The DWmegawad Club plays: Eviternity

[General Roasterock]

MAP 04: REGICIDE

 

 

One of the coolest things about Eviternity's guest maps is that if you weren't paying attention to the authors' names listed in the bottom right corner of each transition, you can still easily tell which maps were a collaborative effort or simply not made by Dragonfly. Jimmy's style for interior (that being somewhat gridlike, while still not being just rooms connected at their cardinal directions) is very prevalent for the back end of this fortress. Each of Jimmy's levels feel like, with some minor asset alterations, they would be right at home in Square. 

There's always something satisfying about storming a good ol' castle and clearing out everything inside. For the first Arch-Viles in the wad, none of them seemed to be placed in incredibly inconvenient spots, and even fighting a pair of them wasn't difficult despite how early in the wad they're introduced. I can only recall one time in the past having some ammo trouble, but it was far back enough in the RC1 days to not matter anymore. Navigation was great, and the miniature of the throne to show that it had opened back up was a genius move. Eviternity has continued to nail the flow as of now.

[Tristan]

MAP05: Demon - Dragonfly

3:31, 100% kills, 100% secrets

 

Jimmy's "Sacred Light" is the music track here, the first bespoke piece for the WAD. You can tell as soon as it starts from its immediate heavier tone compared to the previous tracks that shit's about to start getting real, although this map was a lot more difficult before and continuous play certainly makes things significantly more trivial to deal with. This is the finale of the first chapter, and it takes place within a singular arena, which we're provided a small view of as we slowly descend in to it. Importantly, it's communicated from the start that the red key is the prize here, and with only light opposition waiting for us at the bottom you're given that sense that you're not going to get it without a big fight, and sure enough that's what you're given - probably the most difficult encounter yet from a pistol start, and if this is your first time playing Eviternity, a new contender has been thrown into the ring for you to get accustomed to, yes, making up some of the mob here is the Nightmare Demon, just 9 on HMP but there's 15 of them on UV. Double health pinkies are nothing new to me as a PSX Doom player, but they may cause some problems for others, and that's on top of their increased speed: These guys are alarmingly quick, but ultimately, it's the same rule as with regular demons; don't get cornered - it's just more vital with these guys. I have a write-up prepared for the Nightmare Demon detailing its development but I'll post that in the afternoon or something.

 

As we step into the portal - identical to the one we stood in front of at the beginning of MAP01 - we warp through the void, gazing into the yellow ether as our weapons are stripped from us. Such a simple effect but goddamn it looks cool, and yet it was also a pain in the arse to get working correctly. So there goes the first chapter. A beautiful introduction to not only the WAD but the OTEX resources, but of course we can't stop here, so many more concepts to explore. What would an OTEX techbase look like, for example? We find out tomorrow.

 

Favourite map for the first chapter, as I said before, is MAP04. Can't honestly name a least favourite, I like them all.

Edited March 4, 2019 by Eris Falling

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP05: Demon

 

I've played up through about MAP14 of an earlier release candidate of Eviternity and suffice it to say that prior experience had not left me particularly looking forward to this one; my recollection was of a level consisting entirely of an overwrought arena battle which isn't one of my favourite types of map.  I believe it's been toned down some from RC1; certainly my experiences tonight were nothing like my memories of frantically crashing about the arena under constant threat of being overwhelmed.  We're introduced to the blue-green Nightmare Demon here, which is faster and toughter thank the regular pink demon, filling the role of a melee outflanker that really can't be so readily ignored, not when a super shotgun blast is insufficient to put the beastie down.  Mostly you're given some freedom in just how much of the monstrous army is unleashed at once, and I'm sure better, bolder, or more reckless players than I might happily bounce from switch to switch, turning loose the whole crowd to fill the lower portion of the arena like some kind of demonic mosh pit.  Alas, I find myself quite content to deal with the horde in a piecemeal fashion, as the map permits.

[tmorrow]

chapter: Archaic, map05: Demon, by Dragonfly
uvmax, 100% k/i/s obtained

Our marine descends down an elevator into the final map in our Archaic chapter. The scene is a great library. So who did it, with what weapon in the library? Well it seems that everybody did it using any weapon they could get their hands on. There are two large slaughtery scuffles that break out in this set piece. The first wave occurs when you lower the soulsphere and the second when you hit the 2 revealed switches in the east and west alcoves once they've opened. Watch out that the archvile in the second wave doesn't undo your good work.

And oh, yes, meet the teal colored nightmare demon, with twice as much health and increased movement speed over his puny, pinky relative. The nightmare demon replaces Lee Killough's MBF helper dog. Don't try to make a pet of the nightmare demon, he will chew through your furniture, bedtime slippers and your foot! Nice doggy!  Grr, grr, grr!

[Steve D]

Getting a late start on my commentary here, but I'm trying to make up for the dreadful performance I gave as a playtester for RC1. Back then, I played the first 2 chapters, but aside from raving over Map10 -- you'll see why -- and offering complaints about the gameplay overall being too easy -- but just wait until Chapter 3, oh my! -- I really wrote nothing of any value. So here's hoping I can get all the way through for once, and make up for my dismal playtesting performance.

 

For the first 2 chapters I will play GZDoom, UV, continuous, lots of saves and keyboard only. For Chapter 3, I'll do the same except I will lower difficulty to either HMP or even HNTR, in order to see as few Astral Cacos, Annihilators and Super Chaingunners as possible. For Chapter 4, I'll probably go back up to UV at first, based on pistol-starting Stormcatcher's gorgeous and ginormous map, which gave me few problems. Now on with the show.

 

Chapter 1:Archaic

Map01:Inauguration

Stats:Maxed 

Death Count:Zero

You're greeted by a breathtaking view of that wonderful night sky. A silhouetted, curving line of pillars casts shadows across the rocky path ahead of you. Suddenly, you notice particles passing you from behind and turn to view a gleaming portal. Everything about this map impresses you immediately with its beauty and top-tier architecture. The OTEX set by ukiro is magnificent and perfectly suits a medieval theme, and as you'll soon learn, is equally brilliant with every other Doom environment. And then there's the rain, a very cool addition, as is the snow you'll witness in Chapter 3. The overwhelming impression is professional. So much so that if someone were to release a commercial game based on a souped-up Doom engine, you'd expect it to be . . . this.

 

The gameplay isn't world-beating, but as a Map01, it can get by with some mildly challenging pistol work. There is much fiercer gameplay to come, first in Map05, and then in Map11, so enjoy your moments of relaxation here. All that said, I managed to successfully die when testing RC1, mostly by standing around with my thumb up my ass while getting trolled by Imps guarding the secret Chaingun. They weakened me enough so that I died trying to get the shotgun.

 

I noticed right away that this map is a bit stingy with ammo, which convinced me to play continuous. One thing I'm not fond of is ammo stress, and Map02 is almost survivalist to someone of my skill, so I was happy with my decision. Another obvious aspect is the darkness of these maps, and the absence of user-friendly clues, in the form of torches or other light sources, to indicate the location of corridor entrances and such. For example, it's easy to find the switch opening the path to the Green Armor secret, and yet have no idea that a door just opened because it's so dark.

 

Without question, this map sets the stage for the high level of artistic presentation found throughout this megawad. The outstanding Mark Klem midi is the icing on the cake.

 

Map02:Subterranean

Stats:Maxed

Death Count:Zero

A linear map that doesn't feel like a linear map thanks to side branches and a looping layout. We get to see Dragonfly's expertise in constructing a dark yet very attractive cave system. As others have mentioned, it can be compared to BTSX E2. A highlight for me is the way gradient lighting looks on ukiro's beautiful new water texture. Really top-notch.

 

Special mention for Jimmy's excellent midi "Octarine." It fits the mood perfectly.

 

Once again, the gameplay is fairly mild except for the ammo stress. It was my misfortune to reach the Zerk -- like Salt-Man Z, I was expecting a Backpack -- in a state of perfect health, so I decided to leave it for later and ended up with low ammo after wasting too many shots on Pinkies and ledge-sniping Imps. When I reached the room with 2 Hell Knights, I was down to my wimpy fists! Well, no worries, I just had to scurry around the map looking for the odd shell or bullet. This, even though I carried ammo in from Map01. And no, I'm not much of a Doom pugilist, so I decided not to grab the Zerk and punch them out. ;D

 

I never developed the habit of using the automap very often, so I missed a couple corridors which lacked user-friendly lighting cues. This cost me some time. Also, something I noticed and meant to mention when I played RC1 is that Linedef 3319 uses the texture ORockD02, even though the adjoining textures are ORockC01. This has the effect of making it look like 3319 is a secret door, which caused me too look all over for a trigger in RC1. Sorry I forgot to mention this at the time.

 

Overall, with its light parkour, interesting construction, nice transformative features, and mild gameplay, this map is typical of Chapter 1 except it seems to be the stingiest for ammo, which always drags down the fun factor for me. I also would have liked a bit more lighting here and there, especially at branching caverns. So in the end, in spite of its beauty, this is probably my least favorite map in the chapter.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP04: Regicide

100% kills, 2/2 secrets

 

If nothing else this map is oozing with theme, between the 'storm the castle' layout, to the titular 'regicide' moment when you reach the throne room only to have it suddenly replaced by a demon cube and blood pooling everywhere, to leaping across the library stacks. And of course the little throne diorama, cute. It does still feel like it's playing on easy mode though, as the monsters will infight a lot and a lot of the ambushes later on still didn't feel too dangerous (only a couple revs and knights for the red key, for example). Not that I want to be unnecessarily grinding my way through monster meat either, but I never felt the need to pull the rocket launcher out, for example. The only real dangerous moments were getting caught off-guard by the first Vile and a chaingunner at one point.

[Roofi]

Map 05 : Demon

 

I will be honest : I didn't like this map at all. Fighting in closed arenas are generally not my cup of tea.

 

As you can see , the layout show us how square and quite symetrical the arena look. Some things like the stairs or the bookshelves are indeed not symetrically placed but there is nearly no exploration anyway.

 

So, I consider Demon as a variant of a Dead Simple  map where you meet a new enemy in a boring square arena . I think it could have been better with  some little exploration before the big lift by adding some secrets especially.

 

 

Edited March 4, 2019 by Roofi

[Budoka]

MAP05: Demon
-----------------------------

 

I like the Nightmare Demon, it's effective as a threat just by virtue of its damage factor and sheer persistance. As for the map itself, it's a fun mini-slaughter arena and a fine way to cap off the first chapter. Unlike Roofi, I don't mind the structural simplicity so long as the result is immersive enough and the gampelay provided within works, which in this case it does. We will see a much more gratuitous example of this kind of setup later on, for the record. Also, I'm not sure what's up with that last Nightmare Demon near the exit. Is that some kind of joke ?

[VanaheimRanger]

 

[Demon of the Well]

Map 04 -- Regicide - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets - FDA, 0 Deaths

I don't know what compelled me to play the first few minutes of this map in the way that I did, but it's good to see at this early stage that the levels seem to be almost entirely free of monster-blocking lines, setting what is usually a good precedent for later. It was also here that I first took active notice of the less durable lost soul enemies (the ones appearing in m03 I must have mentally parsed as having been weakened by incidental infighting or somesuch); that many one-shell kills just simply isn't a thing that happens in the standard balance. The arachnatrons and their nasty-sounding tracer-rounds are evidently an entirely cosmetic change, though I can imagine that it could be difficult to see their re-sprited projectiles as clearly as the standard plasma bursts in a scenario where several of them are pouring blanketfire on an open area or the like. We shall see, I suppose.

 

As for the matter of regicide, it seems to me that the titular assassination attempt is against none other than the true Lord of the Land, Eviternityguy himself, each of the three keys needed to unlock the subterranean passage to the occult library being a snare for some form of ambush. These, of course, are prime examples of what can generally be expected to happen when a bunch of jesters and scullions are sent to complete such a hefty task--all are easily escaped from or decisively put down by a quick show of force, this level serving as the formal introduction to both the supershotgun and the rocket launcher. As I experienced, the different parts of the castle grounds all connect together fairly smoothly, with additional paths opening later in progression (the pair of interlock staircases leading to the eastern sanctuary is particularly stylish), so the relatively light action is enlivened by the possibility for many different variations in monster movement and angles of fire/attack which the player might take.

 

Visuals take a bit more of a realistic/representational tack here, though of course stylized chunky castle/fort architecture generally fits more naturally into idtech1 geometry than something like an office building or whatnot, I suppose. The squat and rather dismal-looking castle, with its relatively dark and spartan interiors contrasts nicely against its more verdant, unspoiled surroundings, putting me in mind of the "Barbican" level from Hexen II. As is now becoming the norm for the set, there are neat aesthetic subtleties it's easy to overlook in the heat of things, ala the carved blood-channels ringing the throne or the implementation of directional lighting outside the walls, which makes a credible attempt at treating the moon as the actual source of light-casting. I nearly overlooked the miniature of the throne, intended to show that it had been unsealed, a slightly silly (but fun) way of showing this, which made me think of @antares031's fascination with miniatures in last year's Struggle.

 

Map 05 -- Demon - 110% Kills / No secrets - FDA, 0 Deaths

Descending into an offsite library and ritual site notably grander and much more sinister in aspect and import than the comparatively humble storehouse of knowledge seen in the castle proper, we find a concentration of demonic presence and a barely-sealed portal to another place and time, suggesting a classic dark fantasy story trope of a once proud lord/ladyship fallen on hard times and turning in desperation to dark powers for salvation, finding only final ruin.

 

The dramatic introduction of the hidden library as seen through the view-slits in the heavy iron elevator shaft as one slowly descends towards it, with brief glimpses of the cold moon and dark forests surrounding all, makes quite the impression. The sheer height/depth of the chamber is certainly the most striking display of scale seen thus far, and by now I'm quite taken with OTEX's seemingly infinite supply of gnarly-looking demonic portraitures, in all sizes, shapes, and materials. Somewhat of a contrast to the evident tone of this intro, the music selection seems to make it clear from the outset that, as many of us likely suspected, "Demon" is to be a straight brawl, a curious choice given the sombre intros that have characterized the tracks for most of the earlier/faster-starting levels. I also felt that the intro would've read better without the two pair of specters which attack in the elevator shaft, which are a harmless distraction serving only to diminish the amount of time we have to goggle at the stylish reveal of the arena proper.

 

And indeed, as perhaps expected, this turns out to be a straightforward arena brawl, introducing a new enemy, a green-skinned beast-demon with something of a vaguely crocodillian aspect, which moves at great speed and is harder to bring down than the classic bull/specter-demons. I can easily see these creatures having all sorts of player-herding/gap-closing applications, though their bite attacks evidently being as easily avoidable as those of their simpler brethren should serve not to elevate them too terribly high on the list of overall threat-priority (it's hard to tell here since I SSG'd most of them, but I am curious how they'll react to a chainsaw-stunlock or the like, and whether they will more often take 1 rocket or 2 to kill). Other monsters attack in a meaty but disorganized mélange of different types and strengths, not terribly oppressive (esp. given the player's heavy armament, with rockets, cells, shells and bullets all plentiful), but not to be taken too lightly on account of being able to path surprisingly well between the upper portal landing and the lower library floor. I enjoyed decisively holding the upper platform against the first wave, though it's necessary to move to the ground floor to trigger the second. The lone arch-vile which appears as part of this had so much work on his plate he barely knew what to do with himself, and was not much of a factor as result.

 

This is a nice action-oriented conclusion to the first part of the game, all told. Still, from what I've read, I gather that it was toned down in some significant way from earlier builds....?

[Dragonfly]

MAP05: Demon

 

Start Date: 01/11/2018

Mapper: Dragonfly :)

Music: Sacred Light - Jimmy (Custom-made for Eviternity)

 

I love this map's soundtrack. It has all the oomph I enjoy from Jimmy's heavier MIDIs that I enjoy all too much! So, this map was originally designed to test the player's mettle and help them determine if it's worth continuing on UV or stepping down for the rest of their journey, however I went a little bit overboard on that concept and this rivalled MAP21+ for difficulty in the RC1 version.

 

I rebalanced the encounters quite heavily so the difficulty progression is a bit more linear with much less of an intense spike. In terms of the map's construction, I knew from the outset that this was going to be a smaller, arena based map to introduce the teal Nightmare Demon to the player. The Nightmare Demon is an interesting development in and of itself. It started by me jokingly using the MBF Dog in a different map paired with demons to create an arena you had to run wildly to survive in. After deciding the encounter was good fun, we looked to replace the MBF Dog sprites with something more relevant - The "Devil" sprites from Hellforged (https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?t=13397). We then dabbled with recolours and settled on one that Eris created, which rendered the demon in teal (utilising the new palette's green range replacement), with demonic eyes.

 

The creation of this level isn't anything notable, in all honesty. It doesn't try to be overtly clever or sophisticated, and is essentially a giant cube made to look oppressive and medieval. I still had fun crafting this map all the same. :D

 

WIP shots this time don't show much difference form the final version that made it in. You will perhaps notice that the outer areas that have a bunch of zombies and HK's weren't populated the way they are now. The northeastern section was actually a secret area, which got axed in favour of opening the arena up to make the 2nd wave more enjoyable and varied.

 

In hindsight, the final demon in the 'cage' by the portal was a bit of a dumb idea, heh. I added that particular one as a 'study case' so the player can become acquainted with it's speed and health values outside of the messy combat presented earlier.

 

WIP shots from 05th November 2018:

 

 

 

Edited March 4, 2019 by Dragonfly

[Catpho]

1 minute ago, Demon of the Well said:

This is a nice action-oriented conclusion to the first part of the game, all told. Still, from what I've read, I gather that it was toned down in some significant way from earlier builds....?

"Play RC1's Demon" is the term for "go torture yourself"

[gaspe]

MAP03: The outdoors rocky areas were a nice touch of detail in this castle-like complex. The bigger baddies start to be more prominent as with hell knights and cacos also mancubi and revenants are added to the mix. I was lucky to find the plasmarifle early that it was extremely useful against the more meaty monsters, otherwise you are stuck with the SG/CG. On the other side of the level you can find a secret SSG.

 

MAP04: A more proper castle level. The fortress itself it's rather underwhelming outside with its blocky look, the natural parts make a better impression but the inner parts of the castle were nicely detailed. The YK throne trick was my favourite part and I liked how the library isn't accessible from the start but you can see it before entering it. Is the final AV duo a mockery of the trope of placing monsters in the exit room?

 

MAP05: Arena level and finale of the first episode where a new monster is also introduced. The closed space shows well the strength of the new demon but it made the fights too awkward. It was fine with the first big wave of monsters but then the level overstayed its welcome with the rest.

[Tristan]

Evolution of the Nightmare Demon

Despite having virtually no artistic talent, I did the colouring work on this monster's sprite set and it went through several iterations before we got the final version. I'm pretty proud of the nightmare demon because it's spritework I did in a polished wad even if it is just simple recolouring work. Here's the history of this monster.

In one of the more disturbing phases of Eviternity's development, Josh was working on the blue key area of MAP22 on stream when he placed a horde of MBF helper dogs with the intention of them being replaced by a custom monster that was a stronger variant of the pinky demon. As an eternal fan of PSX Doom, my mind immediately jumped to the Nightmare Spectre, the terrifying black/green shadow of a monster that could tank a full rocket and still tear your face off. Good times.

 

So some of you may remember back in spring 2017 I was working on a techbase map using TNT: Revilution's textures, perhaps what you best remember is it's where I started pissing around with conveyor belts and changing monster behaviour, including encounters such as this.

The concept of this WAD was that it took placed after the events of TNT and monsters had become infected by this mysterious "cyan" stuff that made them more aggressive and even more demonic, and you can see how I changed the imps to reflect this, but I made changes to other monsters too, and here's an idea I had for the demon which I wouldn't have gone with even if I had continued with the project:

Spoiler

 

But although it's not largely pronounced here, I was trying to do apply that blue/dark blue/black combination reminiscent of the nightmare spectre to the regular demon, so I sent it as an idea. (Around this time ukiro had also attempted a demon sprite using the Eviternity teal, which maybe he can post if he still has it.)

This was followed by a version using the dark blues of the Eviternity palette, at this point I wasn't certain that dark teal could actually work. I gave it black eyes with white pupils because I alwasy found something a little unsettling about that.
 

Spoiler

About a week later I combined the darker teal shades with darker blue shades of the Eviternity palette to create this guy - as you can see this is the colour scheme we ran with.
 

Spoiler

ukiro suggested some different eyes, so I made a bunch of variants with different eye colours: Teal/green, blue, red, and eyeless.

Spoiler

We decided on red on the basis that although it's a cliché, it worked well, contrasting against the darker green/blue. Then came the suggestion for brown ivory:

Spoiler

Then enters the Xaserperson to save the day, his critique is that a new monster shouldn't be purely a recolour, and offer a more extensive visual change to really make it pop. He recommends applying the colour scheme to Amuscaria's bloodfiend. To try it out I left the eyes in their original colour, as those needed to be redone manually on a per frame basis, I think this was because of some colour conflicts.

Spoiler

With some cleanup on some of the messier frames, and the eye colour changes as well as removing blood spatters from the death sprites, we got the finished version of Eviternity's first custom monster, opening the door for other terrors to be added to the roster later...

 

Like the other monsters, antares did the dehacked for the NM demon. Originally it was going to have a lost soul-type charge attack but it didn't quite go to plan...

 

[dac]

MAP 05 – Demon

 

Heavier music than usual, a set of armaments readily available before any monsters are seen, a nice view of the arena as I descend in it (complete with a spectre ambush, which I guess is there to "wake up" all the teleporting monsters), an ominous switch with a soulsphere on it... Everything is set for one violent fight!

 

...I guess the fight was more violent in RC1, judging from reactions. It's still a fun arena slaughter, and those green demons have tougher skin than you’d think from the title pic. Makes it that more important to not get cornered.

 

Playing from pistol start, I liked how plasma ammo was as limited as it was. It's the best weapon available – I felt the rocket launcher wasn't particularly good against the nightmare demon's speed and how cramped the arena was – and it became an active decision to either keep using the chaingun/shotgun duo with plentiful ammo against the horde, or switch to the plasma rifle and thin out the pressure a bit. Or save it for the final arch-vile in a tricky position.

 

...Or just tank his burst while you unload into it, which is what I did.

 

And with the last nightmare demon guarding the portal slain, that is it for episode one, and I can't wait to see what the techbase episode brings. Map 03 is my favourite so far, from its non-linear style to the Heretic feeling a few people here mentioned, a map I will probably go back to again just to try out other routes.

[Dragonfly]

Oh man you still have the super-floaty-demon video! I was in stitches when I first saw this - good times!

[Demon of the Well]

^^ Cool stuff! I actually really like the look of that first attempt (with the cold blue skin and especially the penetrating white dots for pupils), something to keep in mind for future projects, perhaps.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP05: Demon

100% kills, no map secrets

 

It is certainly an impressive demon cube, and the sheer vertical size of it makes me happy to be forced to use GZDoom in at least one respect (greater angle on looking up). There's the potential for some fun shenanigans if you choose to run around on the bottom level around the stacks during the fights, but unfortunately there's really no reason to - much safer to simply stay up top and abuse the ledge, since (at least in my run) the monsters had a tough time making their way up the stairs, with only a trickle of the smaller enemies (imps/zombies) making their way up the stairs. The second wave is similarly underwhelming if you approach it the same way, as long as you beeline taking out the Vile. The nightmare demon certainly looks cool (teal was a great choice, I can see why you picked it for the titlepic) but like DOTW I'm interested to see it in other setups and locales.

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP04 "Regicide" - James Paddock and Joshua O'Sullivan (100%K/I/S):

Amazing work on the outside area of the castle here, that section is lovely, and overall the level is really good, but I struggled so much on the last sections of the inner castle, specially the library, so I started rushing through the map since I just wanted to end it. Dying so many times, with my short fuse, I lost some of the love I had for the map.
As Joshua pointed out, the castle was made by Jimmy, and he made the outside area. Jimmy made a really nice work at making the map feel made by only one person. So you are not going to see any big changes in architecture anywhere, the map overall makes sense.
Tons of challenging sections with a lot of imp grinding, just as I usually do on my maps, so I kind of felt welcome here.
You can see tons of changes to the original graphics of the game, like arachnotrons shoting bullets instead of plasma, or the skull keys, that really look nice here. Talking about keys, this is the first map to feature them, I just noticed.

MAP05 "Demon" - Joshua O'Sullivan (100%K/I/S):

Our first slaughter arena map here, first of all we are going to probably see in the future, since is a really good way to end the mapset's episodes. Simple map as any Slaughter arena, tons of monsters that corner you, tons of ammo, and switches to press.
I got spoiled on the new monster here, but still got surprised by them. The Nightmare demon, seems like a faster and tankier version of the regular pinky demon. But, for some reason it felt like it deals less damage than the pinky, isn't it? If it is like that, well thanks god, since they have the abillity to corner you so easily, and make you pray for the mapset gods to get away from them with the limited plasma gun ammo you have. If you manage not to get cornered on the small gaps of the cramped arena, and be fast with your rockets so you deal easy with the hell knights, you are not going to have too much trouble, I died 2 times before I got the rhythm of the map.
Even though the NM Demon its kinda like a recolored pinky, it felt more like a Heretic enemy for some reason.

Death counter: 15

Maps in order of preference:

MAP04 (Great)
MAP03
MAP01
MAP02
MAP05 (Ok)

And thus, our journey through the medieval fortress landscape comes to and end....

Edited March 7, 2019 by DJVCardMaster

[Steve D]

@Eris Falling I'm with DotW. I really like both of the Blue Demons, especially the dark blue sucker who'll be harder to spot in shadowy spaces, except for those gleaming white eyes.

 

So glad we never had the "floaty demon" inflicted on us. ;D

[antares031]

The concept of Nightmare Demon during the early development was to design an upgraded version of pinky demon with a unique attack movement. Since the pinky demon is a melee monster, it was natural to pick "sprinting" as an answer. I thought two options for sprinting with limited dehacked code pointers. The first option was using lost soul's charge attack, by implementing SkullAttack code pointer. And as you can see from Eris' video, the result was just hilarious, and it was something that I didn't expect to see. :P It got even worse, whenever they were stuck from the edge of pillars, so it was scrapped pretty quickly.

 

The second option was using multiple Chase code pointers with 1-tic duration. Thanks to the MBF's extra frames to use, I was able to use those frames as many as I can to design the sprinting, without borrowing frames from the original. I tried to implement sprinting during the pain state, so the demon could perform a counterattack against the player, whenever it's damaged.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, the result was not that good, and it did look awkward. Since we're not satisfied with the new sprinting movement, we decided to remove it for our new teal demon, and just made a super-pinky demon with simple adjustments; x2 more hit point and x1.5 more speed, with lesser pain chance. Probably I could do better to implement that sprinting movement with dehacked, by editing frames and code pointers more carefully. Still, the idea of "sprinting" had the potential for custom monsters, and I wanted to use that method for at least one monster.

[Tristan]

11 minutes ago, antares031 said:

Still, the idea of "sprinting" had the potential for custom monsters, and I wanted to use that method for at least one monster

[Snikle]

5 - Demon

You sure Mouldy didn’t return from his apparent DOOM hiatus to make this? This level seems very, very, inspired by Going Down, due to the high monster volume in such a small area along with nice architecture and detailing (Hell, there was even an elevator at the beginning!) Not a problem with me, I love GD. This level was hard (I played it during RC1), unlike anything that came before in this mapset. Entirely indoors and cramped, with only a few medikits scattered about, and precious little cell ammo. After a while I had to move to rockets, and finally the SSG to clean up the floor. The Arch-Vile was a pain but luckily, I was able to keep him on the top platform near the exit away from the corpses on the main floor. Best level yet by far, but seeing as how this is the end of the episode, let’s head to an entirely new setting now…

Edited March 4, 2019 by Snikle

[rehelekretep]

map04 fda

map05 fda

 

much better! the nightmare demon scared me almost to death on map05, but once i realised he just runs around like a loon but can otherwise be kited just like his pink bro i relaxed a little.

so far myself and @Demon of the Well have a 0-death streak going which i find quite exciting :p

im sure ill be the first to cop it - seeing as my 04 and 05 demos have some daft mistakes that almost kill me but somehow i survived! :D

[Tristan]

Onwards to the second chapter! In stark contrast to the medieval themes we've seen so far, Automation takes us on a journey through BTSX E1 inspired techbases. Needless to say that OTEX alone makes these feel very unique against the usual techbase romps. Hopefully you're all warmed up from the first episode, the difficulty will continue to pick up here, as does the length of the average level. Hidden away somewhere in this episode is one of Them, be careful out there folks!

 

MAP06: Reconnect - Dragonfly

6:27, 100% kills, 100% secrets

 

So firstly, Digital Bitchslap is a new serious contender for the title of my favourite Alfonzo MIDI. Love the bass line, the intricate layering that mimics said bass line in places, the melodies, and its just a perfect fit for brighter atmosphere that is introduced here, though musically I think I still prefer Gutter Penny! Secondly, god damn I love this map. For those of you that felt like MAP01 was bit of a lackluster opening, hopefully this one will make up for it. Fundamentally the concept isn't unusual, simply press all the switches to open the exit, but the execution of said concept is just downright gorgeous. That switch texture itself is pretty sexy on its own but its accompanied by that really nice flourish where all the circuitry surrounding the switches light up brightly when their respective switches are pressed, really feels like you're bringing the map to life, reconnecting it. The area in the east of the map deserves a special mention as it takes us away from the base a bit and over to a large external mechanism surrounded by rocky outcrops and water, some kind of generator which is also linked up to the base via its own switch.

 

The other thing I love about this is how it's basically completely non-linear, once you've pressed that first switch, the idea is now communicated to the player and it basically unlocks the rest of the map and in the numerous times I've played this map during testing I don't think I've ever actually done the exact same route more than once. You can go straight for the large fight at the generator if you feel so inclined, and the non-linearity feels very balanced, like no possible order of visiting areas gives you any more of an advantage or disadvantage over others (not considering speedrunning routes here, which I imagine are a little less loose) because most of the areas have their own weapon associated with them which can you use to deal with the opposition thrown at you while you're there, and while there's no SSG given out, you do get the rocket launcher and plasma rifle, and with only about 10% of the monster count being made up of mid-tiers it really allows you to tear through the monsters with decent speed, even in the denser moments.

 

Really feels like one of those maps where I'm kinda sad that it's over now, but we must press on. Between MAP06 and 07 is of course the story text, unfortunately we were still bound by the vanilla placement of the text screens, but @Bauul did a great job at providing some prose that was something more than "You continue deeper into the base, ready to kill more demons!!" that we've all seen a few too many times. I like how it's a little cryptic, teasing us that maybe there's something a bit bigger going on here.

 

MAP07: Facilitate - Dragonfly

5:41, 98% kills, 100% secrets

 

Definitely feels weird to not max a map when the requirements for testing after RC1 was to verify 100% kills, items, secrets on all maps on all difficulties for both PrBoom+ and GZDoom and then do it again after gameplay related updates, heh. Facilitate is a more linear affair than Reconnect, with a pretty set path of yellow key -> blue key -> exit, but there's a bit of room for experimentation in the direction which you storm the yellow key's hut down in the bottom of the base.

 

Really the centrepiece here, and what I expect will be the most memorable part of the map for virtually everyone is what's on the other side of the yellow door itself, what seems like an innocent corridor opens up into one of the most populated fights in the WAD so far, but most of this is made up of simple zombiemen, however it's actually quite a smartly-designed encounter. There's enough zombies here that even despite their infamous aiming abilities they can still plink away at a lot of your health, and there's a few chaingunners present too to add an additional threat, with pinkies thrown into the mix to chase you about preventing you from taking cover - of course, it's a lot simpler if you have the plasma gun from the previous map but I like to opt for the chaingun here regardless, and the main reason for that is that who needs big guns to do lots of damage when there's a generous number of barrels placed across the room, allowing you to cause some nice mass zombie gibbing, and actually luring the pinkies into the barrels is the best way to get rid of them, so really it's just about clearing out the area quick enough that you don't lose too much health, but even if you do health is quite generous in this map (14 medikits!). I actually came close to death in the last room but was able to get back to 100%. The last room itself feels a little slow in my opinion, but that's a minor complaint really. The zombie horde is my personal highlight of this map.

Edited March 5, 2019 by Eris Falling

[General Roasterock]

MAP 05: DEMON

 

 

Oh boy, there's a story with this one.

 

Back in the RC1 days, as everyone else has mentioned, this map was much tougher, and I honestly couldn't stand it. Compared to the other 13 maps I had played in RC1, this map killed me twice as many times as any other single level. I can only attribute this to two things. First, this level had Cacodemons. It was very easy to focus on the flying bastards in front of you and not notice the swarms of enemies making their way up the stairs. More often than not, I would lose ground and end up having to drop from the top of the stairs into the winding bookshelves. Secondly, Eviternity had a forced infinitely tall actors setting, making the cacodemons mobile barriers. I would be attempting to make an escape from the new enemies, only to be stopped by what seemed like an invisible wall. This turned out to just be a Cacodemon 40 feet above me. I know that this is a feature to draw similarities to the intended source port, but it's just not how I can play. The real difficulty for this map in RC1 was the fact that I had to adapt to an entirely different engine. 

In the final release, however, not only has the infinitely tall actors constant been removed, but also the Cacodemons, and now this map is nearly a cakewalk. The Cacos were fine to add some pressure about holding the high ground in my opinion, and my only problem was them being living walls. It's definitely a strange air to see your bane turn into a relatively simple challenge.

Overall, this episode has been fantastic, with perfectly scaled detail and difficulty in the final release. 

 

Now, I want to have a couple things to say about the multiple custom monsters about this set too.

 

Nightmare Demon:

A relatively simple concept used very effectively as of this map. Easily the scariest part about these enemies is their speed. In many cases their speed allowed them to run up right into my face while I switched to a Rocket Launcher, forcing me to switch back. These guys are nasty, know how to close distance, and the fact that Map 06 incentivizes you to kill them with PLASMA is a proof of their durability.

Edited March 5, 2019 by General Roasterock
Nevermind we're good

[tmorrow]

chapter: Automation, map06: Reconnect, by Dragonfly
uvmax, 100% k/i/s obtained

The second chapter Automation consists of maps with a techbase theme. On this map you have a techbase with some water sections leading to an outdoor area. The excellent choice of textures results in an aesthetically pleasing experience right throughout the level. Your objective is to make your way through the facility looking for switches to use that will reshape and reconnect the level so you can progress further. The traps are not too dangerous and occur where you might expect them to be. Both berserk and chainsaw are provided so you can conserve quite a bit of ammo. A bit of care is required on the nightmare demons, the buggers move quick. The 2 secrets will net a megaarmor and a soulsphere.

chapter: Automation, map07: Facilitate, by Dragonfly
uvmax, 100% k/i/s obtained

An open air tech base with both a water and a slime section. The map has a large monster population but it turns out a lot of those are zombiemen. My favorite area was the large all in brawl taking place on the west side of the map. Almost pure comedy the infighting that ensues. The 2 secrets comprise a backpack and a berserk.

[Budoka]

MAP06: Reconnect
-----------------------------

 

Well, sure, it's techbase, but it's not Doom techbase in any way that's a recognizable, which is refreshing if nothing else. The aesthetic of this chapter is probably the least striking it the entire mapset, but I must say I do like it.

 

Now, this map is very standard Doom II fare, featuring light combat and a progression that is one giant puzzle, in fact it's much easier overall than the previous level. But it's a actually quite dynamic and fluid, and overall very well-crafted. It's also incredibly non-linear, in fact my experience palying the level this time around was completely different from what I remember of my first run-through. Maps like this are apparently difficult to build considering how rare they are, but they are also the type of maps that tends to offer the most replay value out of any.

 

We do get plenty of opportunities to test out melee attacks on Nightmare Demons here, which turns out to be a viable proposition, even if slightly riskier than it is with regular Pinkies and Spectres. Oh, and very clever mega-armor secret, I didn't notice it last time.

 

Also, that story text is a little too flowery and esoteric for its own good in my opinion. Frankly, I feel like the "story" in Eviternity isn't really one at all, even compared to the stale material one usually finds in most megawads. This is is a minor part of the overall experience however, so I don't focus on it much.

 

MAP07: Facilitate
-----------------------------

 

Much like its predecessor, a very classic, traditional level with both mild combat and puzzle challenge. I guess this playstyle just fits the techbase theme well. That one hallway with all the former humans and barrels is actually quite dangerous if one plays too conservatively. The agressive approach I used in my first  playthrough should actually lead to the player coming out of it in much better shape. Also, as noted by an_mutt in his stream, that one door that has to be activated remotely should really have been a different color than the yellow key door, because as it stands this is counter-intuitive.

 

As it turns out, my experience of these two maps is very similar to Eris Falling's, which going from memories of other club playthroughs is unusual. That's interesting.

[Roofi]

Map 06 : Reconnect

 

 

It's here I really start to like Eviternity. The first maps were ok but the next ones are much better ! The winter episode is my favourite (I didn't play beyond 14 , I will record demos when we will reach map 15). We start here in a vere square-shaped room with many openings so that the player will be able to explore many parts of the map.

This map contains many notable shapes :

 

- The circular structure located outside is maybe the most memorable part of the level due to its size

- the twisted pathway with the plasma gun located at south-west

- the little curved passage at the north where some walls lower with monsters and an another plasma gun behind.

 

Very cool map.

 

Map 07 : Facilitate

 

 

Not the best map in the second episode but I'm glad that it's not a Dead Simple style map. (Yeah it was rather Map 05..). I had a lot of fun  slaughtering the zombies and demons in the strange curved corridor located at the west of the map. It's also by far the most memorable part along with the little platforming scenario near the end.

[VanaheimRanger]