Witness Of Time: 9 map episode for Doom2 Now on Idgames!

[gaspe]

Cool, going to play this soon. I've already played some of the maps but I'm going to post the comments here since now they are all packed together.

[rehelekretep]

slime-trail on map 03 - looking at the 'raised' entrance to the tunnels

[nicolas monti]

21 hours ago, Salt-Man Z said:

Just played maps 7-8. Found what I think is a bug in MAP07: I got myself into this secret area, and could find no way back out. (The lift seems to only work via the secret switch.) Otherwise, solid stuff! MAP08 in particular was very cool.

 

Thanks! I've updated the file and now there is a switch INSIDE the secret to get out, hopefully all the problems are being erased thanks to the playtesting.

Map08 tries to be to this episode the same that was computer station to E1, it tries to capture its essence in one big map.

 

6 hours ago, rehelekretep said:

slime-trail on map 03 - looking at the 'raised' entrance to the tunnels

 

Thanks for noticing, there are a couple more in the episode but since I'd have to change the layout I choose to leave them in, it's a nodebuilder bug if I'm not wrong.

Edited August 18, 2017 by nicolas monti

[Deadwing]

Map 3 - Another pretty good level, now with a silly soundtrack haha (which remembers me of Erkattanne). You start in a very open field, which works for the central hub of this map and then go through the tunnels (subway stations I guess haha). Very fun, although I messed up things in my playthrough several times and died way more than I should've lol I was able to find three secrets (out of nine!), which I guess these are the easiest ones. Cool fight with the Cyberdemon too, he can easily kill you if you meet him going of the tunnels >.>

 

Here's the playthrough, but I don't recommend much watching it lol I should've been a lot more careful
 

 

[gaspe]

Played until MAP06. First couple of level were nice, MAP03 was more interesting with its subway system. So far MAP04 is my favourite, I really liked the mood though the map is broken on prboom+, the sector 76 doesn't lower. On MAP05 the slime sectors 09-11 aren't damaging, and I would suggest to remove the spectre (thing 166) since it can prevent you to land into the pit after the big jump.

[nicolas monti]

7 hours ago, Deadwing said:

Map 3 - Another pretty good level, now with a silly soundtrack haha (which remembers me of Erkattanne). You start in a very open field, which works for the central hub of this map and then go through the tunnels (subway stations I guess haha). Very fun, although I messed up things in my playthrough several times and died way more than I should've lol I was able to find three secrets (out of nine!), which I guess these are the easiest ones. Cool fight with the Cyberdemon too, he can easily kill you if you meet him going of the tunnels >.>

 

Here's the playthrough, but I don't recommend much watching it lol I should've been a lot more careful

 

Thanks, I'm watching your videos, I'm glad to see the ammo was enough to complete the level lol!

btw I'm playing Moonblood and it's top notch classic quality, I like the texturing and the gameplay is very cleverly paced, there is always some guy to fire at you, monsters teleport on point to prevent the player to escape traps so combat is very encouraged, I'm by map14-15 and I'm loving the mix of hell, city and techbase there so congratulations!

 

7 hours ago, gaspe said:

Played until MAP06. First couple of level were nice, MAP03 was more interesting with its subway system. So far MAP04 is my favourite, I really liked the mood though the map is broken on prboom+, the sector 76 doesn't lower. On MAP05 the slime sectors 09-11 aren't damaging, and I would suggest to remove the spectre (thing 166) since it can prevent you to land into the pit after the big jump.

Thanks! everything fixed by now, I've moved some monster away from that platform on map04 so it lowers now on Prboom and that spectre on map06 cannot enter the jumping area by now.

Edited August 18, 2017 by nicolas monti

[Deadwing]

On 18/08/2017 at 2:00 PM, nicolas monti said:

Thanks, I'm watching your videos, I'm glad to see the ammo was enough to complete the level lol!

btw I'm playing Moonblood and it's top notch classic quality, I like the texturing and the gameplay is very cleverly paced, there is always some guy to fire at you, monsters teleport on point to prevent the player to escape traps so combat is very encouraged, I'm by map14-15 and I'm loving the mix of hell, city and techbase there so congratulations!

 

Thanks! everything fixed by now, I've moved some monster away from that platform on map04 so it lowers now on Prboom and that spectre on map06 cannot enter the jumping area by now.

 

Haha I'm sorry that I've been playing so sloppy, though =x

I'm glad you're liking Moonblood, there's some inspiration there from your works, especially monster placement :D

 

Anyway:

 

Map 4: It's some sort of underground complex, very characteristic of your levels. The teleport thing was pretty cool. It took me a while to realize that it took you at different places (3-way teleport). The cyberdemon battle was quite difficult for me haha tight space, helps a lot if the player knows how to do the 2 shots trick, which isn't my case >.> At the end I really fucked up things and had to press through a hitscan area with < 10 health, making me die more than 10 times lol Sorry about this. Very fitting song too.

 

 

 

Map 5: Now we're outside, in some sort of "abandoned cientific city". This level feels more linear than the previous ones, at least initially. There's some really cool progression here too, the way the building are interconnected and then you open passages (like the one close to the end, at 22:10 in the video below). For some reason, it took a while for the music to get kicking in, not sure what happened with zdoom =x Anyway, another cool one, I like the guitar has been being used here. I almost got killed by the Spider Mastermind haha

 

 

 

 

Map 6: That was the first level I've played from the set lol I guess it was your first thread. Because of this, I didn't die as much as the others levels lol 

It's a pretty good one, very non-linear and closed-quarters! The cyberdemon is free now (and more challenging). Song also pretty awesome, my second favorite (first one goes to the first level)

 

 

[rehelekretep]

really enjoying this mapset - here are some fdas

map01 fda

map02 fda

map03 fda

map04 fda

map05 fda

map06 fda

map07 fda

[gaspe]

Played the remaining maps. I'll start with MAP09 which has a big problem: the pillars with the teleports for the monster don't lower. For the rest the map is fine, it's a nice build up for the final battle. I must say that I really love those very tall and big windows you make, and it goes well with that sky. MAP07 is quite striking with the city made of low buildings, and also is a nice change from the other levels. MAP08 felt a bit mysterious an imposing with that music. The lines 1993-1996 maybe should block the monsters, a chaingunner took the teleport and got stuck in the destination sector. In the crate area I found these big slime trails:

Spoiler

I also encountered other but little slime trails in the mapset. At least I would suggest to check other nodebuilders if you can, I guess that your particular style of drawing without fitting in the grid is more vulnerable to these problems.

It's a solid episode on the whole,maps 04-07-08 are my favourites. Good choice for the sky and the music. I liked also that you weren't afraid to use the bosses so many times in the maps. Although I feel they were unispired when used just to guard the exit (like the last cyber of MAP05), but in MAP08 they were quite effective for example.

[nicolas monti]

4 hours ago, gaspe said:

Played the remaining maps. I'll start with MAP09 which has a big problem: the pillars with the teleports for the monster don't lower. For the rest the map is fine, it's a nice build up for the final battle. I must say that I really love those very tall and big windows you make, and it goes well with that sky. MAP07 is quite striking with the city made of low buildings, and also is a nice change from the other levels. MAP08 felt a bit mysterious an imposing with that music. The lines 1993-1996 maybe should block the monsters, a chaingunner took the teleport and got stuck in the destination sector. In the crate area I found these big slime trails:

  Reveal hidden contents

I also encountered other but little slime trails in the mapset. At least I would suggest to check other nodebuilders if you can, I guess that your particular style of drawing without fitting in the grid is more vulnerable to these problems.

It's a solid episode on the whole,maps 04-07-08 are my favourites. Good choice for the sky and the music. I liked also that you weren't afraid to use the bosses so many times in the maps. Although I feel they were unispired when used just to guard the exit (like the last cyber of MAP05), but in MAP08 they were quite effective for example.

Thanks Gaspe, I've tested map09 in Prboom plus too, what port are you using?

[Salt-Man Z]

I just played MAP09 in GZDoom; no issues at all as far as teleporting monsters go. Gorgeous looking level, that sky is fantastic with those tall windows and open balconies. I love how your finales almost always start devoid of enemies, just the player wandering around and exploring this grand abandoned architecture. The final battle was a nice change, but once I figured out to just keep my BFG ready and potshot the viles when they appear before bothering with the rest, it was pretty simple. (On HMP; I assume UV makes it harder.) Nailed me but good my first attempt, though.

 

Anyway, thanks again for this fantastic WAD! Now back to the second half of Eviltech...

[gaspe]

19 hours ago, nicolas monti said:

Thanks Gaspe, I've tested map09 in Prboom plus too, what port are you using?

I was using prboom+ with complevel 2 (for strict vanilla compatibility), it seems that the sectors of the pillars instead of lower they raise all at the same height, I don't know why that happens since the setup looks allright. However the map runs fine with boom compatibility.

[nicolas monti]

17 hours ago, Salt-Man Z said:

I just played MAP09 in GZDoom; no issues at all as far as teleporting monsters go. Gorgeous looking level, that sky is fantastic with those tall windows and open balconies. I love how your finales almost always start devoid of enemies, just the player wandering around and exploring this grand abandoned architecture. The final battle was a nice change, but once I figured out to just keep my BFG ready and potshot the viles when they appear before bothering with the rest, it was pretty simple. (On HMP; I assume UV makes it harder.) Nailed me but good my first attempt, though.

 

Anyway, thanks again for this fantastic WAD! Now back to the second half of Eviltech...

 

4 hours ago, gaspe said:

I was using prboom+ with complevel 2 (for strict vanilla compatibility), it seems that the sectors of the pillars instead of lower they raise all at the same height, I don't know why that happens since the setup looks allright. However the map runs fine with boom compatibility.

Thanks, I've updated the file, changes on map09:

 

1- pillars lower on any compatibility

2- archviles teleport at (semi)random places

3- 5 soulspheres instead of 8

4- some aesthetic changes on last arena's floor

 

The sky is taken from level18-19 of alien soldier, a sega genesis game.

I'll see what I can do with those slime trails!

 

 

[rehelekretep]

haha i have Alien Soldier but i didnt notice the sky was from there!

[nicolas monti]

3 hours ago, rehelekretep said:

haha i have Alien Soldier but i didnt notice the sky was from there!

Great game!

I've fixed those slime trails in map03, map07 and map08 (horrendous one) choosing a different nodebuilder, the file is updated, I hope no new slime trails make a random appearance due to this change.

[Deadwing]

Map 7 - Another strong level! I like that every map feels quite different in this wad (which also were a strong point from your previous works I've played). In this one, whe are in a somewhat set of small tech-houses hub, with a very cool landmark in the center and some memorable encounters (especially the last one - cool way to make a spider mastermind encounter haha :D). It seemed easier than the last few chunk, but that also could be that I played a bit better lol I guess I found a bug, which you'll encounter in around 14 minutes mark.

Very relaxing music too haha

 

 

[nicolas monti]

4 hours ago, Deadwing said:

Map 7 - Another strong level! I like that every map feels quite different in this wad (which also were a strong point from your previous works I've played). In this one, whe are in a somewhat set of small tech-houses hub, with a very cool landmark in the center and some memorable encounters (especially the last one - cool way to make a spider mastermind encounter haha :D). It seemed easier than the last few chunk, but that also could be that I played a bit better lol I guess I found a bug, which you'll encounter in around 14 minutes mark.

Very relaxing music too haha

Thanks Deadwing, your video made realize that you can get trapped forever if you go back early into that teleport around min 14, I've already fixed that and some slime trails too.  I hope this is getting closer to the final version so I can upload it to idgames!

[Deadwing]

I'll try to play the two remaining levels until friday too!

[Olroda]

Hello Nicolas.

Unfortunately, it took me a month until I could do a proper playthrough, but it was worth the wait. I don’t have much to say other than the following:

The maps are very good – as usual – and I like the music too. Custom tracks add a lot to the experience. Did you make them yourself as well?

Also, it hasn’t escaped my notice that your map names often have Tokharan connections. Any specific reason behind that? (I’m a bit of a linguist myself.)

Looking forward to the final release!

[NieMaMordy]

I like the music that you used. Level geometry is great too, as well as monster placement, and overall difficulty. But man, your texture alignment skills are really lacking. 

[Salt-Man Z]

1 hour ago, stasiowygrzybek said:

I like the music that you used. Level geometry is great too, as well as monster placement, and overall difficulty. But man, your texture alignment skills are really lacking. 

They're not, though. Monti's last few WADs have ignored texture alignment by design. His earlier works show that he can align textures when he feels like it.

[NieMaMordy]

lazy lack of texture alignment is still lazy.

[Salt-Man Z]

1 hour ago, stasiowygrzybek said:

lazy lack of texture alignment is still lazy.

Laziness != lack of skill, which was your original assertion.

[nicolas monti]

14 hours ago, Olroda said:

Hello Nicolas.

Unfortunately, it took me a month until I could do a proper playthrough, but it was worth the wait. I don’t have much to say other than the following:

The maps are very good – as usual – and I like the music too. Custom tracks add a lot to the experience. Did you make them yourself as well?

Also, it hasn’t escaped my notice that your map names often have Tokharan connections. Any specific reason behind that? (I’m a bit of a linguist myself.)

Looking forward to the final release!

Thanks, nice to hear you enjoyed it! I didn't make the tracks, they are mostly 80's mainstream music

About Tocharian, it nice to see someone noticed that, I study proto-indo-european by myself and I sometimes I apply some other aspects of my life into my wads, hence the names in tocharian language!

Edited August 25, 2017 by nicolas monti

[Deadwing]

MAP 08 - Here we have another epic monti's level. My favorite from the set, and maybe not only better than map 20 from Mano Laikas from his previous works. Pretty damn epic atmosphere here and a really awesome midi too. It took me 45 minutes to finish this, especially because I got lost around the middle lol It took me a while to figure out how to lower the teleport in the central area. I was also able to find more secrets than expected lol

 

Anyway, awesome level and it definetly sets the moody tone as the last "normal" one of the set.

 

 

Map 09 - And here's the finale. Although monti's doesn't care much for texture alignment, I really like the way he deals with architecture and rooms/building shapes. This level shows a lot of it, especially with the two distant but very unique looking towers. The quiet intro feels a lot like monti's style end journey, and this time we have some sort of survival battleground. I would say that this is the easiest level of the set, though haha, but it's definetly better than another Icon of Sin thing. 

 

 

----------------------

 

Overall this was a really fun journey which I would recommend to anyone who appreciates abstract enviroments with top-quality gameplay. :) This time the journey feels more moody than his previous two works (Mano Laikas and Erkatainne), featuring new songs and textures (?) with some silly "real life" stuff, such as chairs, tables and wardrobes haha. In the gameplay side, it's similar to Mano Laikas, focusing on rocket launcher use, although this time you'll face more bosses than before, which makes Witness feels like a natural tier evolution from Mano Laikas.

[nicolas monti]

1 hour ago, Deadwing said:

MAP 08 - Here we have another epic monti's level. My favorite from the set, and maybe not only better than map 20 from Mano Laikas from his previous works. Pretty damn epic atmosphere here and a really awesome midi too. It took me 45 minutes to finish this, especially because I got lost around the middle lol It took me a while to figure out how to lower the teleport in the central area. I was also able to find more secrets than expected lol

 

Anyway, awesome level and it definetly sets the moody tone as the last "normal" one of the set.

 

Map 09 - And here's the finale. Although monti's doesn't care much for texture alignment, I really like the way he deals with architecture and rooms/building shapes. This level shows a lot of it, especially with the two distant but very unique looking towers. The quiet intro feels a lot like monti's style end journey, and this time we have some sort of survival battleground. I would say that this is the easiest level of the set, though haha, but it's definetly better than another Icon of Sin thing.

 

Overall this was a really fun journey which I would recommend to anyone who appreciates abstract enviroments with top-quality gameplay. :) This time the journey feels more moody than his previous two works (Mano Laikas and Erkatainne), featuring new songs and textures (?) with some silly "real life" stuff, such as chairs, tables and wardrobes haha. In the gameplay side, it's similar to Mano Laikas, focusing on rocket launcher use, although this time you'll face more bosses than before, which makes Witness feels like a natural tier evolution from Mano Laikas.

 

Thanks for the feedback and appreciation, your videos also made me realize some aspects to improve, I've made some changes to the last level, now it's not the toughtest fight but not the easiest either:

 

* 3 soulspheres instead of 5

* 1 megaarmor instead of 3

* Pain elementals and mancubi teleport earlier just to mess things up

* archviles teleport a bit later and distributed in a better way so they are more menacing and less predictable.

 

I think this is almost done!

[rehelekretep]

ive finished this off

witness of time fda pack

 

overall a lot of fun, not too many unfair moments (spiderdemon at the top of that lift aside).

the final fight could do with beefing up - maybe some more BFG ammo and some cybers? felt a little anticlimactic being surrounded by shrieking lost souls as i ran out of ammo

map08 was just a clusterfuck for me. killed everything i could see after ~10mins, then spent 20 minutes running around trying to get to the BK. then i found i could run off into a little room that i had previously tried and failed to SR40/SR50 into for some reason. then i opened the exit but wasnt sure if it was actually an exit or not, dropped a save and jumped in and the map ended. not too much fun. maybe im just dense :(

 

p.s. i really love your architecture, your overall map design, and your midi choices. it feels like an odd, surreal, but threatening alien world. nothing quite like it in the rest of the community i think.

[nicolas monti]

On 8/25/2017 at 6:38 PM, rehelekretep said:

ive finished this off

witness of time fda pack

 

overall a lot of fun, not too many unfair moments (spiderdemon at the top of that lift aside).

the final fight could do with beefing up - maybe some more BFG ammo and some cybers? felt a little anticlimactic being surrounded by shrieking lost souls as i ran out of ammo

map08 was just a clusterfuck for me. killed everything i could see after ~10mins, then spent 20 minutes running around trying to get to the BK. then i found i could run off into a little room that i had previously tried and failed to SR40/SR50 into for some reason. then i opened the exit but wasnt sure if it was actually an exit or not, dropped a save and jumped in and the map ended. not too much fun. maybe im just dense :(

 

p.s. i really love your architecture, your overall map design, and your midi choices. it feels like an odd, surreal, but threatening alien world. nothing quite like it in the rest of the community i think.

Thanks, now it's on idgames, I know progression in map08 is convoluted, it's the biggest map on the episode but I don't think it's enormous either, just confusing at best.

On map 09 I think I've provided enough cells, it's just the way you use it that makes great difference, that the problem of the BFG when it comes to balance but I assure you I've tested the map many many times and the ammo was enough to kill everything in every attempt!

I'm preparing myself for a new project, it ill be different stuff but with all the architecture traits you like!

[rehelekretep]

hey @nicolas monti thanks for your response: i didnt mean the fight as it is needed more cells, i meant more cells if you add more enemies. sorry that wasnt very clear >.<

running out of ammo when there was just lost souls left, i meant that it would be more scary if you ran out of ammo with cybers stomping about :D

[grrfield]

this is dormant, I know, but can someone provide me with a tracklist.

 

I hear the cure and new order severals times, but i cannot recall all the songs.

can someone help me out?