50 Monsters - on idgames!

[franckFRAG]

Looks good, I hope that this wad will soon be finished.

[AD_79]

Quick update: Only 6 maps to go. How quickly can I get this thing done, and done well? That is the question!

[Deadwing]

I'

[Deadwing]

I've played the first 10 levels, and I'm liking so far.

The enviroment is good, and even if it uses mostly Doom 2 textures, you were able to create a nice identity.

About the gameplay, I liked more the later levels than for formers. All the levels were quite linear, and the first ones didn't have much interesting encounters (with easy monsters and the player always in his confort zone).

When you reach the later levels, the monsters get stronger and the setpices are also more interesting (taking you away from comfort zone using traps, lifts, one-way drops, etc)

Still, even with the linearity, you created some cool interconnections, were I needed to revisit some older areas get ammo/health.

I didn't kill the cyber in level 5 (I guess), since I didn't have enough ammo lol
Level 10 had the most interesting gameplayer, with snipers far away and some asshole traps hahaha I think the last one was a bit too much (I've died several times on that one), but that was probably just me not being very good at Doom

[AD_79]

meh

In other news, two maps left!

[Marcaek]

Ditch red, more purple

[AD_79]

You know, I'd love to turn it into a purple-themed map now that I think about it; the only problem is that I have, what, 5 purples in the palette? That's a bit of an issue, heh.

[baja blast rd.]

Marcaek said:

Ditch red, more purple

+1

I like the shot. The gold-lined quake brick and the red/brick building could be replaced, I guess; they don't look too good.

AD_79 said:

You know, I'd love to turn it into a purple-themed map now that I think about it; the only problem is that I have, what, 5 purples in the palette? That's a bit of an issue, heh.

Purple accents are enough, I think.

I'll give the maps a play after my shoulders stop hurting from my latest speedmapping session.

[AD_79]

rdwpa said:

I'll give the maps a play after my shoulders stop hurting from my latest speedmapping session.

I'd recommend that you wait until I've got all the maps done, which shouldn't take long. Honestly, the E1 release I put out quite some time ago doesn't represent what's in the full set all that well.

Also yeah, I'll look into replacing the Quake brick texture. I'm keeping the redwall1 though!

[dobu gabu maru]

Excited for a release so I can finally play the whole thing. Keep at it!

[Doomkid]

All the screens so far look stellar! Another waiting the final release. :)

[scifista42]

AD_79 said:

You know, I'd love to turn it into a purple-themed map now that I think about it; the only problem is that I have, what, 5 purples in the palette? That's a bit of an issue, heh.

Then perhaps make red, purple and blue be the map's main colors, I think it could be more stylish than just red + purple, since red and blue together are blending into purple anyway (not in Doom engine, but you know what I mean, aesthetical implications).

[Breezeep]

We're almost there guys. I just have to stop being lazy and work on one more map!

[skillsaw]

Awesome, I'm really looking forward to playing this, both to see the new maps and to see exactly what has changed in the first episode.

[AD_79]

scifista42 said:

Then perhaps make red, purple and blue be the map's main colors, I think it could be more stylish than just red + purple, since red and blue together are blending into purple anyway (not in Doom engine, but you know what I mean, aesthetical implications).

That's a possibility! I'll try it out and see how it looks.

Breezeep said:

We're almost there guys. I just have to stop being lazy and work on one more map!

Yep, and I have to make a bunch of textures for MAP30 and then actually make the map \ o /

[Breezeep]

Just popping in to say that all the maps are completed! AD's gonana do a bit of difficulty setting on each map and a beta should be out in a week or so.

[Dave The Daring]

Woohoo!

[Nictendo]

Hey AD_79, just finished my first blind playthrough of your E1 mapset. I had some comments/thoughts I'd like to share.

Overall, a very solidly built mapset with good use of the limited monster count. Levels were fast paced and encouraged you to take out each monster as you met them.

Attached here is the first half of my playthrough.

I had a few problems/personal preference issues with the map set. Firstly, I got trapped on Hell Above and Beneath. After grabbing the red key, I went down the hole that connects to the elevator with the Hell Knights instead of through the red key door (as I hadn't noticed it there.) After killing the chaingunners and arachnotron, I found I had no way to escape, hence why the demo cuts off there.

I will likely be making a post-commentary video soon over the entirety of my playthrough. (I will post a link when it is uploaded.) For now a few general suggestions/thoughts I had while playing:

• Over-use/over-reliance on hitscanners: Considering the limited monster count, the zombiemen/shotgunners/chaingunners make up quite a large portion of the overall count. I'd personally want to see more higher tiered monsters and some ammo packs instead.
  
• Under-representation of archviles and pain elementals: Archviles and pain elementals are the perfect monsters to include on a map set with a focus on limited monster count. It was nice to see the archviles on the last map (really?! Exit archvile?!)
  
• Redundant key doors/switches: Why bother making the player open a key door just to hit a switch behind it? Why not just have the switch require the key?
  

I had a lot of fun playing through it and am looking forward to creating the post-commentary of more detailed thoughts soon.

Cheers.

[AD_79]

Thanks for the playthrough!

Nictendo said:

Over-use/over-reliance on hitscanners: Considering the limited monster count, the zombiemen/shotgunners/chaingunners make up quite a large portion of the overall count. I'd personally want to see more higher tiered monsters and some ammo packs instead.

There's a lot more high-tier stuff in the full wad, trust me :P

Under-representation of archviles and pain elementals: Archviles and pain elementals are the perfect monsters to include on a map set with a focus on limited monster count. It was nice to see the archviles on the last map (really?! Exit archvile?!)

What I said to the previous one.

Redundant key doors/switches: Why bother making the player open a key door just to hit a switch behind it? Why not just have the switch require the key?

This is a vanilla thing, seeing as there are only key switches for opening doors. You can't, say, have a key switch lower a lift, as far as I know.

[Nictendo]

Cool, all good things, didn't know about the key switch stuff.

Any chance you've worked out the Hell Above and Beneath issue? Or am I just an idiot and there actually is a way out of that situation I didn't find?

[AD_79]

Nictendo said:

Any chance you've worked out the Hell Above and Beneath issue? Or am I just an idiot and there actually is a way out of that situation I didn't find?

It's been fixed.

[Nictendo]

Nice. Good one. Look forward to playing the beta. :)

[AD_79]

Beta 1 has been released! See the first post for download.

[baja blast rd.]

You could add the DEHACKED lump to the WAD itself too, I believe -- I just assumed that it was only included for vanilla ports that wouldn't read an internally stored lump. I was wondering why the first map had Nazis with snazzy blue suits!

[AD_79]

rdwpa said:

You could add the DEHACKED lump to the WAD itself too, I believe -- I just assumed that it was only included for vanilla ports that wouldn't read an internally stored lump. I was wondering why the first map had Nazis with snazzy blue suits!

I could absolutely do that, I just left it outside for editing convenience and didn't really bother to add it to the wad, heh. Will be changed!

EDIT: Updated, it should work in ZDoom-based ports now.

[baja blast rd.]

I was under the impression that prBoom+ (which I use) could read internally stored DEHACKED lumps, too.

[baja blast rd.]

Played the first episode today. Some misc notes:

1) The sky glitches in map 01 if you dance around the little structure in the center of the start room (playing on prBoom+ -complevel 2).

2) I like the contrast of chill gameplay with the occasional fuck-you(-if-you-are-unprepared) moment in some of the maps. Keeps you on your toes.

3) Map 05 was the best of these, I think -- fluid layout, some creative setups. The AV encounter was quite cool and somewhat unique, I think. It's too easy to cheese, however. You could put a pillar in the room with the cacos and shotgunners and stuff and force the player to stay in there momentarily and fight things, I guess, instead of quickly sprinting to the key and camping out (maybe make the door a barrier opened by a switch somewhere else in the room). I was also going to point out that there seemed to be slightly too many key and switch triggers in general. Seems like there was a lot of "this switch opens something right next to you" in places where there was no actual need to slow down the player's progress.

4) The inclusion of a number of the Valiant monsters strikes me as tacky, tbh -- except the lost soul, which looks too much like the regular lost soul to stand out. They seem incongruous, tossed in as a sort of lovenote to Valiant. Map 06 is especially glaring in this regard, where the appearance of the cybruisers made me "lolwut?" (before taking a rocket to the chest) -- it doesn't feel presaged in any way by the map's theme or setting.

5) Map 07 is the second best, I think, despite being strangely serene (map 05's archy setup and map 06's cybruisers-that's-probably-gonna-kill-you-the-first-time and run-past-the-cyber-on-the-narrow-bridge-cause-I-don't-have-enough-ammo-to-kill-it-and-hope-it-doesn't-stick-its-crotch-in-my-face setups had me expecting meaner stuff, but whatever). Was fun to run around and stuff. I liked that it isn't a Dead Simple clone.

6) Map 08: The last trap was pretty good. The zombieman pop-up at the end was fucking great. The only problem with this level (and it's a significant one) is that you have a crapload of bullet ammo but no chaingun in sight, so the optimal strategy ends up being to boringly pistol out at least a couple cacos or something. I dl'd the old version to get a sense of what the changes were, and it seems like the problem might be that the old chaingunners actually dropped chainguns.

7) Map 09: Maybe make the second part of the bridge a lift too. Not a huge deal, but it just feels weird that you can't use that as a lift too.

8) Map 10 is AD does Valiant. Absolutely gorgeous map. But it makes me a bit unsure of what the episode is trying to "be" difficulty-wise. Because there are a few genuinely lethal moments scattered throughout the first episode, which makes maps like this one feel like letdowns, especially since various key elements are there on paper (chaingunner start; rev/manc/tron crossfire + chaingunner snipers + PEs; AV + chaingunners + a rev; et cetera). Obviously if the episode is supposed to fit the "easygoing run-and-gun" mold, then no big deal, but that really makes the nasty moments (e.g. the dual-HK trap on the lift of map 04) stick out as random imbalances. So I'm not sure whether to suggest "tone those down somewhat" or "make a lot of the other stuff more threatening". And oh yeah, those cybruisers are a total waste of two of the fifty spots. :p

Anyway, I played ten levels with only a single break, so I enjoyed it. :)

[jmickle66666666]

Hey you didn't include the dehacked in the wad, too. p sure there's no reason not to. (however, does mean i can play with wolf SS on map01 tho so that's cool)

[skillsaw]

Yay, congrats on the beta! Gonna play this later.

[gaspe]

Fdas for the first 10 maps (PRBoom+ cl2, UV pistol starts).

This is really nice so far. Cool style, and I like the dehacked changes. It feels a bit like Strain.
-MAP04: you can grab the secret soulsphere by trying to jump on the platform.
-MAP08: there isn't a chaingun but it's plenty of ammo boxes, is that intentional??
-MAP09: when you approach the yellow key and onwards the ammo is really low.
-MAP10: there are 2 little slime trails in the red key area. Btw the map is familiar, but I don't remember where I saw it.