Rusty Drill - A Scythe Themed Community Project (Slots Filled?) New Beta Available (4/11/24)

OK, now the map's a little less disjointed.

La-Mort V2.zip

12 hours ago, DynamiteKaitorn said:

Map name: Punching bag

Glad to see a comfy tyson map in slot 2, keeping with the Scythe tradition. I recorded a blind run this time: rustyd02m231.zip

2 hours ago, EPICALLL said:

OK, now the map's a little less disjointed.

It's good that another use was found for that baron in the starting room. IMO, the health scarcity was pretty extreme in the first version. Now that the map is significantly longer and no new health has been added (though I did notice the green armor was replaced with blue), I'm really convinced that a little more health would be an improvement.

Map 10 version 1 (gdrive): download

version 2: download

version 3: download

Map name: User Manual Not Included

Author: Doomy__Doom

Midi title and composer: Shells by Jimmy Paddock

Source port used: dsda-doom -complevel 9

Difficulties: Yes (details in spoiler)

Coop starts: Yes

A short description of your map (this is optional): Looking for a shipment delivered to a certain UAC-owned warehouse, but looks like an industrial accident isn't going to make things easy.

Screenshot (nomo): https://postimg.cc/4m2yzXHz

Not exactly my mapping style, I've pretty much only made arena-driven stuff to date. So I had to replay a lot of early Scythes and ballpark the combat feel by writing down elements that caught my attention and trying to weave that in. Let me know if the difficulty is off for the slot. I opted against doomcute and heavy detailing despite urban theme, early Scythe feels more "broad strokes" to me.

v2 changelog:

- fixed missing sky transfer behind P1 start

v3 changelog:

- scroller for the warehouse fight start

- fixed a couple textures

- moved one teleport spot in plasma fight to prevent possible manc getting stuck in a wall

1 hour ago, MtPain27 said:

Map name: Power Tools (v1)

Author: MtPain27

Midi title and composer: "The Steam Golem's Patrol" by me

Source port used: DSDA-Doom (and ZDoom, but it works fine in DSDA, and that's the important thing)

Difficulties: Monster count is lower on HMP and HNTR but otherwise I barely touched these. 

Coop starts: Not yet

A short description of your map: I decided to use only textures that appear in Scythe MAP 06 (with a few minor exceptions), with the goal of creating a spiritual sequel to the original that follows a vaguely similar progression. I was also somewhat inspired by A2Rob's mapping for one particular encounter. There are no shotguns in this map unless you get lucky enough to nab one off a perched sergeant, so you better make use of your "power tools," weapons 5 and 6. Enjoy! 

 

https://www.mediafire.com/file/34d4kksmqtjk1nm/Power_Tools.wad/file

 

Note: I fully expect to tinker with difficulty settings and such. Please let me know if it's too tricky. Again, I sought to emulate Scythe's little bump of difficulty at the end, but I may have gone overboard. 

Neat map, didn't find it particularly difficult, but I do think there are certain elements of the map you're intended to engage with that I just didn't, and wasn't punished for, such as the crusher and hell knight fight, where I simply turned around and killed all the HKs with the RL, using splash damage to my advantage, making the fight feel fairly similar to the yellow key encounter. I'm also not completely sure what the red key is for, perhaps I missed a secret. Thought the central room with the fire was neat, harsh lighting is always a plus. By the way, you can get soft locked in the last room by jumping behind the portal.

13 hours ago, Doomy__Doom said:

Map name: User Manual Not Included

I like how the archvile placement seemingly urges the player to grab the powerful new weapon up ahead in both cases. I'm not a fan of the big zombie firing squad toward the end, even if it isn't hard. Feels like the player doesn't have much influence over what happens there.

3 hours ago, MtPain27 said:

Map name: Power Tools (v1)

Cool how the enemies can roam most of the map freely. It can lead to some extended cleanup if the player doesn't take the time to lead certain enemies into the crusher, but I suppose that's just a UV-Max speedrunning problem. I don't think the ending went overboard.

Grade: B
Difficulty: D+

even_more_rustyd_demos.zip

Decided to do some testing. I'm not sure if I will have the patience to play all maps but here we go.  My reviews will be short but I will try to be constructive. I upload videos as well !

EDIT : For the fun, I directly play on Boom.exe . Everything should work correctly but don't be surprised if strange things happen like not working Sky Transfers.

[1] @RastaManGames's submission

I spent several minutes figuring out where the yellow key was, which isn't a bad thing because I started thinking outside the box by climbing on crates and walking on ledges. That's how I found the green armor's secret ! For a map for the 5th slot, I found it reasonably difficult but the hitscanners placed behind the windows can drain your health pretty quick. I didn't dare falling in the dark pit at the end of the street.

I like the realistic tone of this map overall and the textures combinations remind me a bit of "City of Doom", an old city-themed episode I have in my favourites.

Cool map.

Personal grade : (12/20)

[2] @DynamiteKaitorn's submission

A nice brief level to strengten up your fists. I have a soft spot for the green color and the relaxed electronic midi. The map has a lot of non-linearity considering its lenght. For a easy map, the foes weren't hard to kill of course but the pinkies don't move with ease. For instance, the pinkies released near the radsuits can't climb the stairs.

Another fun map by the way.

Personal grade : (13/20)

[3] @finnks13's submission

A sort of futuristic city which begins with a hot start with nukage and enemies ready to attack you. I died once but the "secret" megasphere gave me a strong advantage for the later traps.

As Rastamangames's contribution, I appreciate the pseudo-realistic visuals and specifically the doomcute ornating this map such as the wrecked car blocking my way. This map also emphasizes height variations and unconventional ways to progress. I took some time to realize I had to break the bars guarding the SSG for instance.

The Gran Turismo's midi helps to cool down while facing the small-scale slaughter. This map is indeed rather difficult, maybe a tad too much for a map 16 in a project inspired of Scythe. Nothing unfair by the way , I just lost the habit to play hard maps.

Cool level.

Personal Grade : (13,5/20)

[4] @MtPain27's submission

Well's, it's the first time I play a Mtpain27's map and it will be my turn to give a grade.

If I could give two adjectives to describe "Power Tools" : quirky and detailed.

Indeed, the midi is weird as the map and Mtpain27's didn't hesitate to toy with the Boom features. I feel a lot of inspiration in this map : the automatic elevator at the begninng which reminds me of Going Down, the the transparent slime which recalls me of The Mucus Flow, or the glowing red curve drawn on the wall which feels Sigil-esque to me. Anyway, it doesn't look like Scythe anymore to me despite its short length and low difficulty. However , I don't care because I think that level has a lot of personnality and I like how gimmicky doesn't necessarly rhyme with high difficulty. 

It's the most detailed map I played for now in this project and for some reasons, I love all the decorations involving light neons, especially in the nukage room with its deliberate overdetailed floor.

It's not because I really enjoy watching Mtpain's video but "Power Tools" is the level I enjoyed the most for now.

Personal Grade : (15/20)

@Roofi I dare to ask, why on my map do you have different sky and default music?

I mean... I have included UMAPINFO lump with defined music and sky and, as cherry on the top, I have "Sky Transfer" actions as well (according to rules).

Oh dear, in fact I play directly on Boom.exe and it may be that certain functionalities are not there, such as sky transfer.

@Roofi Then I might ask you to upgrade your "Boom" to "PrBoom+", I guess. Or, at the very least, to "DSDA-Doom" (that is inheritor of "PrBoom+", as I know).

"Sky Transfer" action was in my "Boom: Doom 2 (Doom Format)" mapping configuration.

Also, seems that sound physics was kinda broken for you too, because you heard things that wasn't on their places at all...

1 minute ago, Roofi said:

Oh dear, in fact I play directly on Boom.exe and it may be that certain functionalities are not there, such as sky transfer.

"Boom-compatible" =/= "compatible with DOS Boom". For practical purposes you gotta read it as "PrBoom+ complevel 9 or equivalent".

13 minutes ago, Roofi said:

Oh dear, in fact I play directly on Boom.exe and it may be that certain functionalities are not there, such as sky transfer.

 

 

 

 

Today there is no reason to use the original Boom.exe, as it is hopelessly outdated and does not support a huge number of modern standards. I strongly recommend you to migrate to something from DSDA & Woof! & Doom Retro (PrBoom+ is also an obsolete port).

lol @ the "there's no reason to use Boom.exe in this day and age!" type comments. Once was enough, Roofi clearly knows the limits of Boom.exe - he himself said why the music and sky didn't work, so I don't think he needs it explained in 3 various ways heh.

6 hours ago, MtPain27 said:

Map name: Power Tools (v1)

Really solid little map here, man!

I have a small handful of notes:

^ The lift goes all the way down to the nukage, so the black flat needs a texture on the bottom bit there.

^ The misaligned brown doorframe is begging to be replaced with the DOORSTOP texture. It'll get around the misalignment effortlessly and makes the door frame "pop" more in general.

^ I adore the doomcute ladder here! The light casting on the roof looks a little weird - there's One Neat Trick™ you can use to make it so light doesn't cast on the ceiling but it's a bit of a pain in the ass. It might be easier to just add a light on the roof as well, if you care about that sorta thing. The light also blinks in a bizarre way due to the different bands being out of sync - there are some synced lighting effects though that should be able to get around that. Also that support beam is begging to have a grey flat rather than the dirt (Again I know this is minor details, but hey.)

^ I didn't need a single one of the medikits or cell packs in this room, which to me says they should probably be replaced with much smaller counterparts.

I also wanted to grab some pics of scenes I really liked the look of:

Between this and your JJ map, you're doing well man!

2 hours ago, Doomkid said:

lol @ the "there's no reason to use Boom.exe in this day and age!" type comments. Once was enough, Roofi clearly knows the limits of Boom.exe - he himself said why the music and sky didn't work, so I don't think he needs it explained in 3 various ways heh.

 

 

 

Really solid little map here, man!

 

I have a small handful of notes:

 

 

^ The lift goes all the way down to the nukage, so the black flat needs a texture on the bottom bit there.

 

 

 

^ The misaligned brown doorframe is begging to be replaced with the DOORSTOP texture. It'll get around the misalignment effortlessly and makes the door frame "pop" more in general.

 

 

 

^ I adore the doomcute ladder here! The light casting on the roof looks a little weird - there's One Neat Trick™ you can use to make it so light doesn't cast on the ceiling but it's a bit of a pain in the ass. It might be easier to just add a light on the roof as well, if you care about that sorta thing. The light also blinks in a bizarre way due to the different bands being out of sync - there are some synced lighting effects though that should be able to get around that. Also that support beam is begging to have a grey flat rather than the dirt (Again I know this is minor details, but hey.)

 

 

 

^ I didn't need a single one of the medikits or cell packs in this room, which to me says they should probably be replaced with much smaller counterparts.

 

 

 

I also wanted to grab some pics of scenes I really liked the look of:

 

 

 

Between this and your JJ map, you're doing well man!

I agree. Dean's been doing well.

Also, SUPPORT3 works just as well on the doors!

On 5/17/2023 at 1:32 PM, Doomy__Doom said:

Map name: User Manual Not Included

This is a nice sendoff for episode 1. Difficulty felt just right. Red key fight was probably the most difficult for me, died a few times to that one. The room full of former humans was also really neat. I like how you didn't hand the player a partial invisibility, made the fight feel more tense. The final room is my favorite visually.

The wall behind the player one start should be tagged with a sky transfer.

22 hours ago, MtPain27 said:

Map name: Power Tools (v1)

Really like the atmosphere in this one. Kind of reminds me of the first episode from Speed of Doom, especially with the lighting. Cool to see the rocket launcher and plasma rifle getting some early map rep. 

Critiques pretty much summed up in Doomkids' post.

4 hours ago, A2Rob said:

The wall behind the player one start should be tagged with a sky transfer.

Gah, I forgot to run my script that tests for missing and mismatching texture transfers. Fixed, link (also in original upload post).

Working on my map, starting with this big marble structure that gives me Egypt/Wastes episode vibes. Definitely a more modern take on Alm but I'm keeping it relatively minimalist. Here's some screenshots of what I've made so far, Some of it is not detailed but I have to still figure out more progression elements before I do any more detail.

https://ibb.co/6sV1VVL

https://ibb.co/xjrhJj4

https://ibb.co/h7wXzbz

https://ibb.co/LhZb5TD

On 5/18/2023 at 4:58 AM, MtPain27 said:

Map name: Power Tools (v1)

Author: MtPain27

Midi title and composer: "The Steam Golem's Patrol" by me

Source port used: DSDA-Doom (and ZDoom, but it works fine in DSDA, and that's the important thing)

Difficulties: Monster count is lower on HMP and HNTR but otherwise I barely touched these. 

Coop starts: Not yet

A short description of your map: I decided to use only textures that appear in Scythe MAP 06 (with a few minor exceptions), with the goal of creating a spiritual sequel to the original that follows a vaguely similar progression. I was also somewhat inspired by A2Rob's mapping for one particular encounter. There are no shotguns in this map unless you get lucky enough to nab one off a perched sergeant, so you better make use of your "power tools," weapons 5 and 6. Enjoy! 

 

https://www.mediafire.com/file/34d4kksmqtjk1nm/Power_Tools.wad/file

 

Note: I fully expect to tinker with difficulty settings and such. Please let me know if it's too tricky. Again, I sought to emulate Scythe's little bump of difficulty at the end, but I may have gone overboard. 

Solid map! Love the creepy midi used. :3 The lack of a shotgun for the most part really makes you think about how to approach an area rather than "SSG and win" all the time. Also love that there's no chainguns officially so if you're too careless with the crusher: Bye-bye chaingun!

A few things I did notice could do with tweaking, for one the lift near the start (in the room with the barrels) lowers all the way down... which means there's some missing textures on the floor nearby (its hard to notice) and two, is it possible to increase the lighting juuuust a tiny bit in the final room? the Hell Knights blend into the dark a bit too well.

Overall though, I had a great time playing it! :D

Map name: Mattress Warehouse 2

Author: Egg Boy

Midi title and composer: "Installation" by Velvetic

Source port used: DSDA

Difficulties: Yes

Coop starts: Yes

A short description of your map: Small open layout in a derelict structure, there are probably monsters.

NOTE: Please load the map AFTER the resource, as it includes a composite I was given permission to use.

Mattress Warehouse 2.zip

A new mapset with Myolden AND Egg Boy?  Sign me the fuck up.

6 minutes ago, BeetBeardTheBrave said:

A new mapset with Myolden AND Egg Boy?  Sign me the fuck up.

 

Casual ZeMystic and Bobby Squonker erasure

They have slots too?

this gonna be good.

FDA for "Power Tools (v1)" :
(DSDA Doom, -complevel 9, Ultra-Violence)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5mccaltqr1nd6fz/Power Tools-fda-1119-wh.zip?dl=1

Pretty good small-sized map in the spirit of Erik Alm's "Pressure Point", and with a difficulty level that felt adequate for its early slot. The overall darkness kept me on my edge, reluctant to use the Rocket Launcher at first until I got a clear grasp of the surroundings.
 

I liked both key ambushes, obviously they're easy but also memorable.
Felt clever when I found a way to abuse the Hell Knights trapped behind their wall, until I realized it was much more effective (and fun) to use the crusher. Had I not activated the crusher before lowering the wall, I probably had sufficient rocket ammo to do the job anyway, which is great.
 

The map has a cute charm to it, and you avoided one of the common pitfalls when presented with such a huge texture pack (which is to use as many textures as possible) and kept focused on tributing the source material. The map succeeds at emulating Scythe's early style.
 

Some observations :
- These dumb Demons cannot get down the stairs near sector 644. I'd enlarge the stairs, if possible.
 

- Is there a way to grab the Computer Area Map ?
It counts as an item, so it would be nice if the player could get to it somehow.
 

- The ending fight was quite rad, could've died there if Lady Luck wasn't by my side.
I felt there was a bit too much ammo in the room itself though, particularly these Cell Packs on platforms. If you really want players to use the Plasma Gun, I'd suggest replacing one of the rocket boxes you give before the fight by a Cell pack.
 

______

FDA for "Mattress Warehouse 2" :
(DSDA Doom, -complevel 9, Ultra-Violence)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2f7e3itp8ue46cd/Rusty Drill 04-fda-525-wh.zip?dl=1

Ooh, this is probably the most brown level I've played in ages !
Not that it's a bad thing mind you, there's actually a solid theme here and the white rocks present a nice contrast to the wood beams and brown bricks.

Difficulty felt appropriate for slot 4, the level is fun, it definitely has some spiky moments and never feels dull. The red key fight is obviously a threat if you don't bypass or brute-force through that sneaky Mancubus up the stairs.
There's no armor in the map, but I didn't feel the need for it. Gotta be careful with these Revenants.

Despite its short and compact layout, the map also involves some slight degree of exploration, as I almost missed the Chaingun and its assorted fight.

Overall, I'd say that one didn't particularly remind me of Scythe, it's more of a shortened and re-skinned Tetanus map, but it definitely fulfills its promise in being short and action-packed. Great work :)

On 5/16/2023 at 11:12 PM, EPICALLL said:

OK, now the map's a little less disjointed.

La-Mort V2.zip

Played both versions of this map. I think the only flaw the previous version had was having to kill that perched baron.

With this version I feel it's too long for the amount of health the player has. Along with shells, there should be health inside the yellow key room, to give you an edge against the next fight (plus letting you get some use out of that blue armor).

And also I think the blue key fight should be the final fight in the map. Teleporting yet more revenants into the red skull key room, the same room where you've already spent a few minutes fighting revenants before, is a retread of a previous fight instead of presenting something new. So I'd probably just remove those revenants and leave the fight in the blue skull key room as the final fight.

Anyway, that's just me personally. I do find it a great map overall.

6 hours ago, WH-Wilou84 said:

Ooh, this is probably the most brown level I've played in ages !
Not that it's a bad thing mind you, there's actually a solid theme here and the white rocks present a nice contrast to the wood beams and brown bricks.

Difficulty felt appropriate for slot 4, the level is fun, it definitely has some spiky moments and never feels dull. The red key fight is obviously a threat if you don't bypass or brute-force through that sneaky Mancubus up the stairs.
There's no armor in the map, but I didn't feel the need for it. Gotta be careful with these Revenants.

Despite its short and compact layout, the map also involves some slight degree of exploration, as I almost missed the Chaingun and its assorted fight.

Overall, I'd say that one didn't particularly remind me of Scythe, it's more of a shortened and re-skinned Tetanus map, but it definitely fulfills its promise in being short and action-packed. Great work :)

Thank you so much for playing and the kind words! I will say, ultimately, what is "in the spirit of scythe" is in the eye of the beholder, and generally, short, action packed layouts lacking in armor is pretty scythe-y to me.

Thanks everyone for the feedback, and thank you @Roofi and @WH-Wilou84 for the playthrough videos. I made a few adjustments and fixes, taking into account everything I read. I'm still not totally sure that this is done, especially because I made the final fight a bit trickier on UV - added some barrels/obstacles and removed a lot of ammo. RL specifically can't be leaned on as much in V2. Difficulty settings, co-op starts, and deathmatch starts (this is a terrible DM map) are now implemented. Happy to keep tinkering, but I think I'm 99% done at this point.

To answer two questions:

WH: you cannot grab the computer map, and that's by design - I've used it as a decoration here. I also changed the demon types in the crusher room because I never really liked it to begin with - the cacos in there on UV will bypass the stairs.

Egg Boy: RK is only there because you can't raise the lift to the exit without it. Thanks for catching that softlock too, should be fixed now.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/r91wd87kwppkrj2/Power_Tools_V2.wad/file

19 hours ago, Egg Boy said:

Map name: Mattress Warehouse 2

I enjoy how brown this map is. Very nice, open-ended layout for such a tiny map. The final fight actually smoked me on first playthrough.

Map name: Red Iron Oxide

Author: EANB

Midi title and composer: "Fire Hive" by Jimmy

Source port used: DSDA Doom

Difficulties: Supported, lower levels have less monsters and a few more powerups.

Coop starts: Yes, plus a traditional courtyard cyberdemon

A short description of your map: Visually I went with a Scythe map09 homage, though the monster line-up deviates from it quite a bit. There's no SSG, but you're given enough rockets that you shouldn't miss it. Also in Scythe fashion, there are a few shortcuts you can take to skip parts of the map.

Download: rdmap9v2.zip

Old version: rdmap9.zip

14 hours ago, taviow said:

 

Played both versions of this map. I think the only flaw the previous version had was having to kill that perched baron.

 

With this version I feel it's too long for the amount of health the player has. Along with shells, there should be health inside the yellow key room, to give you an edge against the next fight (plus letting you get some use out of that blue armor).

 

And also I think the blue key fight should be the final fight in the map. Teleporting yet more revenants into the red skull key room, the same room where you've already spent a few minutes fighting revenants before, is a retread of a previous fight instead of presenting something new. So I'd probably just remove those revenants and leave the fight in the blue skull key room as the final fight.

 

Anyway, that's just me personally. I do find it a great map overall.

personally, I feel (in hindsight) indifferent to the lack of health in the map, due to the fact that in theory all you need to do to counter-act that is, (and apologies if this in any way comes off as rude) dodge the projectiles better. I dunno, I tend to experiment with ideas a lot. And for the fight past the blue key room, I feel that if it wasn't there, the map would end off feeling a bit empty. The entire map has a good way of attracting the player to where they need to go, so (at least I feel) that if the rev fight wasn't there, you wouldn't feel nearly as much like the map is finished (both in a sense that it's a finished map, and that you've finished the map).

Although then again, I tried to mimic Alm's design, and in that I think I've succeeded. Personally, I as the person who made the map really like it, even if it is on the mean side for my taste, because after all, Alm's design tended to be quite mean, which jives perfectly with the design I've created. I can't name a single fight in which Alm ever pulled a punch, he may have made a fight easier, but I don't think he ever quite wasted potential, at least in his combat (excluding most of Scythe 1). I know many may not agree with me here, but hey, at the end of the day it's my map.

I should probably provide an example of my whole experimenting with ideas thing.

Nah, let's not. At least not in this thread.

10 minutes ago, EANB said:

Map name: Red Iron Oxide

Really enjoyed this one. Running outside the base at the start and alerting all the monsters was fun. The yellow and red key fights had some hefty "oh-shit" moments thanks to how confined the encounters are, combined with only having the rocket launcher. 

• I would suggest having the red key door be open only.
  • The crates inside should change floor textures after lowering
• The bars blocking the yellow key room have the same floor texture as the ceiling