Community Chest 64

[Robo_Cola]

I should have screenshots by the 2nd week of November at the latest.

[snapshot]

Previous post

 

Making a challenging fight is surprisingly difficult, have to be very careful with monster placement and resource management to make sure players don't run out of ammo but also make sure the fight isn't very easy, I'm trying to make the level about more than just exploration and key hunting, wish the draw distance was at least slightly higher to fully showcase the background (canyon-y cliffs with some lava falls).

 

 

20 hours ago, hardcore_gamer said:

One of the downsides of community projects like this is inconsistent pacing and difficulty curve. Perhaps rules like this could prevent that?

 

Well the difficulty curve in the original games wasn't all that consistent, you could be very late in the game and still dealing with small numbers of low-tier enemies or just lost hunting keys, plus every level was designed with Pistol start in mind..... Anyways the levels can still be rearranged.

Edited October 28, 2018 by tempdecal.wad

[Koko Ricky]

As I've mentioned, I'm volunteering a second map slot, I'll take whatever is available, just let me know soon which one it is.

[Thedoctor989]

i feel like for halloween we should release a demo to keep people interested in the projects progression and hype up the popularity (kinda like brutal doom did)

[Koko Ricky]

That would be good for testing more than anything else.

[snapshot]

You could compile a little demo with all the levels submitted so far for Haloween, however there's only 2 as of right now.

Edited October 28, 2018 by tempdecal.wad

[hardcore_gamer]

12 minutes ago, tempdecal.wad said:

You could compile a little demo with all the levels submitted so far for Haloween, however there's only 2 as of right now.

 

Give me a couple of more days and my level will probably be done.

[Koko Ricky]

Mine too. It's on the cusp of release for sure.

[Bob9001]

Right, I've gone and made some changes if anyone wants to run through my map again. Updated in my post for MAP31 on page 13 of this thread.

 

Regarding the Lava pit not having a teleport, I made it like this cause I've seen that done in the past and I wanted to have that effect.

 

Ammo & Health has been reduced and lighting has been darkened in indoor areas to just name a few improvements. Check the Changelog if you want to see all that was changed.

 

One issue that I couldn't seem to fix was the switch above the yellow key, it will play the sound when it's pressed but will not change to the pressed texture like all the other switches in this map.

 

But anyway, Hope this is a step in the right direction :)

Edited October 29, 2018 by Bob9001

[Antnee]

Well this is just a huge improvement.  Kudos. 

A few things:

 

I'd take this sector and move it wayyyyyyyy the hell off to the side, so that you don't hear that super loud Door Open sound before the ambush.

 

The yellow switch:  Just swap the mid and upper textures.  Done.

 

The blue/red ankle switches in the main opening area really could use some sort of indicator that those are key-switches.  It's not a huge deal, but I just like (generally) those kinds of things to be well advertised. 

 

The bridge/arachnotron/cacodemon/mancubus area where the cyberdemon eventually spawns is a little clusterfucky, and I actually ran out of ammo a few times before I could get across that bridge.  The invisibility actually makes things a lot harder- invisibility plus multiple arachnotrons = deadly random unavoidable spray of death.  I don't even touch it now.

 

This makes a weird optical illusion.

 

The library area is a *lot* more engaging, but still has too much health for my taste.  Get more opinions on that before you go changing anything though.  I tend to lean on the side of health starvation.

 

Also in the library area:  The spectre/baron ambush is still too easily avoided altogether.  Like, you can just step off the platform and walk away from the entire engagement with absolutely no repercussions.   You *could* move one of the (plentiful) armors to inside of one of the monster closets where they come from to entice me to stay and duke it out.  Just a suggestion.

 

I could also help you change that Door Open to a macro which does the same thing, but also lowers the entire platform.

 

The second cyberdemon fight is interesting and engaging- lots of fun opportunities for infighting.  I have exactly one nitpick though- you can cheaply kill at least one by hitscanning them to death.  All you do is put them on the opposite side of this wall, then shoot their head til they die.

 

 

Easy fix (IF you want, it's really not gamebreaking or anything) is to move that platform up 16 units or so.

 

After this fight, there's the shotgunguy ambush- which is cool.

 

But after *that*, there's like... nothing.  Feels anticlimactic and a little strange to have that giant open area with nothing going on.

 

Edit:  One more thing, a lot of your lifts use textures that don't really look... liftish.  Would appreciate some buttons on these.

 

OVERALL:  This looks a hell of a lot better.  It plays a lot better.  But just needs a bit of finishing polish!  Nice work.

 

 

Edited October 29, 2018 by Antnee

[SteelPH]

Having hidden monster teleports isn't even necessary anymore since the game can simply spawn things directly.

[Antnee]

5 minutes ago, SteelPH said:

Having hidden monster teleports isn't even necessary anymore since the game can simply spawn things directly.

 

For the most part yeah, but if they're going to be streaming in one after the other (like what Bob's doing) the teleports actually work a little better IMO

[Dexiaz]

17 hours ago, tempdecal.wad said:

You could compile a little demo with all the levels submitted so far for Haloween, however there's only 2 as of right now.

 

Too bad my map is far from finish, it's just a "Spooky scary mansion"

[Koko Ricky]

Just posting again to say that I would like an additional map slot. Any one is fine. Here's what I've been working on...

[snapshot]

Looking good.

[Da Werecat]

That looks good. Although I'm not sure candles would illuminate their own pillars like that.

 

I thought EX wasn't limited to 32 slots, so hogging slots shouldn't be necessary?

Edited October 29, 2018 by Da Werecat

[Thedoctor989]

i feel like we should all work on one slot then whatever slots are left over should be picked through the group for those who really want a 2nd map to work on.

[Koko Ricky]

@Ante992, I checked out your MAP13 submission. It's really, really, really good. The progression, difficulty, pacing, atmosphere, lighting...you nailed it.

[seed]

7 hours ago, Bob9001 said:

Right, I've gone and made some changes if anyone wants to run through my map again. Updated in my post for MAP31 on page 13 of this thread.

 

Regarding the Lava pit not having a teleport, I made it like this cause I've seen that done in the past and I wanted to have that effect.

 

Ammo & Health has been reduced and lighting has been darkened in indoor areas to just name a few improvements. Check the Changelog if you want to see all that was changed.

 

One issue that I couldn't seem to fix was the switch above the yellow key, it will play the sound when it's pressed but will not change to the pressed texture like all the other switches in this map.

 

But anyway, Hope this is a step in the right direction :)

 

It's a pretty noticeable improvement, especially in terms of balance. No more ridiculous amounts of health anymore, though it could probably still use a few tweaks (such as removing either the Soulsphere or the Mega Armor at the start, one of them is just not needed since a Megasphere can be picked up just a few areas later).

 

The core issue still remains however, it still feels empty due to how large it is, dunno how much can be done about this aside from moving some enemies from relatively overcrowded locations in more empty ones (the 4 Hell Knights before the final area for instance, they feel like they have no purpose. Maybe swap them with the Arachnotrons at the bottom of the stairs instead since they're all running into each other?)

 

Also, the sky, black parts can still be seen in some parts inside the building, and something's odd here. The wall suddenly changing to rock textures is pretty unrealistic, and there's something off with the lightning there as well.

 

 

 

Other than this, it's alright. It can most certainly still be improved, but I dunno how much without making major changes to the layout.

[snapshot]

BLU

 

[Da Werecat]

Those sectors in front of pillars - why are their floors so visible?

[snapshot]

I don't see any floors, they all have the same floor color (Black).

Edited October 29, 2018 by tempdecal.wad

[Da Werecat]

I do. Rectangular on the left, triangular on the right.

[snapshot]

Don't know, can't see them here, probably my screen brightness or something but they're all set to Black in the editor so I don't know what's happening.

Edited October 29, 2018 by tempdecal.wad

[Bob9001]

11 hours ago, Antnee said:

Well this is just a huge improvement.  Kudos. 

A few things:

 

I'd take this sector and move it wayyyyyyyy the hell off to the side, so that you don't hear that super loud Door Open sound before the ambush.

 

The yellow switch:  Just swap the mid and upper textures.  Done.

 

The blue/red ankle switches in the main opening area really could use some sort of indicator that those are key-switches.  It's not a huge deal, but I just like (generally) those kinds of things to be well advertised. 

 

The bridge/arachnotron/cacodemon/mancubus area where the cyberdemon eventually spawns is a little clusterfucky, and I actually ran out of ammo a few times before I could get across that bridge.  The invisibility actually makes things a lot harder- invisibility plus multiple arachnotrons = deadly random unavoidable spray of death.  I don't even touch it now.

 

This makes a weird optical illusion.

 

The library area is a *lot* more engaging, but still has too much health for my taste.  Get more opinions on that before you go changing anything though.  I tend to lean on the side of health starvation.

 

Also in the library area:  The spectre/baron ambush is still too easily avoided altogether.  Like, you can just step off the platform and walk away from the entire engagement with absolutely no repercussions.   You *could* move one of the (plentiful) armors to inside of one of the monster closets where they come from to entice me to stay and duke it out.  Just a suggestion.

 

I could also help you change that Door Open to a macro which does the same thing, but also lowers the entire platform.

 

The second cyberdemon fight is interesting and engaging- lots of fun opportunities for infighting.  I have exactly one nitpick though- you can cheaply kill at least one by hitscanning them to death.  All you do is put them on the opposite side of this wall, then shoot their head til they die.

 

 

Easy fix (IF you want, it's really not gamebreaking or anything) is to move that platform up 16 units or so.

 

After this fight, there's the shotgunguy ambush- which is cool.

 

But after *that*, there's like... nothing.  Feels anticlimactic and a little strange to have that giant open area with nothing going on.

 

Edit:  One more thing, a lot of your lifts use textures that don't really look... liftish.  Would appreciate some buttons on these.

 

OVERALL:  This looks a hell of a lot better.  It plays a lot better.  But just needs a bit of finishing polish!  Nice work.

 

 

Thanks for feedback!

 

That sound you hear is not the spawner room doors opening it's the castle gate infront of you opening when you grab the blue key. Why are people thinking they can hear the doors open, that room is floor lower to lowest to spawn the monsters haha.

 

I did swap the textures and display but it just goes as a black square so I don't know.

 

Ok, I will add indictators to that.

 

I'll leave the invisability sphere there.

 

Ah, alright then. I don't know if I should bother to do anything about that optical illusion.

 

Oh you still think there's too much health? I literally starved the area on purpose hah.

 

Yeah that is supposed to be an extra for that area. I just made it ambush type event. You can just leave it's designed with that in mind.

 

Well if you want, but I'm happy to leave it as it is.

 

Oh right I never thought of that, I will raise the tombs a bit higher than.

 

Yeah that ambush is from one of my favourite maps in the doom 2 game, I'm surprised nobody has picked up that the last area and the exit are from another map that I love to play. There is supposed to be nothing cause the exit is out there.

 

Oh I reckon they look as close to a lift texture as the resources we are using have in them, I'll leave them as is.

 

On that note, all the people that are gonna mention the lava pit not having a teleport this is on purpose because I've had to play maps where that is part of that not being able to escape. So I decided I'd like to do that.

 

Overall: I don't know how much more needs to be done, someone else may have to go for a final tweak over my map when the due date is more near because I'm pretty happy with the way it is and I appreciate the feedback but some suggests don't fit the theme or what I had in mind for the map.

[Koko Ricky]

I found a better way to do switches after playing the MAP13 submission. You can set the middle texture to whatever and the upper texture as your switch, after which you select the switch display/middle and switch texture/upper flags. This eliminates the need to draw an extra sector like that YT video demonstrated. Using a similar method, you can slap a switch "decal" onto non-recessed walls by setting the lower texture to whatever and your upper to the switch. Then set the switch display flag to lower and the switch texture to upper.

Edited October 29, 2018 by GoatLord

[hardcore_gamer]

Some status updates on my map. I have mostly finished layouting and have moved on to adding some basic detail and lightning. It's not even remotely finished yet, but things are still starting to take shape.

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 30, 2018 by hardcore_gamer

[Bob9001]

31 minutes ago, hardcore_gamer said:

Some status updates on my map. I have mostly finished layouting and have moved on to adding some basic detail and lightning. It's not even remotely finished yet, but things are still starting to take shape.

  Hide contents

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like the atmosphere already is this a tech base or something along those lines?

[hardcore_gamer]

53 minutes ago, Bob9001 said:

I like the atmosphere already is this a tech base or something along those lines?

 

Yea it's a tech base map. As is fitting seeing as it takes slot06 which is very early in the game. It will probably have medium level difficulty with some mid tier monsters but nothing overly difficult.

 

EDIT: I won't be able to work on this tomorrow. I will probably have this finished and ready for release some time next weekend.

Edited October 30, 2018 by hardcore_gamer

[SteelPH]

Mind if I grab a slot in the 20s? Like maybe 23 or 24?

Spoiler

Just something I've been throwing together.