The /newstuff Chronicles #79

Ugh, slow week. Just a single new wad in /newstuff this week, so be sure to make it last.

XXXCITY by Terry Brooks - - A first-attempt wad running on Doom 2 Map01. XXXCITY contains three single-player focused maps... or rather, three renditions of one 1994-5 reminiscent map design. There are some stereotypical 'newbie' quirks to be seen: SS Nazis, ridiculous texturing and texture alignment, and poor ammo balance (I found myself running out of ammo right before the tougher fights more than just once). To Terry's credit, the maps had very few HOM or tutti-frutti errors, and some of the architecture looks better than you'd expect from a first try. Recommended if you have a thing for 1994ish maps or if you're simply groping for something to play.

Heh, sounds a lot like my first wad =)

It is actually better than my first wad. Of course, some may say it is better than my last wad. :)

Pretty good, better than my first wad by far.

*sees everyone wonder who the hell he is sinse he hasn't posted for months* ;x

Dammit, my file was rejected (bad upload). You guys will have to wait another week.

oooh, a new Lee S. map on its way! Truly something to look forward to.
This guy's maps always live up to the hype... get psyched!

dammit, you mean xxxcity isn't a porn map? well i'm disappointed.

will said:

dammit, you mean xxxcity isn't a porn map? well i'm disappointed.

You're not the only one.

Opulent said:

oooh, a new Lee S. map on its way! Truly something to look forward to.
This guy's maps always live up to the hype... get psyched!

Heh, it's just a DM map. The SP stuff is still a while away.

My first Hard drive maps were terrible. The VERY first ones i did bore no resemblance to real maps. It even took me a while to figure out how to make a hollow area, but i think i may have come close to mastering the vanilla doom level.

Be sure to look out for my ~6 level SP wad coming out in a few weeks!

Argh, why the hell won't the 3dgamers ftp work, dammit.

Well, my first wad was a small collection of rooms and four cyberdemons in a boss arena, but not good enough for release (although it's quite hard). My first real wad was that blackout map in op-lite2.wad (ambitious for a first wad but that's the idea I had. Of course it's much better now than it was originally)

On the subject of the 3dgamers ftp server, it's just the way it is unfortunately. (I'm sure we'd all like to see more than 200 slots but it's just not happening)

xxxcity is huge, it's gonna take a while to play...

So far I've only played the first of the set... Yeah, it's ugly, but the layout works really well, with many nasty surprises, good internal logic, and generally exciting fights. And never mind the pukey texture choices -- the lighting is *superb*. Every area is lit so it feels right. The best bit being that it was "daylight" when I went underground to delve for the yellow key, and it was "sunset" when I came back aboveground. That was seriously cool.

There are two layout mistakes: that big trench can wind up stuck down so you have to cheat to get into the blue door (or use jumping); it is possible to get to the exit pit prior to killing everyone (what? all hellspawn must DIE!) and there's no way to get back out. Otherwise, it works amazingly well.

I never actually ran out of ammo, but there were definitely times when I'd eye my 20 remaining shells, look askance at the oncoming baron, and run the other way. And I quickly learned that when I found a major ammo stash, it meant I was about to spend a lot of it in a hurry.

Overall, a fun map.

hm don't get me wrong here.. but I think this wad shouldn't have left his harddrive. I mean, it's a first wad, and you shouldn't release it on the net. What you ought to do, is keep working with the editor, until you can come up with something which looks more decent, and makes more sense ..
Honestly, none of the four levels made sense :)
I'm not flaming the guy here! I'm just saying, he should have waited a bit longer, and maybe released his fifth or sixth wad.

(first thing that came to mind when playing this wad was "This has to be a joke".. I couldn't help myself thinking that over and over again. None of it makes sense :-/...)

But the levels I've seen.. ho boy.. check the maximum wads cd for example :(

hey, why isn't the "Hall of Mirrors" script being used for the /newstuff anymore? i mean that page that would let you choose an archive mirror for your download

NeoNite said:

hm don't get me wrong here.. but I think this wad shouldn't have left his harddrive. I mean, it's a first wad, and you shouldn't release it on the net. What you ought to do, is keep working with the editor, until you can come up with something which looks more decent, and makes more sense ..
Honestly, none of the four levels made sense :)
I'm not flaming the guy here! I'm just saying, he should have waited a bit longer, and maybe released his fifth or sixth wad.

(first thing that came to mind when playing this wad was "This has to be a joke".. I couldn't help myself thinking that over and over again. None of it makes sense :-/...)

But the levels I've seen.. ho boy.. check the maximum wads cd for example :(

Well, I hate to disagree, but... I disagree.

First off, I like the gameplay and can forgive the use of teleporter as a main ceiling texture and all the other ugly bits. Just pretend that the monsters have no taste in this area and have built an ugly place, heh. Good honest, fun levels these are, and they are certainly good enough for release. If we expect awesome maps each week in /newstuff we'll end up with nothing there for months at a time, and I don't want that to happen.

Secondly, if he doesn't post them, and we don't give him opinions and pointers, he'll never get any better. Some people need that. Some don't, Archvile has perfected his Doomed Once More map E1M3 before release, and it's only his third or so attempt at a level. But for slower learners, it's an important process IMO.

pritch said:

Some don't, Archvile has perfected his Doomed Once More map E1M3 before release, and it's only his third or so attempt at a level.

Second =)

But it's far from perfect, there are tons of texture misalignments, etc, especially in the earlier sections of the level before I learned of the upper/lower unpegged feature, and I was too lazy to go back and fix them, although I might fix it before the final E1 release.

I'm still in the learning process, even if what I put out doesn't necessarily show it. I'm tryng to eventually get to the point where they just about are perfect.