New map - "Storming at Midnight"

[Soulless]

Hi there Doomworld folks. Just finished a "big map", wanted to expand a bit, since my two previous maps were kinda small.
I need some testing to make sure you cant cross the outter walls, or get softlocked anywhere.
Not sure if I went too far with the health balance, so its an important issue too.
Hope you dont come across any bug, have fun!

 

Map name: "Storming at Midnight:
-503 monsters
-12 secrets

 

Replaces Map 01 for DOOM II
Tools: Doombuilder and Slade3 (started with UDB, but technical difficulties made me switch back to Doombuilder)
Tested/Compatible with GZDoom
Music: "Plutopia" by James Paddock (from Plutonia 2)
Sky: MUNSKY01 from "Mek’s Box ‘O Skies!" ( Gotta thank @Horus for this )
Difficulty: UV only
Freelook: Optional
Jump/Crouch: No

 

Background Story:
The UAC is sending boats to a little fortified island close to the "Riphean Mountains", it seems theres a lot of demon activity.
We have detected a "slipgate" in our radars, and we want to use it to our advantage.
Your mission: sneak behind the enemy lines while the other squads gather information from the outter walls until we are prepared for the raid.
Good news? The slipgate is operational! Bad news? It can be a suicide mission, we dont know whats inside that pestilent cave.
If everything fails, find you way out!

 

-Download MEGA:

v2.1 (Final version)

https://mega.nz/file/1wZzEKZY#86AUSbsnPfpBRO5QKF4RVqPZb9jVMeUZBYSi3_ETM38

 

If you encounter problems with the link, let me know.

 

-Short video Preview:

 

-Screenies:
https://imgur.com/a/MkSTOkP

 

 

Edited October 19, 2020 by Soulless
new link

[00_Zombie_00]

The map is fun, I played it on a low difficulty, otherwise I would have died a few times. I get a little disoriented in places, but nothing serious. I'll show you the video tomorrow

[Horus]

Another fun map to add to your collection! I like the attention to detail to the visuals in this map (and the custom sky does wonders :P), and it was great that you had a nice view of the rest of the map at the end. The gameplay was generally pretty enjoyable too, even if a couple of encounters were a bit cheesable, and the final encounter was a bit underwhelming. I spotted a couple of minor bugs but nothing big. Not an 100% playthrough this time I'm afraid :P was still fun secret-hunting though. What was up with all those random ZDoom marines wandering about btw?

 

Video playthrough below, game audio / voice audio is a bit out of balance but oh well

 

[Clippy]

Hey friend, had a good time what I could play so far ... due to issues on my end I had to make two videos .. then I ran out of time lol, sorry - I'll finish later, I did intend to have this only be one video right

 

Hope my play helps you, I'm not good at reviews but I talk a lot in the video haha

 

 

 

 

[Soulless]

@Horus Im amazed by your finding, that skip is really cool.

Im not gonna lie, I was getting nervous because I thought for a second you broke the map, but then it turns out a pretty good skip, Horus the acrobat!

 

I think im gonna get out some health, I was certain there was too much.

 

Those "misaligned" bars have a secret purpose as you know, I wanted to make it look broken, but now im not sure.

Also you can cheese some knights so I might rework that a little.

 

I might change a couple of monsters at the end, but the thing is, I dont want too make that fight too harsh.

 

Glad you liked the sky, Ill try not to use it in the next map haha, and thanks for the playthough.

 

Ill watch @Clippy soon, so I can see what else is due to change/tweak.

Edited October 16, 2020 by Soulless

[Soulless]

NEW LINK ADDED - version 2.0

Changes:

-Lowered the amount of medkits.

-Lowered the amount of rockets & cells.

-Monsters replacement at finale, small change, but now less room to dodge (archviles).

-A couple of trigger lines have been tweaked to enhance combat.

-1 secret reworked, the "misaligned fence" is aligned and blocks everything.

 

https://mega.nz/file/o1oFwI4L#ni-ywJcOzmRTN8_qGUSiOqPsCqrKwAKG_L06jEbVPww

 

Edited October 17, 2020 by Soulless

[Biodegradable]

That was absolutely terrific, man. Another banger map. My only real complaint is that a couple of areas that need to be found for progression are a bit cryptic. The way to find the switch that lowers the Red keycard is the biggest culprit. Aside from that, this was a great challenge as usual and a lot of fun. The map is stunning to look at as your texture work is always an interesting mish-mash that always looks like it all belongs together in a wonderfully-abstract way, similar to how the id Boys did it in the IWADs. Aside from those little cryptic details I mentioned, progression is otherwise reasonably straightforward and the combat setpieces were really neat too. Great stuff, fam. You never disappoint. ;^)

 

 

Edited October 17, 2020 by Biodegradable

[Soulless]

6 minutes ago, Biodegradable said:

 My only real complaint is that a couple of areas that need to be found for progression are a bit cryptic. The way to find the switch that lowers the Red keycard is the biggest culprit.

 

I was afraid that could happen; The thing is, when you press the switch, if you stand still for a sec, you will see the red key lowering slowly, but I cant blame you really, the red key is kinda far to pay attention.

 

Did you play the latest version? not that it will matter too much. Still have to watch Clippy´s run and see if something has to be fixed.

[Clippy]

3 minutes ago, Soulless said:

 

I was afraid that could happen; The thing is, when you press the switch, if you stand still for a sec, you will see the red key lowering slowly, but I cant blame you really, the red key is kinda far to pay attention.

 

Did you play the latest version? not that it will matter too much. Still have to watch Clippy´s run and see if something has to be fixed.

 I think I got slightly confused but only for a min and I might have complained about switches too haha

Edited October 16, 2020 by Clippy

[Soulless]

More little changes from what I saw in @Clippy 1st video.

-Even less health! (I was way too generous).

-Fences blocked.

-Re-textured the damn red key tower for more visivility

 

 

Edited September 25, 2021 by Soulless

[Clippy]

2 minutes ago, Soulless said:

More little changes from what I saw in @Clippy 1st video.

-Even less health! (I was way too generous).

-Fences blocked.

-Re-textured the damn red key tower for more visivility:

 

 

Is that the red key tower I can't see it so well 🤪

[Horus]

1 hour ago, Clippy said:

 I think I got slightly confused but only for a min and I might have complained about switches too haha

 

Heh well if you play Ironman this month you might complain about them just a tad more :P

[Salmon]

I really liked this!  I played through the first version, though, so I didn't experience the changes you made (I think those changes sound good--I may play the new version over the weekend if I have time.  I was going to mention there being too many medkits and rockets in particular so I'm glad that's fixed.  Archviles in the final fight sounds great.)  I got all kills and half the secrets and took an embarrassingly long time, over an hour I think.

 

Visually it's just great.  Honestly, this is my favorite type of Doom map looks-wise.  There's a careful focus on abstract macro-architecture with just the right amount of detailing to make it look modern.

 

I never got lost but this was in thanks to me just blundering right into the red key after I lowered it.  I never saw it before that.

 

I'll definitely check out some of your other maps!

[00_Zombie_00]

 

[SCF]

I played version 2.1, and it was fun. I liked the overall layout of the map, and how it's all one big area that connects back to itself multiple times.

 

A few comments:

• You can retreat from most of the enemy encounters and kill them without putting yourself in too much danger. There were only a couple of moments where I really felt threatened. The fights were still enjoyable, but less difficult than they were maybe supposed to be.
• I see in the comments above that you already made some changes to make the red key tower stand out more. I think it's still not that obvious, as I pressed the switch and had no idea what it did. I probably turned around immediately expecting an ambush or gate to open up, and I hadn't noticed the key tower before that point.
• At the computer area map secret, you can escape through the back and get into the next section without pressing the switch to open up the wall first. Was that intentional? It leaves you with no way to go back (unless you go all the way around again).
• In the same area, when you climb the stairs to the yellow key it looks like you should be able to walk over the wall to the side, but it's actually blocked. That nearly got me killed when a chaingunner spawned and I tried to get to safety. I wasn't expecting an invisible wall there.
• I want to say the secret where you walk through a fence is a little obscure, but I did find it, so... maybe it isn't. I don't even know why I tried to walk through it.
• The final battle was definitely too easy. It has a lot of enemies, but there's so much room you can just run in circles forever. If you follow the outer edges the archviles will never hit you either. It's kind of a shame because it makes for an underwhelming end to what is otherwise a solid map.

[Soulless]

On 10/17/2020 at 1:37 AM, SCF said:

I played version 2.1, and it was fun. I liked the overall layout of the map, and how it's all one big area that connects back to itself multiple times.

 

A few comments:

 

• At the computer area map secret, you can escape through the back and get into the next section without pressing the switch to open up the wall first. Was that intentional? It leaves you with no way to go back (unless you go all the way around again).
• In the same area, when you climb the stairs to the yellow key it looks like you should be able to walk over the wall to the side, but it's actually blocked. That nearly got me killed when a chaingunner spawned and I tried to get to safety. I wasn't expecting an invisible wall there.

 

Thanks for playing the latest version and pointing out this issues!

1-Ill try to replicate what you did and fix it.

2- @Horus already had the same problem with that blocked line, gonna see if I can rework it.

 

EDIT: New link added for these fixes added.

 

Glad you found that skip, whats a matter of raising some crates to fix this and the other problem at the same time.

About the battles being rather easy, kinda intentional (blue key room is the exception). Wanted to fill the map to the fullest without making it too frustrating or tedious/grindy.

Edited October 19, 2020 by Soulless

[Clippy]

 

[Soulless]

Thanks @Salmon for your words, if you want to give a try any of my previous maps I recommend you "Riphean Mountains" or "Bitter Awakening".

Thanks @00_Zombie_00 for the video, I saw a couple of wrong textures, already fixed :D, awesome how I find a little something from everyones run.

 

Updated the link once again, bare with me.

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

Storming at Midnight

 

Ultra-Violence mode || GZDoom || Final Doomer+

 

Status:
*Deaths: 0
*Saves: 6

 

@Soulless & @Clippy

 

In this map, having so many enemies and many areas to explore, I really would not like to make an extensive opinion about everything I have played, because I really would not have enough free time that I have for so much, so I will summarize certain things not to make this so extensive.

 

First of all, let's talk about the architecture and structure that the level has, and this is when the mod really stands out in one of its first things, and in a good way, since the map has a great and extensive variety of texture decoration and Also some pretty good mapping layouts, really interesting to look at, I like the fact that the map is not limited to few textures like any other short wad I've played, rather, it feels really fantastic to see so much elaborate structure shape, and so many colors on the maps, as if this were a kind of map made for a very hardcore Megawad, luck was not, but that does not detract from the merit of looking very good, even being better elaborated and decorated than any map made in Megawads that I have seen, I mean, there is practically a combination of many things, of many useful and dangerous elements in a single map, which makes it even more dynamic and less tedious than normal, despite having this s elements, the entire map is not in an open plane, in fact, it could be said that it is completely linear, therefore, getting lost here would not become a serious problem, if it were not for the fact of looking for secrets to each 5 or 10 minutes of progression throughout the map is a bit tedious, but as usual, the player is not obliged to have them all. The whole visual aspect, as I said, is really impressive, having illuminated areas, areas with a sinister, dark and technological environment, and an entire area with only water and a few structures, heavens, very amazing I would say.

 

Now let's move on to the difficulty, also somewhat summarized, and that is that the map has enough enemies, from the beginning to the end, to be only more than 500, we are talking about that the survival challenge in the entire level, would be a little low Because of the different traps, different enemies implemented in each area, such as putting a lot of Hitscanners or putting a lot of resistance and really high health enemies, make the situation very intense, really ugly if you don't come poised with advanced agility and dodging skills. In all this map are all the normal enemies of Doom II, and a boss too, fortunately there is neither the Spider MasterMind, nor the icon of Sin, but in truth you have a bad time with all these enemies found on your way, either in traps or in free sight, I will say this in more detail, the beginning is really intense, a lot of Hitscanners and some strong enemies, the intermediate is even harder, because there are already more strong enemies and few weak ones, the Hitscanners no longer They make a lot of presence in this part, because you mostly see Barons of Hell, Hell Knights, Revenants, Cacodemons and Pinkys, you will also see the appearance of a Cyberdemon in this part of the progress, now the last one, you could say that its difficulty increases a little more than in the intermission, since, apart from the previously mentioned demons, the Mancubus also unite with a little frequency, to make the confrontation between the army more dangerous. emonic that goes directly towards the marine, in order to end his existence, although on the other hand, the final part of the combat is in a large area, of a really extensive plane, with which, the confrontation will not be much of a problem against the demonic army in this aspect, since there are parts where the marine can hide, and kill certain enemies while under cover, which is quite beneficial to not feel cornered with so many enemies, in addition to the fact that there is cell ammunition In one of the secrets that are placed in one of the pillars seen there, and having the BFG 9000, it would not be a big problem to kill them all and spend some ammunition, although that did not happen with me in the end, but hey.

 

In conclusion, I had a lot of fun with this wad, I also felt really worried and with a certain look of alert everywhere about the kind of enemies that I could have encountered during my progress, not to mention that my concern was greatly increased by the fact that In my GZDoom, the map for some strange reason began to give me lag, to have ugly frame drops and all that, but even with that defect, I did not totally ruin the game I was playing, everything in the end turned out well, and not I ended up stressing as much as I thought at first. Very good work was done on this map, and without a doubt it is quite entertaining and enjoyable if you are looking for complicated challenges like this.

[Soulless]

@Biodegradable Sorry for the late answer buddy, Im going to take a look at your video asap.

@ElPadrecitoCholo I do love your reviews mister, thanks a lot for the extensive commentary.

Glad you mentioned the texture work, I spent most of the time changing textures over and over, until everything around fits, Its what I enjoy the most.

The fights in this map can look intimidating at 1st sight, but I wanted the player not to die so much and enjoy the enviroments.

 

Ill watch your videos today with pleasure, thanks a lot guys!

 

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

3 hours ago, Soulless said:

I do love your reviews mister, thanks a lot for the extensive commentary.

Glad you mentioned the texture work, I spent most of the time changing textures over and over, until everything around fits, Its what I enjoy the most.

The fights in this map can look intimidating at 1st sight, but I wanted the player not to die so much and enjoy the enviroments.

@Soulless You're welcome mate, I'm quite glad that my extensive comment was a pleasure to read. Highlighting the textures was the first thing that came to mind after having seen all my progress in the video, I looked at colors at every step I took, hahaha, and how good it is to know that your thinking was not about making people suffer a lot to the player throughout the game :-)

[Soulless]

@ElPadrecitoCholo

That was a really interesing run sir, I liked your defensive playstyle, I play the total opposite so looking at your playthrough brought different outcomes at some areas. The 1st Cyberdemon battle was unexpected,never got him that far away to be honest.

Same goes for the 2nd Cyberdemon battle, in which you had a deadly rocket to the face, cant believe you recovered from that!

The best approach there is to rush inside with a barrage of rockets to clean the imps hordes,

but I guess that blast changed the course of the run.
Im glad Ive already fixes some stuff I have seen in your video, already mentioned in post above about blocking some fences,

unblocking some lines, etc.
Thanks for the interesting and different approach Padrecito!

@Biodegradable

Really entertaining run man, very funny. Sorry you got lost with the damn red key, I kinda messed up.
Same goes for the door that gives access to the lever that lowers the key, I didnt think that texture or its shape would mess with people, but cant blame you either.
Sorry you had to check Clippys run to progress (gargoyle switches), I tried to make the effect of a shooting range, at least I tried hehe.
Thanks for playing man!

 

Edited October 18, 2020 by Soulless

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

3 hours ago, Soulless said:

That was a really interesing run sir, I liked your defensive playstyle, I play the total opposite so looking at your playthrough brought different outcomes at some areas. The 1st Cyberdemon battle was unexpected,never got him that far away to be honest.

Same goes for the 2nd Cyberdemon battle, in which you had a deadly rocket to the face, cant believe you recovered from that!

The best approach there is to rush inside with a barrage of rockets to clean the imps hordes,

but I guess that blast changed the course of the run.
Im glad Ive already fixes some stuff I have seen in your video, already mentioned in post above about blocking some fences,

unblocking some lines, etc.
Thanks for the interesting and different approach Padrecito!

 

 

You're welcome @Soulless, I still find myself surprised by several of the events that happened to me while playing, one of them was the fact of having lag in the game, and even though I had frame drops, I managed to finish the wad without dying, I suppose that luck was on my side at that time, I say it so much for the fact of surviving a missile shot from the second Cyberdemon at the top of that platform, and still managing to recover from that, also, I like to play a lot using strategy rather than rudeness, unless a Slaughter, but that's another story, hahaha, well I'm glad to know that you fixed certain things that you saw in my video, and that you find it very interesting to see too, thank you very much for the comment you gave, friend, I hope you have an excellent day!

Edited October 18, 2020 by ElPadrecitoCholo

[Soulless]

Another little update : https://mega.nz/file/1wZzEKZY#86AUSbsnPfpBRO5QKF4RVqPZb9jVMeUZBYSi3_ETM38

 

Small rework for progression, fixed the way the "door" that gives access to the lever (red key) opens, and minor misalignements.

Hope is the last one :D

[HAK3180]

I'll bump this since someone else mentioned lag and because this was an awesome map.

 

I've not noticed this in your maps before, but it appears you consistently use zero-height sectors where traditionally "void space" is used. If you were to delete these sectors (and texture appropriately, of course), the automap would look more normal, but more importantly, performance would likely be smoother. 

 

Here's a short video showing what I mean, if you aren't familiar.

 

[Soulless]

@HAK3180 I remember you telling me something similar in my 2nd map, but somehow these things escape to me.

Those pillars in particular were going to open, but scrapped the idea later on, only one pillar opens.

I will try to avoid this as much as I can in my next work, thanks for letting me know buddy, you have always been very helpful.

 

Im going to take a look to your run asap; Im very curious since its probably the final version, many fixes done from other runs I watched,

removed tons of health pick ups and ammo etc.

 

 

[Clippy]

I also tend to use zero height sectors in lieu of void sectors 

 

Seems like our mapping choices and use of archaic programs give us some things in common haha

[Horus]

Zero height sectors are still useful when you want to give two textures to one wall

[Kyukon]

I came here from Hak3180's thread, his play-through was entertaining to watch and made me want to try.

The fights were fun and fair, and the set pieces were interesting to look at.  It was a little on the long side, but you had a nice amount of detail throughout, for such a large map.  You avoided having too much negative space which is a good thing like how you sunk the floor only 8 pixels and change the texture to slime or water often.  That always looks nice, and even more so when you align it with the texture like the nukage squares sunk in the flat3 near those boxes for example.  Plus, it's detailing that doesn't impede movement.  The final large outdoor arena with the arch-vile pillars was actually fun.  It was a little challenging, but not too rough, which is my kind of large arena.  (Stuff like Eviternity Map30 is a bit too much for me, for reference.)

I'm just a noob so of course, take this with a grain of salt, but I liked it.

[Soulless]

Thanks @Kyukon, for playing and for paying attention to those details, I hate dead space (the game is cool) and always try to put a little something here and there to make things appealing to the eyes. I do like Map 30 Eviternity, but yeah, isnt my kind of arena either!