1995 called. They want their Doom levels back.

[Zylinderkatze]

Oh.. also!

 

That area from the shot from yesterday looks like this now:

 

^{Most adjustments actually happened on the other side of the grate xD}

 

I'll show more in a little while :3

[Zylinderkatze]

Immediate update~

 

Here's the current state of "the other side" I mentioned xD

 

 > 

^{I think it makes more sense when the textures are animated..}

 

I'm almost a little proud on how I managed to get almost the exact same angle this time xD

 

In a few cases I'll have to actually maintain the "copout" use of METAL as a forgiving, easy to align texture.. because it does add some diversity and breaks up the otherwise monotonous / samey textures of the area. Or find other, more "refined" approaches of breaking up uniform areas. 

 

 

Let me show you what I mean..

 

The old version of the starting area:

^{Please disregard how bright it is and focus on the METAL above and below the windows}

 

The current version of the starting area:

^{Using BROWNGRN for the building on the right is just a test.. it makes it too "green blob"-y.}

 

I will be sure to maintain the BROWN96 roof of the awning on the left, for example.. otherwise there'd be too much of the lighter BROWN1.

 

The window in the middle of the second ("current") screenshot almost disappears in the surrounding area and I'm not sure whether I want that ^^;

 

Also- the doors aren't actually doors but lifts (lift doors?) because I always get irked by doors that open upwards when there's.. not enough building to recieve them. 

 

The BIGDOOR6 texture on that small door in the middle is also just a test.. it looks okay but it doesn't really fit with the "feeling" I'm going for in that area. I guess I am taking this way too serious xD

 

I kind of like how the window cutout on the BROWNGRN part of the building on the right works out.. but the BROWNGRN continues for some way to the right and that doesn't really look all that sexy to me. I'll either remove some of it again (perhaps in favor of reverting to BROWN1) or add some detailing to break up the monotony.

 

I'll fix it when I get back to it.

 

But yeah. many of the pieces of the level are coming together.

 

Edited November 14, 2020 by Zylinderkatze

[Zylinderkatze]

Cool, the start area is coming along nicel~.. oh.

 

^{Maybe I'll have to reorganize more than I thought >_>}

 

As long as I don't have to remove the "iconic" helicopter landing platform xD

[Zylinderkatze]

I like to move it move it..?

 

I opened all (lift)doors to check what that does to the Visplanes. There's some red (see below on the left, in.. well.. red ^^)

 

So I decided to move that helicopter pad around a bit and I found a spot where it causes less damage (see below on the right, in.. no red xD)

 

However I don't like it in that spot D:

 

So now what? Maybe I'll just have to stretch out the whole thing.. I'll giver it some more thought ..and a few tugs.

 

^{If all else fails, I'll just remove the whole landing pad and cry a little.}

 

Actually I already have an idea what I could change about the whole area so that the pad integrates a little better.. but I really liked the way it looks in the old spot when you step into that area. The red and silver gives a nice contrast.. Seen in the pictures in the post from yesterday.

 

Boo, I say. Boo!

[Zylinderkatze]

Last upate for the night :)

 

So here's the current view of the outside starting area. "A few things" have changed:

 

^{Compare this to the last two versions from a day ago :)}

 

I left the BROWN96 texture along the top of the awning on the left but I adjusted it so that it uses the detailing rim part at the top of the texture. Looking at it now, in direct comparison.. that makes it a lot "brighter" though.. I'm not sure whether that'll stay that way ^^; I kind of preferred the contrast before.

 

The landing pad is now on the left side and it's not an octagon anymore but instead a square. Less sides, less stuff for the engine to deal with, I presume / think / hope.

 

Sadly, though, I still have a bit of a Visplane problem:

 

^{Only in two places (there's a tiny bit left of the middle of this pic)}

 

I am still in the middle of moving stuff around, though (notice the room jutting out towards the top left).. I am kind of "streamlining" the way you work your way through this area.. in the old version you needed a blue key but I am currently in the process of replacing that with a switch. More on that later (if I don't forget xD)

 

There's still too many "I can see my house from here" spots.. I mean- you can see a lot of the area from many places in this area.. including a bunch of different floor- and ceiling heights and -textures, I suppose. I need to reduce the amount of complexity there so the Visplanes don't cap out ^^;

 

However, the above "Visplane screenshot" was taken with all doors open, which does not happen in game all at the same time, obviously. If I close the doors, it fixes / removes the tiny spot on the left but the "blotch" in the top right is hardly affected by it, sadly.

 

This is the "view from the blotch", for the curious:

^{If all else fails, I guess the landing pad will have to go ;_;}

 

I'm currently working on finishing the details and layout the way I want it, though.. I will deal with the limit problems when I get closer to the way I want the area to "feel".

 

For now I'm off to bed though.

 

Goodnight :)

[Zylinderkatze]

And this is the first update of the new day.. xD

 

It's after midnight so I didn't lie when I said.. oh you don't care? Even better ^^;

 

Here's that spot in game, before and after the engine's heat death:

 

^Oh?

 

^Oh.

 

Actually, the complexity that causes the overflow seems to come from the left of this viewing angle. It got worse the farther I turned left. But really, it's a sum of things, so the solution might not lie in just one place. I'll have to check out whether I can reduce stuff over there. After I slept, that is. 

 

Really bye for now this time, though ^^;

[Zylinderkatze]

A little update on my internal "lore thought process"~

 

One reason why I am removing the blue key from this starting area.. or rather, changing the flow of how you get through this starting area as a whole.. is that I have kind of an underlying theme. I never really put it into words, though, which I'll try and change now:

 

The idea is that man-made teleporters are very very rare. The only times I use teleporters in these maps, they are "demonic" ones (using GATE* textures). There's an exception, though, in E1M1, where I use them as transitions between floors (which might be changed to silent teleporters in a limit-removing portation of this episode later on.. if that ever happens xD)

 

Basically the idea kind of follows the recurring trope that mankind isn't advanced enough for small-scale teleportation technology yet. For example: The man-made teleporter leading from E1M3 to E1M9 (and back) is kind of huge xD

 

That said, though, I am not 100% sure whether I didn't already go against that self-imposed pattern in one of my levels.. as in, a "small" (64 x 64) man-made (silver & blue instead of blood and rust) teleporter. That'll be one of the things I'll have to cross-check once I melt all these maps into one WAD ^^

 

Work day is over soon, then I can get back to this thing!

 

Whoo!

[Zylinderkatze]

I found the plasma gun!

 

But.. uhm.. how do I get to it?

 

^{"Up and away"}

 

And what happens when I try to pick it up? ó_ò

 

^{I don't trust pedestals.}

 

Actually, the thing(s) that happen when you (try to) pick it up.. aren't done yet xD

[Zylinderkatze]

I am was stumped.

 

It was all going so well and then I seem to have created a room that instantly crashes Vanilla Doom.

 

I've had it before a few times.. it's usually either "a 1 sided wall that was accidentially set to double-sided".. or "using a texture as a mid texture that doesn't work as a mid texture". But both of those things don't apply here or at least I couldn't find any of those things.

 

The room is also not too complex (it's actually the room with the Plasma Gun from the last post).

 

There's something in that room (that I can't find) that crashes the game insantly.

 

At first I thought it only happened when I ran into that room (you have to "skip over pedastals", kinda) but that would be silly. why would running do that. Then I thought it's because there are fast doors closing (Action 110) on joined sectors but that's not it either. I "unjoined" them, removed the triggers that closes them.. nothing.

 

The thing is that Chocolate RL (Render Limits) doesn't show an error and also doesn't display the DOS "endcard" / exit screen so there's one less source of information for me.

 

I also started to step-by-step remove sectors but even that didn't really help.

 

...

 

Until now when I painstakingly reduced this:

 

Down to this:

 

..and then I found it, laughing in my face:

Spoiler

^Fffffffff~

 

I can now finally go back to work on this but that's a good 1+ hour down the drain xD

[wrkq]

Ooof. It's always the small things. :(

[Zylinderkatze]

What's this..

 

..a birthday cake of metal?

 

^{Is there a surprise inside?}

[Zylinderkatze]

3 hours ago, Zylinderkatze said:

..a birthday cake of metal?

 

Needless to say, this area changed a bit since that screenshot.. but I thought I'd share xD

 

It looks like this now:

^{Less cake, more fun to play.}

[Zylinderkatze]

Overview update time!

 

For myself but also for all of those who care: The current state of the map!

 

^{What an awkward sideways thing this is.}

 

Going right-to-left because I can:

 

I'm contemplating moving the actual tower (the circle on the very right) down to under the red stone building (the green area right next to it). Meaning that the "here be mountains" bit would actually wrap around downwards on ther map.

 

The "small bonus areas" are really nothing more than that.. probably a bit of health, some ammo.. possibly some mandatory scene dressing to make it pretty and fit with the rest. But you wouldn't miss anything if they weren't there so I am not focusing on those right now.

 

The area marked as "clean up connection" is supposed to look like a passage, a supply tunnel that you have to cross to carry on. Right now it's really rather simple and plain, even by 199X standards.. so something has to be done to make it look more presentable- and fun!

 

The big green blob next to that, in the left half of the overview, is more or less the nuke area. It's done (aside from some details I might've missed), became a little more "dense" and (hopefully) fun, including such fun new sections like the one above. There's still an ammo shortage here though.. right now there's only health, rad suits.. and Lost Souls, mainly. and some Sergeants ^^; But you get ammo in the starting area so I'll have to check the actual balancing in a "start to finish" playthough.

 

Further to the left still, the green area with the "detailing" above and "something cool" below is the starting area. The aligning and detailing there is done now, it's just the rooms around it that need some.. well.. detailing and.. something cool xD

 

The leftmost circle thingie (that the "something cool" points to) is the actual arrival room.. the reason the "something cool" points to it is that it's the "receiver" of the teleportation process that got you to E1M9. You already arrive in a nice little bay of sorts but it's very rudimentary and can definitely look more impressive.

 

The two connected rooms in the very lower left (the other "something cool" target) are new.. and replace the room that moved up to the upper left.. they are currently rather empty and deserve some attention to fit better with the rest.

 

TL;DR:

 

It may look as though I am only half done but what's mostly missing is detailing. The only bit that I presume will take some more effort (and thereby time) is the actual connecting bits to the final area on the very right.

 

Time might get a little short but I have a few long weekends coming up where I can dedicate more time to mapping.. so it should still get done this month.

 

Fingers crossed.

[Zylinderkatze]

Okay. So. I might have had an idea.

 

I know it doesn't happen often xD But hear me out.

 

I had this very very tiny room up in the starting area.. close to the visplane overflow (right next to the circle.. circling the red blob in the side-by-side image of this post).

 

I figured "I need the room up there. It's pretty important that it stays there. So.. how do I keep it there while at the same time making sure the player can't see too much of that area at once to avoid the overflow?" (granted, my thought wasn't that sophisticated.. and it might've contained a few swear words)

 

Then I thought.. "hold up- why don't I use that room itself to block the view?"

 

And thus became..

^{The brown protrusion.}

 

I don't really like how it looks.. I am too used to the entrance being mirrored and not having something brown sticking out of its left side ("what's brown and sticky? a stick.")

 

However it might just be my savior for that area because even when I put all the openings and detail back in (the ones I had previously removed to try and cut down the details), the area still seems to be "Vanilla Safe".

 

Check out how the room (rotated by 90° and moved a little, see green circle in this picture) now blocks the view (indicated by the purple "cone") towards the parts that seem to be too detailed:

 

^{Too detailed no more :)}

 

But yeah. I still don't really like how it looks xD

 

I might make the "architectural imbalance" more obvious and pronounced, maybe.. because right now it looks a little like that brown section is trying to pretend it's not really there xD

 

I mean it doesn't look too bad.. but I still miss how that entrance used to be symmetric.

 

^{Symmetric no more :(}

 

We'll see where this goes xD

Edited November 18, 2020 by Zylinderkatze

[Zylinderkatze]

Update time!

 

Again? Yes! Enjoy it while it lasts ^^;

 

Here's an updated version of yesterday's post.. bringing some green over to this side of the area, making it look a little less like a "growth" on the already brown roof.

 

It serves the same sight-blocking purpose that yesterday's version did.. and on the plus side, the element that actually does the crucial sight-blocking also becomes an indicator that the room up there is connected to the door below. Two birds!

 

^{At least I hope it's apparent that the metal edge indicates something.}

 

Here it is, then, from when you're still on the ground:

 

^{Still an early version, though.}

 

Early version, as in: I am not 100% happy with how the roof support beam "cuts" into the SLADWALL texture. My first design was using BROWNGRN instead (like the wall next to the entrance, in the first shot of this post) where the "cutting into" wouldn't be so bad but I kind of like the added "texture" of the SLADWALL.. uhm.. texture xD

 

Also, if detail limits allow, I'd want to have some sort of transition between the metal running down and around to the door.. and the wall that it disappears into.

 

Also also, this might still change from Metal (SUPPORT3) to something shiny instead, for more contrast against the brown floor. We'll see.

 

I think this is going in the right direction.

[Zylinderkatze]

Hmm..

 

Hmm?

 

^Hmm.

 

[Zylinderkatze]

"You lied to me!"

 

You were supposed to be the chosen one D:

 

^{Noo.. my Visplanes!}

 

^{"This is where I stand on this issue."}

 

^{Time to check where UDM miscalculated.}

 

[Zylinderkatze]

Ah. same here.

 

More spots that weren't correctly predicted ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

^{Different spot of the area..}

 

^{Right here..}

 

^{Looks okay-ish in UDB (114 / 128) but isn't. Also, yay heat colors.}

 

I'll have to reduce some details and hopefully it'll go back to working condition ^^;

Edited November 20, 2020 by Zylinderkatze

[Zylinderkatze]

Time well spent?

 

Okay so now there's a wall. Nobody knows where it came from but it blends in well and solves the Visplane problem so who am I to complain ^^;

 

^{There's even a window in it!}

 

^{Looking from "up here" to "down there".}

 

Now off to some more test runs to check for disappearing stuff elsewhere but this part seems to be good now.

Edited November 23, 2020 by Zylinderkatze

[Zylinderkatze]

You missed a spot~

 

So here's the last(?) three places I could find, two of which the Visplane Explorer missed (with the solutions, If I already have one)

 

1:

 / 

^{Only barely scratching the limit.}

 

Solution: Put a computer console in front of the window so you can't step close enough to see the error anymore 

 

2:

 / 

^{Also only barely scratching the limit.}

 

Solution: None yet.

 

3:

 / 

^{This one is worse. 133 / 128.}

 

Solution: Removed that lower section pretty much entirely but now I need something low-detail to visually close it off.

 

More on this later.

[Zylinderkatze]

Are your fingers still crossed?

 

Okay so regarding problem number 3, where I removed the southern section of the area with that raised walkway from which you get the "133 VIS".. I changed the section quite a bit and I think it actually got better because of it. Even though it's quite a bit different now compared to 199X.

 

I went from this (original 199X version of the map):

 

To this (adding a few blocking elements):

 

Let's hope it actually won't cause any overflows when I actually visit it in engine now ^^;

[ketmar]

2 hours ago, Zylinderkatze said:

Solution: Put a computer console in front of the window so you can't step close enough to see the error anymore

i always knew that computers were invented for this!

[Zylinderkatze]

No access all areas.

 

This is how my current "wits' end" manifests itself in the level:

 

^{An impassable line with short red pillars.}

 

Definitely not my best and it will likely get replaced if I can think of something better xD

 

Everything else in that area now looks and works.. well enough, I'd say.

 

And no, I haven't spent the last 2 days just on this outside area.. the inside areas have also been expanded :)

 

I'll share details on that at a later point though ^^

[Zylinderkatze]

Battle of the internal demons..

 

On one hand I'm satisfied at how the "right" combination of upper and/or lower unpegged texture allows this fitting "two versions of a console" appearance.

 

^{Just some detailing.}

 

On the other hand I don't think I can let it stay like this because one of them has a dark line at the bottom and the other doesn't >_>

 

 

Edit: Found a solution where they're both the same at the bottom and I'll just stay with it. Yay!

Edited November 23, 2020 by Zylinderkatze

[Zylinderkatze]

It's over, view!

 

I dunno.. just ignore my choice of words xD What I mean is, it's overview time!

 

^{Yes, really.}

 

Left-to-right this time:

 

1) The whole starting area along with the nuke tunnels and all bonuses in there is done. The blue key is back but only needed for a bonus area ^^

 

2) I worked my way all the way into the "prettify, plz" area which is (as I mentioned before) a fake connecting tunnel to make you feel like you're cutting through a much bigger area.. but it never really came across as such.. so I will have to do some smart detailing there. Already have a few ideas but I am taking a break for now :)

 

3) That one area next to it (in green) is actually more a mix of green and purple.. however, that would be grey and that's boring xD As you can see there's still some thing placement pending. I will balance that out when I actually play through the whole thing and see what's missing at that point (health, armor, ammo, etc).

 

4) Then there is still that whole "you're now working your way through / up the side of the tower" bit ("mountaineering"). It'll be a short climb (not just because I am running out of time but also because the level is too long already as it is xD)

There you have it.

 

Eight days left- it's not going to be a comfortable home stetch. I'll have to chew through this, now that I bit it all off xD

 

--

PS: I know the time limit of "end of the month" is arbitrary / self-imposed.. but I need this kind of pressure.. plus, I want to get it all done this year.. so.. december needs to stay reserved for WAD-merging and difficulty tuning. 

 

PPS: Regarding point "4": If I really end up making a limit-removing version, you will already be able to see the top of the mountain / tower from the outside area of the "bonus rooms".. and you'll also be able to make your way down to that area from the mountain top as a shortcut. I assume I might've already been able to do that in a Vanilla-safe approach but not on this tight schedule ^^;

 

PPPS: Looking at this now, I realize that this is 2 maps worth of gameplay, really. The whole "yes, really" area would work on its own, as a standalone map (maybe with a boss duel of sorts at the end).. and so would the rest of the level, to the right of it. So you get two levels for the price of one!

Edited November 22, 2020 by Zylinderkatze

[Zylinderkatze]

Editor vs. Chocolate

 

It's a little sad when you create a nice brightness gradient and the engine dumbs it down ^^;

 

I guess it's generally too dark there so that the individual differences (some of them only 4 units) are too small to be considered.

 

But I thought I'd share what I did to highlight an important location~

 

^{In Editor}

 

^{In vain}

 

Now I'm off to bed, though.

 

Bye!

[Zylinderkatze]

In the process of a glowup :)

 

Here's that connecting tunnel / passage I mentioned yesterday (Number 2 in the overview post)

 

 > 

^{Still very much in progress but on a good way, I'd say :)}

 

That's all for this quick update. More later!

[Zylinderkatze]

Tiny update.

 

I didn't really work on the level during the last 2 hours. I'm not that slow xD

 

Instead, this is basically the first thing I tried out when I came back to the level just now:

 

^{Which way to the red brick building?}

 

So I was contemplating adding some "colored lines" sort of directional markers (like in some public transport stations, factories, hospitals, colleges, etc.) to this passage to make it feel more like a.. "through street"? but I might not stick with leaving them at the walls.

 

For one, the red "path" leads through that SUPPORT3 wall in the middle of the screen.. and the fact that the red line ends in an upward bend like that doesn't adequately imply that, I think. I'll have to consult some reference material >_>

 

Also, the blue doesn't actually continue further on towards the back, that's just copy & paste ^^; Instead it's through a section opposite of the red path.

 

So.. I'll either move the colored lines completely to the floor- or have the lines transition between wall and floor as necessary.

 

Something like that.

 

We'll see where this goes.. and in which color(s) xD

 

 

Edit: Kinda like this.

^{(from Wikipedia)}

Edited November 23, 2020 by Zylinderkatze

[Zylinderkatze]

Update!

 

Yeah.. I think I'll just have those lines on the floor only, not the walls. Even though it looked kind of cool.

 

So this is the last time you'll see lines on the wall ^^;

 

^{What do you think?}

Edited November 23, 2020 by Zylinderkatze

[ketmar]

but it really looks cool! almost everybody does that on the floor, it is so... usual...