Undeath '94 - a new vanilla Doom episode (beta)

BUMP. Let's complete this project. What needs to be done still?

Everything is pretty much done. Except for the bonus levels.

i think that just needs to playtest the episode alpha... i think.

For me, there's no groundbreaking bugs in this alpha compilation... but for the other people i don't know...

For the other maps, i have no idea... it's only me and jaws in space doing this, there's another guy that take a bonus slot for this project, but without any map...

I believe that Hex11 was going to release this with only the 10 current maps, after some playtesting was done.

A whole month gone and still no word.

And still no playetesting from other people than me!

walter confalonieri said:

And still no playetesting from other people than me!

Hey Walter I got around to playing the maps, I didn't really see anything broken. The only suggestion I have is to add more shotgun ammo to the Nukage section of E1M2 as there isn't enough unless you find the secret area.

After adding some ammo I think you should go ahead & just release this thing.

Ok, thanks, if the author of the map will not appear, we'll see to to fix that by ourselves and finally release this thing!

EDIT: Since the last time the guy who made that level reached these forums was in 2012 and from then he looks vanished... i'm much more fond of fixing it

Don't forget also about E1M6 secret I mentioned in last post.
(whoever made that map should fix it?)

I'm not sure about the voodoo doll problem in my map either, haven't really looked into it though. Don't have any editing tools installed right now. Have to fix some other things first on this computer.

Btw, does anyone want to release their maps under BSD or ISC license (or whatever it is Freedoom uses) since they seem to be looking for vanilla maps now?

Beta version here:
https://www.sendspace.com/file/g8prol

I fixed my map as much as I could, to minimize the risk of becoming a zombie. But it can still happen if player is very low on health...
Also fixed the E1M6 secret, and a tutti fruti in E1M1.

Added some music for the levels that didn't have any. If you want something else for your map, just let me know. I noticed the E1M4 tune (whatever that is) doesn't sound quite right in PrBoom, even though it plays find in vanilla and chocolate doom. I had the inverse problem with E1M2 music, so there's an alternate version on E3M2 (for PrBoom, you can IDMUS32, maybe there's a better way to do this...) Anyway I don't know how much this matters, since this is a vanilla mapset. Maybe they can just use OPL in PrBoom.

I guess the title screen could be improved.

-cl 3 FDAs for e1m1, e1m2, e1m4, e1m5, e1m6, and e1m7. Skipped e1m3 for now because it seemed quite long.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/d5fa1rarlncx43j/ud94b_set1_rdwpa_fda.rar

The best by far was e1m4, which was attractive and smooth and had good music.

Some criticisms:

e1m1: Lots of misalignments, layout is somewhat confusing.
e1m2: I liked the gameplay kind of, but that dark area that required navigation by automap is the type of thing I fundamentally loath, as if it's there just to annoy me.
e1m4: As mentioned, the best. Crate jump to RL is kind of awkward because it looks like you should just be able to SR50 to the crate at the back. RL turns out to be useless for gameplay -- not even a closet full of baddies to smash, so the reward value wasn't high.
e1m5: Extremely awkward map to play, with the monsters cramped into cramped spaces. Scale needs to be at least 1.5x bigger.
e1m6: Loved the barrels. Placing monsters behind thick midtex is very annoying though -- they can't be aimed at easily! Monster closets are almost all betrayed on the automap, which takes the surprise out of nearly all traps.
e1m7: Not as good as e1m4, but I didn't remember disliking anything.

Thanks for the new beta and the feedback, i'll check the demos further...

Very nice to see some progress!

With old versions of Freedoom, the E1M2 dark area was easier to navigate, because the flashing ceiling lights remained partially visible, and served as a guide. This is what it looks like with version 0.6.4:

But at some point there was a change in Freedoom that made it behave like the standard Doom IWAD. I don't know exactly what changed, or which release.
And it really is a property of the IWAD. It happens with both chocolate doom and prboom -complevel 2.

FDAs for the rest.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/gfiov6mtuvz5dx9/ud904b_set2_rdwpa_fda.rar'

e2m2-e2m4 are listed in the OP but aren't in the wad.

e1m3: This was shaping out to be probably my favorite or second favorite map and then I died halfway through at a random slow crusher, which soured me greatly on the experience and honestly is one of those things that add an author to my (mental) 'don't play maps by them' list. Pretty bullshitty and assumes frequent use of quicksaving I suppose, but I only start using saves on maps much harder than this, even when not demo-recording. Lots of random hitscanners and not a ton of health, which makes it enjoyably tense but makes the fit so early in the episode quite weird. Liked the traps quite a bit other than that crusher nonsense. You can SR50 to the YK -- not sure if that was intentional.
e1m8: How many of these maps are blatant ripoffs of the iwad maps. The start room could be designed so that the pinkies can actually corner the player.
e1m9: Playing in glBoom+ so I got completely lost on the way to the YK because my automap settings make it hard for me to see key doors. It's off in some nondescript part of the map.
e2m1: More barrel fun. Best map by WC in the set.

Sorry about the crusher. It wasn't meant to be that big of a death trap. My play style is a lot slower, so I tend to notice these things more. I'm not sure how to make it more obvious though. Maybe just break up that corridor into smaller crushers, like in Doom E2M1.
The YK is easier to grab from the top floor where all those imps are. I managed the SR50 jump once, by accident while testing. I'm not good at these fancy moves, since I'm purely keyboard player.

(edit) Btw, maps E2M2-4 were not submited so you have the entire wad. Maybe E2 can be finished later on...

Ok, I changed the crusher thing, so it's more obvious now.
Also made a few other small tweaks. Here's the new beta:
https://www.sendspace.com/file/h8xntw
Unless there's any problems, I'm done for good.
Now's a good time to tell me if you want other music for your level, or if you want something changed in the text file, etc.

Can you replace the E1M7 midi with this one. I don't know the name of it, but I found it in the wad DEATHEBN on the Maximum Doom CD.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lll1uxp1v2hsbhf/DEATHEBN.mid?dl=1

I would like to make a few changes to E1M5, but my computer is broken & I don't really know when it might be fixed. If you feel like waiting another week before uploading that would be nice, otherwise feel free to upload it.

Jaws in Space, here is the origin of that song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1xGbEDs6-4

You got it! I'll wait until you're done. This gives some extra time for people to test.
Also, what's the E1M4 music btw?

I think it's one of these mysterious Dwango midis that noone knows the source of. I've seen this question popping up before.

I found a couple problems with E1M1. First is a visplane overflow crash that can happen if you stand at this spot. So basically you're standing with your nose to the wall, your body aligned exactly center to the secret door that opens into the hangar room. Then it will crash if you just turn round 360 degrees (actually just slightly turning clockwise a bit seems to do it).




The doors to the east were closed, so the only openings were the secret door and the north windows of both rooms.

The other thing isn't as bad. Just a HOM effect or something on the ceiling. I used the idbeholdl cheat. It's harder to see otherwise, but still visible against those ceiling lights.

This one is probably an easy fix.

edit: took out my retarded editor screenshot spam

Boy, that map is a spawning point of errors!

Anyway, I've noticed that sector bug on the ceiling too while watching the rdwpa demo on first beta...

Also i'm not really found of the midi choice for E1M8...

Music from E1M4 it was also used for Heroes 2 and e2music.wad

Slot : E2M1
MIDI : E1M4 from heroes
Based on : https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/deathmatch/a-c/cage1
My map : https://www.mediafire.com/?4se8gr85cml445u

I hope it's OK that the original map's for doom2 and not ultimate doom.

... Joe, did you know that this project is over (if is it over)?

walter confalonieri said:

... Joe, did you know that this project is over (if is it over)?

It just needs one bug fix, and it's small enough anyways. Plus there are enough slots to fit it in the bonus episode.

I remember playing this level before, the whole thing gave me a major flashback, same keyed doors / switch room with baron, same triangular platforms with powerups, same midtextures and imps on the outside.
Wasn't this remake already used in other wad?

Wasn't it in Lost Maps 2? Cool map tho.

Yeah, that's the one!
I guess this can go into E2M2 slot, seems to fit the "Containment Area" theme.

Here's a second version of same map (same link) : https://www.mediafire.com/?4se8gr85cml445u