player to use ONLY the chain gun. The map could use a lot more health. Lack of health resulted in an embarrassing death. The map was a bit too dark for me in some places (I play with no gamma correction).

I didn't really find a use for the chainsaw, thinking about it now I could've used it for the spectres...

Overall, good map, 4/5.

[EffinghamHuffnagel]

When you ask, "How do I make it better?", the question should be asked of you, "What do you think it is now, and what do you want it to be?" Is it a run-n-gun or a dungeon crawl? If it's a run-n-gun, you want it fast-paced; then Plums is right. Damaging nukage and more ammo. More ways to get lost as your health drops ever lower. Never stop moving. If it's a dungeon crawl, you want a slower pace. More surprises, more tension. Imps on the walls above you in tunnels. Lost Souls that quietly drop out of chimneys as you pass. Light levels that drop to zero as torches go out. The nukage under your feet suddenly turns to blood. Monster "I see you" sounds of activation from close/medium distance, but nothing attacks (using monster closets with impassable see-through walls and silent teleports to some other place so you only hear the monster once). No monsters should ever teleport in except using silent teleports. Push the fear and paranoia factor.

So. What do you think this map is now, and what do you want it to be?

[Cupboard]

Damn, that is a neat sky. Very TNT-styled.

[CorSair]

A FDA, if you like, roughly about 20 minutes of me playing.

In my opinion, it is pretty good on the start part. Few ways to go around, sparse ammo, you had to look some, pain elemental giving trouble... But when it gets halfway, after the mancubus encounter, it just lames out, becoming random corridor shooting. Thanks for having few side areas to go by, though.

One of the other gripes is that clips are barely recognizable in front of that gray stone. Good luck if you happen to see them, some of them I picked up accidentally. :P

As for the map itself, it is quite well done. I liked the environment, even when it consisted only few texture types. A very well done, actually. You could make outdoor rocks slightly more interesting by doing few outcrops and rocks of different height. By now, they look like laser just cut over the region.