mouldy Posted May 29, 2015 Just had a quick go of these, very quirky set of maps. The detail and mechanics going on in some of them is quite insane. Some quick thoughts.. map01 gameplay seemed ok, maybe could use more health. Map02 really tested my patience with the puzzle solving and ultra cramped scenery, but i made it in the end. Map03 was quite a feat of engineering, it definitely needs more health though, and more ammo. I ended up having to god-mode towards the end cos I ran out of both. Map04 looks mental. I had to stop playing cos I'm tired, but what I saw was quite visually striking to say the least. I think some people might have issues with the bumpy floors in places if they use prboom. Especially with all the floor holes. Dunno if you know about the boom action to create fake floors, but that would be something to consider in future to ease player and monster navigation. Crazy maps, might not be to everyone's taste with all the hyper-detail but I found them very visually entertaining. I'd recommend putting your download link in the first post by the way, and label it so people know what it is. 0 Share this post Link to post
Ribbiks Posted May 29, 2015 wow these are great. cool to see something unencumbered by modern mapping "ideals", whatever that phrase means to you. As mouldy said a very quirky set of maps. I tried recording fdas but got murdered a lot in map02/03 so started playing with saves. in map01 I love the blurry boundary between trying to make a realistic space and throwing it out the window by letting you walk around in void. the start of map02 was very patience-testing indeed, but still interestingly hectic once you got out of the cramped areas. map03 has that sloppy feel wrt monster placement, I found myself resorting to camping because any aggressive actions seemed to be punished by an endless barrage of hitscanners. I agree that I think the maps should have a bit more health overall, would take the player's mind off of barely surviving and allow them to appreciate the over-the-top boom shenanigans you got goin on everywhere. Anyways, cool stuff :D 0 Share this post Link to post
Allie Posted May 29, 2015 I ended up having a lot to say about this. Overall I enjoyed the experience and I can't wait to see more, but I've hidden my rambling critique under this spoiler. It's a lot, sorry! Spoiler Neat maps! First off, I know these are alphas/demos, but I still wanna stress some points I've come over in playing. I'd also like to echo others' want of more health, since you use a lot of hitscanning enemies and players could find themselves savescumming very quickly (I know I did) Map01 was a good concept but the layout itself could be improved. Visually, it's very interesting, but gameplay wise there's no real idea on what to do. There are also a lot of "red herrings" like traincars monsters are in but the player can't hop up on (Even though they can just hop into the "subway void" and walk next to them) and a 'secret teleporter' that just leads to an area a player can walk to. The map has a lot of potential but it's still very rough. Map02 Was really a quite interesting concept. The initial section makes you feel cramped, vulnerable, and trapped. Monster teleports reuse the area and it's cool that you eventually turn the area into a 'puzzle' for the player to outsmart, effectively defeating the trap on their own. But it felt too cramped; if DOOM's RNG damage system failed to kill an imp in one shotgun blast for example, there's no way for you to dodge the fireball. The following 'platform' area has its ups and downs: it's incredibly dark and if you miss even one hitscan enemy they can shoot you from across the map or around very cramped corners that you can barely even notice, making progression a pain. As for the main feature of the level however, the raising/lowering platforms, it's a very cool feature and I like that you used it to hide several secrets. Also, no matter how I tried to get hopelessly stuck, you always figured a way for the player to get out. My only complaint is that it felt tedious after the initial wow factor wore off, and by the time I had collected the yellow keycard (another nice effect, 3D printing the keycard!) I honestly just noclipped through the path back to the yellow doors rather than realign the platforms. And a final note for Map02: when including an automap powerup, remember to make your teleporter and voodoo doll rooms "hidden"! Map03 was... an eyesore, sadly. While I liked the use of effects and the concept, the harsh red-on-black pattern gave me a headache, and due to the extremely nonlinear nature of the map, I was getting frustrated fast. It took me quite a bit of running back and forth before thinking to shoot a blinking light visible through a window, allowing me to progress. The main feature of the map (the titular "Detonation") brought my interest back once it came around due to how unexpected it was. But even the escape from it gets criticism. Once again too many hitscanners seemed to be in the way between me and the exit, and this made survival a crapshoot. I'd suggest solely using projectile enemies to mix up the player's movement and lessen the chance for instant-death. A big thing I like about this level was developing the "raising/lowering platforms" introduced in Map02. I'd like to see them used more where they directly affect your environment (blocking off paths) and a puzzle that's simple like the pathway to the exit (raising/lowering platforms to easy positions) would be a good introduction to the mechanic, that should perhaps take place somewhere before the platform puzzle of Map02. Map04 was visually interesting but felt very cluttered. I would keep going in circles due to not having good landmarks or an understanding of how the map was structured; I would literally forget where a handful of doors went because I assumed I was heading down a new path. And again, the amount of hitscanners combined with a dark level made progression grinding; you'd have to clear out a whole area or risk getting potshotted later from across a wide-open, dark space. However, the secrets in this area are my favorite, and the boss battle(s) were really memorable and well-presented. I also enjoyed that you included so many alpha maps! Being able to compare a "finished" product (Map01-04) with the "rough drafts" was super interesting. There were a lot of interesting designs and gameplay elements shown off that I'd love to see the fruition of. On a final critique: I super duper love your title, stats, and credit pictures! It feels like I'm playing an oldschool cartridge. There is some weird color effect where colors seem to "split" towards the right and left side of letters, and I'm not sure if this is intentional or not, but I think it adds to the retro quirkiness of the images. Good job! Overall, the maps were quirky and very interesting to navigate. Some design decisions hamper this however. Enemies tend to overwhelm, but I believe this to be fixable by just tweaking what enemies are encountered rather than where or how many. You've got a lot of great ideas and environments mapped out here and it's gonna be awesome to see your progress on it all. Keep mapping! 0 Share this post Link to post
NinjaLiquidator Posted May 29, 2015 Thank you all for tips. I'll fix it. I will get to every of these maps, but first of all - I will start with Map03. - more ammo and health - more secrets (at least 5) - making clearer what to do when you have to shoot the switch on central room - secret room where you can reset time limit once to 99 (for less skilled players its maybe too fast) - I am thinking of making two versions of this map - one original and one with remapped red textures to some mild tone cause I have to admit that some people will find the so much ff0000 red annoying (its subjective, I find it nice but not everybody does) - from map before there will go two identical exits - "normal" to Map03 and "secret" to Map31 which will be same with different colors - from that point Map04 will be copied to Map16 also, to make it going OK for both options - I will do nothing with amount of hitscanners, but I will solve it by placing invisibilities (I think 2 spheres) - add some detail to blank areas (there is still a lot of them) - more explosions (10 total in whole map, 2 are there already) - when you will die after autodestruction, you will pass to next level too, but will have no weapons - so you better survive :) - plasma super secret - maybe swapping Map03 and Map02 and make 02 harder and extended then - before the red laser give some warning, cause its instant death trap After these changes I will reupload it. Also Map02 - if it will go AFTER Map03 - will have to be more difficult and will follow the original megalomanic idea - have payment system for every rise/lower of platforms. You will collect tokens or earn them other way, and there will be number showing how much you have. But thats maybe too puzzly. And what is worse - it will lead to state where player cant finish the level. Maybe will be then better order Map01-03-04-02 where 02 will be brutally extended and hardest. Map01 had to be twice as big as it is - its really just 50 percent done. Map02 was considered to be complete. Map03 wants what I named. Map04 will have twice secrets as it has, more life, ammo, difficulty settings and added slaughter finale. Originally I wanted Map04 to feel exactly like when played Doom1 first time in 90s. Maybe I has gone too far. Btw - the text in titlepic has messed up colors cause of aliasing of Paint.exe text combined with color remap to Doom pallete. Its a side effect, but I like it that way. 0 Share this post Link to post
NinjaLiquidator Posted July 30, 2015 I have 2 things to say, good and bad one: 1) I said "expect release in July", but it will be later. I heard that next year will also have a July. 2) I said "4 maps", but it will be more. I have a lot of unfinished materiál now. Looks like it will be 6 maps version next. I didnt ended, I just temporarily stopped and will come back to this. 0 Share this post Link to post
NinjaLiquidator Posted October 18, 2015 Hello, so I took enlightenment from critics and I make player-friendlier maps now. More ammo, more health. No problém to play even on UV. This one will be first and it plays like cakewalk. Originally it was meant to be just cute opener and nothing more. Now it has 19500 linedefs. It has so much sector detail that you will be on sector detail diet. Just také a look and 3 random screenz: http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=30jppwi&s=8#.ViP2zMFIupo http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=104recg&s=8#.ViP3b8FIupo http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=121u3y0&s=8#.ViP3qcFIupo 0 Share this post Link to post
PsychoGoatee Posted October 18, 2015 NinjaLiquidator said:Hello, so I took enlightenment from critics and I make player-friendlier maps now. More ammo, more health. No problém to play even on UV. This one will be first and it plays like cakewalk. Originally it was meant to be just cute opener and nothing more. Now it has 19500 linedefs. It has so much sector detail that you will be on sector detail diet. Just také a look and 3 random screenz: http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=30jppwi&s=8#.ViP2zMFIupo http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=104recg&s=8#.ViP3b8FIupo http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=121u3y0&s=8#.ViP3qcFIupo Hey there, I noticed you edited the original post so I downloaded it, but I see the files are from May 28th. I'll try out this new version you're talking about when you up it though. Good luck on your wad! And I dig having two pistols, oh yes. 0 Share this post Link to post
baja blast rd. Posted October 19, 2015 Can you repost the original versions by any chance? I read mouldy's and Ribbiks's posts and that got me interested, but after reading that you added more health and ammo and made the first map a cakewalk, I kind of lost interest. :p Edit: Ah, never mind -- I see the file in the OP wasn't updated after all. Downloading. 0 Share this post Link to post
NinjaLiquidator Posted October 19, 2015 rdwpa: Even that first original version that you have downloaded has a cakewalk first map (Link Infinity), but different (will be extended and occupy other slot in next version). Three other are hard bitches. 0 Share this post Link to post
NinjaLiquidator Posted October 19, 2015 PsychoGoatee: Its not released yet. These were just screenshots to show some progress. You still can download first version, link is in first post. 0 Share this post Link to post
PsychoGoatee Posted October 19, 2015 Right on, I look forward to checking it out. 0 Share this post Link to post
NinjaLiquidator Posted November 16, 2016 Attention, attention :D First map is ready for testing! I posted a link in first post. There was a period when I was considering giving it to Nova3, but there would be too many problems with texture replacements, so I decided to let it be and just release it there. Note: There is a super-secret (not marked as secret) that gives you plasma and requires a secret code from 3 parts, but on the map are present just 2 parts - the last one is supposed to be on some later map and it is "11101110" or "11100101" - one of them, now I dont know :D https://uloz.to/!LDA3UxvVJOF9/stwmap01-wad And yes, the exit is intentional like that. 0 Share this post Link to post
