THT: Threnody - released!

Should have my map ready in a couple of days. It's a good MAP03-06 contender, although it's also a biiiit long (~30 minutes)

Excellent! Looking forward to it!

That sounds awesome dobu!

Progress on (I guess we're calling it) WormHell has finally continued; I have 5 more encounters to go on UV from the way I see it and I can't add too many more lines because we're already coasting above 32.1k. Yeah, it's gonna be a big map (especially on UV), though at the moment not much is different in the easier difficulties from the previous version, minus a little bit of balancing. After I do these encounters up Ima do some more playtesting, try to record a full demo for each difficulty level, do more final balancing, then put out the next version. I'd love to see some demos from others for that next stage, but given the size and difficulty of it I wouldn't be surprised to not see any ;p though I did try to smooth out some of the difficulty spikes on the lower difficulties, such as where Chris's demo ends (which I went back and watched last night for a few laughs; gotta love Chris's demos, heh).

rdwpa said:

Not in the mood to play a level this long in one sitting so no FDA, but what I played (about halfway through, so far) was very enjoyable. There's a lot of door-campy gameplay, but the quirkiness, particularly the alternate reality warp or whatever, makes up for it. Ammo is tight early on, which I was liking (lots of pressure to clear monsters out smartly), but it gets very loose about a third of the way through or so. Found that interesting.

Thanks for the comment, and sorry about my late notice. And yes, I usually tend to design a level with plenty of ammo and health packs, which is my favorite. Because to me, lack of ammunition for a level with hundreds of monsters only makes the game unfair, and I usually don't rely on monster infighting, so I need to put more ammunition to spam the trigger.

Anyway, here's the blueprint of the level that work in progress:

Wow that's looking fantastic antares! I'm trying to fathom what it's gonna look like... It looks pretty damned big, I see a wall around the outside, and those things on top of the main section look like they could be tanks of some sort. I could almost see a refueling base or an oil derrick forming out of that thing. I can't wait to sink my teeth into that map :)



About The Map Currently Known As WormHell, I took a look at the OP, Chris, and I just don't think this map is gonna fit in the second episode. It's too hard for that spot. In terms of megawad progression it would just be a bit too drastic of a difficulty spike and far too long to fit there. When this map was first conceived this project had far fewer maps in it, so I just figured it'd be "towards the end," though now I'm not sure where you're gonna want to put it. That's not to say it's unfair (most of the weird stuff is rather tame), it just has many encounters that were designed to be a bit random in somewhat large areas, coupled with non-linearity almost to the extreme and tricks and traps out the yin-yang. A lot of encounters were meant to be walked in to (all should be walked into because retreat is for the weak, heh) so the player doesn't always see all monsters present from the offset.

Speaking of progress, I have finally finished the map with Z0k, minus playtesting and other last-minute things. It's not fully polished, but I think this'll be a good time to release it to give y'all time to playtest as it is a big map. Takes about 30 minutes to max on HNTR in one run. Probably a tiny bit more for medium and if the trend holds the way I think it will it'll take 45 minutes to an hour to run through on UV.

Consider this a beta:

WormHell:
Z0k and Fonze
https://www.dropbox.com/s/hxeukahz67d9rfr/TYTY_V22.zip?dl=0
Required iWad: TNT
No additional files required.
Map Slot: MAP04

Don't feel like playing the map but want to take a look? That's what demos are for :) This one is my final test on HNTR; I think it's fun as is, but needs a tiny bit more ammo in the dark realm going towards what would be the "level start" building. This is only for if the player doesn't get the plasma gun, but likely a necessary addition. Don't expect more ammo than you see in the demo, though, as I won't be releasing another version until it's final, unless something is drastically wrong. It dawns on me that I forgot to set a -complevel in the demo, oh well. Its a HNTR-max run (minus avoidable secrets because that wouldn't be fair[except in one case which I rectified]) in 29:44 (give or take a couple seconds). 2 secrets are mandatory only for max kills, not for victory.

HNTR features 223 monsters, HMP 253, and UV 288 in the same sized area, but 449 total, because of the final dimension.

Don't think about that extra area and go rushing off into UV; it's extremely hard, though I've tested every single encounter starting with nothing but the weapons a player should have with no ammo, so everything is possible so long as you survive the previous encounter. I will try to get a demo out tomorrow for HMP and another Friday or Saturday of UV. Failure after >15 minutes hurts the pride, though. No saves ftl, heh. Still, considering all the "UV-or-bust" players here there's gonna be a lot of busts, so tone it down to HMP for a more traditional UV experience.

This map in general, but especially UV, features some experimental gameplay. Curve balls, if you will. Some things people won't like, but I tried my best to keep it fair and above all else, fun. Though I will say saving is highly recommended in UV.

At this point, all I have left to do is my final playtesting for HMP and UV, balancing, and final polishing up of stuff. I also have to make this map fit with the SepTYtex texture pack and run in the Doom 2 iWad (are we still doing that?). I still need to select a song at some point; so many good ones to choose from :)

I would love (but don't expect) some demos for this map, but any and all thoughts would be appreciated because it's not about what's fun for me here.



Main points:

• Don't start on UV! We were going for replayability when we first started this thing and though many things have changed since then some had lasting effects.
  
• Highly non-linear map; only 6 doors, 1 switch and a lift required for exit. The extra 27 minutes are all exploration of stuff that doesn't matter ;p (UV is longer and the Hell dimension slightly more linear)
  
• Traps. Expect them. I dunno how to be nice about it, but they're there. Expect the kiddy gloves to be taken off in UV, but not to an unfair point.
  
• Many encounters revolve around pressure, which becomes more influential both in the harder difficulties and the further in the map you go. There is a little herding in UV and there is more pressure put on the player in ways such as PE use, revs with little cover in a wide open area, AV's fairly common in UV, and some hitscan use, like the SM in UV.
  
• Generally forgiving health situation but ammo can get tight; no in-fighting should be necessary, though with less of that, ammo conservation or exploration becomes more needed. On the higher difficulties especially you can grab some extra ammo in many places off the beaten path.
  
• Wormholes:
  
• Silent teleports! Be careful.
  
• 2 dimensions (Real and Dark) on Easy and Medium and 3 dimensions (plus Hell) on UV.
  
• Some small horror elements; some inspired by stuff like The Ring. Also, the Dark dimension appears to be old, decrepit, and empty when you arrive...
  
• Most events operate off teleporters which allows for somewhat more random elements. This includes traps.
  
• Tribute room to Ty. He did so much for this community; God bless him.
  
• Every monster except (one part of) the IoS is present on UV because I just love them all so much. No, there is no IoS battle, just a little pressure at the end of the map :)
  
• Randomized elements. Do stuff different? That may just work out for you! Or it could bite you in the ass (probably not); there's no telling!
  
• High monster density, but never slaughter-ish.
  
• Saving recommended
  
• Feedback most welcome! Demos unexpected, but consider this a challenge ^^
  
• I hope you have as much fun playing it as Z0k and I did making it :)
  

i just downloaded this version because i wanted the full one with UV skill added and was damn hard like the previous version and i like that, however i feel it still lack some ammo in UV most of time i run out of ammo that have to punch some HK and BOH to save them (thanks god for the beserk) but still the amount of archviles around drain faster the ammo due them resurrecting some monster around lol. the skill like its right now feel more for coop mode (have to resurrect many times) probably some archies and monsters would get removed but i think its better to wait the feedback from HNTR and HMP skills.

health is not a problem i feel its okay in the way is (maybe just 2 or 3 medikits around, but probably others would differ on this opinion).

now that im done with the first map of the project with collaboration with DMphobos and my maps were rejected from freedoom i have more time to check out this map, i saw some misalignment around and the main entrance to the storage door dont work if you try to open it from inside (have to get out of that place around the window from the power swicht. and if it needed i would retexture some areas with the texture pack provided for this Community project.

Damn, I haven't been keeping up with FreeDoom, I didn't know your maps were rejected; that sucks man, for all parties involved. Then again, at the same time knowing how your maps tend to look I agree with your decision to choose reject over "... Part 2" because it would be a damned shame to destroy that big of a chunk of the detail-work you put into each map just to knock it down to vanilla's limits. Still, I'm sure they'll make a kick-ass set of maps by themselves. Or you could say screw it and turn them into a CP and see if anyone else wants to make a map using the FreeDoom textures and, say, Boom format (or limit-removing since that's all your maps require). Check your PMs here in a bit, I'd like to hear how the project with DMphobos is going.

As for our map, let me hang on to it for a couple more days to finish solid runs for each all the way through. I've done a couple, but I'd like to get one for each recorded just for my own satisfaction that the balancing is correct all the way through without requiring save-scumming. If I cant do it, then it needs to be toned down. Like most wads, some small amount of preknowledge is necessary to run through on the hardest difficulty without saving, but I have done my best to make sure that that amount is as minimal as possible. I don't want this to need coop just to play UV, but that reminds me that I forgot to add multiplayer stuff to this map... Damnit.

Z0k, since you haven't seen much of anything til now of UV, aside from a lack of ammo (which I'll go ahead and add some more), would you say anything was unfair, too hard, or simply too much of a difficulty spike? I have tried to smooth the encounters out but there is no getting rid of my pre-knowledge of the map; the best I can do is knowingly ignore something and hope it doesn't kill me in my tests, lol.

I might just add some more health after these next few runs. Definitely there will be more bullets in the map and others where necessary. I guess it's just tough finding that right balance of easily found ammo and ammo you gotta work for.

Well:

on Good Realm:

everything feels fine, i didnt have trouble on this maybe the first courtyard feels kinda heavy fire on UV due pistol start but thats because the lack of ammo (i mean have to kill a few revenants and HK with beserk to keep ammo for the first courtyard)

nothing else on that zone, maybe the archvile on the exit path in good realm feels kinda unfair due the lack of space to avoid his fire, but im assuming this archvile only appear in UV.

also its seems some of the monsters that wait the player outside near of the cave seems to have the deaf property so players easily could miss them, but this just my opinion.

on dark realm:

i was like "hey lets go to the dark realm to check out how hard its" i lament those words, was damn hard. just stepping outside of the gate to get the dark realm everything seems kinda neat, those webspider around give it a good ambience, how i can miss to add those? anyway. everything went fine until BOOM monsters appeared and i give to run around like a coward chicken between boxes to avoid to be killed. i died there due some obvious mistakes, but also due the lack of shells since most of my death were because i used the rocket launcher since i run out of bullets and shells.

so pretty much my deaths there was due the lack of ammo, but also you should check some of the monsters in the conveyor belt, the mancubus got stuck togheter on the first convertyor belt in dark realm making it a nice welcoming firewalls from mancubus when you open the door lol. until you kill two or three mancubus they start to moving with the convertyor

on hell ream:

i think here its were it feel even more hard than dark realm, in the door where the player hit the swicht to reveal al swicht to open the bloodfall door feels unfair due high tier monsters flooding the room, i didnt tried to use the window to check out if it would lower the floor but once the Baron of hell came in the room and the archvile i was overkilled there lol. probably the swicht revealed need to be bigger because i was like "How i get out of hereee". also that room have a mis alignment.

in the sawblade room fills up with pain elementals i got once again killed with my rocket launcher since was my only weapon.

also the main courtyard flood quickly with monsters. but then archviles made me run out of ammo since those keeps reviving their teammates down

Overall: i enjoy it really. however its hard to give a nice feedback mostly because my deaths were due the lack of shells and bullets. i will wait for the next version with ammo added so i can tell you its feel fair or unfair certain areas. also i loled when i saw the mastermind and the cyberdemon on the map due the lack of ammo i have to choose who to kill spider mastermind or cyberdemon with my leftovers. i decided to go for the mastermind.

maybe some archies could change their flags to coop only so the map still have some kind of challenge without removing all the archviles.

Fonze said:

About The Map Currently Known As WormHell, I took a look at the OP, Chris, and I just don't think this map is gonna fit in the second episode. It's too hard for that spot. In terms of megawad progression it would just be a bit too drastic of a difficulty spike and far too long to fit there. When this map was first conceived this project had far fewer maps in it, so I just figured it'd be "towards the end," though now I'm not sure where you're gonna want to put it. That's not to say it's unfair (most of the weird stuff is rather tame), it just has many encounters that were designed to be a bit random in somewhat large areas, coupled with non-linearity almost to the extreme and tricks and traps out the yin-yang. A lot of encounters were meant to be walked in to (all should be walked into because retreat is for the weak, heh) so the player doesn't always see all monsters present from the offset.

I see what you mean, when you put it like that. It was also just a quick, rough indexation by me and it's good to get a second opinion! I'll move it further down the list as the last map in the middle part. My intention was to primarily list them cronologically according to theme and then by difficulty, so that all tech'ish maps are first and more goth/hell themed maps towards the end. But it isn't easy as your map is a bit of both and very difficult on UV. But we'll see once we compile the finished project and take it from there :)

Fonze said:

At this point, all I have left to do is my final playtesting for HMP and UV, balancing, and final polishing up of stuff. I also have to make this map fit with the SepTYtex texture pack and run in the Doom 2 iWad (are we still doing that?)

Yeah, I plan on releasing it as a Doom II megawad with all used ressources from sepTYtex.wad merged into it. All unused ressources will of course be removed to keep the filesize more reasonable. Minthran Denizen mentioned that he would be interested in doing that job, if I remember correctly.



I recently watched the first episode of a TV series called The Expanse, and it's got a really cool intro. I immediately thought of stealing some images from it to use as titlepic, interpic etc. What do you think? My favourite is #3 as titlepic.

#1


#2


#3

i vote for the third picture, its really represent the new journey of the soul trascending to a new journey

Nicely put Z0k. I think, there's a fitting sense of solitude and melanchonly to this picture that goes very well together with this project. My skills in photoshopping images are mediocre at best, so if someone feels like making a titlepic of it, then please, by all means, do so! I can do it, but I know there are some of you who are far better at it :)

Edit: Just remembered something related to the above (because it's kinda hard to make a titlepic without a title); if someone got suggestions for names for this project, I'm all ears! I was thinking that we avoid using his name but makes it instantly recognizeable still. Like, if we use words from his custom title "essential pillar of the community". But all options are open for discussion of course.

Ok Chris sounds good. We'll get this thing working with D2 and SepTytex before release :)

Those are some awesome pics! I like all 3, (as helpful as that is) but I agree 100% with Z0k, that third one has great symbolism, though I think all three do. No matter which way it goes I think you got the right idea! The only thing I worry about with that third one is the name in the middle of the pic, but I'm sure we'll make a way around it.

About the title of the project; I haven't given it much thought yet but I like the train of thought you're on. I'll prolly come up with a bunch of crap, but I'll try and give it some thought and maybe with some luck one of my crappy titles will spur a good one from someone else ;p

Z0k, sorry for the late reply, check your PM's.

I think you hit the nail on the head with the more ammo thought, but part of the problem could be how spread apart everything is and that some of the larger ammo packs on UV require a bit more exploration than on HNTR and HMP, in particular a couple extra boxes of shells and ammo on top of the crates in the storage room. Perhaps the solution is to group the big ammo pick ups closer together and on the beaten path rather than putting them out of the way. But I think more little clips throughout and a few extra shotgun shells/other in the key places will help if we don't move the "off the beaten path" ammo. Though I used no purposeful infighting and tested each encounter with no-ammo starts, I still tend to count my shots and monsters' health, so my habits of ammo conservation could be part of the problem there. The impact would be small in most cases, but it's the little things like wasted rockets and extra ammo needed in the encounters that have timed-pressure on them such as PE's and AV's that perhaps I didn't account enough for. We'll iron it out in PM's.



*Edit*
These are just a couple things floating around in prolly all our heads, but maybe writing it down will be a good place to start.
Boom: The Essential Pillar Collection
The Essential Pillar Tribute Project

Idk, that first one sounds a bit misleading now that I look at it... Well, it's a start, maybe I'll come up with something better later on.

Picture number 2 is really nice, but does it reflect the "feeling" of the maps?

Hey dudes - Rather than edit my previous submission, I figured it best if I just worked on a whole new map!

http://www.mediafire.com/download/xk5zcbvcpk16ydh/cuthroat.wad

It's about 85% finished, at the moment there's a placeholder exit cube thingy. I just need to get a few more ideas spinning around and then this should be done. Comments and feedback are incredibly helpful, of course :)

EDIT: Updated the map yet again, and decided on a title, "Cut Throat"!

I'll give it a shot tomorrow or maybe later today. I saw that you made a thread only for this level as well as this post. Is that merely for testing purposes or did you regret submitting it for this project?

@Fonze: I like "The Essential Pillar Tribute Project" title. Once we come up (or if we do) other suggestions we'll put them up for vote or discuss them. I'll write it down for now as a candidate :)

Chris Hansen said:

I'll give it a shot tomorrow or maybe later today. I saw that you made a thread only for this level as well as this post. Is that merely for testing purposes or did you regret submitting it for this project?

Oh no, strictly for feedback/testing purposes - I designed it with this project in mind!

Doomkid said:

Oh no, strictly for feedback/testing purposes - I designed it with this project in mind!

I was testing it out. Quite fun, but no SSG? I spammed the Cybie with a regular shotgun(cue Final Jeopardy theme) and a few rockets. The blue steps leading up to the blue key had a ghost mancubus come through the wall and kill the shit out of me. I had already unleash the AV's, so maybe it was a one-off thing because I was opening and closing the door a lot. Tested on PRBoom+ Cl-2.

Sweet DoomKid; I look forward to playing it!

Though I will say I would have liked to see something else done with that ending of the other one. Still, it was fun as is and I'm sure this next one will be sweet as well. Bbl with a demo.

OH yes, that's right, I forgot about my previous submission's crappy exit - That will be amended!

edit: Here's an update for Cut Throat as well - http://www.mediafire.com/download/xk5zcbvcpk16ydh/cuthroat.wad

Thank you for the new map, Doomkid! I'm also happy to hear, that you didn't drop the other map and will release another version of it. It's good to have dedicated mappers for this project. There might not be a lot of us, but those of you who have contributed so far are doing a stellar job!

I loved you new map and had a lot of fun playing it. I used plenty of savegames, but was actually never in a lot of trouble. That's just me playing it safe although I did actually die a couple of times. There were some tight situations and nasty surprices. Overall, the map had a good flow and solid oldschool feel to it. Good job!

Here are some things I noticed. They aren't bugs per se, but merely things that I would have done a bit differently if it was my map :)

Here's another level I've just finished testing. This one is dedicated to Ty's Induction. The level's name is Sky Pillar, and it uses "Legion of the lost remix" by Eris Falling. The estimated playtime is around 25 minutes, and it does require sepTYtex.wad in order to play. And it supports limit-removing compatibility.

Screenshots:

You, sir, are about to become one the most sought after and respected mappers on the Doom scene! Wow, what a glorious and spectacular looking map! I'm struggling to find the right superlatives and adjectives to describe it. I urge everyone to play this level! What a gem you've given to this humble project!

I must add though, that I haven't beaten the level yet without cheating (yes, I had to cheat, because I just couldn't wait to see it all!) I've died multiple times already and the gameplay is not a favourite of mine. But when viewed objectively, I can see that it works and there's a helluva lotta stuff going on all the time! Surprises and traps everywhere makes sure that you're always busy killing stuff and you have to make sure not to back into yet another new death trap when you're otherwise occupied. It's relentless and action packed while being nicely wrapped up in a truly epic design! I must say that retres.wad and you go hand in hand like butter on toast!

Respect to you and a big thank you for blessing this project with such a stunning level!

Now, to load a savegame and see if I can't beat this beast without IDDQD'ing it ;)

@Chris Hansen: Thanks for the comment, and I'm so glad that you liked that level. And yes, I must admit that the difficulty on UV is currently a little bit hard considering that I also died numerous times during the play test. But after some failed attempts, I managed to beat it without dying on UV in the end. I may change some monster placements, mostly for arch-viles, and some floor plans for the next update. But I wanted to hear some feedback for this one before I rearrange the monster placements that I'm currently thinking about. Keep in mind that the difficulty setting is implemented, although I was mainly aiming for the UV one. Again, thanks for the comment. :)

Wow those are some big words from Chris! But after seeing those screenshots (and of course playing your previous submission) I think I can see where's he's coming from. I'm very excited to playtest this for you! Won't be for another 10 hours in all probability, but I'm looking forward to it.

Also. I haven't forgotten about DoomKid's map; the couch claimed me as a victim last night after work, heh.

Chris is right on the money - Antares has a knack for making things that are simply beautiful and always have a very grand feeling overall. I'm gonna echo what Chris said - Keep it up Antares, I can easily envision a Cacoward in your future if you stick to your guns.

(Oh, and I'll be cleaning up all the little uglies you pointed out, thanks Chris!)

@antares031 Very impressive design. Haven't got to play it much yet, but damn it looks good.

Antares, after playing your map I'm right there with Chris on what he said. What a beautiful level and what fun to play too! Here's my failure of a FDA. 15-16 minutes in I let myself get cornered... what a putz, hah.

Judging by monster count I made it 'bout halfway through the map, though at the same time given the first half of the monsters were just around the main building I somehow doubt it really was halfway.

For starters, the first thing I noticed was the music. Man that's one of my favorite tracks off TNT and hearing it here was just sweet. Something was different about it, was it a 3D0 track? Don't really matter, great song choice!

I found that very first secret to be sweet and funny that I found it. I guess it's a 50/50 shot that inquisitive players will get it, heh. I was so happy when I came out of the gate balstin', but then I took a look outside, saw the cyber and all the baddies and just ran. Of course that didn't help, but it sure felt good. My emotions were mixed between "Holy shit I'm about to die!" and "Wow that building looks fantastic!" lol. Afterward I got inside all I thought was, "Weeellp, I f*cked up."

The room full of revs with the plasma gun was one Hell of a surprise, though, but it was lots of fun. Nothing wrong with a little optional slaughter-closet with a big, fat ole reward at the end.

That cyber freaked me right the f*ck out the whole time I was outside. That'd be one Hell of a way to go, blind-sided by a rocket, heh.

I really liked the trap I died in. The revs being awoken halfway through was what got me; idk how that happened, but apparently somewhere along the line I screwed up haha. Partly got too cocky letting myself get so low on health without looking for more, but I guess I just crossed a line that opened that door as I was killing the second PE. Either that or I had just crossed one-of-two sound-blocking lines there.

I'll try and give this another go later tonight, after I aimlessly run around Doomkid's "Cut Throat" map.



Couple other things, the zip and text file are named "skypillar" while the wad is named "skypilar." I know, 8-char limit and all, but that confused me for a sec when I tried to set up the demo recording.

Also, I know there's not really a nice, easy way to fix it, but the sky pillar looks a bit strange at that right angle on either side of the building looking towards it because the pillar cannot be drawn above the building. I'm sure you already know about this, but is it something you plan to leave as-is? Perhaps a canopy at roof-level over the sections in question could prevent the player being able to see this. Still, not like it's a big deal; this map was absolutely beautiful and I love it! Great job, once again man!



*Edit*
Played Doomkid's map; that was pretty fun! Here's an FDA of the map. Blind, like the other, so I died somewhere along the line, haha. 10:40 I think.

The beginning was cool, with 2 ways to go and those chaingunners made me think about the map's name, lol. I went with the door because I could see you wanted me to go the other way and I don't follow directions well "screw that; I'm going this way..."

I really liked the use of a baron there as well as the layout of that part of the map. It allows the baron to follow the player easily into the next area. When I realized that I knew something was wrong, so I led his ass back to the start and prayed he didn't make it around that first corner, haha. That would've been rough with the AV also there, I can just imagine him now reviving the baron over and over... (nevermind the spectres and arachnotron). Really well-designed, tricky part there!

I got a bit confused searching for the first key, but I got lucky with my suspicions about that wall. I totally didn't expect it to be a lift, though from reading the other thread I remembered there was a somewhat hidden lift somewhere. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of mandatory secrets for level-completion. I think the yellow key should be moved, unless you do wind up changing the texture to make it stick out a bit more as a lift. But in that case, take the secret flag off the yellow key sector. Just my opinion there; it's such a small thing anyway.

I liked the monster placement in this map throughout what I played and those bulls Chris mentioned could potentially come back to haunt the player if he skips them, so I can't fault you too much there for that, though I think some HK's and a bit more ammo would be a better replacement.

There were a ton of shells in this map, to the point that I wound up using the regular shotgun over even the RL just because of an excess of shells. Perhaps some rockets instead of some of those boxes of shells? Only because of the group of HK's and barons in the red key door area. Then again, perhaps this is all because of my own habits of ammo-conservation, there were more than a few rockets in that same room.

I liked the SSG secret, but my own happiness over finding it led to my demise; I forgot also in the moment that I had a plasma gun (I think, now I forget). That's okay and all, but there's one pet peeve I have about that spot. No it's not the AV with no cover, which kinda sucked, it's all the health/armor bonus pick-ups. Only because of the importance of the screen being clear when the AV sees the player. In PrBoom+, while recording the demo, whenever I run over massive amounts of pickups like that it tints the screen so much that it gets difficult to see the little things, like spectres and an AV in the dark. The effect takes a half a second to go away, so it's not much of a big deal normally, but the effect does stack and in situations like this, well, it f*cks me. I prolly would have been dead there anyway due to having the SSG out when the AV-with-no-cover situation arose, but that little bit of extra shit just sucked. Still, the encounter itself is okay and totally possible if the player is either ready beforehand or leads the AV down one hallway just enough to run around to the other to avoid his fire. Though with the spectres there that's gonna be a tough one :)

That's about all I got for now, since that's as far as I made it, but I'll give it a go again later on. Really fun map so far, Doomkid! I look forward to playing the rest of this thing.

Fonze said:

Something was different about it, was it a 3D0 track?

Welp x_x

Ah! I forgot about your submission; sounds great, man! I'm glad to see it getting used!

Hey, I've been mulling over the music for WormHell; the more I hear it the more I like that song you linked, Eris. Would you happen to have any similar songs, preferably somewhat shorter and a bit darker sounding? I just don't want to throw a midi in this thing that's almost a Mb by itself. TBH, I wouldn't mind using Kevin's "Death's Bells" track, but I was under the impression that he considered it incomplete at the time and was gonna change some stuff. I'd just like it to not resolve so major at times, like with the strings towards the end I think.

I'm looking for something that is somewhat long and has slow parts and rockin' parts, but has a somewhat darker, more evil tone to it. Though I'm not a huge fan of the chromatic stuff. A little bit of "beautiful" in there ain't so bad, so long as it just conveys the evilness of the rest of the song, if that makes sense. I prolly won't find something like that, but that's what I would consider optimal for now. Bonus points if it ends like it starts, heh.

That's hilarious, I didn't even consider the item pickup "flash" stacking in PrBoom and Vanilla, but it makes the screen yellow for ages down there. I might change that up a bit, and the yellow key will certainly be less secret :)