Mayan Mishap (FINAL RELEASE; idgames uploaded)

[omegamer]

@Tango

No problem mate, I can really see huge potencial in this!

[Guest]

Looks awesome!

Downloading now. :)

[Katamori]

Would you mind a Let's Play walthrough about it? :P

[Guest Unregistered account]

Those screenshots blew my brain. -NOW DOWNLOADING-



[EDIT]: OK, just played it. I was immediately impressed upon starting and just standing on the spot, looking around somehow, even though there wasn't any amazing fab architecture or details. The atmosphere is perfect and the tiny things, such as purple waterfalls add a certain unexplainable beauty to it.
My first few review-esque thoughts were that I'd seriously underestimated the power of DeHackEd.

Spoiler

SERIOUSLY, SPOILER ALERT
DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU'VE PLAYED FAIRLY FAR IN

Spoiler

The CyberBarons I thought were really cool, especially their robotized voices. And then my jaw dropped when I saw the flying Mancubus thing. That was perfect. It's just on par with real Doom enemies, and it's beyond awesome!

The whole thing is just fantastic. Way to go, man. One of my thoughts while playing was that you should flesh it out into a full megawad! And you should! I would play hours of this. Congrats, please upload to /Idgames.

[Tango]

@IMX: awesome, thanks for that :D I'll add all that stuff to the credits!

@Katamori: yeah man go for it! that would be neat to see.

@Joe667: really glad to hear you enjoyed it :D thanks for the kind words. it'll be up on the archives soon :p

[Gez]

Speaking of credit: the flying mancubus sprite is based on Eriance's mancubus reskin, the "Corpulent". http://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=14126&p=558205#p558205

IMX's mod is named Demonicron, not Demicron. :p Also, "palette" has only one 'l'.

[Tango]

lel I can read. fixed that in the txt file after noticing that in IMX's posts the other day. sorry IMX 9_9 got Eriance down for the Mancubus credits too, thanks for pointing that out. where did I spell palette with two ls? oh haha. right after I spelled it correctly. oopsie

edit: this should be the final version now. I made some minor changes to map31, fixed a few things here and there, and completed the textfile. I'll probably wait a day or two before uploading it to the archives just in case anything major pops up, though.

*see first post for download*


first post's download link also updated!

[IMX]

MAP31's final switch doesn't raise the pillars that lead to the exit properly in ZDoom 2.7.1 stable while having Compatibility Mode set to "Doom (Strict)". The other modes work just fine, but I can post a demo if you want.

[esselfortium]

This looks way cool. This might be a tall order, but would you consider creating Decorate versions of the MBF-dependent Dehacked monsters and such for the idgames release? It'd allow for cooperative play in Zandro, and would be ignored by non-ZDoom-related engines.

[Tango]

IMX said:

MAP31's final switch doesn't raise the pillars that lead to the exit properly in ZDoom 2.7.1 stable while having Compatibility Mode set to "Doom (Strict)". The other modes work just fine, but I can post a demo if you want.

hmm. I really have no idea if this is what's happening but, does that compatibility mode somehow revert to less than Boom features? the line action that does that might be a Boom generalized linedef action. seems weird that you would be able to just switch compat modes so significantly midgame though. don't suppose anyone else knows what might be causing this/if it's really of any concern?

esselfortium said:

This looks way cool. This might be a tall order, but would you consider creating Decorate versions of the MBF-dependent Dehacked monsters and such for the idgames release? It'd allow for cooperative play in Zandro, and would be ignored by non-ZDoom-related engines.

there's... basically 0 reason why I shouldn't do this. should really only take a few minutes anyway. yeah I'll get right on that!

[esselfortium]

Awesome, thanks!

[Tango]

finished and added a DECORATE lump, so now everything works just fine with Zandro. the text file (and the one inside the wad) have been updated to reflect the fix. new download link! OP's link also updated.

**see OP for updated link**

[Gez]

Tango said:

hmm. I really have no idea if this is what's happening but, does that compatibility mode somehow revert to less than Boom features?

It doesn't disable any feature, but it does change how some things behave. The typical culprit is compat_useblocking. You can force disable it in ZMAPINFO.

[Avoozl]

Going to try this now, however it seems a bit odd that there's a demon texture from Quake in there for some reason.

[Demonologist]

I gave this thingie a go back when it was nameless and raw, and even though I was far from being impressed back then - I tried it again today, and now I'm glad to see that it has changed for better. New monsters are pretty cool and add variety without breaking the original order of things too much, and changes in weapon and monster behavior and appearance now seem to be more organic. And yeah, gameplay-wise some things have definitely changed, all for good. Some of the mass teleport ambushes are really cool, so these maps tend to maintain the balance between having adventuruous feel and being actually fun to play, with variation between accidental fighting with small groups and pinnacle points with "scripted" sequences. Nothing too hard though, so smooth flow is there.
Design-wise it seems to be somewhat minimalistic and with as little orthogonal shapes as possible (though not in Ribbiks' circular style, hehe), which would look somewhat offputting and "oldschool", but nice texture usage, good ambiance and color combinations successfully distract from that.

Fresh and interesting stuff here, haven't finished the whole thing so far, but I definitely will. Nice work!

[Demonologist]

Okay, some intel:

- on map04, in the very beginning player can fall from here, never to be able to return;
- on the same map, I couldn't find a spot to hit this switch with bullets, the only possible way to hit it seems to be an ssg shot. Placing it a bit lower would be a good idea;
- I noticed quite a bunch of ledges monsters can fall from/get stuck on edges throughout the mapset, the latest example being the mancubus crossfire in map04. I'd advise to check all the ledges and perches and put block monster lines where they won't affect flyers much, this may seem to be a lot of work, but the end result would be sharper and would minimise awkward moments that inevitably happen when this issue's unsolved.

On a side note - I was amused to discover that not only these guys can kill themselves with their own blast damage, but that they can also infight because of it. And sound they make before firing their rockets - aww, so cute. Almost like mechanical meow. Interesting adversaries, you never know what to expect from them.

In the end, I liked map04 the least (pretty irritating tbh, and super simplistic, even though sadistically smart at the same time) and map31 the most (oh hey, more purple without raperaperape stardate-style). Map03 was also quite cool semi-chaotic brawl, loved it. And really solid work overall. Tango is still able to surprise us all!

[Tango]

Gez said:

It doesn't disable any feature, but it does change how some things behave. The typical culprit is compat_useblocking. You can force disable it in ZMAPINFO.

hmm. alright. good to know. I'll look into that then. thanks Gez!

@Demonologist: awesome, thanks so much for all the feedback. I'm really glad to hear you enjoyed it (for the most part). re: the start of map04 and the cyber switch, I'll change those real quick. the block monster stuff too. also realized that arachnotron plasma still displays the green plasma decals in ZDoom so I'll fix that up too. so much for final release D:

[esselfortium]

There's no such thing as a final release, you know that!

[Tango]

esselfortium said:

There's no such thing as a final release, you know that!

so it seems 9_____9


lowered the cyber switch in map04, fixed the getting stuck in map04, added any more monster blocking lines where applicable, and arachnotron plasma decals are now properly purple in ZDoom. crossing my fingers nothing else really shows up. many thanks to everyone who's playtested and pointed out bugs :D

*see OP for download*


OP also updated with new download link

[Demonologist]

...Please don't kill me, but there's one more thing I noticed: when picking up the white skull key it still says that you picked up a red one. I checked all of them, other two keys seem to be fine in that regard.
I believe this is it for now. Sorry for not telling about it earlier, I simply forgot about that.

[Tango]

Demonologist said:

...Please don't kill me, but there's one more thing I noticed: when picking up the white skull key it still says that you picked up a red one. I checked all of them, other two keys seem to be fine in that regard.
I believe this is it for now. Sorry for not telling about it earlier, I simply forgot about that.

no worries haha, thanks for reporting it at all! that's weird though... just double checked the deh and the correct string replacement is there, so I'm not sure what's going on. I'll look into it though, that's pretty strange

[mouldy]

Just hacked through these, fun maps with interesting colour scheme and cool new enemies. Didn't come across any problems, i thought UV difficulty was fine, though I was playing continuous. Out of interest, how come map31 is in that slot rather than next to the others?

[RjY]

Tango said:

no worries haha, thanks for reporting it at all! that's weird though... just double checked the deh and the correct string replacement is there, so I'm not sure what's going on. I'll look into it though, that's pretty strange

The PrBoom+ source and BOOMDEH.TXT agree on GOTREDSKULL. I think you are missing a second L.

[Katamori]

After recording 2 vids about MAP01&02, I have to say, you are a genius. The difficulty made my head hurt, but both the art, the design, the layout, and the feeling created by the combination of them is simply extremely outstanding!

Haven't seen such a solid and great mapset (partial conversion?) for a very very long time. Kudos!

[NuMetalManiak]

thought I'd play this level-by-level written thing. MAP01 Mayan Mishap took me 22:33, HMP with no HUD.

a very nice level, new sprites and stuff too. lol those imps have no eyes. the weapon set seems identical to Stomper's. the first teleport ambush was very nasty, but the level from then on has some very nice setups that don't feel too hard but also not too easy. the one area to the east with the pillars was a standout, as was the second to last part with one flying mancubi and two cyberbarons. I managed to get them both to infight strangely enough, involving one of them smacking the other with a rocket. one thing I took big note of was how the gameplay focused more on shells than bullets, as I found very few bullets for the chaingun but a ton of shells. I'll admit to punching a few enemies and instigating lots of infighting to conserve amounts of ammo. can't really pinpoint something truly negative here, good job.

more soon.

[Tango]

@mouldy: awesome, thanks for playing! that map was put in that slot mostly because it's more or less just another map I had laying around that I tacked on, and I wanted the separation to be clear. I suppose in such a short set, putting this all the way at 31 is a little arbitrary but having it in another slot also enforces pistol start, which the map was designed for.

@RjY: ah, ok, I see. I had only looked at the strings section in the deh to see if both red key pickup messages were there, didn't even think to verify the spelling haha. not sure if that's something I accidentally did at one point, or if it has to do with WhackEd 4. in any case I'll fix that! thanks for pointing that out.

@Katamori: hahaha. thanks for the playthrough :D really enjoyed seeing that. it looks like ammo got kinda tight near the end for you, so I'm gonna have to give HMP another playthrough and see if I need to throw in another shellbox somewhere. some of your SSG shots were taken from a pretty far distance, though :p also, regarding the barons/rockets, the wad does use only dehacked, but MBF (basically one step above Boom in terms of features) has a few new useful deh code pointers (such as random state jump, which allows for the cyber baron to have two different attacks; this is basically the same as DECORATE's A_Jump function). however, Zandronum doesn't have MBF support like (G)ZDoom does, so I included a DECORATE conversion of any of the MBF feature-reliant deh changes, including the cyber baron and flying mancs.

@Getsu Fune: really glad that you enjoyed it :D yeah the SSG and CG are taken from Stomper; really love those sprites. looking forward to how the rest of the maps go!

[Katamori]

Did you also enjoy how I loved the new Arachnotron look? :P also, thanks for the details regarding the Cyberbaron, never thought that such things also can be done without DECORATE. Amazing.

And yeah, I waste ammo sometimes, cause I usually assume I get enough ammo. Not necessaril a problem if player is low on ammo though; it's up to you, for how hard do you want to make these maps.

MAP02 coming tomoroww, if you don't mind! :P

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP02 Sacrificial Scramble from MAP01 continuous: 22:36 was my exit time.

pretty difficult, almost too quirky difficulty, but I guess it fits since it's technically a scramble most of the time. more rockets also meant more bigger monsters. I'm not one for this type of gameplay myself though, so I wasn't a fan of most sections, except for the rocket launcher section, the one after that, and the cyber section which I admired, for it's best chances at infighting there and it's open spaces. the level layout looping back to the beginning was very neat and I admire it too. what I hated though was, since I usually try to completely clean an area before leaving, I wound up key-hunting without much combat after the green key, and after the white key I had a bit of trouble figuring out where to go next. after the purple key, I didn't fight too much more after that. I wonder if that vacancy was for ambience, but I guess if I had left a few monsters behind, knowing I would return later, then it probably could have been more interesting. still, maybe more enemies spawning in (particularly as a clue to where to go next) would help a bit more. still, the ambience is nice and fits the map when the combat dies down.

[SyntherAugustus]

Finished the mapset yesterday. Can we have future maps like MAP31?

[Pirx]

love that flying mancubus. i always wanted that kind of enemy.