[v1.0] Gomorrah - A UDMF mapset powered by OTEX

[MFG38]

 

INTRODUCTION

 

Gomorrah is a GZDoom mapset consisting of 6 brand-new maps, powered by ukiro's amazing OTEX texture set. In Gomorrah, you'll be traversing three different locations - an abandoned mine/techbase, a medieval castle and a fortress in Hell - in search of three skull keys. Each skull key is going to be locked behind a puzzle which you'll have to solve. Once you have all three of them, you must use them to open a gate beyond which lies your final challenge.

 

IWAD: doom2.wad
Port: GZDoom (4.2.0 or later)
Map #: MAP01-06
Mode(s): Single-player only
Difficulty settings: Not implemented... per se
Tested with: GZDoom 4.3.3 & 4.4.2
Estimated play time: 40-60 minutes

 

Features:

• 5 playable maps, each with a distinct theme + a hub map
• An experience that mixes classic Doom gameplay with puzzles
• Checkpoint system with multiple exits per level
• A fully original soundtrack by Yours Truly

 

DOWNLOADS

 

v1.0 of Gomorrah is now released! You can download it from the following locations:

MFG38's Fun Hub: https://mfg38.github.io/files/doom_wads/gomorrah.zip

Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/s/x8lb1wzg520dkrz/gomorrah.zip?dl=0

Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19eR_zns5wCkKtC_W9CV5yKlCriKc4VBi/view?usp=sharing

OTHER LINKS

 

Soundtrack album: https://mfg38.bandcamp.com/album/gomorrah-ost

 

SCREENSHOTS

 

MAP01 - Untitled

Spoiler

 

MAP02 - Desolation

 

Spoiler

 

MAP03 - Malevolence

Spoiler

 

MAP04 - Nocturne

Spoiler

 

MAP05 - Gate to Gomorrah

Spoiler

 

MAP06 - Ultima

Spoiler

 

Edited September 24, 2022 by MFG38
Added personal website mirror

[Aurelius]

I really like the idea of puzzles in Doom, and I've always thought they go really will with classic Doom gameplay. Not everyone's cup of tea though. The screenshots look really cool and moody, especially with the lights in Desolation. I think you could break up the square/circle shaped room edges with some asymmetrical details, though I understand this is WIP. Also, I think some desaturation fog in MAP05 would work nicely! 

Good luck on your project!

[MFG38]

10 minutes ago, Aurelius said:

I really like the idea of puzzles in Doom, and I've always thought they go really will with classic Doom gameplay. Not everyone's cup of tea though. The screenshots look really cool and moody, especially with the lights in Desolation. I think you could break up the square/circle shaped room edges with some asymmetrical details, though I understand this is WIP. Also, I think some desaturation fog in MAP05 would work nicely! 

Good luck on your project!

 

Much appreciated! c:

[RonnieJamesDiner]

Looks and sounds really interesting, I'm excited to get my hands on this when you're done. I'm really digging that cave shot, it just makes me want to explore it! Are you aiming for Boom compatibility? (EDIT) Yeah never mind, I guess if I read the thread title properly, I'd have that answer. 

 

Oh also, by any chance is this aiming to be compatible with your Satanic Gameshow Deluxe mod, specifically?

Edited October 18, 2019 by RonnieJamesDiner

[obake]

Looks absolutely awesome! I especially dig the screenshot to map 05.

Keep up the great work.

[MFG38]

23 hours ago, RonnieJamesDiner said:

Looks and sounds really interesting, I'm excited to get my hands on this when you're done. I'm really digging that cave shot, it just makes me want to explore it! [...] Oh also, by any chance is this aiming to be compatible with your Satanic Gameshow Deluxe mod, specifically?

 

Much obliged!

 

I'm not planning compatibility with SGD per se, but chances are I'll do some test runs with it just for fun. The thing about SGD is that it admittedly works best with a mapset that throws a near-constant stream of enemies at the player, and when it comes to this mapset's gameplay, the way I'm planning it at the moment is to make it more focused on atmosphere and exploration, perhaps with the occasional "arena" battle. MAP06 is the exception to that rule, though, as the gameplay in it isn't far from slaughter-style.

 

23 hours ago, obake said:

Looks absolutely awesome! I especially dig the screenshot to map 05.

Keep up the great work.

 

Will do, thanks!

[RonnieJamesDiner]

6 hours ago, MFG38 said:

the way I'm planning it at the moment is to make it more focused on atmosphere and exploration, perhaps with the occasional "arena" battle. MAP06 is the exception to that rule, though, as the gameplay in it isn't far from slaughter-style.

 

Sounds awesome, I'm excited to see how you incorporate puzzles, as well. Can we be expecting some ACS magic?

[MFG38]

12 hours ago, RonnieJamesDiner said:

Sounds awesome, I'm excited to see how you incorporate puzzles, as well. Can we be expecting some ACS magic?

 

Absolutely! I think that the puzzle ideas I have would be practically impossible to execute without ACS anyway. :P

[Pure Hellspawn]

Knowing you, this will be a blast. I've used ACS and ZScript and they are fun languages - you truly can do a lot with them.

[MFG38]

Progress on Gomorrah has been kinda slow lately, but I have gotten some work done on the Hell map this week. Screenshots of what I managed to conjure up are in the spoiler below.

 

Spoiler

 

[MFG38]

Just to let everyone know that this project is still not dead, here are a few screenshots from the beginnings of MAP04.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

[MFG38]

With 2019 drawing to a close in a week, I figured I should write up a short update post regarding this project.

 

In summary, the situation is that Gomorrah is still pretty heavily WIP. Most of the maps' layouts are nowhere near finished, not to mention that I haven't even gotten around to implementing gameplay for them. Thus, contrary to what I maybe-sort-of-not-really-promised, the project will unfortunately not be in a playable state by the turn of the year.

 

The fact of the matter is that I tend to work on things on a whenever-the-inspiration-strikes sort of basis, and as far as Gomorrah is concerned, I've been experiencing a lack of inspiration for it over the past couple weeks. But worry not, for this project is by no means dead! I'm determined to bring it to the finish line and not scrap it, especially since I feel like this project is outdoing everything Doom-related I've done prior.

 

In light of this, I've extended the "deadline" for a playtest-ready version of Gomorrah to early summer of 2020. Of course, given my general work ethic and regular shifts in the so-called Big Thing, it's still subject to change. But rest assured that you'll be able to get your hands on some version of Gomorrah next year - I'll make doubly sure of that!

 

Also, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

[elend]

Merry Christmas, enjoy the new year's eve and continue to work on Gomorrah whenever creativity strikes. This looks incredibly promising and should not be rushed.

[MFG38]

5 minutes ago, elend said:

Merry Christmas, enjoy the new year's eve and continue to work on Gomorrah whenever creativity strikes. This looks incredibly promising and should not be rushed.

 

I certainly don't intend to rush it, worry not. Thanks for the encouragement! c:

[Bridgeburner56]

Sorry, wrong thread

Edited December 25, 2019 by Bridgeburner56

[RonnieJamesDiner]

Merry Chrimmas and Happy New Years, as well. Glad to hear this thing is still slow-cooking, always excited at the prospect of new UDMF/OTEX releases. Seconding elend's comment.

Edited December 25, 2019 by RonnieJamesDiner

[MFG38]

A quick update thingamajig to announce that the OST for Gomorrah is now underway!

 

I happened to randomly boot up my DAW yesterday, and what was initially just me messing about ended up turning into the first original soundtrack piece for the mapset. And today, with inspiration carried over from last night, I composed a second music track!

 

I also put together a little preview of the OST for my YouTube channel - see the spoiler below for the video. (You can ignore the actual video and just listen to the music; the accompanying footage is merely a screenshot slideshow.)

 

Spoiler

 

 

As for the mapping side of things, progress continues to be slow but steady, in case anyone's wondering.

Edited February 11, 2020 by MFG38

[MFG38]

With the announcement of my school being closed indefinitely, I'm thinking I'll make use of the extra time I have today with a Gomorrah mapping stream. You have just under 2 hours to prepare, place is gonna be https://www.twitch.tv/mfg38. Keep an eye peeled.

 

Edited March 16, 2020 by MFG38

[IvanDobrovski]

Definitely keeping an eye out for this one. Looks very interesting.

[MFG38]

Going live very shortly! https://www.twitch.tv/mfg38

 

[MFG38]

It is with a heavy heart that I have to announce that Gomorrah has been cance- oh wait, it's not April Fools Day anymore...

 

In all seriousness, Gomorrah was on hold for a while as I worked on a few other things - namely the randomizer mod Vandomizer, which saw a v1.0 release yesterday, and a map for the community project Isolation - but I've gone back to smashing away at this mapset again. In fact, I just finished the layout for MAP02! Once I implement the gameplay for that map, that leaves only MAP04 to do, as well as any visual/gameplay tweaks I can think of.

 

If I can keep up a steady pace and not get distracted by other projects, it's looking like Gomorrah will be in a playtest-ready state just in time for the beginning of summer! I hope you're all as excited to play it as I am to share it with you!

 

Also, mandatory teaser screenshot:

 

Spoiler

 

[MFG38]

Having come to the realization that my preview screenshots for Gomorrah in the OP were... a "little" outdated, I took it upon myself to capture some new ones. The freshly updated screenshots for each map are viewable up there.

 

Also, the finish line looms ever closer - gameplay for MAP02 has now been fully implemented, meaning that only MAP04 is left to finish up! I genuinely can not wait to get this thing to the hands of fellow Doomers. If all goes well, the test build of Gomorrah will be good to go sometime in June.

 

Stay tuned!

 

[Turin Turambar]

Looking better and better. I put the thread on my watch list.

[MFG38]

Soon.

 

Spoiler

 

[MFG38]

After just under 10 months of smashing away at Gomorrah, I'm happy to announce that it's tantalizingly close to the finish line! RC1 coming this weekend! As soon as I fix these (admittedly hilarious) texture errors...

 

Spoiler

 

[MFG38]

RC1 of Gomorrah is now released! See the OP for download links.

[Turin Turambar]

I'm playing RC1 and my conclusion is... that I'm super bad at puzzles :D

 

Even with your clue in the readme that freelook is needed for some of the puzzles, I just couldn't see what it was needed for the blue and red keys, until spoiling myself the solution (kudos for putting that for people like me). It was a case of having something in front of you and not seeing it. At least I did the yellow key on my own.

 

One more thing to the puzzles. Because your hub structure where you can go back to the initial hub and then try another level, players may think it's a Hexen-like, where going back and forth between levels is needed to get whatever information is needed to solve the puzzles, even if that isn't the case.

 

I had an issue, I'm stuck in the level with the red key. Ironically, not stuck at the puzzle, but I don't know how to return to the hub. There is no switch to activate any of the two teleporters I found.

 

Action wise, honestly, the maps are weak. You have given priority to the atmosphere (which is good!) than to the gameplay, and the difficulty and encounter design isn't up to par. Then again, it would be hard to do interesting fights in the big square rooms you use, unless you do slaughter fights or something like that.

edit: oh lol, that was for the first 3 levels with the keys, now I'm at Ultima and things have changed...

 

Edited May 30, 2020 by Turin Turambar

[Turin Turambar]

edit: duplicate by mistake

Edited May 30, 2020 by Turin Turambar

[MFG38]

14 minutes ago, Turin Turambar said:

I had an issue, I'm stuck in the level with the red key. Ironically, not stuck at the puzzle, but I don't know how to return to the hub. There is no switch to activate any of the two teleporters I found.

 

There are switches to activate the teleporters, actually - they're just kinda hard to see. I contemplated highlighting the switches with dynamic lights so they'd be easier to see, but I didn't see the need for that at the time. Rest assured that you're not the first person to report the problem - I've already made a note of it and will be correcting it for v1.0.

 

Other than that, thanks for the honest feedback!

Edited May 30, 2020 by MFG38

[Turin Turambar]

I just reached Ultima, I will write later more feedback.

 

One thing, this room was so beautiful it was a pity there was no use for it, combat wise!