Exomoon Megawad [Director's Cut Release 3]

[Mazze]

I've been playing this over the last few weeks, so not sure what version it was. Just finished playing today, and I really liked it overall, and wouldn't be surprised to see it get a Cacoward. Please don't take my comments too much to heart or anything, there's just a few things below which bugged me a little and I think are holding it back from being a classic...

 

The main reason I won't play through these maps again for fun is that almost every map had a "what did that switch do?" moment. I probably spent 1/3 of my play time just searching for where to go, especially after opening a new area or finding a new key. I'm not sure if this is just meant to be part of the adventure, since the maps are mostly quite open, but for me it made my playthrough feel like a drag at times. It's a shame because the maps have some very fun gameplay despite their size, and I haven't played a megawad (ish) through to its end since Bloodstain, I believe. 

 

I thought the mastermind replacement was interesting, but overused, especially on one map in particular where there were about 8 of them in an area with damaging floor and lots of open space. The Caco replacement was okay.

 

The amount of ammo that you can churn through with the Rocket Launcher and BFG was very fun, and I didn't feel like I was overpowered. As others have said, there's probably just a few too many revenants/rocket firing enemies in one place, at times. Would like to have seen a few more hell knights (especially since no barons) thrown in instead.

 

Last thing is the final boss. I managed to get to the final area with only a rocket launcher, but saw an abundance of cell packs lying around. I must have missed either a Plasma Gun or BFG. I don't know how I missed it, but I felt as though there was no real indication that I was going to the final area, so I felt a bit cheated when I was stuck in the final area with only a rocket launcher to shoot a bullet-sponge flying enemy. I'm personally not a fan of the little orbs that shoot revenant rockets/mancubus fireballs, and I feel that there should be a limit on how many the boss can spawn, but that's just my personal beef.

 

Overall, really liked it for the most part, but just a few things holding it back. :)

[seed]

@Mazze Yeah, you missed both a Plasma and a BFG there, I also wonder how you did that because they are found during normal progression and are quite easy to see, no need for secret hunting and detours.

 

As for the final boss, well, yes that's gonna make your day suck if you didn't locate either weapon. He spawns spheres that shoot fireballs but you can pick up those. Still, if their numbers grow large I would recommend using the BFG instead on the boss, 3 or 4 well placed blasts will kill him, but since you missed it...

[Deadwing]

Thanks a lot for the feedback @Agent6 and @Mazze! :)

 

Although this is still public beta, I'm afraid I won't be able to make too much drastic changes, since I'm looking to refine the whole package, so I'll have to go with baby-steps :D Here's some random thoughts:

 

- I'll keep an eye about navigation issues. I don't want the player to feel lost and I'm already making small changes so the switches behaviors, or where the player needs to go is clearer.

 

- About the overuse of some enemies, I tried to pace a bit some of the more "divisive" ones, such as Cyberdemons, Revenants, Archvilles and the flying spider demon, so things gets well paced. AFAIR, Revenants doesn't appear (or are very irrelevant) on maps 4, 7, 8, 13, 14 and 17, and Archvilles on maps 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 14, 15. On later maps I had to use everything or players would get disappointed if I didn't went all-in! :P I'll see if I can reduce their usage on some incidental places, but TBH it's better to hold this a bit more and focus in fixing pacing in some other areas, especially on map 12, which would reduce this feeling.

 

- Hell Knights are the least used enemy here, but there's not much space for them tbh: They are good for setpieces with limited movement space  or else they will just be ammo sinks and will delay player progress. (or just be ignored, which has been happening with most playthroughs of this) For larger and non-linear layouts like this, Revenants, Arachnotrons, Mancubi and Arachnorbs works better, and I want to keep the gameplay fast-paced where everything gets killed fast.

 

- The Motherdemon has the same attributes from Moonblood (except with a much more larger and appropriate hitbox), so I'll try to avoid making changes on her which aren't baby-steps. Still, from what I've seen in the playthroughs, they worked well in both appearances here. The arenas are complicate to navigate, so the player has to keep an eye on it (instead of only focusing in the boss), but this is as important as the boss itself: Things can be quite intense even if you're fighting only 4 or 5 enemies, maybe even harder than some slaughter setups. I also made sure there's a lot of health/armor so even taking damage won't kill you, although the red screen damage effect can fuck things badly =x Still, some experienced players (more skilled than me) who played this, didn't need that much health at all! A fair amount of people complained about exomoon being a lot generous about health and sometimes ammo too!

 

- I'm more open to change the final boss , though. She shoots rockets - again, but the main focus are the spheres which shoots things at you. I need to find a way to make more clear to the player you can collect them, or else the fight will be only frustration. I can't simply remove or replace her rockets, though, or else the player will simply have free pass to move close and the fight will be a piece of cake :P I'll also make the BFG a lot more accessible, so you fight her with an appropriated weapon haha

 

- The flying spiderdemons... Well, I think they worked well so far: they force the player to keep moving a lot and be aware to not being flanked by them. I think they're only a big trouble in a few (3) instances here. The finales of 18 and 19 are quite hard (the hardest of this mapset), but they're meant to be that way so I'm still not confident enough to apply changes here. 

 

- I'll see if I can make a more elaborate "thanks for playing" map haha Unfortunately I ran out of ideas and steam to make this a whole 32-level mapset. >.< After Moonblood having a fair share of forgettable maps, this was a main focus for Exomoon since I wanted each map to feel unique and remarkable, even if I didn't reach the 32 map mark :P

 

Again, thanks a lot for the feedback! I'll see what I can do regarding the issues and make the experience more enjoyable :P

Edited August 27, 2018 by Deadwing

[seed]

1 hour ago, Deadwing said:

Thanks a lot for the feedback @Agent6 and @Mazze! :)

 

Although this is still public beta, I'm afraid I won't be able to make too much drastic changes, since I'm looking to refine the whole package, so I'll have to go with baby-steps :D Here's some random thoughts:

 

- I'll keep an eye about navigation issues. I don't want the player to feel lost and I'm already making small changes so the switches behaviors, or where the player needs to go is clearer.

 

With pleasure :D .

 

This however is probably the most surprising thing I've seen among the complaints. For a megawad clearly designed with nonlinear progression in mind the levels do a pretty good job at pointing you in the right direction. This is also coming from someone whose sense of direction is terrible in both real life but especially in video games as a whole.

 

1 hour ago, Deadwing said:

A fair amount of people complained about exomoon being a lot generous about health and sometimes ammo too!

 

I kinda did that too :P, but because it gave me the impression a lot of mandatory damage was expected, so on many occasions seeing like 2-3 Soulspheres or plenty of medikits lying around made me think "Oh boi, this is going to be another nasty trap :v . Time to man up I guess."

 

1 hour ago, Deadwing said:

- The flying spiderdemons... Well, I think they worked well so far: they force the player to keep moving a lot and be aware to not being flanked by them. I think they're only a big trouble in a few (3) instances here. The finales of 18 and 19 are quite hard (the hardest of this mapset), but they're meant to be that way so I'm still not confident enough to apply changes here. 

 

I think the only problem there would be, from my POV, the somewhat excessive usage of enemies who use rockets. Perhaps cutting a Cybie or a few flying MMs and adding different types of enemies would make things more interesting, because you're bound to get raped by Revenant missiles if those enemies are not around :v .

 

But yeah, that's all just how I think it would look more fun, it's your vision and work after all, so if you're satisfied with the product overall then it's all good ;) .

[Deadwing]

I see... He's not the first to complain about that haha I'll see what I can do about navigation, but taking non-linearity in mind, I might not be able to do much, though! I'll also try to balance pacing better and think about rocket-focused enemies and setpieces.

[Deadwing]

1.8 version released!

 

The new version has a fair number of changes regarding the later maps, especially related to pacing and navigation issues, based on what I've got of feeback with the last version! This will also be the last public beta version, where I'll now work in making the coop more interesting for the next release: Stable Release 1.

 

Download here: http://www.mediafire.com/file/ckcro74rd5qj7gt/exomoon-1.8.zip/

 

Full changelog:

 

 

- Flying spiderdemon has now a bigger attack preparation delay.

- Reduced revenant sphere firerate.

4 - Reduce rockets in Hurt me pleny difficulty.
4 - Fixed wrong wall texture located close to the cyberdemon building

6 - Added some cover in the first archvilles setpiece

8 - Fixed being possible to go out of bounds.

9 - Moved one box of rockets to the cyberdemon area

10 - Added a health bottle in the lift that leads to the Blue Key.
10 - In the red key cyberdemon fight, the lava steps are now more visible.

11 - Moved ammo from the secret to BK area.

12 - The initial path to enter the building has been changed. Hopefully it's easier to navigate now.
12 - The last jump is now a lot easier to do.
12 - Reduced annoying monster placements in some areas (fist setpiece after entering the building, left-branch path)
12 - Moved some ammo from secret to revenant setpiece
12 - Fixed annoying small battle in the south area

14 - Fixed a jump where the player would get out of the map. Added a secret there.
14 - Mmoved ammo from secret area to cyberdemon area
14 - After grabbing the BK, Imps are spawned close to the blue door, so the player gets lured there.
14 - Fixed skippable cyberdemon line

15 - Soulsphere trap in the big central area has less revenants.
15 - Moved blue armor to before the sphere's setpieces.
15 - Added a bit more detailing
15 - Changed a revenant to chaingunner in the big open area.
15 - Added spheres in the beginning, forcing the player to collect one of them to progress.

16 - Setpiece in the otherworld area is slight changed, with a more predictable behavior.
16 - Flying spiders teleport in the Yellow Key setpiece, so the player doesn't get caught so much in surprise.

17 - Removed far away chaingunner in the area with indoor houses.
17 - Changed position of the switch that lowers the yellow key, making it harder for the players to miss it.

18 - The steps in the cracter of the big setpiece in the end is now easier to see.
18 - Fixed arachnotron blocking lift passage in the water setpiece.
18 - Reduced height of the motherdemon platform in the last fight.

19 - Fixed revenants still waking up and ruining exit YK area setpiece.

20 - Fixed shperes firing too early. Also, they're now mancubus spheres.
20 - Added bfg in the final battle.
 

Edited August 31, 2018 by Deadwing

[Deadwing]

Final release!

 

This will be the last release for the wad. Some small balance changes has been made in later levels, with some decoration improvements in some earlier maps and an improved coop balancing. Download here! Link: http://www.mediafire.com/file/2mua9b2z88q53ko/exomoon-1.9.zip/file

 

Thanks a lot for the support guys!

 

This is the last version before Exomoon goes into /idgames, which means there won't be any changes for it anymore unless someone reports a serious bug! Here are the general rules I used for coop mode:

 

- Radio suits multiplied by 3.
- Green armors multiplied by 3.
- Special powerups usually multiplied by 2.
- Added 2x more ammo. Same for Medikits.
- Added chaingun/single shotgun for everyone
- Boostered only key setpieces with some occasional Cyberdemon each 4~5 maps.
- Some levels has player start in different locations.

 

Overall balance changes:

 

----------------------

 

5
- Added a bit more detail on red key switch/soulsphere room
- Added a bit more detail cyberdemon secret

6
- Reduced overall lighting
- Added more dynamic light in some areas

8
- Added a bit of detailing in the last cave

10
- Added a bit more detailing to bfg area and the initial room.
- Fixed some misalignments
- Added some dymanic lighting

11
- Fixed some misalignments
- Added some little dynamic lighting

12
- The items in the beginning are easier to spot.
- Stairs are easier to spot in the initial area
- Plaform in the beginning is now more clear thst it is not walkable
- Added another radiosuit
- Fixed appearing dummy sectors when picking up automap
- The exit switch in the central blood area is more clear (add switch)
- Last cyberdemon fight is easier in HMP

13
- The boss doesn't fly too high anymore
- Changed way to access the secret

14
- fixed lift not working
- added light in lift to make navigation easier
- fixed cyberdemon getting stuck
- added light in another lift (exit yk)
- fixed computer map wrongly placed
- added new small secret
- added more dymanic lighting
- added some little detailing to some areas

16
- Added blue key signal to blue door
- Reduced a bit rockets
- added a bit more of detailing in some areas
- added more dynamic lighting in some areas
- fixed a bug in the secret area where the player is able to go outside

17
- Moved megasphere in the archville setpiece to another place

18
- reduced supplies on hmp water area
- Added light to lift close to soulsphere
- added bars that lowers with RK
- added light to lift YK
- added bk sign inside RK door
- reduced a bit resources on hmp in the last battle
- changed two megaspheres into a soulsphere and change a soulsphere into a blue armor in the big corridor battle
- fixed navigation issues last battle
- addee light to the last door

 

19

- fixed waking up revenants in the exit setpiece.

- changed a soulsphere into medkits in the indoor area.

 

 

[Deadwing]

The wad's up on idgames!

Download here: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/megawads/exomoon
 

There are no substantial changes from the previous release aside from the final boss level, with an additional area that I've added to make the player more familiar with the new sphere's behavior.

Anyway, thanks a lot for the support!  Hope you guys enjoy this final release!

Edited November 9, 2018 by Deadwing

[elend]

I try to play this asap! Still on my wishlist, hehe. But I am listening to the Exomoon OST like crazy. It‘s an amazing piece of work! 

[Deadwing]

Awesome @elend ! I'm really glad you're enjoying the soundtrack! I've put lots of effort into it >.<
Hopefully, the maps are also good too haha

Edited November 9, 2018 by Deadwing

[cardboard42]

Just finished playing this. I really didn't like the first boss level - the combination of how fast and deadly the boss was combined with the small area to move in was just unpleasant for someone as uselessly bad as I am. Other than that though, this was really good - the first half in particular was basically perfect fairly easy-going dooming. Some really cool architecture later on. I liked the fact that the ammo was tight enough on continuous that I actually had to use every weapon and not be wasteful but not so tight that I had to watch every bullet. Also the soundtrack was awesome, some extremely chill dooming music. The use of items as enemies so you had to pick them up instead of kill them was really clever, I don't think I've seen that before. Congrats on the runner-upitude in the cacowards.

[Deadwing]

Thanks a lot, @cardboard42! :)

 

I'm glad you've enjoyed the experience! The boss on map 11 can get really tough to deal indeed, especially on UV! (the hitbox is much better than in the Moonblood version, though!)

[Cynical]

Map 06 has a really severe HOM in the room with the little rising stairs right after the red door; the linedefs of the rising stairs aren't textured.  It also really doesn't fit in with what I've seen of the wad so far, reading almost like a rejected Tom Hall E2 map.  Seriously considering skipping this one and moving on...

[Deadwing]

God damnit! >.<

Doom Builder must have removed the textures when I messed up something in that level. If I fix that, will it desync any possible demos already recorded?

 

Thanks for reporting, anyway :)

It's not a map I like that much either, tbh haha

Edited December 17, 2018 by Deadwing

[Cynical]

I don't know if that fix will desync demos or not, but probably not.  Easiest way to find out would be to make the change on a local copy and then watch a few.

[Uni]

Just wanted to drop by and say that I'm having so much fun playing through this, just like I did with Moonblood last year. Played the first map and so far I really enjoyed the non-linear layout, clever usage of monsters and just the level design in general but for me personally(and just like Moonblood) the soundtrack just takes the cake. It is masterfully made and exactly my cup of tea when it comes to atmosphere in Doom. MAP01 track is just so groovy and cool. Awesome stuff!

[Deadwing]

18 hours ago, Cynical said:

I don't know if that fix will desync demos or not, but probably not.  Easiest way to find out would be to make the change on a local copy and then watch a few.

 

I guess in the end I'll just ask the /idgames maintener to replace the file. AFAIK, there aren't demos of the last release of this wad. I'll keep in this thread all the releases, though. Tell me if you find anything else weird >.< (or if you finish the mapset without any bugs too!)

 

5 hours ago, Uni said:

Just wanted to drop by and say that I'm having so much fun playing through this, just like I did with Moonblood last year. Played the first map and so far I really enjoyed the non-linear layout, clever usage of monsters and just the level design in general but for me personally(and just like Moonblood) the soundtrack just takes the cake. It is masterfully made and exactly my cup of tea when it comes to atmosphere in Doom. MAP01 track is just so groovy and cool. Awesome stuff!

 

Thanks a lot! Hopefully you'll enjoy as much as Moonblood :D This wad is a bit more difficult and unfortunately, there's a very ugly HOM on map 6 (which I'll fix). The soundtrack also has an mp3 version to play together, which I recommend a lot if you want something different than the original Microsoft soundfont!

Edited December 18, 2018 by Deadwing

[Deadwing]

Hey guys!

 

So, after watching some playthroughs and seeing that the final boss wasn't working - at all, I decided to mess things up a bit and do a Director's Cut release of this. It a little bit easier than the original Exomoon, but most of these changes were done to reduce level of annoyance, improve pacing and to make secrets easier to find. In the end, it's around 100 little changes including some monsters status: Arachnorb has less HP and projectile speed is reduced, final boss is a lot more fair now, and the rocket spiders shoot only once instead of twice, reducing punishing effect.

 

If you already played this, I don't think it's worth checking out, since all changes are subtle, but if you don't, I hope you enjoy the experience :)

 

Download here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/c58tzkxh73mrcew/exomoon-dc.zip/file

 

Changelog list:

 

 

 

Changelog Exomoon: Director's Cut.
---------------------

Overall Balance:
----------------

-> Arachnobs: They are a lot more annoying than I wanted them to be.
- 250 hp -> 200 hp: One rocket or SSG shot should kill them.
- Missile projectile speed reduced by 20%, reducing annoyance.

 

-> Mancubus Spheres: They are currently too overpower if the final boss spawns too much of them, creating an impossible scenary.
- Cooldown is now doubled.

 

-> Final boss: It's shitty and I don't think changing too much would do good, but with these changes it'll take 4x more time to get into an impossible scenary and it will make a lot less annoying than it is currently.
- Spawn-rate of orbs down to 50% (only mancubus spheres too)

 

-> Flying Rocket-Spiders: The punishment for making little mistakes against them is too big due to double-rocket (where one can already insta-kill a player).
- They only shoot one rocket instead of two.

 

Map Changes:
------------

1: Both first teleports traps has less enemies, improving pacing.
1: Removed a few monsters in the central area to also improve pacing.
1: Both secrets are easier to spot.

 

2: Navigation to the blue key is a lot easier now due to some new enemies.
2: Arrow now points to the right direction.
2: Added two rockets in the soulsphere secret closet.
2: Wall in the initial arch-ville fight is a little bit wider.

 

3: Fixed wrong texture in the exit area, making players think they got into a death-pit.

 

4: Added a new small secret.
4: Replaced a chaingunner into three imps to lure player into BD area.
4: Added red-key indicators to make navigation easier.
4: Added a Suit before the cyberdemon fight.

 

5: Added a new small secret.
5: Replaced one revenant into an Imp in the beginning to improve pacing.
5: Replaced some chaingunners in the hole area.
5: Soulphere secret easier to access.

 

6: Fixed HOM on the water steps.
6: Replaced arachnotron inside the waterfall to 3 imps. Also added rocket to the Mancubus waterfall closet.
6: Replaced one chaingunner into an imp in the two arch-villes fight.

 

7: Added some additional ways to exit the pain-sector area in the 3 cyber fight.
7: Both secrets are now easier to spot.
7: Replaced Soulsphere into a megasphere, which is now more acessible.

 

8: Initial battle is now easier to improve pacing.
8: Removed some roaming monsters in the second area to improve pacing.
8: Big secret access easier to spot.
8: Bridges floors goes up faster.
8: Removed HOM in the first secret area.

 

9: Removed one archville to make initial battle less annoying.
9: Removed an arachnotron before the cyber fight to improve pacing.
9: Cyber fight is now easier to deal.
9: Added some more ammo.

 

10: Outdoor initial area is easier to improve pacing.
10: Replaced initial arachnotron to a Hell Knight to reduce chaos level.
10: RK area is easier to improve pacing.
10: Red Door area is also easier to improve pacing.
10: Removed lost souls and some imps from the cyberdemon lava zone to reduce chaos level.
10: Added some imps in the archville RK area to make targeting it easier.
10: Path to blue key in the lava zone is now easier to spot.
10: Added arrow to indicate direction of where to go from first secret teleporter.

 

11: Teleport exit to the hub is easier to improve pacing.
11: Added three imps on the archville area in the 3-cyber fight. Now it should be much more easier to kill the arch.
11: Added another rad-suit in the lava area.
11: First secret is now easier to spot
11: Removed two aracnorbs that would be ofter sleeping
11: Removed a revenant from the YK setpiece.

 

13: Added Imp to make secret easier to spot.
13: Removed Arch-villes and some lost souls in the boss area.

 

14: Beginning is a bit more easier to improve pacing.
14: Removed the revenant and changed into a Hell Knight to reduce annoying elements.
14: Added some suits.
14: Bars secret is now easier to access.
14: Added a teleporter after Blue Key to lead player to the Blue Door.
14: Megasphere building had some monsters removed to improve pacing.
14: Northeast area had some monsters removed to improve pacing.
14: Last soulsphere secret is easier to spot.
14: Fixed wrongly aligned step in the Blue Door entrance.

 

15: Initial area after the building is easier to improve pacing. No pain-sector in the floor and removed an Arachnob.
15: Added some suits to the central area.
15: Added some enemies to lure player into the exit.
15: Initial secret is easier to spot.
15: Added another suit to the sphere's area.
15: Replaced a Chaingunner for a former sergeant hidden in the central area.
15: Replaced a Revenant into an Imp in the Soulsphere central-area setpiece.
15: Added a rad-suit in the BK area.
15: Added some rocket ammo in the final areas of the map.

 

16: Removed one Revenant in the initial area to improve pacing.
16: Fixed unaligned BK texture.
16: The otherworld battle is a bit more harder.
16: Added some suits in the YK area.
16: Both secrets are easier to spot.
16: Added a suit in the RK area.
16: Fixed Lower Unpegged secret door.
16: Added a little bit more ammo.

 

17: Removed lost souls in the beginning to reduce amount of shit.
17: Removed two archvilles in the indoor area/teleport area to improve pacing. (not the main setpiece).
17: Cyberdemon secret access is now easier to spot.
17: Fixed Blue door ceiling texture.
17: Added some suits in the central area.
17: Added a suit before the bars that leads to the archville +  spiders setpiece.
17: Added another suit in the RK teleporters close to the computer map.
17: Replaced barrels into imps in the archville tower.
17: Removed some Arachnotrons in the BK setpiece to reduce caos level.

 

18: Easier beginning to improve pacing.
18: Final battle is less cheeseable now.
18: Teleport secret is now easier to spot.
18: Added some steps in the pain-sectors around the last battle.
18: Fixed one step that would make players get blocked and killed in the last setpiece.
18: Removed arch-villes in the final boss battle.
18: Added Backpacks.

 

19: Removed two archvilles in the final setpiece.
19: Added two lift to acess the exit area.
19: Added some more steps in the Cyberdemons key fight.
19: Added suits also to that area.
19: Removed an annoying Arach that wakes up far away.
19: Added Backpacks.

 

20: Sphere battles are now less annoying.
20: Replace some revenants and Imps into Hell Knights in the final boss arena.
20: Added Backpacks.
 

 

 

I also took a buch of new pics, which are included in the OP:

 

 

 

 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 
 

 

Edited August 17, 2019 by Deadwing

[Salt-Man Z]

Sweeeet. I haven't played yet, though I want to, but the (apparent) difficulty always scared me off. Will definitely be giving this version a go sometime this year!

[Lorenz0]

I played through the entirety of Ozonia a few days ago and I liked it enough to come up with the idea of playing the entire Exomoon as well as recording it. I'm up to map04 for now and you can watch my casual playthrough on my youtube channel:

 

Monster placement in your maps is really well done and I feel like I'm never safe while playing them. It provides a good challenge. The layouts are also quite good. Non-linear, but I rarely get lost. The visuals are alright. Nothing spectacular, but the enviroments are always pleasant to look at.

 

I can't exactly pinpoint why, but I feel like you've improved over time. In my opinion Ozonia is noticably better than Exomoon, despite having a similar feel. I look forward to the later maps of Exomoon though. It's still a very good product.

 

One bug (?) I noticed during my playthrough of map03 - The yellow door just wouldn't open. I don't know what caused that, since when I watched someone else play it, it worked fine for them. I'm using GZDoom 4.2.0

[Deadwing]

Awesome @Lorenzo! Thanks

 a lot for the feedback and I'm glad you're enjoying!

 

I'll watch the playthrough of both Exomoon and Ozônia :D I tend to enjoy more the later maps of exomoon (it has more variety), but some of them are really large (which is something that I'm not really found currently)

 

I'll take a look at the bug, it might be some side-effect of the changes I've made with the latest release >.<

Edited February 28, 2020 by Deadwing

[Lorenz0]

1 hour ago, Deadwing said:

I'll watch the playthrough of both Exomoon and Ozônia :D

Unfortunately I only recorded Exomoon. You'll still have a lot to watch though, as I'm probably going to upload daily.

[Lorenz0]

I'm done with the wad, you can watch me play all the maps here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYTFfSuLv7BLaxvHTxD3l7MGNZg_RmXL5

 

Exomoon was very fun to play through. The way you do combat produces some really exciting results. It was never too hard, but never too easy, and despite low monster counts, I was always being challenged. My favorite maps are definitely 09, 10, 11, 16. 16 had a lot of grandiose, sunder-like architecture, which was very refreshing to see, which brings me to my next point - not enough variety.

 

I mostly mean visual variety. The combat is consistently good most of the time, so it doesn't really get boring, but looking at the same environments for too long can be a bit repulsing. By the end of map18 I was honestly sick of that aesthetic. Map15 tried mixing things up a bit by throwing in some techbases, but that was kinda poorly executed. It felt really out of place, and it was the only map which looked like that from what I recall. Map08 managed to introduce a new theme well though, as it was a level which came right after a bossfight, so it felt like the beginning of a new, snowy episode, which I was looking forward to. Then came map09 which threw that aesthetic away for a more generic cave aesthetic. Map10 had a theme of the snow melting away, which would've been fine if we had some snowy more maps in between, but we didn't. The void episode at the end was also a good idea, that lasted for as long as two levels, which combined took me around 20 minutes to play through. Talk about a wasted opportunity!

 

I played continuously, but I intended to pistol start each time a new episode was beginning, but the thematic inconsistencies made it kinda hard to tell when an episode ends and when it begins.

 

My other least favorite map besides 15 is 06, which had some annoying tight rooms and overall was kinda unpleasant to go through. My other complaint is that the invisible walls in the void maps are dumb and messed up my movement during some moments. Kinda cringe bro.

Every time I saw this texture, I thought it looked really out of place. This looks like a flat, not a wall texture. It even is a flat in one texture pack I used to work with:

Besides that, there is that yellow door in map03, which didn't open for me, and the teleporter in map18 which didn't work at all. (unless that wasn't a teleporter, and I just missed a different path.

 

But aside from those issues, this is a really incredible wad and I had a great time playing through it. You're not the best at detailing, but the texture combinations kinda carried the visuals on their own, so it wasn't bad to look at at all. I probably wouldn't want to play a megawad by you if you made it with default textures only. Though maybe I'd do it for the gameplay alone :)

 

The custom features were pretty well executed. Aracnorbs replaced Cacodemons and fulfilled their role more or less the same. Custom bosses fitted the aesthetic brilliantly, though they could've annoyed me at times. The idea of having powerups shoot at you was a really unusual mechanic I haven't seen anywhere before, which led to some fun scenarios and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

 

The music you made for this wad was also quite nice. I'll probably use some of it in my future projects.

 

Btw, you really know how to make cyberdemons threatening. I died to them way more than to any other monster lol

 

So yeah, overall a good time. Inspiring stuff.

[Deadwing]

Just watched all the playthrough, that was awesome! Thanks a lot for playing, recording and sharing!

 

The teleport on map 18 is definitely messed up and I'll see what it's happening >.< Sorry for that, bugs like this shouldn't happen anymore... I'll also try to figure out what happened with the door in map 3. I thought it could be the Imp that closed the door or something like that, but it seems it's not that...

 

Anyway, thanks a lot for the feedback.   

I'm glad you've enjoyed the music :D

Also, I'm glad you did well through the whole thing. Unfortunately, I've tried to make the thing as varieted as it could've been within the same theme, but it didn't work and some of the maps are really large (which was a common complaint, besides gameplay and lack of detailing).

 

I'll have to find a way to keep the experience fresh through my next wad, be it thematically or conceptually, also no more large maps (bar a few) because they give too much work lol And I'll have to study some more detailed maps to try to make some detailed environments without looking polluted and inconsistent. People have complaining about this for a long time and I'll have to stop being lazy >.< As for gameplay I'll have to improve the pacing to make the experience smoother.

 

Anyway, thanks a lot again @Lorenz0 :)

 

 

 

[Deadwing]

Hey guys!

 

I decided to release a new version because the last release wasn't working at all >.<

There was a bug in map 18 that was making the whole thing unfinishable. I also decide to reduce a bit the final boss HP and make maps 1-5 a very little bit more easier (but nothing big!)

Here's the download link: http://www.mediafire.com/file/lym7ghb3bkep29b/Exomoon-dc-rc2.zip/file

[HAK3180]

I definitely want to give this another run. I'm just letting the time pass so I forget it enough to experience it fresh.

[Salt-Man Z]

On 10/10/2020 at 2:52 AM, Deadwing said:

Hey guys!

 

I decided to release a new version because the last release wasn't working at all >.<

There was a bug in map 18 that was making the whole thing unfinishable. I also decide to reduce a bit the final boss HP and make maps 1-5 a very little bit more easier (but nothing big!)

Here's the download link: http://www.mediafire.com/file/lym7ghb3bkep29b/Exomoon-dc-rc2.zip/file

 

I came here because I just got near the end of MAP18, and the teleporter after the big lava cave didn't work at all, leaving me stuck. Good to see there's a fix! I'm not going to restart at this point, so I hope I can manage the old boss battle... :)

[Deadwing]

20 hours ago, Salt-Man Z said:

 

I came here because I just got near the end of MAP18, and the teleporter after the big lava cave didn't work at all, leaving me stuck. Good to see there's a fix! I'm not going to restart at this point, so I hope I can manage the old boss battle... :)

 

Oh god, sorry for that >.<

I think you'll do fine with the final battle, but the boss will feel a lot bullet spongy, which is why I decided to reduce a bit the HP.

[WARDUST]

I'm playing this megawad just now. The first level was so dificult, a big challenge, but after that i must to say that it's really good. Your three megawads are in the top of my collection (also it match perfectly with my mod). Really loving your work!

[Deadwing]

Hey guys! 

 

I saw that some people are giving a try in this due to Ozonia, so I decided to wrap things with some QoL changes that hopefully will make Exomoon a smoother experience. This is Directors's Cut 3 and I will do some more local testing before (finally) updating the /idgames link (in the next week), which has overly annoying flying spider mastermind and overpowered orbs.

 

Link for RC3: https://www.mediafire.com/file/q0daitj5bhi6sgz/exomoon-RC3.zip/file

 

Here's the list of changes:

 

- Added Damage palette from Doomkid that was created for Burgeois
- Added COMPLVL lump
- Added DEMO files for the respective maps: 11, 5, 26 (which is a clone of 16)
- Added ENDOOM screen.
- Map 17 has now a longer MIDI. Instead of the original 3 minutes version that would loop 15 times >.<, this one has 11 minutes and has a bit more epic feel to it. You can download the MIDI here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/qamf7x3vvm0ym1g/command-central-extended.mid/file
    And listen directly to it here! (with the "awesome" ENDOOM screen as the image haha)
    
    

      
- Added UMAPINFO: The wad is now divided in 4 episodes:
    1 - The Guardians: It's basically maps 1 until 7.
    2 - The Oracle: Maps 8 until 13.
    3 - The King: Maps 14 until 18 (+31 and 32 as secrets)
    4 - Void: Maps 19 to 21. It merged together with episode 3 though, as it would be really short to be left alone.
  
- Fixed Softlock in the final boss battle (map 20)
- Made some dehacked changes:
    - Arachnorb with less hp (165) and slower 
    - Flying SMM, shoots only 1 rocket (istead of 2 from the /idgames version) with less hp (700) and slower
    - Final boss faster but with much less hp (5000)

Edited January 8, 2023 by Deadwing