Egregor

ENDQUEST b07 update bump! Pictured: New area within E1M6

Just popping in to hype this completely under-rated texture set by DooMAD: EDIT: I just double checked and this is, in fact, part of the OP. Sorry for the redundancy, but leaving this post as an endorsement. EDIT #2: Misty beat me to it. I really should read through the entire forum before comenting :p

My mistake!

UnknDoomer; it would be helpful if in the OP you made a distinction between Heretic and Hexen for each entry. This should help with making the list more user friendly.

This is a pretty good idea! Here's a few significant efforts that haven't yet shown up on this list. I'm not really sure how to rate them, I just want to get them on the list so ill give them all 5s: (5) Dark Deity's Bastion (2011) https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/heretic/Ports/bastion (5) Heretic Treasure Chest (2010) http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/index.php?file=levels/heretic/Ports/htchest.zip (5) Blasphemous Experiments (2021) (5) Realm of Parthoris (2015)

Here's some shots from a new Heretic level I am working on. I'm at over 900 sectors now and while different sections of the map are at different stages of completion I'd say overall it's almost at the halfway point.

I've been working on a complete remake of E1M6 for End Quest, a Heretic Episode I've been developing. With the original level making an appearance in Cacowad's Blasphemous Experiments I decided this was a good opportunity to try my own spin on the concept for this level to make it fit the style of EQ a little closer. The layout is mostly complete now at 600 sectors but I expect to double or triple that once I do a texture, detail, and shading pass. Hopefully by then I will have some screenshots that are a little more juicy.

Where can we find this? /idgames Database turns up empty...

Okay, so I've just tested this and success! I downloaded the 'wad' version from these links: http://www.teamhellspawn.com/stalungcraeft2.1.1png.zip http://www.teamhellspawn.com/stalungcraeft2.1.1wad.zip They were found in this thread: I'm using Firefox as my browser and I tested the files using Doom Builder. I was able to open the resource pack for Doom, Heretic, and Blasphemer. I also tested the older version of Stalung and it immediately crashed in Doom Builder. When I did open it I got a little misty eyed, this is truly an incredible texture pack. I see in the original thread this was first published in 2018 but I see DooMAD has continued to develop it. I was away from the DW community during that time and completely missed this. It's feels like such a complete collection of everything medieval, fantasy, and rustic. The 7 major colors are great AND 4 tones for the wood section! I really like how this pack focuses on filling the gaps of textures and less on 'decorative' thematic stuff, and in that way seems like it will be very useful. DooMAD, great stuff! Follow up: Some of the textures appeared as a blank black (non)texture in game when running the wad version. I'm not sure but they may be missing patches or weren't compiled into the wad correctly.

Now, obviously there is no one "right" answer to this, but what are some methods and techniques you mappers have developed that have helped you streamline your approach to creating and balancing gameplay? Alternatively what are some approaches that seem like they should work well but don't pan out in practice when you've tried them? Do you move from UV to ITYTD or vice versa? Do you place weapons and items first then enemies or vice versa? Do design enemy encounters around the architecture or vice versa?

@MattFright: Thank you for your interest, playthrough, and feedback. These notes are helpful and I'll try to implement improvements based on them for b07. Were you playing continuously or 'wand start'? For testing and balance purposes 'wand start' is definitely recommend. *Okay, this has been going on long enough... how the hell do I hide my content?? Everyone else has been doing it and I don't know how and I've been too affraid to ask. Anyone willing to PM me some instructions? E1M1: Regarding map placement; while this episode is considered a compilation of 'wand starts' I decided to order them based on a combination of sector count and enemy count with the smallest first. I recognized that E1M4's row boat opener felt classic and I tried to replicate it's thematic charm for E1M1, but I also wanted to ease players into the episode w something lighter than E1M4. The same goes w the difficulty here. I wanted the opener to have the least ammount of difficulty to the set, but I may have over-compensated in this regard? Also consider that with each secret the level will become consecutively easier, and you got all the secrets! Maybe I should nerf the advantages the secrets give the player to keep this one feeling more balanced? Also I have never seen that visual glitch there before, but I did recently edit that area... E1M2: I've been aware of the 1st glitch but have never seen that 2nd one. Hmm, I was aware that this one had some confusing layout issues as well as the ending being underwhelming, which is why I overhauled the ending making it larger and more epic... I guess I didn't go far enough. Yeah, I'll have to brainstorm a way to bring some intrigue here because I agree this level is still kind of lacking. E1M3: Good tip on the ammo here! I don't believe there is a soft lock here but maybe I could make it more accessible somehow? E1M4: Yes, this map is one of the strongest of the set, and it is quite well balanced. While it does have a fantastic opening it's a bit bigger than the first 3, which is the main reason it's placed here in the episode. E1M5: Regarding the graphic glitch: Are you considering the lamp cutting into the stone a glitch? Those never sit level w surfaces when at eye level. I believe it is part of the way the Heretic resources were included. A untextured pedistal work around MIGHT be possible. I'll give it a try. Another good find w getting out of bounds. That'll need to get fixed for sure. E1M6: This was always the map here, or at least it has been here since b02. I think I agree with you that this map's gameplay is probably the most rocky, and it doesn't help that I was mid-gameplay-edit when I created b06. I guess it shows... I like the grandeur of this level but it does make meaningful encounters much harder to achieve. Right now easy has the best balance. I fear I'll have to rebuild this one's gameplay entirely from scratch. I look foward to the rest of your feedback!

ENDQUEST b06 update bump! Pictured: New area within E1M9

Hey Cacowad, I just gave this episode a real quick spin. I played the first level with enemies and then did a sight seeing tour with 'no monsters' on E2-E9 just to have a look around. This episode is quite ambitious and extensive! I like the varied thematic and layout themes. I recognized at least two of the levels from former collaborative level sets that we have done together, though there seemed to be some good improvements on both of them. The Blasphemer texture set is refreshing and gritty! With that said there are three constant texture annoyances I have with this set, maybe this should be in the Blamsphemer thread but either way you'll see it, which is the important part. 1: Saint 1, Saint 2, and Horses1 textures all stick out like a smooth, mono-chromatic sore thumb! I don't make textures but surely someone in the community who does can give another pass at these three and get them up to par with the rest of the set. I'd like to see Horses1 replaced with symmetrical dragons, mermaids, or centaurs, and Saint 1 and 2 with angels or demons. The thing to note however is right now these 3 don't really have a texture that blends in with the rest of the set. 2: The teleporters in the Blasphemer, while different enough from Heretic, are almost identical to Doom. Everything else feels fresh but these feel more tired than ever. I feel like a new symbol and a new color (may I suggest green) on these would really help here. It would be great if the 'teleporter' sparkles in Blasphemer were green as well to match and make the set feel fresh. 3: The implementation of archways are fantastic, but the way you are using them makes them feel paper-doll thin. I'd like to see EACH time they are used to be doubled up with a 16mp gap between them to give them a bit of thickness and weight. In the gap make the arches and walls black. I took a look at the texture pack and the all-black arches and all black textures seem to be missing/removed. Take a look at how arches were implemented in my E1M5 level from: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/heretic/Ports/rop_2015 Are you considering this set finished, or are you in the beta testing phase? If you are interested I might be able to play test this entire set with extensive notes in a month or two if that is interesting to you. Let me know, maybe PM me. Overall this looks fantastic and one of the most significant contributions to Heretic in a long time.

Almost certainly! With the exception of Vordakk's stunningly beautiful work on E1M5 and E1M8 this episode has evolved so much that most feedback from anything short of maybe b05 will be outdated. I believe the next update will be within the week! I'd recommend holding off on any feedback until then.

Glad to see a resurgence of interest of this set lately. For anyone interested I've continued to develop these maps in an effort to minimize the detail and quality discrepancies between the maps, finally focusing on level flow and gameplay. I will say it is harder to redesign flawed maps and gameplay than it is to build from scratch. With that said I should be able to release another update later this month which will feature a much more polished and consistent episode.