TheDevilzWork: 7 maps for DOS Doom2

Hey all, I recently made 3 singleplayer maps which I've named The Devil'z Work, after my band. They're vanilla compatable as the title suggests, and use MIDIs that I made.

These are maps you're meant to take your time with. I've attempted to apply the Castlevania NES theory to Doom with these maps - Difficult, but fair. Be patient and you'll conquer all the enemies!

Anyway, enough of my yammering, here's the download:
http://www.mediafire.com/?jjdidnvqhitbg7a

Let me know what you think, hope you all enjoy.

FDAs

Nice maps with pretty visuals and groovy music (am I allowed to use your midis in my wads?). There is one problem with the palette though: when you pick up something, looks like it restores to the original palette for a brief moment. I found that a bit distracting, is it possible to fix?

Also I found the gameplay a bit tedious at times. There are many instances when you have to kill many tough monsters in very open areas, where they don't pose any threat to an average player. (very easy to dodge their attacks) What's worse is that most of the time you don't have anything stronger than shotgun/chaingun, so it just takes forever to deal with them. On map03 you at least get SSG and plasmagun so it's a bit better in that aspect.

Overall this looks promising but gameplay needs to be improved in my opinion.

Memfis said:

There is one problem with the palette though: when you pick up something, looks like it restores to the original palette for a brief moment.

Also, this new palette needs its own COLORMAP.

Memfis said:

Also I found the gameplay a bit tedious at times. There are many instances when you have to kill many tough monsters in very open areas, where they don't pose any threat to an average player. (very easy to dodge their attacks) What's worse is that most of the time you don't have anything stronger than shotgun/chaingun, so it just takes forever to deal with them.

Alrighty, so I need to fix up the PLAYPAL and COLORMAP lumps, and make sure battles are challenging as opposed to tedious. Thanks for the feedback, it helps a lot!

EDIT: Damnit.. I clicked quote instead of edit!

Memfis said:

am I allowed to use your midis in my wads?

Sure thing, just put my name in the credits somewhere :)

Did you miss the ssg in map01, Memfis? :)

Yesterday, I did a quick fix to PLAYPAL before watching the demos (sorry, I was not in the mood to play anything). Made a new COLORMAP as well, although I still don't like how certain things look in the dark.

http://www.solidfiles.com/d/de2d7f9423/

Nice MIDIs. :)

Da Werecat said:

Yesterday, I did a quick fix to PLAYPAL before watching the demos (sorry, I was not in the mood to play anything). Made a new COLORMAP as well, although I still don't like how certain things look in the dark.

http://www.solidfiles.com/d/de2d7f9423/

Nice MIDIs. :)

Thank you for the improved colors, I'm a bit of a palette noob honestly. I just really like that light shade of blue.. :P

Hello fellow Doomers :)

Here are 7 SP/coop maps designed for DOS Doom2. I put a lot of calculation into these regarding ammo and health balance. Difficulty levels are present, but only in terms of power-ups rather than monster count. They go in order from easiest to hardest, with map01 having about 50 monsters, and map07 having over 400. Every map has secrets to hunt for, and I've attempted to make them look "detailed" within DOS mapping limitations.

Some Screenshots:


https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/510x319q90/854/itlp.png
https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/531x319q90/196/t7ry.png
https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x400q90/706/6ryz.png

I found no visplane overflows when playing through these, so if you do, please notify me! Naturally, jumping and crouching should be disabled when playing these, since they're intended for vanilla play. Deathmatch is also possible in these maps. There's an older version of this out there, but this is a pretty huge update.

Bugfixed version here, now called TDEVIL2.wad:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/8wawn4tfwp26xff/TDEVIL2.zip

I'll get this one onto /idgames soon. All feedback, praise or soul-crushing amounts of criticism are welcome!

I have a few days of free time, and I've been using it to do as much mapping as possible. I'm planning on releasing ZMatch 2014 soon, as well as some CTF maps which were made with the help of other Doomers - Keep an eye open for them if you're into multiplayer. :)

Fixed some serious tutti frutti, added demos and fixed some broken teleporters:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/8wawn4tfwp26xff/TDEVIL2.zip

Doomkid, you are officially the king of making improved versions of the original Doom/Doom 2 maps. lol I liked map07 the best. You make excellent pwads as always and I tip my hat to you man. Did you see my PM is I sent out earlier?

Thanks a lot DG, glad you like it!

Here, have some mediocre FDAs:
http://www.doomworld.com/vb/attachment.php?postid=1238946

Most of them are on HMP, after deciding on Map 02 that UV pistol start was probably going to be too hard for me. Recorded in Chocolate Doom, no VPOs etc.

Liked what I saw a lot so far, I had a lot of trouble with 2 and 3 and then things seemed to get a lot easier. They do feel quite detailed and lively for a vanilla compatible set.

A minor texture bug on Map04, and some serious slime trails on Map05. Both are in the demos but I can screenshot them if you'd prefer.

I think the Map02 area that keeps killing me could be softened a little, but maybe I was just playing poorly. I didn't try the bar with the chaingunner behind it for some reason, nevermind... Also a lot of the cyberdemons in Map07 can be handled from safe-but-boring spots with the SSG (even though I do die a few times from them).

Not a fan of the new weapon sounds at all, and the Heretic teleport sound is somehow disorienting. New music is good, except NIN MIDIs sound pretty bad IMHO because they're such a poor facsimile of the real songs. Palette stuff is nice, the red fades took a bit of getting used to but I really liked it once it no longer surprised me.

Great maps overall, I hope these get some more attention!

If there is one more thing I would like to add it's that it would be best to not have any custom sounds at all. Personally, I don't mind them at all, but the majority of people seem dislike any custom sounds in pwads. Also, I noticed that you altered either that COLORMAP or PLAYPAL in your pwad. It would probably be best to not mess around with them because it strains my eyes when looking at the brighter liquids or shinier sprites/textures. Other than that, the maps are superior and the midis are great!

A very neat set of maps here. Loved MAP05, good old 1990's bash. Lots of secrets is a big plus from me. I'm a fan of secrets.

Blue Key doors in MAP04 and MAP06 should have DOORBLU instead of LITEBLU textures beside them. But that is your choice. Not forcing you to change them. But if it was me, I'd change them to the DOORBLU.

Great input, plums, DG93 and pcorf - I do seem to have a lot of trouble coming up with 'fair but fun' cyber battles, something I need to work on. Good eye pointing out the slime trails in map05, they somehow slipped past me when running through!

If I get around to making more stuff, I'll keep it free of new sfx. I'll probably keep playpal use to a minimum as well, but I just can't get enough of the 'new' blood effect, I find it makes it easier to see when you're taking on a lot of damage.

Not using doorblu for the blue doors was honestly a pretty silly choice on my part. I wasn't consistent, map04 is a good example of why it's not a good idea to use lights instead of the simple doorblu texture.

I really appreciate the feedback :) Thanks!

Currently, I am working on an SP map that I plan on submitting to a Doomworld megawad project by the end of the year. Is it ok if I try to imitate your design styles from this wad? I'm really not all that good at making SP maps. I personally like your style Doomkid and I think it would definitely help me expand upon my mapping skills :)

doomguy93 said:

Currently, I am working on an SP map that I plan on submitting to a Doomworld megawad project by the end of the year. Is it ok if I try to imitate your design styles from this wad? I'm really not all that good at making SP maps. I personally like your style Doomkid and I think it would definitely help me expand upon my mapping skills :)

Sure man, by all means take inspiration wherever you see fit.

Just played through these again on continuous UV with the occasional save, much more my speed. Made it a lot easier, as did playing with PrBoom+ in a higher resolution mode - extra visibility was really helpful in some areas.

I really like these maps, you do a good job of having a lot of fun things in some fairly small designs. They're very id-like in that they look quite simplistic in a wad editor or on the automap, but they feel much bigger and more complex while playing them.

Here's some possible errors I noticed while playing:

MAP01:
* You can only get 3/4 secrets because the SSG secret effect is cleared with the linedef that lowers it (type 37). You'll have to use a linedef action that doesn't change the texture I think.

MAP02:
* I don't think you can trigger the secret on the stairway (sector 50), it's too narrow.
* It's a bit annoying that you can't leave the ending area once you're in. Maybe a secret teleporter in the exit room?

MAP03:
* No problems here. Plays a lot easier now that I know how to get the secrets and am not afraid of that soulsphere in the lava.

MAP04:
* The BFG secret is super easy to get. Maybe it's supposed to be though.
* Tutti frutti on that one linedef as shown in the demo. Won't show up in PrB+ or other ports.

MAP05:
* The archvile is basically harmless, but maybe that is intentional.

MAP06:
* Most of the monster teleports have been done well so far, but here they start to get weird. Having so many monsters teleport to that middle room doesn't do much to threaten the player at all, it just makes it annoying to go off the ledge when you need to.
* The secret area in sector 57 is pretty unlikely to be found without opening a map editor.
* Sector 49 has no tag and so never releases the revenants.

MAP07:
* Sector 187 shouldn't be a secret I think, I couldn't trigger it anyhow.
* The gameplay here is kind of grindy, and having so many monsters teleport to that main room is a bit annoying (although more dangerous than in MAP06).
* The Spiderdemon teleporting made it absolutely harmless.

Wow, thanks very much, plums - that is some really comprehensive feedback!

plums said:

MAP06:[/b]
* The secret area in sector 57 is pretty unlikely to be found without opening a map editor.
* Sector 49 has no tag and so never releases the revenants.

Two glaring issues that I missed. I left the floor lowering tag as "S1" instead of changing it to "W1", then I forgot about the room myself!

plums said:

MAP07:[/b]
* Sector 187 shouldn't be a secret I think, I couldn't trigger it anyhow.
* The gameplay here is kind of grindy, and having so many monsters teleport to that main room is a bit annoying (although more dangerous than in MAP06).
* The Spiderdemon teleporting made it absolutely harmless.

Damn, I didnt mean the spiderdemon to teleport! by pure luck, he didn't teleport as I played through, because I instantly sprayed him with BFG shots. Sector 187 is also not meant to be a secret, another thing I overlooked.

I really apppreciate the detailed remarks, it helps a lot!

Welcome! I had a really fun time with these maps. Post when it's on idgames and I'll try to remember to leave a rating/review.

http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/?file=levels/doom2/s-u/tdevil2.zip

This just made it onto /idgames - If anyone would like to leave feedback or vote, positive or negative, It'd be much appreciated. Thanks again everyone for the feedback, my next mapset (however far off it may be) will be highly improved from this one. :)

Doomkid92 said:

http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/?file=levels/doom2/s-u/tdevil2.zip

This just made it onto /idgames - If anyone would like to leave feedback or vote, positive or negative, It'd be much appreciated. Thanks again everyone for the feedback, my next mapset (however far off it may be) will be highly improved from this one. :)

I gave my review of your wad the yesterday :)

OP, do you mean Vanilla Doom, the original doom2.exe 1.9 shipped by id Software, or that one early source port of Linux Doom back to DOS literally titled 'DOS-Doom'?

Sodaholic said:

OP, do you mean Vanilla Doom, the original doom2.exe 1.9 shipped by id Software, or that one early source port of Linux Doom back to DOS literally titled 'DOS-Doom'?

Wow, I forgot about 'DOS-Doom' ported from linux, important as it was in Doom history. This will run in ID's doom2.exe, v1.666 and above. (Which is also Vanilla Doom, IIRC)