BARBIE GIRL - now on idgames

[Capellan]

Edit: the below is all out of date.  Barbie is now in her dream house at https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/a-c/barbie

 

 

Three weeks ago, @DavetheDoomguy asked the burning question:

“What songs do you think should NEVER be in a Doom wad?”

 

And @Vermil threw down the gauntlet:

On 10/7/2020 at 8:59 AM, Vermil said:

Barbie girl

 

Challenge accepted.

 

 

 

Barbie Girl is a single, limit-removing complevel 2 (doom (strict)) map for DOOM 2.

 

It’s now ready for public playtest and commentary.  Please download, play (and maybe even enjoy!) and let me know your experiences.  Text, LMP, Youtube video – all feedback formats are welcome.

 

Barbie Girl is intended to be played with as close to vanilla settings as possible, and has been tested in PrBoom, Crispy Doom, and ZDoom.  NB: If your port allows you to choose between software and hardware rendering (e.g. GZDoom), select software rendering.

 

(see at the top for the idgames link)

 

Screenshots are in the spoiler, for those of you who aren't already excitedly downloading :)

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Life in plastic, it’s fantastic.

 

 

Edited November 20, 2020 by Capellan

[Big Ol Billy]

Let’s go party >:)

[Scypek2]

Here's an FDA! (recorded in Crispy Doom)

Played on skill 3, died two times (though I don't think the first time counts), and found one secret. It was certainly enjoyable, with detailed, realistic-feeling testing facilities, and a unique gimmick that gets expanded upon... though I still don't know what makes the brown door in trial 2 open. Or what any of this has to do with Barbie, for that matter.

 

And it's got to have something to do with Barbie, given that you've been ridiculously thorough with emphasizing that. Far from just the soundtrack, there's the titlepic, interpic, a few menu graphics, and even the end sequence gets tweaked to reflect the level. Because why would I not play through the remaining 29 level after finishing this one?

 

Anyway, this has been fun, hope you enjoy my recording. I rarely ever play without saves, so this felt pretty intense to make.

barbie_scypek2fda.zip

Edited October 28, 2020 by Scypek2

[Gez]

I'm a barbie girl, in a barbie wad

 

Barbie is, apparently, the pinkie demon we have to guide throughout the level. Amusingly, the first secret I found was how to kill it at the end. The other three took me a while, wandering through the now-deserted hallways of the test facility, looking for the clues I had missed.

[Capellan]

And the very first LMP shows something not working quite as intended (though certainly not game-breaking) :)  WAD in the download link has had a very minor update to address this.

 

2 hours ago, Scypek2 said:

even the end sequence gets tweaked to reflect the level. Because why would I not play through the remaining 29 level after finishing this one?

 

Heh.  You found the Easter egg, I see :)

 

Thanks for playing!

Edited October 29, 2020 by Capellan

[Pseudonaut]

Here's an FDA on UV with 4 deaths. By dumb luck, I got past the first "test area" without figuring out what the gimmick of this level is. It ended up taking over 16 minutes for me to figure it out, so most of those first 16 minutes are spent randomly wallhumping everything. After that, I did eventually exit with most of the kills and secrets.

 

barbiefda.zip

[SOSU]

Maybe it's because i'm dumb but i don't see what's so Barbie about this wad besides the title screen, intermission screen and map midi.
(Is the joke that you control some mindless peace of meat?)
I've been made to play a good map in the hopes of Barbie and have been dissapointed.

(Really cool map man, a bit tight on ammo in my opinion, never played any map like this, though there's a Heretic mapset that has an optional escort mission in one map that is kind of simmiliar but only a tiny bit)

[Capellan]

 

4 hours ago, Pseudonaut said:

most of those first 16 minutes are spent randomly wallhumping everything

 

I admire your tenacity!  Not just for that but then later when Barbie was determined to go to the wrong teleporter in test area 3.

 

I also spotted a very minor texture issue and addressed it as a result of your run.  Download link updated again.

 

Thanks for playing.

 

[Clippy]

Well I was hoping to make a nice video for you because I like random stuff like this ... sadly the progression eluded me 100% did not have a clue how to make my way through this level

 

So all I have is this recording of me lost and confused desperate to find a solution I never found ... sorry buddy

 

 

[Gez]

47 minutes ago, Clippy said:

sadly the progression eluded me 100% did not have a clue how to make my way through this level

Don't try to kill Barbie! Barbie is your pink friend. The "Test Area" label should tell you there's a puzzle to solve. You need to play with your pink doll, get Barbie to step on the X. When Barbie steps on the X, the path forward is opened to you. When you go through the opening, you open a door for Barbie who goes to the next test area, as well as a path for you to be able to freely backtrack (like for secret hunting or whatever).

 

And yes, the teleporter marked "FAIL" is for when you messed up the mission, by killing Barbie or something.

[Clippy]

2 minutes ago, Gez said:

Don't try to kill Barbie! Barbie is your pink friend. The "Test Area" label should tell you there's a puzzle to solve. You need to play with your pink doll, get Barbie to step on the X. When Barbie steps on the X, the path forward is opened to you. When you go through the opening, you open a door for Barbie who goes to the next test area, as well as a path for you to be able to freely backtrack (like for secret hunting or whatever).

 

And yes, the teleporter marked "FAIL" is for when you messed up the mission, by killing Barbie or something.

 

I fail to see how I could have figured this out on my own but thanks for the info I'll give this a try another time 🥴

[Capellan]

It's in the text file, for one thing :)

[Clippy]

Just now, Capellan said:

It's in the text file, for one thing :)

 

sorry typically I don't read those I assume if there's any important information it would be in the thread post so I just usually download the file and play it

🤷

 

in fact I even referenced to the thread post while playing the try to figure this out LOL

 

I don't seem to be the only one who's been confused by this ☺️

 

But yes I'll try it again now that I know what's going on. you do good work and as I mentioned before demon fear was the greatest megawad I've played in many many years. I assumed based on my experience with your maps that you do easy straightforward progression because I never got lost once in demon fear so I was not expecting some different style of progression in this type of map I thought the whole gimmick was just going to be there's Barbie music playing

 

now that I know what the gimmick is I'm actually very intrigued by it and can't wait to try it

[Vermil]

I've started playing this wad now I know what's the gimmick is. But unfortunately I wasn't able to get very far as I couldn't work out how to open the door to the lift lowered by the Demon in the second test area.

[Uni]

Cool little gimmick map, I enjoyed it a bunch. I'm actually quite surprised that some folks had difficult figuring out the progression in the map as it's really basic straight-forward concept after the "Test Chamber 1" demonstration. I got caught off-guard and died twice while playing, something about the funky music, low enemy count and the initial fight suggested to me that it's going to be a breeze but I died once in the 2nd phase and once in the 3rd phase. Design-wise, I think it looks good, it reminded me of your 90's work in terms of architecture and texture alignment was also given a nice touch. Unlike Gez, I found all three secrets except the 4th, last one so I had to spare the lovely demonic "Barbie Girl" at the end, they are quite useful honestly. 

 

Don't have anything negative to say that comes to my mind unfortunately, just a solid gimmicky techbase with some nice fights and a "Barbie Girl". Cute.

[wrkq]

41 minutes ago, Vermil said:

I've started playing this wad now I know what's the gimmick is. But unfortunately I wasn't able to get very far as I couldn't work out how to open the door to the lift lowered by the Demon in the second test area. 

Hint:

Spoiler

Monsters open key-less doors when they touch them. Look at the opposite end of the test area 2.

 

And speaking of, @Capellan - I just ran into a bug, I think.

Spoiler

 

Guess I stepped on linedef 1171 (on the stairs back down to the room with revenant) when the door was still up due to Barbie's repeatable action.

So the W1 linedef got "spent" but the door still had a timed close thinker attached and closed down.

Now if I'll let Barbie teleport away the door will become unopenable.

Not sure how to prevent that sequence though without much funk - switches and whatever.

 

Crispy 5.9.1 (yeah yeah I forgot to update).

Edited October 29, 2020 by wrkq

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

I played this map before I went to bed yesterday, you can add me to the list of people who couldn't finish it, because I couldn't figure out how to progress.

 

But because I love pinkies, I'll try again today :)

Edited October 29, 2020 by TheMagicMushroomMan

[smeghammer]

I have one thing to say....

 

Spoiler

AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Ooh that's painful.

 

I normally play with music off, but I just suffered the agony of listening to a bad MIDI rendition of possibly the worst song ever...

 

PS I didn't finish. Might try again with music off...

 

** EDIT **

My 9yo daughter thought this WAD was hilarious.

Edited October 29, 2020 by smeghammer

[Capellan]

9 hours ago, Clippy said:

I don't seem to be the only one who's been confused by this ☺️

 

Which is interesting. I think the map itself signals pretty hard that you're not supposed to kill Barbie.

1. The name of the map is Barbie Girl and the demon's name is established as Barbie - should suggest she is not just pistol fodder

2. You are stuck and shooting the only visible switch releases her, which should indicate you need her for progression

3. She can't hurt you

4. There's a big red X on the floor in her cell

5. Killing her is really really boring to do :)

 

This kind of progression is definitely a break from the norm for me, though.  I vastly prefer clear but not too linear progression on the whole, and this map is both puzzle-y and highly linear.

 

9 hours ago, Vermil said:

I've started playing this wad now I know what's the gimmick is. But unfortunately I wasn't able to get very far as I couldn't work out how to open the door to the lift lowered by the Demon in the second test area.

 

The map requires you to understand a bit about how Doom works - in particular, what lines a monster can trigger, and that two physically separate locations can still be the same sector.

 

8 hours ago, wrkq said:

And speaking of, @Capellan - I just ran into a bug, I think.

 

Fixed; WAD in the link updated.

 

31 minutes ago, smeghammer said:

I normally play with music off

 

Me too, as it happens.  I developed an allergy to the E1M1 music sometime shortly before Doom 2 came out, and turned music off.

[Clippy]

45 minutes ago, Capellan said:

Which is interesting. I think the map itself signals pretty hard that you're not supposed to kill Barbie.

1. The name of the map is Barbie Girl and the demon's name is established as Barbie - should suggest she is not just pistol fodder

 

I had no idea the demon is considered Barbie, unless again it was in the text file I didn't read haha - otherwise I would have never made this connection 

[HAK3180]

11 minutes ago, Capellan said:

Which is interesting. I think the map itself signals pretty hard that you're not supposed to kill Barbie.

1. The name of the map is Barbie Girl and the demon's name is established as Barbie - should suggest she is not just pistol fodder

2. You are stuck and shooting the only visible switch releases her, which should indicate you need her for progression

3. She can't hurt you

4. There's a big red X on the floor in her cell

5. Killing her is really really boring to do :)

 

I'll admit I also did not read the text file, since you mentioned what I thought was all necessary info in your first post here, but I don't at all agree that the map itself signals pretty hard that you're not supposed to kill Barbie.

 

1. That the demon's name is Barbie never occurred to me until reading this. The sign did not signal to me "when a monster emerges from slightly to the left of here later, this is that monster's name." And even if it did, that would not instantly mean "don't kill her" to me.  

2. Or you assume the switch opened something else, too, and react like a normal person playing Doom and seeing a monster.

3. You may not do this, but demons behind bars of some sort is not all that uncommon. I don't think it's clear that she can't reach you anyway. The distance there could easily be believed to be within the demon's range. In fact, the second demon did go into attack animation when I was too close. Not really a theory you test out anyway.

4. Yes, this I'll give you, but I just didn't really notice it in my first run. MIDSPACE is probably the best vanilla traditional midtexture for visibility, but still not great. There's also a lot of red blood and guts, which I like. Maybe a different color for the X's would work and/or a light glow or something. 

5. Yes, true, but again, there's much worse out there. Phobos Anomaly makes you shotgun/chaingun two barons, after all, haha.

 

Personally, I would suggest putting the X somewhere that you have to look at it after shooting the switch and before/while noticing the demon. As is, it's 180 degrees when you shoot the switch, and 90 from the demon's entry. Map how you want to map, but I trust you understand things are waaaaay more obvious to the mapper than to the player.

 

As for the door, the nature of the setup is such that you may very well not see what's happening. In my video, the door opens twice and the demon is out of view both times, so I did not realize what happened until I got to the editor. As you say, you have to remember exactly which lines are monster-triggerable. It did not occur to me at the time that the only way a monster can get a door to open is action 1 (Is this even true?) In my mind I was probably thinking it was some sort of WR. At least we've established that we're doing shenanigans by now, but I think this area could also be improved with respect to visibility of what's happening, either allowing the sightline itself or making the two doors more distinct and/or even more obviously the same.

[Clippy]

3 minutes ago, HAK3180 said:

 

I'll admit I also did not read the text file, since you mentioned what I thought was all necessary info in your first post here,

 

You play more maps than anyone, I play often too but don't hold a candle to you. Anyway in the grand scheme of things to play so many maps one simply does not have time read each text file and would hope all the pivotal info is in the Doomworld thread opening post. So I never have bothered with text files haha, and it's never bit me in the ass until today!

 

Honestly I didn't even download the text file, I just downloaded the game files and went to work.

 

Again I'll give this map another go now that I have a clue what is going on but yeah I don't think I'm alone in never reading those text files eh

[Capellan]

27 minutes ago, HAK3180 said:

30 minutes ago, Clippy said:

 

I had no idea the demon is considered Barbie, unless again it was in the text file I didn't read haha - otherwise I would have never made this connection 

 

 

Her name's right there on the wall in the map :)

[Clippy]

3 minutes ago, Capellan said:

 

Her name's right there on the wall in the map :)

 

Oh boy are you talking about this?

 

 

Because that is unreadable, I had to go closer and I still can't make it out

 

 

Only if I get really close I can see it ::

 

 

 

But I certainly can't see it from behind the gate my friend, I guess I am an old man who needs glasses or you're making things seem much more obvious than they really are :)

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

3 minutes ago, Clippy said:

 

Oh boy are you talking about this?

 

 

Because that is unreadable, I had to go closer and I still can't make it out

 

 

Only if I get really close I can see it ::

 

 

 

But I certainly can't see it from behind the gate my friend, I guess I am an old man who needs glasses or you're making things seem much more obvious than they really are :)

It's called subtle symbolism, my clip-headed friend.

Edited October 29, 2020 by TheMagicMushroomMan

[Capellan]

@HAK3180 managed an accidental 'through the wall' YK pick up.  I have uploaded a new version that hopefully prevents that from happening.

 

[AtticTelephone]

I love this wad, and I don't hate this song, it's good. Anyway, thank you for this.

[Clippy]

OK here is my video - I figured out your map!

 

Except no I didn't

 

But the important thing is I played it!

 

I did mostly terrible too!

 

Video processing 

 

 

[Capellan]

Heh.

Clippy: "There's a secret that's completely just random."

HAK: "Wow, that was really easy to find."

 

:)

 

 

[Clippy]

7 minutes ago, Capellan said:

Heh.

Clippy: "There's a secret that's completely just random."

HAK: "Wow, that was really easy to find."

 

:)

 

 

 

It was easy to find haha and I found it in the last video too. But only because I tend to hump all the walls

 

By random what I meant was there's no rhyme or reason for that wall to have a secret in it usually there's some kind of subtle variation of texture or some kind of reasoning for it. Unless there is a subtle hint somewhere that I missed which I wouldn't be surprised 🥴

 

otherwise it appears to be just hump the wall for no reason and you get a double shotgun. But wait slightly longer and you get another one anyway 

 

It seems like your other secrets were really well hidden and I never could find the solution to them ☺️