In which you're sent on Deimos after Phobos vanishes (4 maps ready to play!)

[Scypek2]

This is an idea I had a few years ago - Phobos ends up in hell instead of Deimos, so you have to go through Deimos first before entering hell-infested Phobos. The mod would have two episodes with levels based on original levels, but backwards. I made two sky edits and one unfinished map before the map data got corrupted and I lost interest.

 

Today I decided to give it another try, and started making an E1M1 loosely based on E2M8. The old attempt was an edited original map, but when making this one from scratch I only made it share some similarities with the Tower of Babel, since the Tower has been built from scratch after the hell takeover. While I was making it, I became so immersed that I ended up shaping the map with the goal of showcasing the engine to someone who's never seen a 3d game and teaching the basics to someone who's never played an FPS before. You might've read that thorough analysis of the original E1M1 (I can't find the post now) and how it instantly showcases multiple engine features upon starting the map, and lets the skill 1/skill 2 players master the art of climbing stairs and shooting barrels before opening the first door and encountering the first enemy, and so on. I tried to do something like that here.

 

I may create the entire two episodes as planned, but for now, I just want to share this map.

 

 

 

 

Download a 4-level demo here!

Edited November 4, 2017 by Scypek2 : I just realized the thread title made no sense anymore

[bonnie]

That was frickin awesome!! I loved the midi and I loved the map, it was so heckin neat :D

 

I know you want to make this yourself, and honestly you should, based on that map, but I would love to see this as a CP.

 

I almost want to see it in Doom 2 (but being extremely light on the doom 2 stuff, like maybe don't even introduce the ssg until episode 2 or something), but I guess Doom 1 would make more sense and work better and you wouldn't need a dehacked patch or any of that nonsense.

 

But if you want to do it on your own, that's heckin fine as heck best friend :)

[Rathori]

Sounds like a cool idea, and I like how the looks and feels for a WAD aiming for doom-1-like experience. It'd be nice if this made it into full episodes, I'd definitely play those :)

 

Also, if you're taking the "teach the basics" approach, I think that having an ambush at the very door is a bit cruel. I'm talking about that zombie hiding behind the corner right before the first door, which is present on all difficulties. IMO, if you're tailoring the map for a newcomer to the genre, it would be better to give the player a bit more control over the encounter, i.e. the player should see the zombie before or at least at the same time as it sees the player, rather that be alerted by it grunting off-screen, which could cause a player new to the genre to panic.

 

I think E1M1 in Doom did a very good job of gently introducing the enemies by letting the player explore the space before the first door in absolute safety on lower difficulties and by putting the first enemies in a very obvious place right in the centre of player's view when they open that first door. The way your map is designed, it pretty much already does that after the first door is opened, but that first zombie before it should go, especially on ITYTD and HTNR. BTW, E1M1 design also allowed the player to disengage from the fight and get back to safety easily by simply walking away from the door, which your map would also allow if that first zombie wasn't there.

 

Anyway, I hope we'll seeing more maps some time soon :)

[Scypek2]

22 hours ago, bonnie said:

That was frickin awesome!! I loved the midi and I loved the map, it was so heckin neat :D

Thanks! The music was Plunge Saw by @Bucket, from the Plutonia midi project. I'll have some more custom midis in my project, but I don't think I'll find another one that would fit the theme as well as this one does.

22 hours ago, bonnie said:

I know you want to make this yourself, and honestly you should, based on that map, but I would love to see this as a CP.

You may like the Switcheroom project if you're interested in the "switching map layouts and map themes" gimmick. It's similar to what I'm doing, but more random.

 

@Rathori

You may have a point with the zombie. I didn't really want to remove enemies, but I made him face the other way and put him behind a window. With two sound-blocking lines. Now it's as tutorial-y as it gets.

 

Today I made the bonus level. Maybe I'll update the download when I make E1M2 and E1M3.

[Ichor]

You know, I've sometimes wondered what it would be like if you started in Hell (E3M8) and you had to work your way out. You would then go through Deimos and then to Phobos and finally end in E1M1.

 

But this works too.

[Reisal]

11 hours ago, Ichor said:

You know, I've sometimes wondered what it would be like if you started in Hell (E3M8) and you had to work your way out. You would then go through Deimos and then to Phobos and finally end in E1M1.

 

Sounds like "Escape from Hell" kind of scenario.

[Scypek2]

I made a promise, and I delivered! Probably cause it didn't involve a deadline. I'm releasing a new version for you to check out, and now it has 3 levels + a secret one!

You can already see there's plenty of homages in here. But also plenty of new stuff! I think the first map already gave a good idea what to expect.

I think the new E1L3 (based on Halls of the Damned) may be the best one so far. I feel it does a nice job of retaining the vanillatastic Doom 1 horror vibe, plus it houses a secret exit! And while all three other maps just happened to have three secrets each, this one has ten!

 

Can't wait for your feedback...

 

othermon.zip

[Pegleg]

On 5/3/2017 at 1:58 AM, Glaice said:

 

Sounds like "Escape from Hell" kind of scenario.

That sounds like it would make an interesting CP.

[Scypek2]

It's probably worth a mention that I'm actively working on this mod, slowly but surely! I made a creepy E1M8 rework for the E2M1 slot, an action-packed non-linear E2M5 remake for E1M4, made some good progress with E2M4-inspired E1M5, and heavily reworked the E2M9-inspired E1M9, which turns the tedious pinky-punching into a genuine challenge.

 

[Grungo]

grungo like what you did! it feels so classic yet original and modern

 

good job!

[head_cannon]

I actually quite liked the cryptic and convoluted nature of this unfriendly Deimos base, but I'm afraid that I softlocked myself on e1m3 and must file a bug report. It happened in the eastern wing which houses the intended path to the yellow key.

 

If I'm reading it correctly, what's supposed to happen is:

 

Reaching the red-textured room at the end of that winding path (with the Pinky & barrels blocking the way so the player will fire & wake up the army waiting behind the yellow doors) lowers the elevator on the west side of the broken, flooded corridor, rendering it unusable and trapping the player in that east wing until they find the switch in one of the side-rooms the army flooded out of - that switch raises the elevator back up and finally allows the player to return to where they were.

 

Since I heard doors opening & monsters growling behind me, I turned back to see what was happening, and so I found the switch that re-enables the elevator before actually getting around to proceeding into the red-textured room (which disables it). That switch that lets you out can only be activated once, so, unless I missed something, it looks like the player can get permanently stranded in that section.

 

othermon_e1m3_softlock.zip

I've attached an eight-minute -complevel 3 demo that, uh, demonstrates the possibility of reaching those two progression points in the wrong order in case my text description is too unclear. I do like the complexity in this mapset and how the player is occasionally just left high and dry until experimentation reveals new facets, but the set can't get away with the audacity to stonefacedly say "It's on you. Figure it out." if the player ever actually ends up truly stuck. Hopefully this one wrinkle can be smoothed out - this episode shows a lot of promise, and the proposed duology's hook of "what if the two moonbases' light-world - dark-world contrast was reversed?" is a neat angle for a tribute set.

[Scypek2]

@head_cannon Your explanation was very clear, thanks! I do like making progression non-obvious now and then, but this seems like a very straightforward mistake - no real reason not to have that lift-disabling linedef slightly earlier, before you can trigger the ambushes and make the lift-fixing switch reachable! It will be fixed next release. I'm glad you enjoyed the levels so far! It's definitely been interesting to make.