[MAP] Belial's Library [DOOM II]

[MCarsten]

Hello everyone. Here it is my latest DOOM map after four years. I created the map at january-february last year and retouched details and gave some additionals this week. I think that the result is pretty nice. It's a long map, consisting of library-themed scenarios and wood wall rooms. There are 11 secrets in total. There is no difficulty variation between standard game difficulties. Cooperative and deathmatch modalities not included. Overall, I would say that it is a tough map.

As you can see throughout the map, I got some inspiration from DOOM's E2M6: Halls of the Damned and DOOM II's MAP27: Monster Condo.

Link for download:
https://www.mediafire.com/?gfq4fh2upp8gbq6

[spoiler] If someone is interested in a 100% walktrough, check out my gameplay video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOk5sRdsstw

Note: the video was recorded before the new touch ups, but don't worry, there are no substantial differences, except for a few percentage of the map.

Would love to know what you think. Thanks, in advance.

[baja blast rd.]

Compatibility level and (more importantly) the port you tested it on?

[MCarsten]

rdwpa said:

Compatibility level and (more importantly) the port you tested it on?

Works fine for me both on ZDoom and GZDoom.

[Alter]

MCarsten said:

Works fine for me both on ZDoom and GZDoom.

Newbie Mistake #1, if you are making a vanilla/limitremoved/boom map then test in the appriopate port (chocolate doom for vanilla, prboom for boom preferably with -complevel 9), with limit removed (but still using vanilla linedefs) there is no such problem except that some mapping tricks may not work nicely in non-zdoom ports or zdoom it's a roulette.

[Crunchynut44]

Hey there

Not too bad of a map, it had some fun sequences and you certainly achieved that 'doomed library' atmosphere. Particulary with the use of hanging corpses and what not. Plenty of non-linearity which is nice, but it still felt a little room sequenced.

A few things to say though, first of all the map was way too easy and provided far too much ammo that was necessary which really took away from the tactical gameplay. Also I never came across a SSG (I feel like there may be one hidden around somewhere), providing it somewhere half way would have been nice. The star room trap was very underwhelming as I simply retreated back through the opening and had a funnel I could spam rockets through with ease, so you may want to address this if you want that trap to be more significant. There could certainly be more lighting diversity and smooth lighting effects around light sources, I felt the map was basically full bright all the way through with the exception of a few all dark rooms. However on the flip side there were some odd lighting effects based around pillars (the plasma gun room for example) that weren't really coherent with the light sources themselves, this felt a bit strange to me. Finally I would suggest to just keep detailing the map, adding it where it needs be and fixing the many texture alignment issues as well as significantly increasing the difficulty.

It seems like that was a lot of negatives, but overall I had a lot of fun playing the map and there were plenty of interesting things too look at and exciting sequences. Theres a hella lot of secrets which I always enjoy looking for so long as it doesn't require mindless wall-humping. The map was really atmospheric too and the bookshelve textures were used well.

Good job man, keep going!

[MCarsten]

Crunchynut44 said:

Hey there

Not too bad of a map, it had some fun sequences and you certainly achieved that 'doomed library' atmosphere. Particulary with the use of hanging corpses and what not. Plenty of non-linearity which is nice, but it still felt a little room sequenced.

Hey. Thanks for commenting. Nice to know you had fun with it. Hope you enjoyed. Yeah, I tried to broke the linearity. I felt that if I insisted too much on the non-linearity for some parts, the map would become too large. Yet, I see what you mean.

A few things to say though, first of all the map was way too easy and provided far too much ammo that was necessary which really took away from the tactical gameplay. Also I never came across a SSG (I feel like there may be one hidden around somewhere), providing it somewhere half way would have been nice. The star room trap was very underwhelming as I simply retreated back through the opening and had a funnel I could spam rockets through with ease, so you may want to address this if you want that trap to be more significant. There could certainly be more lighting diversity and smooth lighting effects around light sources, I felt the map was basically full bright all the way through with the exception of a few all dark rooms. However on the flip side there were some odd lighting effects based around pillars (the plasma gun room for example) that weren't really coherent with the light sources themselves, this felt a bit strange to me. Finally I would suggest to just keep detailing the map, adding it where it needs be and fixing the many texture alignment issues as well as significantly increasing the difficulty.

That is interesting, because I felt that the map would, actually, be a hard one. Finding the correct difficulty of a map is something I always consider troublesome. When I design the map, I try to think what someone playing would feel like to be in there, not me. I already know what is expecting me the other side of the room, what strategy I'll use, what enemies are ahead. Then, of course, for most of the time, my maps sound easyway to me. Although, what some tester would think of an ambush?

About the ammo: I really hate maps which do not provide any, or almost any, ammo or health. Those maps where you strive to live only with some pistol bullets and barely any ammo whatsoever even for the shotgun, while you're with 15% health and no armor. Reading your comment made me realize that I insisted too much on ammo really. Next time I will try to moderate. Thanks on that.

There was a SSG, not hidden. The super shotgun was displayed in the circular room with the demon wall sorrounded by the hell knight. Funny that you did not find it. Maybe the room was too dark? I thought that it was visible there.

The star room was an addition. I see what you mean, but that was the idea. For someone who is aware of the danger, all you have to do is retreat and fire rockets in that direction. A better strategy is to strafe run inside the star room, use-action at the eye and retreat to the atrium from where you came from (the one with the triangular staircases), so the walls will lower down and more monsters will be at your aimsight.

I agree with you regarding lighting. Light details (specially shadows) is something I find, alongside the difficulty moderation, to be difficult. I will look forward to improve on that. Thanks for the indication.

It seems like that was a lot of negatives, but overall I had a lot of fun playing the map and there were plenty of interesting things too look at and exciting sequences. Theres a hella lot of secrets which I always enjoy looking for so long as it doesn't require mindless wall-humping. The map was really atmospheric too and the bookshelve textures were used well.

Good job man, keep going!

Nice to know you enjoyed the secrets. Yeah, I agre with you, I hate wall-humping. I always enjoy when the secret areas have some sort of indication, explicitly or implicitly. I find to be dull when the secret is a random wall with no indication at all.

Thanks again for the constructive review! I am really glad you pointed out mistakes and indicated me some touchups. They are of good use to me.

[Crunchynut44]

For a standalone map I wouldn't worry about size, if it was part of a bigger project then I would consider it too big.

The thing is, what's the point of an ambush if the intended strategy is to simply avoid it, the star room had plenty of room to maneuver so it would have been fine to have some doors close behind you or something similar.

Ah I definitely missed that SSG, that's my mistake :)

Look a some famous WADs and see what they have done, things like Scythe 2 and Whispers of Satan utilize lighting to the fullest extent. Look at the way they create light around light sources (wall lights, torches etc) and define it with shadows around pillars and what not. (Try the final episode of Valiant for some extremely advanced lighting techniques).

No problem at all man, feel free to send me and WIP maps if you like :)