Jump to content
Search In
  • More options...
Find results that contain...
Find results in...
FanTazTiCxD

5-level wad release! Worked for long on this!

Recommended Posts

Finally, I'm done! Some of you may have seen my thread about the containership.wad I made. That was only one level. Now I'm finally done with my serial-wad. It contains five levels, including one secret level.

Before I get too much into this, here is the information you'll need:

* Download link: http://www.megafileupload.com/dqeK/5LevelEpisode.wad

* Simply open the 5LevelEpisode.wad file you just downloaded with doom builder, choose "doom 2" engine, double-click on MAP14, and press play :)

* You have to use zDoom in order to play this, as most of the levels require you to jump and crouch.

* Since the second level has a secret exit, which means it HAS to be MAP15, the levels start from MAP14, so that means you have to open the wad in doom builder from MAP14, using the "doom2" engine. The other maps uses the "zDoom in hexen format", so if you want to play directly from a different map, use that engine.




First map (MAP14) "But the exit is right there!"

A small and simple map to start off with, still with a good amount of secrets though. The design is mostly inspired by E1M7 in the shareware episodes.




Second map (MAP15) "Cargo from hell"

This map takes you on a trip on the ocean. You're in a boat with your friend trying to escape from hell. However, a container ship with a mancubus as the captain found you, and they killed your friend. As your friend lies dead in your boat, it's time to jump onboard the container ship, and get your revenge!

There's a secret exit in this level. I suggest you to try to figure out how to get there by yourself, but if you give up, feel free to PM me, and I will tell you how to get there! :-)





Secret map (MAP31) "Methods and tricks"

If you don't manage to find the secret exit in MAP15, please message me here on doomworld, because this map is definetely fun to play! In this map, you have to complete small mini-games, and you have to figure out the rules by using your logic. I won't say more, or post any screenshots ;) I'll let this by a surprise!





Third map (MAP16) "Nostalgia"

Now this is the level over all levels! I consider this the best level I have made so far, and you'll definetely enjoy playing this one, I hope! It's a map that is inspired by the design in the shareware episodes, and the layout of E1M7 (computer station). By layout, I mean the key placements compared to the red-yellow-blue area placements. I tried to focus a lot on this map not being linear, and not be too complicated either. It has all these small references to certain known areas in the shareware episode, that you'll recognize immediately as you see them. It's quite difficult, but not impossible at all. It also has one very special reference to another famous video-game that I am sure most people will recognize as well :-)






Fourth map (MAP17) "Night At The Museum"

I will let you explore this one. This map is called "Night At The Museum". You'll find out why ;-)





Have fun! Oh and one last thing, I would love to see people playing my maps if they feel like posting a gameplay video :) That would be awesome! Especially with commentary! But if you don't feel like talking, then gameplay is fine too :-)

I hope you like it!

Share this post


Link to post

Here's some of my thoughts on the individual levels. Played all from pistol start.

Map14:
Could use a lot of work on aligning and unpegging some textures. There are also some odd textures choices here and there, like the bstone3 lights behind the Soulsphere. But I've seen worse and it's all in all at an acceptable level. The progression is logical if a tad too linear. But it doesn't say anywhere that non-linear levels are better, so I guess it's perfectly fine as it is. The secrets spice things up at bit. The opposition isn't really that threatening and even though I used the pistol for most of the level - until I found the Shotgun secret - my mediocre skills reigned supreme and made sure I survived like a champ. Also, most likely because the Zerk and Soulsphere secret was really easy to find and there were health scattered all over the base! Yeah, no problem for this doomguy! Let's hope it gets tougher in the next one :)

Advice: Less health, ditch the Soulsphere, possible also the Zerk, align and unpeg textures, less Startan especially on the outer walls.

Map 15:
Already commented on this map in it's own thread a while back.

Map16:
Yeah, now this looks good! Intricate layout with lots of good detailing and lighting! There aren't much space to move around in and at times, the scenery can feel like it's restricting the player's movement. The barrels were dangerous, but also helped take care of all that meat in lots of glorious explotions! Health was much better balanced for me than in map 14 and the secrets were fun to find. On a related note, though, I gotta admit that many of them felt like blatant ripoffs from the original Doom. Too bad, because you've proven with map 15 that you have plenty of original ideas and the skills to implement them. It drags down in the overall experience that many areas feel like revisits of half of "Knee deep in the dead".

Despite the above, I think that the level looks good and plays well with much better balance than map 14.

Advice: Don't copy areas from the iwad(s) this much!

Map 17:
Took me a while to figure out that the switch(es) in the elevator takes you to three different levels. The museum of items felt strange, yet eery. I don't know if I liked it or not, but it was different if nothing else. There's definitely some atmosphere in this level and makes you feel very alone. The three Cybers weren't difficult to kill. I just kept moving and circled around the arena. Plenty of their deadly rockets hit their own platform, so that nerfed their deadliness quite a bit. I don't know about the many exit pads... It's either a fun gimmick for the attentive player or a direct pain in the ass if you haven't saved a game after the CD fight.

Advice: Maybe move the up/down switches in the elevator away from each other, so the player doesn't accidentally hit the wrong one.

Feel free to ask me to clarify my observations or ignore them completely if you feel they aren't fair or something :) Keep making levels, you're definitely good at it... as long as you don't copy shit! ;)

Share this post


Link to post

Thank you! I was about to be nervous that my thread wouldn't get comments haha :P The first map was supposed to be linear and easy, just like E1M1 from the shareware episode. But I heard you about the soulspheare, and if I'm going to create more, I'll be thinking about making these secrets a bit harder to find.

MAP16:

It's funny because those were actually meant to be blatent rip-offs!
I purposely copied areas from the shareware episode just to make the map a bit more humorious/fun for oldschool players. You didn't like the idea... Fair enough. Though I hope someone else will, because the idea was that mixing these rip-offs into the level should give the player a funny feeling of playing the old iWad while not actually playing it at the same time. It was kind of meant as a few jokes to keep the map interesting, you know :-)

Also, try playing this map again, and when you get through the red door in the room with the two lifts, jump over the poison-gap, and when you get to the end, where you'll find a small room with some pathes that takes you across the green slime, try stepping into the slime for a funny surprise :P




MAP17:

Well, a small detail, but I will definetely do something about the elevator buttons if I ever make an elevator again :P I don't know if you noticed, but on the third floor with the monsters, there actually was a hint telling you which exit-pad to go for, so you didn't have to guess in the end.


Did you play the secret level too? If you haven't, PM me for how to get to the secret exit in MAP15, or simply open the wad file in doom builder and choose MAP31 (use zDoom in hexen format, and if that doesn't work, use "doom 2")

Overall, I'm glad you played this, and took your time to comment on it!

Share this post


Link to post
FanTazTiCxD said:

* Since the second level has a secret exit, which means it HAS to be MAP15, the levels start from MAP14, so that means you have to open the wad in doom builder from MAP14, using the "doom2" engine. The other maps uses the "zDoom in hexen format", so if you want to play directly from a different map, use that engine.

Uh... you know we can just use idclev14 or the -warp parameter, right?

Also, since most your maps seem to use ZDoom anyway, you can just go ahead and use ZDoom's MAPINFO feature to put a secret exit on any map you wish, including MAP02.

Share this post


Link to post

Yeah, I tried figuring out how to make a script in doom builder, but it didn't seem to work for me, so I just chose to make it start at MAP14. The good thing about starting at MAP14 though, is that you will have different music than the usual kind, so why not? :)

Share this post


Link to post
FanTazTiCxD said:

The good thing about starting at MAP14 though, is that you will have different music than the usual kind, so why not? :)

You do realize that you can include custom music in your WAD

Share this post


Link to post

So, I gave map 31 a shot just now. And this really wasn't my kinda level. You say, that it involves using my sense of logic, and maybe I'm not the most logical kinda guy, but I just felt screwed all the time. Teleporting into a room with chaingunners crawling all over me with zero armor is a douchy move in my book. Took me 4 or 5 tries to find a teleporter to the room that landed me in a place where I could kill them before they made minced meat out of me. To me, logical gameplay mechanics in Doom involves my ability to foresee something or figure it out before it happens. It has to be something that aids me, not work against me. And this level did the latter in spades! But as I said, the entire concept of a level such as this isn't my kinda thing at all, so perhaps I didn't use the kinda logical sense you envisioned for me to use. The worst part came when I had to run across a serious of small ascending nukage pits right after the SSG. Right smack in the middle of it there's all of sudden a Lost Soul that I can't evade and I bump straigt to my death in a inescapable pit of green shit. Sorry, but how was I supposed to foresee that!?

I'm sure there are players who enjoy a level that's this full of weird gimmicks, but I'm definitely not one of them. I understand what you were trying to do and I respect that. As a community we wouldn't have been around for 20+ years if we all did the same thing with our levels. I hope someone else will give you some sort of positive response to this level, because my verdict of it shouldn't be the only one.

Share this post


Link to post

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×