Waste Abandonment - Single level for Doom 2

[pavera]

Hi everyone. I'm back today to bring you another map I've been incubating for several months. Today I bring you a single level for Doom 2, slotted on MAP08. It requires at least a limit removing port, but is otherwise created in Doom 2 Format. This is my take on a pure tech-base styled map, and it utilizes only stock Doom 2 resources to create its aesthetic. This map has all difficulty settings implemented, with minor changes introducing newer challenges at higher levels. It's balanced around stock Doom gameplay, but please enjoy it any way you please! Hope you guys have fun.

 

Waste Abandonment

Scour the corroded and desolate halls of abandoned waste. Rusted, leaky barrels of toxicity are your only friends here. The acidic stench of nuclear pollution fills the air as the demonic mother-lode awaits your challenge. Will you survive?

 

 

 

[leodoom85]

Here I left this demo in which you'll need GZD 3.1.0. Played on UV, first try.

This map was fairly difficult thanks to the archies, I still died once but I knew what to do after the next part. Fun map nonetheless. Also, I spotted some non-impassable lines...you'll see it in the demo.

 

pawa08.zip

[Veinen]

Most excellent.

 

I enjoyed the other map you recently posted so I had high expectations for this, and I wasn't disappointed in the slightest. A very good take on the classic techbase aesthetic in a relatively simple but stylish manner. The layout of the map is well-designed in a sense that the map feels rather complex but it was very easy to find where to go and what to do. Gameplay has great flow and the map allows for aggressive playing, which is something that I definitely appreciate in a map. Difficulty was medium, but I was lame and correctly anticipated that the BK fight might be trouble so I used the secret Invuln and completely neutered the entire invasion. FDA attached. I also spotted some non-impassable lines around a floor lamp near the Invuln secret, check  the demo to see which lines I mean.

 

Great stuff, and hopefully there is more to come.

wasteabPavera_FDA_Veinen.zip

 

@leodoom85: Yeah I though it might be so, but I don't have the correct GZdoom version so I couldn't check if that was the case!

Edited September 9, 2017 by Veinen

[leodoom85]

1 minute ago, Veinen said:

I also spotted some non-impassable lines around a floor lamp near the Invuln secret, check  the demo to see which lines I mean.

Looks like you spotted the same thing as me...

[pavera]

Thanks for the demos. I'll have to fix those pesky lines! Thanks for finding that.

 

Glad you guys had fun. Maybe the invuln makes that encounter too easy... We'll see, maybe I'll patch it out ;)

[leodoom85]

4 minutes ago, Pavera said:

Thanks for the demos. I'll have to fix those pesky lines! Thanks for finding that.

 

Glad you guys had fun. Maybe the invuln makes that encounter too easy... We'll see, maybe I'll patch it out ;)

probably changing to a soulsphere or a megaarmor can do the job...

[esselfortium]

Heck yes, more Pavera maps!

[BigDickBzzrak]

Very easy map, thankfully. (played on HNTR because I suck)

 

ZDoom 281 FDA attached, I exit the map in 19 minutes and spend about as much making snarky comments about being forced to take damage.

So yeah, cool map.

 

9/10

waste-fda-bzzrak.zip

[SOSU]

Ahhh great! :D Can't wait to play it!

[Impie]

Rather melodramatic name for a toilet.

 

Your description is pretty boss. Seems like you'd make a good DM, if you're into tabletop rpg's.

[pavera]

Haha, thanks. I came up with it in my head while I was writing the OP. Just wanted to have some fluffy backdrop for the map's description :P

 

It's not meant to be human waste though! More nuclear waste disposal type stuff I guess...

[paymentplan]

I put down a note to remind myself to play this a week ago... But I only just found my note! Well, I had some time and gave it a try on UV. Really great stuff. Hits the difficulty sweetspot for me: lots of medium to tough encounters, but plenty of health to cover up for mistakes. Well, some of the time. The encounter with all the revenants in the red key room killed me twice, and then encounter right after with the imps, revs, and arch vile killed me once! Steeled myself after those deaths though and got through the whole thing on the fourth try. 

 

One of the things I noticed right (as a result of my multiple deaths) was how much fun it was clearing all the monsters leading into the red key room. The environment is carefully crafted as a fun little arena to duck in and out of cover while taking out all the imps and hitscanners. All the barrels just make it that much more fun. Stuff like this is nice for pistol starting with no saves. Much better than having to hit a switch right at the start or some other repetitive tedium. 

 

But that's merely 10% of the map. The rest sees the player scour some dank tunnels on a quest for the blue key. This section is exquisitely suspenseful as the player is treated to the fervent murmurs of four or more arch viles in the walls just waiting to get loose. The player is lead to each switch by pools of blood, surely thinking "will this switch drop those arch viles on me?" But it's a nice no-sell until at last, the bars to the plasma rifle are dropped, and in come the arch viles. Some from the front, where they have ample corpses to resurrect, and some from the behind, quick to start a fire under the player's feet. The fight can be made a lot easier with careful aim of the plasma rifle and the Invulnerability sphere secret. 

 

Blue key in hand, the player starts the last leg of the map, which is a victory lap of sorts. A huge stash of plasma cells helps make quick, bloody work of hordes of shotgunners in rocky cliffs looming over more nukage. This section of the map is quite fun to stomp around in, full of health and pride in the successes so far, but doesn't offer the thrills of the other 2/3rds. More of a chance to reflect on the journey, and what a journey it was!

 

I'll ditto the non-impassable linedefs veinen and leodoom85 caught. I also noticed that the linedefs for the first soulsphere secret and the invuln secret were visible. Might not have found them otherwise! The final secret is too, but that might have been intentional. The armor secret is so cheeky! I kind of wanted there to be more reward for that, but I was basically full on ammo by that point. 

 

Great stuff, all around, though. Keep 'em comin'!

[pavera]

Awesome! Thanks for the great writeup, glad you had fun. I also love that opening section. Always wanted to do a setup like that, with barrels taking care of most of your work for you. Also, yeah that last third of the map is really supposed to be a wind down of sorts. I like maps that climax somewhere at the 2/3s mark, with your victory rewarding you with some satisfying burndown time. That's exactly what I was going for here, with the long row of zombies to melt with your new prize.

 

Anyways, still gotta upload the fixed version. Thanks again!

[Alfonzo]

Sublime piece of work, here, Pavera; a rolling maul of explosions and gibs and adrenaline that had me tearing through the base like a madman. I loved it! Excellent pacing and scene-setting, in particular (the sound of the inevitable arch-vile spawn-in had me on edge. Too often level designers opt to stick those closets away from the layout of the level when they could be used to build tension like this, instead). I see you've taken to scattering bits and bobs and provisions all over the place for my inner magpie to swoop upon, as well. Sandy has taught you well.

 

Something that really stood out to me was how purposeful the monster usage is. It's not just that they're intelligently placed to maximize their effectiveness against the player (or at least be fun to fling aside, like pretty much all the zombies...). They're so in keeping with the tone of the level, which has you moving you forward at all costs, chewing through plentiful pickups and dodging recklessly into fresh new digs. The en bloc revenant spawn-ins is just the perfect way to capitalize on this kind of emphasis on movement and aggression, and the barrel chaos the perfect tonic. Delicious. You have a rare talent for this sort of stuff, I think. It wasn't until I fought the last monster of the level — a lone arachnotron by the exit switch — that I realized how little redundancy there had been up to that point, in this way. It's a very complete experience.

 

Finished in 10:01. Sorry for the lack of an FDA! I managed to get through in one sitting so I'm sure it'd have been worth it, for once.