Rowdy Rudy II: POWERTRIP (Development Thread)

[TravyB]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/51s6s2al5fvr14c/AMBUSH.wad?dl=0

 

With your recommended changes. I managed to find a work around for that skull switch trap's textures. That whole bit there is a bit too complex for its own good, from a sectors standpoint, so I think this should work. Now it taunts you for not grabbing it when you could lol I actually didn't mess around at all with the music choices since I knew that probably needed to be done in the final wad or whatever, but I thought that whatever was set to map 1 when I was initially building it fit pretty good. 

 

Also, whenever I hear Gladiator references I just think of Ralph from the Sopranos lol

 

[RonnieJamesDiner]

1 hour ago, TravyB said:

whatever was set to map 1 when I was initially building it fit pretty good

 

OH C'MON!!! That's Covenant Dance !!! :D

[TravyB]

36 minutes ago, RonnieJamesDiner said:

 

OH C'MON!!! That's Covenant Dance !!! :D

 

I KNEW that sounded familiar but could not for the life of me place it lol

[DavidN]

Further thought about @riderr3’s map - the rising walkway would be more obvious if a part of it were to rise all the way up to the level of the window, giving the player a platform to step out on to instead of having to notice they can now drop on to it. Alternatively, perhaps the switch that currently activates the platform could instead uncover an obvious switch in the main room that raises the platform, so that the player can then see the platform rising for themselves and work out what to do with that from there.

 

One more thing, is there a reason to get the player to walk all the way back around to the yellow key instead of allowing them to drop down and just grab it? Doomkid was expecting another ambush now that it was lowered, but it never came :)

[riderr3]

4 hours ago, DavidN said:

Further thought about @riderr3’s map - the rising walkway would be more obvious if a part of it were to rise all the way up to the level of the window, giving the player a platform to step out on to instead of having to notice they can now drop on to it. Alternatively, perhaps the switch that currently activates the platform could instead uncover an obvious switch in the main room that raises the platform, so that the player can then see the platform rising for themselves and work out what to do with that from there.

 

I understand that this will be more obvious, but if the walkway rises higher, next room should be higher at a completely different level, which will change the balance, and I will have to redo a large piece of the map. Especially the fact that jumping on a walkway was initial idea. I also don’t see the point of producing extra switches - the main highlighted switch in the big dark room was just for this purpose, and here again I have to redo a significant part of the map, because the balance will change.

[RonnieJamesDiner]

5 hours ago, DavidN said:

Alternatively, perhaps the switch that currently activates the platform could instead uncover an obvious switch in the main room that raises the platform, so that the player can then see the platform rising for themselves and work out what to do with that from there.

 

Personally, I didn't have an issue with this. As soon as you hit the switch and turn around you can see the bridge raising up, pretty much directly in front of you. That said, perhaps a different texture on the bridge could make it stand out a bit better? That brown might just be blending into the darkness (not to mention the sudden release of an AV is a tad distracting, lol). 

[DavidN]

Oh! I thought that the trigger for the platform was in the cave with the yellow key platform - that definitely shows I was distracted by the arch vile :)

[TravyB]

I think thats a great map, Voltcom. I loved the atmosphere, its one thats easy to get lost in, which I mean in a good way.

[TravyB]

Almost done. I have run into a problem though. Why in the hell are the monsters in the base aggroing before the door into said base is even open!? I even have both sides of the door flagged as block sound. It's not a huge issue but considering the first half is all about melee it could end in a bit of a cheap death as you open the door. 

 

 https://www.dropbox.com/s/vsq2p1h30u4ygkb/rudyslaw.wad?dl=0

[DavidN]

I see the problem, your monster closets are marked as sector 62 and the fourth one down has a corner in sector 246 - this links the big main area outside to one of the sectors inside the base. (I found this by looking at GZDBBF's sound propagation mode, though it took some hunting.) You'll probably want to remove the sound blocking lines from the door, as they might cause odd behaviour when the player is shooting from through the door.

 

  

 

Nice map so far, by the way :) A lot of enemies to deal with with just the fists, but the enemy choice is such that it doesn't feel overwhelming.

Edited December 30, 2019 by DavidN

[TravyB]

Crap, I COMPLETELY forgot that I did that so that I could test the base and have the enemies still spawn in without playing through the whole beginning bit again. Thanks so much!

Edited December 30, 2019 by TravyB

[DavidN]

Of course :) Glad it was useful!

 

I've finally watched some more of Doomkid's playthroughs - it's fascinating to see these maps being played by someone competent (though I'm sort of glad those flame enemies give you trouble as well!) On the subject of the dark imps, I definitely find myself forgetting how dangerous and tough they are, because they still look like imps... maybe making them physically appear bigger would help rebalance that, but for a vanilla project that's a lot of sprite work.

[RonnieJamesDiner]

Alright, here's an updated version of my map Rumble in the Canyon. I'll update the DL link in my earlier post as well.

 

• The one major change is the complete removal of the final arena. I wasn't totally satisfied with it, and after watching those FDA's I realized that the large, elbow-shaped canyon battle for the Red Key is actually a suitable climax for the level. The exit is now immediately following that red key area. I added a bit more to that battle as well, primarily after you grab the key. 
• I also made some changes to the opening section, in an attempt to make it just a bit more interesting/challenging. And I removed the Spider Mastermind from the canyon in the middle of the map, so that the main focus/challenge of that area is just the AV/Rev resurrection tower of justice -- the SM felt a little unnecessary.
• I finally found a MIDI for the map as well. I went with the delightfully fittingly named "Rumble in the Jungle", by @AD_79. The tone of the track actually fits the rest of the WAD pretty well too, I think.

You can grab the updated version here: http://www.mediafire.com/file/6kt1ajk3xv2nsce/rowdyrudy_RJD_v2.1.wad/file

(whoops, v2.1 now, there was an issue in Chocolate Doom I forgot to address)

 

Thanks for the great feedback and playthroughs guys, tremendously helpful! Hopefully this version is a little more streamlined (and just a pinch more difficult, on UV at least).

 

57 minutes ago, DavidN said:

On the subject of the dark imps, I definitely find myself forgetting how dangerous and tough they are, because they still look like imps... maybe making them physically appear bigger would help rebalance that, but for a vanilla project that's a lot of sprite work.

 

I've felt the same way, they're pretty vicious and unexpectedly tanky lol.

Edited December 30, 2019 by RonnieJamesDiner

[Doomkid]

I just played @TravyB‘s new map and am loving it. I’ll give it a recorded whirl once again tomorrow, I think blurting out my notes while playing ends up being more effective than attempting to remember them after the fact. Either way, a very nice submission.

 

Glad to hear you updated your submission RJD, I’ll give that a play tomorrow as well.

 

I definitely agree with David’s comment on the dark imps. I think the best solution might just be shaving some health off - as they are, they can be a little tedious. It shouldn’t take 3 single barrel blasts to put them down.

[TravyB]

Just a bit more to do, mostly the final arena and exit area, but I wanted to give you something more complete for when you took a look at it. I'd call it Cliff-side Rumble. 

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vsq2p1h30u4ygkb/rudyslaw.wad?dl=0

 

EDIT: Just noticed Ronnie's name for his map, so let's call it... I don't know, I'll think of something. I'm bad at names lol

Edited December 30, 2019 by TravyB

[TravyB]

And done. Here's Cliffside Punch-out.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vsq2p1h30u4ygkb/rudyslaw.wad?dl=0

[Moustachio]

Thank you @Doomkid and @DavidN for your very thorough playthroughs! I made a lot of changes to Mutagen Plant after watching them. Some of the fights in that version were broken outright, and I noticed a lot of strange annoyances as I played through. I also added a new area to open one path up a little bit. Some more detail was also added. Some had to be taken out too, but I think it was a good trade off.

 

I tested it on all difficulties, and it's beatable without secrets. They all feel decently balanced to me, but I'm sure some other players may feel differently. I mainly balanced for Hard/Expert. My preferred difficulty is Hard.

 

I still haven't found a good song for it, but when I do I'll post it here :p

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/r4dvboueoj87dr1/mutagenplant-r3.zip?dl=1

[MikeyScoots]

Was redirected here by Mr. RonnieJamesDiner. You guys still need more maps or is the current 12 it?

[Egg Boy]

Interested in making a little map for this, as stated above, I'm not exactly sure how the slots work. But I'm assuming you're still accepting submissions due to the title of the thread.

[Doomkid]

Yes, would be happy to accept new submissions! I’ll make the OP a little clearer. There’s not a strict cap on map count, so I’ll edit the info.

[MikeyScoots]

4 hours ago, Doomkid said:

Yes, would be happy to accept new submissions! I’ll make the OP a little clearer. There’s not a strict cap on map count, so I’ll edit the info.

 

So I definitely want to make a Techbase, I played a few levels of the beta, just wondering if you were gonna be assorting the maps by themes later or not? I like to base the beginning of the map off the previous map's exit to follow a theme/episode kinda like how Scythe 2 was.

[MikeyScoots]

Would anyone be opposed to a level that features a few areas from the earlier levels from Doom 2 completely remixed, rescaled and modernized? Asking for a friend.

[JustCallMeKaito]

I'd love to make a map for this.

[Doomkid]

Doom2 remix areas are totally fine. As long as it’s either tech, jungle or both, it will fit in here. The maps will be grouped by both theme and difficulty, but the map order isn’t set in stone yet (still keeping it somewhat open ended for new submissions).

 

Looking forward to playing your submissions!

[Doom_Dude]

Got more work done on my map, just need less distractions so I can get it done. :D

[MikeyScoots]

7 hours ago, Doomkid said:

Doom2 remix areas are totally fine. As long as it’s either tech, jungle or both, it will fit in here. The maps will be grouped by both theme and difficulty, but the map order isn’t set in stone yet (still keeping it somewhat open ended for new submissions).

 

Looking forward to playing your submissions!

 

Cool, Im on it. Never worked with something involving custom enemies and the texture pack's great so far so this should be fun. Only complaint I have is you don't have a caution texture that matches the flat, theres 2/3 textures that has the pattern but isnt matching. Small complaint lol

[MikeyScoots]

Its about to get rowdy up in this bitch!

[Doomkid]

The lack of a caution texture is a totally valid complaint, absolutely will add one in the next build. Screenshot looks really nice!

[MikeyScoots]

20 hours ago, Doomkid said:

The lack of a caution texture is a totally valid complaint, absolutely will add one in the next build. Screenshot looks really nice!

 

We should make a discord channel for this IMO

[Egg Boy]

I'm a bit confused, every time I try to run my map in chocolate doom, or even prboom, I keep getting an error message: "R_initSprites: Sprite CPOS frame D is missing rotations."