1995 called. They want their Doom levels back.

[ketmar]

i think that i accessed all sergeants. (or maybe i only killed all of them? ;-) and i learned that some monitors are not just decorations too (you did a good job at hinting it!). i just generally sux in secret search, and in exploration altogether. i also learned that i'd better pay some attention, and shouldn't afraid of some backtracking... but alsmot immediately forgot about that. ;-)

 

that's why i'm not the best person to give any constructive feedback: i can easily miss things other people will have no problem noticing.

 

for example, i've seen the red key, but forgot about it almost as soon as it leaves my line of sight.

 

but all this makes the map much more interesting to play: i know that i still have new things to discover. i should listen to you when you're talking about having alot of optional areas. but i started the map as linear "run-and-gun" adventure. and it was my own fault too. i mean, it is good, it means that i definitely can do better next time! ;-)

Edited May 18, 2020 by ketmar

[Zylinderkatze]

14 hours ago, ketmar said:

that's why i'm not the best person to give any constructive feedback

Actually that makes you the perfect person to give feedback. Because I want this to be fun and engaging for someone who doesn't obsessively press every surface in hope it's a trigger.. and who doesn't automatically try to walk along any 2 pixel ledge or obsessively try and use any bit of scenery as a jump-off point xD

 

Speaking of ledges.. now I suddenly have a neat (as in "evil, but fun") idea on making the route to the red skull key more ..precipious?

 

I'll check out how to incorporate it, later today (before I continue on to E1M3) ^^

Edited May 19, 2020 by Zylinderkatze

[Zylinderkatze]

13 hours ago, ketmar said:

afraid of some backtracking

It's weird.. I usually dislike backtracking (especially when there's nothing else except one single thing that requires me to go back and all the monsters are already "gone").. but yet, I still tend to put stuff in my levels that requires you to go back for secrets / bonuses. There's something wrong with me xD

 

At least I (hope that I) made it somewhat obvious with stuff here. Like the yellow skull key, because if you find out how to open it, you are basically looking straight at it and know where to go.. or the red skull key where you can only go in one direction once you have it and that's basically straight towards the door it opens.. but I am still a bit concerned about the compexity of the "secret wirthin a secret within a secret".. as described in the "hints" I gave about the weapons~

 

I already know that I have learned a bunch more about improving level flow by now.. and will continue to learn more during the process of this project. I pretty near expect that when I am at the end, I'll have plenty of reason to go back to the earlier levels one last time and make them a little.. "flowy-er" ^^

 

You know, how it's a good idea to write the first level in the game at the very end, when you have learned all you could learn. Let's hope I won't want to do another complete redo of E1M1! xD

[ketmar]

i am mostly ok with backtracking, i just have to remember which kind of map i'm playing. and backtracking for secrets is perfectly ok, i think.

 

6 hours ago, Zylinderkatze said:

Let's hope I won't want to do another complete redo of E1M1!

at least no more than two times. becase we only have 4 episodes to put "historic" map versions in. ;-)

[Zylinderkatze]

Precipious!

 

Just a little while ago I mentioned making the path to the red key more "playfully evil" and here it is already!

 

Before:

^{Just a boring old tunnel-y thing}

 

Now:

^{Ooo.. Lava.}

 

I am not going to update the "M2-compare.zip" file though. Because that is kind of a "snapshot" of when I was presumably done with E1M2. Also, I'm too lazy ^^;

 

Instead I'll carry on, over to E1M3!

 

Yes! Right now!

 

Exclamation!

[Vic Vos]

Just played through both maps. Unfortunately, essentially looking for secrets in order to progress through the map isn't my cup of tea. Also, is the exit switch in E1M1 a temporary placeholder? However, the quality of the maps themselves is pretty damn good. The "screen" near the switch that opens the big door in E1M2 was so cute!

[Zylinderkatze]

[[END OF E1M2]] (for now)

 

8<--------------------------------------- cut here

 

[[BEGINNING OF E1M3]]

 

Here we go, your first look at the starting room of E1M3!

^{No, this isn't cheating. It's actually the starting room xD}

 

Nothing much changed yet. Compared to the original, it's mainly the light levels. I also already adjusted a bunch of misalignments in the following room(s) but those aren't done yet >_>

 

Yet!

 

Just watch me storm through this one.

[Zylinderkatze]

13 minutes ago, Vic Vos said:

Unfortunately, essentially looking for secrets in order to progress through the map isn't my cup of tea.

Hey @Vic Vos! Thanks for your testing and feedback :) There's nothing unfortunate about that at all. And even though I am not one to assume, usually, I think you might've meant this in a sarcastic..ish way? Secret areas or hidden switches should never ever be required for finishing a level. It's not my cup of tea either to hide essential things.

 

Chances are, I didn't make something obvious enough.. if you can pinpoint particular elements that had you stuck, I will gladly check in on that and make adjustments where appropriate. I want my levels to be completable without having to scratch your head so your input is very valuable to me! c:

 

I will even try not to be a diva about it xD

[Vic Vos]

I will, but sometime later, when I wake up.

[Zylinderkatze]

Hey @ketmar!

^{(Ooo.. a personal post?)}

 

Remember when I posted about how I assumed that I actually oriented items sometimes, even though their orientation had no effect since they are sprites?

 

I just found this:

^{(ah. okay. nah. he's just boasting)}

 

It's a secret passage that leads you to the Red Skull Key. You come in from the lower left.. and check out the angle of the Skull Key ^^;

 

Not sure if it's a fluke.. I'll have to check other "things" in my 199X levels.. but I just wanted to share this because I said I'd check.

[Zylinderkatze]

4 minutes ago, Vic Vos said:

I will, but sometime later, when I wake up.

Please do.

 

Also.. sleep well? Or good luck waking up?

 

Hope to hear from you soon!

[Zylinderkatze]

I'm not going to spend my night mapping, today xD

 

So instead I'll leave you with a screenshot of a (currently not yet alignment-adjusted) version of an outside area, shortly after the room from the last post.

^{Lots of Deathmatch starts. On a rather small map. Chaos!}

 

I'll post more tomorrow :)

[ketmar]

12 hours ago, Zylinderkatze said:

Not sure if it's a fluke.. I'll have to check other "things" in my 199X levels.. but I just wanted to share this because I said I'd check.

yeah, thank you! people were doing strange things back then. ;-) prolly because they were so excited by Real 3D Action that they wanted to have such small details "right".

[Zylinderkatze]

More on the vintage E1M3

 

Turns out you actually need all 3 keys to be able to leave the level. Meaning I'll (have to) make it a bit more obvious where they are. Especially after what I had just said earlier about not wanting to hide any essential items in overly secret areas ^^;

 

The Red Skull Key, for example is behind this "dirty hatch".. which is only an indicator that there might be something.. but not that it's the key.

Also, the actual access to it is from the other side. The route to it is fun but the fact that you have to find it is.. not so fun.

 

I might just leave the hatch open a crack so you can see the key behind it.

 

But really, most of the adjustments to this level are details like that.

The general layout will not be altered much :)

 

And not now, because I am still at work. But I had to get this out xD

 

Later!

[Zylinderkatze]

18 hours ago, Vic Vos said:

is the exit switch in E1M1 a temporary placeholder?

I forgot to answer this when I replied earlier: yes, you are absolutely right.

 

I mentioned it at some point during the 10 pages of posts in this topic but that's way too much to skim for an answer so I'll just answer directly:

The idea of this level is that (when completed) the switch opens an escape route.. to get back down to sea level and leave with the vessel on which you arrive in E1M2.

 

However at that point I ran into a bunch of Seg errors that I barely managed to avoid ..and since I knew I'd return to E1M1 at the very end before I group everything into one "episode"-wad (and didn't want people to have to wait any longer to play the initial beta version), I decided to let that switch end the level for now :)

 

I'm looking forward to having you around for more of this road to my "2020 version" of the old levels- if you're interested to stick around, that is. I appreciate your critical eye on this!

[Zylinderkatze]

I know this is a storage area..

^{..but that's just too much ammo, man.}

 

Balancing ammo wasn't my strong suit in 1995. Or I just really sucked at aiming and actually needed all that ammo xD

 

Also, the map:

^{Yes, that's all of it}

 

This thing is so, so much more compact than the first two maps. But it'll stay that way.

I'm really only fixing up misaligned stuff and adding a bit of flourish, like outcrops for doors xD

 

Also, I keep finding myself playing the whole map every time I just want to look at something in-engine.. I guess that means the level is fun? ^^;

[ketmar]

22 hours ago, Zylinderkatze said:

road to my "2020 version"

you're so optimistic with that "2020"...

[Zylinderkatze]

19 hours ago, ketmar said:

you're so optimistic with that "2020"...

Hehe. I still am, for the most part. Mainly because E1M3, E1M4 and E1M5 are "only" requiring some brush-ups and texture realignments, based on my initial evaluations. But I know that it won't be a "Q3" release. more like an "End of Q4" release ^^;

 

I somehow feel like I am cheating a bit, btw.. after all the work I put into E1M1 and E1M2, the following three will only take a few days each. But I have a heavier task coming soon after, since E1M6 and E1M7 will need a lot of work.

 

I should maybe actually do an evaluation on time, instead of my initial "how much will be salvageable" check.

 

Let's see. E1M3, E1M4 and E1M5 will take a week each, that puts me in the middle of June.

 

E1M6 will probably take 2 months and so will E1M7, judging by my previous speed. That puts me in the middle of October.

 

E1M8 will hopefully "only" take about a month, because most of it will stay the same and I'll only adjust some unfairly short switch intervals and misaligned textures but I might get carried away. That means mid November.

 

And then I'll decide (depending on whether "November" will actually still be true by then) how much time I will put into recreating the fixes I had originally applied to the bonus level (and then lost in the 2010 hardware crash).. if all else fails I'll leave it the way it is, to be able to keep the "2020" in the project name xD

 

Good thing that Doom Level Editing is pretty much my main hobby.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Zylinderkatze

[ketmar]

so we can expect a great new year gift. i like it! (whispers) "new year" means "dec, 2020". just in case. ;-)

[Zylinderkatze]

On 5/21/2020 at 10:46 PM, ketmar said:

"new year"

I'm working on it. I promise ^^;

 

Today was one of those days where I said to myself (not out loud, though) "I won't look into this level today, I deserve a day off, it's the weekend". Then against all better judgement I opened the editor anyways, at around 11pm.

 

It's now 3:30am and I don't know where the last 4 hours went xD

 

Definitely not into this, because it was already there before..

^{..but I wanted to share another screenshot.}

 

This area is mean because of the monster placement. And not because there's so many but because they creep up on you. I was mean, in 1995.

 

I'm still mean in 2020, though. Don't worry.

[Zylinderkatze]

Contain this!

 

And yes, I know. It's another container storage area.

 

But it belongs to the level so who am I to remove it!

 

The original creator, yes, I know. It was a rhetorical question.

 

More soon!

[Rex_Rawhndo]

Keep up the great work with this WAD, my guy.  I'm looking forward to playing through it. 

[ketmar]

12 hours ago, Zylinderkatze said:

Today was one of those days where I said to myself (not out loud, though) "I won't look into this level today, I deserve a day off, it's the weekend". Then against all better judgement I opened the editor anyways, at around 11pm.

 

It's now 3:30am and I don't know where the last 4 hours went xD

this is how it is usually going with k8vavoom. "i need a vacation. oh, right after i finish this tiny, super-tiny piece of code." it lasts two years so far.

Edited May 24, 2020 by ketmar

[Zylinderkatze]

Welcome to Hell..

^{Alignment Hell, that is :(}

 

"It's the little things" xD

[Zylinderkatze]

What's up, date?

 

My puns are continuously getting worse D:

 

There's still one section that is way too "METAL"-y and an outside area that is too.. uhm.. dull? I don't know. Bland? Isn't that pretty much the same?

 

Everything else it pretty good now. I think E1M3 needs another.. hmm. 5 hours?

Let's say "as much time as I can squeeze into two working days" ^^;

 

I'll keep throwing updates in here as they come up.

 

But for now I am going to bed. Before midnight!

[Zylinderkatze]

Appe..teeth for destruction?

 

So today I didn't do anything Doom related because of an unexpected.. uhm.. dentist.. event?

 

Underwent some procedure, I'll spare you the details.. it's more fun when the gore is on screen and not.. involving yourself as a person xD

 

I'm not in pain but I also didn't really feel like working on the level. Who knows what I might've ended up adding to it in my state ^^;

 

More tomorrow, though! Whee!

 

Goodnight~

[Zylinderkatze]

Reached the exit..

^{..with only a few bullets to spare!}

 

In other words: Maybe remove a few of those Boxes of Shells. And Ammo.. and Rockets.. and.. 

 

Aside from that, I am almost done. 

 

Wait.. I'll show you!

 

1) Less "brown" this:

^{It's really a lot of METAL and FLAT10 floor. Also the FIRELAVA wall is tacky}

 

2) More "align" that:

^{One of the few remaining "weirdly" aligned patches that needs fixing}

 

3) Make this make sense!

^{It's an added "look it's a building and not just a wall" detail that's still in progress}

 

4: Less "sudden METAL", please:

^{It's one of the very few examples that something can actually be "too METAL"}

 

5: Make up your Marble Mind!

^{GSTONE1, MARBLE1, MARBLE3.. it can work if done right but this doesn't. Yet.}

 

There you have it. That's basically the last 5 "construction sites" that I want to fix, then this thing is done :)

Edited May 28, 2020 by Zylinderkatze

[Zylinderkatze]

There might've been a minor roadblock~

^{I'd say it was unexpected.. but I did see it coming xD}

 

Progress may be slowed dramatica~ slightly.

[Zylinderkatze]

4 minutes ago, Zylinderkatze said:

 Progress may be slowed dramatica~ slightly.

Honestly, though, I just powered through the first day in the game to get the museum set up and upgrade the tent to a house. From tomorrow on I'll only do the minimum there and invest the majority of my spare time in my Doom levels again ^^

[ketmar]

a game without a shotgun and without a rocket launcher? eh, not a threat.