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Albatross

Tyrant - 5-map wad, Egyptian-themed

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Here's an FDA for maps 1 and 2:

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vlcx50z1kggm22p/tyrant01and02_fda_benjogami.lmp?dl=1

 

Fun stuff! The yellow key trap in map1 was the only one that felt kinda like a dud to me. I think all it needs is something released in the big room before the yellow key to make fighting the cacos there less trivial. All the other traps were engaging and threatening without being super deadly, which makes for fun stuff. Particularly good use of pinkies, which is always nice. The trap on map1 with the 2 imps 1 chaningunner above and pinkies blocking down below was great. Also enjoyed the design of the 2 secrets that I found (missed one on map1), although perhaps the secret in map2 could use some automap cleanup, because once you see that purple sector on the map, there's not much left to figure out.

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Hey there, interesting maps, kinda like Epic 2 with a twist, feeling rather oldschool yet stylish and polished enough.

Attaching FDAs in case you care for that sort of thing. The archvile in 05 got me once, didn't really expect for it to be overpowered and eventually paid for my careless sphere pickups when it failed to succumb to my humble rocket barrage. A job well done, heh.

Nice work, thanks for sharing!

Tyrant_dem_FDAs.zip

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The gameplay here feels a lot like it was influenced by skillsaw, but it lacks skillsaw's penchant for memorable set pieces and 'intimidating' use of force. The only fights that really stood out were the one in map04 where the floor covered in bonuses drops down to the damaging gold liquid and you face monsters from all sides, and map05 as a whole, which is a singe continuous fight. (Nevertheless map05 still feels like a weaker version of skillsaw's typical arena maps.) My completion times for all maps ranged from 3:xx to 5:xx (from pistol starts), because in the first four maps I just started skipping stuff, especially near the end. The last open fight in map01 epitomizes why: lots of imps, demons, and cacodemons are thrown out in a huge space where they can't really be threatening, and it isn't much of a dynamic fight. It feels like clean-up from the very beginning of the warp-in. A number of other fights gave me that impression throughout the mapset. On top of that, I noticed a lot of recurring design tropes (the monster usage, the detailing, the outdoor starting areas looking into a building, layout structure, the plinths used for armors and weapons, and quite a few other things), without too much variety. The first three maps felt interchangeable. The fourth mixed it up with its non-linear structure and use of platforming and damaging floor, but it wasn't that much of a departure in other ways. Normally, simple arena maps like the concluding map wouldn't be my thing unless they were a lot more intense, but I liked the change of pace and the fight with the custom boss (no wonder archviles were suspiciously absent before that! :)). 

 

The positives are that your core design is solid, with lots of passable-and-better 'filler' material or B-side set pieces and reasonably well crafted layouts that are fun to move around in. But this mapset felt a lot like eating a sandwich that didn't have quite enough meat. I'd like to see a bit more variety and memorability, and more ambition too. And don't be afraid to be mean, occasionally -- the presence of harsher traps makes gameplay more exciting as a whole. A lot of the suspense disappears when it becomes obvious that a map won't throw anything harsh at you. I think the mapset would benefit from upping the difficulty on UV. By and large, the traps are very 'telegraphed', so there's a lot of upside for the opposition to be harsher without it crossing into 'unfair' or even 'hard'. 

 

I did a casual max for the last map (time was 1:40), since it was fun for that. These maps seem like they'd be quite fun for UV-Speeds, NM runs, and pacifists, so that's another plus. 

 

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?4m

I saw you passing through today.

we briefly made eye contact as I hurled fireballs at you from a balcony

would love 2 chat.

put the color armor you were wearing in the subject line.

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i completely agree with rdwpa (positive and constructive, but also discussing the points of possible improvement).

 

Hell, i could not find the exit in map05 and i'm stuck with 3 monsters left.

 

 

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17 hours ago, rdwpa said:

See, your "casual max" is 1:40, while I can barely max it in 2:00. My skills are nowhere near the level of some of the people here, so what I consider a decent challenge might seem trivial to you. Still, I'll keep in mind what you said.

 

19 minutes ago, grrfield said:

Hell, i could not find the exit in map05

The exit opens when you kill the archvile boss, so either he failed to teleport, or his death failed to trigger the exit. I've played that map 10+ times in different ports and never had those problems. Maybe you played with some mods, incompatible with Dehacked-monsters?

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40 minutes ago, Albatross said:

The exit opens when you kill the archvile boss, so either he failed to teleport, or his death failed to trigger the exit. I've played that map 10+ times in different ports and never had those problems. Maybe you played with some mods, incompatible with Dehacked-monsters?

I ran it with complex-doom, must have been that......The fact that i was stuck with 3 monsters must also have been a complex bug...(last time we tried, we ended up with no monsters left)

 

thanks for taking my frustration away

 

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I didn't play this yet but wanted to say that the screenshots all look great and the color scheme is especially awesome.

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Decided to play and stream this on a whim... some thoughts provided via text as i played. UV Pistol starts, saves where i felt like it. I like to play moderately recklessly in casual play and i felt i could with this mapset for the most part, which is good. Bonus points for the Shinobi midi on map02. My only gripe really is that there was a lot of very square architecture and it did start to feel samey, like it was just one big map, but the overall wad length was short enough for it not to be a major problem i think. Overall an hour well spent though, thanks for sharing!

 

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/148995250

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This was pretty damn good. The Revenge of Shinobi music in MAP02 was a strange choice, but otherwise an enjoyable romp from beginning to end.

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11 hours ago, Albatross said:

See, your "casual max" is 1:40, while I can barely max it in 2:00. My skills are nowhere near the level of some of the people here, so what I consider a decent challenge might seem trivial to you. Still, I'll keep in mind what you said.

Yeah fair point. :)

 

As a side note (mostly because I find it interesting): the difference between 1:40 and 2:00 on this map is mostly about strategy, not really so much skill of play. I try to ignore all the monsters in the center until the end, because they infight readily, and I focus instead on ledge monsters with the rocket launcher. At the end, I try to set it up so that I have a megasphere left, so that I can damage the vile with a few preliminary plasma bursts, and then just spam plasma at it while not worrying about having to stop to duck into cover, because it'll die before it gets the five hits off it needs to kill me. Casual max in this case just means a speedrun that I just went for an exit or two on, instead of grinding a lot as very short maps would normally call for. 

 

This custom boss is pretty cool, btw. :) 

 

Edited by rdwpa

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Awesome Map pack ! :) I enjoyed the Texture use and the Open Fight Areas ! There is enough Health and Munition to Fight all the Hitscanner's the Maps have ^^ I also enjoy the fact that you use grey torches for shadows. Really cool idea. The Maps aren't to unlinear so I always knew where to go and what to do.  good stuff but maybe you should decorate a little bit more :)

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7 hours ago, VVL said:

Link doesn't work. Same goes for your FDA in June Boom Speedmap

 

 

woah thank you.  good catch.  for some reason they became deleted in my dropbox account, along with everything else in the same folder.  I restored them now and the link seems to be working again.  I have no idea how that happened but thanks for pointing it out.

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So I was really enjoying these levels, the wide open areas great for circle strafing enemies. The Cyberdemon fight was a blast with lots of cover so I could just circle around him, picking away at his health with the pump action. But, I am now in map 4 and have one revenant left on a bit of a cliff which refuses to die. I have hit him point blank with several blasts from the double barrel to no effect. I finally got fed up and put on god mode and hit him with everything left on the map and he still lives. Am I missing something here? Like was this intentional?

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4 hours ago, Korozive said:

Like was this intentional?

No, nothing of the sort, I've 100%ed all the maps. Seems like some weird bug.

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GZDoom with Brutal DOOM _v19 Sperglord Edition. Pardon my ignorance but how do I record a demo? I have the game saved at that point and just went in and tried to kill him again but he just gave me the middle finger and told me to get lost. Would like to record it before I replay the map. 

 

EDIT: Just noticed something. In Brutal DOOM v19 SE you have the ability to pick up the Revenants own dropped weapon, not everytime but sometimes. When you have that weapon the secondary fire mode is just spam all you want but with the primary fire you have the ability to lock onto to the target and it will tell if their is no target available. Well I be standing right in front of this bastard and the weapon says he ain't there. lol

(Another reason I want to record this). :o)

Edited by Korozive

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You gave a 'bug report' without mentioning you were using Brutal Doom? ...

 

That is apparently a Brutal Doom specific bug. Maps that are not designed for and tested with Brutal Doom might not work properly in Brutal Doom. Basically nothing is designed for and tested in Brutal Doom unless it says so, so your mileage may vary. For obvious reasons, bug reports with gameplay-modded play are irrelevant unless the mapper is designing for that specific gameplay mod.

 

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I thoroughly enjoyed these maps dude! Though I agree with the aforementioned ease of difficulty (and also what hasn't been said is the huge ammo surplus in the maps) I think they are pretty quality in terms of the theme, architecture and causal gameplay. I only died once on the last map because I underestimated it the first try, and even pistol starting the maps I found myself swimming in ammo. So I think if you worked on perfecting these gameplay aspects it would be a great mapset.

 

The only thing I didn't like in terms of detail was the negative lighting regarding the grey torches, just seemed I bit odd looking every time I saw it used. Otherwise I think the maps are quite attractive and they have a great non-linear feel. Great choices of midis too!

 

Thankyou for that.

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On 6/6/2017 at 7:27 PM, rdwpa said:

You gave a 'bug report' without mentioning you were using Brutal Doom? ...

 

Sorry, my bad. Its just I always use Brutal DOOM and never had this happen before.

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Great stuff! I'm really really impressed. And I see looks like this is your second release? Have you made a few maps before these ones, either way you seemed to pick it up well.

 

On the difficulty thing, I've been saying it for years, but the majority of people giving feedback about difficulty here love it really tough. But plenty of Doom wad enthusiasts don't want every map set to be as hard as possible too. So if listening to feedback to make it harder, for me personally, I don't think HMP needs to be harder at all. But since a post specified UV being harder, that'd be fine. Although it doesn't necessarily have to be.

 

For me on HMP, I got down to 4 health in that first big room, and easily could've gotten killed by a shotgun guy across the way if I wasn't lucky. After pressing the button I did end up dying shortly thereafter. I'm more of a fast/sloppy Doom player, maybe better at Duke 3D maps/combat, and I play maps for the fun of seeing new takes on mapping, and also the overall experience. I want to see where the map takes me, enjoy the layout and flow, I myself don't play to have every room be an endurance test of combat skill. I don't want combat to be boring, but it seldom is, I don't mind if I actually don't die in the first level of a wad for example. But this is a bit off topic, as difficulty is one of the most discussed/debated topics on Doomworld. Your wad on HMP is far from too easy, if anything I'd like it to start of easier if giving difficulty feedback. More health around that first big room etc, the few small blue healths aren't doing much. Or just moving one of the ones inside the closet into the room itself. Just saying for me.

 

Also tried that first big fight on UV to compare, it looks about the same. Not sure if you implemented big differences in difficulty settings, and it is extra work to make more than one set of encounters tuned for different difficulties, that takes time. But anyways, I don't know if people who say this is too easy are even comparing it to Doom anymore, if they are at all, or if just compared to their favorite hard user maps. The first level of any doom episode on HMP is usually easy, and this level on HMP might be harder than most or every map in Doom and Doom 2, except maybe some in Thy Flesh Consumed, speaking personally.

 

I also disagree on the idea that every map should be a survival horror of only enough ammo to get by, but that's another topic too. I don't mind having a surplus of ammo at all. Plus I disagree, since I ran out of shotgun ammo in the second big battle area, although that is probably intentional since there was plenty of chaingun ammo. And I appreciated the berserk pack by the way. Just chiming in on these topics to give another perspective, since they've been mentioned, not to argue against the hardcore combat fans, just to show there are other tastes out there, and Doom user maps become too uniform in difficulty when they all appeal just to those players in particular. Again, sorry to go on a more general topic, but it comes up, I guess gameplay is a big part of a map, and everyone has a different opinion on it. And just being honest, and I'm a guy who's played Doom for years, this first map for me is hard, maybe harder than the first map of Sunlust from my memory of it (been a bit). I died many times. I also found 0 secrets, if there were some (I assume), could be easier to find. That's another topic too. :D

 

The second map is quite tough, it's beating me quite a bit. Chaingunners and Revanants up in windows, and a shotgun guy, with a bunch of other enemies around, plus I ran out of chaingun ammo (do have 31 shells at this point at least). Lots of shotgun guys in this map, easy to get gunned down for me. In general, if there's a difficulty ramp up, feels like this set gets going at full on difficulty from the get-go. And aside from difficulty, just for pacing, sometimes to me it makes sense to have less monsters in some areas, from my perspective anyway.

 

Cool music by the way, could post the credits in here since there's no readme file.

 

Onto the map itself aside from monsters/combat. It's great! The design is really impressive, looks cool, is enjoyable to traverse, good stuff. My taste on combat/difficulty aside, congrats on this release! I can see how much time and care went into it.
 

 

 

 

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7 hours ago, PsychoGoatee said:

I see looks like this is your second release?

Yeah, I made Math Test before, but these are my first "real" maps.

 

8 hours ago, PsychoGoatee said:

Not sure if you implemented big differences in difficulty settings

No, the difficulties aren't radically different, HNTR and HMP just have fewer shotgunners/chaingunners and sometimes imps instead of chaingunners/revenants, stuff like that. I think I'll add more health for HNTR/HMP and make UV a bit more difficult before uploading to idgames.

 

8 hours ago, PsychoGoatee said:

I also found 0 secrets

1. There are armor bonuses in a certain hard-to-reach place. Those are a clue.

2. There's a soulsphere on one of the ledges. The way to it opens from the berserk room.

 

8 hours ago, PsychoGoatee said:

Cool music by the way, could post the credits in here since there's no readme file.

Titlepic - "Level 6" from Darkman

Interpic - "Password Screen" from Dragon's Fury
Map01 - "Angry Aztec Remix" from Donkey Kong 64
Map02 - "The Shinobi" from Revenge of Shinobi
Map03 - "Anchor" by Mark Klem
Map04 - "Level Music Type 1" from Crack Down
Map05 - "Level 6" from Darkman

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Thanks! Cool music is from a game based on Darkman that I didn't even know existed, nice. I knew Cool World had a game though.

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I recorded a UV FDA, see attachment.  PrBoom-plus 2.5.1.4 -complevel 9  It's a continuous run.

 

Died on map 3; took too many hits and all that damage eventually caught up.  Will check out other maps but won't be recording.

 

Kept getting blindsided by traps in map 1 so well played.  By the second map, I stopped being cocky and underestimating your monster placement.  Only took heavy damage at red key because of greed and getting too fancy with revenant missiles.  Map 3, my overall playing is a trainwreck.  I predicted the yellow key trap but the last one of my demo still surprised me (as evidenced by my getting slapped around by a revenant before a mancubus gets the kill) Very playable overall, you show a grasp of creating engaging gameplay.  Maps I played felt boxy though I don't have ideas on what to do about it.

 

Wonder how best to stagger the cacodemons in map 3 rather than unleashing 4-5 right off the start?  Or is that deliberate to keep a pistol starter running?  Have a few other thoughts from the "playtesting hat' if you want them.

 

 

tyrantfda_cnr.zip

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