Amiga Demo Party 3 -- Deadlock -- Public Beta

[Steve D]

Plays on Map22, Doom 2

Requires cc4-tex.wad

Limit-removing

Difficulty settings implemented. I have tested UV and HNTR, but not HMP as yet.

Tested in GZDoom 3.1 and PrBoom 2.5.1.4

Co-op starts included if anyone wants to test it

 

Get it here; http://www.mediafire.com/file/9sn95gu61ufa315/ADP3bz.wad

 

Screenshots; 

 

 

This is a remix of Abcess, Map01, and completely transforms the architecture and gameplay of the original. If you'd like to compare the 2, you can -- shameless plug -- find Abcess here; https://www.doomworld.com/files/file/18866-abcess/

 

 

The original Map01 of Abcess is a standard late-'90s techbase that's a bit more difficult than usual for the map slot. I was inspired to remix it owing to some comments from @Impie concerning its design and gameplay. I wondered if there was a way to blow it out and make it less linear. I had also decided by then that I wanted to do a megawad of Amiga Demo Party maps, and as a result, I needed some easier levels than what I had on hand. So everything came together for what amounts to an experiment in whether or not I can adapt a 1998 map into the ADP style.

 

This map is by far the easiest ADP blastfest. Because it's built on the shell of a techbase, it seems a bit overlarge by ADP standards, but it can still be defeated in less than 15 minutes, much less for some players. It's too big for a Map01 slot, so I'm thinking that if it's deemed successful, it can be a Map05 or something like that.

 

I'm currently planning to name the megawad, Grinning Like An Undertaker, The Amiga Demo Party of Doom. The first part of the title is taken from the 10th album by Seattle's crossover thrash band, The Accused.

 

The music track is Deadlock, by Elwood, and is in MOD format. This is actually a PC Fast Tracker Module, and not an Amiga MOD. Oh, well. PrBoom has trouble with ProTracker modules from the Amiga, and I'll need a music expert to fix the looping problems. Note: MODs tend to play loud on PrBoom and soft in GZDoom, so if you play this in GZDoom, you'll need to increase your music volume. It also loops slowly in both ports, but moreso in PrBoom. 

 

Edited September 13, 2017 by Steve D

[Veinen]

Always ready for more Steve D maps! Wasn't quite good enough to beat it under 15 minutes but perhaps you'll find some use for this FDA either way. That's some sloppy as hell playing though but ehh.

 

Fun stuff, not very hard but engaging nonetheless. I think I managed to take the worst possible route in the beginning and I was horribly underequipped for what might be the most difficult ambush in the map on the path to the RK, but luckily you left the door open for an escape so no pelts for you this time. The fight in the PG area was rather nicely designed I think, wasn't expecting the Revs at all and they're a bit awkward to deal with among the small waterfalls.

deadlock_FDA_Veinen.zip

Edited September 13, 2017 by Veinen

[Vorpal]

Yeeeeep this is a vorpal map, total freedom to the player to decide a route. I like the large scale too, while it aesthetically it feels weird (makes the player feel tiny), it allows for tons of dodging and general doomguy-racecar speed shenanigans ala 90's pwads, which in turn allows for major risk-taking and exciting play (and probably exciting watch).

 

The music is so cheesey, but, I'm a cheeseball. I remember raping DEADLOCK.XM endlessly in modplug during the 90's to the point where I was still able to hum along to every note while playing the map ;-P

 

Criticism time: the megasphere fight was fun but way beyond the rather casual difficulty of the rest of the map, also I was left worse off than had I just avoided the megasphere and its ambush. Some things I had difficulty locating, while not a big problem I wonder if it would help to slightly lower the light level on the map in general by 16, and then raise the light level of important buttons / guns by 16 or 32. Just an idea, if it murders the atmosphere then dont sweat it. Also, boring secrets! Haha I think you should just have 0 secrets and just give those 2 items to the player freely (or make more elaborate and impactful secrets)

 

Possible bug? Gray water at the plasma rifle

 

 

[Steve D]

7 hours ago, Veinen said:

Fun stuff, not very hard but engaging nonetheless. I think I managed to take the worst possible route in the beginning and I was horribly underequipped for what might be the most difficult ambush in the map on the path to the RK, but luckily you left the door open for an escape so no pelts for you this time.

Thanks for the great FDA and the comments! 

 

The map clearly needs some fine-tuning, given that both you and Vorpal went into the megasphere fight without the RL. I'm thinking maybe I should put bars at the ingress point and put a switch up on the RL platform, so you have to go there and get the RL before you can raise the bars. I think maybe that RL isn't quite obvious enough and is hard to see because it's in a high alcove. I put it there in hopes that the player would get flanked on both sides -- it's happened to me -- with Revvies firing on one side and Cacos crowding in from the other. 

 

The megasphere fight is completely optional, but I hope that players get suckered into it and don't realize they can completely avoid it until after I already have a pelt. ;D

 

I also need to do something about that switch which uses a Sw2 texture instead of Sw1. Hitting that switch allows a player to sidestep the main battle by going into the side corridors, then dropping down and coming at all those Revvies and Imps from behind. I haven't done it myself, but it's possible. And congrats on getting out of there alive with just a chaingun and single-shotty! Skillz.

 

I'm glad you took suboptimal paths, because even though I tested those paths, I have the curse of foreknowledge, so I can't experience them in the same way as a blind runner who doesn't know where all the goodies are stashed. The worry is that a crappier path might create boredom, but you seemed to be engaged at all times, though I was concerned when you had the Revvies chokepointed on the stairs, which might be tedious. The architecture in that area is awkward when it comes to re-working the stairs so that monsters can pursue you, so I'll have to give this problem some thought. 

[Veinen]

2 hours ago, Steve D said:

The map clearly needs some fine-tuning, given that both you and Vorpal went into the megasphere fight without the RL. I'm thinking maybe I should put bars at the ingress point and put a switch up on the RL platform, so you have to go there and get the RL before you can raise the bars. I think maybe that RL isn't quite obvious enough and is hard to see because it's in a high alcove.

 

That would probably be a good idea, given that without the RL that fight is a bit too much to handle for most players I reckon and escape is the only reasonable way to survive it. And it's true that dealing with the horde later when they're stuck on the stairs is a tad tedious and provides no real challenge, so if you could find a way to rework the stairs so that the enemies can descend to the ground floor and pursue the player, it would definitely be a good improvement on that part. 

[Demonologist]

Hey there uncle Steve the Pelt Collector! Fun stuff, it's nice to have a map where the player can determine his own pace without caring about things too much once in a while, the music was also intense enough (and spot-on enough from that perspective) to encourage frantic carelessness and daring stupidities. Nevertheless this map's got many things right for its intended purpose, fast but not pressing, many ways to play it, intuitive enough weapon progression and some meatier scenarios to keep things entertaining, also once again - you're doing an interesting work combining the ways of yore and contemporary tendencies to achieve something that's both modern and nostalgic, yet it's not something you're not already comfortable enough doing as far as I can tell, so I wouldn't even think you're going to fail that part. Good work!

Have a lazy (lousy?) FDA if you like.

ADP3bz_dem_FDA.zip

[Steve D]

On 9/13/2017 at 2:23 PM, Vorpal said:

Yeeeeep this is a vorpal map, total freedom to the player to decide a route. I like the large scale too, while it aesthetically it feels weird (makes the player feel tiny), it allows for tons of dodging and general doomguy-racecar speed shenanigans ala 90's pwads, which in turn allows for major risk-taking and exciting play (and probably exciting watch).

I was definitely going for the "roll your own pathway" approach thanks to the map being "pathologically interconnected." ;D There are several different pathways that one player or another might like better and focus on if they play the map more than once. For example, getting the yellow key and SSG early requires a bit of risk, but if you take that route, you can sneak back to the Arachnotron/Revvie area with some actual firepower, take them out, and snag the armor down in the water, or opt for the Soulsphere and Blue Armor instead. Then you can go after the RL with a little extra punch. One problem is that the YK isn't quite as visible as it ought to be, so there's more work to do. Another thing that happened in earlier versions is that monsters clumped at barrier walls, so I had to cut through one of the old platforms in the Tekgren room so they could get through, since otherwise they'd pose a clean-up problem for maxers who'd already beaten the map, but then have to search all over Hell's half acre to kill stray monsters.

 

On the scale, it's the Michael Krause influence.

 

The music is so cheesey, but, I'm a cheeseball. I remember raping DEADLOCK.XM endlessly in modplug during the 90's to the point where I was still able to hum along to every note while playing the map ;-P

 

LOL. Glad I'm not the only one. I got my first Amiga in 1997, 3 years after Commodore went under, and I went big, with an A4000T packing a 57Mhz 68060. Among other cool things that resulted thanks to that awesome machine, I was introduced to MOD files. I think Deadlock was one of the many PC modules that I got off a shovelware CD. The "Heartbeat" track I used on the last ADP map probably came from the same CD. Eagleplayer on the Amiga is still my fave, but the MODplug player has saved my sanity, and has wider compatibility. Now if only we could get the PrBoom team to change their F-MOD setup to exactly mirror that of GZDoom and/or Risen3D, my life would be a lot easier.

 

Criticism time: the megasphere fight was fun but way beyond the rather casual difficulty of the rest of the map, also I was left worse off than had I just avoided the megasphere and its ambush. Some things I had difficulty locating, while not a big problem I wonder if it would help to slightly lower the light level on the map in general by 16, and then raise the light level of important buttons / guns by 16 or 32. Just an idea, if it murders the atmosphere then dont sweat it. Also, boring secrets! Haha I think you should just have 0 secrets and just give those 2 items to the player freely (or make more elaborate and impactful secrets)

You're right about the megasphere battle, but I kinda wanted one fight on this map to showcase the sneering cruelty that's part of the ADP experience. Of course, people at my skill level are liable to get killed several times on this map, and this is the fight most likely to get me some of their pelts. I guess my philosophy is, "I gave you a megasphere and a bunch of rockets, so fight the fight for the fun of it and see if you survive." Either that or take your "Get out of jail free" card. ;)

 

Good point about the light levels. Did you even see that high RL near the start? Perhaps I should have a very bright, blinking light there to draw the player's eye. Watching you and Veinen, it was as if you guys were deliberately avoiding that pick-up because maybe you figured it was trapped, but it also occurs to me that you never saw it until most of the distracting critters were dead and you had more time to look around. It's also the case that everyone who flipped the switch that raised the platforms leading to the RL looked first at the red key area, maybe figuring that the RK column would lower. It took a long time for everyone to realize a pathway was raised to the weapon. I'm thinking that's because the switch platform is too large, so it blocks the view of the rising columns. Details. ;D

 

You're right about the boring secrets. Secrets aren't generally a big part of the ADP experience, so I'll take your advice and just give them away.

 

And yes, the grey water was a total flub. ;D

 

Thanks again, especially for testing HMP. It looked good.

[Vorpal]

Heh yes, I understand about harvesting pelts as a map designer, so I can't criticize the megasphere fight too much - the challenge was ultimately fun and just about at my ability limit (I dread to think what it's like on UV mwaha). It just seemed out of place in terms of difficulty... you could argue that I'm not suggesting you ease up on the fight, but instead increase the difficulty of the keycard encounters... ;-)

 

That said the RL would have made a huge difference, and indeed I never even saw it until near the end when I was looking for a switch. 

 

Your next beta I'll have to dip my toes in to skill 4

[baja blast rd.]

Pretty fun map as expected. Only real criticism is that the yellow key felt a bit superfluous -- there's not much of anything tied to it (and you can grab it practically at the start of the map). It feels more like a stub of the rocket launcher path. My first playthrough had me not noticing it at the start and then backtracking across the map for it after everything was dead.

 

As a change of pace, a playthrough on UV -fast. (Not remotely an FDA. :P) Quite tough but fair level on that setting. I tried to fight the megasphere battle and the BK fight normally instead of running away. 

 

adp3bzfast_rd_demo.zip

 

 

Edited September 15, 2017 by rdwpa

[paymentplan]

Here's an FDA with two deaths and a pause to open my window. I got hot! 

 

I had trouble getting a good start going. A lot of monsters aggro to the player and punish an attempt at slow rolling. I didn't really rush to the chaingun, super shotgun, or other weapons for a while. In fact I was kind of skeptical of the plasma gun. It looked so ominous in that cave! I can see it be a fun map to return to and try to carve out a different path than last time. Ammo and health felt good on UV and encouraged use of all the weapons without relying on one more than the others (other than the typical overuse of SSG being the trusty work horse).

 

Because of the route I chose, grabbing the soulsphere did not feel worth it. Would've enjoyed it more if I had grabbed the SSG first, but that was my bad move. I really enjoyed the blue key fight with all the revenants and imps. A fun test of dancing around the blown out ruins of a former base without getting too much nukage on my toes. Shouldn't have grabbed the radsuit so early!

 

I always feel a little weird in maps of this size. Almost every room and hallway feels like 3x larger than I think it should. This is no fault of yours, maybe I'm slightly agoraphobic... Probably not, though. As it is, some of the pathways can be overlong and tedious to retread after clearing out the monsters.  

 

The megasphere fight ended up being my finale. Once I grabbed all the keys (without triggering the fight) and saw the exit room was just an exit room I went back and gave it a whirl. I survived it pretty well by running away afraid for my life! It's easy enough to throw rockets up the stairs at the revenants while avoiding any rebuttals. 

 

The detail work is amazing, especially little flourishes like the vine shadows. Really nice stuff. Great job differentiating the areas of the map with subtle texturing differences. Kept things from feeling too samey. All in all a really fun experience! I'm sorry I couldn't have turned in a more watchable FDA, but maybe it'll be useful somehow.

ppADP3FDA.zip

[Steve D]

On 9/14/2017 at 0:33 PM, Demonologist said:

Hey there uncle Steve the Pelt Collector! Fun stuff, it's nice to have a map where the player can determine his own pace without caring about things too much once in a while, the music was also intense enough (and spot-on enough from that perspective) to encourage frantic carelessness and daring stupidities.

Hi, Demonologist! Great to see you, and allow me to say that I'm desperately sorry for taking so long to respond. I'd like to extend that apology to @rdwpa and @paymentplan as well. I've been under the gun with IRL work and am finally finding time to comment on all your great playthroughs, which I very much enjoyed watching.

 

I loved your line, ". . . encourage frantic carelessness and daring stupidities", not only because it's funny as hell, but because that's exactly how I hoped players would feel.

 

Of course, Uncle Steve has an empty slot on his trophy wall . . . with your name on it. What a rotten uncle! ;D I never imagined that this map was capable of snatching your pelt, so I sat back to enjoy your demolition of it. Much respect for your Revvie crowd control at the megasphere trap, and your all-around excellent play. I also hope to see you at the next Amiga Demo Party, which I assure you will be more brutal than this one, and probably more brutal than the one you played a year or so back. Of course, you handled that one quite easily as well, so maybe all I can reasonably expect is to give you a good workout, but that is fine with me, so long as you enjoy it.

 

On the style and approach, I really enjoy doing this kind of thing, and it seems to come very natural for me. This map is somewhat unusual in that it uses an actual '98 map as the base, so there's the mix of old and new, but I do have at least one unfinished 1996 map that I plan to give the ADP treatment, so you're right, I'm comfortable with this mix. This causes me to wonder about your method of construction, and how you develop the ideas for your shockingly difficult scenarios, and how much time it takes you. This one took me a little more than a week, including a few days where I devoted a lot of time to it.

 

Please let me know if you've completed more maps recently. After all, you need pelts, too. ;)  

 

 

[Steve D]

On 9/14/2017 at 6:03 PM, Vorpal said:

Heh yes, I understand about harvesting pelts as a map designer, so I can't criticize the megasphere fight too much - the challenge was ultimately fun and just about at my ability limit (I dread to think what it's like on UV mwaha). It just seemed out of place in terms of difficulty... you could argue that I'm not suggesting you ease up on the fight, but instead increase the difficulty of the keycard encounters... ;-)

 

That said the RL would have made a huge difference, and indeed I never even saw it until near the end when I was looking for a switch. 

 

Your next beta I'll have to dip my toes in to skill 4

I like your idea of increasing the difficulty of the key encounters, but needing an early-slot map, I have to enforce discipline and hold back. ;D This map will come up for beta again when the full megawad is finished -- assuming it ever is -- or if I decide I can't finish it, whenever what's left is put up for final beta. Based on feedback, I decided this one is good enough to include in the megawad, despite its problems, which are easily solved. So that means another conversation about whether that fight should be nerfed a bit, or left as is, to serve as a warning of what's to come in later maps, where fights like that will be the norm, and in fact among the easier ones.

 

I'm happy to hear that you'll be around for the next party, and that you'll try UV. The next one will have proper Amiga music and I'll link to the incredible demo it came from. It'll also make this map look like Wimp's Christmas. ;D 

[Steve D]

On 9/14/2017 at 7:55 PM, rdwpa said:

Pretty fun map as expected. Only real criticism is that the yellow key felt a bit superfluous -- there's not much of anything tied to it (and you can grab it practically at the start of the map). It feels more like a stub of the rocket launcher path. My first playthrough had me not noticing it at the start and then backtracking across the map for it after everything was dead.

That pathway was the very last interconnection I made. I kept wanting to jump onto the high water there, just like @paymentplan, so I added that cave when I thought of putting an SSG and the YK on those platforms. I thought it might be fun to have an easier SSG to grab, mainly because adding Cacos made the other SSG harder to get. I was worried about putting in the Cacos at first because the play area is big, and with all that dodging room, I wondered if they'd be no more than tedious clean-up. However, they worked great as flying meat walls. They weren't much of a lethal threat, but they were always showing up everywhere to close-off caves or popping up over the side of high platforms to chase you off. So I figured this YK path might be fun for people who play the map more than once, and let them get that firepower early. I could possibly add a HK or some Imps in that cave to slow the player and make the Revvie up there more threatening. I also need to make the YK more visible so players don't get stuck backtracking as you did. Maybe I can put it where the Evil Eye is and revise the platforming.  On another note, I think I should put the switch that lowers the other SSG on the other side of the hallway, since players seemed unable to see it clearly where it is now. Since you've played both versions, you had foreknowledge -- even though you didn't bother with that one -- but players coming in blind now approach that switch from opposite of the direction originally intended, and it seems to disadvantage them.

 

 

On 9/14/2017 at 7:55 PM, rdwpa said:

As a change of pace, a playthrough on UV -fast. (Not remotely an FDA. :P) Quite tough but fair level on that setting. I tried to fight the megasphere battle and the BK fight normally instead of running away. 

That was a rare treat. Loved it! You had some close calls, but you also make -fast look like normal speed when I play. ;D I'm not sure I'd even try HNTR on this map at -fast. Definitely not UV.

 

I liked the way you searched for that switch in the floor and used the side passages in your Megasphere area fight. Your strategy for saving the Megasphere until you already tanked a lot of damage was really cool. And I gotta say, watching those Spectres fly up the stairs on -fast is insane! :D 

 

You had cool strategies in the BK fight, too. Great wrist-flicks to keep tossing rockets past all those obstacles. And then maneuvering around that central structure in the main hall to keep outflanking the Revs. Some of the moves you made looked almost supernatural. Ah, if I could do that . . . my maps would be really nasty. ;)

 

Thanks again. And if you try -Fast at the next one, well, it will be an interesting experiment in whether it's possible to survive the start on that setting. 

Edited September 18, 2017 by Steve D

[Vorpal]

7 hours ago, Steve D said:

I'm happy to hear that you'll be around for the next party, and that you'll try UV. 

Oh hell naw, first attempts are always HMP. I mean next beta of this map since I know where the ambushes and RL are now ;-P

[Steve D]

10 hours ago, Vorpal said:

Oh hell naw, first attempts are always HMP. I mean next beta of this map since I know where the ambushes and RL are now ;-P

Oh, shucky-darn! ;D

[FEDEX]

Hi everybody (specially the wad autor Steve D) can someone re-upload the link for the map #01 from The Amiga Demo Party please? All links from all versions are down, i've posted it in the original map#01 thread but it's data from 2014 .. thanks everybody :)