Delusion of eternity [ex scareware]

[FireFish]

Delusion of eternity


Delusion of eternity is the new name for scareware because the original idea behind the wad is no longer there. his wad will be provided trough updates, where new maps could be added at times to then update the download. This also voids the need to be bound to a fixed release type or time.

iwad ; doom2
port . ; Zdoom
maps ; 2
music ; 2 new songs.
difficulty ; natural selection or spinal torture.
extra ; two things to read in game.

For those who do not know ;
zdoom.exe -IWAD /path/to/doom2.wad -FILE /path/to/scarewared.pk3

== Download ==
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zbfuhovq2bi7vn4/scarewared.pk3?dl=0


Map03 - Conversion preview ;

[TheOrganGrinder]

Well, it's certainly atmospheric. The way you've used the teleport trap at the end is interesting, since it doesn't throw the player against a whole pack of new monsters but simply relocates them within the same arena in order to disorient and panic.

On the downside, there's very little vertical gameplay going on in the layout, and overall progression feels 'flat' - it's tricky to do a full escalation of monsters and weapons in such a small map, and it ended up feeling quite artificial in the way I'd get one weapon just as needed to kill whatever's around the next corner, even though two of those weapons - shotgun and chaingun - came from monster kills and not actual weapon placement. Also not a fan of the rocket launcher placement, but that might be because I was using the automap to tell direction in a "no light, no map lines" environment, so I blundered into it and fired it point-blank at the zombiemen before I realised what was going down and knocked myself down to 19% health.

Overall I was left feeling a bit unsatisfied - the ideas and atmosphere felt like they deserved a bigger and more varied map to play out in.

[scifista42]

The semi-realistic structure itself and lighting are kinda impressive, even if relatively simple. Only one certain brown cave is illogically lightened up, even though there's no light source and surrounding corridors are pitch black -> place some source of light there. Now, texture alignment is broken pretty much everywhere, texture patterns often don't match the wall's size, which is apparent since the very start -> play with them a little more, and remember that there's an autoalign feature to help you. I also think that TEKWALL4 is really not suitable to be extensively used as a wall texture. Gameplay was extremely simple, okay for an unsettling map, but IMO way too inefficient in regards to challenge, it was too easy and therefore getting boring.

[Jaws In Space]

I gave this map a try & I thought it was alright. The lighting in this map is done very well to provide a spooky atmosphere & gives it an almost Doom 3 feel. Game play is slow & I think it works for the most part, but it is not without it's issues, the Revenant & Baron were a complete non threat & didn't add anything interesting to the map, it would be better if they could chase the player around to make for more intense fights. The only other thing that I didn't like about this map is how short it was.

[FireFish]

Thank you both for the usefull feedback.

TheOrganGrinder ;
Im happy to know sombody understands the teleport, the convenient weapon should be the SSG, while the rocket launcher is a simple secret with a panic effect. I will take note about the vertical gameplay. I always fear bigger maps would kill the atmosphere as it needs tight controll to keep it, but i am figuring out how to extend it. interresting feedback.

Scifista42 ;
Thank you. That one cave should have a burning barrel, and before that a crack. All i can do is attempt to see what you see. The texture alignment is indeed a bit off at places, but most of them should at least hide any seam. But yes (did not use doomuilder). Maybe i should not have removed the instant back attack lost souls after the teleport then. But; not everyone has the same difficulty treshold.

Jaws in space ;
i was typing this and watching tv when you ninja'd it, lol. Thank you. The revanant has full freedom of motion, and only once in 6 map edit tests did he not follow, but by what you added it means it is not optimal. thank you. That fight should indeed be improved.

I plan to have at least two maps for this, and those feedbacks are already three of that one type i was looking for. Especially when both seem to read from the map what it was going for.

[Cupboard]

Pretty decent. I am a sucker for TEKWALL and CEMENT. Any oppressive combination is a good thing. Maybe some scrolling textures would make certain machinery areas more spooky. Also some nooks and crannies with skin textures.

[FireFish]

I was planning further coruption (demonic influence), but i ended the level sooner because i wanted to test the concept against other players first. (and because i still need to figure it out a bit more.)


i would realy like to see somebody play this trough a demo for referece.

[Doomkid]

Good small map, and interesting use of contrast (like others have said). It was easy, but I don't like it when maps are too hard. I'm uploading a YouTube video of my playthrough but with my connection, even a 4 minute video is taking eons!

[FireFish]

Doomkid said:

Good small map, and interesting use of contrast (like others have said). It was easy, but I don't like it when maps are too hard. I'm uploading a YouTube video of my playthrough but with my connection, even a 4 minute video is taking eons!

cant wait to see it, this way i can actually see how its played !
But you could have recorded a demo lump of a few KB in size. :3

[FireFish]

Thank you all for the input, it has been put to use !

[TheOrganGrinder]

Okay, now that I've had a chance to play through the revised version twice...

Bear in mind that I'm generally a fan of what you're trying to do here (or at least my impression of what you're trying to do here) so what's in the spoiler block is quite zoomed-in. One of the nice things about these smaller maps is that it makes it possible to give in-depth feedback on lots of different parts.

Spoiler

I'm not sure at all about the choice of an ICKWALL texture in the opening outside area; the rough, uneven wall architecture suggests rocky cliff faces rather than slimy wall panels. I like the way the map loops around back to the same general area, and that the exit is so close to the start, but I think the effect is diminished by the fact that you can't see into one area from the other, though both look up into the same patch of cliffs and sky. It makes the start and exit feel more distant than their actual, physical separation - which may be the intention, for all I know, but it feels like there's a possibility of interaction between the two areas that's been lost.

I never did figure out what that switch at the end of the far north-west passage was all about when I played through the earlier revision of this, but this time - it's the light switch for the blue door area, isn't it? That's actually pretty clever, since nothing obstructs your access to the blue door area earlier in the map, but:

• It's pitch black in an area dominated by dark hallways and intermittent pools of light, so the eye is drawn away from it and the player might not even notice the gaping entrance;
  
• If the player does go in without turning on the lights, they won't be able to see the architecture or the monsters and are likely to get torn up pretty badly.

So having figured out what's going on there, I like it. Good use of misdirection in a way that feels organic rather than orchestrated.

I don't think I'm understanding your gameplay goals with the arch-vile secret. There's little of value within the secret area (a box of shells right under the player's feet as they teleport in; both times I entered the secret area on almost full shells anyway, and went through most of the box killing the arch-vile and zombies) and the arch-vile itself presents little to no threat thanks to the availability of cover and the lack of monsters up on his platform for him to resurrect. I'd suggest relocating the shell box up onto the arch-vile's platform for three reasons:

• It avoids the annoying and unavoidable waste of a portion of the box should the player enter the secret area mostly full on shells;
  
• If the player runs low on ammunition, they can replenish mid-fight but are required to run out of cover and take more of a risk in order to do so;
  
• If the player doesn't need or want to replenish mid-fight then they can pick up the box after the fight as their reward for finding the secret and killing the arch-vile.

It may also be worth beefing up the opposition, and in particular, giving the arch-vile something on his platform to resurrect so that the player can't simply sit back and take their time shooting him from cover. The blood-drenched Hell area into which the player is thrown for this also feels bright, open, and unthreatening compared to much of the rest of the map. Is there still architecture/texture work to be done in this area? Overall that part of the map currently feels like the player is being discouraged from secrets; there's no substantial threat, no reward, and the player gets dumped back into the main portion of the map somewhat further back than where they entered the secret area.

[FireFish]

TheOrganGrinder said:

Okay, now that I've had a chance to play through the revised version twice...

Bear in mind that I'm generally a fan of what you're trying to do here (or at least my impression of what you're trying to do here) so what's in the spoiler block is quite zoomed-in. One of the nice things about these smaller maps is that it makes it possible to give in-depth feedback on lots of different parts.

I am wrestling with map 02, the final map for this idea, but when i have that up and running i wil look into map 01 again to see if those points could be changed !
At least now i know about one person actually playing this. :)

Spoiler

-> Yep, you undestood the blue door chamber, While the button for it is in some sort of generator room. I thought it would be interresting to block with sight instead of walls. :)

-> The arch viles nest was more a gimmick to add to the degradation of the area. and i hate those things so it went into my thoughtline for a DooMed base. I will check what i could possibly do to it.

-> you are right about the exit close to the start, it seems i might have been wrong in closing them off during the mapping process.

Map02 ;
Map 02 wil feature the next part of the scare base, but slightly more broken and corrupted while having a bit more freedom to roam its grounds.
If all go's well it might be here tomorrow (wed) or the day after (thur).

edit ;
map 02 started to fight one idea i had, so it will be released later than planned.

[FireFish]

The wad has changed its name and will get more maps, there is no fixed time planned for this. A new map means a new download.

[FireFish]

I need to bump.

If i would post a base layout for map 04, would somebody feel like finishing it in a fitting way for what has been shown in this wad and he preview gif up to now ?

[Doomkid]

Oh no, that YouTube video never finished uploading! I'll record a LMP demo soon here :)

[FireFish]

Rofl, no problem. Have one or not, it is not the end of the world.
Unless the convergence of the world to DooMed space would initiate and we al would have to fight while watching revenantse and impse. :))

FireFish said:

I need to bump.
If i would post a base layout for map 04, would somebody feel like finishing it in a fitting way for what has been shown in this wad and he preview gif up to now ?