my new wad ORBITAL.wad

Fatal Error here once again with a new (hopefully) improved doom 2 wad.


The wad is called ORBITAL, and as the name suggests it takes place in space. (read the readme text in zip folder for more.) And I would like the Doom community to test it and tell me what to fix/improve.

It's only one map of fairly large size, but I think I have put quite a bit of detail into it. I have also put a lot of work into the architecture of the map as well, creating it in a tech base style. If you are kind enough to play test it I would really appreciate feedback on how the detail, map design, difficulty, and health supply, all work for you and if you like it.

This is reccomended for zdoom V2.3.0 or higher, I haven't tested it on older versions of zdoom, so I don't know if it will work on them.

Screen shots
http://www.totcomicsdoom.com/s/cc_images/cache_2316953354.jpg?t=1262212413

http://www.totcomicsdoom.com/s/cc_images/cache_2316958554.jpg?t=1262212608

http://www.totcomicsdoom.com/s/cc_images/thumb_2316958154.jpg?t=1262212490

http://www.totcomicsdoom.com/s/cc_images/thumb_2316958054.jpg?t=1262212488

To download it go to totcomicsdoom.com or click the link below.

http://www.totcomicsdoom.com/app/download/3348122554/ORBITAL1.zip

Oh by the way the mirror in the bathroom has a hom glitch when you get a certain distance away from it. Perhaps someone would help me find out why this happens?

I wish you would have mentioned that this is for zdoom V2.3.0 or higher ...

hawkwind said:

I wish you would have mentioned that this is for zdoom V2.3.0 or higher ...

Well it says so in the readme, but I'll add it here as well.

I've played through part of it. Playing your maps inspires me to map. The quaking and shaking annoys me. The shotgun sprite points to a position that is far left of what it should be, which makes it hard to aim. I'm liking the use of slopes so far. I don't like the Intech crate textures very much. The Intech and UAC symbols just don't seem to go together very well.

DuckReconMajor said:

I've played through part of it. Playing your maps inspires me to map. The quaking and shaking annoys me. The shotgun sprite points to a position that is far left of what it should be, which makes it hard to aim. I'm liking the use of slopes so far. I don't like the Intech crate textures very much. The Intech and UAC symbols just don't seem to go together very well.

Over all did you like it?

Ah, you're the Tot Comics guy.

I haven't downloaded the wad, but judging from your screenshots, you have made quite an improvement from your previous wads. Most notably is your restraint from using obvious MSPaint-style sprite replacements and such. You always struck me as an odd fellow, but I think you have some potential as a wad author. Keep taking in criticism and churning out stuff. That's the best way to develop yourself as a mapper around here nowadays. Keep in mind Doom mapping has advanced very much over the years and that it takes much more effort to attract an audience than it would have 15 years ago.

I think you're making progress, so keep it up.

EarthQuake said:

Ah, you're the Tot Comics guy.

I haven't downloaded the wad, but judging from your screenshots, you have made quite an improvement from your previous wads. Most notably is your restraint from using obvious MSPaint-style sprite replacements and such. You always struck me as an odd fellow, but I think you have some potential as a wad author. Keep taking in criticism and churning out stuff. That's the best way to develop yourself as a mapper around here nowadays. Keep in mind Doom mapping has advanced very much over the years and that it takes much more effort to attract an audience than it would have 15 years ago.

I think you're making progress, so keep it up.

Thank you, and since doom has advanced so much in the 15+ years is probably why I've had so much trouble mapping. The standards are pretty high right now and I always have to improve to try to meet them.

DuckReconMajor said:

I've played through part of it. Playing your maps inspires me to map. The quaking and shaking annoys me. The shotgun sprite points to a position that is far left of what it should be, which makes it hard to aim. I'm liking the use of slopes so far. I don't like the Intech crate textures very much. The Intech and UAC symbols just don't seem to go together very well.

Thanks for the tips. I moved the shotgun durastically to the right to make the shooting appear more centerd, and improved the Intech logo on the crates.

fatal error said:

Over all did you like it?

Yes.

DuckReconMajor said:

Yes.

excellent!

I must have improved my mapping then.

I didn't play through all of it, and I'm sorry to say I didn't care for it.

It seems like it's trying to be realistic while at the same time being abstract. It might just be the clashing texture choices. I like to pick a set of textures (say the METAL variants) and use it as the main texture. If you use a different type you need something to separate them (generally SUPPORT2 or SUPPORT3 and the like can be used for this).

There seems to be heavy autosaving. I played for 10 minutes and it autosaved like 4 times, and since it wasn't particularly hard this seemed very unnecessary. Though the second autosave was near an instant death shaft, which has no warning at all. That is generally not a good design decision.

Also it took me a second to realize that some bars weren't solid, which makes me wonder why they're there. As far as I can figure it's supposed to be like the grating on an air vent, which makes me think it would be better if you made it a shootable wall that breaks open. The custom textures are kind of... ugly. They need to blend in more.

So... yeah. I'm sorry to have to sound so negative.

U.O.D. said:

I didn't play through all of it, and I'm sorry to say I didn't care for it.

It seems like it's trying to be realistic while at the same time being abstract. It might just be the clashing texture choices. I like to pick a set of textures (say the METAL variants) and use it as the main texture. If you use a different type you need something to separate them (generally SUPPORT2 or SUPPORT3 and the like can be used for this).

There seems to be heavy autosaving. I played for 10 minutes and it autosaved like 4 times, and since it wasn't particularly hard this seemed very unnecessary. Though the second autosave was near an instant death shaft, which has no warning at all. That is generally not a good design decision.

Also it took me a second to realize that some bars weren't solid, which makes me wonder why they're there. As far as I can figure it's supposed to be like the grating on an air vent, which makes me think it would be better if you made it a shootable wall that breaks open. The custom textures are kind of... ugly. They need to blend in more.

So... yeah. I'm sorry to have to sound so negative.

I'll see if I can improve it.

U.O.D. said:

I didn't play through all of it, and I'm sorry to say I didn't care for it.

It seems like it's trying to be realistic while at the same time being abstract. It might just be the clashing texture choices. I like to pick a set of textures (say the METAL variants) and use it as the main texture. If you use a different type you need something to separate them (generally SUPPORT2 or SUPPORT3 and the like can be used for this).

There seems to be heavy autosaving. I played for 10 minutes and it autosaved like 4 times, and since it wasn't particularly hard this seemed very unnecessary. Though the second autosave was near an instant death shaft, which has no warning at all. That is generally not a good design decision.

Also it took me a second to realize that some bars weren't solid, which makes me wonder why they're there. As far as I can figure it's supposed to be like the grating on an air vent, which makes me think it would be better if you made it a shootable wall that breaks open. The custom textures are kind of... ugly. They need to blend in more.

So... yeah. I'm sorry to have to sound so negative.

I have removed a few of the unesessary autosaves, and made the air vent bars appear broken so it makes sense you can walk through them. Hope thats better. :D

does it contain custom monsters?
does anybody know wads containing custom mon?

saifi said:

does it contain custom monsters?
does anybody know wads containing custom mon?

No, there are no custom monsters, but there is a new gun in orbital.

Dude. I really enjoyed this. It didn't get bogged down by having to be "brilliant" and "perfect" and all that other stuff that we expect in our wads now before we will even piss on them.

Even the stuff that was bad was bad in such a new way that even that it made it all ok.

Yeah, totally this was lots of fun, and it was really quirky and unique. For sure, keep making maps, keep improving, but whatever you do, don't lose that uniqueness that made this map so cool. It reminded me of something fresh out of 1994. With slopes and particle fountains and Floor transfer heights.

I especially liked the "random" object. That made me laugh.

I can see why this would make DRM want to map. This is one of those levels that Creaphis would just love, and would be held up as a beacon of hope amidst the current trend of unrelenting perfectionism. Or something.

Coolness all over! Bravo!

saifi said:

does it contain custom monsters?
does anybody know wads containing custom mon?

No.

ZPACK has lots of custom monsters in it.

Kyka said:

Dude. I really enjoyed this. It didn't get bogged down by having to be "brilliant" and "perfect" and all that other stuff that we expect in our wads now before we will even piss on them.

Even the stuff that was bad was bad in such a new way that even that it made it all ok.

Yeah, totally this was lots of fun, and it was really quirky and unique. For sure, keep making maps, keep improving, but whatever you do, don't lose that uniqueness that made this map so cool. It reminded me of something fresh out of 1994. With slopes and particle fountains and Floor transfer heights.

I especially liked the "random" object. That made me laugh.

I can see why this would make DRM want to map. This is one of those levels that Creaphis would just love, and would be held up as a beacon of hope amidst the current trend of unrelenting perfectionism. Or something.

Coolness all over! Bravo!

Thank you! I am very glad you enjoyed it.

Kyka said:

This is one of those levels that Creaphis would just love, and would be held up as a beacon of hope amidst the current trend of unrelenting perfectionism. Or something.

Haha, you know me too well. Finding a new tot comics release actually excited me a lot more than most wads do nowadays.

What I see in your wads, Fatal Error, is an endearing creativity, an irrepressible desire to experiment and try new things, as opposed to "playing it safe" and reassembling old design elements. I always have a lot of fun playing through your wads and seeing what you've put in them. That said, the way you execute your ideas is often rather crude, so here's some actual criticism:

Gameplay:
By and large, the gameplay in this level is quite good, and better than it has been in some of your previous releases, with interesting fights and a gradually-increasing difficulty curve. However, this level is absurdly generous with health, weapons and ammo. I finished the level with close to full ammo in all weapons, and with a BFG that I never used. At one point I picked up a megasphere when I was already at 200/200, and then immediately after that I found a megaarmor that I couldn't even take. Much of this excess could be removed from the level. Also, you shouldn't punish the player for his curiosity. It's fair to have instant-death-traps in your level if there's some visual sign of danger, but it's not fair if the player is killed just for dropping down an innocuous vent hole or for entering an unmarked teleporter.

Aesthetics:
I like that you've added new graphics, but they're all very MS-Painty. I would recommend that you attempt to improve your abilities as a graphic artist. There are great books on that subject, which you could probably find in a local library, and there are some more-specific Doom texture creation tutorials in this forum that could be of use. The way you design and detail your architecture is also rather slapdash, but instead of trying to offer any specific critique for that I'll just encourage you to keep mapping; as you continue to make maps, your style will probably become more refined, without any conscious effort.

Similarly, to further improve the gameplay of your wads, I'd recommend that you play more Doom wads. Playing more Doom will improve your playing skills, and as your playing skills improve you'll get a better sense of what makes a fight interesting when you make your own maps.

I've actually been "beta" testing this and it was fun to watch this develope and grow. I also helped a tad bit with the music converting and I really think that this is a huge inprovement over your other mods. You had some great ideas such as the sloped doors which I started using in my project. Keep up the good work.

Thanks for the advice everyone, I'll keep it in mind.