Wolfenstein Reinterpreted [WIP v0.1]

[riki]

Wolfenstein Reinterpreted is a SP+Coop recreation of levels from Wolfenstein 3D (Spear of Destiny is planned too) for the ZDoom family of source ports, including GZDoom and Zandronum.

* It was made to be flexible with mods. It works with Samsara, Nazis!, and Wrath of Cronos.
* It supports Doom 2 BFG Edition.
* Same style as the Doom II secret levels except with ceiling lights and sliding doors and pushwalls (complete with Wolf3D sound effects)
* Some variety is added in enemies, weapons, and treasures. For example, where a hidden crown, a chaingun, or an SS originally was in Wolf3D, you may find a MegaArmor, a Plasma Gun, and an Arachnotron.

The idea is definitely not to make a total conversion but to simply play Doom with the classic Wolfenstein levels. Basically, I make the playset, the levels. You bring the action figures, whatever mods you want.

Download
Current status: Wolf3D shareware (episode 1); 10 out of 123 levels completed.
(I know it's not much, but...)

Changelog:

Spoiler

v0.1 - Initial release with the 10 shareware levels.

Critique (Questions for players):

Spoiler

1. Is the balance for SP+Coop okay for a certain mod (or no mod at all)?
2. Are the secrets way too easy to find? I wanted to make them a little easier to find as an anti-frustration feature.
3. Any requested considerations for Deathmatch?
4. Autosave/checkpoints?
5. Where should I apply damaging floors and radiation suits? I'm thinking I'd put them where the vine/haze areas from the commercial levels would be.
6. What would be a better way to translate Wolf3D level decorations into this pack?
7. Find any bugs?
8. Enhancement suggestions?

[scifista42]

Honestly, what a bore. You're just making replicas of existing levels made for an old engine that only supported orthogonal walls, no height variation and maze-y levels. Doom (and the Doom engine) offers so much more, and that's why people play it up to this day. Those rare Wolfenstein fans play actual Wolfenstein. For an average today's Doomer, Wolfenstein's design is stale - not to mention that you're not making anything new, just working with the old. I recommend you to spend your time and creative effort into something more useful and appealing.

[riki]

I'm sure someone will appreciate this, at least for the nostalgia. There's a rich history of Wolf3D-themed files for Doom.

Perhaps I will touch up on map detail but that's low priority right now. First and foremost, the levels should be playable. Maybe anti-frustration features like teleporters and ammo caches should also be added, because I know several Wolf3D levels can be a pain in the ass.

There are already several Doom remakes of Wolf3D and other id tech 0 engine games like Blake Stone at various stages of development, but mods may conflict with them.

In any case, this is a pet project. Right now I'm flipping between working on this and my next individual map.

[Gifty]

scifista42 said:

Honestly, what a bore. You're just making replicas of existing levels made for an old engine that only supported orthogonal walls, no height variation and maze-y levels. Doom (and the Doom engine) offers so much more, and that's why people play it up to this day. Those rare Wolfenstein fans play actual Wolfenstein. For an average today's Doomer, Wolfenstein's design is stale - not to mention that you're not making anything new, just working with the old. I recommend you to spend your time and creative effort into something more useful and appealing.

That's pretty dismissive. Personally I'd love more Wolfenstein mods.

[Ishtar's Gate]

Why not add elements from the New Order?

[riki]

Ishtar's Gate said:

Why not add elements from the New Order?

Interesting idea there. I've been thinking of getting that game soon anyway. When I do, I'll see if I could inject some ideas from that game into here, which sound like they would be good for both maps and mods alike. Especially the puzzles and lab decor.

[Mithran Denizen]

Kind of cool for what it is. I do like that you went through and spruced up the maps slightly rather than just porting them identically, but it's not really my cup of tea. The scale of those walls (and especially the cyclopean doors) always makes me feel weird. So does the in-between-ness of the gameplay; it feels lame to be running around flat boring levels in the Doom engine, where the environment can be so much more engaging, yet it's not really embracing the whole wolfenstein experience either, so I get better nostalgia playing an actual port like ECWolf.

I have a soft spot for Wolf3D, and I do think it can be melded with Doom in a compelling way. To that end, I'd be more interested in something more along the lines of the old Laz Rojas mods like Operation: Arctic Wolf or Astrostein, something to expand upon the Wolf world and style while making use of Doom's engine features.

I'm interested to see where this goes, in any case.

[VGA]

Check out this epic project first:
http://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=46801

[scifista42]

riki said:

Perhaps I will touch up on map detail but that's low priority right now.

Maybe anti-frustration features like teleporters and ammo caches should also be added, because I know several Wolf3D levels can be a pain in the ass.

I only wanted to say: No, you really don't improve stock Wolfenstein maps by simply adding detail to them, not even by ammo caches, not even by teleporters. It's because Wolfenstein-style gameplay is boring in its nature, at least for me: Going through fully orthogonal extensive mazes composed of same-y big blocks of walls, with no heights and no sense of progression, and you're also limited to very most basic gameplay scenarios. It just takes incomparably too much time to play for too little rewarding satisfaction. There's nothing great to admire in the level architecture or clever gameplay, as it is in Doom mods. Again, that's just how I see it.

[armymen12002003]

Nice job with this the only nit pics i have is the doom monsters and the decorations textures. maybe replace the doom textures, monsters and decorations with the other wolfenstein textures , enemies and decorations. But i like the idea of the crates and the toxic filled areas just so you know i made a wad file some time ago with wolf 3d characters in it from sod, the lost levels, nocturnal, and the original missions if your interested i can send them to you.