Alter's Quickie #1 (V2)

[Alter]

Alfonzo challenged me to make a small map, it was a struggle because i've made only big maps for past 2 years.

But after playing some Scythe as per Alfonzo's suggestion, it all clicked with me. So I want to share with you that map.

 

BOOM-COMPATIBLE

Download Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2gp0xlwsvcm61sa/AltTechV2.wad?dl=1

 

If you don't like dropbox, use the attachment.

 

I have no actual map name for this so let's just call it "Quickie #1", it's a tech base map however I should warn ahead that the difficulty level (the difficulty settings will be in, after an update later today) WILL definitely challenge the less experienced players.

 

Have two screenshots and have fun. Music's by Jimmy (Eat Ben and Jerry's)

 

 

AltTechV2.zip

Edited March 15, 2017 by alterworldruler

[Jimmy]

As I mentioned to you on IRC, solid fuckin' map. Pretty dastardly with monster placement at times but not overly so. The lack of a shotgun makes shell usage a pretty intense affair.

 

Also this happened and can go to hell:

 

 

[bioshockfan90]

Looks good, I'll have to check it out when I get some time later today. I'll probably edit this post with my thoughts.

[Ed_Deth]

Nice map a little hairy but nice.

[baja blast rd.]

Easy-ish but engaging and fun. Would like to see more!

[Alter]

9 minutes ago, rdwpa said:

Easy-ish but engaging and fun. Would like to see more!

Thanks, I do plan to make more quickies, i'm currently gathering ideas for Doom E3 styled one atm. Got a midi ready for it too.

[baja blast rd.]

One problem: you have those scrolling teleporters that don't loop, so if a destination is blocked, the monster never teleports in, preventing max kills. The easiest way to loop these is to draw a line with "WR Teleport to Line with Same Tag" somewhere behind the primary teleporter line, and then draw a line with a paired tag somewhere near the original location of the monster. The left rev of the two offmap ones doesn't teleport in for me for some reason, playing in prBoom+.

[Alter]

34 minutes ago, rdwpa said:

One problem: you have those scrolling teleporters that don't loop, so if a destination is blocked, the monster never teleports in, preventing max kills. The easiest way to loop these is to draw a line with "WR Teleport to Line with Same Tag" somewhere behind the primary teleporter line, and then draw a line with a paired tag somewhere near the original location of the monster. The left rev of the two offmap ones doesn't teleport in for me for some reason, playing in prBoom+.

I've done that (I wasn't aware you could even do it like that) and added difficulty settings, be sure to redownload, at least I was able to get 100% kills.

[Alfonzo]

This is more like it, alter - good stuff. I've attached an FDA. Went from hero to zero in no time, really; took no damage whatsoever until the splinter of revenants near the RK and then capitulated hard in the final fight.

 

I think you're familiar with the issues I take with some of your other works. They tend very heavily towards a sort projectile weaving through wide-open spaces, pitting big weapons and big pickups against big monsters bigly. Everything's huge - the map, the scale, the encounters, etc.. It's by no means a bad approach in itself, but without reeling it in for every other level it starts to weigh on you; you enter into a sort of autopilot slumber. I imagine it's not unlike getting loose on the runway with some luxury sports car for a few hours, with nothing for scale and no alleys to drive down; the heights of speed becomes trivial and unimpressive.

 

Anyway, this is much better. You're still thinking 'big' in most respects, but I like that now that there's less map! Lots of the other alter hallmarks remain and that's to be expected, and probably encouraged if you're going to make sense of what works in a smaller environment, as you can pick apart and change parts of your usual approach as the playing space gets smaller. As a future challenge, I'd like to see you work with some of the lower tier monsters to create more devious setups, ones that don't depend necessarily on making swooping evasive maneuvers to avoid taking damage. Doing more with less, versus... well, more with more!

 

Fun stuff. Fireblu meme reduces it to a solid 0/5.

alttech_fda_alfnz.zip

[Alter]

2 hours ago, Alfonzo said:

Anyway, this is much better. You're still thinking 'big' in most respects, but I like that now that there's less map! Lots of the other alter hallmarks remain and that's to be expected, and probably encouraged if you're going to make sense of what works in a smaller environment, as you can pick apart and change parts of your usual approach as the playing space gets smaller. As a future challenge, I'd like to see you work with some of the lower tier monsters to create more devious setups, ones that don't depend necessarily on making swooping evasive maneuvers to avoid taking damage. Doing more with less, versus... well, more with more!

 

Fun stuff. Fireblu meme reduces it to a solid 0/5.

That exit was me having a lack of ideas on how to actually end the map, it'll probably get changed if I ever make a mapset out of these. So you are saying I should make a map that uses low tier monsters in devious ways and keep it tight enough so the player has to actually shoot them and he can't just circle his way around, sounds like a fine challenge. Challenge accepted.

[Fonze]

This was a fun little map! A nice use of monsters and layout led to a fun romp through a few threatening encounters. Here is my FDA. I also uploaded a video of it to YouTube.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

To start, I really liked the layout of this small level. The first encounter's room essentially acted as a 'hub' room, being revisited a couple times with a new twist. The bridge-area was cool, over-looking the YK area and secret SS; foreshadowing what was to come. A fair 4 encounters fit nicely into essentially 3 small areas tied together in a compact design with an intuitive flow.

 

I also liked the aesthetics of the map. Nice use of colors, lighting and contrast together with the architecture. Texturing was well-done as well, though there were several texture-to-flat transitions that seemed questionable to me.

 

The sector that houses the YK was missing a sky transfer.

 

The first encounter was a nice way to kick things off; fairly easy but potentially deadly. Moving on to the bridge, this is where my first run ended; didn't expect that, heh. Seeing the BK kinda tipped it off, but by the time the BK fully registered in my brain the revs et al. invaded and it was over before it began. After taking some sloppy revenge, the following encounter was another fun one. I liked the use of the 4 revs and 2 arachs to create a decent little hot spot, though it would seem that simply retreating to the lit hallway would trivialize the encounter. I didn't realize until my final run that the AV comes in when the player approaches the switch/berserk; that almost got me in my final run. While it didn't kill me though, the lack of ammo at that point coupled with the AV+arachs+revived revs down the stairs did pin me down for a little bit back by the switch/berserk, which sucked. Arachs wouldn't throw me a bone and shoot the AV, either, lol. I was able to grab two nearby shells and take out the AV, but not without some setting up. That part perhaps could have used more shells, but to be fair I did have the berserk fist. I found the secret fairly easily, though in a way pressing that wall was just another little thought I was half-heartedly exploring after seeing the lift-looking thing in the opposite closet. Still, a cool secret :) The final fight of the map I almost scraped by on my first time reaching it, but I died to a lost soul (basically) 1-on-1. Little bastard hit me three times for somewhere over 40 damage total, which was how much health I had at the time. For shame, Fonze. My completed run, the AV teleported out of the final fight. I liked the collection of monsters and their positions in the final fight; that was a fun time with a RL handy :D

 

All-in-all, fun map; fun times! Great stuff here Alter; I'd love to see some more bite-sized maps from you.

[Alter]

Thanks Fonze, there will be more bite-sized maps from me as I don't plan anything bigger for a long while, got bored of doing big "epic" projects that ultimately have to be scaled down. There will be an another quickie soon but first, I need to find time and I need to get inspired (been playing a bit of scythe and scythe 2, the early maps specifically). I'm gonna attempt to go at Alfonzo's challenge to make the next map even tighter and make it feel less like a michael bay setpiece gallery Heh.