"New year, new URE" - URE:E2 - E2M2 up!

9 hours ago, jerrysheppy said:

Speaking of MIDIs and URE, I just wanted to drop in and mention that I used Lippeth's music from URE (1) for all three of my RAMP 2 maps. :D

Absolutely great choice! @Lippeth did some amazing stuff for URE!

Now I'll really have to check out your maps ^^

Tonight on "will you believe me that all I made was one computer console"..

..this computer console.

^{What does it do?}

It's not really all I did today.

Also, it doesn't even do anything yet.

Right now it's mostly scene dressing ^^;

No, not Ranch. Scene.

Goodnight!

Clicked on the stealth link; was not disappointed.

Lil update!

Didn't map yet but this is a quick and easy gain xD

From yesterday's screenshot, when you turn slightly left, you see this.. and I somehow feel like the lighting and textures work pretty nicely together to draw your attention into ther distance:

^{This is not the direction from which you start, though.}

Now I'll actually start mapping a bit. Wish me luck?

I dunno ^^

Good news, bad news (history repeating)

I removed a few Vanilla limit problems in some "loading area" sort of section and found one new(ish) one in the nautical lock area.

This one, I though, was gone..

^{Oh. that's a lot of "too much" =/}

Funnily enough, it's really just this one small(ish) spot you have to stand in / view the area from:

^{(disregard the high heat area on the right.. that's not reachable)}

I am more and more thinking I'll just remove the optional "jump to this ledge to gain access to a room to reach a bonus" stuff from the back of that "room" / area.. because it's causing a bunch of trouble and I'm not sure it's really worth it. Even though it's kind of cool when you find it :3

This is how, in case I do remove that part again eventually:

^{There is no step three (in this picture)}

We'll see. I'm stopping for now. 3 Hours are enough!

Maybe I'll come back later ^^

One thing that I am still getting better at..

As seen above, I have a tendency to "cling" to things that I made, even though they are clearly a problem with the vanilla limits. Instead I try to simplify / reduce stuff in other places in order to enable it to stay in.

Thing is, the way this area is laid out.. there isn't much to be done in terms of reducing stuff further, without losing the visual message / identity that  Iwant the area to have. Though I do have an idea as I am writing this (thanks, Doomworld Diary!) on how to add a sight-blocking administration tower (or move the existing one) to.. basicalyl the sight line that's the problem.

I might even make it so that the elevator / lift that takes the player back "upstairs" is inside of that tower instead of out in the open.

I'll have to check if that works out the way I want.. and doesn't add too much cover.

Looks like I will have to rethink my whole approach!

Bigger sometimes really is better :o

Who'd have thought

So I had this problem with too much heat.. and was considering adding a tower (etc). Yadda yadda. Might still do that

^{This heat.. in this area.}

Then today I realized "wait.. that's all well and good with those rotating gates to have enough implied room to open and close.. but.. while they open and close, they don't leave enough room for the actual ship" (angryface emoji)

So I figured I'd just lengthen the basin.. and lo and behold:

^{It got a tiny bit "colder"!}

Not chilly.. but a little cooler. Cold enough. The little "jump to secret" can stay and the map should still work, without the map dying a heat death.

Speaking of which (what.. heat death? O_o) ..goodnight!

Lock what?

In case you are understandably confused.. this is what I am attempting to recreate, visually:

^{I tried to find a considerably short, educational video for y'all.}

And maybe also in function.. I am not ready to drop the idea yet that you can actually lower the water level from the tower.. and maybe reveal a secret..

You know how I keep saying that stuff isn't final and it'll still change?

This is one of those times.

^{A first design, be gentle.}

So I dabbled with a few different textures for this thing.. not sure if I'll keep it like this.. also the shape isn't final.. and I had originally planned to have a passage.. uh.. passing through the building, where there's now only that one entrance (on the left of it).

The good thing: It blocks a lot of sight lines. Enough for me to actually start setting the "hidden underwater access" idea into action.

The actions for making it look like the gates opened and the water lowered aren't anywhere in the level yet but the sectors needed for the gates to "change position" are done and the textures are aligned, too.

Also, that tower isn't as high as the rest of the map around it.. but it looks like it is, which kind of defeats the whole concept of putting different heights in. Maybe I'll actually just make it look higher again, instead of this "slightly lower".

It also just doesn't look interesting enough yet. There's still work to do.

At a later time. 

Bye for now!

Height Society

In reference to yesterday's post, here's what I meant with the "visually seemingly nonexistent" height difference:

At eye level:

^{Clearly the "wall(?)™" on the left is lower}

(Boots) on the ground, though:

^{What height difference?}

So I might just pull that building up to the actual upper height level (roughly 64 units higher)

Also, I had kind of planned to have some detailing around (parts of) the top of that new grey building.. some indentations and/or protrusions.. but it's all still very much in flux right now, as it is.

Tomorrow!

One last look before I go~

Another one of those "started detailing and didn't check the complexity / Drawsegs..

So enjoy this little "pseudo-machinery" before it's gone:

^{It's just that box thing in front of the building though.}

This will soon be gone again because I believe it's the source of some excess heat, sadly enough.

^{Just checked and: Yes. It's only 4 sectors but they may be overlapping with others to create "too much in view at once" so they have to go.}

And I have to go, too!

To bed.

Goodnight!

Just as in real life, machinery may need to be removed if it's the source of excess heat.

Did somebody say "ZK is running out of introductions"?

Psh.

So the Ship Lock area is.. done? I think. at least it has to be. Because it's getting too hot again.

Just like most of the rest of the map so far ^^;

^{Yeah I guess I am done with that bit then.}

Onward and upward, (literally, if you consider north of the map to be "up").. now I'll continue to the bit of road that'll lead to E2M4.. but there's still a lot to do on that road.

Also, the whole area in the lower right of the map I've been working on the past few days.. is still optional xD

Not sure if it'll stay that way. If yes, I'll have to make it more obvious how you get in.

For now, Break time!

Hmm..

..new idea source, perhaps?

^{https://creator.nightcafe.studio/creation/E7wvzgKy5E0F16XYNstn}

Why use my own brain!

^{https://creator.nightcafe.studio/creation/qguWMQ58jPOBiMuit4Ss}

This actually might be going somewhere.

Though somehow it gives me.. I wanna say.. Blake Stone vibes?  Or what game am I thinking of.. hmm.

I have a problem

Well.. I have several. But the Ship Lock area in E2M3 is certainly one of them. I made another room that's kind of a double secret and can only be reached until you open the gates.. and then you actually have to find two switches in succession.. and then you get to this, which is clearly a trap..

^{I don't trust this one bit.}

..and to top it all off, the whole section is currently still optional. 

That's what I get for not having a concept, I guess :D

But the trap is pretty cool :3

Only marginally related..

I'm really excited about the voxel enemy project by "Cheello".. it was a nail biter to watch them struggle through the gibbing animation frames but so inspiring to see them pull through. Not sure who they are but the work they do is exemplary, in my eyes:

Excited to try it out myself :3

One last excursion into the uncanny

I made an animation of the last "let's invest a few extra rendering credits" attempt I made for Doom-related AI images on Night Cafe:

^{More detail = better?}

I think this could be made into a room somewhere- I really just like how that "thing" slightly off to the right of the middle changes from a doorway to a stained glass window to something bursting upwards and finally looking like some fire creature or something. 

Stuff rendered by that AI somehow always looks like it's taken through a fisheye lens.

I'll return to posting screenshots fro mmy own maps again, soon xD

Ah, finally a real post.

Hello!

Just so you know.. I wasn't being lazy while I posted all that AI-rendered nonsense! No-siree!

I made this "downstairs secret area":

^{Sometimes textures work together pretty nicely}

However it's another one of those "secret secrets" in the optional Ship Lock area..

To hint about that there is something at all, I added these "eye catchers":

^{Basically this is the back of the pipes in the wall in the pic above}

^{The counterpart for the three pipe thing above}

However I had to remove the latter, because the area is getting too hot again >_<

A lot of stuff has fallen into place. The whole secret area I'm talking about here is all just the "trigger festival" to adjust the sector heights and -floor textures of the "moving" Ship Lock parts to make them appear open.

Also I had forgotten a few sector tags in other areas. 

And the result for all this trouble has been upgraded quite a bit. It used to be that the final reward was the Chainsaw.. now it's basically the opposite.

But that, too, is still up for changes.. if this was Doom2 it would be a great spot for the double barrel shotgun, actually.

Oh well. Time for bed!

"Just a though"

^{Stop doing that, ZK}

I think I'll do the "seriously?" DOOM thing of making at least part of this area non-optional by putting a vital key in there.

But to make it easier to find, I'll give the player two different ways to get there. It's already prepared that way, but only the sectors (some triggers for the alternative path are still missing). This decision makes it more logical for me to make one path more obvious to find and the other a legit bonus pickup & secret.

Actually, the path I just called the "alternative" might ultimately be the main path, with more obvious signs.. the one that's currently already working will likely open up some monster closet to make it more of a trap.

More on this soon.

Tons of fine tuning..

..and hardly anything to show for it.

I basically just moved stuff and things around. Like some vectors, textures, sector floor- and ceiling heights.. as well as literal "things", like monsters and pick-ups.

Here's a little bit of an update so you can see what I mean:

^{That door in the background is still a work in progress.}

See that red marker next to that door? Yea you'll need a key for that there thing, bub.

Where's that key, you ask?

^{Very barely guarded.}

I really need to get better at enemy placement.. and go from a "sure, that's where a Zombieman might be when you go into that room" to "and then there will be a Baron of Hell in this tech base because it'll be fun to kill it".

Oh.. also.. Just now that I posted this.. That door there (in the second screenshot, off to the right) is a dummy.. but there's other doors with the same texture that do work.. so I'll either have to change the texture or make it look "broken" somehow.. without adding new sectors xD

It'll probably be the texture thing.

But not now because bed.

Goodnight!

Some more thoughs..

..and a screenshot!

^{The descent.}

There's this area where all that's there is basically a switch to open a door nearby to get to the chaingun.

However, I got carried away (how unusual) when I added an enemy (Baron of Hell, on highest difficulty) to guard that switch. Then I thought "you can't fight him there, it's not enough room.. maybe I'll offer an escape route". Then I thought "it'll be more fun if that escape route isn't as safe as it looks.." and then the whole thing escalated a bit.

Let's say it might not be the best idea to run in there and try to grab the armor.

I'll balance out how "possible" this part of the map is, later.

For now, I am done with this. Need a break ^^

Later!

Short info

I'm in Frankfurt for 3 days, so no mapping until Wednesday evening!

Maybe some ideas, though, if they're share worthy.

Bye for now!

Update

I'm back, don't worry- but then I went to a wedding (not mine) and.. well- there wasn't much time for mapping ^^;

Potentially some DOOMy stuff later today!

Mini update

A few days ago I said how I "wasn't done yet with the door in the background".. well it's a little more done now!

^{That does look a little more like intentional texturing, now ^^;}

Also, it's "broken" which I imply with bits of debris and a pool of blood "under" it but I think it needs more of that to be obvious.. then again I don't really have much room for extra sectors anymore ^^;

It's always something.

And another small update!

It's been way too hot these past few days and I've been working too many hours. With the exception of Thursday, when I left early to go and see Bullet Train. I recommend it! I mean.. leaving early as well as watching Bullet Train ^^;

Spent about 1.5 hours today on updating the bit of road that the player will see more than once, between E2M3, E2M4 and E2M5.

Here's a peek:

^{A very small one, admittedly.}

I'm not sure how done and how long enough (and exciting enough) E2M3 will feel at this point, with the amount of "map" I've written for it. That's the drawback of making something from scratch.. you don't really know when you're done. But I'll find that out during further play testing. Test playing. You know what I mean.

What I do know, now, is how to imply to the player that there's no way back. The gate through which they enter this section of the map will close behind them, basically. I know. not very imaginative. But it'll also make it clearer why that door isn't accessible anymore when they get back to that part, later on.

Then (as things stand right now), you'll walk around that corner (where the curser is located in the screenshot).. see the city before you.. (pending, since I'll do that in E2M4 and then copy its facade back to E2M3, without the monsters).. and as you walk over a more or less obvious point of no return, it'll end this level.

Basically all of the transition is already done in my head- now I only need to.. actually build it >_>

But not today.. because today, too, it's too warm [profusely sweating emoji]

I'll post more when there's news!

Bye for now :)

Check check

I'm not sure if I mentioned / noticed this before but by making the Ship Lock area mandatory (by putting a key in it), there is now only one path left to progress (since the previously "default", easier route is now blocked by a red door).. which means I'm forcing the player to do a small platforming bit that was previously only necessary to get to the (then optional) Ship Lock area.

Basically, my "2 possible paths" map is now a "1 path, 1 optional bonus detour" map. I'm not sure how I feel about this.

Meaning I'll put some more thought into making the Ship Lock area reachable in two different ways, both of them having their benefits and drawbacks. I actually already have an idea as I am writing this:

The red door is kind of a double door thing with a room in between. I now made it that the first door of the two does not require a key anymore and the room has a lift that brings you to(wards) the Ship Lock area.

Now I just need to add "opposition and rewards" according to how difficult to find each route is.. and maybe adjust some of the "guidance".

Same but different!

I think it's happening.. only a few steps further and I will actually write Doom Maps in my sleep.

Back in the day (and again, recently), I occasionally dreamt of being "inside" a Doom map. I did mention this before so I won't go into as much detail. Especially because this time it was different. The map wasn't an inescapable dreamscape.. I dreamt of actually writing / making it.

Like.. going back and forth between editor and in-game view and all. Picking which sectors are interactive, etc.

This is (part of) that area: 

^{Vague vagueness.}

I know drawings aren't as cool as in-editor or in-game screenshots but I have to get around to actually making it. Cut me some slack, man.

Also, I am currently not really mapping.. but it'll come back up, I'm sure. It usually does ^^

See you then!

Ping!

I mean.. uhm.. I'm still here! Was musing approaches for E2M4's beginning (and E2M3's end, respectively) yesterday.. but still no hands-on editing.

Yet.

I actually had an opportunity to work on something music-related for work so that's been taking up most of my composer bandwidth. Nevertheless, I still have dozens of older tracks you might like.

"Adversary"

Featured on the Alien Vendetta MIDI pack but it fits the genre I've been doing so far.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zsThz36mRGa6rNvYRcRH3oqicvqcW5_L/view?usp=sharing

"TrepaNaTion"

Written for TNT2 but it doesn't look like it'll be used for any of the offshoot projects. Also fits the genre.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u5D6dCPrVZuNgrIG41tErjD6C8qfMbkl/view?usp=sharing

And the following two are covers of C64 chiptunes. They definitely have a different sound than the rest but great for straightforward action maps.

"Scout" by Jeroen Tel

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9nX-nszGzKvTERSX202bHFqaTQ/view?usp=sharing&amp;resourcekey=0-MisAXA5Ppb3hQRL9qZIanQ

"The Wild Bunch" by Linus

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9nX-nszGzKveW5KSkFuTU91cTQ/view?usp=sharing&amp;resourcekey=0-NmLoJZ687q2fDW04w1dNoQ

Drip feed.

Just a very small peek from a scene I got inspired to try and put into doom (and thereby the "city" map of E2: E2M4)

^{Very early draft for getting a lighting & space feel}

Not sure how soon I'll continue this bit, though.. I'm not getting my hopes up beyond this initial draft ^^;

More news when there's more news!