[WIP] Vela Pax (on hiatus)

Vela Pax is a work-in-progress map set for Doom 2 consisting of 6 very large, detailed maps made for single and COOP play. The maps will be compatible with PrBoom+, ZDoom, and Eternity (and any other port that supports the Boom-compatible, strong limit removing support with ZDoom's extended node format).

The 6 maps will be split into 2 mini episodes, with each episode representing an overarching theme. The first episode will be human-constructed themes (techbases and similar) and the second episode will be gothic and hell themes. The maps will be playable from pistol start and the gameplay will focus on non-linear flow, exploration, generally paced gameplay, and mild difficulty. Map gameplay length will likely range from 2-3 hours per map.

The maps will make use of Doom 1 and 2 texture resources with some of my own edits and updates thrown in where I see fit (based off of stock Doom resources). However there will be brand new, 1024px wide sky textures which will not be derived from stock resources. In addition there will also be some new sprites, a few new objects, a few enhanced weapons, new music, some new graphics including a new font set, a tweaked COLORMAP, possibly a new boss monster, and maybe even a big secret or two!

My goals for this project are to gain some experience with singleplayer mapping and also to explore how to create large, non-linear maps that are fun and interesting to play and explore. I also want to find interesting ways to use the stock resources as well as see what sort of cool scenes I can make.


Questions and comments are always more than welcome!

Releases:
- Vela Pax Beta 2.1 [19mb] (be sure to check the readme!)
- Vela Pax Beta 1 [18mb] (this is old; see beta 2.1!)
- Time Lapse Doom Builder video - #1
- Time Lapse Doom Builder video - #2 (Part 1)
- Time Lapse Doom Builder video - #2 (Part 2)
- Vela Pax MAP01 - Zerkin' Around
- Jimmy Stream Part 1
- Jimmy Stream Part 2
- Jimmy Stream Part 3
- Gif of MAP01 line construction (courtesy of Revenant and dmvis)


Testers:
Jimmy91
esselfortium
Vader
waverider
dannebubinga
Seele
Super Jamie
Cage
dew
Touchdown
Wartorn
Edward850
Yholl


Progress:
MAP01: Excella - Done
MAP02: Substruct - Done
MAP03: Pinion - Not started
MAP04: Faxanadu - Layout/Detail 80% : Lighting 5% : Gameplay 0%
MAP05: Apollyon - Done
MAP06: Dreamsnake - Not started


Screenshots:
Clicky here!


Links:
Mekworx page

Always liked Mekwads. Looking forward to seeing more on this and Supplice.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..

That's a positive 'hmm' by the way. :P

Any chance of hinting how difficult and how big the maps, in both Vela Pax and Supplice, will be in general?

Thanks for the comments guys :D

Joshy said:

Any chance of hinting how difficult and how big the maps, in both Vela Pax and Supplice, will be in general?

As far as this project is concerned, it's probably going to range from medium difficultly at the beginning and steadily progress to almost slaughter-style towards the end. Of course when I say "difficult", it's based off of what I believe is difficult. I'm sure there will be people who will laugh at what I think is difficult once this is released :P. Anyways, the maps will probably be around the same size/scope as DOM, maybe bigger. MAP02, which is the one I'm working on right now, is actually pretty massive so far and I've still got a fair number of areas to add.

Now for Supplice...well it really all depends on the sort of feedback I get from this. My initial idea was to structure it's difficultly progression similar to what's seen in Scythe II, although maybe not as insane towards the end. Being that it's going to be a megawad, the maps will definitely range in size from short 5-minute maps to huge landscapes. That's the plan anyways :)

Already posted on blog. Subscribing to thread for future updates.

Well here's a dumb DB shot since the areas I'm working on now aren't really screenshot ready:

http://mekworx.phenomer.net/mekastuff/wads/vela_pax/velapax-substruct-wip.PNG

I'm currently building layout in the north-eastern part of the map at the moment...when I'm not going back and redoing other areas, that is :P. I've been thinking about how I want the gameplay to flow. It's pretty much a given at this point that it will be really non-linear, although I don't want it to be too confusing to make your way around. The map is also going to be really big and probably somewhat difficult, so I think I may end up moving it down to MAP03, although at this point it's a moot idea as I don't really know how the other maps are going to turn out. After I finish up the eastern half of the map, I've got to go back to the western half and add more bits over there. I was also keen on redoing the center of the map...though I may change my mind if it turns out to be a pile of work. After that there will be some less work-intensive areas that I'll around around the perimeter of the whole map.

I've been working on this map for almost 2 weeks solid. I've really enjoyed building it, although I might have to take a break here soon so I don't burn myself out.

Got some new screenshorts for everyperson's looky-pleasure:





And more in link form so this page isn't dominated by huge images:
http://mekworx.phenomer.net/mekastuff/pics/screenshots/vela%20pax/Screenshot_Doom_20100315_231703.png
http://mekworx.phenomer.net/mekastuff/pics/screenshots/vela%20pax/Screenshot_Doom_20100315_231944.png
http://mekworx.phenomer.net/mekastuff/pics/screenshots/vela%20pax/Screenshot_Doom_20100315_232033.png

I'd put this map about 3/4 of the way done. I almost forgot to take a look at my segs count. I thought it might be pretty high; it's already in the 38K count, so a limit increasing port will be required. Although I had already planned for this map set to require PRBoom+ at the least, so it's really a non-issue. Well, it is as long as I can keep it under the increased segs limit anyways (hopefully it won't be a problem).

Anyways, I'm working on finishing up the north-eastern chunk of the map. Then I can move on to the final bits. Hopefully that shouldn't take more than a week at the most.

Beautiful. I love how you draw attention to both the wall detail and the upper and lower surface flats, it makes the environments seem so "full-bodied" and almost touchable.

Those TEKWALL pits in the first screenshot are awesome, rad idea!

Nice! I'm digging this one.

Wow, that was fast :D. Thanks for the comments! I'm glad you guys like what I've done so far. Hopefully I can just keep up that same level of quality when it comes to the gameplay :P

Heh, the pits in that first screen are gonna mess up any encounters in there if the monsters have to traverse them. I'm not very much into the techbase style but it looks cool.

ArmouredBlood said:

Heh, the pits in that first screen are gonna mess up any encounters in there if the monsters have to traverse them. I'm not very much into the techbase style but it looks cool.

Good point. Mech, might want to use Transfer Heights on them, so the actual ingame sectors are at a constant height but they're rendered with the lowered floors. :)

Hmm, I'm not sure what sort of monsters will be in the room in the first screenshot, but I'll definitely make note of that as a potential issue. I was making this map to be more industrial-ish than pure techbase, but it certainly does have techbase influences. The first map in the episode will likely be very techbase-ish with lots of STARTAN and what have you. The maps will progress towards more gothic/hell themes though. I was hoping to work the full range of cliche Doom II themes into this set if possible :P

*ninjaedit*

Yup, good idea essel! I'll do that.

:)

I was afraid of Transfer Heights for the longest time, only ever using it when I absolutely needed to, for deep water or something, but now that I've gotten to understand it I've discovered that it can be incredibly useful for building detail structures without them affecting player/monster movement. It's a bit easier in ZDoom where you have some optional flags to be able to use them without having to worry about matching up anything but the floor (i.e. you can use the same transfer heights tag in multiple areas with different ceiling stuff above them), but I guess if you build it normally first, creating the necessary control sectors wouldn't take too long.

Mechadon said:

I was making this map to be more industrial-ish than pure techbase, but it certainly does have techbase influences. The first map in the episode will likely be very techbase-ish with lots of STARTAN and what have you. The maps will progress towards more gothic/hell themes though. I was hoping to work the full range of cliche Doom II themes into this set if possible :P

Heh, better put in a rather lame city map ;P

Taking a second look, you do use more industrial-like textures than techbase, but the tekwal inserts and some of those tannish pipe-like textures are much more techbase imo and drew my eye immediately. Plus sladwall is kinda a grey-green area between the two (heh. See what I did there? ;). I guess I'm just too biased into the dark, gritty industrial textures of decontex and ogrodtex vs. vanilla doom2.

Heh, I've been pretty much the same with with transfer heights as well. No matter how many times I would use them, I always had to go back to a previous map to see how to set them up again. I attribute that to my poor memory and failing cognitive skills, mostly :P. They are very useful though...and I was excited to find that there was a form of them in Boom format (I think I didn't know about them until I worked on GW2 actually, heh).

ArmouredBlood said:

Heh, better put in a rather lame city map ;P

That will most likely be MAP03 actually :>. I was thinking maybe a city-ish landscape that's slowly being devoured by lots of hell decor...or something. Like a nice buffer map between human construction and hell construction. It will mostly likely be very lame, heh.

Small bumpdate:

MAP02 is coming along pretty well. I'm pretty much finished with the entire western part of the map and now I'm moving on to what's left of the eastern side of the map. Here's a DB shot for those interested. My main concern at this point is keeping it under the SEGS limit...right now it's around 43K with about 36K sidedefs. I'm just gonna have to watch it closely I guess :P

A few days ago I took a short break from mapping. During that time I decided to do some simple graphic work. I got a M_DOOM made from an existing bitmap font I found. I slapped it at the top of the OP so you guys can see it. I also made a new statusbar for kicks. It still needs some cleaning up and here and there, so I'll wait until I'm ready to post up some new screenshots to show it off. I'd like to also have a simple titlepic and interpic; those will likely come later on.

And lastly, I got a WIP page up.

*edit*

Oh yea, forgot to mention a couple other bits. I decided to throw in the Doom 1 textures and two liquid fall textures (water and lava falls). It's still technically stock textures though...right? :P I also forgot to mention that I haven't started on any of the lighting in the map yet, so that's why the lighting in the shots looks...well, nonexistent. I'll go back and do lighting before I start item/monster placement.

excellent. you make me jealous. cant wait for its final release.

You don't want midi music? :(
I'd offer to make mod music but I just don't have access to good samples.

It's not that I don't want or like midi; quite the contrary. I have some pretty awesome (imo), sorta ambient-style module music tracks I found years ago. I enjoy that style of music and I think it fits in with Doom very well in many instances. While I'm not expert, I'd imagine the style of ambient music that I wanted to use for this probably wouldn't work very well with midi. Then again, what do I know? :P

Though there is definitely a catch thus far; the file size is pretty bloated due to the music tracks since they are of pretty high quality. I've looked and looked but I can't seem to find tracks that are similar but have smaller file sizes...atleast none that I really like. I'm not sure if there would be any way for me to downsize the file sizes or what...I really don't know a thing about module music. Another small speed bump is that the tracks play really softly for some reason. You have to crank up the volume all the way for it to play at a reasonable enough volume.

But actually, I'm not dead set on using these particular tracks, or module music of any sort for that matter. I could pretty easily change my mind since I'm too fickle for my own good, usually. Were you gonna offer to make some tracks stewboy? That would be pretty sweet if so <3. If you'd like, I can link you to some of the module tracks I was planning on using. Sorta give you an idea what I was wanting to use.

How were you planning to play MOD music in PrBoom? You'd need to include lumps as MP3 or OGG. It would make the filesize bigger but with the internet speeds of today it's not like 10Mb is a big deal. If that's how you want the maps heard then that's your vision and it's worth sticking to.

If you want to learn tracking then check out some MilkyTracker tutorials on YouTube, here's a really good beginner's one that explains the basic interface of the program and how to create your own samples. Here's some sound theory about different wave types you'd use to make samples.

I'm probably the most musically untalented person in the world and even I managed to make a basic chiptune with these. You could no doubt kill it :)

Slightly off-topic; Since when did PrBoom+ support module files, and which ones?

The screenshots look awesome, by the way.

PRBoom+ most certainly supports the format of the tracks I'm looking to use (no idea about regular ole PRBoom though). As does EE and ZDoom, thank goodness :). I'm not sure when PRBoom+ started to support it, but I definitely tested it out beforehand to be sure. I should probably clarify; most of the tracks are impulse tracker (.it) format. I tend to just lump all of those formats together and call them "modules"; dunno if that's accurate or not.

@Super Jamie: Incidentally, the track I'm using right now for MAP02 is 2.7 megs and about 3 and a half minutes long. I don't know if converting it to a wave type format would increase or decrease the file size, but I couldn't imagine it would do much either way. I've been wanting to learn how to compose midi and module type of music for a really long time now. Thanks for those links, I'll certainly check them out! Dunno if I'll be able to whip up anything for this project given my slow learning potential (not to mention I'm probably another one of those musically inept people as well), but I can certainly give it a shot :)

I think I already said this somewhere, but I really hope someone out there enjoys large, non-linear maps :P. I've gotten a pretty huge amount done since the last batch of screenshots, so I figured it was time for another screeny post. I have so many new areas and it was hard to narrow it down to a decent number of shots :P. Anyways, these areas should look 10x better once I get around to doing the lighting. I seem to be pretty awful at taking screenshots these days, so I apologize in advance for any weird angled shots.





Ignore the borked sky, it'll get fixed

And some more:
http://mekworx.phenomer.net/mekastuff/pics/screenshots/vela%20pax/Screenshot_Doom_20100326_005751.png
http://mekworx.phenomer.net/mekastuff/pics/screenshots/vela%20pax/Screenshot_Doom_20100326_005832.png
http://mekworx.phenomer.net/mekastuff/pics/screenshots/vela%20pax/Screenshot_Doom_20100326_010033.png
http://mekworx.phenomer.net/mekastuff/pics/screenshots/vela%20pax/Screenshot_Doom_20100326_010149.png

I'm not sure why I have this map at 90% done. Technically it's more like 75% or 50%; the layout is probably close to 90% though. I've still got to figure out how the map is going to flow and then do thing placements. Given it's size and complex, non-linear nature, that might take longer than I initially thought. Here's another DB overview shot: CLICK ME :D

So as you can see from my lovely MSPaint commentary, the north west area is what remains. The goal is to connect the north and west areas in some fashion...basically. I'm also planning on redoing the middle area as it no longer pleases me (I think I said that already). Aside from some tweaks here and there, that will pretty much finish up the layout of the map. I was worried about busting through the SEGS limit, but now I think I'll be ok now that I can see the finish line (right now I'm sitting at 52K SEGS, I think).

Oh yea, and I did say that I was going to show off the new status bar the next time I posted screenshots. Welp...

New status bar...and also an extremely early shot of MAP01...or MAP02, whatever it ends up being...

That's all I got for now. I'm gonna hit this last bit of the map hard in the coming days. Hopefully I can finish it off in a week, tops :)

Mechadon said:

New status bar

Awesome! This looks so modern yet still very pixelly, it suits the cleaner style of your maps really well.

Very sad that I'll probably be on my overseas holiday when this is released ;_;

Ah man...hopefully you'll be still be available when it comes to testing. I really want to hear your opinions.../me crosses his fingers.

Glad you like the new status bar :). My main concern with any of those sorts of replacements is making sure it's easy to read. Some of my earlier attempts at status bars haven't been nearly as good in that respect. I think I did pretty good on this one though.

I'm happy to do partial testing, I leave on April 5th.

I agree about the status bar, it's important to keep the numbers large and well-contrasted. These look a little smaller (definitely thinner) than the original numbers though they aren't too small.

The red-on-red for health is really the only thing I'd be concerned about here. I like the colored backgrounds so I'm hesitant to suggest making them all greyscale. Perhaps the small gradient at the bottom of health would be better orange or yellow?

Hmm, yea that's a good point. Orange would probably work pretty well (since I'm already using yellow for the frags patch). I'll try that out.

I'm not sure if I'll have the layout done by the 5th (definitely won't have gameplay, etc in) but I'll gladly send you what is done before then. You could at the very least romp around the finished structures, look at all of the details and architecture, and pretend your blasting Imps and Demons :P

I can't say I'm convinced by the flats you've chosen to correspond to the underside of some textures; namely MFLR8_2 for SLADWALL and MFLR8_4 for STONE2. I can only see them as loose dirt, not as rough grainy concrete... I'd suggest FLOOR7_2 or DEM1_5 and FLAT1 or FLAT5_4 instead.

I had already thought about changing the flat being used with STONE2 to FLAT1, which I'll likely do once I get around to finishing up the layout/detail. For SLADWALL and BROWNGRN though, MFLR8_4 is the only flat that I like to use. All of your other suggestions just don't match the colors well enough like MFLR8_4 does, in my opinion. It's got some similar shades of that blue-ish green that SLADWALL has that no other flat seems to have. (either that or I'm just too colorblind to tell :P)

Thanks for the suggestion though :)