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Louigi Verona

River City

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I would like to finally ask you what's the intended compatibility of your maps. If it's vanilla, limit-removing or Boom, I would play the map in PrBoom-plus and record a FDA demo for you. If you've used UDMF, or Hexen format, or ZDoom format / ZDoom features, then I won't. If you've used a classic map format, but only tested your wad in an advanced port like G/ZDoom (and not the actual lowest-compatible port), then there is no definite guarantee that the level will work in a classic port. Generally, stating compatibility can be important, and you're more likely to get more feedback (and possibly playthrough / speedrun demos) if you target a lower compatibility (lowest is vanilla, then limit-removing vanilla, then Boom, then specific ports like G/ZDoom).

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You should try Odamex. Odamex starts with an 'O', which is next to 'P', which stands for 'Pool'!

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The name was inspiring so I give it a try. I liked the map. It's very oldschool, quite simple visually but it works. I liked the battlements on the big building, simple but nice. Gameplay has a few traps that make things more exciting. I think it would be better to give some more space to move overall (especially the 64 wide corridors). When you pick up the Yellow Key some demons teleport in a narrow and raised sector where they can't move, if sergeants or imps go there isn't a problem but the demons become useless. In the courtyard after the door locked by the yellow key I think it would be better to replace the Barons: there is lot of space and they don't are very effective. Maybe try to put some mix of more monsters (Hell Knights, Cacos, Revenants, idk). Secrets were cool, but about the last one I think that the Rocket Launcher doesn't have so much points on beign there. Using it in the final areas its dangerous due to your limited space, and for the situations you encounter the SSG is sufficient.

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scifista42 said:

I would like to finally ask you what's the intended compatibility of your maps. If it's vanilla, limit-removing or Boom, I would play the map in PrBoom-plus and record a FDA demo for you. If you've used UDMF, or Hexen format, or ZDoom format / ZDoom features, then I won't. If you've used a classic map format, but only tested your wad in an advanced port like G/ZDoom (and not the actual lowest-compatible port), then there is no definite guarantee that the level will work in a classic port. Generally, stating compatibility can be important, and you're more likely to get more feedback (and possibly playthrough / speedrun demos) if you target a lower compatibility (lowest is vanilla, then limit-removing vanilla, then Boom, then specific ports like G/ZDoom).


My old maps (and I am now putting out only my older maps, with the exception of the "Small Castle" one) are all vanilla compatible. I tested them in actual Doom 2.

Right now I am testing everything in PrBoom. So, probably, newer maps would be limit-removing.

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gaspe said:

The name was inspiring so I give it a try. I liked the map. It's very oldschool, quite simple visually but it works. I liked the battlements on the big building, simple but nice. Gameplay has a few traps that make things more exciting. I think it would be better to give some more space to move overall (especially the 64 wide corridors). When you pick up the Yellow Key some demons teleport in a narrow and raised sector where they can't move, if sergeants or imps go there isn't a problem but the demons become useless. In the courtyard after the door locked by the yellow key I think it would be better to replace the Barons: there is lot of space and they don't are very effective. Maybe try to put some mix of more monsters (Hell Knights, Cacos, Revenants, idk). Secrets were cool, but about the last one I think that the Rocket Launcher doesn't have so much points on beign there. Using it in the final areas its dangerous due to your limited space, and for the situations you encounter the SSG is sufficient.



Thank you very much, I agree with your criticism! Maybe I will edit this map to include fixes that you mention.

I would also redo the ending, since it is weird.

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Louigi Verona said:

My old maps (and I am now putting out only my older maps, with the exception of the "Small Castle" one) are all vanilla compatible. I tested them in actual Doom 2.

Right now I am testing everything in PrBoom. So, probably, newer maps would be limit-removing.

That's good!

Here is my FDA, recorded in PrBoom-plus -complevel 2. This map was very oldschool styled, but relatively not bad. Still has some issues, some of them minor, some less so:

-Combat is all about shotgun + pistol for too long time. It's monotonous. Only the secret SSG saved the day from never-ending bore. For the player, it's not comfortable to feel like he's progressing slower than he could with an appropriate weaponry to kill monsters quickly. Note: It's still possible to make engaging and challenging gameplay even then. But your encounters were little exciting and always low-scale.
-Barons, and even too many Pinky Demons, sometimes even too many imps, have too much health while posing little threat and being easy to outrun, therefore their usage had more negative impact than positive. I would remove them. The number of used Lost Souls was appropriate, IMO.
-The map looked kind of ugly, I think due to 3 main factors: 1. Basic detailing, very often orthogonal. 2. Underdeveloped texturing, with not enough color variety and pattern variety. 3. Underdeveloped lighting. I don't mean lack of lighting effects (those actually tend to be distracting), but lack of contrast, noticeable change of light levels between different areas, making some of them stand out, and hide ugly texturing at other times. Just remember that too much of uniform darkness is usually harmful, but too much of uniform brightness is also harmful.
-Relatively lot of areas are still too cramped. Try to avoid corridors less wide than 128 units and lower than 72 units. In fact - try to avoid corridor-heavy design whatsoever. Rooms can be interesting to look at and move around, if made competently, but corridors tend to be boring.
-The silver switch in the red key allowed the player to step on it, which looked unnatural. I would put an impassable line there.
-The soulsphere secret was very hard to trigger. I had to try it deliberately. The secret-flagged sector needs to be wider.
-The rocket launcher secret mechanic was nice, but the rocket launcher itself turned out to be useless in the map. Secret items should reward the player in some useful way, not just the nominal pleasure of picking up a goodie.
-This is the most minor thing, but I don't like points of no return. Your map featured relatively lot of random doors openable only from one side. That's still OK, if it serves a gameplay purpose. But the exit drop literally trapped me in there, disallowing backtracking forever, and that's what I consider bad.

That's off the top of my head. I wouldn't call it "challenging" at all, and "focused on gameplay" is questionable, but anyway, you're improving.

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scifista42, thanks for the demo, watching it!

Actually, when I myself replayed it after many years, I have also found it boring to have only pistol and shotgun for such a long time.

Your other criticism is also difficult to not agree with.

In fact, one of the things that I have instantly read from you and other people on this forum is that a monster has to make sense - it has to be challenging enough and you have to use its strengths to make it interesting to fight. This is something I will have to play with to master.


Many maps I do, I guess, feature a similar "color", come to think of it. I guess it stems from a certain sense of reality. Rarely does one see castles that have walls made out of different materials.

However, point is taken. I will be posting a couple of more of my old maps that I think are at least worth showing, but newer maps will all take received criticism in consideration.

Big thanks for spending your time and helping me to learn!

Louigi.

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I really liked this one! Exploratory and adventurous, very cute\good looking and with a smooth difficulty (that I actually enjoy).

I do not mind the pistol\shotgun combat, I think they are fun and balanced enough. My only complaint is the placement of Demons. Generally, they not represent any threat and killing them is time-consuming.

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