Strange Aeons 5.7

Oh, is that what causes it? The load time throws it out of whack?

Learn somethin' new every time I post here I guess.

well that'd be my educated guess at least :)

TheOrganGrinder said:

I like the smaller and squishier cacodemon replacement you've thrown in, where's that from?

I totally forgot to reply to this. It's the Grell monster from realm667, and I believe the sprite is from Blasphemer.

The Grell was first created as a custom monster and then donated to Blasphemer to serve as the Disciple replacement.

Sneak peek at Episode 2: The Stagnant Fortress, specifically Map 5. There's a ton of secrets on this map, and I only show the most obvious one. I also forgot to grab the armor at the beginning, because I'm an idiot. Currently Ep2 is about 80% finished. I might also have a decent replacement music selection now.

The environment is drastically different from Episode 1, going for a long-rotted techbase look. I also replaced all the Mauler Demons with the creepy Freedoom worms, since the Mauler seems to clash with most of the otherwise lovecraftian critters in this mod. There's also a new boss monster at the end, though I use the term "new" loosely since I sort of frankensteined it together out of other monsters. Just didn't have a suitable Ep2 boss monster laying around, but at least the thing I ended up with is pretty nasty.

Does anyone have any notes for the latter half of Episode 1? I'd espeically like feedback on Map 8, since it's the climax, and is a bit unorthodox.

Gez said:

The Grell was first created as a custom monster and then donated to Blasphemer to serve as the Disciple replacement.

Ah, cool, thanks for clearing that up. Either way it's very pro sprite work.

First draft of Episode 2 is done. I could really use detailed feedback on both episodes at this point.

-9 new maps comprising The Stagnant Fortress episode.
- Episode 1 maps tweaked and refined a bit.
- Several new monsters, including a new boss critter.
- New music tracks that hopefully work right. Still think the game is most atmospheric without music though.
- Readme file very slightly updated!

Please share your thoughts about the project's strengths and weaknesses.

Note: I did replace all the door tracks, but I think I am gonna keep the Doom switches since I can't find any replacements that I'm satisfied with.

I really like it, great level design and an interesting story. Only minor issue I had was the levels seem a bit short, though otherwise are fun to explore.

UPDATE: Fixed the Episode 2 boss a bit.

Thanks for the comments, Empress. Dunno why they always turn up short...

I played until E1M7 (didn't found the secret level) and liked it a lot so far. Very nice atmosphere and a lot of cool ideas here.

Issues I noticed:
-E1M3 has a lot of doors that disappear in the sky when opened.
-E1M5 has a building that disappear when you look at it from a certain angle.
-E1M6 contains a powerup in the exit room that is mostly useless.

Some suggestions:
-Some areas could be a bit darker to enhance the horror atmosphere. Even the interior areas are very bright and could use some higher brightness contrast.
-I found the episode to be very easy. Maybe it's was your intention or because I played in HMP, but I think the episode would benefit from some extra challenge. E1M4 was especially generous in giving powerups and easy to be found secrets.

Thanks for the feedback pedro. Hope you get a chance to finish it. I'll see about tweaking the light contrast here and there.

The mod is a bit easy on HMP, probably because I was worried I was getting too used to the maps and didn't want them to be impossibly hard (a mistake I've made with a lot of games in the past). Playing on UV considerably spikes the difficulty.

E1M5's vanishing control tower is the result of trying to give the main building a roof and a tower that's taller than the rest of it. From most angles it looks all right, but I'm not surprised there's still a few angles where you can see how the trick was done. I noticed the door issue in E1M3 when I was building it, so I used the "garage door" looking texture to try to make it look like it's collapsing upward...sort of...

E1M6 is a bit nonlinear, since you can open the path to the exit and the stairs leading up to the teleporter independently, so the powerup is tucked away there in case you decide you want to grab it before doing the remaining third of the map (and to dispatch the demon wizard ambush more easily).

The partial-conversion is essentially done,with the main story concluded and the fourth bonus episode waiting to be made, should this mod even go anywhere. I would appreciate anyone willing to play through and leave feedback on all three episodes, so's I can polish it more. I have not only finished the third episode at last, but I also adjusted all the other maps, so revisiting those episodes isn't without merit. The biggest change is E1M8: the player controls the doors now, not the monsters.

I still don't have ending graphics or intermission maps, but the story text is all done at least, and hopefully that's enough for now. I also added the bestiary to the manual. Some of the critters were renamed to fit the theme, and others had their stats adjusted a bit to make them more or less terrible, usually less -- few monsters are much stronger than a Demon, for the sake of removing any tedium from battles, and it probably balances the fact that any monster type can kill you pretty quickly.

Hope everyone enjoys it for what it is. I need a break...

So far I've (re)played the first episode and enjoyed it; I like the changes you've made to the E1M8, it's still on the puzzle-y side but more comprehensible and controllably so.

I hope to get around to the later two episodes over the next few days.

I made some fixes to the wad, mostly map-design stuff, like making the exit on E3M5 more obvious once it's accessible. I posted about this yesterday, but the forum undid my post somehow.

Check the OP for the latest build from now on.

Updated to 3.2! Mostly fixed a level glitch or two, and added some spiderweb decorations to complete the spider-infested areas.

Tried to download, but the link sends me to the homepage of a file sharing service.

Seems mediafire went slightly retarded when I uploaded it last, and entirely "forgot" the new file I just uploaded. Fixed.

Downloaded, but how do I play this? I am using prboom+. Or do I have to use smth else here?

Louigi Verona said:

Downloaded, but how do I play this? I am using prboom+. Or do I have to use smth else here?

It's (g)zdoom only, which I just realized I forgot to mention on the download page. I'll fix that now.

I dunno why I keep taking it for granted that I've mentioned it's a ZDoom mod, when I repeatedly forget...

The four-episode edition is finally done and uploaded, complete with actual ending graphics (credited in the pdf). Give it a whirl and tell me whatcha think!

I discovered the e4 boss battle was broken. It should be fixed in version 3.4

Thanks for posting the review! I replied to him on SA since you posted this.

-Nightmres and Star Vampires. Are only briefly visible and only vulnerable then. Will rip your asshole apart.

The vampires aren't so bad...that soul grabber melee weapon handles them quite nicely. (the nightmares are more of an issue, as you don't have it there and they tend to show up in greater numbers)

Also, a (probably) little known fact about nightmare-type monsters: a GZDoom lite-amp (enhanced night vision mode) actually allows you to see them. So it might be worth adding some to nightmare-heavy areas, like Daniel did in Final NeoDoom.

Ah, that's a good point about the goggles. I'll make a note to add them. I've also made them weaker in 3.5 build to see if it makes them less tedious or too easy.

Updated. Nightmares and Star Vampires are easier to kill, and E4 should have slightly more health. A few other changes as well, which I can't remember now 'cos I'm totally unprofessional.

uh, while making weapon gifs for my tumblr, i noticed that there is a fuckup in the Yithian lightning gun with some sprite overlap when transitioning from firing to not firing.



also, I sent you a pm with some other minor stuff.

kmxexii said:

uh, while making weapon gifs for my tumblr, i noticed that there is a fuckup in the Yithian lightning gun with some sprite overlap when transitioning from firing to not firing.

Dammit, I was sure I had fixed that. Are you playing 3.5 or an older version?

EDIT: Nevermind, I'm smoking crack apparently. It's fixed now, along with the stuff you brought up in the pm.

Definitely SA 35

I'm trying to download, but ModDB says it's for members only.

Download it directly from this page. The bolded and underlined title STRANGE AEONS is actually a link.