Alper002

Not intended at all, but I don't care enough to "fix" it. People can enjoy that skip if they want! I didn't even notice that first part! That's great! :D 69 monsters was definitely 90% intentional though! (monster count landed at 68 while making it so I added an extra one at the end) Now, I can't help but want to explain things that confuse people, so... You don't have to always go side-to-side, there's a little bit in the middle where you're safe from both arch-vile sets! It's even sort of marked on the floor! It hasn't been thoroughly tested (though I did use a fair bit of speedmapping time to test it iirc lol), but I have a decently consistent way of completing it. A lot of it revolves around realizing what areas are safe from the Arch-Viles' line of sight, (like the key platform, or the lil' powerup cubbies past the locked door) and then dealing with the Hell Knights first. "Sadistic" is probably a decently appropriate adjective though, still. It's certainly not the kindest thing I've put out, and the damaging brown water was definitely for the sake of my own laughs. Happy to hear you really enjoyed my other maps in the set, though!

I did happen to download this at some point, when the link worked! Don't remember much about how I thought about it, but I'm happy I still have the file around: ztivWIP1.zip Though one quick and fun peek (playing each included map saveless until I died) made me a little jealous of MAP02's verticality.

I don't think I've read it in any doomworld thread, but I've seen it said that stealth Arch-Viles in particular have potential due to being fully visible for their decently-long attack cycle. Resurrection probably gives away their position too. Probably still not for everyone.

There's only one thing I've made where I can really feel what you're on about, maybe. Back in 2019, I made a megawad for Hexen (spurred on by NaNoWADMo) with linear levels. The maps are generally not very polished or thought-through (but perhaps still enjoyable?), and some decisions I made make me wince in hindsight. Especially egregious is an outright progression-stopping bug present in all releases, wherein a randomized sequence goes outside its intended range because of bad programming. It's obvious in hindsight, but at the time it wasn't so clear to me. While I wish I had spotted that bug, I don't really care enough to make a fixed version. It's not something I'm proud enough of to really warrant doing that. All of this isn't to say there aren't things I like about the mapset, but goodness me I wouldn't do much of this the same way again! Generally I go with an "it is what it is" attitude for my maps after I've done their last update. If they have unintended stuff, so be it, that's part of it now! Maps with skips or other oddities exist in many places, what's a few more? I can obviously see things I maybe would've liked to change sometimes, but I can let go of those things very easily. It might not be the best mindset to have, but that's where my thoughts land right now.

The problem you might be running into is that GZDoom (by default) makes explosions launch things vertically, which not all doom sourceports do! Assuming gzdoom, one of the compatibility options (Referred outside of menus as Compat_Explode1) prevents this, which should remove the ability to do those rocket jumps. You can force it within MAPINFO by putting in "compat_explode1 = 1".

That one with the lost soul is flashing VERY rapidly, worried it might (alongside some other ones) be dangerous for those who can get seizures from flickering lights. Highly distracting, in any case.

I've played through level 4 with a pistol start, and I enjoyed it. Didn't find any of the early power weapons and triggered both the megasphere and blue key traps, resulting in quite a bit of running. It was then fun to then turn the tide with the SSG and RL thereafter. One little thing that I feel like nitpicking just now is that a fair few lines that ARE walls don't look like it on the automap, which seems to stem from said walls being closed sectors. I'd prefer if the sectors that represent the pillars were deleted(resulting in an empty void), and in case some wall HAS TO be a closed sector you can put the line flag that makes it look one-sided to make the automap a little more readable. I also think the return trip secret is a little less obvious than might be ideal, as the clue is texture cutoff in a map that has been a bit messy with the textures... but it's good that it's there at all. My favourite secret was probably the two-step one with the lift, though I was briefly misled by that weird switch next to the SSG. Also, bug report: A HOM. I examined in an editor, and the reason the map doesn't run in vanilla is due to some weird lines facing the void in the staircase near the start of the map. It's one of those things Chocolate Doom doesn't give an error message for, frustratingly enough. As for future releases, given the playtime of each individual level not being that much I think releasing multiple at a time will work best.

Pretty good for someone's first! I especially like the way the secrets were hidden! The second level is probably my favourite, due to said secret-hiding, but level 3 was fun too! I didn't mind the narrow hallways or the texturing in the slightest, because I was enjoying the sense of place in the maps. One thing that I want to make note of for the two computer/screen-pressing secrets is that there's not much in the way of feedback when you press them. Maybe a distant sound if you're lucky, but there's a trick to making it more obvious. Essentially, place a switch texture on a texture slot that cannot usually be seen (i.e. upper/lower texture on a one-sided line, which usually exclusively shows the middle texture). This way it'll make the switch noise, making it clear that your "use"-press did something! Also, bugs. They always come around, so here's the ones I found: One of the computer screens has its sector accidentally marked as secret, making 100% secrets impossible. This tree occasionally looks weird due to a so-called slime trail, jiggle around the vertices and it might fix itself.

Title. Would you be found ready to ambush inside a monster closet, would you stand prominently atop a platform and attack from afar, or are you perhaps one among a threatening many out in the open? ...or maybe you'd fit in somewhere else? I myself would be found within a closet, which itself is hidden inside another closet. I'd be ready to ambush, but... it'll take a while.

Well, while it is actually 75 health bonuses stacked ontop of each other (I thought a soulsphere was too much at some point), I see what you mean. It's not exactly a rewarding trap if you can't help but take damage from it. If I had thought of this I probably would've swapped the placement of it and the plasma rifle(among other changes), as in my opinion it's more valuable than additional health for the 4 barons you're locked into near the end.

I always mess up with a release somehow! Fixed it now.

This simple map makes you travel over a lot of nukage in order to reach the exit, but you don't get enough radiation suits not to take damage. That said, I did try and make the map be on the more lenient side. I think it is at its most exciting when you don't straferun over the damaging floors. I've tossed it to /idgames already because I'm not planning on making further changes, but I'm still curious about what people think of it. The necessary play information, among other things, is over there. Link to doomworld /idgames page

Was fun replaying AV on ITYTD to listen to the midis! I particularly liked the ones for MAP06, MAP10, MAP19, MAP30 and MAP31. Didn't play the old MAP25, but the track for it was also one I quite liked. One thing that bothers me a little by the current release candidate is that the midis don't feature the names of their composer in the filename. It's a lot less convenient compared to the plutmidi or tvr!midi compilations, cause with those you don't have to search for a thread to find the credits. Other than that, no complaints.

Source code isn't much of an issue, I believe the reverse engineering that's been done is pretty good. I think the biggest issue is just that Strife didn't bother with proper demo support at all. As far as I'm aware, dialogue breaks when trying to play back any recorded demo. As a result, there's probably very few (if any) demos to claim the game support compatible with, other than the single short one found in the title screen loop of the game. And if dialogues don't work anyway it's worthless for the kind of demos people actually want to record.