Olroda

The best parts are in the details.

They're everywhere!

I remember playing the Wolf3D shareware on my IBM 286 - which had 4 megabytes of RAM, and it only flowed smoothly when you had the smallest possible screen selected. DooM would probably flow a lot worse.

It sure was fun, and I'm glad to have been part of it.
Too bad it didn't become a full episode, though.

I voted DooM I (E1! E1! E1!), and DooM 64 and PSX DooM shares the second place. Third place goes to DooM II - mostly for the added monsters, less so for the actual maps, even though there are a few gems in there. On fourth place, DooM III for its amazing art design and atmosphere. The completely unrealistic shotgun and the fact that most enemies 'teleport in' takes it down a notch.

I played through it this morning.
Visually impressive, but, as other have noted, not difficult on Ultra-Violence. I also watched the videos of the opening - crazy stuff! Your map and your music conveys that pretty well, I'd say.

I like it, narrow ledges and all.
Is it really that hard (and not fun) to play cautiously?

Good initiative, Rdwpa. A resounding 'Thank You' to all creators of DooM out there! Quite a lot of this stuff is better than anything that can be bought in a store.

I'm sorry I missed your earlier comment, Dragonfly. E1M7 certainly has a music track in RC2. As Death Egg noted, it is more atmospheric noise than music, but it is certainly there. Just to verify, I tested it with a recent development build of GZDooM (music volume set to 50%), and I had no problems hearing it. The track itself comes out a bit different depending on what MIDI device is selected, but it won't affect the volume much.

Piper Maru said:

Did some work on my map today, working on the 'hell' portion of it.

I like it. Did you draw them yourself, or are they from some other game?

I also had doubts:

Olroda said:

I'm also not too sure that it follows the "five rooms" limitation.

To be frank, I think that the map far beyond from the limit, and I remember similar conflicts in the Five Rooms of DooM thread. One would think that people can grasp what constitutes a room, but no.


Keeper of Jericho wrote an extensive tutorial on rooms in that thread. The pictures are gone, but the text is still there. The summary might suffice:

Keeper of Jericho said:

So, to summarize, we speak of one room when:
- You can get from one end of the room to the other without passing through a door
- You can still see part of the other side of the room no matter where you stand in the room
- The ceiling remains constant throughout the whole room (not counting decoration)

The exception to the first rule is when your path is blocked by a fence (or other obstacles, such as objects), as those don’t count as walls (since they're lines or objects, not sectors).

Man, never thought I’d have to write a book just to explain the concept of a room, ha!

But perhaps it is too late for changes, as Dragonfly wrote.

PS. I like your choice of music, Death Egg. Nothing else of note regarding the maps. DS.

SFoZ911 said:

The Shadow Gallery.

Very foreboding. Something horrible must surely lurk beyond those gates...

Olroda said:

I too, must wait until June until they get where I live. Looking forward to it!

...And I finally got to see them last Friday. Awesome, to say the least!
There were plenty of songs from the new album, which I didn't mind. I somehow ended up behind the tall people's club (I'm well over six feet myself, but they were not far from seven), but I eventually found a spot from where I had a better view.

TheNerdTurtle2 said:

What makes a map an intro map?

Short and to the point. It ought to introduce some WAD-specific concepts as well. Study E1M1 for a very good example.

I did a few subtle alterations to my map, (tidied up some linedefs, added more first aid) Unless anyone objects, this ought to be the final version. I hope that changing the map marker name from E1M1 with E1M6 was enough to make it work correctly (my version on my computer is named E1M1). It certainly seems so, from my tests.

New link: http://www.filedropper.com/vortex2


I also played our WAD a bit, and noted no blatant errors, but the latter maps are murder. Especially yours, Joe-Ilya. I'm also not too sure that it follows the "five rooms" limitation.

The difficulty (and type of difficulty) is really uneven amongst the maps, but so are the themes and limitations. Perhaps a natural consequence of our mapset.

The dog-like strogg (you know, the one that sucks your bodily fluids with his "straw") makes that tapping sound with his claws. The mutant (what I'm guessing you refer to with "monkey") growls when idle.

I played some more:

Libor_john66
I know you're modifying your map, but I went through the old version nonetheless.
Just as Rdwpa, I got stuck when the pinky used the teleporter in the beginning, but the latter ones seemed to work, fortunately. I liked the Quake-like appearance of the gateways, by the way.

Map gameplay is very simple, with almost all monsters attacking your front. The only one that surprised me was the Baron behind the "pillar". The lighting is fullbright or close to it - the very definition of flat. The map layout reminds me of this - not too amazing in an engine that is able to render different height levels.
I suggest that you insert some variation into all those elements. The monster placement, the lighting and the layout.

For example: Have the monsters attack from odd angles and multiple directions at the same time. Figure out where you want the light to come from and add shadows where it doesn't fall. A maze isn't neccesarily bad, but a few areas with more space can break up the monotony. Just a few ideas. Good luck with your new version!

Olroda said:

I'll watch the FDA tomorrow

I got around to watching it, Rdwpa, and as I guessed, the pinkies were the ones that got to you! Well played, though. Very educative to see the map through the eyes of someone else.

All right, I've played three maps so far, all on UV. No errors found. I have a hard time finding any faults, so here are some compliments instead:

Walter Confalonieri
I'm liking the eerie atmosphere of the map. The music fits well with the hellish architecture. Pretty non-threatening for the skill level, but should work well as an early map, I think.

Dragonfly
A straightforward map with good layout and lots of action. I'm impressed that you managed all that in one hour! I sure know I wouldn't!

Death Egg
The most bizarre and difficult map so far, and I mean that in a good way! I got my ass handed to me on several occasions, and I even fell for the shotgun "trap" at the beginning. Perhaps I can write that one off due to fatigue - it's late here, currently - but maybe not. Without spoiling too much for potential readers, I also managed to get a Baron (there are Barons in this map!) pissed at another Baron through some barrel infighting!

rdwpa said:

But looking in the editor, it seems like HNTR and HMP don't have much health either. That should probably be addressed.

It was my intention to keep the supplies low - and thus the threat high, but I might have been too stingy. If others agree then I'll see what I can do.

rdwpa said:

Anyway, quite spooky -- enjoyed it, and also the fact that former human troopers are legitimate threats.

I'm glad that you liked it, and I'm also glad that you wrote that last part, since that was my intention. I'll watch the FDA tomorrow, it's already past midnight here.

rdwpa said:

http://www.filedropper.com/ is an easy no-registration file hosting site that doesn't require people to give their email addresses to download a file.

I'll sort that out as soon as I get home from work later today.

EDIT: Here's a better link to my map.

http://www.filedropper.com/vortex

...And here's my contribution. Sure took a lot longer than I had planned. I haven't had the time to look at your maps yet, but I will tomorrow now when I do.

EDIT: Link removed, please see below.

Information about my map:
Skill levels implemented - Lots of thought went into this. Even the easy levels should prove a (limited) challenge, and Hurt me Plenty is to be regarded as the standard setting.
The "music" is PSX-style background noise, but nowhere near as melodic.

I took the liberty of including a WILVxx file for the map name, but that and the .mus file will have to be renamed depending on where my map ends up. I suspect that you will handle that, DeathEgg?

It's good to know that this project is beginning to take shape! My own map is also nearing completion, and is in fact also inspired by the second episode. E2M1 to be precise. I got the 1024 limitation, and before I implement some of the later additions, I'll just make sure that we're on the same page regarding said limit.
So, is the following statement correct?

"A 1024-style map has a playable area of 1024 (yes, that's right) units. The mapper can only add decoration, monster cells for teleport traps et cetera beyond that point. The player is allowed cross the 1024 boundary provided that he is killed upon doing so."

Mechadon: The first two pictures remind me a little of Marathon Infinity (or any of the marathon games, really) with high-definition textures. Is there a connection somewhere?

Jayextee: Looking good! We can't have enough Heretic maps, I think. The only thing about that game that puts me off a bit is the aforementioned lack of dangerous monsters. Other than that, it's almost DooM's equal.

DooM_RO said:

The Foundry level is superior to E1M2.

Elaborate, please (because it would be interesting to read).

Unless you let your guns do the talking for you! I've read somewhere that the greatest conversation opener is a running chainsaw.