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BeeWen

Relyctum.wad

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Thanks for the feedback friends. This project was planned to a standard number of levels -32. Even 31 are ready). It all depends on the time available to work on the maps.
The remastering release on "Triton" - PSX conversion from RockHardGamer 45 will take place soon, then it will be possible to get to grips with this project.

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On 2/18/2019 at 8:35 PM, Tango said:

played the first few of these, really enjoying them! I really like your heavy usage of lifts and raising platforms, and the visual style is really appealing to me

You know, I too enjoy this style.

Many players do love linear cards with slaughter arena in mind. 

Because It's been done so much that has grated on me, even become "monotonous" 

My only critical problem with BeeWen's maps are he uses too many corridor fights in claustrophobic areas. 

I would like to see more **open fights** in his future Relyctum maps to avoid repetition :)

Btw Tango, I remember your Mayan Mishap from 2014, and thought you did a great job.

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Cool that you are still working on this. Here are the fdas for the added maps since the last time I played this relyctum_gaspefdas4.zip

 

MAP09: This was the only map I wasn't able to finish. I like how it keeps to expanding and going to collect resources at the beginning to tackle the next areas is very important since you don't know what'e next and every area has nasty traps so you filled with a good sense of dread throughout the journey. The archvile (thing 321) can teleport to the lift where you don't have cover against it, I had luck in my attempts but that is a bit too cheap for me. A minor thing, sector 538, the lift that leads to the BK could use a different flat so you can notice that there's something there.

MAP11: Very intricate to navigate, and that seemed the concept of the map as going to the next areas and also understand how you can go back will require a bit of thinking. I liked the spiderdemon encounter, simple but effective and it's very menacing if you come  from a pistol start. The YK is nasty to get because of that room with the crushers that is almost a death trap, at least you can go there not so late in the game though I picked the YK at last and was able to pass that room.

MAP12: not as big as the others and it's nice to have something more short and straightforward to break between the long and complex affairs. The shortage of ammo and health was nasty at the beginning. Still I was able to kill those caged revenants early, I don't think I would have survived if they were still alive when you stuck in the teleports to get the YK. The BFG was really appreciated for the cyberdemon encounter.

MAP14: I liked the theme more gothic theme and to get something a bit different from the predominant tech theme. At the siderdemon encounter at the YSK looks like it's intended to let them infight, I was able to sneakily press the switch and get the key without wasting ammo. The setup of the central elevator that progressively lowers revealing new floors to explore was nice.

MAP32: Here there's a good choice of non-linearity, you can start to tackle the map in various way and some routes seem that are better than the others. I think that this level is less impressive compared to the normal maps with lots of time to spend in corridors and the details and the more blocky architecture were less striking thought there's still some good care put into them. It's different from the tired trope of the Wolfenstein levels in Doom at least.

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I really enjoyed the aesthetics and gameplay of this one too, until the second level. Then I got stuck because I forgot about the SR switch near the start and had to check in DoomBuilder. Then I faced a baron without enough shells and stepping on his platform spawned a bunch of chaingunners I also didn't have ammo for. 

 

This thing shows a ton of potential. I think a little tightening of gameplay would do a lot of good.

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21 hours ago, NaturalTvventy said:

I really enjoyed the aesthetics and gameplay of this one too, until the second level. Then I got stuck because I forgot about the SR switch near the start and had to check in DoomBuilder. Then I faced a baron without enough shells and stepping on his platform spawned a bunch of chaingunners I also didn't have ammo for. 

 

This thing shows a ton of potential. I think a little tightening of gameplay would do a lot of good. 

 

Thanks for the advice. In the further development of the levels the game will be tougher. Initial maps should not frighten the player with complexity, gradually involving in the process.

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@BeeWen I really like the midi's you used in your maps, but you didn't list what any of them are. Long story short, I wan't to use some of them in a megawad project I've been working on, but I want to know where they're sourced from. So if you could make a "midi list" in your readme.txt next time, that'll be great. :^)

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On 3/24/2019 at 7:37 PM, Memerz1 said:

@BeeWen I really like the midi's you used in your maps, but you didn't list what any of them are. Long story short, I wan't to use some of them in a megawad project I've been working on, but I want to know where they're sourced from. So if you could make a "midi list" in your readme.txt next time, that'll be great. :^)

 

The final version with a full set of levels will have an info file with project resources.
and MIDI including. But some of the tracks are taken from anonymous collections and are simply numbered.

Completed construction of map number 25. The volume is relatively large, the attempt to combine organic with techno style is clearly not new, but I hope my version deserves attention.

 

@haruko haruhara

Will the video continue to the next levels?

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The work reached the 30th map, it remained the last one until the final assembly in the classic format. After that, it remains to put in order the names of the levels and other documentation. For now, tests are needed, thanks to which many minor faults have already been fixed at other levels.

 

Screenshot_Doom_20210103_140812.jpg.c84958844fe502860012f2fddefa6623.jpgScreenshot_Doom_20210103_195126.jpg.d9d52bb5a721b39ce5fcaecfc72ce665.jpgScreenshot_Doom_20210103_195425.jpg.4d6542b5b5c2a49a673d8f147fbb62be.jpgScreenshot_Doom_20210410_144934.jpg.207c696b62b6c422e2eb2a7b1a458724.jpgScreenshot_Doom_20210410_151027.jpg.94254b7cb2087832b18580bb228b8495.jpgScreenshot_Doom_20210410_151444.jpg.156dbb7e9a03f044be2fc0aed3b945f7.jpgScreenshot_Doom_20210410_154905.jpg.92f5600efb4c953388da1cb98166b790.jpgScreenshot_Doom_20210410_154232.jpg.22ecf2ba95a818b876cec4109d2ac456.jpgScreenshot_Doom_20210410_154220.jpg.eb8d696650b64f9026c5285637a10efb.jpgScreenshot_Doom_20210410_153322.jpg.01fdc47b7b0b1ecd78581d801f4c791a.jpgScreenshot_Doom_20210410_152455.jpg.0cd449f747e4a42cc1272d50230c0d03.jpg

Screenshot_Doom_20210410_144140.jpg

Screenshot_Doom_20210410_152919.jpg

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This project has received a full 32 set of maps. There are little things left like text and some level names. The link has been updated, testing is required)

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Nice to see this nearing completion. I'm currently revisiting the older maps, on UV and pistol starts (might change in a future). Very short words about each:

 

- The TITLEPIC still needs to be resized, this is how it looks on fullscreen

- Maybe update the title of the thread? something like "[Boom] Relyctum - 32-maps megawad RC1" or whatever, just so it's more striking to the public. Also newer screenshots, I see at least a couple are outdated (map04 bridges aren't red anymore!)

 

01. All good

02. Partially good, still wanted a RL for the baron. May I request these silver panels to be lifts? so you don't have to do a lot of backtrack in case you fall or decide to drop down.

03. Mmm, not a fan of that lost souls ambush - less is better. Aside from that, all fine.

04. Fine map.

05. Almost all good, technically. Ammo got thin by the last part, had just enough to kill the baron. First secret berserk is essential, but that's okay.

 

06. Hitscan exposure felt bit much abrasive at the start, I'd like to request a couple more medkits. Still not a fan of the lift (sector 31), having to reactivate it several times is tedious. Thanks for the added berserk midway, ammo scarcity was no longer a problem. 

 

07. Mostly good. Would suggest non-blocking hanging bodies at the final area (things 233-235, 239-241). Still unsure why an archvile teleports in the pit, doesn't add anything. 

 

08. Really disliked the chaingunners in the SSG area (things 280-283), they sucked all my health to death numerous times without me being able to do anything about it (if freelook is advised, please state that in the OP). One lone chaingunner would be fair enough. Excepting that, and progression getting more obscure, alright map.

 

09. Could use more ammo in the plasma rifle room (had to skip the cacos no matter what) and towards the end, like 4-5 extra boxes of rockets next to the radsuit. I had the secret BFG (vital!), berserk/chainsawed a LOT, pursued infight here and there, and still ran out of shells and rockets, had to get a little lucky with the four archviles. BTW, you staggered multiple lines with action 16, it's possible to cross over one of the lines after 30 seconds passed and get the exit closed again, for which you'd have to wait another 30 seconds. The four archviles are extremely easy to avoid if you know where the trigger is. Might suggest tweaking those lines a bit.

 

10. The monster sectors outside lack sound propagation, thus you never meet them in the map. Still without them the ammo got very short by the end, and that's with a lot of chainsaw use, so I'd suggest a bit more ammo in general. This wall should be better hinted, if I didn't remember this part from last time, the mid texture would tell me that's just a normal impassable wall and not a platform you have to lower. Also would suggest this lift work via switch instead of walkover lines.

 

11. Might want to fasten those teleporting mancubi on that tall lift (sector 100), and the arachnotrons in that one room with thin crushers and a backpack in the middle (sector 328). This because the last mancubi spawned like 30 seconds after the rest, same with the spider. You could split the closets, or add more teleport lines. All good though.

 

Will continue later

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7 hours ago, galileo31dos01 said:

Nice to see this nearing completion. I'm currently revisiting the older maps, on UV and pistol starts (might change in a future). Very short words about each:

 

 

Many thanks for participating in the testing. Valuable tips will be implemented in the final version. At the same time, the name of the topic will change slightly. I will wait for comments on the other levels. Have a nice game.

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Continuing...

 

12. Music doesn't play back in prboom+ at all, not sure why. It does in zdoom, only in OPL and "Sound System". Missed the SSG completely, I just didn't see it among the stalagmites, my bad I guess. All fine, as in, nothing broke for me.

 

13. One block of the maze at the end didn't raise properly. Revenants things 229/230 are stuck on each other. Same with sergeants 412/416, 414/422, 415/421, 413/419. 

 

14. For reasons unknown, this area displayed some weird glitches in OpenGL. It looked fine in software, so not sure if there's anything that can be done but I wouldn't worry about it anyways; These monsters were stuck on each other; I got frustrated with the lifts and few jumps in this map, one that I'd request is the bridge (sector 63) to have lift actions on the sides, to cut down the backtrack if you missed the jump to the SSG; Another request, could you make line 24 use action 38 instead of 82? this is so the bridge doesn't lower everytime you head back to the starting point, because while exploring the map for secrets and missing stuff, I had to raise that bridge over and over and over and it was very annoying... And one last request (or suggestion, since is up to you to change anything), could you add a switch here for the central lift (sector 0)? this switch could be revealed once you acquire the blue skull, and it'll cut down potential long backtrack in case you want to go back and, idk, grab the green armor, explore something else...

 

(on the topic of raising/lowering floors, there are several of these one-way-only platforms throughout the maps that I've been letting aside in my comments, because they were either not too terrible or changing them might alter the progression somewhere else, so I'm pointing out ones that add too much tedious backtrack while also not affecting other parts imo).

 

15. More monsters stuck; lines 8981-8982 should be WR, one of the archviles failed to teleport out.

 

31. Would suggest line 1706 to have a slow crusher action instead of fast, the cyberdemon took like 15 minutes to die

 

32. The cyberdemon telefrags aren't reliable, they need to be well placed on the teleporting spot, otherwise they can just push you away with bad luck; the easternmost area (with RL) appears to be accessible only once, and I missed a few monsters... this is because I found the lift (sector 227) was back to the lowest point, with no way to take the teleport (sector 240) on the highest room.

 

16. I'd like to request a couple extra medikits in the first room with imps and two chaingunners, it was impossible not to soak at least 50 damage from one of the chaingunners, on top of the zombiemen chipping me away at the start, too much dicey rng for my taste. I also ran out of ammo multiple times here, although not as bad as the hitscanners before, maybe if I didn't kill the imps I would have had for the hell knight, hmm.... On another hand, I did not like that spider mastermind at the exit, none of the options seemed good to me: if you rush for the BFG, you then have to backtrack a long way, take the lift and risk getting pushed off by the nobles or the spider, assuming you're not doing very well health-wise it's a death guaranteed, or if you rely on the nobles to hit the spider asap, it just kills you in the meantime because the nobles may not do anything, and then there's stunlock with plasma which is also not feasible without any cover, so I don't know what to suggest here, but the setup is a bit stiff the way it is, unless there's some special secret I missed.

 

Something I forgot from map 10: I'd like to request the removal of action 128 for line 286, OR even better, change it to a lift action that's only usable once you arrive from the other side, maybe add a wall here that lowers at that specific point. That is one of the one-way-only platforms that annoyed me a lot, because of the excessive and twisted backtrack required to lower it again. 

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17. Yet more requests!

 

- First, could you add a lift switch somewhere here for sector 507? This is so if you get the nearby plasma rifle very late, you won't have to find your way back to the YK room (although the backtrack isn't too long if you know the teleport that takes you to the start point)

 

- The closets with those monsters lack sound propagation, thus they never wake up.

 

18.

 

- These sectors aren't damaging like the rest (sectors 121, 122, 129, 132)

 

- As a minor suggestion, the raising platform with the cyberdemon in front of the BK could be delayed an extra couple seconds more. This should allow you to snag the key without the risk of a point blank rocket (high risk actually) and head to the BFG so you can then kill it from the other side of the fences, which would be more interesting than the slow awkward grind that it's currently. 

 

19.

 

- These corpses should probably be better switched to non-blocking variants since they can obstruct the way, or an alternative would be to make a dehacked patch and disable their blocking property, which will let you use them however you want to without worrying about infinite tallness. Come to think, do you actually playtest these raw in prboom+, or do you use zdoom with additions (freelook, tall actors off)? genuine question...

 

- That fleshy crusher was LOUD, could you use a silent crusher instead? 

 

- Noticed a dead tree clipping through the wall (thing 58

 

- It took a while to spot this switch as it's hard to notice, could you raise the brightness in it a little?

 

- It's possible to jump to the megasphere from the lift, not easy and nothing seems to break if you manage it, though not sure if you were aware.

 

20.

 

- Found HOMs in sectors 438 and 480, the sides are untextured

 

- The lamps were blocking the spectres. Be careful with decorations, in this case the lamps need to have more distance in between.

 

- Noticed a bunch of monsters (shotgunners, that other one is a lone cacodemon I missed somehow) on the spiral staircase long after heading to the final area. They seemed to come from these closets, some of shotgunners spawned with the mancubi in that room with lifts, you know which one. Thing is, I had no reason to revisit the staircase, all there was left was just going to the YK, so they were basically useless. I'd suggest to get rid of those teleport lines in particular and let all the shotgunners appear with the mancubi.

 

- Four cacodemons can't teleport because sector 2097 is missing a teleport actor.

 

- An additional important thing, by pure chance noticed the spiderdemon teleport line was W1. Always use repeatable in these type of monster closets, you don't want to run the risk of a monster being unable to spawn where it should. 

 

21.

 

- An imp (thing 207) scratched me a lot from above while I was on the lift, which wasn't cool. I'd suggest to flag it deaf.

 

- Would suggest those three pillars in the middle to raise to the top and let the cyberdemon move more freely, it's an awkward peekaboo fight the way it is. 

 

- The spiderdemon will only wake up if you make a noise in the blue skull room, though if you have sniped the zombiemen before, like I did, there's no reason to ever shoot in that room, so the thing is likely to be missed. Although the fight is still poorly awkward peekaboo (acceptable with BFG, but you don't get one until much much later), I may suggest an arachnotron instead, and maybe a chaingunner spawn in that room so you do get an excuse to shoot.

 

- Surprisingly the first time I see misaligned textures in your wad :P

 

- The monsters you see to the right right can't teleport out because there're no existent lines with tag 67 in the map, so sector 656 stays closed.

 

- Any reason why the exit switch is free once you open the YK door? It makes the blood tunnels and BFG optional, which is fine but I'm not sure if it's on purpose or not.

 

22.

 

- Stopped here after 1 hour of exploring in circles and having no idea how to get a blue key, really no freaking clue what's going on with the switches, and having a look in the editor made it more confusing. I get that the map continually teases you with inaccessible copies of the key, but I just can't find what else to do... if you could give me a hint or two I'll appreciate it

 

- On another side, I'd (highly!) request a switch over here for the lift, or some alternative way to access the room with tech pillars and teleporting chaingunners (this room) that doesn't require to drop into the lava pit, raise the staircases, etc, as for that you need a radsuit each time, which are limited in the map. You do have to revisit that room multiple times, for secrets and whatnot, and yet again the backtrack isn't cool.

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I see that @galileo31dos01 did a really, really good job at bug-finding, but here are a few supplements/clarifications from me:


MAP06: it seems linedef 2974 is missing switch to lower the western lift/trap. I had to use an editor to figure this one out. BTW, there is alternate way to get the yellow key: you can jump from sector 40 to sector 53, then follow the ledge to the maze, then to the key.

 

MAP10: about 50 monsters in all the eastern closets never became active. But they teleported out when I noclipped there. Also, there are too few radsuits. They may be fine if the player already knows where to go, but not for first time exploration.

 

MAP14: sectors 341 and 342 shouldn't be secret. For some arcane reason, imp 306 and revenant 315 never teleported into playable areas.

 

MAP15: archvile 804 can't teleport into playable areas.

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MAJOR BUG!! If you exit MAP32, you will be transported to MAP28 instead of MAP16! Also, some other notes:

 

MAP28: Definitely the most tedious and annoying map of the WAD so far. Health and radsuits are concentrated in those small rooms, but you need to walk over lava to get into them. The 20% damaging floors make it even worse, player can easily die due to leaky radsuits if they get unlucky. Player can become stuck in lift sector 421.  There are HOMs at lindefs 7909 etc. if you partially solve the yellow key puzzle and then jump to the gap around it, screenshot below. Mastermind near the exit can very easily become stuck. I couldn't jump to the exit although I solved both doll puzzles. In fact, I solved many puzzles only with the help of an editor and cheats.

 

MAP32: teleports to telefrag the cyberdemons don't work reliably, I ended up right in front their rocket lancher about 5% of time. Also, I managed to break lift sector 227. It happened when I went into sector 263, but backed out when the trap activated. The lift then rose about 100 units and became stuck,  screenshot below.

 

 

Screenshot_Doom_20211223_151342.png

Screenshot_Doom_20211222_220218.png

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On 12/27/2021 at 1:24 AM, Scuba Steve said:

You should include a txt file with the zip.

Thanks. It will definitely be in the release version after the final testing.

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Played some of the new maps resuming from when I stopped since the last update from2 years ago. I recorded some fdas (cl9 with dsda-doom): Relyctum_gaspefdas5.zip

Some features are the same that I remember from the maps I played previously, like the complicated layout that are so fun to unravel, and a stinginess with health and ammo that I must say it has become very troublesome in some levels. I see that @galileo31dos01 already reported some issues that I also found in the maps so I'll avoid to repeat them.

 

MAP13: I advanced quite far into the map, I didn't noticed where the cyberdemon was and I took lot of damage from a rocket. I thought that the maze at the end would be very long and tedious but thankfully it wasn't the case

MAP15: I liked that you don't need both the BK and the RK to exit. I noticed this bleeding effect in the long corridor at the left of the starting area

Spoiler

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MAP16: Very tricky start with the ammo, managed to pass it in the demo but even with saves later I risked to remain without ammo. I don't like how the secret with the cell pack (sector 99) can put you face to face with a rev in a tiny 64x64 space if you don't go down the stairway before picking it. I also agree with galileo about the spiderdemon but I wouldn't know how to improve it without removing it. If you go down to grab the BFG you have some long backtrack to do on top of having to pass through lots of damaging nukage, or retry until the nobles infight with the spiderdemon.

MAP17: An homage to Tricks and Traps? Anyway this looks like it has many ways you can take to solve it. Linedef 1708 and 1756 needs to be WR instead of W1, a couple of demons didn't teleport into the map. I noticed 2 chaingunners were missing at the end and I saw that they were in these closets in the bottom-right corner, I think the suspects are chaingunner 725 and 726 but I'm not sure what's going on there.

Spoiler

doom00.png.8ab6276acbaee875834528cfb277f736.pngdoom01.png.acedbdf946a52830e3b97299fb883d5d.png

MAP18: I died anyway but I was able to finish the level, technically ^^. Sure needs more ammo near the end, the cyberdemon at the BK is a mandatory fight and will drain you a lot of ammo. And I skipped the second cyberdemon and the last horde of cacos, I'm not sure if you have enough resources to kill everything.

MAP19: I liked the Plutonia vibes of this level. I also think it was very interesting and I woud like to know how other players tackled the starting areas. I don't think I would have gone so far in my fda if I didn't jump so early in the courtyard with the invisibility, during with saves I tried other thing but always had huge problems of ammo shortage. I was also wise to run out immediately from the BK pit, killing those revs it's a waste of ammo. The only thing I have some doubt on is the cyberdemon, I don't think that part is doable if you don't get the hidden BFG and the secret invulnerability.

MAP20/21: Didn't played these because I recognized them and they looked familiar but I don't remember where I have played them, were they in different slots before or are maps taken from other wads?

MAP22: Didn't go so far with the demo, I tried another attempt but I quit because I thought I was stuck in that area. I think that having to shoot that switch more times add more confusion to an already confusing map. I get that the idea is that there ar multiple BKs that you can't take. I completed the southern and eastern parts of the map until I reached the top of the building where there are the crates and the cyberdemon and I was able to pick the BK there, then the other keys were available too. It can get annoying at times for all the 64 wide passages with revs or other monsters you can't avoid, like if you drop down at sector 976 and have a hk in front of you that will certainly kill you if you have low health. The most troublesome area is the western building and I agree with galileo that multiple backtracks on lava are a big issue. These chaingunners were so annoying to kill with the autoaim

Spoiler

doom06.png.a6031727e834eb337b032e603da9d7e9.png

Also in this area you have to take a teleport so you can press the switch that unlocks the exit but if didn't killed the spiderdemon before it means certain death. And there could be at least radsuit in the spiderdemon area since there's some backtrack on the lava to do, or add more health near the crates.

MAP23: Included the fda anyway even if isn't worth watching, I tried a bit a the first areas but I gave up quickly. No health and ammo around and it looked like it was set to be tedious for a first experience. I would add some health in this area, climbing up the stairs was hard because there are those chaingunners that can kill you easily, and those pain elementals are too much imo I would remove them, or at least add some more ammo.

Spoiler

doom08.png.cd4e9be50b379121a1d9152fc627605b.png

Going into this room is pointless for the progression, I get it it gives you a shortcut for the BSK even if it isn't necessary but there's no ammo there so I wasted them for nothing by going there, also the revs are all stuck with imps:

Spoiler

doom09.png.b1b4bff12d8a75d7eb82e3ddf8b2d385.png

I see that on at south there's an early berserk pack which can be helpful a little but in my run I locked that area because I went to the north so I could only get a berserk pack way late into the map when I grabbed the BSK.

Finally made it to the locked doors somehow and this happened:

Spoiler

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I had 0 shells, like 30 cells but 200 bullet to kill mancubi and avs, like yeah. And I also skipped to fight the cacos that teleport after you visit the building that unlocks the exit and the pain elementals there. The cyberdemon and the spiderdemon don't teleport into the map, there's no action that opens the "door" to realease them but anyway you don't have really ammo fight them. I think the part where you cab waste most of the ammo was at the pentagram near the invulnerability, I discovered only in the editor that you can avoid to trigger some of those fights but adding more cells packs there and swapping the single rockets for boxes of rockets would be a good starting point to give a better balance. The BSK area could reward you with some ammo too.

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Continuing with some other maps: Relyctum_gaspefdas6.zip

 

MAP31: Had some bad luck against the av at the backpack, I think that I would have survived and keep going in the demo if the av died even 1 sec earlier. Interesting the spiderdemon at the RK that looks like you can easily skip but I guess it can give you some problems if you missed to pick the BFG. The BFG looks also very important against the cyberdemon at the normal exit, it's a tricky fight in that cramped space. I would add some ammo in this part, I was only able to go through by abusing the infighting:

Spoiler

doom17.png.aa0dfbe74a28518dfdd0b0353883dc41.png

 

MAP24: Didn't last log in this one heh. The big issue after the floor lowers is that for a while you won't find health while you have to understand what to do without getting hit by the cyberdemon or other sniping monsters. I would remove the caged spiderdemon at north (where there are some revs initially), it's not hard to take down using the nearby piny pillars as cover. This is a minor thing but here the cyberdemon can still hit you and you can't see the rockets coming:

Spoiler

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This was the only map so far in E3 that doesn't have ammo issues and you have a more fair balance everywhere.

The action for lowering this platform should be repeatable, if you drop down before opening the way for the YSK (like I did to go back to grab a couple of medikits so I could get 200% health with the soulsphere) you can't progress:

Spoiler

doom13.png.7d015a6eac2428b7649b335a527ff88c.png

The "secret cyberdemon" doesn't get crushed, the crusher needs to be bigger.

 

MAP25: My favourite map so far. Imo flesh parts aren't so easy to make but I really liked how the flesh caves were done here and how they are combined with the techbase that it's starting to get swallowed by this hellish monstrosity, or whatever it is. The room with SP_FACE1 is also worth mention, quite a unique use of the texture and it was rather spooky too at first. Good use of the cyberdemons as snipers that make also harder some platforming parts and it's a cool scene when the tower raises from the blood. I'm really sure how you can kill them tho, they are in wakward positions so you need a good ammount of ammo (even with the BFG that comes late and it's a secret) that I didn't had when I reached the end of the map and they were the only monsters remaining. 2 chaingunners (things 335 and 336) are stuck into the wall. This chaingunner (I guess it's thing 563) was so annoying because you can alert it but it's hard to notice where it is:

Spoiler

doom16.png.d676da8f8d97e420d0dbef53315e7890.png

 

MAP26: My bad that I didn't realized at the start that you can pick the weapons. I would add a switch to lower the lift from this ledge, now you have to drop down into the blood pool and do a long backtrack to get just to the starting hub:

Spoiler

doom18.png.0fde7116314c3b100b6dedd2353b7c31.png

And always in this area at the top of the stairways there's a lift that lets you go to visit the eastern part near the exit and I would remove the monsters (av thing 124 and the rev thing 101) because they'll likely make you miss the lift so you have go back all the way to the switch to trigger the action another time.

I got stuck here since I went there before lowering the pillar with the soulsphere, being able to open the door sector 586 from that side should be enough to fix it:

Spoiler

doom19.png.1a9bb4d8a18db08a0df1790990c8ac57.png

The red rocks that obviously blend well with the sky are a good looking touch for the scenery. I think this level is scarce of rockets, thankfully I was able to save a couple of BFG shots for the cybderdemon at the exit but I also relied on the infighting (especially at the big fights at the BK and at the north-eastern area to spare ammo).

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I finally had the time to finish this, some more notes:

 

MAP26: another big ammo drain, particularly the rooms leading to exit. The only ammo I had at the exit were 20 shells, although I started with some ammo from MAP25 and killed most pinkies and lost souls with melee weapons. It was just dumb luck I had enough ammo to deal with the final cyber and archvile.

 

MAP27: HOM at linedef 13764. And again, way too little ammo, particularly around start. I had to use cheats several times, but ammo became more plentiful later.

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Incoming wall of text in the same fashion as my previous posts, this time with a lot of confusion from my part because it's been months since I finnished the rest of the wad and derailed feedback for unknown reasons, and I'll have to rely on whatever the screenshots may suggest and the editor. Given that I never got any tips with the keys situation in map 22, I had to search for the magic trick myself, and if memory serves it was a "hidden" switch that I kept missing. Well then, without further ado...

 

 

22.

 

- Oh boy memories are blurry... I believe the one issue I had here in this room is, on one side, the chaingunners that teleported on those lower pillars were a major pain because, without freelook, hitting each of them required full exposure to the rest, while cacodemons raised from the ground. Would suggest to raise the pillars a bit and replace a couple with imps so it's not too rng. I also really disliked the tech pillars that hampered what little movement you could get when the cacodemons spawned in. Maybe insert the pillars in some alcoves in the wall, taking care about their hitboxes (remember what I had pointed out when a decoration's border is still able to block players/monsters).

 

- The damn switch was line 4589, not sure if others (gaspe and Caleb13) spotted it by pure chance or how but I don't care, that switch could be better highlighted imo, maybe an arrow on the floor or make line 4594 the actual switch.

 

- Agreed with gaspe on the blind drop on sector 976, I also fell victim to the inevitable HK's paws, a little annoyed after that iirc. I'm not really suggesting to remove it though, but maybe if it was in a closet nearby so there is a chance to react without relying on stun-lock glory.

 

 

23.

 

- Found imps and revenants stuck on each other in a room with windows towards the northwest, for a better reference most are on sectors 648, 649.

 

- Several monsters failed to spawned in: there are stuck revenants on each other on the leftmost closets, particularly things 295-301 on one row, and 304-310 on the other. The cyberdemon and spider mastermind closets use W1 lines when should be WR, and sector 900 isn't linked to anything. In a way I was glad they missed their chance because as you can see in the status bar my ammo situation was pretty poor, so besides fixing lines I would strongly suggest adding some more ammo boxes like gaspe commented, rockets and cells primarily (IIRC you gave a berserk and chainsaw and I exhausted both, but one just doesn't melee everything that moves in a map of this size).

 

 

24.

 

- Huh, looking at this picture gives me flashbacks... yea, a start like that is a no from me, a blur sphere doesn't excuse nor diminish the impact of four shotgunners in a tiny room with no cover. If you rather want to keep it "abrasive", hand a shotgun (or chaingun) right under where doomguy begins.

 

- This secret switch (line 14075) is a W1 when it should be S1, otherwise the secret can't be accessed.

 

- There's the potential softlock in this area that gaspe mentioned: the switch line 11569 that lowers sector 189 is usable once when it should be repeatable. This is because that same sector raises back to its initial state, and if you drop down to the mud like I did, and I'm fairly sure to claim the same megasphere gaspe mentioned, there's no way back up, leading to the softlock. If you fix it, the backtrack to get back to the switch would still be veeeeery long, so I'd also suggest having a shortcut nearby at some point, maybe a lift that becomes usable once you first arrived to the arachnotrons floor. 

 

- Following that area was this room that had three chaingunners on both sides without cover that, iirc, shrunk my health HP to a miserable state without me able to do anything about it. What is the appeal with this use of hitscanners though... anyways, I'd change a few for zombiemen or imps, or hand a blur sphere, whatever that makes that bit less of a shitshow imo.

 

- Not sure what was the intention of the crusher (sector 972) in the little room with the cyberdemon if it didn't crush it.

 

 

25

 

- I believe that my first bottleneck was at the earliest cyberdemon, I dropped on the blood pit and the platforming you have to do is both very tight and awkward and you're fully exposed to rocket fire, and you can't skip past the thing reliably without dying. I had to noclip back to the bridge and grind it with SSG (assuming the archvile farmed enough shotguns), a little awkward because you can get glued on the midtex. The only thing I'd suggest is to place a lift to take you back to the bridge, since there's no telling you'd be "stuck" in the pit until it happens, and it's a long trek back to this point if you restart.

 

- The chaingunners 335 and 336 in this area were stuck.

 

- I believe this screenshot is for the switch, it's not really hidden though it could be brighter. 

 

 

That will be it for now, continuing later...

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Continuing...

 

 

26.

 

- This green armor (thing 233) is kinda in the way, would suggest moving it to other side of the pillar.

 

- Everything else gaspe pointed out. I don't remember if I ever came across the softlock, or anything else he mentioned (my ammo situation must have been just alright by the end I guess), but better make sure all of that is addressed.

 

 

27.

 

- If you can see them, the two spectres (things 807 and 808) are stuck on each other.

 

- The whole red area to the southeast is a massive pain with the infinite height, once the cacodemons spawn they immediately drift to the highest they can and there's nothing you can do about that, the space is cramped, and on top of that the cyberdemon is clogging the stairs, so the only escape is by jumping on the lava or using the teleport next to the arachnotron, and that's while not missing the "one-time" BFG because if you do, oof... What I would suggest is to flag every line of every tall platform to block enemies (see this image, I highlighted the lines for you). I know this would break the idea of the cacos pestering you from above, but that in prboom is no fun to bare with. 

 

- Things 31 and 35 are blocking corpses, would suggest to use non-blocking since you have a fight in that area.

 

- The door on sector 1684 breaks because it's adjacent to other two sectors with the same ceiling values, thus the door instantly lowers 8 units instead. A fix would be to change to a ceiling action like 166 (just don't forget to use tags).

 

- Apparently there is a secret to telefrag the cyberdemon that spawns on sector 485. The problem is that telefrag is unreliable, if it's not on the same spot you teleport, it's a 50/50 chance of getting knocked off. I would suggest to lock the cyb in the middle with monster block lines around. Also, the more reason to secure that telefrag because ammo is extremely tight throughout and sniping the cyb to death drains what little you have. 

 

- The previous point brings me to this area to the northeast where I ran out of ammo several times, with berserk usage included, mind you. I left the turret revenants alive for later, I managed to find a secret with 4 boxes of shells (!!!!!) before the final castle which let me kill everything up to that point. I see that secret can be accessed relatively early on, which is great. What I would suggest is to change a couple of those boxes to cell packs and rockets that'd be miles more useful for turrets, maybe two pairs of box of rockets and couple cell packs would be good.

 

- Oh, there's an untextured sidedef here, it's line 13764.

 

- In the area with the platforming on lava to the south, it is possible to break the intended sequence if you press the one-time switch on line 7053 before the switch on line 7040, or if you press this skull switch and the face (metal) switch while the floor is lowering, either way the little platforms won't raise. I know that's not something one would intuit if the face switch is initially buried in the floor, but I think it still could use a foolproof solution: basically add a barrier to the voodoo doll closet that's wired to the face switch, and make that barrier disappear only when pressing the skull switch. Additionally and more importantly, make the face switch repeatable. 

 

- IIRC the crushers over the two cyberdemons on each tower (things 97 and 98) were slow damaging (aka. fast crushers). Highly suggest changing to slow crushers (aka. high dps), because one just can't wait forever til they become a pile of goop.

 

 

Will leave 28 for next time, there was a lot going on with that one...

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I liked your work in Whitemare 1 & 2 aswell as a.l.t. so I was definitely intrigued when I found out 

you had another megawad.

 

I'm looking forward to playing this. 🙏

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Well I'll be damned as a feedback reporter/unemployed playtester, I totally forgot about this...

 

Anyways, resuming:

 

28

 

- I'd like to suggest, or rather request a lift or steps in this area here, preferably once you have arrived to the brown floor with the arachnotrons. IIRC, every time I dropped off that floor I had to cross the lava sector 281 naked to backtrack all the way up, and I wouldn't complain but I remember health being extremely austere throughout earlier stages so that those -20 or -40 damage add a little too much punishment to what were already very punishing fights afterwards imo.

 

- In the vast lava lake to the west, it's possible to break the big monster pits and render them like this. The thing is, I just checked to see how I managed to do that before, it's been a bit since I played the maps formally and I don't remember every detail, but this time I only managed to break stuff twice and in a different way - merged sectors 380 didn't react to the trigger line. At first I thought it had to with the order you press the switches, because both situations only happened to me whenever I pressed line 3523 first and then the other, but like I said things didn't break consistently enough to point it towards the switches. I think the culprit might be line skips, every trigger line is kinda easier to skip being horizontal or vertical by strafe- running at high speed, so one thing I may suggest is changing walkover triggers to diagonals, specially those that are W1. I also checked the voodoo doll wired to the setup and it seemed to have passed over the lines correctly, so the more reason to believe in line skips. Hopefully that would solve this.

 

- Hell knight -thing 1033- needs more space to move as it was stuck.

 

- It's possible to close the bars -sector 1864- a second time since there are triggers on both entrances, so maybe make it possible to reopen the bars manually.

 

- Mancubus -thing 188- is stuck on the pillars

 

- The cyberdemon -thing 76- looks like it should get crushed or telefragged at some point, given its placement, but there isn't such option, which would make more sense. Killing it is very awkward because there's no way to avoid splash should you get even remotely closer. I camped with CG/SG from the entrance, lucky me that I had the ammo, but it was dull.

 

- I got stuck on this lift (sector 421), it wasn't fully raised to the top yet, which led to the softlock. If I'm not mistaken I found that lift long before crossing the trigger on line 4291, and since that's a possibility I would suggest fixing it somehow - either by having the lift already up and without the need of a raise action, or something else you can think about.

 

- The corpses in this area obstruct the way (things 805 to 808), so you may want to swap them to non-blocking variants or do the dehacked thing I'm sure I mentioned in another post (re: toggle off blocking flag for blocking corpses). 

 

- I found this arachnotron unable to move.

 

- In the silver quarters with shotgunners, there are many stuck on each other. These include things 939 and 942, 940 and 946, 955 an 958, 423 and 956, 948 and 954.

 

 

29

 

- These multiple revenant closets inflict maximum floor damage each, which is a bit too harsh for keeping just single rockets and stimpacks, and so it made me not want to grab them. Perhaps change to 5% dmg?

 

- I believe I managed to skip line 1450 once and so the imps and spider didn't raise. Like I said, you can use diagonals, or in some different cases duplicating lines is another tip.

 

- This one is blurry in my head so bare with me... If you happen to miss the switch on line 10778 the first time you land on the teleport pads, the only way back to it is with very very lengthy and tedious backtracking all the way around the bloody areas, at least I seem to recall that. The issue comes with teleporting not facing towards that switch, which is what makes it easier to overlook. I would strongly recommend a shortcut somewhere back to the marble tower in the bottom east of the map, maybe a newly revealed teleport close to that other teleport sector 361.

 

- I would suggest deleting the eye thing 280 so it doesn't block players when they try to jump to the teleport nearby, more for convenience since you can't really see underneath unless you have freelook on, or maybe guide yourself with the automap, but even then it's partially in the way.

 

- Those hanging corpses are all of the blocking variant, and while they aren't really that much obtrusive, still they would be better swapped to non-blocking.

 

- These monsters can't spawn in the map because there are no sectors matching tags with the teleport lines.

 

 

30

 

- This room has all blocking bodies which may obstruct the way unwarrantedly, and while there's little combat there I still suggest changing them.

 

- Misaligned textures over here, lines 1860 and 2076.

 

- I'd suggest adding more lift triggers for sectors 705 and 713, specifically somewhere in hallways with arachnotrons to grab the cells so you can take the lifts back to the hallways below, because otherwise you'd have to drop and backtrack a long way. 

 

- The cacos that teleport on the final stages will telefrag each other, not all but several do. I think judging by my ammo situation it was for the better, I think I recall ammo being quite sparse and me skipping some enemies. The next bit with the spiderdemons had to go with god-tier infight for me to be able to kill everything as I recall, so I think there could be more rockets and cells prior the icon finale. 

 

 

That's all, phew finally! Hope this has been helpful somehow, and hope to see a final release candidate someday so more people check this out, as it certainly has a unique feel I'm sure some folks will dig. 

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galileo31dos01

Many thanks for the help in finalizing this project. The comments will be taken into account and added in the release version.

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