1995 called. They want their Doom levels back.

14 hours ago, Senor500 said:

The patience for doing that must be really high.

It was a few minutes only. Thanks to having a visual editor where you can actually see the floor texture / flat while building. "You kids today have it so good." xD

Like I said, though, It will likely not make it into the level because the "wavy black sand" doesn't make much sense for the level. Though.. maybe if I add a rock garden.. hmm..

14 hours ago, Senor500 said:

That's perfect though, keeping it 1995.

That's actually what I am thinking. On one hand I don't want to be ignorant to the advances in level design and pushing the limits of Vanilla Doom. On the other hand I kind of think that some of that "blissful ignorance" might give my levels some of their oldschool charm. 

Well.. they will be what they will be. And hopefully enjoyable to play, at that ^^

13 hours ago, ketmar said:

start another wad, with new diary thread.

Aaaaactually, one thing I never mentioned (because it's not really part of this project): When I lost all of the renewal efforts of 2010 (when I had that fateful HDD death after several weeks of work), one of the projects I had already started was a brand new E2.

And: The first level actually survived the meltdown because I had uploaded it (and, sadly, only it) to my webserver. It's already showing a lot of what I had learned throughout the renewal and I doubt I will even have to change much of anything about it- but it will serve as a rather precious starting block for a whole new E2.

Also, there was a very good concept for a secret level with 5 stages (what star-shaped symbol was it again that has 5 points?) that was already 1/5th done but then it went to hell with all the other files, unfortunately. But the concept still stands and it might make a nice secret level or final stage :) So.. there's ideas aplenty for a second serving. 

Here's a few sneak peeks for after Episode 1 is done (enlarge at your own risk):

^{(the last one is an unreachable angle for an "aerial view". It's an outside arena of sorts)}

But first things (and episodes) first ^^;

13 hours ago, Lila Feuer said:

That door has an invitingly warm glow to it, makes me want to see what's inside!

It's mostly dea~ ..I mean.. candy! There's candy inside.

11 hours ago, Zylinderkatze said:

It's mostly dea~ ..I mean.. candy! There's candy inside.

a friendly cyberdemon! have you ever seen a friendly cyberdemon? come in, and be the first to see this wonder!

"This is kind of random, but.."

I thought it was kind of interesting how you can tell my progression with the "detailing" work by following the spread of the "FLAT5_7" floor (the grey, cobblestone-ish stuff).. as it spills into the architecture of the "199X" version ^^ Also, the adjusted light levels.

Oh.. you'd rather see it in 3D? Alright, I guess.

View from the old part, facing the new. Basically looking towards the bottom left corner (from the top right corner) in the first picture.

And yeah, no, it's not done yet.

Also, I am a little reluctant to hands-on check whether I've stayed within the soft and hard vanilla limits.

I'll leave that to the Marcel of tomorrow xD

And another before and after..

..even though the "after" is definitely not done yet. So.. more like a "before" and.. "during"?

I should go to bed. Goodnight!

Good night! Great details especially on that "during", I like how it is taking shape.

Some new thoughts, no new pictures.

I noticed something, if you look at this picture from earlier:

Switching all of the canyon walls from "ASHWALL" to "SP_ROCK1" causes them to look almost as "blandly uniform" as before. I mean- I do like the different heights.. it looks more organic and natural that way.. but at a distance it still just looks grey (also, it's not aligned right, yet, I know ^^).

What I do like is the contrast, in the "during" picture of the last post:

"Rock" in the foreground and a slightly darker, "smaller" pattern in the background works nicely, in my perception.

I might actually resort to using both textures for diversity, after all.. and not just as an "easter egg" (even though that would be topical right now, too).

Any thoughts? Or maybe other suggestions on breaking up the uniformity?

I used to have other structures in the level too, which might return.. and the before mentioned "road" will run through parts of the canyon, too.. but the canyon walls themselves might still benefit from some diversity. I might also just incorporate some "MIDVINEx" texture (that was originally my plan in 1997, too.. but too much pain to align ^^;)

I'll work something out and keep updating this but I'm open to ideas :)

New pictures after all!

I did a (very quick and dirty) test even though I don't really have time to "map" right now ^^; Here's a "before" and potential "after" to loosen things up.

From the looks of it the ASHWALL might also just serve as something like a dried up bedrock or such.. hmm.

Alternatively, I'm thinking maybe some sort of wooden and / or metal beams as support for fragile rock sections.. this is dangerous because now my creativity is starting to run rampant and I have other things to do >_<

Yeah I like the diversity of using those two textures there, it fits.

And here's a quick "let's see it in action":

^{(maybe this is actually a good case for the "MFLR8_4" from before, instead of the "FLAT10")}

EDIT: 

---

Not 100% satisfied with it but it does look more interesting than it did in this picture:

The "dried-up waterfall" is sitting a little to the left of the center of that picture. 

Wait.. lemme just..

Riiiight there:

^{(the "FLAT10" and "METAL" in the foreground is still old level structure)}

It'll likely end up being a mix of several things together (as mentioned before), as long as I can avoid making it look too disheveled.. but this might be a good direction.

Okay now I must really go though.

More later :3

I legit can't wait to play your levels. The appeal of a level from 1995 completed in 2020 is really cool. I hope you'll continue to create levels. 

On 4/13/2020 at 7:21 PM, Rex_Rawhndo said:

I legit can't wait to play your levels.

That's the fuel I run on! xD

On 4/13/2020 at 7:21 PM, Rex_Rawhndo said:

The appeal of a level from 1995 completed in 2020 is really cool.

I'm glad you approve! Yeah I think so, too.. the first three levels will already be quite symptomatic for the remaining 6, because:

- E1M1 is a complete rebuild from scratch,

- E1M2 will have an extensive new starting area but the same(ish) second half and

- E1M3 will very likely stay almost the same

The ones after that (M4 - M9) will be a little from column A, a lot from column B and then again a little of column C ^^

On 4/13/2020 at 7:21 PM, Rex_Rawhndo said:

I hope you'll continue to create levels. 

I do feel like I'm all the way back into it and it's become my favorite pastime.. and I can't really see that changing. I mean.. I'm already about 1/5 into the guts of my episode and so far I haven't despaired yet xD

Afterthought:

The only thing I am a bit worried about is that I might fall prey to accidentally making my levels exceed the 3 minute mark (to use an arbitrary threshold at which a level might feel "too long").. BUT! I am making a lot of it optional, so one should still be able to finish them quickly if one insisted. Like in my E1M1 remake, where about 60% of the level are fully optional, unless you consider "getting the plasma gun" as mandatory xD

there is no such thing as "optional part" anyway. 'cmon, nobody will leave the map without at least 100% kills!

The terror! T_T

I guess the canyon will end up having to be a lot more winding than the 199X version ^^;;

Or I need to work on my "adding detail while avoiding unnecessary sectors" game.

But honestly, I had expected a worse situation. As in.. much more green xD

Also, this is already the view when moving all the way back to where I wanted to add an S-bend, anyways.

Also also, this doesn't really look like a canyon ^^;

"7/10, Needs more streamlining".

Here's a "before" and "in progress" (EDIT: and the viewing angle of the above in-game shot):

^{(you come in from the left.. the indentation pretty much in the middle of the "in progress" view is where the S-bend will start)}

And just like that, he killed two bir~ ..two.. err.. Demons with one.. rocket?

This is pretty much the same angle before, when I had pushed the engine a bit too far again. See how there's no Segment overflow problem anymore?

Of course there isn't. Because the breadth of the problematic lines are hidden by a big column of rock in the middle of the level!

Why is it there? I'm glad you asked!

Because of the elevated track that's running through the level, of course. Too bad it's fully encased so you can't look inside >_>

I had planned to hint at it criss-crossing through the level anyways.. so why not use it to my advantage!

It's not done yet but it solves the "too much detail with not enough diversity" problem pretty neatly.

Pleased!

Vanilla exe must have fun with this one.

36 minutes ago, Senor500 said:

Vanilla exe must have fun with this one.

You bet ^^;

I suspect that most (if not all) people who will play these WADs will do so with the current-day Doom port of their choice.. and it'll be something that's limit-removing at the least. But I still want to see how far I can take it while staying within the limits of what would potentially also run on a PC from when Doom came out.

No, I'm not sure what's wrong with me, either xD

Hmm. 

^{(yep, that's a render error)}

I'm my own worst critic sometimes.

10 hours ago, Zylinderkatze said:

I suspect that most (if not all) people who will play these WADs will do so with the current-day Doom port of their choice..

there are still Chocolate Doom players among us. they look like ordinary humans, but they are Jedi inside.

(lazy weekend so far)

(join k8vavoom testing team, and your weekends will never be the same. actually, you won't even notice them.)

No I'm not gone yet.

I am also not done yet, sadly.

Hello! Another "before" and.. well.. "during". I say "during" this time because it's long from done, obviously. For example I wanted the "thing" on the right to look more man-made back in 199X already.. but I'm not sure whether "GSTONE1" is the right choice. I am kind of more leaning towards making it match the look of the overhead track ("BROWN96"). Maybe it'll even turn into some sort of "station" for the implied transport running through it.

^{Less trees, more rocks, I guess?}

But yeah, like I said, this is bound to change again- don't get too attached xD

Goodnight!

I'm already attached to the project though!

Your dedication to realism in Doom has gone too far when..

..you use a graphic program just to check whether a trolley would have enough room to make it around a bend.

the usual corporate idiocity: nobody bothethed to measure actual vehicles before building that road. exactly what i expected from a mess like UAC. i bet they noticed demon invasion only after they've been told by somebody, because it does look like an ordinary UAC working day otherwise.

10 hours ago, ketmar said:

the usual corporate idiocity

"I dunno.. looks fine to me, boss"

*crunching, scraping sounds in the background*

Adjustments were made.

The outside of the bend is too generously spaced still but besides that it's smooth sailing. I mean.. riding.

For context:

This is really all you see of the loaded trolley as it stands (literally) right now.. not sure if I will leave it at that spot or make it so that you can actually walk past it.. which I probably should, because right now it's way too hard to get there.. and with no payoff to speak of (thus far).

I'm not that mean.

One might think I am trying to make up for not posting much for a few days..

Here's an (in-editor) view from a "cliff", looking back at the section that one would have just crossed prior to getting to this spot. If that makes sense.

Point of entry is just a wee bit ahead of the Pin~ ..Demon on the left.

This is the section where the overhead track curves off and away from the level as you can see at the top of the image (above the Caco). It's also where the previous screenshots came from (the one of the inside area of the track which the player can gain access to). Right now it's just one of those "potential bonus areas", though, following the "streamline rushing + backtracking secrets" approach. Meaning you can just run through and (hopefully) enjoy the scenery (and gore) but you can also find all sorts of switches to open secrets. Not a new idea but one I enjoy following. 

As stated before, there's no payout yet for getting in. I also don't know yet how far I want to take it (as in.. how expansive the secret area will be, once you're in). You'll just have to wait and see. I'm not going to spoil that part ^^;