*2020 HAKAWARDS* I'm Also Looking to Play and Record Your Maps 2 *CLOSED*

[HAK3180]

Table of Contents

 

@Soulless

 

Mega download page

 

This is great. Right from the beginning you get a cohesive map that never takes you far from what you can see. The objectives are always marked, even if you don’t get to them the way you initially thought you might. The combat works. It’s never dull or grindy, even if there’s not any extreme challenge. The secrets are fun to hunt down, as is the mandatory progression – the whole thing feels like a very light puzzle.

 

Bottom line: Compact with a lot to do and a lot of fun

[Soulless]

Wow, you found an alternate way to get the plasma gun and the yellow key! you could jump to the conveyor belt but I guess you have speedrunning skills!

 

The little room with the button that give acces to Yellow Key has opening at both sides so you can actually jump and explore the conveyor belt for more secrets, but you went the hard way, which I didnt know it was possible, since as you know its a very short little time lock, amazing skills haha!

 

For the plasma gun you had to strafe run where the hell knight stands and jump over the little planks.

 

The final battle with barons and archies is a semi-trap; you have to shoot the button in the ceiling to acces the red key and get up the monsters, so in the previous cacodemon swarm is very possible that players drop a pellet into the wall releasing the last pack of monsters which can be deadly, but you were fully packed for that fall!

 

Thanks so much for the feedback as usual! 

Edited June 18, 2020 by Soulless

[HAK3180]

@19Wraith

 

download the .zip

 

All I really don’t like about the map per se is the beginning. It’s not at attractive as the “manmade” parts and I don’t enjoy the gimmickry of being in a gauntlet of long range commandos. After that, it’s standard 19Wraith, which is multiple key doors, extreme interconnection, and waves of monsters being released at key points. This map did not delay big guns much, so that made the combat much less dull, but overall, these maps are starting to blend together now due to their marked lack of significant deviation from a formula.

 

Bottom line: a distinctly 19Wraith map, despite the beginning

[HAK3180]

@Zolgia108

 

Visually, there are some underdetailed large sections, and the overall shapes are pretty basic, but the gameplay still works fine and has some interesting moments, perhaps most notably the part where you get the yellow key. I thought this map was balanced rather well, not completely draining you of ammo, but not allowing you to use whatever you want the whole map either.

 

Bottom line: conventional Doom map with some Zolgia twists

[ThatWeNGuy]

A map I made for my mapset.

It's a opening map for a mapset, tested in Chocolate Doom, Crispy Doom.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yllqljgqazyb62f/wenvsdoomv0.1.rar?dl=1

[Zolgia108]

thank you Hak as usual! I guess i am doing too many linear maps these days, but i found out that when i play non linear ones i get lost many times and i don't want people to feel the same. So linear and basic is the new style! But yea i will polish and detail it better later cause some areas are too bland, i still need to understand the importance of detail. I mean is it better to detail everything perfectly and spending months to finish a map because of that or is it better to go on and finish the set without making players waiting for years? It's not a question of quality, cause when i think of quality in doom i think of gameplay, that is quality for me, it's more a matter of refining. Is it worth the time? I personally think that i would like to give a decent megawad to the community by the end of the year, gameplay wise. What do you think @HAK3180?

Edited June 18, 2020 by Zolgia108

[HAK3180]

@Zolgia108, it's a great question. Sometimes I look at pure eye candy and cannot help but wonder how many not-quite-as-good-looking maps could have been released in the same time / with the same effort. At the end of the day, it's a matter of taste, and for me personally, your maps' lack of extreme beauty doesn't heavily distract from the gameplay. Remember, I play to critique, so I'm looking for stuff, to some extent. If I'm just playing to play, I probably don't notice as much. Almost any given map could be given more detail, so we all have to decide when it's worth the time / effort. Just try to keep in mind that interesting architecture can be much more important, as it has impact on actual gameplay, than strict microdetailing.

[Zolgia108]

thank you for this opninion, yes in fact architecture is great when it gives the player many different ways to face a fight, for example, so a well detailed architecture is important and different from microdetails as you called them. I will surely keep that in mind for my next maps. Have a nice day!

[HAK3180]

@nicolas monti

 

These are good maps. Nothing was too egregiously awkward or finnicky. They layouts were both rather good, giving you options and allowing you to see things unfold. I, for one, appreciate that no monster changes have been made other than sprites.

 

Bottom line: I guess this is what happens when years of mapping experience meets Doom mapping itself being brand new

[baja blast rd.]

1 hour ago, Zolgia108 said:

But yea i will polish and detail it better later cause some areas are too bland, i still need to understand the importance of detail. I mean is it better to detail everything perfectly and spending months to finish a map because of that or is it better to go on and finish the set without making players waiting for years? It's not a question of quality, cause when i think of quality in doom i think of gameplay, that is quality for me, it's more a matter of refining. Is it worth the time?

 

The upshoot of gaining a deeper understanding of visual design fundamentals is you can do significantly better work in roughly the same time.

 

You don't have to be Breach or be Brigandine (which are great, but not everyone will want to work that way). Just to give some kinda-random examples, works like Dead.air or Stardate 20x7 or Lilium or Ancient Aliens, which have comparatively modest detail levels, are at the top of the heap too. These were created at very 'normal' time scales. 

 

The big room I saw early in that video was a large room without much contrast or architectural interest -- not a great deal separating it artistically from a box with default textures. A more experienced version of you might play around with the core texturing and architecture of that room for a little more and have it looking a lot more 'complete' even before you whip out the finer-grained detailing. 

Edited June 18, 2020 by ‹rd›

[Steve D]

19 hours ago, HAK3180 said:

Bottom line: just a quick, exploratory episode opener

 

Indeed it was. :)  Thanks as always for playtesting. I decided to change the Chainsaw secret into a Rocket Launcher, since that might be fun if people find it early enough to pop a couple rockets into the Imp Mob. And congrats on your secret finding work, as well as defusing the potentially dangerous opening.

 

The only thing I hope to avoid in a map like this is making the player feel insulted because it's too easy. There is plenty of harder stuff coming later, like Deadlock, Mad Freak and Heat Miser, all of which you played quite a while ago, so I feel justified in doing a calm opener given what's in store.

 

Now for a new map, ODTech89, from the same project as ODHell. As with ODHell, this is a large map, likely taking 35+ minutes to complete, and significantly nastier than ADP01. Plays on Map01 and uses stock textures except for the baked-in sky. This is another map from the old Doomworld Team Map Making Project, but this time I left PhantomTMac's section in because he did things I normally don't, and I thought they really enhanced the map. Music track is Devastating Encounter by Viscra Maelstrom.

[HAK3180]

On 6/15/2020 at 7:28 AM, Pełzająca Część Twarzy said:

[Scourge of Leviathan]

 

 

Doomworld forum topic

 

I liked the concept of the map, especially if it were simply made into two maps. It’s kind of a hub+3 meets sandbox, and all the different fights are different. The setpieces were often strategy-oriented, so not really my cup of tea, and I also thought the ammo balance was off – I was very short on rockets most of the first half of the map and the second half had several moments that seemed to call for BFG, but I was short on cells. Disclaimer: "It's made primarly for Ultra-Violence" discouraged me from a a lower difficulty. Visually, the quality is high, and the progression is fun right from the beginning. Highlight is probably the beginning of Act II. Lowlight is probably the very end, but I must have missed a cue or something.

 

Bottom line: really two distinct maps, both well made with potential ammo issues

[Zolgia108]

just wanted to say that i won last fight with an archvile jump into the mouth, and i thought it was the right way too. awesome

[HAK3180]

@LateToDOOM2020

 

Doomworld forum topic

 

This map just wore out its welcome. The redrock area was too big and the tech area was way too big. A big map should remain somewhat thematic but should also offer some gameplay variety. The latter is what this map did not do. All the encounters throughout the entire map were basically the same thing. All of the progression elements were basically the same thing. Secrets were almost always entirely unmarked. I managed the computer area map, which led me easily to most of the rest. Visually, it’s basic, but there were some decent exceptions and some little hints of environment dictating gameplay, which is always a good thing.

 

Bottom line: it starts to get boring, but not a bad early effort

[HAK3180]

@Kain D.

 

Doomworld forum topic

 

This wad is full of oddities and little mind tricks. I don’t usually like them, but I applaud the effort to make a wad with some real identity.

Map 12 was a quick episode opener. I like the aesthetic, and the trickery was mild.

Map 13 was too much weirdness for me. I found it more annoying than interesting. I also thought the springboard part could have used some enemies with it.

Map 14 was my favorite of these with a clear mission, just a bit of a roundabout journey to accomplish it.

 

Bottom line: I appreciate the attempts to be outside the box, and I like everything else

[smeghammer]

I have a mapset in progress - first foray into mapping since I tinkered 20-odd years ago. It's still under development, but I'd appreciate feedback. It's difficult to know where I am going...

 

@Clippy played an earlier version of the first map, and I have added two more more-or-less completed maps and a secret map. I moved it to MAP15 slot so I could use the secret exit. Please see this post for more.

 

Download:

Hellbreach (WiP)

[nicolas monti]

New map for my new episode

 

E1M5: realm of startall

http://www.mediafire.com/file/6r9n37mxm956zc2/BACKTO05.wad/file

 

Formerly "Liberty" wad, now "back to 1994". I changed the name because of an already existing wad named liberty.

 

Thanks for playing E1M3 and E1M4, as you already know, all the visual flaws of the first wads are expected, no romero rules, inconsistent lighting and texturing etc. I plan to change some monster sounds also but the gameplay will remain intact.

Edited June 20, 2020 by nicolas monti

[PeterMoro]

Hi HAK3180, my new map is completed. Please consider taking it for a spin when you have time : ) Hope you like it. 

 

 

[LateToDOOM2020]

On 6/19/2020 at 10:21 AM, HAK3180 said:

Bottom line: it starts to get boring, but not a bad early effort

Im so happy you played my map!
I really wanted to see some more gameplay of it and see how it is.
I think i probably have a lot to learn so I guess its okay for a first map.
Playing doom2 now and realizing some of the clever ways I can make new maps based off the new levels im seeing!

[ViolentBeetle]

I'd like to submit for your consideration my new map. It's a currently unnamed candidate to be MAP07 of my wad. (I'll need to make 5th and 6th map first, of course)

 

The map is my second attempt at making a big battle setpiece, this time using Dead Simple's tags, so it is actually replaces 7th map. I think overall progression is nice, but I'm not quite sure about balance. Particularly the part with arch-viles, you'll know when you see it. As usual, no jumping and no vertical aiming.

 

EDIT: Slightly updated the file with improved final ambush. A feedback on item placement (Especially health) would also be appreciated, since I can't quite make it to my liking.

 

8point.rar

Edited June 27, 2020 by ViolentBeetle

[HAK3180]

@rabidrage, I played Cyberbaronland for about a minute. Sorry, but I have no interest in playing this. 

 

@BluePineapple72

 

Doomworld forum topic

 

Bottom line: Yes, a 30 minute speedmap

[rabidrage]

@HAK3180 Okay.  I thought it might not be your cup of tea.  I am working on a totally vanilla map, maybe I'll post it here when it's finished.

[HAK3180]

@smeghammer

 

Doomworld forum topic

 

These maps are far from what I enjoy in Doom maps. Map 16 could have been my favorite, but after Map 15 I was already annoyed. It’s basically puzzle, but for me it amounted to guesswork. I almost never knew what a switch did or what I was even trying to accomplish. For that reason, I never felt settled and so the combat just annoyed me, as it felt like a delay from getting back to trying to solve the puzzle.

 

Bottom line: Puzzles without enough sense of progress toward an objective

[BluePineapple72]

Thank you for playing my speedmap!

 

Now I do have a question. A few weeks ago you played a map in progress of mine: Metastasis. I've already dropped my first update to the pre-release thread, but I didn't link it here. I wanted to ask you how much progress I should make on that map before I submit it again. Or, would you prefer me to finish it before I submit it again.

 

(The change log for update 1 isn't incredibly significant, but some of the areas you commented on were improved in light of your comments, hence why I'm asking.)

[HAK3180]

@BluePineapple72, I'd rather not be playing multiple iterations of the same map, especially a rather long map. I'd consider it at a time when I haven't been playing catch up for almost three months and if the changes were drastic.

[Horus]

So one of the videos I found intriguing that you uploaded recently was one of darkmaster's old maps. Well, as it happens, I have two unreleased UDMF maps that I completed a couple of months before my first released map. I attach the first one of them here (so this is my actual first map), and I would be interested to see you play it (probably I give the other one to Austinado once he resumes recordings). This map should be played on GZDoom. It's called 'Sting', I don't know why it's named liked that, it's the first word that came into my mind at the time I think.

 

Sting.zip

 

Then here's my most recent map to compare it to (wouldn't it be funny if you preferred the first one :P). It's a 20 sector map for the MAYhem 2020 community project, named 'Solitude Denied'. This is a Boom map which should be played on prBoom+ complevel 9. The link to the WAD is below, my map is on Map 23.

 

https://www.mediafire.com/file/f85f05ljd9dsnxw/MAY20_1.1.zip/file

[smeghammer]

5 hours ago, HAK3180 said:

Bottom line: Puzzles without enough sense of progress toward an objective

Thanks for the feedback.

 

These are my first maps, so finding the balance is very difficult. I did get similar feedback from @Clippy when he played the first map a while back - that's why I added the coloured lines on the floor/ceiling of MAP15. as better ques to the keys. MAP16, obviously themed around the craters, was me playing with outside area creation and MAP17 was figuring out 3D floors for the bridge and some of the tunnels. For both these maps, I couldn't figure out a 'realistic' way of letting the player know what was going on. Some switch areas do let you see the effect of that switch, but not all. I didn't really want to print a message to the screen such as "a barrier opens somewhere" 'cos that's not very "Doomy". I guess things like obvious spawning in th edirection you need to go after a switch etc. might help?

 

I'm a very literal person, so I automatically try to create a 'realistic' world, in which I find it hard to give hints, because you don't get hints in real life... 

 

MAP18 will be a bit different - a single-map 'hub' with each area being small with a single switch, and a clear indicator in the hub area exit that the task is done:

 

and the exit will open on completing all. The hub will allow you to do it in any order, and coming back to this exit area will show switch progress. There will also be optional key-based stuff, but the main objective hopefully is clear.
 

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to play through this and giving feedback.   

[HAK3180]

@MAN_WITH_GUN

 

Doomworld forum topic

 

Bottom line: Proportionally, a lot of tedium, but a solid idea

[MAN_WITH_GUN]

56 minutes ago, HAK3180 said:

Bottom line: Proportionally, a lot of tedium, but a solid idea

 

Thanks, actually, I knew that you don’t really like this map because of the abundance of tedious and long places. Also the texturing is pretty poor: Brown stones, brown building, gray building. But hey, 30 minutes sounds pretty crazy, right? And this is really a tough challenge, where you ask yourself: What can I do for such an insane time limit? And, well, this simple and boring map came out, but it was fun. The next speedmap is coming, so I hope to see some more advice from you. Be safe.

Edited June 23, 2020 by MAN_WITH_GUN

[HAK3180]

@xxWeNxx

 

download the .rar

 

Bottom line: standard Megawad opener feel. I like the appearance and design, but some of the encounters could use some (more) intrigue.

Edited June 23, 2020 by HAK3180