Austerity | Remaster | v3.0 released

[Tormentor667]

After the first release of a long remaster series has been done and it's successor is under development, the next project with less complexity is already underway: Austerity. There isn't so much to be done about it except a few improvements, fixes and enhancements but overall v2.1 back in 2011 so the most work will be cosmetic stuff. If you have any suggestions, I am looking forward to these :)

 

Screenshots

 

Changelog

Spoiler

Added a new statusbar (base by NightFright)
Added widescreen graphics
Added a new palette
Added dynamic lights (removed sector light effects)
Added special effects (volumetric light, fire particles)
Added ambient sounds

Added brightmaps and gl-lights

Added gore effects
Added low-health effect
Improved colors for messages and statusbar graphics
Improved exteriors (grass)

 

Download
Original release from 2011 (v2.1): https://www.realm667.com/index.php/en/projects-mainmenu-50/104-projects/finished/329-austerity-a-simplicity-tribute
Remaster from 2020 (v3.0): https://www.realm667.com/index.php/en/projects-mainmenu-50/104-projects/finished/329-austerity-a-simplicity-tribute

Edited May 10, 2020 by Tormentor667

[dmdr]

the link don't work bud

[Tormentor667]

4 hours ago, dmdr said:

the link don't work bud

 

Updated but remember, it's the old version from 2011.

[Tormentor667]

Just posted Austerity v3.0 RC1, looking forward to the testers out there and to feedback and suggestions for further improvements to the final remaster of this project!

 

Link: https://www.mediafire.com/file/4q4893vxyisg9e1/austerity_v3_rc1.zip/file

[blueinferno776]

Is this a hallucination? One of my favorite wads is remade!? 

[Tormentor667]

Exactly that :) I hope you like the first RC. Any suggestions?

[DynamiteKaitorn]

I seriously tried to give this a good honest try but JESUS is the first map a major flaw! i first leapt into it on HMP and was struggling to have enough ammo. Tight resources would be fine if I wasn't cramped with hell knights and arachnotrons. This mod punishes you greatly for missing on any difficulty above the easiest.

 

So, I decided to swallow my pride and drop down the difficulty all the way to ITYTD... this barely helped. The lesser damage from enemies and the 2X ammo was quite handy as the first map alone I found at LEAST 6-8 hell knights, 5-6 arachnotrons and a revenant (I didn't even get the first key of the map btw). Talk about overkill. One major difficulty problem I definitely noticed was the lack of health and armour compared to the scale of the enemies I faced in a given map. The ratio is comparable to some slaughter-lite maps (despite this not trying to be one).

 

I re-read the OP and noticed this was a re-make. Naturally I played the OG version as well, to see how its gameplay holds up compared to this version. It's more or less identical (which makes sense since this is just a touch-up and not a completely new mod).

 

Now, what about the posatives? For one, the first map does look fantastic. The blues contrast well and I like that the HUD is cut out, neat touch!

Once I made it outside, I noticed the skybox is spinning and what appears to be earth below (or rather above?) me. Definitely trippy.

Lastly, is it just me or is the song for the first map referencing Jazz Jackrabbit a little?

[WH-Wilou84]

Cool, it's nice to see you improving and re-releasing your classic works. :)
Austerity is one of my favorite of yours, along with The Ultimate Torment & Torture and Sapphire.

Since you're going for visual enhancements, I suggest taking some time to improve the texture cutoffs and alignment here and there to give the maps a more refined look :



Basically, you have this :



The STONE texture looks like it's used as a wallpaper instead of concrete material.
STONE texture cutoffs would look better like this :



It might take some time to rework these alignments, but the result is well worth it.
In any case, good luck on this :)

[Tormentor667]

Thanks for the suggestions to both of you. I just took care of the skill settings in all 3 maps and also reduced the texture issues or actually optimized them. I will upload a new RC in the next 24 hours.

[Tormentor667]

There you go, it's done, feel free to continue playtest with this one:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/da52zzaj5q9nlz9/austerity_v3_rc2.zip/file

[Turin Turambar]

I played yesterday the RC1 version, well the first map and half of the second one. No idea of how it compares with RC2.

 

It's a beautiful mapset, you really are getting a good return from GZDoom. The music volume on the first map was a bit lowish. Balance wise it was a bit hard on UV, but then again that's onto me for picking UV, I think HMP would have been good as it is. The ammo was scarce but always enough to fight what I had in front of me.

Gameplay wise I think it's a bit... plain? The maps progression is advancing forward in wide corridors that end up in squareish rooms, and 70% of the combat is done firing at the enemies you see in front of you in that linear advance, so it's usual to just fire from the entrance door of the corridor or room and/or wait until they come for you. I also noticed you don't mix enemies a lot, sometimes you spawn a group of Revenants or a group of Barons or a group of Mancubus, but fights were more interesting combinations of enemies are presented are relatively scarce.

[Tormentor667]

Back then my gameplay knowledge wasn’t that wide - chances are high that I didn’t get much better since then ;)

 

Well, I try to avoid infighting of monsters so groups are mostly homogen. What would you suggest for improving the gameplay situations without changing too much of the structures and original maps?

[Turin Turambar]

Actually the second half of the map improved a bit, the generator area was a blast, and the final red room was also good.

 

I'm no mapper, so it's hard to say. It's a bit like filmmaking, I've seen enough to know when a film is great, but knowing how to make one yourself is another world :). First is asking why would you try to avoid infighting, if it's one of the best features of Doom. I guess you may want to avoid to simply put an eclectic mix of monsters in the same group in front of the player, but maybe try to put groups of different enemies in different flanks, like a groups of Cacos to the North that appear while a group of Revenants advance through the East side. Another trick I see in several WADs is to divide through height placement, like having Barons on columns or imps on walls high, while another type of enemies are on the ground, and the player has to know when to switch priorities between both. Some types of enemies are kind of boring on their own, like Pinkies or Imps, but are ideal as a second group of low level enemies that the player has to deal with while also fight a high level enemy like an Archvile or two Pain Elementals.

Although I guess it's the linear map layout itself that will make hard to be play with the idea of flank attacks. Of course one way to do it is when to spawn enemies in a trap/ambush, don't do it all in from of the player, but also on the sides.

All this would increase the difficulty of the wad, so you would have to rebalance the difficulty too.

 

[Turin Turambar]

Error with rc2?

 

[blueinferno776]

I finished rc1 on hmp, the visuals have improved dramatically! The second stage is my favorite next to the first. The third I think could use a little more stimpacks, I powered though it with just 13 hp hunting the yellow key. 

 

I really enjoyed this. Ammo management is absolutely required in the first stage for anyone trying this out for the first time. It took me a while to beat the first stage, I kept running out of ammo and getting my ass kicked when I first played this in 2012. I will run though this again on uv later today

Edited May 2, 2020 by blueinferno776
Correcting a sentence

[NightFright]

Interesting, especially since I did a similar thing with Simplicity a few years ago. I liked Simplicity a lot when I first played it, but by now it's actually rather boring and predictable.

[Tormentor667]

10 hours ago, NightFright said:

Interesting, especially since I did a similar thing with Simplicity a few years ago. I liked Simplicity a lot when I first played it, but by now it's actually rather boring and predictable.

 

You mean creatign a remaster? How could I miss that? :)

 

@blueinferno776 and @Turin Turambar - Thanks kindly for your feedback, I am currently taking care of these issues and upload an improved version in the next hours, just waiting for @Ozymandias81 to help me fixing the script issues in ZScript.

[Tormentor667]

Aaaand there it is:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/2xh6c598ageas7k/austerity_v3_rc3.zip/file

[NightFright]

The Simplicity "remaster" is listed as bonus download in the OP of my Fullscreen Statusbar Project. I don't remember all the changes any more, but the statusbar was reverted to the version from the first release (when you weren't forced to play fullscreen), widescreen graphics were optimized for 1080p, at least one script error during a boss fight was removed and probably some other smaller or bigger annoyances.

[Turin Turambar]

RC3 still has the same error as RC2, but I got it fixed: you need the latest GZDoom beta (4.4), the current release version (4.3.3) isn't enough!

[Turin Turambar]

You really need to put some health just before the climax of the third level, here

https://i.imgur.com/RSKIkP4.jpg

 

Spoiler

that horde, the archdevil, the Cyberdemon and the final group without any health? way too hard

 

And one more thing, do you give the chainsaw somewhere in the first level? I can't remember it now but I don't think so. I think you should, it would be very nice to deal with some fights with the pinkies.

 

Edited May 3, 2020 by Turin Turambar

[boris]

There are missing textures in the exit area of map01 (on the other side, too):

 

[Tormentor667]

Thanks kindly to both of you for that hint, I will take care of these issues right now.

[blueinferno776]

The blue key room in map 1 can trap the player in the pit of pinkys if they drop down to clear them before grabbing the key. I had to reload my save to continue.

 

Spoiler

The soulsphere secret is now unreachable that the sector is raised out of reach. I need to jump to get it. Unless there's a new method to reaching it

 

[NiGHTMARE]

Great to see this old level reworked :) Please fix the SUPPORT2 texture, though! (The 24x72 patch has been replaced with a 24x128 patch, but the second patch in the texture hasn't been removed.)

Edited May 8, 2020 by NiGHTMARE

[Tormentor667]

57 minutes ago, NiGHTMARE said:

Great to see this old level reworked :) Please fix the SUPPORT2 texture, though! (The 24x72 patch has been replaced with a 24x128 patch, but the second patch in the texture hasn't been removed.)

 

Ugh, can you elaborate this a bit more? :)

[NiGHTMARE]

The vanilla SUPPORT2 patch is only 72 pixels high, and the texture uses it on two rows to get to 128 high (IIRC the second row starts at 56 pixels). The modified patch you're using is 128 pixels high, so you need to remove the second row of patches from the texture.

 

If you look at boris' screenshot above, you can clearly see it doesn't tile properly at the moment. The vanilla texture doesn't tile properly either, but that was only at the bottom of the texture. At the moment the texture in Austerity doesn't tile properly near the middle, either.

Edited May 8, 2020 by NiGHTMARE

[Tormentor667]

Got it fixed, thanks kindly for the explanation Nick :)

[Tormentor667]

Austerity Remaster has been released, check the first post for updated info - looking forward to your feedback and potential "Let's Play" videos :)

[DoomKrakken]

Oh man, your maps were some of the most inspiring maps I've ever played.  Glad to see they're being revisited... I just wish there were more of 'em, though.

 

Any chance you'll make more maps in the same vein as Austerity, Sapphire, Ultimate Torment 'N Torture, etc.?  Those are the kinds of maps/mapsets I've come to associate with the heart of Doom mapping. :D