Deathmatcher

A Quake 1 reboot is number 1 on my list, although the chances are slim. Generally, I wouldn't mind another Doom game, but slower-paced than the last two.

I finished the Trilogy yesterday. I must say this is one of the best mapsets I've played in years. I didn't know that Heretic and Hexen could be blended this well together to create something so atmospheric. In some maps, like Willowwood, Vulture's Point or Cloister of Venom, I almost felt as if I played Hexen for the first time again. I found as good as no bugs, except for one spot in episode 3's secret level, where I got stuck between the chapel wall and a bush and had to noclip myself out. Some puzzles I couldn't for the life of me solve without looking them up on the net, such as the one with the wolf/griffin/dragon combination, or the one about weighing the phoenix rod ammo against each other. But other than that, a brilliantly designed mapset for Heretic and Hexen, that probably won't be surpassed in quality anytime soon. Thank you for this one, @Jimmy! ps: I loved it when late in the game I happened to find a heartgem of Korax! I usually suck at finding secrets but this one got me on a hunt to collect them all and figure out their purpose. Sadly I had already placed the regular gems in their sockets by the time I found the Korax ones, so he didn't spawn for me. Was fun nevertheless! ps2: The D'Sparil robe confused me as well. I actually mistook it for a dead enemy and let it lying on the floor to begin with... :-P

If using savegames counts, then yes, I've completed both games on NM in the 90s. Even with savegames, Doom 2 is quite hard and you need to watch out so you don't save yourself into an unbeatable situation. I still remember that at first, I wasn't able to beat MAP02, but after some tries I managed and it kind of worked for me from there. Then in MAP16 my savegames went corrupt, so I had to start with a pistol from there. I haven't felt the urge to revisit NM ever since beating the Icon of Sin. :P

RELEASED! dts-t.com/DTS-T.zip]DOWNLOAD HERE! Scroll down for screenshots As I know from longterm observation, one of the things that the Doom community really likes is when a new Megawad pops up out of nowhere. Even better: When it's almost done! I have been working on this in all calmness for the last couple of years, not telling anyone in public that I resumed the project, because I had been very wrong about the release date once before (~2004) and didn't want to make this mistake again. So here it is: I have a 33 level megawad here. And it will be released in 2012! About the story A hidden UAC base on Phobos: Not satisfied with their achievements, scientists have developed a new kind of teleporter, capable of not only sending things through space, but also through time and into different dimensions. There were two prototypes of this machine but one morning, one of them was found missing! Needless to say that one lone marine is sent through the second device, to find out where the missing prototype might be and who is behind the theft... Features -33 new Levels from scratch, that have never been released (with the exception of two demo levels a decade ago) -Explore four wholly differing realms, ranging from medieval castles to dusty tombs, to a sinister space station, and apocalyptic and hellish regions never seen before! -Lots of references to pop culture: Subtle (as well as not so subtle) allusions to those fantasy, adventure and space operas you all grew up with! -ACS scripting in all levels to bridge the gap from classic Doom gameplay to wholly innovative puzzles and mechanics. -Voice acting! (yay! :D) -A fistful of Realm667 assets thrown in: Just enough to enrich the experience, without digressing too much from the classic doom gameplay. -Music from all classic Doom games, Hexen and Hexen 2, Quake2, Duke Nukem and more, to always create the right mood, whether you battle through dungeons or tech bases. -Slow and consistent ramp-up of assets and difficulty. If you want to see Plasma Rifles, Arch Viles or Cyberdemons, you have to play far into the game. -Supports ZDoom and GZDoom. -Jumping and Crouching supported (but not mandatory). -Designed for a Singleplayer experience, ITYTD to Ultra-Violence supported. Not included -Multiplayer (Unfortunately, I had to cancel my coop ambitions at some point, because ACS scripting got too complex). -Nightmare! (It's untested. I might do a Nightmare!-patch later on, though) -Icon of Sin typed final level :D The design history I began this project in 1998 as a megawad for Final Doom's TNT episode. Back then, I didn't really have the means to modify Doom beyond doing new levels, so the extra textures, music and skies of TNT appealed to me. I worked on this until 2004, by the end of which about 60% of the levels were completed. I then took an extended break from the project but never had plans to abandon it altogether. In 2010, I resumed the development of DTS-T, now working with Doom Builder 2 and switching the IWAD from TNT to Doom2, as well as the engine from Doom95 to ZDoom. Being a software developer, the possibilities of ACS scripting greatly appealed to me and during the design of the remaining 12 levels, the scripting got more and more complex from level to level. I have spent the last couple of months revisiting all 33 levels, unifying and smoothing the experience, adding ACS scripts to the older levels where originally crude classic Doom mechanisms were in place. I "beautified" all the spots that looked way too "1994-ish", added voice acting to the levels and threw in weather effects here and laser beams there to further intensify the experience. I decided that a ZDoom exclusive mod should allow jumping and crouching and spent weeks making all 33 levels robust for these movements. Despite being ZDoom exlusive, DTS-T still is supposed to have a classic touch to it. Most of the time, you will only encounter the classic Doom and Doom2 monsters, although I did add a few surprises here and there. In many of the older levels, I mostly use ACS scripting to guide the player a bit, for example in cases where a switch does something far away. Later on, there is a bit more scripting: There are complex puzzles in some of the levels; there are conveyor belts; there is a time limit on one level and in another level you are required to kill every single monster to get teleported out, rather than finding a physical exit. There is a slope here and there but most of the time I used conventional architecture. And of course there is voice acting in every level. Nothing intrusive and skippable most of the time, the voice acting is supposed to guide you through the story and create a bit of atmosphere. I am currently playing the game over and over, balancing things, fixing the last ugly spots. My brother is going to play through the finished game soon, giving me final feedback. DTS-T is just a couple of weeks away from release. Difficulty DTS-T was built to have a slow and steady ramp-up in difficulty. The first couple of levels are fairly easy, about KDITD difficulty. The difficulty then ramps up to about Doom 2 level by the middle of the game. The final chapter is probably a little above Doom 2, maybe somewhere between TNT and Plutonia, with the hardest levels scratching Plutonia difficulty. It never gets unfair, though, and stays below Scythe difficulty. This is my personal perception, of course, and might be perceived differently by other people. Game overview with screenshots Prologue It all starts on Phobos, where the super-secret DTS-Device waits for you to step through! I used patrolling marine actors, as well as the scientists from Stronghold to breathe life into this introduction level. The level borrows some room concepts and texture choices from E1M1 to be in line with how the original Doom starts out. It was created in 2012. http://www.DTS-T.com/screenshots/DTS-T_map01.png Chapter I The first chapter throws you into the medieval realm of Blackshire. I used fog and Jon Washburn's wonderful weather effects to create a dismal atmosphere. These levels are the oldest of DTS-T, having been created around the year 2000. Needless to say they went through a couple of revisions since then. They are simple and quick to play through and should set you in the right mood for things to come... http://www.DTS-T.com/screenshots/DTS-T_map03.png http://www.DTS-T.com/screenshots/DTS-T_map05.png http://www.DTS-T.com/screenshots/DTS-T_map06.png Chapter II Chapter II sets you into the realm of Gogypt, where I used egyptian and gothic themes. Discover ancient temples and sinister cathedrals. Tan-colored fog and dust clouds create the right atmosphere in the outdoor areas. These levels were originally created between 2000 and 2002. The episode is similarly short as the first one but is also progressively harder than Chapter I, with Revenants and Cacodemons joining the fray. http://www.DTS-T.com/screenshots/DTS-T_map0701.png http://www.DTS-T.com/screenshots/DTS-T_map0702.png http://www.DTS-T.com/screenshots/DTS-T_map08.png http://www.DTS-T.com/screenshots/DTS-T_map09.png http://www.DTS-T.com/screenshots/DTS-T_map1001.png http://www.DTS-T.com/screenshots/DTS-T_map1002.png http://www.DTS-T.com/screenshots/DTS-T_map11.png Chapter III After castles, tombs and temples, the marine travels into the far future. I built a UAC space station with 6 decks, each deck being one level. A part of the episode also plays out on an asteroid. I designed these levels in 2003 and 2004. The episode is substantially longer than the first two and also a bit more difficult. http://www.DTS-T.com/screenshots/DTS-T_map12.png http://www.DTS-T.com/screenshots/DTS-T_map13.png http://www.DTS-T.com/screenshots/DTS-T_map14.png http://www.DTS-T.com/screenshots/DTS-T_map15.png http://www.DTS-T.com/screenshots/DTS-T_map16.png http://www.DTS-T.com/screenshots/DTS-T_map17.png http://www.DTS-T.com/screenshots/DTS-T_map18.png http://www.DTS-T.com/screenshots/DTS-T_map19.png Chapter IV The final chapter of DTS-T takes the player to the so-called Apostruct. This is a hub level from which the player travels to individual levels. The reason for the hub is to give the player some choice of the order in which he plays the levels but the levels themselves are played in a linear fashion. This is the largest, most difficult and also the newest chapter of the game. I built the levels between 2010 and 2012, after a five year hiatus from the project. Some levels have a hellish theme to them but I explored totally different styles here and made heavy use of ACS scripting in some. There is a lot of variety in this chapter but each level in itself has a very consistent theme. If you play on Ultra-Violence, you're in for a good challenge once you reach the Apostruct! http://www.DTS-T.com/screenshots/DTS-T_map33.png http://www.DTS-T.com/screenshots/DTS-T_map21.png http://www.DTS-T.com/screenshots/DTS-T_map22.png http://www.DTS-T.com/screenshots/DTS-T_map23.png http://www.DTS-T.com/screenshots/DTS-T_map25.png http://www.DTS-T.com/screenshots/DTS-T_map26.png http://www.DTS-T.com/screenshots/DTS-T_map27.png http://www.DTS-T.com/screenshots/DTS-T_map29.png Last but not least, a screenshot from one of the two secret levels: http://www.DTS-T.com/screenshots/DTS-T_map32.png I hope you like what you see and I'm looking forward to your comments. I will keep you updated about the project and a release date here.

The way it looks, the way it moves, the way the mechanics are built, it all felt to me like a World of Warcraft raid boss. I liked the idea of the worm but I agree that the appearance of the robot does look absolutely generic and golem-like. id did a very good job re-imagining the existing monsters and I also liked the Possessed, which are a fresh reboot of the zombie theme. But they did a rather poor job adding new monsters to the bestiary. While Doom 2 and Doom 3 were given a lot of freedom to expand on the stock bestiary (introducing such iconic creatures as the Arch-Vile and the Cherub), The art director seems to have held the reins pretty tightly this time...

33/33 Finished the game on HMP first, then got the Toe into Madness-Achievement. Then did a ITYTD-Run to get the remaining singleplayer-Achievements. Finished things with a couple days of multiplayer/snapmap to get the final achievements.

This. I count myself in the Quake 1 group here. With Wolfenstein and Doom having been continued several times now, a sequel to Quake 1 is the number one thing I'm waiting for from id Software (second place going to a Rage sequel). But looking at how troublesome the development of Quake 1 was for the company and how close it is in setting and tone to Doom, I'm afraid that id/Zenimax doesn't see enough benefit/uniqueness in remaking this game. It would be so awesome, to have the dark and Lovecraftian world of Quake 1 remade into a modern game. Well, hope dies last.

I could see how dev markers are just a special case and are permanent... But the question interests me as well. If all markers are shown world-wide without expiration date, the first maps will be teeming with them in no time.

I can confirm that the update causes crashes on machines that previously didn't have any issues. The game ran flawlessly during my first playthrough (prior to the update). Yesterday I had my first crash during my second playthrough.

I guess it's in Ireland. Adrian just purchased a hotel there and Romero visited him. Allegedly the game is made in Galway. I read that somewhere... Really curious about what's gonna be revealed on Monday.

RIP Ty. Thanks for everything. "Doom will never die. Only its players" Sad but true :(

It was explained in Resurrection of Evil to some degree. The gun is kind of the personal toy of one of the officers, with which he went bear hunting back on earth.

So, the let's play is finished and I watched all the episodes. Thanks for the ride! I had a lot of fun co-commenting the videos and I also had a lot of fun watching the episodes in which I did not partake! You spent a lot of time not only just playing DTS-T but also critizing, praising and evaluating it, so it's probably just fair if I do the same thing for the videos. You have a good sense of humor and some remarks, especially between you and hipp0cat, were great moments where I really had to laugh and had a good time. You provided useful insight into the way an typical Doomer might think while playing DTS-T and more often than not, you came very close to the way I had a specific spot in mind. And I was able to draw a lot of useful feedback (both positive and negative) from the videos, that will certainly influence my future work. DTS-T seems to have spurred your imagination and I'm very pleased that it did. But to be honest, I also had moments where I was really pissed off, especially when you would end a great video (time and again) looking and talking about an alleged texture misalignment for the hundredth time. I say alleged, because - while you indeed found real misalignments, glitches and bugs - one outcome (probably the most surprising outcome for me) of this video series is, that you have a fundamentally different idea of well-aligned textures than me. Before the let's play, I was absolutely convinced of having done a good job on texture-alignment, having spent (as I repeatedly told you) many many hours just flying through the levels in 3D mode and doing texture aligning, even to the point where I said to myself "stop it now, you nit-picky bastard! It's never going to get released if you don't let go!". And then watching you standing in the first room of Seven and hearing the word "shit" like three times almost made me want to delete Doom Builder from my computer. Hell, I don't even know exactly what pissed you off so much in that room... I don't say that the seed is not planted, though. As time will pass, I might come to look at a textured wall with different eyes. But don't expect me to just throw "texture xy looks bad when cut off this way" in my face and expect me to insta-adopt your aesthetic feeling. Especially since you are not getting tired of stating that people should not judge Doom maps based on an imaginary checklist. How about deleting cut-off textures from YOUR checklist? Craftsmen do cut off stones and bricks right in the middle to make it fit somewhere in the real world. I fail to see why this shouldn't be allowed in a Doom level. Where was I? Oh yes, and I think I would have loved a bit more focus on the actual game. Digressing is fun at times, but you tend to overdo it from time to time. To the point where sometimes you don't comment on a room at all, because your train of thought keeps you busy through a quarter of the level. Then again, I don't watch many let's play videos, so maybe that's a thing the community loves and wants and this is just the grumbling of an author craving for attention. Since neither you nor hipp0cat seemed to have liked Seven particularly, I would like to make some comments about this level (apart from the things mentioned already, which just served as an example). Seven was an experiment and the attempt to cast the seven deadly sins into a Doom level. I thought long and hard on the mechanics and did a lot of scripting to realize them, so reading "would've been/could've been/should've been so much cooler, if..." on youtube wasn't particularly satisfactory. Then again, the level polarizes a lot and some of its mechanics lean quite far out of the window, so I can understand if there are people who don't like it (by the way, there are also those who do). You asked the question in the video, if the sins were purposefully designed to be beaten with exploitive behaviour, and the answer is: partially yes. I like the notion that the player needs to stand safely around the corner in the beginning of "Greed", chain-chainsawing all cacodemons to death, for example. I do acknowledge, however, that sometimes the game mechanics had to give way to the sin. "Lust" didn't turn out to be the most fun room gameplay-wise probably. Speaking of "Lust": You will very likely not see such a room from me again. Contrary to popular belief, I don't particuarly enjoy drawing sexual imagery in Doom Builder. I wanted Seven to be a gross ride to hell, with each sin being an intense experience for the (adult) player. When it came to "Lust", I felt that merely placing suggestive textures on the walls didn't do the level justice, especially since in the case of "Lust", the gameplay couldn't really be tied in. I believed that an audience enjoying punching zombies to bloody pulp and splattering guts left and right would come into the room, have a good laugh and move on. I was wrong. Same goes for the ending of The Vault Of Flesh, by the way. If these rooms spoil the fun for somebody, he can still enjoy 31 100%-penis-and-buthole-free levels in DTS-T, which I hope give proof to the fact, that imagery like this wasn't a particular focus of the Megawad. Anyway, at least in DTS-T you don't have to fire rockets into a vagina, like in certain Cacoward-winning projects: http://www.doomworld.com/12years/images/kama2.png Last but not least: You asked about the story and what was really going on. Well, that's totally up to your imagination! Ok, seriously: Alright, I think that about sums it up. Did I forget anything? Oh yeah: Other than that: A great experience and the positives definitely outweigh the negatives here, for me.

Cheers for doing a Let's Play of DTS-T, Antroid. :) Today I sat down with Antroid to do the third recording of his Let's Play and gave some (hopefully interesting) tidbits about DTS-T's long development cycle. We covered map05 to map07 of the megawad, discussing lighting and texture choices and secret placement along the way. As to what you mentioned in the second video: Yes, some parts of especially the early DTS-T levels are optional. I like it when a level has some percentage of optional rooms or content to explore, though not as much as in the original Doom levels, where some maps have only like 20% of the layout actually contributing to the way to the exit. I guess I aimed for a slightly different approach in the later levels, but even there you will find the odd optional room along the way.

You are partly right, in that I maybe placed some of the weapons too frequently. However, I would have never suspected to lure people into attempting pistol starts by this. One of the reasons I placed weapons again, is to give people that missed a weapon a chance to pick it up later on. For example, I got several reports of people, who missed out on the rocket launcher in map07 and were able to pick it up in map10 then. While I will probably reduce redundant weapon placement in future works, I will not abandon it altogether (especially not on the alleged risk of luring people into an unsupported playstyle). Feeling of weapon progression is exactly what I had in mind for DTS-T! I fail to see how getting the BFG after 22 levels does not invoke that feeling. In a lot of megawads out there you get it in, like, map07. If you warped into the final chapter, then, yes, you get it after two levels. DTS-T was not designed for warping. Also, play the rest of the chapter. :) Just yesterday a friend emailed me, complaining that he ran out of cells near the end of the game. I didn't take it as one, don't worry. :) It was just that I was like "WTF?" when reading it for the first time. On Vivarium: If people don't like zoos, that's fine. It's a personal taste. I like the level and I got feedback from others liking it. If some don't, then that's fine as well. :) I won't do it again, simply because I have done "my zoo level" now. On the homage: I see how people could find it distracting. I love it, I can't help it. It's not like Riley's kidding every other level or so. On the music: It is Duke Nukem 3D "aliens say your prayers".

I have a very clear idea in mind but I cannot share anything yet. At the moment, I'm still making a break from modding. DTS-T took me 14 years to complete (7-8 years when not counting the breaks), and this resulted in huge differences between the early and the newer levels. The key goal for the next project is to tighten the development timeline a bit, so there will be no such thing as "the old levels" and "the new levels". One of the consequences of this is probably to shrink the level amount to something more manageable, possibly around one third or one half the amount DTS-T has. This is all I can say for now. You have to wait and see. ;-)

Yes. Don't expect any anouncements soon, though.

Thanks for the feedback, man. I read your comments with mixed feelings, however. About half of your points are absolutely warranted and reflect my own thoughts (or even make me think twice about things). That's the good part. On the other hand, though, you added a lot of very subjective and personal taste, which you presented as "general tips", which they - frankly - just aren't. I strongly disagree with several of your points (which is also backed by feedback I got from others). I won't go into much detail, because it's so subjective and taste cannot be "discussed". Just some rough examples: I love my big fonts exactly where they are big, I got feedback from people loving Vivarium, and DTS-T was NOT designed to be played from pistol start, as was stated in the text file. Oh, and I love the BFG exactly where it is and I strongly disagree with the game becoming too easy when having it. Oh, and I have to quote two things: This is called a "homage". Please watch The Fellowship Of The Ring. :-) Thinking back to the hundreds and thousands of hours I spent testing, this almost came as an insult. But I'm sure you didn't mean it this way. Other than that, glad that you liked it and thanks again for the feedback! :)

Dann. I tought accidentally repeating my post would make it happen :-(

Awesome to see that the Awards have made it! Congrats to all the winners. I have played about a third of them so far. Gotta catch up on the rest. Can the Strife one be played with a doom iwad btw?

Awesome to see that the Awards have made it! Congrats to all the winners. I have played about a third of them so far. Gotta catch up on the rest. Can the Strife one be played with a doom iwad btw?

I think we have yet to find a person who was not annoyed by this puzzle. ;-) Look at how the teleporter leading to that puzzle is shaped in The Fading Place... Yeah, I do realize math puzzles are not catering to everyone's taste.

Stringy corridors and annoying puzzles were mentioned a couple of times now. My feelings on these are: ~90% you're probably right. But ~10% ist probably just personal taste. I personally like having the odd puzzle that takes me out of my usual Doom gameplay comfort zone (to use one of the terms that came up in the more heated replies). But I can see that there are a number of people who feel that these kinds of puzzles derail the good ol' Doom gameplay too much. Duly noted. I won't say "won't happen again" but I will try to apply these more sparingly and in a less annoying manner in the future. As to the stringy corridors: Yes, I see the argument and some of them could have turned out better. The Vault of Flesh veins fall into this "10% personal taste" case, though, as Blue Shadow already hinted at. I'm happy with those.

Let me get it clear that I don't mind criticism. Even harsh criticism - as long as it's constructive and gives me some clues to improve upon in the future. Even though it took me half a lifetime to complete, it's still a "beginner's effort" as someone expressed it, so expecting only praises for it would have been silly. What I don't like is when opinions turn into a flame war and people are being bashed because their opinion differs. I'm sure it's not asked too much of a community of a 19 year old game to keep stuff like this out of the conversation. Thank you.

That's the best idea ever! Absolutely seconded! The first Doom's day failed, but fortunately we have a backup Doomsday this year. :D